Six Secrets of Internet Home Buying

Save buyer's thousands

Interesting that the article suggests the buyer should do all the research but will still end up paying two commissions. Why? Because the seller controls the seller's agent commission and the buyer's agent commission. So even if you are a buyer with no agent, you will pay both commissions.

If you do not like paying others for the work you do as a home buyer, then contact your state and federal representatives. Let them know home buyers should control the buyer's agent commission.

This will allow buyers to select all or some services for a fixed fee which is not based on an arbitrary house cost. It also allows buyers to purchase a house by themselves and not pay a commission.

Rob of MN @ Aug 27, 2008 14:15:04 PM

How safe is Bid4assets

I have seen some real cheap deals being transacted on Bid4assets. Some houses were going for less than a thousand dollars. Is it really possible or will there be complications when the deal is about to close? Any users can share your experience with them?

Roger @ Jul 27, 2008 10:56:04 AM

Thanks Rueben Soto

Thanks Rueben Soto. From one South Floridian to another, you said it best!

Do you remember, there once was a funny looking little guy named Ross Perot, that everyone laughed at, but his prognostication was right on the money. He warned that if NAFTA ever got enacted, all America would hear was a giant sucking sound, as all our jobs were being sucked out of this country and into others. He was correct, and we have been hosed!

We have the biggest gap between the rich and the poor of any Industrialised nation on the planet, and the gap will grow larger as the rich get richer and the middle class gets poorer.

Why is gas is only $2.20 a gallon in Mexico ($4.20 locally today) and many of our truckers are going across the border to fill up? Well, Mexico has PRICE CONTROLS on fuel. Why is it we cannot do the same? Is it because we have the big oil men in office? Another thing to ask our so called Elect.

Quite frankly, this housing speculation boom would never of happenned if the Fed hadn't of lowered the prime rate to almost zero, making money extremely cheap to borrow. Of course it was all done as a bail-out reaction to the boys who lost their shirts in the Dot Com Bust to help the poor guys out trying to make a fast buck. So now we have the Housing Bust, the beginnings of Bank and Investment Houses bust, and in time it will be the commodities bust. We will just go from bubble to bubble with the next guy holding the bag. Pretty soon there won't be anything left to bubble for the monopoly players to make a fast buck on and America is going to have to enact new legislation to get our jobs back or perish. And we need to disconnect from the Federal Reserve, which is not even Federal but privately owned, and give Congress the power to print our money, in an effort to stop these international bankers from manipulating our economy.

Caroline of FL @ Jun 28, 2008 19:58:52 PM

Owning vs renting

As for owning vs renting, it depends on your situation and the local RE market.

In MY case, owning makes much more sense. I rent here in NY, but intend to

relocate to upstate SC by early next year, and perhaps more importantly, intend to

stay there for good, work a few more years, and then retire there. My total housing

costs will be about $250 a month, *including* taxes, insurance and all utilities. Were I to instead rent this same place, my rent would be about $350 PLUS utilities(about $500 a month total) So In THIS case, (for ME, anyway), owning is a no-brainer.

Paul of NY @ Jun 28, 2008 10:52:32 AM

YMMY, I suppose, but...

I Just bought a 3bdrm, 1.5 bath fixer-upper in a nice little town in upstate SC with VG demographics, rising home prices, tons of jobs nearby, super-low taxes, low

HVAC costs, excellent schools, on a beautiful level, lot with many huge old oak

trees for shade,and a creek running across the back of the property line - for the price of a modest used car. Obviously, the seller was rather desperate and pressed for time, but I would not have ever found such an economic fallout shelter

nor been able to be a virtual johnny-on-the-spot., cash-in-hand, on a property some

800 miles from where I live, had it not been for the internet. This is the second

property I bought this year online. The other is a buildable waterview lot in WV I

picked up for the price of a cheap used car. Again, without the internet, I would`ve

never found this deal, either.

There`s a lot of garbage/junk properties for sale online,without a doubt, but if

you know what you are looking for, and are willing to spend much of your spare time searching, doing research and due dilligence, and are patient, you can

seperate the wheat from the chaff, and find jewels for $.25 cents on the dollar.

Paul of NY @ Jun 28, 2008 10:23:41 AM

I've been saying this for years

This article says it right: the cost of home ownership (in some areas of the country) far exceed those of renting. For example, in my neck of the woods (South Florida), if I bought a house during the boom, I would have been paying out over $2k per month in taxes, interest, HOA and insurance. Then you add my principal, and subtract the tax deduction, and the money going out was slightly greater than the money coming in. Now, during this downturn, the numbers are far more bleak, because during the boom, at least appreciation was mitigating that expense...just a bit.

I was trying to tell friends for years: markets are not permanent. It is called a real estate "market" for a reason. All those who assumed prices "don't" turn down and/or believed the lies told by realtors (my favorite: "gains are permanent"), slept through economics 101: what goes up, will come down on a long enough time line. By that same token, what goes down, will also come up.

However, now that employers treat employees more like mercenaries these days, with no-notice, no-severence layoffs in these so-called "at will" employment states available as an option to employers, people have to be able to stay mobile, and that means not owning for very long! The days of working for one company for 20 years and owning a home for 20 years have gone the by way side. Unfortunately that means that people aren't flipping houses because they are trying to turn a profit, it usually means they have to move to find work.

Until America WAKES UP and holds ALL politicians accountable for these failed policies (including "trickle down" economics, which is no longer trickling down, but offshore to manufacturing, IT and a myriad of other workers), we will continue to experience a long, slow contraction period, where the value of our dollar makes it affordable for others to outsource to us, and/or people can afford to start spending en masse again.

Reuben Soto of FL @ Jun 28, 2008 06:02:01 AM

Bait and switch

Internet listing are used as a bait and switch by brokers. I use real estate companies when selling my restored homes. The real estate brokers have many owned properties that they have purchaced because people give up on trying to sell and drastically lower their prices. Agents tell buyers the houses they like are under contract or the owners are not home; then just like a used car dealer they pressure people to buy their over enflated houses that they personally own. I catch real estate agents with bait and switch homes all the time. Internet listed houses for cheep with only the photographed side painted. All brokers have high profile property that is on corner lots and in high traffic areas to bring in traffic with their signs. Broker owned and not for sale. Even when sellers are desperate the brokers have teams of inspectors, appraisers, insurance adjusters, bankers all used to drive your home value down. Then they buy through family and friends and rent it out until it is relisted at the actual values; but now it is broker owned and higher commissions to the agents for selling the firm owned homes. Internet home buying is a waist of braincells and most of the HUD and VA foreclosiers are trailer houses that tornados search out and destroy. Think about it; a trailer house with a $200,000.00 morgage of tax dollars from HUD.

Patrick Norton of AR @ Jun 28, 2008 00:42:49 AM

Internet home buying

Bid4assets is safe if you want a real filthy house, meth lab, realtor owned rentals that the city has hundreds of letters of complaints on file. There empty lots have POA dues that are more then high dollar motels. Your closing costs and POA are the key to their $1 sales and location is very undesirable areas. USMS homes with any real value are at

http://homesales.gov/homesales/mainAction.do?pageAction=

The meth labs and destroyed homes on Bid4assets are fun to look at, but it would be safer to buy in IRAQ then some of those neiborhoods.

Patrick Norton of AR @ Jun 27, 2008 23:46:05 PM