Archives for March, 2007
ברוך אשר לא חסר בעולמו כלום
In this business we often get tied down with technicalities. What bank has which program at which terms? How much will I pay per month? Which one is a better deal over 20 years? Why are the banks so horrible? Today, I said Birhat HaIlanot, which is recited once a year on Rosh Hodesh Nisan. In the breha, we say: ושם נקיים מצות תרומות ומעשרות וכל מצות התלויות בארץ אשר הנחלת לאבותינו, היא ארץ זבת חלב ודבש I was struck by how thankful I am for living in my Land and even able to recite this breha. I am thankful that in my yard I have fruit trees from which I can take תרומות ומעשרות, that we have pomegranate and grape vines and a...
Mortgage Advisors
I worked for years in the American mortgage industry. We saw it bubble and collapse, and advised our clients how to avoid the pitfalls. Last week, I wrote about how we in Israel should avoid these through prudent home buying decisions. Yesterday, stock markets around the world felt the effect of those pitfalls. American banks made bad mortgage loans over the past decade. Here is a good summary of the problems from the Washington Post. The briefest version of the story is that market conditions encouraged banks to make bad loans. In Israel, the banks stink. They will misrepresent themselves to the client. They will sell them products that are best for the bank and not best for the client. They will convince you...
Can you afford that house?
Can you afford that house? In the United States, there is currently a little air being let out of a real-estate bubble. Much has been written about it, and I’m not going to repeat what others have said better. I do, however, want to take a quick look at the financing side and see what we can learn from it. A few years ago, a rarely used financing device called a second mortgage became very popular. People who used to have to make a 20% down payment, all of a sudden could get a property with nothing out of pocket. Try this search, and find over 5,000,000 sites about how to own a house with nothing down. Some banks also offer financing up to...