Welcome to the 114^th edition of the Carnival of Real Estate which is brought to you today from the Windy City. For those of you who are not familiar with the Carnival of Real Estate (CoRE), every week, a CoRE host acknowledges a number of blog posts,  recently authored by primarily real estate and mortgage industry bloggers. Today, 60646 Blog gets to pick the goodies, and we are truly honored to be your host for this week’s edition of the Carnival.

But first things first. In the last few weeks, Chicago baseball fans had been secretly hoping that the Cubs and White Sox would battle each other in the 2008 World Series. The postseason baseball grim reaper had other plans though, and decided to prematurely put an end to our dreams, on both the north and south sides of town. What agony, you might think, but appropriate nonetheless, not only because our two MLB teams choked underachieved when push came to shove, but mainly because we’re only four short days away from Halloween … oh wait, … I think I found our theme for this week’s CoRE.

When it comes to spooky stories, particularly around this time of the year, I am perfectly content getting goosebumps while listening to my young daughter read Harry Potter’s “Prisoner of Azkaban” to me. On the other hand, if bone-chilling topics are more your speed, might I direct your attention to this gigantic conspiracy theory about our financial system by Mr. Jim Willie [via Noah Rosenblatt of UrbanDigs fame]. Of course, I am neither qualified nor inclined to comment on Mr. Willie’s assertions, but like I said, if you’re into “really scary”, by all means, go ahead and read it. But don’t say I didn’t warn you. Needless to mention, that article was not one of the submissions to CoRE this week.

Actually, it wasn’t the number of entries this week that was frightening, rather the above-average quality/originality/substance of the content of several submissions that I decided to present today. Out of a total of twenty entries, six stood out, in my opinion.

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In “Trick or Treat, Give Me Something Good To Buy?“, Ro Troia, the good real estate sorceress from the Rockies, encourages home buyers lovingly, but with a stern tone:

… Buyers, wake up, get your butts out there and look at all the fantastic homes that are at bargain basement prices.   Wah wah, you don’t have the down payment, think FHA…

Unless you were referring to single family residences, in which case there is no argument, I’ve gotta tell you Ro, here in Chitown, we sell an awful lot of condos, many of which are ruled by HOAs that reserve a right-of-first-refusal in their declarations/by-laws. That right there, disqualifies these condos from FHA loan eligibilty. Even spot-approvals are a horror to come by, these days. Regardless, I am awarding Ro Troia the “Moontrimmer Broomstick“, for stressing FHA loans as a viable alternative for a mortgage with a reasonable downpayment requirement.

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From Burnaby, BC Canada (that’s Vancouver’s backyard), real estate investor, Julie Broad, reminds us that no matter how bad the market is, “Forget The Market – Focus On The Deal“. Sounds like a useful mantra, especially when Julie candidly shares with us:

…I lost money on a condo in Toronto in the hottest condo market phase in history… and it was a good little unit to live in. It’s just as possible to lose money in an up market as it is to make money in a down one…

For offering an upbeat perspective in a business climate in which many real estate investors have been hesitant, if not downright spooked lately, I am awarding Julie Broad the “Golden British Columbia Scythe”. Or is that a hockey stick?

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We’ve all heard or read about the government’s recent takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, tightened lending guidelines, and slowly but surely vanishing non-conforming loans. So, what are a current home buyer’s borrowing options in this market? In “What sort of loan can I get?” Dan Melson (searchlightcrusade.net) out of San Diego provides a comprehensive answer to exactly that question. Dan confirms what many of my own buyer clients are being challenged with these days:

…Credit Score has tightened up considerably, particularly in conjunction with Loan to Value Ratio. When three years ago, a 620 credit score was good enough to get you 100% financing on a stated income loan (subprime), these days the lenders want to see decently high credit scores. A-paper lenders are wanting to see 680 or 700 credit scores from anything over 80% financing…

Alas, seller financing and “Articles of Agreement” which used to be part of the standard repertoire of RE sales in the 80’s when mortgage interest rates were in double-digit territory, are not the saviors this time around, with so many sellers having dismal equity in their properties. Dan tells us how it is out there in mortgageland, and what you can do to obtain a mortgage in today’s market. For shining a light into the current dark mortgage maze, I’m awarding Dan Melson the “Magic Jack-O-Lantern”.

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On a recent road trip through the Northwest, Whitney Tyner with Zillow, encountered some nostalgia. She’ll tell you all about it in “Rare Find: A Sears Roebuck Mail Order House”.

…Sears claimed that their homes would save men 40% of construction time, and promised that a man of “average abilities” could assemble the homes in 90 days. Sears produced over 370 pre-designed home blueprints styles, ranging in price from $500-$3,000. Or, if a family was especially ambitious, they could design the home themselves and Sears would ship off the appropriate materials. Talk about service!…

Now, here’s the thing Whitney, I consider myself to be a man of at least “average abilities” in a number of disciplines, but trust me on this: Sears could not possibly have had me in mind for their target audience when they worded that sales brochure. As proof, I submit the most recent pumpkin that I butchered during “Family pumpkin carving night”. In any event, for taking us all back to a simpler time, Whitney Tyner receives the “Equity-rich Haunted House” award.

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“Home Buyers & Purchase Offers” by Sacramento Real Estate Gal Purva Brown, is a meticulous dissection of purchase offer strategy.

…Buyers are usually caught wondering if they should offer full price, or over asking price, if they should try a lowball offer or actually listen to the advice of their Realtor® and send in a reasonable offer which allows room for negotiation and ensures both parties some wiggle room on the negotiation table…

Only three or four short years ago, during the height of the sellers market in Chicago, offer strategy consisted of rushing over to the car right after a showing, and writing up a sales contract on top of the trunk. Then, running back to the listing agent and begging him/her to have the sellers kindly consider “our offer” among the twenty other offers they had already received. Purva methodically lays out the various strategies, along with their pros and cons, for drafting real estate purchase offers. This week’s “Candy Apple” award goes to Purva Brown, for bringing us a real treat.

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If you’re familiar with Ardell DellaLoggia’s writing, then you know that Ardell does not pull any punches dealing with controversial topics. You thought you had read every publication about short sales and foreclosures there was under the full moon? Here comes Ardell, knocking on our doors and bringing us “Leave the gun, take the cannoli“. This remarkable post, is a call to short sale and REO practitioners, imploring them to stay in touch with their humanity, even though it’s business (Ardell’s words).

…So when you take out the gun and put it to someone’s head so that you can leave with the cannoli…at least look them in the eye when you’re doing it. Maybe talking someone into doing a short sale is like pulling the plug on someone that was just about to be saved. Think about that before telling people a short sale is their only or best choice…

Precisely because a short sale is not a transaction that could be described as a “piece of cake”, I suppose that most real estate agents haven’t exactly been rushing out in droves to persuade distressed sellers to sell their properties short. But that’s probably something worth discussing with Ardell on Rain City Guide. The last time I checked, that post had already 81 comments. As I hinted earlier, Ardell doesn’t shy away from difficult topics, and I totally dig that, because that’s what transparency is all about: The issues must be debated in a civilized manner, and at the end, hopefully no one returns home, suffering from the onset of a nasty ulcer. For confronting us with “Leave the gun, take the cannoli”, I am declaring Ardell DellaLoggia the “Queen of Halloween”, and this week’s winner of Carnival of Real Estate #114. Chapeau, Ardell.

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I thank everyone for their submission, and especially Drew Meyers for the opportunity to be your CoRE host for this week. Be sure to join the Carnival of Real Estate again next week on Monday, November 3, 2008, over at Minnesota Investment Property.
P.S.: Don’t forget to hug your kids, and take them out trick-or-treating on Friday. Happy Halloween.

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Image Credits/Attribution (top to bottom):
● Trick or Treat: Jane M. Sawyer, licensed via morguefile.com
● Flying broomstick: Anna Dickie, licensed via morguefile.com
● Halloween cat: John Grunert / Seven Oaks Consulting, licensed via morguefile.com
● Corn maze: eob via flickr.com, licensed under Creative Commons 2.0
● Sears & Roebuck catalog house: dbking via flickr.com, licensed under Creative Commons 2.0
● Office meeting: sectionz via flickr.com, licensed under Creative Commons 2.0
● Queen Charlotte: dbking via flickr.com, licensed under Creative Commons 2.0
● My daughter and her friend who had the bejebeez scared out of them because they had never seen a live/decapitated butler serving candy, prior to last year’s trick-or-treating field trip. Me neither.

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Update: Post-Carnival interview with Drew Meyers from Zillow

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