By PETER ROSENTHAL, President V.I.P. Trust Deed Company This may seem like a very dry and boring subject, but, I promise you that this information will save you a lot of time, worry, and running around IF you are intending to make a change to the ownership of real estate without going through a regular […]

By PETER ROSENTHAL, President V.I.P. Trust Deed Company “What is the Current Discount?” I truly wish I had a dollar for every time I have been asked that question over the past 27 years. My response is usually, “That’s like asking a jeweler how much diamonds cost these days”. Obviously, a diamond is priced based […]

By PETER ROSENTHAL, President V.I.P. Trust Deed Company July 23, 2003 Though this is a hypothetical HORROR STORY; it happens all the time. The Kings buy a property from Mr. and Mrs. Jones for $300,000.00. The down payment is $50,000.00 and the seller, Jones, carries back a first Trust Deed in the amount of $250,000.00. […]

By PETER ROSENTHAL, President V.I.P. Trust Deed Company August 2003 We have now experienced the first, sharp, increase in Interest Rates in several years. For all practical purposes interest rates have risen approximately 1% in a 30-day period. Well, here come the “hucksters” again. Fixed interest rates have been so low that there has been […]

By PETER ROSENTHAL, President V.I.P. Trust Deed Company October 2003 It is with heavy heart that I again have to write an article about fraud. Unfortunately fraud is rampant in almost every industry. Trust deed investments have always been “easy pickens.” There are so many scams available I, frankly, don’t even know where to start. […]

By PETER ROSENTHAL, President V.I.P. Trust Deed Company Recently I devoted a column to “Lending Money to Friends and Relatives:” this is often a very sore subject. I can think of only one related area that causes MORE heartache. I can’t tell you how many stories I hear about parents who gave or loaned their […]

By PETER ROSENTHAL, President V.I.P. Trust Deed Company As most of my readers know, real estate runs in cycles. This is the third time (in California) that I have, personally, experienced sustained real estate appreciation over a multi-year period. You may disagree with exact dates but the run ups that I am referring to are […]

By PETER ROSENTHAL, President V.I.P. Trust Deed Company Though I have run this article in the past it is well worth a repeat. This article should be entitled “Do as I Say, Not As I Do”, because we have all loaned money to friends and relatives over the years. Some of these loans have probably […]

By PETER ROSENTHAL, President V.I.P. Trust Deed Company The original heading I was going to suggest for this column was: “Let’s Be Careful Out There,” however; credit scams are so prevalent that I will devote a whole article to it. Many industries have a HIGH PERCENTAGE of bad apples as opposed to small numbers. A […]

By PETER ROSENTHAL, President V.I.P. Trust Deed Company As the expression goes “all good things come to an end.” I have been authoring a real estate column in various publications consistently for over 25 years. A few years ago I promised my wife that I would slow down and I now take off four mornings […]