Sorry, no questions accepted

Please realize that this website is my gift to you.  Private consultation is not.  With the volume of email I receive it's just not possible for me to function as a free helpdesk to the world.

In most cases your lender or your real estate agent will really be better sources of information than I will anyway.  Unlike me, they work with real estate issues day in and day out, and more importantly, they're more familiar with you and your specific situation.

Again, I'm sorry I can't help you.  Please don't send any question of any kind, for any reason.

No, I will not link to your crappy site/article.

I have zero interest in helping you get better search engine rankings.  There's nothing in it for me, because site already ranks well.  And it ranks well because I made a useful site, not because I spent my time begging links from other webmasters.  Make a useful website and yours will rank well too.  I've been publishing online for over 25 years and I've never responded favorably to a link request, so if you write anyway it's like you're desperate to prove how stupid you are.  (And I say that because clueless idiots do write me anyway, constantly.)  Here's more on why your link request failed.

If you insist on writing me about link exchanges anyway (as so many clueless link-exchangers do), then congratulations, I'll simply just trash your email as soon as I see it.

Fan mail

I'm glad you liked the site so much you want to thank my personally. But it's really not necessary. I know people like the site because I've received countless messages from readers, and thousands of people bookmark it, link to it, and share it with their friends. In fact, my sites get well over two million visitors a year. If only a fraction of that two million writes in, that's a lot of extra mail for me. As it stands, I currently have over 10,000 messages in my In Box. So please be assured that I've received more than enough thanks from my readers over the years. Thanks for understanding!

Affiliate programs

To sell me on your affiliate program, let me know how your product or service will benefit my readers.  If you talk only about how much money I'll make then your message will go straight to the trash.  If you're selling leads for loans, then you'd better tell me what steps you take to ensure borrower privacy and how your lenders' rates compare to the market average.  If you've read all of that, then click the last word in this sentence to get my email address.

Please actually read this or you will not get your ads on my site

What I DON'T accept

• NO TEXT LINKS.  I won't link words from my editorial to an advertiser's site so they can try to game the search engine rankings. I accept traditional banners and pagraph-style text ads only.
• NO GUEST ARTICLES OR INFOGRAPHICS.  I don't want your third-rate article or useless infographic, as part of your ploy to try to get a link to my site.
  
• NO LINK EXCHANGES. My site already ranks well, you have nothing to offer me. And it ranks well because I made a useful site, not because I spent my time begging links from other webmasters. Go back and make a useful website and yours will rank well too. Here's more on why your link exchange request failed.

What I *do* accept

• AFFILIATE PROGRAMS. If you're trying to sell me on your affiliate program, you chose the wrong option from the list.  Go back and choose the correct option.
  

• BANNER ADS.  For banners I accept only static ads (non-animated).  I accept all standard formats (160x600, 120x600, 468x60, 300x250, etc.).  I'll also accept a 728x90 but the only place that one will fit is at the very bottom of the page.
  
• TEXT / HTML ADS.  The headline + copy must be at least 190 characters (double what Google Adwords allows). The HTML size can be any standard banner size.

Details

• TRAFFIC. I serve 223,000 pageviews a month from my homebuying guide as of Dec. 2010.
  
• TERMS. One month minimum, renews automatically every month, cancel any time. You can pay by PayPal once I approve and install your ad(s).
  
• SPOTS AVAILABLE. This is exactly what is available. Nothing else is available, no other prices are available, please don't ask.
  • $350/mo., Adlinks spot.  I'll replace the Google Adlinks in the left-hand sidebar (under the menu) on each page with your ad.
    
  • $700/mo., Bottom spot. I'll replace the 468x60 Google Adsense on the bottom of each page with your ad.
    
  • $2100/mo., Right spots. Some pages have a 160x600 in a right-hand sidebar, and some have a 336x280 at the top of the article, floating in the content. I'll replace both of this with your ads.
• HOW TO INQUIRE. Give me the URL of the landing page, and tell me which spot you want.
  

Share corrections or other info.

Thanks for helping me try to improve the site! Readers have discovered many glitches in the site over the years, which has enabled me to make the site better for everyone.

But a large number of the "corrections" I receive aren't really corrections at all, so don't be offended if I don't "correct" what isn't really broken.

For example, one reader wrote to say that my advice about paying off a 30-year loan in 15 years won't actually save any interest, because (she says) the mortgage interest is "front loaded". I explained that, no, it's not, you can indeed save interest by prepaying your loan, and referred her to my page which explains how the interest is calculated.

She wrote back to insist that I'm wrong. She referred me to some uninformed post on some message board (!) which she thought backed up her position. So I explained that the idea that you can save interest by prepaying is universally accepted as fact, there is zero question about it, every finance textbook says the same thing, so will every bank, I've done it myself on several loans, etc. Here was her response:

The mere fact that you don't acknowledge that the interest rate is lower on a 15-year loan vs a 30-year loan tells me you're an idiot.  Forums are a great source to learn what other intelligent people have to say regarding your misconceptions.  You have nothing to offer as proof of any of your statements other than "I've done it myself" and references to your own information?  Ridiculous. 

So if you promise not to insult and argue with me if I tell you that your correction is not really a correction, then please contact me here.