Why the Xbox 360 is (still) better than the PS3

I’m a 40-something, high-paid professional, who sometimes needs to blow off steam or otherwise look for opportunities to keep in touch with his executive-level friends around the world. Co-op gaming is an important component of my staying sane and in touch.

I play my games on the 1080p, 60″ Pioneer Kuro Elite PRO-151FD. This is a $6,500 plasma unit, and in conjunction with a $9,500 speaker system and similarly priced A/V audio system, it should be clear that price is not a factor in my (or my friends’) gaming decision.

So, this blog article isn’t written for those kiddos who want to argue about graphics, price or some other flame war-worthy debate between these two esteemed game consoles. Rather, I write to those folks who, like me, care more about performance than price. Who may have kids or a significant other, who gets bothered by noise, yet still desires high-fidelity sound. And, I write with the hope that Sony will get a clue and improve their offering to meet the needs of gamers like myself.

I am not loyal to either Sony or Microsoft. I’m loyal to the game, and only for as long as the game keeps me engaged (i.e. new maps, new scenarios and/or new ways of playing that are fun and exciting for me and my friends).

Despite this lack of loyalty to the consoles, I find that Sony is definitely lacking in some key areas, which I believe everyone should consider and I’m disappointed you don’t necessarily hear about in the popular press.

Xbox 360 has much better voice capabilities. PS3’s bluetooth is a non-starter.

Frankly, I cannot understand why more people haven’t made a big stink about this, or why Microsoft hasn’t taken more advantage of the situation.

Here are the issues. The Xbox 360 comes with a “headset” containing a microphone. This headset plugs directly into the wireless controller, and provides a high-quality voice chat for gamers. Basically, Microsoft built voice participation directly into its controllers and the game console itself, providing a quality experience from the get-go. No wires, except for the wire that plugs from the headset to the controller.

Apparently, this has been easy to adopt for third-party headset manufactures, as its easy to find a number of high-quality headsets that have the microphone built-in. This is important for many gamers, who like myself, cannot have ANY game noise at night, for fear of waking the children or seriously annoying the significant other living with us.

For the Xbox 360, I use Turtle Beach Ear Force X3, which allows me to listen to immersive audio, and participate with chat without bother to the other occupants of my home.

Sony has taken a different approach with the PS3, and has enabled bluetooth-based headsets for chat. While this may sound interesting at first blush, it’s really not a great, high-quality solution for gamers who value high-fidelity sound. Here’s why: Most bluetooth headsets (i.e. the ones you use for your phone), fit in your ear and therefore by definition, don’t allow one to use a sound headset. If you use a traditional bluetooth headset, you have to listen to game sound over your speakers. And, because you have a bluetooth headset sitting IN your ear, that ear isn’t getting as much game sound as your other ear. On top of this, most bluetooth headsets are geared for cell-phone quality voice, which is inferior to what most PC and Xbox 360 gamers expect (i.e. voices sound tinny, and are often sound broken up or erratic).

Some PS3 owners have compensated by using USB headsets made for PC’s. These headsets are superior to the bluetooth headsets, but suffer their own problems. First and foremost, they are USB and therefore require a USB cable to connect from the headset to the PS3. In my case, this requires a rather long USB cable and it’s not as elegant as the wireless solutions available for the Xbox 360.

Also, there is a MAJOR issue with USB headsets for the PS3, that isn’t easily discernible with a casual read of the popular press. That issue is: You cannot use USB headsets that require drivers to be installed. This is because installed drivers are PC-based drivers, and therefore cannot be used on the PS3. This severely limits the available USB-based headsets available for the PS3, and it’s often difficult to determine whether a particular USB headset needs drivers installed or not (i.e. sometimes you have to resort to looking at box contents of a particular USB headset).

And beware! Many headset manufacturers say they are PS3 compatible, and they are, but they either lack a microphone or otherwise don’t truly provide high-fidelity sound.

Guess what? You’ve guessed it, didn’t you??!? There are no decent, high-fidelity USB headsets with mic, that don’t require drivers to be installed. Therefore, at least for the PS3, you cannot obtain a USB headset with mic, that will sound great without damaging your relationship with your kids and your significant other.

Fortunately, Tritton just (December 2008) came out with a great USB headset, that will work with the PS3. It is the AX Pro headset. This is the only headset I’ve found, that truly provides high-quality sound, a mic, and works with the PS3 without drivers. The problem? Well, it requires two power supplies (for the headphones and external sound card), and it has two cables running into the PS3 (USB for voice and optical for sound), plus a long third cable going to the headset itself. This does create a bit of a headache for people like me, who run HDMI or optical from the PS3 to their home entertainment systems: If you run optical, you need it for the headphones, so need to figure out how to make the physical switch. If you run HDMI, the PS3 doesn’t send audio simultaneously to both HDMI and optical. You need to switch between the two, depending on whether you want your sound to go to your headphones (i.e. select optical) or your home entertainment system (i.e. select HDMI).

A headache??!? You betcha. It truly stuns me that Sony hasn’t addressed these issues, and delivered a clearer signal or leadership on the issue of high-fidelity headsets, as I believe many people want immersive sound with their gaming, and not upsetting the neighbors, kids or significant other. This is something Microsoft has understood from day-one.

Xbox 360 has immersive audio. PS3 doesn’t.

Speaking of immersive sound, I need to bring up an issue I’ve discovered between the Xbox 360 and the PS3: When playing a co-op Xbox 360 game, the voices of my teammates appear relative to their positions. What I mean by this, is if one of my friends is behind me, his voice comes from the rear surround-sound speakers, and it truly sounds like he’s behind me. This really improves game play, because when someone says “help me,” I don’t really need him or her to tell me where they are. I sort of follow the voice. I have yet to play a game, where this is happening on the PS3. In fact, quite the opposite seems to happen. In a large co-op of Resistance 2, I can’t tell you how many times I hear the following conversation:

“Help me!” And the friend asks, “Where are you?” The response is “over here.” Needless to say, this is not very effective in the heat of battle. These conversations don’t seem to happen on the Xbox 360.

Now to be fair to the PS3, the games I buy on the Xbox 360 aren’t the same games I buy on the PS3 (why waste money?) So, the fair test would be to test the same games on both platforms. The problem though, is Gears of War isn’t on the PS3, and Resistance 2 isn’t on the Xbox 360. In general, though, I stand by this observation.

Xbox 360 has a more responsive and reliable controller. PS3’s controller can be unreliable at times.

On the Xbox 360, I have yet to experience a controller that goes “amok” unless its battery goes low. I have 4 controllers for the PS3, and every time I sit to play a game, I experience the same thing: At random times throughout the game (although, seems directly proportional to when I’m at a critical stage), my character in the game just goes crazy.

Let me explain this precisely: This behavior happens between once and three times, every time I sit down and play a game. Therefore, it happens once to three times, every 3 hours of game play. What happens specifically, is that the controller and the PS3 console seem to loose contact with each other, for about 3 to 10 seconds. Whatever I was doing in the instant they loose contact with each other, my character continues to do for 3 to 10 seconds. If I was running to a hiding spot somewhere ahead of me, I get to watch my character race past the hiding spot I wanted (usually to the side of bad guys), and continue on running until the controller and PS3 resync themselves or whatever, and I regain control of my controller.

Given how little I play, and the associated bragging rights of winning (or the taunts I get from my friends, when it looks like I’ve done something truly foolish in the game), this is a very important issue for me.

It is my understanding that not all PS3 owners experience this problem, but many do. Because I experience this with all my controllers, I suspect it’s a problem with the PS3 itself, but can’t get Sony to do anything about it.

Additionally, the PS3 controllers seem to be cheaply made, and not quite as responsive as the Xbox 360 controllers. Here’s a test: Take your favorite character and run in a straight line over a long distance. Did you get to precisely where you intended, without having to compensate? I find, with the Xbox 360, that when I want my character to walk straight, he walks straight. With the PS3, my character will walk with a slight bias to the right or left. It’s not quite noticeable over short distances, but over long distances, it can become quite annoying.

Usually, I just compensate and continue on. However, this problem leads me to believe the PS3 controllers aren’t quite as well made, and therefore not quite as precise as the Xbox 360 controllers.

Xbox 360 functions as a great media center, and handles streaming well. PS3 and streaming content is frustrating at best.

I have a home network, and a central file server, that contains all my music. The advantage of this, is I can play (or stream) music to different TVs and audio systems throughout the house. When I build a playlist on my laptop, it’s immediately available to my entertainment system with the big stereo. Fun stuff. I also use this home network for pictures of the kids, etc.

With the Xbox 360, I can link to my home network’s fileserver, and access its music, photos, etc. The Xbox 360 has a fairly intuitive picture browser and music player. It also has decent music visualizations, so I can turn on the Xbox 360, and play a playlist over the big stereo and have nice-looking visualizations show up on my plasma. It’s a nice way to impress guests or to handle background music during parties.

The PS3, like the Xbox 360, can also link to my home network’s fileserver for access to music and photos. This is where the similarity ends. The PS3 has a more advanced picture browser, although less advanced music player. What really stands out, is the PS3 has absolutely no streaming capability whatsoever. This makes the PS3 almost unusable for playing music, although the picture browser is tolerable. Let me explain the music issue.

MP3’s are compressed files of music. The more compression the smaller the file size (good thing), but the fidelity decreases significantly (bad thing). Therefore, my MP3’s tend to have the least amount of compression possible. This results in larger file sizes, but great fidelity (notwithstanding the true audio snobs out there who cannot stand any form of compression, let alone digital representation of music). So, for example, an MP3 that some folks (wanting to save space) would have that’s 3MB, the same file for me may be 9MB. Not a tremendously large difference, but a difference nonetheless. Note that many good tracks out there, may be 12MB or more, with normal compression. They are large, simply because they are long tracks.

The Xbox 360 will stream this music when it plays. Therefore, when I select a song to play, the Xbox 360 immediately begins to play the song, even though the song hasn’t fully downloaded from my server to the Xbox 360. The PS3, on the other hand, will download the full song before it begins to play. For a 10MB file, this can take 3 minutes or more.

I’m at a loss to explain why it takes even 3 minutes for the PS3 to play a song I select, as the song should download much faster than that with my home network. I have a 1000 Mbits/s Gigabit Ethernet in the home. It takes mere seconds to download 10MB from my server to any computer in my house.

And, to make matters worse, let’s just accept that it takes 3 minutes to download to the PS3 and we’re willing to wait that long. One would expect, as the song is being played, that the PS3 would also be in the process of downloading the next song in the playlist, so we don’t have to wait another 3 minutes when the next song comes up. Sadly, such an expectation would be wrong. You need to wait another 3 minutes (or more) for the PS3 to get to the next song, once the current song has finished playing.

Xbox 360 updates are almost transparent. PS3 updates are excruciating and frustrating, politely speaking.

As an executive, with kids, time is perhaps my most precious commodity. I get two nights a week, after the kids go to bed, to game. This gives me roughly about 3 hours, twice a week, for a total of 6 hours a week. Any time sitting idle, waiting for an update is frustrating.

Sony takes frustrating to an entirely new level, however. To fully grasp the magnitude of this frustration, it is best to consider the Xbox 360 update process first.

With the Xbox 360, there are two stages of updates: A console update and a game update. When the Xbox 360 boots up (and it is connected to the Internet), it will see if there is an update for the console. If there is, it will ask you if you want to update the console. Most of the time (perhaps 90% or more), the update is optional. You can bypass the update, and continue using the Xbox 360 without issues. When it is mandatory, or you agree to install the update, most of the time (perhaps 99%) the update takes less than 3 minutes. The console reboots and you’re on your way.

The game update for the Xbox 360 is very similar to the console update, except that the game manufacturers appear to dictate whether an update is mandatory or not, and the update is usually more mandatory than not. Most updates usually take less than 3 minutes.

All told, the majority of Xbox 360 updates are optional and take very little time.

Now, consider the PS3 update process. Update notices aren’t given, until you access a game (or resource) that requires an update. So, you start your game, back out of your game, do an update, and get back to your game. All updates (so far, to my experience) have been mandatory updates, so you cannot play the game until you back out of the game and go to “System Update” in the PS3 control panel. This is where frustration really kicks in: The updates apparently are either really large, or Sony has some really slow computers dishing out updates to its millions of PS3 consoles out there. The last update I did, which is typical of updates, took over 40 minutes to download and install.

I will admit, the update process has sped up over the past year or so, because updates used to take hours. And, I have the ultra-fast, more expensive Comcast service that provides 7megs download (and I usually experience much faster service) speeds.

Just last week, I was about to play Resistance 2, Fall of Man, with my friends and had to go through this cumbersome update process. Again, remember I have 3 hours to play. We didn’t know about an update, until my friends and I were about to play. We all got hit with a mandatory update, which took a total of 50 minutes to complete: Almost 1/3rd of our game time gone.

To add insult to injury, the update process had a notice indicating something to the effect of (I’m paraphrasing here), “This update is required to support new photo albums.” Who the #$@#$ cares about new photo albums??!? I was wanting to kick my buddies’ respective butts at R2. And, now 50 minutes is being wasted downloading an update I don’t even need??!?

In summary …

The Sony PS3 is a great game unit, and carries a significant plus with the BlueRay player. However, for serious gamers who care about high-fidelity sound, cables, their time, chatting with their buddies, and/or a media center, the Xbox 360 still comes out ahead — far ahead. These issues aren’t discussed in the popular press, but they are very important for a quality gaming experience.

I’m sure Sony is quite aware of these deficiencies in its platform, and just doesn’t care to improve the experience for its gamers. Perhaps Sony will prove me wrong.

Kudos to Microsoft.

The Inauguration of the 44th President of the United States

I, like many of my fellow Americans (and perhaps, my fellow human beings around the globe), am glued to the news and video streams involving Barack Obama’s inauguration today, on this cold and blistery Tuesday, January 20th, 2009.

I just read a commentary by Donna Brazile, for CNN, entitled “A day to rejoice — and recommit” (located here).

I think she does a marvelous job discussing why this election — and the inauguration of Barack Obama — is so important for so many of us.

For me, she misses an important point, though. For me, Barack Obama is an extremely competent, intelligent and inclusive individual: Precisely the type of individual that is so needed to lead this great country of ours. For me, the color of his skin is absolutely irrelevant. For me, it’s the “content of their character,” that has been so lacking in the White House for so long.

Our country has suffered greatly because of this.

For me, this is an important day, because we have the right individual to lead our nation.

The tears in my eyes aren’t because we have an African-American in the White House, but because we have an extremely competent, intelligent and inclusive leader in the White House.

The tears in my eyes aren’t because we’ve made a huge step forward in civil rights (although I agree, that’s a wonderful icing on an otherwise delicious cake), but because we as Americans see that “competence and character,” not popularity or “moral values,” is the yardstick with which to measure our leaders.

The holidays are coming. Are you ready??!?

You: A merchant that sells services or other products that aren’t easily purchased over the Internet (i.e. pizzas).

The problem: How can you take advantage of the Internet to monetize web-based traffic, sell more of your services or products, and increase cash flow, especially during the holidays?

The answer: Use BoomTime to sell Instant Gift Certificates on your website!

Yes, I do feel a bit guilty for the shameless plug to one of my businesses. I lose the guilt though, when I think about the results. Let me explain: We went after spas and salons with our SpaBoom brand, and have almost 2,000 spas and salons signed up. (Don’t believe me? Check out our aggregating website, Spa Emergency!) We’ve learned something: That almost 50% of gift buyers wait until the last 48 hours of a holiday or event to make their gift purchase. These buyers are rushed, in a hurry and either don’t trust the mail service (i.e. US Post Office, FedEx, etc) or they have just plain run out of time and cannot mail it even if they wanted to.

So, our spa and salon customers are nearly doubling their gift certificate sales using our Instant Gift Certificate technology during the holidays. Over the span of a year, the results are pretty dramatic. They are seeing a 15% to 30% in overall gift certificate revenues.

So, check it out! If you’re a spa or salon, go to www.spaboom.com, otherwise check out www.boomtime.com and consider using us to drive Instant Gift Certificate sales. We use a “pay for performance” model, which is a fancy way of saying commission of 5% or less, depending on your volume of sales in a given month. The good news about this is it doesn’t cost you anything unless you start making money.

Good luck to you and have a happy (and prosperous) holiday season!

Radio Free David

Internet radio listening has never been more fun!

Radio Free David brings you the best music for your internet radio listening pleasure, from classic internet radio and the solid beats of yesterday to today’s cutting edge songs. He has assembled an awesome collection of songs, and although you might know the tune, you probably haven’t heard these versions before. Give them a listen on the Internet and you just might be surprised at the selection and variety of music they offer from their deep radio playlist. You can easily connect to them and listen to the music using your favorite player. You can also listen to them on your cell phone!

The Radio Free David Playlist

The Radio Free David playlist brings you the best possible songs and cuts of your favorite songs. Each and every tune has been hand-selected, considered, and placed into the rotation for your listening pleasure. They feature the less heard versions of songs, including live, acoustic and unplugged versions. They are very particular about what they play and they have to like it! Sit back, turn up the volume, and enjoy!

Request your favorite music

You can request and dedicate songs! Just visit the playlist and find your favorite tune, then click the “Request” link next to each song. You will even have the chance to dedicate the tune!

Getting angry … it’s all a matter of perspective …

It’s sort of interesting, how your world view can change when you have a near-death experience … and your life flashes before your eyes.

I had just that sort of event, on the highway, earlier today.

You see, I had a semi-truck decide to cut across two lanes of traffic, and run me off the highway. And it got me thinking … how we get angry as individuals, because of the stories we tell ourselves … making outrageous assumptions about someone else’s behavior. Let me explain …

I was traveling about 70mph on a six-lane highway in Albuquerque, NM. I was in the far right-hand lane, and the semi was traveling as fast as I was, in the far left-hand lane. I saw out of the corner of my eye, a big wall changing lanes … coming towards me. I looked, and noticed he had his turn signal on. I naturally assumed he was changing lanes, to take the middle lane that sat between us.

Well, without so much as a one-second pause, the semi kept on coming … over into my lane. I had nowhere to go. A concrete wall was approximately 6 feet from my car on the right. I had only a second to react, and decided to jam on my brakes. The semi crossed into my lane, missing me car by inches and kept going on his way.

Luckily, no one was behind me, so I didn’t have anyone crash into my rear. No other cars nearby, so no other accidents to avoid.

I was really, really angry at that truck driver. How could he intentionally run me off the road like that??!?

I sped up, overtook him on his left, pulled in front of him, rolled down my window and gave him a long, hard look at my bird. Then, I sped away to get to my final destination.

My heart raced. My mind full of doubt. Should I have slammed on my brakes in front of the semi, to show him the extent of my displeasure? Was it impolite to give him the bird? What would have happened, if the semi crashed into me? Should I have kept my ground, because the semi would have veered back into the middle lane at that last minute, in a high-stakes game of chicken??!?

It slowly occurred to me that I was really angry, because I assumed he intentionally tried to run me off the road. That’s the story I told myself. He intentionally did it. By thinking his behavior was intentional, it opened the door to all sorts of angry feelings and rude behavior on my part.

However, what really is the truth? Did a truck driver set out this morning to run some random freak off the road??!? Or, is it more likely that I wasn’t actually going the same speed as the semi, but in fact going a bit faster, so that the trucker didn’t see me when changing lanes? Sure, he was wrong for changing two lanes of traffic at the same time, but I imagine he felt it was his only opportunity to get over in time to take advantage of an exit some miles ahead.

So, my point here is, I can get angry at a trucker for changing two lanes at the same time, and putting my life in danger. But, that anger is very different than the anger I might feel, if I believe someone did it intentionally. Anger is a matter of perspective.

It seems to me, folks who frequently get angry at others, have a hard time empathizing and putting themselves in the shoes of others. I’m going to bet a psychologist might say this is because such individuals long for this treatment themselves and their anger is a form of fear at not getting what they really desire. Sure, that might be true, but “do unto others” goes a long way. Understand that anger is a matter of perspective, and seek to understand the perspective of the object of your ire.

Beware of Lifetime Warranties

“Buy it for looks. Buy it for life.”

Moen purchased a great reputation, by dumping millions of dollars into its very clever marketing campaign. It makes the consumer think “great looks,” and they really stand behind their products. Moen isn’t the only company to boast of a “lifetime warranty.” Just google lifetime warranty to see what pops up.

Many companies will use the phrase “limited lifetime warranty,” at least alerting you that there are limitations. Be very, very wary with “lifetime warranty” claims, whether they are preceded with “limited” or not. From my experience, lifetime warranties are worthless and definitely not worthy of any consideration whatsoever, when making a purchase decision. This goes for Moen.

Let me tell you why, but before I do, Seth Godin writes on his blog that there is indeed at least one company that stands behind the phrase “lifetime warranty.” That company is Le Creuset, the “french enamel on cast iron cookware people.” My hats off to Le Creuset … I’ll be on the lookout for other companies of this ilk, but they are unfortunately few and far between.

Why are lifetime warranties worthless? While many lifetime warranties are different, you will generally find some combination of four significant limitations to lifetime warranties, that really reduce their value:

• Warranty Card - Many manufacturers require you to send in a “warranty registration card” (on your own dime, using your own postage), that contains your name and address, date of purchase, place of purchase, etc. There are many legitimate reasons for this warranty registration card, but it also helps the manufacturer prevent people from avoiding the limitations in a lifetime warranty. Additionally, most manufactures limit how long you can wait from the date of purchase, before you can submit the warranty registration card (usually a couple of months). If you miss this deadline, many manufacturers will disclaim your warranty. Because many people don’t send in their warranty registration cards, this is an excellent way for manufactures to weasel out of their lifetime warranty.
• Original consumer purchaser - You need to save your receipt, which most people will lose within the first year. You cannot transfer the warranty to someone else, even if they buy the product directly from you or they buy it installed in a home. Also, the warranty doesn’t apply, even if you buy a new home from a builder. In the case of Moen, if you are buying a home with Moen faucets, you are buying faucets without any warranty whatsoever. See Moen Warranty Information for more.
• As long as the original consumer purchaser owns their [fill in the blank: home, boat, car, etc] - The fact that you’ve installed a product in your home is immaterial to the product itself, but it allows manufactures to get out of the warranty sooner. If your name happens to be on the receipt, they will generally not ship a replacement to a different name. Similarly, they will not ship a replacement product to a different address, from what they have on file with the warranty registration card.
• Original packaging - While Moen doesn’t have this requirement, many resellers, distributors and manufacturers will require you to send in the original packaging to take advantage of a lifetime warranty. Again, just google “lifetime warranty” “original package” to get a sense of how common this is. Obviously, very few people keep the packaging of their purchased products for any appreciable length of time. From a seller’s perspective, this is a great way to weasel out of a lifetime warranty.

The above limitations will significantly reduce any warranty, lifetime or otherwise. I just personally find them onerous on a lifetime warranty, only because these limitations are so common and so damaging to the value of a lifetime warranty.

My advice is, stop thinking of Moen as high-quality faucets. They aren’t any better (or worse) than the average faucet maker out there. And, when confronted with any warranty — but especially “lifetime” or “limited lifetime” warranties — ask to see the “fine print.” Examine the warranty for the language above, and if it limits you in any of the ways above, assume the warranty is worthless. In other words, don’t make your purchase decision based on the warranty (or lack thereof).

How to ensure you get the very best mortgage rate and deal

I don’t know about you, but I’m a terrible juggler. Two balls, I can handle. But, give me three or more balls, and not just one or two - but all the balls - will end up on the floor.

I have the same problem when trying to make a decision that involves a number of different factors. I’ll quickly loose track of all the variables, end up making the decision on gut instinct, and then royally screw up the task at hand. That can happen to me when buying a new car.

• Quick Tips for Getting a Mortgage or Refinancing
• Using a Spreadsheet to Keep Mortgage Brokers Honest

And it can definitely happen to me, when I’m trying to find a mortgage or refinance my home. It seems like every bank or mortgage broker I talk to, confuses me more than the previous one. I end up getting all confused and embarrassed, and end up make a hasty decision that I regret for years - since a bad mortgage decision can be one of the costliest mistakes to make in one’s life.

So, to compensate for this tremendous shortcoming in my character, I’ve come up with a system and I’m now sharing it with you. It involves Microsoft Excel, so apologies to those of you who don’t use Excel or detest computers. You also need to make sure you have the “Analysis ToolPak” add-in installed for Excel, which is a free add-in on the office install disks. Microsoft has a brief tutorial on how to install the Analysis ToolPak. You do NOT need the Analysis ToolPak VBA add-in.

Don’t worry. Take a deep breath. If you can suffer through this, and learn the spreadsheet, you can save yourself a LOT of money. Even better, you’ll have a tool to keep everyone honest and to help with negotiations. For example, I’ve used this spreadsheet to review my closing documents, only to find the closing documents were in error. You cannot imagine how amazed your mortgage broker will be, when you correct his or her numbers! At any rate, I’m going to walk you through the entire spreadsheet and help you understand how to add numbers to it and compare not just the mortgage rates, but closing costs, points, etc, to determine what is the very best mortgage for you!

Quick Tips on Getting a Mortgage or Refinancing

Okay, first some quick tips. Then, I’ll give you my recommended steps.

• Mortgage brokers almost will never give you the best deal. They know this, so will talk about “service” and “not leaving you when the loan is done.” That’s all a bunch of BS. At the end of the day, you want to pay the least amount of money. Even $100 per month can go a long way to upgrading your cable service, paying for a better car, etc. Don’t give your money away!
• Some of the best rates I’ve found are at eloan. They are a reputable company and the last 4 of my mortgages were through them.
• Do your research! A great place to search for rates is Mortgage-X.
• Don’t forget to check with your bank - yes, the one you have your checking account with - as they may have competitive rates for existing customers.
• Believe it or not, it’s okay to pay points. Points buy down the long-term cost of the loan. If you believe you will not refinance for at least three years, points are an excellent way to save money in the long-run. Make sure you look at a few mortgages with points, and see how they compare. Points are also great for lowering the monthly rate (because you have a lower interest rate).
• It’s sometimes difficult to get all the closing costs, and different companies and brokers will throw different numbers at you. At the end of the day, they all have to put those numbers on a HUD. Do NOT agree to do a deal, until you’ve seen the HUD and you’ve plugged the numbers into the spreadsheet.

Using a Mortgage Spreadsheet to Keep Mortgage Brokers Honest

On to Larry’s recommended steps for obtaining the very best mortgage rate and deal you can:

1. Download my Mortgage Analysis Spreadsheet. (It’s virus free, promise!)
2. Shop for a mortgage rate, like you would normally do. Talk to people. Find a mortgage broker you can trust.
3. Do you have a rate and mortgage in mind? Get a HUD, and put in the details of that mortgage in the “Baseline” of the spreadsheet.
4. Go to eloan.com and see what sort of mortgage you can obtain from them.
5. Whatever type of loan you’re considering, i.e. 30-year, consider ARM and fixed. Consider each with some points. Put them all in the spreadsheet.
6. Now ask yourself, “How long do I think I’ll go, before I will refinance?” Let’s say you say 6 years. Then, look at the spreadsheet and compare the 6-year outlook. Which of the loans will save you the greatest amount of money? Look at the “P+I” column, which represents your monthly payment (not including any escrow payments you might have to make). Can you afford the mortgage?
7. The chance is very great that the best loan for you is an online company you’ve found, like eloan. Take that data into your local outfit, whether mortgage broker or bank, and give them an opportunity to match. They have many tools at their disposal, and you might be surprised at what they can do - if they really want your business.
8. If you do get your local outfit to give you a better deal, get a HUD and put the information in the spreadsheet to keep them honest and make sure it’s the best decision for you.
9. Finally, make a decision and lock in a rate. Close your mortgage as you normally would. However, make sure you keep your spreadsheet and data handy, because you’ll want to us it to verify your closing documents and final HUD. Don’t let anyone change the numbers on you. Steadfastly stick to the data in the spreadsheet. It will never steer you wrong.

If you follow the steps above, you will save yourself hundreds of dollars EACH AND EVERY MONTH, and you will save yourself a hundred-thousand dollars over the lifetime of the loan (depending on the loan amount, of course).

The pictures above are snapshots of the spreadsheet (If you click on those snapshots, a larger picture display so you can really get a look at the spreadsheet). Each row represents a loan. I’ve inserted 6 example loans, so you can see how this works. The empty cells are where you put your fresh information in. There are two main areas for each loan. The first area (represented by pink and blue cells) are where you put the loan information in. Pink represents required information, while blue is optional information. The second area (represented by white cells) are the areas where the spreadsheet works its magic: It calculates all the principle, payment and interest information. The most important area is under “Total Savings in the Given Year.” If I didn’t think I will refinance again until 6 years from now, I would want to know “If I go with loan X, will I save money or loose money in 6 years?”

The way I answer this, is find my “baseline” loan (you know, the loan I would probably do because I’m completely lost and confused, and think it “feels good” and I’m anxious to just make a decision and move on with my life). I put that “baseline” loan information on the line that says “Baseline Loan”. Now, I look at the information presented for the other loans that I’ve researched. I look to see how much money I would save - or loose - if I go with a loan other than the baseline.

To be crystal clear: The loan that has positive (i.e. black) numbers in the “6 Year Savings” column, that loan is better than my baseline loan (remember that I was using 6 years as an example - if you think you’ll move in 4 years, use that column). Likewise, if the loan I’m comparing to baseline has negative (i.e. red) numbers in the “6 Year Savings” column, that loan will leave me in a worse-off position than my baseline loan.

So, again, take a deep breath and plunge in. Use the examples I’ve included as a guide. If you do it right, this spreadsheet will tell you your closing cost, monthly payments and interest expense to the penny. Good luck!