Real estate refers to the buying, selling, and renting of properties such as homes, commercial buildings, and land. It is a complex and dynamic field that involves a wide range of topics, including property value, zoning laws, financing options, and market trends.
In this category of posts, we will explore various aspects of the real estate industry, providing readers with valuable information and insights to help them navigate the process of buying, selling, or renting a property.
Whether you are a first-time homebuyer, a seasoned investor, or simply curious about the real estate market, this category of posts has something for you.
Refinancing depends on a number of factors, including how long you plan to live in your home, how much interest you expect to pay, and how soon you will be able to recover your closing costs. Sometimes, it makes good financial sense to refinance your mortgage; other times, it doesn’t. …
Homeowners tend to flock to thirty-year mortgages. After all, that is the standard, with 90 percent of borrowers choosing the thirty-year option (according to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Company, commonly known as Freddie Mac). Many potential borrowers may not even realize that there are other choices for mortgage loan …
When you’re buying a house, part of the money will come from you and the rest will come from the bank. The part that you’ll come up with is called the down payment, and the bigger it is, the less you’ll have to borrow. The biggest obstacle for first-time homebuyers …
When it comes to taking on a mortgage, you need solid information in your corner. Lenders will offer you the largest possible loan based on how your finances look on paper. Their goal is to lend you a lot of money for a long time and collect tens of thousands …
Investing in and owning real estate can be both satisfying and profitable. Prospective real estate owners, unlike stock and bond investors, can use leverage to buy a property by paying off a portion of the total cost upfront, then repaying the balance plus interest over time. In some cases, a …
A house goes into foreclosure when the owner can’t make his or her mortgage loan payments. The house gets repossessed by the lender and put up for sale at an auction in order to satisfy the outstanding loan. Most often, these homes have been abandoned, sometimes by very angry former …
House flipping skyrocketed after 2008, when millions of homes went into foreclosure and investors scooped them up for pennies on the dollar. Then, within a few years, came the resurgence of the TV shows (there are dozens of them now) where a house was bought, fixed, and flipped in under …
House flips are more likely to fail (be unprofitable) than succeed, especially for beginners. Renovations always take longer to complete and cost more than expected, which can leave investors in the hole if they haven’t anticipated setbacks. In addition, it’s much harder to fix and flip a house than it …
Rental properties are one of the most stable ways to build wealth over time. By combining an asset with strong appreciation potential with a steady income stream, this investment offers both current financial security and long-term growth. Once you’ve got the knack, you’ll be able to turn a single rental …
Most new landlords don’t realize the wealth of expenses linked to rental properties; they assume the expenses are limited to what they can deduct from their own homes. But one of the biggest benefits of owning rental properties is the combination of real-world cash profits and on-paper tax losses. That …
Good tenants can make your landlord experience smooth and profitable; bad tenants can destroy property, skip out on rent, and make you wish you’d invested in the stock market instead. The key to zeroing in on the best tenants is research. You want to look for tenants with a proven …
Property managers handle all the heavy lifting and day-to-day tasks of being a landlord so you don’t have to. Specific responsibilities will vary depending on the type of property you own but they tend to fall into the same categories: Dealing with tenants Handling the property finances Maintaining the property …
One of the strongest tools in a real estate investor’s kit is the holding company, a special legal structure that shields your personal assets (your house, car, bank accounts, etc.) from any problems having to do with your investment properties. Two common types of business entities used for this purpose …
Investing in real estate offers you a set of key advantages that you won’t get with any other asset class. They’re what make real estate investing IDEAL (an acronym that’s been floating around for at least twenty-five years). IDEAL refers to the different ways real estate investing can help you …
Like every other type of investing, real estate investing is affected by a variety of factors. Some of these have a direct and obvious effect; for example, rising interest rates lead to lower property values. Others, such as changing demographics, have a less focused impact that affects values over time. …
Most people don’t think about their credit scores until either they’re ready to buy a house or they’ve been declined for a credit card or loan. That’s a mistake, as credit reputation has become an increasingly important part of life, affecting much more than just borrowing money. Building strong credit …
One of the great benefits of buying a house is the tax advantages extended to homeowners by the United States government. Under our tax laws, homeowners do not pay income taxes on the sale of a house if they have lived in it as their personal residence for at least …
Houses are expensive, and most people do not have $200,000 in cash, which is the median U.S. price. Many banks will finance a house, and there are government-backed programs that encourage homeownership through low down payments. When you borrow money for a house, you most likely will use a mortgage. …
We would all love to go back in time and buy a house when prices were at the bottom; however, we cannot travel back in time, and no one knows where the bottom is until it passes. How do you know the right time to buy? If you are thinking …
Most people assume buying a house is better than renting one. Most would also assume I’d always recommend buying. After all, I own 16 rental properties, run a real estate team, and complete 10 to 30 flips a year. But despite my experience, I don’t always think it is better …