Investment property
There were big doings at the White House last week over the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the ailing giants who still finance roughly six out of ten new home mortgages in the U.S.
If possible, it is ALWAYS better to buy than to rent. Right? Perhaps Not.
The results of the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) recent bi-annual housing survey supports what the multi-family housing industry has already known for a long time - that given the opportunity, many renters would rather own their own homes than rent. Not only do multi-family properties compete for tenants with other apartment developments, they also compete with the lure of homeownership.
If you"re on the hunt for an apartment right now, you"ve probably noticed that you"re in good company. Each weekend, hordes of hunters arrive at the newest and most luxurious complexes. The apartment business is growing increasingly competitive in many markets, and leasing companies are offering tempting specials to sweeten the deal and lure prospective renters away from competitors. Working in this kind of "every man for himself" climate, however, requires a little prior knowledge before you begin your search. It really is a jungle out there.
The ballots have been cast, the votes have been tallied, and the winners have been chosen in Building Products" 2007 Most Valuable Products awards competition.
From the industrial revolution to today"s brick and mortar and online communities, where the focus is on efficiency, productivity, and results, effective communications are a challenge but also a necessity if a builder"s brand is to remain relevant in the marketplace. One can learn first-hand from the recent tragedy in California to see how important honest, effective communications and reputation building are for success in any emergency.
An influential committee leader in the House of Representatives is planning a post-summer surprise for millions of Americans whose houses contain 3,000 square feet or more of interior space: A proposal to take away their mortgage interest deductions.
We are all health conscious today. For businesses, "trimming the fat" is also important. In fact, it is a necessary step for success, especially during down markets. Some companies offer employee incentives for ideas that cut costs. Others review purchasing decisions and look to new suppliers for more cost-efficient products that are at or above the quality normally purchased. One area where builders can cut costs without sacrificing quality, and meet a growing consumer demand, is in laminate flooring, where suppliers are also doing their best to gain traction in this burgeoning market.
Builders looking for ways to enhance their bottom lines in an increasingly competitive market, might consider what their Realtor counterparts decided long ago: ancillary services.
Elected officials and corporate America may finally be waking up to that fact that the world is no longer able to produce the coal and fossil fuels necessary to sustain America"s energy needs, and that renewable energy holds the promise of a better future for this and future generations of Americans. For builders, this realization represents an ideal time to consider a new, profitable business model that includes solar power in new home developments. California"s Million Solar Roofs Bill (SB 1), effective January 1, 2007, is the first step in what promises to be a jump start to an energy paradigm shift among property owners across the country.
Although there has been an increase in movement back to some of the major cities, sales of existing homes so far in 2004 still show that the majority of buyers remain wedded to the suburbs, as they have since the end of World War II.
Suburban sprawl can strain a community"s infrastructure and spread thin crucial community services including health care, street, road and highway maintenance, police protection, fire fighting, water supply, and sewage systems.
You may not find your dream home in a gated community because developers often don"t fully expose such homes to the demographic group that has revealed a growing penchant for the properties.
An experiment that includes elements of the Big Brother reality TV show -- replete with hundreds of electronic sensors as well as microphones and video cameras -- goes much further by bringing science to task examining how people use technology in their homes.
Cohousing can be more expensive than traditional housing because of the unique neighborhood style built from the ground up, but the Northern California town of Auburn is looking at cohousing as a way to make housing more affordable.
In 1998 a home builder, some photovoltaic (PV) and solar system engineers, renewable energy scientists, university researchers, the city of Lakeland, FL and the State of Florida constructed two homes in a Lakeland suburb.
If you live in a sprawling suburban neighborhood, you and your children have a greater chance of weighing more and developing higher blood pressure than
Some homes built in the last 20 years are built of materials that are labeled “exotic” by the Home Inspection Industry.
When you"re considering a change for your kitchen or bathroom, you may want
New-home buyers in the West are purchasing larger homes and prices are
Interior design is not about decorating your home for the next buyer in safe beiges and whites. It"s about making your home a satisfying, emotional and comfortable experience for you and your family.
First-time home buyers often enjoy improvements in their financial status, better relationships with their neighbors and better neighborhoods.
In 1990, Centex, the nation"s largest builder, closed on 7,549 houses.
People used to dream of living in a home fit for a king. Today, buyers are increasingly looking for homes fit for a kid. Though parents still have the final word on what new home they buy, children can have an impact on that decision.
Although the number of proponents of environmentally-friendly construction practices is growing, it"s still not easy building "green."
Demographers predict that home buyers will remain in their houses longer than at any time since the Great Depression. Over the next 20 years buyers will increasingly prefer to "age in place" -- that is, grow older without moving.
A plan that first surfaced a couple of years ago, aimed at allowing foreclosed homeowners to remain in their homes as renters, is gaining greater attention today. "The basic point is you"re recognizing an unusual situation so you"re temporarily changing the rules on foreclosure," says co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Dean Baker, who first proposed the plan.
The countdown is on. In less than a month, the U.S. International Trade Commission will make a decision that could either drastically raise or lower the cost of construction in the United States.
"It"s not easy being green," said Kermit the frog. But if you"re in the market for a new home, it may be easier than you think. Green is a color that more builders and home buyers are embracing as they find being kind to the environment has benefits for people, too.
Their new homes may be stunning. Their salespeople may have just the right amount of personality, sparkle and a great no-hard-sell approach. Their advertising may jump out at you in the weekend newspaper, and their slick, beautifully-illustrated brochures may find you gazing longingly at their floor plans.
Ask any contractor in just about any trade what they hate most about their jobs, and the overwhelming response would probably be “paperwork!”
Energy is the buzzword these days. Ever since deregulation was instituted, that silent entity upon which we have relied (and perhaps taken for granted) for generations is now in peril, especially in California, where utility companies are in huge trouble, hinting of possible bankruptcies and seeking rate hike approvals across the board.
Statistically speaking, a vast majority of the new home communities in the
It stands to reason that if a builder wants to build a reputation on quality,
They"re faster, they"re sleeker, they"re more convenient, they"re wired, and
Our fascination with the "before and after" never seems to wane. And where trappings of our very American heritage are concerned, we love to see what was once beautiful and majestic restored to its former glory, somehow appreciating it even more now than when it may have been when it was originally built.
Are you thinking of building your home? There is something you are going to need whether you realize it or not, because every new home has to have one - a building plan. Did you know that you can pick and choose your own set of plans, quickly and easily, using the Internet?
Believe it or not, the French people were not in love with their majestic Eiffel Tower when the magnificent structure was dedicated in 1889 by Gustave Eiffel. As a lofty tribute to steel, the Tower received a lukewarm reception from its French constituency. As we all know, today it is a landmark and point of pride for the people of France. Although steel framing has been around for centuries and is more commonly used in framing commercial buildings in the U.S, it is finally beginning to reach its stride in new home construction. Skyrocketing lumber prices have significantly spurred tens of
It"s a mystery, sometimes, why some new homes looks as if they "belong" where they are, "fitting in" with their surroundings, and others seem to appear out of place and awkward. By the same token, some new home floor plan designs seem to "flow" in logical ways and others seem "chopped-up," confusing us as we tour them. Worse yet, do you sometimes feel, no matter how many builders" home you tour, they all end up seeming indistinguishable from one another? When you see new home communities whose homes seem better sited, designed and constructed, it may very well be that an architect was directly involved in their creation. The truth is, however, many homebuilders have dispensed with the services of architects except for custom revisions or site-specific changes that must be made to the cookie-cutter variety of production home designs.
The National Association of Home Builders Research Center has initiated a research project to see just how far America is from producing an ultra energy efficient - "Net-Zero" - fossil fuel home.
I"d like to think that at some point, every writer with a bit of good humor and perhaps a hint of cynicism, will poke fun at the industry that made their career possible, but eventually be mercifully forgiven by them. The homebuilding industry is one that has lots of jargon and many euphemisms that have amused me over the years, and I couldn"t help but mentally gather them together for a column of my own someday.
Home is a place to renew and recharge our batteries. Above all, it should be a haven for peace and reflection, giving meaning to all the craziness we endure on a daily basis. This and many other sentiments are reflected by new studies about what homebuyers want in a home, conducted by Texas A & M University"s Real Estate Center, and outlined in a release by Relocation Information Services.
How does homebuilding get better? How do builders raise the standards by
The genteel word people around the world oftentimes use to refer to the
Which comes first when you move into a new home, the clutter or the closet?
Unlike the computer sciences, where the innovations seem to come fast and furious, the construction sciences just seem to plod along. Save for a few scattered changes, builders continue to put up houses pretty much the same way they"ve building "em for ages.
Call it new residential construction, tract houses, "spec" homes, or
"Whoever built the house, he built better than he knew, or
How does a builder/developer find qualified marketing consultants for their
As you may have noticed when shopping for a new home, builders strive to make
Besides innovative architecture and floor plans, what new products are now
This past March, it was widely reported that a New York business owner got
Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.37 percent. The 15-year FRM this week averaged 4.69 percent with an average 0.7 point, down from last week when it averaged 4.77 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 5.91 percent. Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) averaged 4.82 percent this week, with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 4.88 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 5.82 percent.
Homeowners to cash in on a free power source - the sun - as a source of
Buyers often wonder why buying a new home seems so much more complicated than
It"s new, but it"s not new. Then it"s used. Well, kind of. But it has expensive hardwood floors, gorgeous landscaping, cute decorations in the kids room and a fireplace in the master bedroom.
A home seller tells Realty Times he is contemplating contacting an attorney over losing a sale he blames on Zillow"s estimate of his home.
Leveraging yourself by means of putting little or nothing down on your mortgage is not a new concept, but over the past couple of years it"s morphed itself away from those who don"t have any down payment money or for those qualified for a VA loan -- to those who have down payment money but don"t want to use it.
If you are considering a move to a growing number of regions, be prepared to live a lifestyle heavily influenced by dry weather conditions.
When you"re sitting right in the middle of a buyers market, or at least an equitable market (neither a buyer nor seller market), this is the time when buyers should start asking for the moon. If you don"t ask, you"ll never get what you want.
We"ve all heard the adage: "Location, location, location" used when talking about real estate. It couldn"t be truer than when you"re choosing a property to make your home.
The appraisal can be a part of the real estate process that is both time consuming and anxiety building -- as you wait to find out what your home is worth, according to certified experts. While the emotional experience of the latter can"t be completely removed, the first part can be aided significantly.
Contrary to popular belief, the bottom line in contract negotiations is not always the bottom line. Obviously, how much you"re going to pay for or gain from the sale of a house is on the top of the spreadsheet; however, there are a certain percentage of contracts that fall apart because of the terms or non-sales price parts of the contract, rather than the financial bottom line.
We had just taken off from the Portland airport, and I was getting comfortable in my seat. Well that"s if you call getting comfortable negotiating with your neighbor"s elbow.
Question: I signed a contract to purchase a house, and settlement was scheduled to take place last week. I obtained a mortgage loan, and showed up at the title attorney"s office ready to go to closing. Only the Seller"s real estate agent was there, and advised me that the Seller has changed his mind.
Many real estate prognosticators have been worrying about the slowing of the appreciation rates across real estate markets nationwide, scaring many buyers out of the market. The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversite released its 2nd quarter figures on average housing prices this month and many market watchers jumped on the "dropping prices" bandwagon.
As baby boomers get older and closer to retirement, and the stock market continues to underperform, many investors have been driven to real estate investing. This demand has created a
When it comes to eventually moving into that dream home you"ve always wanted, keep in mind that many of the choices we make on a house are really driven by lifestyle desires, rather than lifestyle needs.
The new game in the new home business is called, "What"s Your Incentive?"
It"s not just homebuyers who are being hit with the high cost of living in San Diego, California. Those in the rental market are struggling to keep up with rents.
With all the talk of softening markets, many buyers have moved to the sidelines hoping to wait out high prices, believing that lower prices will help them along the path to homeownership or to move up into the house they really want. Instead of prices, buyers should really keep their eyes on interest rates – the most powerful component of the home-buying process.
Along with the red hot housing market"s rise in home values, property taxes are zooming up too.
Experts project that increasing numbers of Canadians will join the more than three million others who currently escape our northern winter annually as Snowbirds or live in the US year round. Whether you want to move seasonally or permanently to the band of warm Southern US states known as the "Sun Belt," there are a few cold hard facts to consider first.
Question: I signed up to purchase three investor condominiums two years ago when construction just began. The prices are locked in at $300,000 each and my plan was to put ten percent down on each unit. I was told by my real estate agent that financing wouldn"t be a problem and that the value of the condo units would rise.
In a move to ward off foreclosure, a luxury condo developer has turned the units intended to sell for more than a quarter million dollars into a homeless shelter with the help of a New York-based nonprofit.
"The timeshare industry initially had some reputation problems that started in Florida where [condominium] conversions were the name of the game," said Gloria A Collinson, President of the Toronto-based Canadian Resort Development Association (CRDA). "In Canada, we overcame this by commencing the building of purpose-built just for timeshare and legislation was introduced so fly-by-nights were no longer acceptable. When the Association was formed 25 years ago, one of its purposes was to offset the bad reputation."
A few weeks back, I wrote a column about a seller complaining about a home inspection.
Question: My husband and I are considering purchasing a condo near our son"s college. The lender we spoke with offered us only the higher, investment property rate. She gave us three reasons:
Your next real estate transaction may be managed from an Internet-based transaction management system (TMS). Plenty of companies are beginning the trek toward being the first in line for servicing the transactions of real estate agents. These TMS providers, so far, include title companies, software companies, real estate companies and multiple listing services.
Your home is not an island and, especially as you age, if the surrounding community isn"t livable you may be adrift in a sea that"s not so tranquil.
Wildfires are no stranger to California homeowners, but no matter where you live, it"s likely that the threat of a fire can occur. However, if you have taken precautions, there is a good chance you can prevent a fire from completely destroying your home.
When disaster strikes, humans react in different ways, but most will experience anxiety and stress. How one copes with that stress and anxiety differs from person to person.
AMT (or alternative minimum tax) is a parallel tax system that was set up with the idea that all taxpayers should pay something in taxes each year. Originally designed for the wealthiest taxpayers, AMT has adapted over the years to catch more and more middle-income families. It"s becoming more and more of a challenge to keep AMT at arm"s length.
The soft housing market has remanded you to your current home a little longer than you planned.
It is a sign of the times: Terrorist insurance for your rental properties. While you may or may not find this type of coverage necessary, protecting yourself and your property should be top of mind.
It"s the illusive question for many a homeowner in today"s market. "What is my home worth?" Homeowners need to know this information for many reasons. While there may not be a primary purpose, determining the value of your house can be useful in many financial decisions you"ll make in the future.
Three realty fraud suspects in Modesto, CA, were sent to trial this month, accused of lying to steal the trust of seven families facing foreclosure and then tricking them into signing over property deeds for a fraction of their value.
Some 30 million households will have some kind of connected entertainment network by 2010, but when it comes to the display panel and viewing media, choice will the critical and home work essential.
If you are buying a home in any of the nation"s hurricane-prone regions, keep one step ahead of storm forecasts.
Most Americans spend 90 percent of their time indoors and accidents in the home hurt over 6.5 million people last year, according to the Healthy Homes Partnership, a collaboration of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the University of Wisconsin-Extension. Recognizing these and other statistics that indicate some homes are literally making their owners sick, a number of nonprofits are offering advice on eliminating and reducing the health hazards found in homes. Plus, designers are putting in place stand alone pieces that respond to new lifestyle and technology trends.
In all the years I"ve been writing about real estate and home improvement, I don"t recall ever fielding as many inquiries about saving energy as I have in recent weeks.
It was 1969 that the little village of Woodstock, NY was the center of a parallel universe, a place where 500,000 people went for a few days to enjoy music in a farmer"s field and to protest the policies that produced the war in Vietnam. But now, a little more than 35 years later, Woodstock is simply another quiet place in the wooded mountains 110 miles north of New York City.
It seemed about 10 years ago you couldn"t open a real estate section in a newspaper without seeing an article about radon -- a colorless, odorless, radioactive gas -- that is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States. Radon dissipates to harmless levels once outside, however, it can cause life-threatening vapors when locked in your basement. The gas can enter through underground areas, such as crawl spaces, gaps between basement floors and walls, sump pumps, and the water supply.
To keep your utility bill affordable, give the nation"s new energy policy another look and otherwise take steps now to make your home as energy efficient as possible.
With all the talk about real estate bubbles, rising interest rates and collapsing home prices some folks are just not listening, they"re trying to find out more.
"[A] law that takes property from A. and gives it to B: It is against all reason and justice, for a people to entrust a Legislature with such powers; and, therefore, it cannot be presumed that they have done it."
Procedures used during HOA meetings should be made to fit the particular organization. Robert"s Rules of Order suggests that the formal procedure used by larger groups like the United States Congress could actually hinder business in a homeowner association board meeting.
It"s surprising the American Institute of Architects, the National Multi Housing Council, the Sierra Club, and the Urban Land Institute still have to circle the wagons on marauding NIMBYs (not in my back yard) who denounce high-density housing for a host of misguided reasons.
Home is supposed to be a safe environment for everyone. Home is supposed to be safe for every member of the family.
[Note: To follow is an excerpt of a second interview with Bob Diamond, a practicing real estate attorney, real estate developer, and published author of three books on foreclosure investing. To listen to the show archive or download an MP3, go to www.IncomePropertyInvestmentTalk.com/051309.]
Today"s homeowners are more design-savvy than ever -- a trend that requires homebuilders to follow suit when it comes to showcasing their model homes.
Homeowner associations generally have extensive landscaping to maintain which includes, planting beds. Part of every planting bed should include an element of barkdust, barkchips, or barkmulch. This miracle soil amendment offers a number of benefits:
How cold is it?
When the weather turns cold outside, things can heat up inside -- sometimes a little too much, if you don"t take precautions.
The new year has begun, and this is a great time to look at the true cost of your housing to see where you may need to budget extra spending for upkeep or be able to slice your budget. When a buyer shops for a house, the lender generally will take into account 28 percent of income to be used for the mortgage payment. Some mortgage plans allow more. A mortgage program I used had only one ratio, 41 percent, meaning that all my debt -- including mortgage, credit cards, etc. -- could not exceed 41 percent of my gross income.
I received a question by e-mail from a reader looking for a replacement spring for the mechanism that controls his pull-down attic stairs.
What if your home could help attract money, success or even love? I"ll bet that you"d want to know the secret to making that happen. Feng Shui practitioners believe that how you arrange your environment can enhance your life in all of those areas. And it"s no secret that the several-thousand-year-old tradition from China is taking roots in Western culture.
Too many Floridians returning home from Hurricane Frances are about to discover there"s something worse than losing their home -- not enough insurance coverage to replace it.
Read the label carefully when buying air "purifiers". They are not all created as equals.
Hurricane season is upon us, so it"s time once again to attempt to minimize the effects of high winds and heavy rains on your property.
National forecasters say more hurricanes than normal are expected to whip across the Gulf and Atlantic coasts this season.
I could really stand to find a million bucks in change under my sofa cushions -- but 65 cents is all I came up with on my last search. So that means I have to find money the hard way: by earning it or saving it. Here are a few ways to turn spare change into sizeable savings in the three most-used areas of your home.
In the course of a home inspection, the inspector is looking at many components that are supposed to weep(1).
I have 15 water shutoff valves in my house and I know exactly where each of them are and how to operate them. Do you? Many small home emergencies become huge disasters because we don"t know how to take care of the property when the unexpected happens.
When it comes to our kitchens, storage and organization are becoming essential ingredients.
Hi Bill
As design trends come and go, one of the ever-changing elements is color, in which hues zip in and out of popularity. When you think about home dûcor in
With rates trending down during the past few weeks I have been refinancing my home. Like millions of other homeowners, I regard refinancing with mixed feelings -- lower rates are wonderful but the details and requirements associated with the process seem endless and numbing.
Indoor air quality is now understood to be as significant of a problem as outdoor air quality. Indeed, what good is clean air outside a home if the inside air quality is poisoning your family? It is important that you protect your home’s indoor air quality.
Money, or rather the lack of it, is a popular topic in coffee shops and board rooms these days -- across Canada and around the world. Individuals and companies feel the pinch of these redefining economic times and many are pulling back financially. In contrast, our governments are spending at record levels. Instead of feeling crushed by the recession, seek out opportunity.
As we sprang forward yesterday into daylight-saving time, the Consumer Product Safety Commission
A pilot program aimed at the nation"s estimated 6.8 million non-owners with "thin" credit files is being tested in the nation"s capital, where an alliance of public and private entities have pledged $200 million to get the initiative started.
Homeland Security"s threat level for terrorism has largely been in the stand-by yellow "Elevated" mode pretty much since 9/11.
GreenPoint Mortgage Funding is the latest mortgage company to shut its doors this year. Credit card giant CapitalOne, headquartered in the shadow of Washington, D.C., announced the immediate shutdown of GreenPoint, its loan origination subsidiary. Talk about a good idea gone bad -- CapitalOne just bought the company December of last year.
Following again in the footsteps of federal regulators, state financial overseers are bringing new subprime regulations to state lenders not regulated by the feds.
You can imagine my surprise when in the morning"s mail there arrived a note which said I was late on my mortgage payment.
Federal money policy agencies have opened for public comment new guidelines for subprime mortgage underwriting to ward off the growing number of subprime defaults and foreclosures.
Tax preparers like to call the Taxpayer Relief
After poking around the internet, I compiled some interesting statistics. Assuming the data is reasonably accurate, consider the following.
Interestingly enough, and fair or not, lenders view a Chapter 13 and Chapter 7 almost the very same when it comes to determining creditworthiness. With the exception of most sub prime mortgage loans, lenders look at the actual discharge date of a bankruptcy when deciding whether or not they want to issue a loan for a potential homeowner.
Want to invest in home values without actually buying houses?
Did you pay a point or an origination fee when getting your mortgage? How about a mortgage broker fee, did you pay one of those? Did you pay all three? If you didn"t pay an origination fee, then how did the mortgage broker get paid? Didn"t use a broker? Aren"t brokers and bankers the same? Aren"t points and origination fees the same?
Question: We signed a contract to purchase our first home last week, and settlement is scheduled for mid-May. Before the contract was signed, we took your advice and shopped around for the best mortgage. After the real estate contract was signed, we immediately contacted the lender we had selected, and made a formal application. The lender asked us if we want to lock in the interest rate.
As interest rates rise, as homes get more expensive and as more and more buyers seek high-leverage, higher-risk mortgages, instead of tightening credit, lenders are taking steps to keep the easy money easy.
A 40-year, fixed-rate mortgage with an interest rate lower than that of a 30-year mortgage?
A decade ago, architect and "Not So Big" life style visionary Sarah Susanka started up the road to gurudom with a blueprint for living that extolled the values of living responsibly, sustainably and meaningfully.
This is a story about an ant and a grasshopper. Both the ant and the grasshopper wanted to buy some rental houses as an investment. The grasshopper was a little older than the ant, and had been around the garden a few times. The ant was an upstart of such, knew more than the grasshopper -- or so he thought -- and was always just a little bit headstrong.
I got quite a bit of email last week after my article about the Washington, DC, new home buyer being stuck between a $68,000 rock and a $68,000 hard place. This conundrum neatly arranged by the builder and the builder"s loan officer. You know the story, the one about a buyer only being able to qualify for one loan type -- a nasty, nasty one -- supplied by the builder"s mortgage company in order to buy the new house. The buyer could either walk away from the deal and lose his $68,000 deposit or he could take the deal and be foreclosed upon just in time for the 4th of July parade.
As many as perhaps a million home buyers will catch a slight interest rate break next year, thanks to one of the largest increases on record in the so-called conforming loan limit.