Investment property
Your company has just transferred you to Washington, D.C. The problem is, you currently live in Chicago and know little if anything about your new hometown. You have two weeks until your scheduled start date in D.C. That leaves you with little time to find an apartment. So you turn to the Internet and try your hand at three national apartment-search sites: Rent.Net, AllApartments, and Apartments Plus. And how do you fare?
On Christmas Eve, December 24, 2009, the Senate by a 60 to 39 vote approved the Patient Protection And Affordable Coverage Act (H.R. 3590). A large bill, as most have undoubtedly heard, was made a bit larger as language requiring small construction firms with more than five workers provide health care coverage or face stiff fines was, according to the National Association of Home Builders, "slipped into the Senate health care legislation at the last minute." That language, more commonly known as the Merkley amendment, requires that employers in the construction industry with over $250,000 in payroll or more than five workers provide health insurance for their employees or pay a penalty.
Reports of home builder shares falling sharply and the potential for bankruptcy filings have saturated the news recently. The impact of a slowing housing market, coupled with credit tightening due to subprime market woes, are negatively impacting an industry that has an enormous impact on the global economy as a whole. Most analysts believe that in the coming months home sales will slow as mortgage market contraction continues until the credit markets settle down and an oversupply of homes in the resale market hurt builder bottom lines.
Approximately 22 percent of U.S. residents have a home theater system in their homes, according to Parks Associates, a leading market research and consulting firm that provides information and analysis on emerging technologies.
"Building green" is Energy Star ratings for buildings" energy use and it"s U.S. Green Building Council"s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) benchmark requirements for more sustainable and conservation-minded construction materials, designs and technology.
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.
Control. Cost-efficiencies. Choice. These are three of many reasons why radiant heat is gaining in popularity with today"s time-strapped, environmentally-conscious, value-driven homeowners. For builders, radiant heat can help drive higher profits and bring back to market Gen X and Gen Y buyers who purchase products and services that afford them control, cost- efficiencies and choice.
Last week, homeowners moved into the first house in Canada to sport an Energy Star label. The familiar logo, which has been used on computer monitors, television sets and appliances, is now being displayed on new homes in a pilot project in Ontario.
After being hit by "a huge increase" in the cost of many building materials this summer, builders throughout the country are now reporting easing prices and fewer shortages.
A growing number of aging baby boomers may be moving to revitalized downtown areas, but most active-adult developments are still being built in the suburbs.
The nation"s ten largest home building companies will be erecting four out of every ten new houses by the end of the decade, the president of Beazer Homes predicted at a conference last week.
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.
Outdoor amenities like patios, decks, lighting and trees are important to new-home buyers. So are kitchen islands and walk-in pantries, according to the National Association of Home Builders" most recent new home-buyer preference survey released last month.
New-home buyers continue to increase the amount they spend on options. Of course, as the options begin to add to the base price of the house, some buyers get nervous and pull back. When they figure they can pay for options over the life of a 30-year mortgage, the spending usually resumes.
Q: My wife and I are in the process of planning our last home. I am interested in incorporating the latest “technologies” (i.e.: on-demand hot water, home entertainment wiring, computer hookups/wiring throughout the home, intercom, in-house vacuum, etc) into the home now, rather than trying to retrofit.
If you’re wondering why Texas is doing so well in job growth during these hard times, look no further than some of the country’s leading money magazines. Fortune Magazine reports Texas has the most Fortune 500 companies located in its borders, meanwhile Forbes reports nine of the nation’s top job growth markets are in Texas.
It’s a silent, but colorful metamorphosis..
First-time home buyers often enjoy improvements in their financial status, better relationships with their neighbors and better neighborhoods.
The National Association of Home Builders is reporting that sales of new homes rose in June by 11 percent.
New home web sites are nothing unusual any more, but one Washington, D.C. area builder is taking the concept a step further. NV Homes recently decided to bring its homes directly to potential homebuyers. It placed a CD filled with photos, floor plans and a link to the company"s web site inside copies of The Washington Post newspaper.
Whether or not you"ve put it on paper, or even if you"re not consciously aware of it, as a homebuyer you no doubt have a mental list of "make or break" items for a new home. For homebuilders, the question is how to include as many of these "must haves" as possible. That turns out to be not-so-easy because consumers have differing requirements.
What style of home do most Americans prefer and how big should it be? The National Association of Home Builders asked that question and got some answers.
With more computers in the home, a boom in entrepreneurship, and the growing popularity of telecommuting, it"s inevitable that people need more space in their homes to handle the business part of their lives. So homebuilders take note: Two recent surveys find home office space to be an increasingly important factor in home purchases.
Riding the not-so-distant coattails of the Baby Boom generation are the members of Generation X, a home-buying force with which to be reckoned, according to demographic research.
New homes sales people know them by sight. Data collectors. Nicely dressed
The two terms would probably wreak havoc in a English class for the foreign born. Aren"t a slowdown and a downturn the same thing? Not according to the National Association of Home Builders, who predicted a national economic slowdown this year, but acknowledged that some extremities in the U.S., like New England and California will continue to be hotspots.
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.
Are garages really for cars any more? Is it more likely that the SUV is
In an eye-opening article of the January 2000 BUILDER Magazine, "A New Dawn",
Can we somehow envision a world of electric cars, quietly streaming by,
The genteel word people around the world oftentimes use to refer to the
When asking the average high school student what career they have in mind for
"Everything must go! All our 1999 inventory must be cleared before the 2000
One of the great things about making changes to your home is seeing just how
What does the entry foyer to your home say about you? In recent years, new
It"s not a revelation that suburbia isn"t everyone"s idea of utopia.
We have seen "bloopers" on TV, heard about the fiascoes that occur at
If anyone has bothered to glance through real estate news in newspapers and
Big Brother is watching. Isn"t it amazing how demographics firms gather data
Besides innovative architecture and floor plans, what new products are now
Seems like it has been an "us or them" thing for as long as I can remember.
Just how important are the windows on that new home you are considering?
Forbes.com has published its report on America’s Best and Worst Cities for Families. These are metros where people have enough money for everyday living and places where families’ daily budgets take a chunk out of their incomes.
As a new home buyer, you have had so many decisions to make. But,
It"s almost yours. (Isn"t that kind of like being a "little" pregnant?) Why
Let"s face it. Your mortgage broker cousin Larry has known for months that
Picture this: Your boxes are packed, arrangements with the movers have been
Considering the amount of lumber that goes into the average home -- nearly 16,000 board feet and 6,000 square feet of structural panels for a typical 2,000-square-foot home -- it"s little wonder that arborists are concerned about a shortfall of trees.
While many of us find the quaint charm of an older house to be irresistible, somewhere around the 1970s to 1980s, that charm went out the window. Actually, it might have been lost in all of those dark self-contained rooms being built just 15 to 20 years ago. Today"s home builders and home buyers, however, run screaming from tiny, dark rooms and instead are knocking down walls in the pursuit of open-air spaces. Even the most "traditional" among us crave a little taste of contemporary -- a skylight, French doors, floor-to-ceiling windows, decks -- and the good news is that home designers have reconciled the two. Builders and home owners have managed to pull off a feat that used to be considered impossible: the juxtaposition of traditional with contemporary. Opposites do attract, it seems.
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.
When I get a letter from those exploring a foreclosure purchase, it reiterates how many people look at foreclosure as a rags-to-riches proposition that will leave them with the golden egg-laying goose, but one that doesn"t require basic care of the goose -- food, shelter, protection from wolves, etc.
School is in for financially troubled homeowners and others who don"t know the difference between a budget and a savings account, a default and a foreclosure or a credit report and a credit score.
The potential for fraud, identity theft and other criminal attacks on your personal information is more than enough to keep you busy making certain your personal information is secure and accurate.
Have you ever wondered how home builders can offer such generous incentives -- thousands of dollars worth of upgrades, closing cost contributions and other financial goodies -- provided buyers agree to use the builder"s affiliated or controlled mortgage company? Are these come-ons legit?
The market has cooled in various cities across the country and fair weather investors are starting to worry about how they"ll be able to make money now that their houses aren"t escalating at astronomical rates.
[Note: To follow is an excerpt of an interview with David O. Kingston, Chairman and CEO of Kingston Companies, an Idaho Falls, Idaho privately held group of 25 enterprises with a concentration in real estate development, agriculture, and power generation; Michael Anderson, Founder and co-owner, Nate Hanks, Co-Owner and Blaine Walker, President, all with RealSource in Salt Lake City, a commercial real estate provider of a full menu of institutional level services and products to help the entrepreneurial real estate investor invest well. To listen to the show archive or download an MP3, go to www.IncomePropertyInvestmentTalk.com/052709.]
Browsing for housing is not just an ancillary tool in the quest to buy a home.
The New Year always turns thoughts to the new tax season and when it comes to taxes there"s no place like home to find shelter.
There"s been plenty of press lately on softening markets around the country and now there are more articles finding ink about how the real estate bubble isn"t really a bubble, hasn"t burst and is more likely just seeping out some air.
I just did a radio interview with a station out in Los Angeles. The topic was, of course, about interest rates and the mortgage market in general. Another guest on the show was a Financial Planner that was also going to give his two cents. Or one cent, depending upon your perspective. The host of the show asked us both, "So, rates are at some of the highest levels we"ve seen for a couple of years … what will that do to the housing market?"
Along with the red hot housing market"s rise in home values, property taxes are zooming up too.
Years in the making, a new real estate industry trade certification will help consumers quickly find professional representation with experience specific to the second home market.
Are some of the country"s hottest, fastest-appreciating home real estate markets overvalued? Are others undervalued, and therefore relative bargains? Can anybody actually demonstrate such conclusions statistically?
If you are looking for a home where grey matter matters, try the Green Mountain State of Vermont.
"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."
Silicon Valley"s housing market is changing gears and it"s not clear if the market is switching into reverse or banging the clutch for another run up in prices. In August, the median price of single-family detached homes regained the $10,000 the market lost in July and tied the record high $760,000 median, which was first set in June, according to Richard Calhoun, broker/owner of Creekside Realty in San Jose.
Earlier this year, March to be specific, I wrote a column about how much I hated Payment Option ARMs and the problems those loans could present. After I got through all the hate mail from loan officers telling me what an idiot I was and how the Option ARM was perhaps the greatest loan invention known to mankind I realized there"s a compounding problem: Automated Underwriting Systems.
Fannie Mae"s and Freddie Mac"s controversial new appraisal rules are now coming direct attack by the biggest lobby on Capitol Hill - the National Association of Realtors.
Despite housing bubble forecasts and indications a housing bust is on the horizon, 61 percent believe home prices will continue to rise and 47 percent believe investing in housing right now is a good decision.
In much of this country, the shoreline has a growing amount of privately owned beaches. And let"s face it, waterfront seating is always the most expensive. Maybe we gravitate towards water because we are all made of it.
Homeowners are beginning to wonder whether holding on to their homes is a mistake. Many have seen their property values drop 25 percent or more. Some experts claim that the housing market hasn"t yet hit bottom. A few are even saying that we’re only halfway there.
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.
It"s not something you probably give much thought about if you have a newer home but if you"re in an older home its lead-based paint should be a concern.
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.
I guess it"s because the electricity in my new old house had been upgraded before I"d moved in, but I don"t think as much about fire as I did in my previous two houses.
It"s almost funny to me. Universally, people want better cell phone coverage. They want cell phones that work well and don"t drop calls. And they want consistency.
The slowing real estate market in many areas of the country finds buyers a little less eager than in they were in recent years to rush into a transaction without a very careful look at what they are buying.
Have you ever walked into a home, hopefully not yours, and felt immediately uncomfortable? It could be because design psychology was not considered when the home was decorated.
Fireplaces have traditionally been one of the top amenities sought by homebuyers. But now sophisticated buyers -- and smart homebuilders -- are taking it one step further with upgraded, additional and outdoor fireplaces.
For a very long time the nation has been divided by a fundamental question: What do we do about large houses?
Home owners who are remodeling customers are in a quandary.
Question: We own a unit in a condominium complex that consists of four detached buildings. For the past ten years, we have had very little problems. Our yearly condominium fees have modestly increased, and periodically we have had a special assessment for unexpected expenses, such as snow removal. Expenses are shared by all according to a "formula," in which each unit owner pays their share regardless of which building their unit is located.
The recent 2005 National Kitchen and Bath Show, held May 9-12 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, showcased new products and trends to a sold-out exhibition hall.
The wildfire season is underway and it"s shaping up to be a fiery one, especially in parts of Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington state.
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.
Want to maintain the architectural integrity of an old house? The proper door can be a portal to the past.
When the weather turns cold outside, things can heat up inside -- sometimes a little too much, if you don"t take precautions.
Question: I live in a condominium complex containing over 200 units. Now that the holiday season is upon us, I am writing to address a concern I have had for several years, namely that alcohol (both wine and hard liquor) is being served at the annual holiday party that takes place in our building"s lobby. Additionally, at our annual meeting a few months ago, wine was served -- even though the meeting took place at a local church near our building.
Home builders hammered by growing demand upped production of new homes to 2.02 million in October, an increase of 2.2 percent from a year ago, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
So you"ve purchased your investment property and now the cash flow starts rolling in, right? Not always; income-producing properties can be a great way to build your financial portfolio but experts caution: You can"t buy them and then fall asleep on them.
According to the latest report from the National Association of Realtors, existing-home sales rose in April by 2.9 percent.
I was in Pasadena, Calif., a few years back, waiting for my wife"s business trip to end so she, the boys and I could head to the Grand Canyon for a camping trip.
The traditional dream of retirement is being able to sit back with a multi-million-dollar retirement account that enables you to live off the interest. No worries, just the frustration of not getting your tee time. However, in today"s socio-economic culture, paying for your retirement housing may include paying fees for services as well as for rent and household expenses. If health becomes an issue, those golden years can become a huge financial burden with long-term care eating away at all the savings you"ve slowly invested over the decades.
A survey that reveals most homeowners have never used their home equity is being used to suggest they should, but unfortunately skips advice to the contrary.
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 received a letter recently from a reader in Indiana. He advises that a column that I had previously written on noise ordinances was informative and that he has his own noise problem.
According to The Economist, a well-regarded British journal of opinion and analysis, "house prices are at record levels in relation to average income in America, Australia, Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain. The prices of British, Irish and Dutch homes are now 50 percent above their 30-year average relative to incomes. By the same gauge, property is "overvalued" by 23 percent in America, by 33 percent in Australia and 68 percent in Spain." (See: "Homing in on trouble," March 13th-19th, 2004)
The tragic deaths of two central California residents struck by debris falling from an aged masonry building points to the insidious danger lurking in such structures.
Question: I own four new townhouses. I have purchased each one over the last four years and then moved into the next one as my personal residence. I"m about to move next year to another house in a neighboring county. I am renting these out to good tenants, but I"m now worried because I put 10 – 20 percent down on each house. I have good equity and the rent covers all the mortgages. I even have a positive cash flow, but I have no other savings except my 401K and pension. I"m 35 years old and have a 3-month old baby.
The dog and I have a daily obligation -- we walk about a mile and a half each morning, mostly through woods and country-like roads by the house. This is good exercise for us both, as well as a way to count the deer, fox and raccoons that live nearby.
Moving out of an apartment and into a nice, big house? You may think your closet crisis has been solved. But whether you have the smaller closets of an older home or the spacious storage areas of a newer house, it"s important to use the space wisely.
If you"re gearing up for an August vacation or end-of-the-summer weekend getaway, you"ll want to keep not only your home safe, but your good name as well.
Whether you are buying a new or existing home, the ENERGY STAR program, a joint effort by the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency and others, can help you save energy, money and the environment.
A couple of months ago, the zero-energy house became a reality.
Home builders, taking a cue from aging baby boomers, are rethinking they way they design homes and the principles they are using are also easy to apply to home improvements.
If your air conditioning unit is getting up there in age or you"ve noticed
Don"t let a new identity theft study confuse your approach to warding off the crooks. No matter the source of the pilfering, the fundamentals of ID theft prevention apply.
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.
"Right now, there is a crisis of trust and [consumers] don"t know who they can or cannot trust," says Tim Sandos, President and CEO of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP).
Although no one has exact numbers, the fallout from the mortgage market morass will be just as devastating for the brokerage sector as it has been for the rest of the industry, according to a long-time analyst who keeps tabs on that part of the business.
The federal agency charged with maintaining stability and public confidence in the nation"s financial system can help you feel stable and confident about your home loan -- at the lowest possible cost.
Following again in the footsteps of federal regulators, state financial overseers are bringing new subprime regulations to state lenders not regulated by the feds.
Question: What does Subordination mean? We have a first trust and a home equity loan, which we learned is referred to as a HELOC. We applied for a refinance loan with a mortgage lender and were asked if we wanted to payoff the HELOC. When we opted to keep that loan on the books, the loan officer advised that it would have to be subordinated, but that the loan officer would take care of it.
It"s not that too much or too little is disclosed about home loans.
A legislatively-imposed suitability test "would set fair lending back 25 years," according to the chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association, which is advancing the idea of a "simple, plain English" disclosure form as an alternative to regulatory benchmarks.
The sub-prime crisis has turned into quite a nightmare for some homeowners and the lenders who originated those loans. Now, the $64 million question is: if and how will it affect the housing market.
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.
A couple of weeks ago I talked to a mortgage broker I know about the reported drop in adjustable rate mortgages during 2006. He told me that the difference between fixed and ARM rates was so small, and concerns about rapid, unaffordable adjustments in rates reduced the requests for those mortgages to zero.
Last week saw the official kickoff of Fannie Mae"s and Freddie Mac"s mandatory new system of appraisals nationwide, and some mortgage and appraisal groups are up in arms over sharply higher costs for consumers.
It"s easy to point your finger. It"s also much easier to point that finger when there"s so much damning evidence. Non-prime mortgage loans issued to borrowers are being foreclosed upon at accelerated rates. Non-prime mortgage lenders are closing their doors as fast as they can because they can"t afford to buy back the crappy loans they made.
I just closed a loan for a couple who had both experienced a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Not together, but separately. They were both forced to file for a bankruptcy before they even met one another, and both due to serious accidents and mile-high medical bills. With all these similarities, there was something different.
When the real estate bubble burst, so too, did the dreams of many speculators who were snatching up and flipping condos like hotcakes. Today, buying a condo can still be a great choice but getting financing for it could be a bit more challenging because some financial institutions are "blacklisting" some condo complexes due to high speculator ownership and dropping prices.
As first reported here in January (Realty Times, Jan. 12, 2006), the Department of Housing and Urban Development is asking Congress to increase and simplify loan amount limits placed on Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgages.
There are times and ways that people lose their homes through foreclosure or possession. The way many rags-to-riches seekers pursue the quick buck is through the foreclosure sales. Nevertheless, there are several other ways homeowners or investors can lose property. Below are at least six ways a homeowner can lose their property to the auction block.
A 40-year, fixed-rate mortgage with an interest rate lower than that of a 30-year mortgage?
Predatory lending is back in the news.
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.
Behind your back -- and probably without the knowledge or consent of your mortgage loan officer -- the national credit bureaus have begun hawking your personal financial details within 24 hours of your making a loan application, a rate inquiry or a request for a mortgage preapproval letter.
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.
Last month in Alberta, four people were arrested on charges relating to mortgage fraud. The Real Estate Council of Alberta says mortgage fraud is costing $275 million a year in that province, and across the country, real estate and mortgage professionals say it is a growing problem.