Real Estate

Is now the best time to buy a house since the great depression? I think so, and after reading through this article I think you may also side on the fact that now is an amazing time to get into home ownership. 2012 has the potential to be the best year for buying a house in over...

Calculating real estate values can be as simple as 1, 2, 3! There are three ways appraisers go about determining the fair market value of income producing property.  These three approaches are: Income Approach Market Data / Comparable Sales Approach Cost / Replacement Value Approach Each of the models is unique and take a completely different viewpoint.  You'll notice that I also used two...

How often are you home? When you're there are you using every area of your house? Are there rooms of your house that go untouched for weeks at a time? Each of us are home for different amounts of time, so each of us gain different levels of utility from our place of residence. However, we all...

Think long term and try to pay off your mortgage early Being a homeowner has many benefits, but being wed to debt isn’t one of them. Paying the minimum balance on your mortgage will keep you in debt for the majority of your life, as traditional mortgages are 25-year or 30-year commitments. Start thinking seriously about your financial future by...

It's become fairly common with the dips in housing prices for those who are underwater to walk away from their mortgage, but I just learned that in Chicago, practically in my backyard, banks are beginning to follow suit. Perhaps this isn't news to you, but for me, it's interesting to learn about banks literally abandoning properties. I just read...

I've seen quite a few cool articles lately about using old shipping containers as homes and buildings. With a huge trade imbalance the United States often has left over shipping containers sitting at our ports without a purpose. Therefore many people have taken these excess containers and turned them into buildings, and which is a great solution...

In the land of real estate investing you'll begin to hear a popular term when analyzing income producing property. Capitalization Rates, better known as Cap Rates. Cap rates are a way in determining the rate of return on an investment property. How to Calculate Cap Rates In order to calculate cap rates you'll need two other variables which are: Net...

Although the 2010 New York gubernatorial race is over, some of us may still be experiencing rent that's simply "too damn high." Since Jimmy McMillan and his promise to allow New Yorkers to "marry a shoe," are a distant memory, our pocketbooks are probably still bleeding. So with the rent still at astronomical levels I thought I'd...

We've all seen those commercials for bowflex and 6 minute abs, but have you checked out the recent home mortgage calculator workouts? Intense doesn't even begin to describe how much financial fat you'll burn with these bad boys. Unlike 6 minute abs, you can have them all completed and get your home finances ripped in just 5...