Investment property
Apartments.com has announced separate agreements with
The report, which tracks apartment occupancy by region, showed that U.S. occupancy rose 0.3 points from the first quarter of 1997. Most gains were in the South, where strong job growth produced sufficient demand to absorb the substantial number of new units completed. In the rest of the country, gains were modest. Occupancy stood at 96.0% in the Northeast and 94.7% to 95.1% in the Midwest, West and South.
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.
According to recent figures released by the Commerce Department, the multifamily market lifted total housing starts 3.0 percent in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.229 million units as the downswing in the single-family housing market continued. Total starts were down 16.4 percent from a year earlier.
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.
Before presenting my public speaking and media workshop to the Georgia Association of REALTORS" Leadership Training Academy, students heard body language expert Patti A. Wood, Ma, CSP talk about how successful business people use the body language of their clients to gain trust, and then business. She spoke of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), a science that studies the language of the mind and how humans connect with others. The thought occurred to me, is it profitable for a builder to "mirror and match" a community where they conduct business?
Imagine a place where a diverse group of the best and brightest minds gather to discuss the professional events and topics of the day. No, it"s not the hallway water cooler or a local diner but rather a virtual society where tips, techniques and opportunities are openly shared -- and encouraged. Welcome to the world of message boards, chat rooms and online forums; a world where builders can glean information, knowledge and new business by becoming registered users to an online community and specific sub-forums or specialty niches.
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.
We"ve always heard that one of the best ways to prevent residential break and enter crimes is to have "nosy neighbours" who will notice if something unusual is going on at your home. Try telling that to my neighbour. A few years ago, he asked me to keep an eye on his house when he went away for vacation. I did, and early one morning I noticed with a sinking feeling that the back door was hanging wide open. Someone had smashed through the front door in the middle of the night, ransacked the home, and escaped out the back. I never heard a thing.
When a new home comes on the market, it is another sign of how the real estate industry drives the economy. A house, unlike any other large purchase product, is a culmination of hundreds of products and services in one purchase, which explains partly why houses cost so much.
A sentiment on the wall of a friend"s kitchen sums up the importance of this part of the house to the typical consumer:
Question: We signed an agreement with a builder in May of 2003 to purchase a single-family house. The contract stated that the house would be delivered in October, but certainly no later than December. Needless to say, December came and went. Now, we have just received a letter from the developer"s President stating that they will not be able to deliver the house by May of 2004, and by contract they can nullify the contract. Their excuse for the delay is "market conditions, price increases in construction and permit fees."
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.
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.
The new home construction industry is plagued with class action suits targeting everything from plumbing to exterior finishes.
The technology to link a home systems into one central control is available, but how many home owners do you know who are really plugged in?
Audubon International, the not-for-profit environmental organization, has entered into a first-of-its-kind agreement with a major Florida developer that it hopes will lead to a new breed of environmentally-friendly, sustainable residential communities throughout the country.
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.
There must have been plenty of people in Buffalo last month who were bent over their shovels, dreaming of a driveway or sidewalk that could magically melt away that record-breaking seven feet of snow.
Modular homes are gaining in popularity while offering several advantages over traditional site-built homes. For those short on time and money, a modular home may be just the answer.
A growing number of people are getting into the swing by buying a home at one of the nation"s many new golf communities.
The United States has decided to play hardball over softwood. As a result, real estate likely will be plunged even further into a recession that is already slowing new construction and weakening sales.
In December of 1996, my husband and I gave each other a beach house. We"d been renting a place in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware every summer for more than a decade and really wanted a place of our own -- not just for the summer, but for fall weekends, New Years"s Eve, and general "decompression."
"Active" and "independent" are the bywords of many of today"s retirement communities. They"re being designed to get residents out of their homes and keep them involved in life.
Quaint little old folks sitting on rocking chairs? If that"s your idea of retirement living, guess again. Today"s senior communities are far more likely to offer dance and exercise classes, outings to the mall, cultural and educational programs, and lots of camaraderie.
You"ve just put a contract down on a new house. Not just new to you, but brand new. As in new construction. You picked out your lot, your plan, your landscaping and even the color of your counter tops. What"s even better is that your builder also owns a mortgage company and if you get a mortgage from their firm they"ll either give you upgrades worth $5,000 or they"ll pay 1 percent of the $200,000 sale price toward your closing costs.
Tax-deferred real estate exchange investors who"ve been victims of bankruptcy filings by intermediary companies in recent months could be in for some relief from the IRS.
Statistically speaking, a vast majority of the new home communities in the
It was an idea borne out of frustration. In an attempt to push the outside
In almost every industry, there are words that seem easy for those within that discipline to throw around. Lenders definitely have their own terminology. When loan agents realize that many of us don"t understand the difference between a cap, an index, and an amortization schedule, they are happy to take a few steps back and try to put things into words and phrases we can relate to.
It"s old news. With the phenomenal construction labor shortage in full
It may be difficult to imagine any real undiscovered "niches" left in the cyber business world. Real estate is one of the largest industries to grace the Internet, with dozens of personal, corporate, builder, and Realtor-linked sites. Just go into any search engine and cue in the words "real estate" and you may spend days (perhaps months) going through all the possibilities.
When giants unite, there"s usually a pressing and formidable need for it. It could be said, however, that not much in the world of commerce and industry has historically posed a more pressing and formidable prospect than the Internet and finding ways to do business on the larger-than-life World Wide Web.
How does homebuilding get better? How do builders raise the standards by
"Little boxes on the hillside, little boxes made of ticky-tacky, little boxes
As any daredevil, extreme sports addict or adrenaline junkie knows, well-grounded preparation for the specific task at hand is what takes the fear out of trying.
It may be true that production home builders offer a lower cost per square
As you may have noticed when shopping for a new home, builders strive to make
So I"m standing there with a glass of Merlot in my hand making small talk at
It"s not what you would call a big thing. Maybe a nagging thing; a
This past March, it was widely reported that a New York business owner got
The other shoe has finally dropped on the housing industry, as new home sales
So you waited. And you"ve finally purchased that gorgeous home site, but now
Mary Cook, president of Chicago-based Mary Cook & Associates Interior
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.
A reserve study identifies a homeowner association"s future repairs and replacements like a snapshot in time. Imagine that you could picture the buildings and grounds as they would be in five, ten, even thirty years. A reserve study acts just like that by estimating the useful life of the common elements and the cost to replace them in the future based on current cost adjusted by inflation.
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.
Three bits of news came across my desk this week that may be pointing out that we may have it the bottom on the slumbering real estate market.
In the state of Illinois alone an increase in the number of home inspector practitioners jumped from 450 to 3,335 in the last four years.
Cover your assets.
It"s never easy to be the messenger of not-so-good news, but it apparently has fallen upon "the media" to bear the bad tidings of the slowing market and all that it entails.
Further indicating the once hot California market has tipped, property flipping in the Golden State dipped to its lowest level in more than three years and in some major regions, profits slipped through the fingers of more than half the flippers.
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.
Question: Three weeks ago, I signed a contract to buy a single family house. I had the house inspected and the inspector advised me to get a termite inspection. The termite company determined that although there were no active termites in the house, there was a lot of damage -- both in the attic and in the basement.
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?
June is national homeownership month and while that may not mean much to those who already own homes, it can be a sore spot for non-homeowners who are hoping and in many cases, especially in California, struggling to save enough money to one day settle into a home they own.
ELY, NV -- Where US Highways 93, 50 and 6 intersect, a high-desert mining town and railroad outpost, midway between Las Vegas and Salt Lake City, has been named a "viable real estate market for investors" -- at least until fossil fuels run dry and mineral deposits are tapped out.
I"ve been looking online at the value of real estate and the process has been illuminating -- arguably not accurate or especially useful, just illuminating.
I"ve spent so much of my adult life trying to keep my primary residences from collapsing on me that I"ve never had enough spare time to own a second home, too.
Buying a home in a community governed by a homeowners association is a lot like buying a share in a closely held, publicly-traded real estate holding company governed by an ever-changing regulatory system and managed by inexperienced volunteers -- your neighbors.
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.
Question: My friend and I are in the market to purchase a condominium apartment. I am a cautious (and nervous) first-time home buyer, and need all the help I can get. We will probably buy from an existing owner and not a new unit from a builder. We have many questions: Are there any lawsuits pending against the Association? Are the reserves adequate to pay for any emergency or long-range repairs or replacements? How can we guarantee that our condominium fee will not be increased dramatically in the years to come? In general, how can we best protect ourselves and our investment?
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.
American homeowners are more conservative in their mortgage debt management -- and are hardly the credit junkies they are sometimes portrayed to be in the media -- according to new national consumer survey data.
Federal housing authorities want to add "first responders" to a reconstituted program aimed at getting government-owned homes into the hands of workers who are seen as the key to improving the quality of life in distressed urban communities.
When it comes to credit scores, consumers are finally beginning to get it, but they still need to learn more about the important numbers if they want to save money.
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.
With nearly a decade of dropping foreclosure activity leveling off, more buyers being priced out of the market and some pockets where home values are already unable to recover, California"s housing bubble is springing leaks.
Foreclosure assistance is now just a phone call away in the city of Detroit, which has been plagued by an increase in foreclosures frequently triggered by fraud and abusive lending tactics.
You"ve found the perfect property to purchase, whether it is a condo or detached house. If it falls within the guidelines of a community association make sure you educate yourself on the bylaws before buying or else you run the risk of being terribly unhappy.
The national housing boom is producing a companion boom -- one that you don"t read about as much: Dishonesty and outright fraud by home buyers and mortgage and realty industry professionals on loan applications has exploded in the past two yeas.
It"s been a wild real estate ride for many areas in the country, some areas seeing unusually high appreciation. But that may be about to change.
There is little that compares to a hot tub especially, if you live in a cold environment and have one outdoors.
As sure as year-end holiday decorations hit the stores before Halloween, the annual home heating fuel cost forecast will put a damper on season"s greetings.
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.
[Note: To follow is an excerpt of an interview with Michael A. Anderson, CES, Certified Exchange Specialist. Michael is president of Exchange Services, LLC, an affiliate of Zions Bank that serves the QI needs of the affiliate banks and national customer base. To listen to the show archive or download an MP3, go to www.IncomePropertyInvestmentTalk.com/052009.]
The grilling season is heating up with some 17.2 million grills sold last year, the highest number ever. To stomachs growling for food of the seared, sauced and savory variety, that"s tasty news.
Most of us don"t like getting our electric bills, but electricity is a necessity. However, how you get it and whether you pay a utility company for it depends on what"s on your roof.
Do you know where your property line is located? If your property was surveyed correctly and you have markers in the ground, you probably know.
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.
A full page ad that ran Nov. 14 in USA Today says:
No matter where you live, whether it"s in an urban area, a residential area or an agricultural area, you can appreciate the value of a tree. Trees do so much for us.
Remember the one about the Jetsons-minded folks who want to electronically connect you to your washer and dryer when the laundry is out of reach?
The 15-year FRM this week averaged 5.06 percent with an average 0.7 point, up from last week when it averaged 4.79 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 5.93 percent. The last time the 15-year FRM was higher was the week ending December 11, 2008, when it averaged 5.20 percent.
Early harvests are already coming out of some gardens. But as the summer heats up and the bugs return and hatch -- many homeowners will be left fighting a never ending battle for the fruits of their labor. Literally.
As New Orleans and the Gulf Coast area undergo reconstruction, building codes for homes and public buildings should include "passive survivability" designs that allow them to serve as livable refuges should a Hurricane Katrina-level crisis return to the region.
Commercial Properties
Each year, thousands of homeowner associations across the country engage in complicated renovation projects that run the gamut from siding replacement to roof overhauls to dryrot repair to new decks and fences. Aside from the complexity of the tasks themselves, all need a carefully crafted construction contract that not only describes the scope of work and price but includes the fine print.
Homeowners love to hear about rising real estate prices, except at this time of the year -- when property tax assessments take place. In Ontario, the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) started sending out new assessment notices a few weeks ago, and it has caused an uproar.
This summer"s plus 30 Celsius temperatures have taught a lot of Canadians about humidity -- the great compounder of heat discomfort. But did you know that high humidity can also make things uncomfortable for your home?
Julie Ziemelis, a Silicon Valley real estate industry public relations and marketing expert, along with her husband Eric, a furniture designer, managed rental properties in Los Gatos and Sunnyvale -- until they decided on a job-related stint in Hawaii.
The National Association of Realtors Pending Home Sales Index shows that home sales are up for the 3rd month in a row.
Heed only the new official warnings about the potential for radon in your home, how to detect it and how to mitigate dangerous levels of the radioactive gas when necessary.
You can park your car in the garage again or turn your attic into living space you can actually use, thanks to a cottage industry targeting procrastinating pack rats who can"t seem to part with stuff they"ll never use.
I have found in my short life that our "trending" chart can resemble a roller coaster rather than a blue chip company"s profits chart and that can mean major challenges when it comes to homeownership.
While it"s crucial to know how your municipality"s planning and zoning restrictions affect what you want to do with your house, they also are important when deciding whether to actually buy a house. More than a few people have purchased homes with remarkable views of nature, thinking they"d be admiring that scenery forever, only to discover a couple of months or years later that the view was about to be turned into a home, office building or apartment complex.
Floridians and others in the path of recent hurricanes just discovered another reason to keep tabs on homeowners insurance.
[Note: To follow is an excerpt of an 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/050609.]
Question: My wife and I bought our home two years ago for $400,000. We put five percent down. Today, our property is worth close to $700,000. We"re thinking of taking out an equity line to pay off our cars. We"re also considering using some money to buy new furniture and to pay for a cruise vacation. Since rates are so low, is this something that you would recommend? I might add that we don"t have the cash to do these things but my wife is excited about the vacation and new furniture.
With over 1,000,000 attorneys and over 150 law schools graduating attorneys each year, the average American is well represented (ABA website data). According to the "Power of Attorneys" website, a survey conducted by the American Bar Association in the 1970s revealed that 70 percent of Americans not only did not have an attorney, but they also did not know how to find one. That is not the case today.
The newest trend in laundry room remodeling reflects homeowners" demand for convenience while doing this chore, according to the Remodelors Council.
Don"t be lulled into a false sense of security by recent reports that mold isn"t as bad on your physical health as previously thought.
What if your heating oil tank leaked and the contamination had to be cleaned up?
When the lights go out, portable generators outputting sufficient wattage can electrically power lights, small cooking appliances, even your refrigerator, but they can also kill.
Here"s a compelling reason to consider organic gardening and landscaping at home: low-dose exposure to lawn care pesticides my cause injury to developing embryos before pregnancy is even noticed.
My identity theft saga continues. This will be my third column in a year, journaling the trials of protecting my identity and credit standing against a really determined white-color criminal in Miami, Florida. (Miami Police, please take note and return my phone calls!)
Federal Trade Commission commissioners voted unanimously 5-0 last week to require that telemarketers update or "scrub" their Do Not Call Registry list every 31 days instead of quarterly.
Although the population in the United States and electricity production continue to increase, water use is staying steady, according to a new report
In life we really don"t get to make too many of our own decisions. We will always have limitations on our choices, whether they are limits set by people, laws or other factors such as health, wealth and personality. I may want to eat a high fat, cholesterol-laden meal every night, but I know what it will do to my body and decide not to. Now if I decide to, I"ll enjoy it, but only for a few years, as I"ll soon die.
Once you buy or move into a home, it"s so easy to kick back and let things run on autopilot. Unfortunately, houses don"t take care of themselves. As 2004 begins, vow to be as good to your house as you"d like it to be to you. (You don"t want your house to let you down by leaking during spring rains -- and your house doesn"t want YOU to let it down by ignoring the curling roof shingles.)
If you are a new homeowner, then 2004 will be filled with new responsibilities, projects and home maintenance to-dos.
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.
A foolish home owner is crouched near his gas-fired water heater pouring gasoline into a lawn mower. As he pours, some gasoline spills onto the ground and flows beneath the water heater.
A couple of months ago, the zero-energy house became a reality.
As the mercury starts to rise, so too does the urge to flip on the air
As you trim your hedges, plant colorful annuals, stain the deck and break out the grill, there"s an element you may be missing out on - lighting.
If you buy into an unofficial third-party"s so-called "do-not-call registry" believing you are signing up to stop telemarketers from calling you, you effectively could be handing over your personal information and paying a telemarketer to call you.
Immensely popular in some geographic areas, while unheard of in others, the zero cost refinance program deserves a full explanation. In short, qualified borrowers can forego the payment of the traditional closing costs associated with a refinance in exchange for a slightly higher interest rate -- usually about one quarter percent. These closing costs include such items as title insurance, county recording fees, appraisal fees, lender underwriting fees, attorney settlement fees, and so forth.
Just about everybody active in real estate knows that mortgage lenders are required to treat loan applicants equally and fairly, approving applications on the basis of creditworthiness, not race, gender, age, disability or religion.
Question: I am almost at the point of making an offer on a home with a ten percent down payment. My offering price will be $360,000 and I want an 80-10-10 mortgage program to avoid private mortgage insurance. When I spoke with the loan officer, he was vague in giving me some rate quotes. I don"t want to end up ratifying a contract without knowing the specific terms of the mortgage.
The subprime biz is over-reacting and so is everybody else.
Federal and state regulators say it"s one of the fastest-spreading new scams in the mortgage market: Internet-based companies that artificially raise loan applicants" FICO scores by 50 to 200 points by implanting credit accounts of consumers with outstanding payment histories into the credit files of borrowers with low scores and bad payment histories.
Tax preparers like to call the Taxpayer Relief
If you"re running late on your mortgage payments, or you think you"re about to because of some unforeseen devastating circumstances, don"t panic – there are many options for those who need such help. While you may be tempted to jot down the phone number on the "Avoid Foreclosure" placard in the highway median, there are more effective ways of getting your mortgage house in order.
Want to invest in home values without actually buying houses?
Pay attention. There will be a test.
Foreclosure -- it"s a word that conjures up awful feelings in homeowners and is getting plenty of national attention.
In the second largest state or federal mortgage consumer protection agreement in history, Ameriquest Mortgage Co. has agreed to a $325 million settlement to be split among 49 states and the District of Columbia.
I read an article yesterday from the Wall Street Journal Online edition talking about how cities and counties are increasingly using collection agencies to settle up on old fines, traffic tickets and other civic malfeasance. Interesting article. The piece went still further to talk about how people"s credit was being ruined for nothing more than fines for overdue books.
Federal housing officials may finally be ready to stand up and be counted in industry"s long-standing effort to raise Federal Housing Administration loan limits.
True to form, federal financial regulators lived up to their warnings of impending proposed guidelines for lenders offering nontraditional mortgage products deemed too risky to a growing segment of home buyers and lenders" portfolios as well.
If you"ve gotten off the fence and are just beginning your search for a home, get away from the fence and into a home as quickly as possible -- especially if you found it difficult to qualify for a mortgage.
Homeowners facing default on their mortgage too often take the head-in-the-sand approach and leave their No. 1 asset exposed to foreclosure.
Will home buyers in high cost markets find it more difficult next year to sign up for mortgages that allow them to make low monthly payments through "negative amortization?"