Is big money this easy?

Flipping is especially attractive to beginner real estate investors who want to quickly build up their “cash stash” from profits of buying low and reselling higher. There’s nothing wrong, illegal or unethical by earning fast resale profits. (more…)

search for : Flipping, real estate investors, fast resale profits

Buying / Selling Tips

1. Not understanding the length of the buying/selling process. You know what happens when you make decisions based on optimism, time-on-the-market averages and generous promises from agents — ye old Murphy’s law kicks in. The home-selling process is often more extensive than you think, from the early planning stages to protracted negotiations to oft-delayed closings. Sellers can take months before they formally accept a buyer’s offer. Financing and a mortgage can get held up, buyers have tough time selling their old house, rough edges discovered in the final walk-through must be smoothed, etc. Give yourself a couple extra months to complete the deal. (more…)

search for : home-selling, Financing, mortgage

Monthly mortgage payments vs. income.

Nationwide, a family earning the median income - the exact middle of all incomes - would have to spend 22 percent of its pretax pay this year on mortgage payments to buy the median-priced house, according to an analysis by Moody’s Economy.com, a research company. (more…)

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An important consideration for the ‘Baby Boomer’ generation….

I can better understand the need for first-floor living, which is a major concept in the universal-design scheme. The layout of my first floor could easily accommodate it, with minor modifications to the bathroom, and the addition of a ramp from that levered back door to the courtyard and adjustment to backyard gate that would allow it to open wider for a wheelchair. (more…)

search for : universal-design, bathroom, wheelchair

A great idea, we’ll see how it works.

Charlotte Housing Authority is launching an ambitious plan to raze the complex off Fairview Road and replace it with a pedestrian-friendly development of high-end apartments, stores, offices and possibly a hotel. The project will be the first test of the agency’s new strategy for survival in an era of reduced federal funding: tear down public housing that sits on valuable land, partner with developers and build mixed-income housing in its place. (more…)

search for : Charlotte Housing Authority, high-end apartments, hotel, reduced federal funding, public housing

What with the investment property prices in other parts of the nation “through the roof”, this makes sense to me.

In hot real estate markets across the country, investors in apartment complexes as well as commerical and retail properties have found it increasingly hard to make a significant profit on their investments. But in smaller markets like the Triad, the profit potential is so much bigger. (more…)

search for : investment property, hot real estate markets, investors in apartment complexes, commerical, retail properties, Triad

Your sales edge.

Why will movies replace the virtual tour? “A movie isn’t a 360-degree, vomit-inducing fish-eye view, for one thing,” notes Lieberman. For people who are buying what she sells — high-end modern architecture, they need to “see” the spaces without the virtual tour’s distortion. (more…)

search for : virtual tour, high-end modern architecture

A reminder to be aware of our negotiating skills.

As the home sales market adjusts to slightly higher mortgage interest rates, if you are a home buyer, seller, or real estate agent, your negotiation skills will become more important than during the recent “bull market” for home sales. As a long-time student of negotiation tactics, I’ve learned it pays to periodically review the key negotiation strategies most frequently encountered in home sales. (more…)

search for : negotiating skills, home sales, mortgage interest rates, , home buyer, real estate agent, negotiation tactics, negotiation strategies

What’s in store for 2006?

A growing number of investors expect home values to decrease in the coming year, while inflation and unemployment is generally expected to grow, according to a “Voice of the American Shareholders” poll released by BetterInvesting, a nonprofit organization focused on investor education. (more…)

Rehabilitating and renting property — will it be “positive cash”?

I am presently trying to purchase a two unit residential house in a neighborhood in Chicago that is appreciating quickly. The seller offered to sell it for $300,000. He told me that the building had been rehabilitated but when I hired a home inspector I found out that a lot of work hadn’t been completed. The inspector also told me that the front porch doesn’t meet city code requirements.

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