Conventional wisdom says that buying is preferable to renting. Instead of throwing money away on a home, you can invest in your future and have the sense of fulfillment that comes from owning a home. Turns out, conventional wisdom is wrong. Today, many long-term renters are in a much stronger financial position than many [...]
1. Little or No Appreciation as Market Bottoms
In parts of the country hardest hit by 2007 – 2008 foreclosures such as California, Michigan and Florida, prices will continue to soften. In scattered markets, the bottom will already have been reached by April but media won’t report it until late summer, after a trend has [...]
Home buyers who want a good deal in real estate invariably think first about pursuing foreclosures. Buyers have this picture in their mind of a cute little house, surrounded by a white picket fence that is owned by a widowed mom who fell on hard times, but that scenario is generally far from reality.
Why [...]
Buyers pursue short sales to get a good deal. So when you see a price listed for a home that you think is too low for the neighborhood, before you jump on that price like hot fudge on a sundae, ask your agent to call the listing agent to find out if the home is [...]
Foreclosures, short sales and REOs remind me of, "Lions and tigers and bears, oh, my!" The latter are dangerous animals but different from each other — just as foreclosures and short sales and real-estate-owned (REOs) are distressed sales but different from each other.
However, they are also similar because without knowledge about handling foreclosures, [...]
Everybody wants to know how to best time the market when buying a home. It’s just natural. Especially if you’re thinking about buying in a down market where homes prices are declining. You wonder how low they will go and whether you should wait, right?
Some Home Buyers Should Buy Immediately
Well, here is why: [...]
Housing prices took a 24% nosedive during the Great Depression of 1929. In hindsight, that housing recession was not really a good time to buy real estate in the short term because the recession lasted 10 years. It was long enough that some survivors still fold up and save pieces of used aluminum foil. [...]
A story told by Erica Ferencik that deeply reflects the current situation and its roots.
All I wanted was a good job I couldn’t lose. I didn’t realize I’d end up bringing down the global economy…
It’s a terrible thing to come to terms with, but I am the reason the world is in an economic tailspin. [...]
According to RealtyTrac, a whopping one in 54 homes received a foreclosure notice last year. That’s 3.1 million foreclosure filings. Scared yet? An ever-increasing pool of foreclosure rescue scammers are drooling at the prospect of capitalizing off your panic. And so far, they’re doing pretty well. From forgery to title transfer, these scamsters–some of them [...]