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“You can’t make money in real estate these days. It’s impossible.” Of course you can. The market isn’t “bad” – no market for any worthwhile commodity is either unequivocally good or bad. Real estate, whether raw land or fully improved buildings, obviously has a function and will continue to. Real estate, in and of itself, is not subject to obsolescence. You know, like ambergris or Pets.com stock. As long as people Continue reading REITs: A TIERed Investment For Dyslexics I’ve had numerous people come to my house offering “great deals” on home repair services over the years. You know the type. Most of these guys wouldn’t know what a contractor’s license looked like if it hit them in the head. Even more telling, they are often willing to do any job for whatever amount you are willing to pay, no matter how low your offer. I’m not kidding. Here is an exchange Continue reading The 5 Biggest Home Repair Ripoffs Do I think it’s wise for you to pay off your mortgage early? You may as well ask me if I think it is a good idea if you paint your living room sage green. I used to think paying off your mortgage was an absolute no-brainer. Then I did a complete 180, changing direction like one of those day-glo orange heliport windsocks. Oh yes, I did. After resurveying the macroeconomic condition of the Continue reading 12 Good Reasons Why You Should (and Should Not) Pay Off Your Mortgage Early I’ve sold one house in my life and I did that on my own without a realtor. Yep. For sale by owner (or FSBO). Oh, I started out with a realtor because I was young and rather naive at the time; I thought it would be crazy to not go with a professional. The first realtor I took on signed me up to a 90-day contract and then sat on it, doing Continue reading Real Estate Agents: Why They’re Not Worth It The other day the Honeybee and I were watching the two-millionth episode of House Hunters (or was it Buy Me ?) when the host mentioned something that sent a shiver down my spine. Apparently, the unwitting owners of a condo found that their home was built on land subject to something called an emphyteutic lease. Of course, I had no idea what the heck an emphyteutic lease was, but I knew Continue reading What’s an Emphyteutic Lease? (And Why You May Want to Avoid One) In January 2009 I wrote one of my most popular posts to-date entitled Paying Off Your Mortgage Early Is A No-Brainer. In that post I did a detailed analysis that justified why paying down my mortgage was the right thing to do. That Was Then, This Is Now Of course, that was before all of the corporate and homeowner bailouts approved by Congress. That was also before President Obama decided to go Continue reading Paying Off the Mortgage Early? Not So Fast… As many of you know, I recently refinanced my mortgage for the fourth time in ten years. Since then I have become familiar with that eternal mortgage loan enigma better known as the junk fee. I always challenge the more questionable junk fees and never take them for granted. You should too. Junk fees refer to lender or loan broker fees charged to cover company overhead. Lenders use a variety Continue reading A Layman’s Guide to Mortgage Application Junk Fees I love this time of year. The Girl Scouts are out there selling their cookies, and every year I spend at least 15 minutes agonizing between Thin Mints, Lemon Cremes, Do-Si-Dos and Samoas before usually deciding to get ‘em all. With mortgage rates so low, it’s also refinance time. So why is it that many of you will spend less time reading and signing your loan Continue reading What Girl Scout Cookies Can Teach Us About Mortgages Recently I was talking with a buddy of mine, who happens to be a higher-echelon employee for a major bank, about my desire to refinance into a longer-term home loan in order to provide me with additional financial flexibility in the event I ever lost my job. Eventually, our conversation migrated over to when people want to remortgage with bad credit and then on to the case of my mother-in-law. I wanted Continue reading Using a HELOC as an Alternative to Refinancing As promised, with our home currently in the process of being refinanced for the fourth time since 1997, I have finished doing an analysis on whether or not to continue prepaying the mortgage early. After running the numbers, I have come to the conclusion that I should continue to prepay my mortgage, as I have been doing faithfully ever since buying the house. In fact the more I looked at Continue reading Paying Off Your Mortgage Is a No-Brainer |
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