income property investing
Interest Rates 2015: Defying Expectations?
For the past year or more, experts in finance and real estate have watched the movement of interest rates with a wary eye. Now, as a new year opens, those experts are weighing in with predictions about what investors can expect in the coming months- and years. And they’re basing their predictions on...
Changing Demographics Shape Rental Demand
Rental real estate isn’t what it used to be – and for investors hoping to build wealth through investment property, that’s a good thing. Changing social, cultural and economic trends are creating some surprising new groups of long term tenants with needs and interests that create both opportunities...
The 3% Down Payment Makes a Comeback
Federal lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are announcing a major change in their mortgage lending requirements, and that has some housing market watchers worried. Will lower down payment requirements boost a stagnant market – or lead to another collapse?
Fannie and Freddie, two leading players...
Successful Investors Think Young – and Old
Millennials – those born between about 1983 and 2003 – now make up the largest age group in the US, eclipsing even the legendary baby boomers.
On the other end of the spectrum, the number of centenarians is expected to reach over 200,000 by 2020 – nearly triple the current population.
These...
Will You Outlive Your Money?
Can you predict how long you’ll live? People have turned to real age calculators, family history patterns and fortunetellers for years to get the answer. But new research suggests that our best estimates of our likely lifespans are wrong – way wrong. And it turns out that underestimating the length...
Maintain Control for Investing Success
If you want something done right, do it yourself.
That old saying rings especially true in income property investing. It’s even the subject of Commandment number three of Jason Hartman’s 10 commandments of Successful Investing: “Thou shalt maintain control.”
It’s tempting to put your...
HOAs Beat Lenders to the Punch
In the real estate world, homeowner’s associations are almost universally loathed. Their pitched battles with homeowners who put out the wrong lawn decorations or paint their houses an inappropriate color have made news in cities across the country.
But in a recent Nevada court case, one such HOA...
Will Easier Lending Help Housing – or Hurt It?
The US housing market is on the rebound – or is it? As housing prices rise, mortgage lending stays flat. Venerable government mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have a solution for that – but critics worry that it might trigger another housing collapse.
Fannie Mae, AKA the Federal National...
Buy Cheap Real Estate? Strings Are Attached
In California, a stately mansion is up for sale. The price? Just one dollar. In Detroit, a two-story house is on the market. The owner will take an iPhone for it. Or any similar device. An older home with land can be had in New Mexico for the trade of a motorcycle or running truck.
Are these homes...
Are Mega Investors Grabbing All the Houses?
Housing market headlines tell us it’s a good time to buy rental property, thanks to low interest rates and a hot rental market. But what if there aren’t enough houses for independent investors to buy?
That’s the challenge facing hopeful investors in some US markets where large investment companies...