This brings up the first thing to consider when comparing buying versus renting: the amount of time you’ll be there. Buying and later selling a home will usually cost about 10% or more of the value of the home. These costs mean that if the home only went up in value 10% or so in the year or two you lived there, you won’t be gaining anything (equity gain from principal pay-down is very little in the first years). You’ll often be better off renting if you’ll be in a town for less than a few years.
What about towns with faster rates of appreciation? Have you done some serious homework? If not, to assume appreciation will be more than the rate of inflation is just gambling. The sellers in the example above sold for the same price they bought the house for two years earlier – and this was in a decent and growing area. You can’t count on fast appreciation.
To Buy Or Rent – Cost Comparison
Looking at buying versus renting, you have to take into account that in many places it cost much more to buy. For example, in Miami a home can cost $200,000. The mortgage payment, taxes, insurance and maintenance will add up to about $1,600 per month, but you can rent the same size home for about $800.
What does that mean? Many real estate fanatics will say you’re at least buying something for your money, and renting is throwing your money away. Of course in this example more than $1,000 of your payment will be going towards interest alone, and that’s not buying you anything.
Suppose you can afford the $1600 per month, but instead you rent for $800 and put the other $800 into a decent safe investment that makes you 5%? In three years you’ll have over $30,000 in this account. If the home appreciated at 6% per year, it would be worth $231,000. The costs of initially buying it and then selling it would be around $13,800 (2% buying and 6% selling), leaving you with a gain of about 19,000 once we include your principal pay-down.
In other words, you would be at least $11,000 better off if you rented and banked the difference. Every market is different, of course, so you have to do the math. Compare the total costs of owning versus renting, and then make safe assumptions about the rate of appreciation for homes.
If you’ll definitely be in one place for a long time to come, it will almost always be better to buy than to rent. In the last example, buying becomes a better bet after about four or five years. Also consider that if you get a fixed rate mortgage, your payment will never change, a benefit landlords won’t offer you that on your rent payment.
To sum up, look at the time you’ll be there, the comparison of total monthly costs, whether rents are going up fast, and whether you have good reason to believe home prices will be going up fast. Then look also at all the personal factors. Do you want to be responsible for the maintenance, yard work and unpredictability of ownership problems?
To buy or to rent? In the end, you have to work this one out by yourself.
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Aug
17Curb Appeal is Key to Real Estate Investing
Posted By: Ramon Rivas on August 17, 2010 at 11:51 pmIf you are interested in real estate investing for handsome profits, you need to consider the curb appeal of any property you wish to rent or sell. A big part of the real estate game is buyer and tenant psychology. One thing that researchers have found about tenants and home buyers alike is that emotional response accounts for a great deal of investor success. In other words, the investors who can appeal to a tenant or buyer’s emotions — and make the tenant or buyer imagine themselves in the property — has the greatest chances of success. Curb appeal means improving the first impression that your property makes. Studies have shown that when the first impression of a property is positive, it is easier to convince a tenant or buyer to invest.
There are many ways that you can increase the curb appeal of your properties without a great deal of time and money:
1) Clean. A very tidy appearance is paramount to good curb appeal. Therefore, be sure to scrub the sidewalk, flagstones, walkway, windows, and siding. Mow the lawn, rake the leaves, clear the snow, and do everything you can to create the neatest possible appearance. You can do much of this yourself, although you may want to hire professionals or at least rent a high-pressure cleaning system for taking care of the exterior tiles or brickwork of a home. If the sidewalk outside your rental property or home is crumbled and in poor shape, you can generally contact the municipality to fix the problem.
2) Choose great colors. The color of your property goes a long way towards asserting good appeal. In general, you want to consider the colors of the properties around your property. If you are selling a suburban home, for example, located in a lot surrounded by pastel colored homes, you do not want to paint your property a right color. It would stand out too much. The right color blends well with the properties on either side of it. Make sure that the colors are fresh by applying a new coat of paint. Don’t forget the colors around the property, either. A bright green lawn or even crisp white snow contrasted with the few pine trees create visual appeal as well. If you’re interested in real estate investing, learn which colors to select, or hire a professional to select the right colors for you.
3) Repair. It should go without saying that you should ensure that everything outside is in good working order and looks attractive. This means that any broken walkways, bare patches on the lawn, and rickety shutters should be fixed up at once. You’ll find more success in real estate investing if you are selling a property that people want to buy.
To be honest, the recovery of the Real Estate Market has a lot to do with the relationship between these two important statistics: The Number of Qualified Buyers and The Number of Homes available to these buyers. Like in any other market, if you have too many homes available and too little buyers, then prices are going to drop in a desperate attempt to move the inventory.
Some researchers say the shadow inventory could go over 7 million properties in 2010, and it could take over 47 months to liquidate these properties. It could be, but as scary as the numbers may look, I don’t want to rely 100% in statistics, so I would like to know what you think. I want to get the opinion of Real Estate professionals that are actually out there, working hard to move the inventory in their own local markets and dealing directly with buyers and sellers.
I could spend days speculating about what is going to happen with the Real Estate market, but instead I would like to know what’s your take on what’s happening with the Real Estate Market today. Based on what you see out there as you go out day-in and day-out to buy and sell properties, what do think 2011 will have for in store for us?
I really care about your opinion, so at the end of this article there is a form where you can send us a quick reply about your personal experience in your market.
Some of the things I would like to know from your professional experience are:
- Are prices Declining again in 2011?
- Have we reached the bottom of the Market?
- Are we seeing signs of recovery?
- In your opinion, Is the government going to have to intervene again?
- Are people buying enough homes to liquidate the so called “Shadow Inventory”?
- What are some possible solutions to restore the market back?
I want to thank you for your participation, so let’s get the conversation started….
Due to the upcoming expansion of the state of Oklahoma, neighborhoods around the city of Tulsa had forecast the rise of their homes’ value.
In Scranton, Pennsylvania, houses are expected to rise in value due to the efforts of the mayor to improve its neighborhoods and convert vacant homes into much more saleable empty lots.
The exterior of the house also affects its asking price. In Alabama, where people take pride in their southern heritage, lawns are kept well-manicured and the houses are well-maintained. Prices are expected to steadily grow.
In Texas, builders still show their confidence in the market through the steady inventory of new homes, especially in Edinburg where land is quite inexpensive. However, prices are expected to be more or less the same due to the prevalence of low-paying jobs in the area.
Real estate agents in Florida are expressing confidence over the strength of the local economy and are expecting market stability as result of low interest rates.
In Nevada, however, prices are expected to drop due to rising inventory, with exception of houses near amenities like golf and spa.
California real estate is expected to maintain its tight inventory as population continues to grow.
The recent slump in house prices, however, have affected several states in the country. Due to several layoffs especially in the manufacturing industry, houses in the Midwest area are lowered in value and homes with price tags of more than a million may be discounted just to get it off the market.
If you are looking for value in your real estate investment, it might pay to determine first which localities are considered most ideal. According to a survey done by CNN, the town of Fort Collins in Colorado is chosen as the best town to live in, followed by Naperville, Illinois and Sugar Land, Texas where diverse communities abound. http://www.States-RealEstate.com provides essential resources for buyers, sellers, home owners, real estate professionals, real estate investors, or any one seeking to connect with the world of real estate.
Jul
18Quick Home Sale at Tampa Real Estate – Real Estate Agent Can Help You Out
Posted By: Ramon Rivas on July 18, 2010 at 10:17 pmIn selling your home in Tampa real estate, you definitely want to get the full measure of your property value. But of course, you can achieve so if you can make an excellent quick sale of your home in Tampa real estate.
Selling a home is not always that easy. It is quite difficult especially if you can’t have the help of your family and friends regarding selling your home quickly in Tampa real estate. In this case, the best person that can help you out in selling your home is a real estate agent. Through the professional means of the real estate agent, you can have a quick sale of your home in Tampa real estate.
Typically, you need to find a real estate agent that has the knowledge about the market and of the property prices and comparative price range of your home. So it is really best for you to find the right real estate agent that can aid you with a quick sale of your home.
You can take time in finding the right real estate agent ,do not rush out, you really have to make sure that you will have the person that has the proper knowledge and experiences in real estate, and in Tampa real estate market. You can ask for recommendation for family and friends in order to at least contact few real estate agents and can able to interview them, for you to find the right one.
As soon as you have the right real estate agent, he/she will definitely ask you to make home improvements. Your real estate agent will make you improve your home in order to attract potential buyers. Yes, indeed, you need to attract buyers in order to make quick sale of your home in Tampa real estate.
Your real estate agent will ask you to repaint your home if it needs to be repainted. Your real estate agent will let you clean the whole house and make sure it is comfortable place and spacious enough for the buyers. You need to remove unnecessary or unusable equipment or furniture.
You have to free your home from unpleasing odor. You have to clean up the bathrooms and the kitchen. Check out the faucets, if they have leaks or if they are still functioning well, if not, better to replace them with new ones.
Check out the yard, trim the trees, grass and clean the gutter. Plant some flowers and hang potted plant, these can help you attract buyers.
Yes, this process takes lots of work, so if you cant do it by yourself, you can hire someone to help you out in cleaning the whole house.
Your real estate agent will help you out in coming up with the right asking rice. The agent has the skill and ability to help you out give the true value of your home. Yes, the right real estate agent can give you the best deal with your home in Tampa real estate.
