When real estate agents are selling houses, they largely talk about monthly house payments, at least if it has anything to do with cost. And often they'll talk about the monthly payment as if it's the only expense associated with the purchase of a home. But the true cost of owning a home is rising r… Continue Reading

There?s a lot of activity in the residential real estate market right now, so you face a lot of competition if you're trying to sell your home. To grab an advantage and hold on to it (as well as to hold on to what extra money you can) you need to know how to ?stage? your home in the most cost effici… Continue Reading

Now that home values are no longer on a steady upward path, the choice of home you buy has greater consequences than ever. In the recent past, a purchase mistake could usually be covered by rising prices. All you had to do was wait a few years and the moment would come when you could sell the mistak… Continue Reading

What?s a foreclosure sitting duck? It?s a person sitting in a house that he knows he?s probably going to lose, but he hangs around and?just sort of lets it happen. You?ve probably seen examples of this happening. Maybe you?ve been in?that position yourself. I don?t want to minimize the emotional … Continue Reading

Technology is sweeping across the economy ? or more precisely, technological change is what's doing the sweeping.? It?s affecting every nook and cranny of the economy, and how we do business. It?s been having an effect on the real estate business for several years; Zillow and Craigslist are two exam… Continue Reading

  A couple of weeks ago I ran a post, Do You Ever REALLY Own Your Home, in which I challenged the assumption that you actually enjoy true ownership, in the traditional sense. I cited limited property use restrictions, heavy economic use restrictions, the potential for legal attachment, and i… Continue Reading

Do you ever REALLY own your home?? What I want to discuss is the modern version of homeownership as compared to traditional factors that caused people to buy homes in the past. On that front, much has changed in the past 30-40 years, so much so that the entire purpose for owning a home might be unre… Continue Reading

As we detect signs of housing recovery - and rumors of housing recovery ? you have to wonder how long it will be before we once again hear the chorus of everyone should be a homeowner. Despite the still lingering wounds from the last housing bubble, it seems to be a staple of economic recoveries tha… Continue Reading

One of the most compelling reasons for owning a home is the heavily touted tax benefits of homeownership owing to deductions for mortgage interest and property taxes. Real estate agents will play this benefit for all it?s worth in extolling the idea of homeownership for all. However for three rea… Continue Reading

If you?re thinking of buying a new home in the near future, there?s something you need to think about first. Before you even sign a purchase offer to buy a new home, you first need to sell your house - as in the one you own now. During the brighter days of the real estate market?the 1980s, 1990s … Continue Reading