Question: Look out speculative RE investor suckers. The pyramid scheme of home”ownership” is unfolding, and your next asset bubble is approachingthe lovely sound of POP!…
The .com bubble didn’t teach anyone anything about overinvesting, didit?
Answer: Orange County inventory levels have jumped and homeowners are loweringprices. Spoke with a realtor yesterday — she said depending [...]

Question: What’s the advantage to buying a home than renting an apartment?
Answer: There are advantages and disadvantages.
For owning a home, it’s more of an emotional thing. You have a place youcan call your own (although technically, you owe the bank which has yourmortgage). You have your own space and can do [...]

Question: I heard that people are dumping stocks and mutual funds and invest the moneyin real estate. Is this “sell-low-buy-high”? I would think this is a goodtime cash in my “sky-high” house, move to an apartment, and buy lots ofshares of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. Wait for the economy torecover (and BRK to double), [...]

Question: What general guideline is used in valuing a rental property? Whatformulas do you use?
For example, if a single family house is for sale and this house hasresidents leasing for $600 per month, what price do you consider fairand how much is more than makes sense to pay?
I’ve heard a rule of 7 to [...]

Question: I’m beginning to research what it takes to buy a home (my first home).I’ve begun to read a couple books that describe the fixed vs. variablerate loans etc, etc, and I realize I need to clarify my understanding ofhow various loans work. My father’s philosophy (he grew up during thegreat depression) was simple. Never [...]

Question: I just finished rading Real Estate Riches by Dolf De Roos. He mentionsthat a low mortgage rate is important when investing in real estate.However, I didn’t find any guidelines saying how long a mortgage toget. I assume the typical mortgage is 15 or 30years. As an investor,which should I go for?Thank you for your [...]

Question: I am looking to purchase a first home and have a lot of money saved up. Can anyone provide any advice on pros/cons if it makes more sense topay off a large portion of the house upfront or not?
Answer: Just compare the mortgage interest rate with the interest rate you geton your investment.
But what [...]

Question: We are building our house in Albany/NY and we will be getting it inDecember. We are first time home owners, so mortgage is a pretty newthing for us.
By doing research on internet I found out the maximum lock period youcan have is 180 days. 180 days rates are not published on internet,and only few [...]

Question: I have been trying to determine the soundest investment strategyfor dealing with a mortgage. The choices I am considering are
1) A thirty year loan, for which the lower monthly payment will give me additional cash that could be used for other investments or could be used for paying off the [...]

Question: Hello, I am a recent college graduate, and after getting screwed out of a good deal of money by my landlord for my apartment up at school,I am looking to get into the real estate market in that neighborhood.I have been doing my homework. I spent all of the summer paying offthe car [...]