My Favorite Real Estate Tool: Zillow.com

I was talking with a friend yesterday discussing the value of his home compared to a few others in the neighborhood and I mentioned that Zillow.com was a great resource for just that purpose. I searched through the archives here and realized I’ve never talked about it before!
Zillow.com is a combination of […]

Supply, Demand, and Crappy Landlords

You may or may not know that the family and I are heading back to the Bay Area, California in August. Because we’re not sure how long we’ll be staying, we’ve been frantically looking for a place to live. For about two weeks now we’ve been scouring the internet trying to find the […]

How to Save For your First Home

So, I figured after my last post “condeming” negative equity and telling people to put 20% down on a house I should probably help you do that, right? So here goes, my advice on saving up to buy your first home:
SAVE LIKE CRAZY!
Granted, that is the #1 tip I can give you, but there […]

The Great Oxymoron: Negative Equity

This one comes from my good friend Adam, who is as suprised as I am at the latest financial trend - the increase in negative equity.

Yes, it seems to be an oxymoron doesn’t it? I mean, isn’t equity supposed to be a positive thing? If you’ve gotten an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) in the […]

Get Ready to Pay More Rent This Year

Apparently the average rent climbed to $940 in the fourth quarter of 2005, according to real estate data firm M/PF YieldStar. And this year, it’s going to be even more expensive as rents recover from historically low levels.

“2006 should be the big price correction,” for rents, said Greg Willett, vice president of research at Carrolton, […]