Real Estate

Who stands to gain the most from the settlement reached with the National Association of Realtors regarding commission price collusion? The clear beneficiaries are residential real estate investors and owners. Why? Because they were the ones burdened with paying the so-called “standard” real estate commission ranging from 5% to 6%. Following the judgment against the

If you’re aiming for more value and cost-efficiency, you might find it surprising that opting for a more expensive home over a median-priced one could be the way to go. While it may seem counterintuitive, let me explain. Since purchasing a pricier home in the fourth quarter of 2023, my family and I have been

Exciting news for homesellers and homebuyers! The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has reached a settlement in its lost $1.8+ billion lawsuit on price fixing and collusion, agreeing to pay $418 million in damages. This settlement marks a significant shift in the homebuying and selling business model, where sellers traditionally paid both their broker and

Zillow recently released an intriguing study that outlines the income needed to afford a “typical home” in different cities. The study considers a 10% down payment and utilizes the Zillow Home Value Index to determine the median home price in each city. A 10% down payment is 10% lower than I’d recommend, but it’s Zillow’s

One of the most effective ways to build semi-passive income is to own your primary residence, live in it for several years, then rent it out and purchase a nicer property. If you’re aiming to retire early, over a 20-year career, you could easily build a rental property portfolio consisting of 3-5 units. This has

For those of you who are looking to upgrade homes, let me tell you a sad truth. I climbed to the top of the property ladder with my latest home purchase, and after four months, I feel no happier. Whenever someone would congratulate me about my home purchase, I felt nothing. What’s there to celebrate

Anticipating future trends can lead to smart investments. Drawing from my 20 years of real estate investing experience, I expect bidding wars to resurge in the housing market in 2024 and beyond. The main reasons for the return of bidding wars in the housing market are as follows: I Hate Getting Into A Bidding War

House rich, cash poor is when you have a lot of equity in your house but not a lot of cash. For whatever reason, a homeowner has untapped equity in their property but is unwilling or unable to withdraw it. Due to excessive spending habits or financial responsibilities, the homeowner feels poor. After paying for my

Now that I’ve published the 2024 S&P 500 predictions, let’s look at the 2024 housing market predictions by various industry experts. The forecast for 2024 home prices ranges from -1.7% to +4.1%. Real estate is my favorite asset class to build wealth. It generates income, provides utility, is less volatile, is more easily understandable, can

Just like how the purchase price of a car is not the entire cost, the purchase price of a house is not the entire cost either. Let’s discuss all the surprising costs that may come after you close escrow. First of all, these are the unsurprising costs after you purchase a home: If you follow

Partially thanks to high mortgage rates, the percentage of homebuyers who pay cash has risen. As of September 2023, according to Redfin, 34.1% of U.S. home purchases were made in cash. This is up from 29.5% in September 2022, when mortgage rates were lower. Redfin analyzed county records across 40 of the most populous U.S.

Selling bonds to buy real estate is a much easier decision to make than selling stocks to buy real estate. Real estate acts like a bond plus investment because bonds have more similarities to real estate than stocks do. The word “plus” is added to bonds to describe real estate as a type of bond

One of the best ways to get a better deal on a home is by paying cash. Sellers prefer all-cash offers because there’s less risk the transaction will fall through once in escrow. As a result, some sellers are willing to discount the sales price or take your cash offer over another offer with a

With money market interest rates so high, every day you delay closing escrow is one more day of free interest income. You could feasibly extend your escrow period so long that the extra interest income you earn pays for all your closing costs and then some. I’ve argued why buying a home with contingencies is

Local economic catalysts are important for supporting the value of your home. Therefore, before buying a house, you must look into the future as to what might affect the demand for housing in your target neighborhood. We can’t control what the Federal Reserve does with interest rates. We also can’t force the federal government to