Common Mistakes Parents Make When Buying a Home

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When purchasing a new home, parents tend to make a few mistakes that show up later in life. It is important to look at the past, present, and future when considering a new home. What can we learn from others’ past mistakes, what do we need for the present, and what does the future hold that we can prepare for now? When we consider these during a new home purchase, we can get a home that will meet our needs.

The Past

Learning from others’ mistakes is important when shopping for a home. Many parents purchase a home without checking out the local schooling options. Then when the children are old enough to go to school, they don’t like what is available. Decide if the schooling system near you will meet your child’s needs in the future.

Safety Issues

Learn from parents of the past concerning safety issues. Do the stairs have a handrail? Does the pool have a safety fence around it? Is the deck in good order or do boards need to be replaced?

The Present

Will the home meet the grandparents’ present needs? Is there a fenced yard for a dog? Is there plenty of storage for ball equipment or musical instruments? Is there plenty of space for doing laundry, and for folding?

Driving to Activities

Is the church nearby? Is there plenty of shopping close? What about the doctor’s office? Make sure the family can get where they need to go within a reasonable amount of time.

The Future

Look into the future for the family. Having more children means needing more bedrooms. It also means the family may need more bathrooms, especially if they are girls. We can’t know everything the future will bring, but we can anticipate some things and prepare for them.

Anticipation of Expectations

Think about what the family already loves to do, or is interested in doing in the future. Consider these options:

  • homesteading
  • home-based business
  • homeschooling
  • fishing and hunting
  • husbandry
  • horseback riding

Looking at the past, present, and future needs of the family, will help parents make a wise choice on such a big ticket item. They can know that they have thought through all the reasonable possibilities that this new home needs to provide. In doing so, the home will the refuge throughout the years.

Red Flags To Notice When Purchasing a Home

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If you’re a first-time homebuyer, you obviously won’t be too experienced with what to expect. Purchasing a home is s tricky, long and complicated process. You’ll probably need all the help and advice you can get. With that being said, when you’re looking to purchase a home, there are a variety of things that you should be looking out for that will act as warning signs. Here are a few of the most common red flags to pay attention to when going house hunting.

Insects/Pests

So you’ve just walked through your very first showing and you feel pretty confident about the house. It’s large enough to accommodate your growing family, it’s close to work and it simply feels right. However, you’d noticed several insects, from roaches to house centipedes. Who cares, it’s only a few insects, right? They’ll die out and you won’t have to worry about them, right? Wrong. Admittedly, it could have been a coincidence that there were a few pesky insects in the house, but you should certainly do your due diligence and follow up on the matter if you decide to go through with purchasing the house. What may seem like a few harmless bugs could lead to a serious infestation. These infestations are incredibly dangerous, as they can lead to thousands of dollars in repairs and, depending on the pests, health hazards.

Fresh Paint

So you’ve walked through another house and it seems perfect! You’d noticed that the current owners had buckets of paint in random rooms throughout the house, but it didn’t seem as they’d painted entire rooms, only small portions. No big deal, right? Wrong. While it may seem harmless at first, it very well could be a sign of a much larger problem. If you see buckets of paint lying about the house and only small portions of the house being painted, the owners could be trying to hide something. Make sure to address the situation.

Poor Neighborhood

When purchasing a home, you cannot solely focus on the home itself; you must also look at the surrounding neighborhood. If you decide to purchase the house, you will be a part of that neighborhood. Do your research on your neighbors and see who exactly is living around you. Don’t just look at who you’re living with, look at how they are living. If the neighborhood seems run down and dangerous, you may not want to move in at all. It could make things difficult to sell the house in the future.

Common Real Estate Lingo

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Like any industry, real estate has its fair share of jargon. Some of these terms are fairly common enough for the average citizen, while others are not as known. If you’re a professional working in the industry, then you’re (hopefully) very familiar with these terms. However, if you’re a buyer or seller, and you’re not very experienced with the industry, then you’ll probably be in over your head. That’s precisely why I’ve compiled a list of some of the most commonly used real estate terms so that you’re better prepared to deal with professionals in the industry.

Appraisal

This is, admittedly, a more common term, however, I am simply making sure that I am covering all of my bases. An appraisal, in essence, is an evaluation of your property’s worth. The process is completed, unsurprisingly, by an appraiser who comes to a decision based on the sales prices of previous houses in the surrounding area. If you’re a first-time buyer or seller, you will certainly become familiar with appraisal.

Closing Costs

So you’ve decided on the house you want to buy, and you’re ready to make your payment and move in! But wait, before you can even close, you’ll have to pay the closing costs. Closing costs are, as the name implies, any expenses that you are required to pay at the time of closing a sale on a property. There are several different kinds of payments that can constitute as a closing cost, but some of the most common are appraisal costs, taxes and attorney fees.

REALTOR

This may come as a surprise to many, but REALTOR is not an appropriate term for all real estate agents. The term is used synonymously with real estate agent, but technically speaking, a REALTOR is only an agent who is a registered member of the National Association of REALTORS.

Equity

One of the best things about owning a home is that you stand to gain a great profit depending on your equity. In short, equity is whatever the value of the home is, after factoring in any charges against it. You will certainly want to become familiar with equity as you become a homeowner.

 

Real estate is an industry with a dizzying amount of terms. These are only a few of the most common that you will come across during your journey of purchasing or selling a home. Good luck!

Technology That Has Changed Real Estate

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Real estate is one of the oldest industries in the world. People have always needed a place to live and call home. Although real estate as we know it has not actually been around since the dawn of man, it has been in existence for several decades, and because of this, it has had time to develop and change drastically. Due to the recent advancements in technology, real estate has a very bright future, but I wanted to take a moment to look back at some of the tech that has changed real estate over the years.

 

Internet

To be fair, the introduction of the Internet didn’t solely affect real estate; the entire world was given the ability to communicate instantaneously with one another and, naturally, this astounding technology greatly impacted various aspects of society. It’s not everyday that such a versatile and unique invention comes along, so when the Internet was created and then permeated throughout the public, it changed almost every major industry, real estate included.

 

Like most professional industries, real estate was impacted greatly by email. Before then, realtors could only communicate via telephone, physical mail or in person. With email, realtors and clients could communicate at all hours of the day, instantaneously. But the biggest advancement for real estate has to be the ability to utilize online real estate sites for listing and buying homes. The Internet allowed for sellers, buyers and realtors to truly take control of their listings. Sellers can upload photos of their listings to sites like Zillow or Homes and give potential buyers an idea of the home before they even visit for a showing; buyers can get great feedback on realtors from actual users in order to make informed decisions; the Internet truly allowed for major progressions in real estate that helped streamline the process of buying and selling a home.

 

Social Media
Without the Internet, we wouldn’t have social media, but I still feel as though social media has become its own separate entity. It may be hard to believe it, but social media in its most basic form, was invented in 1997 with the creation of a website called Six Degrees. Since then, we’ve had a complete digital and social revolution with sites and applications like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram taking over the majority of the world’s Internet users. Coincidentally, each of these social media profiles has allowed for new and exciting ways for realtors to reach out to potential buyers. With Facebook, realtors can host live viewings of their listings and showcase the house to hundreds of viewers in order to accommodate almost any schedule; with Twitter, realtors can give quick updates to listings in real-time; with Instagram, realtors can host a variety of videos and photos of their listings. And each of these platforms allows for realtors to communicate directly with their clients at all times.

 

There have been a bevy of technologies to release that have drastically impacted real estate, however, I feel as though these two technologies have done the industry a great deal of service. I may discuss these other technologies in a later blog.

Why Your Realtor Won’t Sell Your House

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You’re ready for a change of scenery, either because of work or simply through your sheer power of will; you want to sell your house. So, you look for a realtor, and no matter how hard you try, not a single one seems interested in selling your home. This may seem odd since most people assume that all realtors are begging for houses to sell, but that is simply not the case. There are many factors and variables that can affect whether or not a realtor will even spend his or her time on your home. Here are a few reasons why a realtor wouldn’t want to work with you.

 

Asking for too much

If you’re like most Americans, you’ve probably spent years in your house; you’ve renovated the kitchen, bathroom and master bedroom, you’ve painted the outside of the house and you’ve spent a great deal of time growing a beautiful garden outback. To you, your house is almost invaluable. Unfortunately, not everyone will see it this way. There are a bevy of factors that go into what determines the actual value of a house, and if you believe that your house is worth more than what your realtor does, then the agent will more than likely not bother. If the agent does decide to take on the listing, it could spend months on the market, which hurts his or her reputation.

 

You aren’t willing to show it

The best way to really entice potential buyers is by letting them into your house. Much like any other purchase, humans typically enjoy seeing something before they buy, especially when making such a large investment. Because of this, you need to be willing to show off your house. If you’ve put the time and work into it, then don’t be afraid to put it on display. Many sellers are afraid of theft and they opt out of showings, or they are not flexible in their showing hours. This can all make a realtor very wary of your home.

 

Your house is messy

This is incredibly plain and simple: if your house is unkempt and dirty, it makes the sell much harder. And realtors know this. While they can suggest that you clean it up before they take the listing, if you are unwilling to make the appropriate adjustments, they will more than likely skip altogether.

 

At the end of the day, realtors need to make a profit from the house that they are selling. If your home presents too many challenges, and you are unwilling to be flexible and reasonable, they will likely refuse to list your house. Take some of these tips, get out there and sell your house!

4 Reasons Why You Should Add Commercial Real Estate to Your Portfolio

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If you’ve followed the stock market recently, you’re no doubt familiar with the volatility the market has suffered in recent weeks. Indeed, February saw the largest one-day drop in the history of the Dow Jones. And while the markets are still strong, this turbulence — as well as future uncertainty with international trade relations — has made real estate investing a more enticing option for forward-thinking investors. In particular, more investors are turning to commercial real estate opportunities in the United States as a way to balance out their investment portfolios.

Investing in Real Estate to Combat Inflation

According to a recently released study by famed investment specialist, Martha Peyton, commercial real estate investments responded better to periods of inflation than corporate stocks, long-term government treasuries, and private bonds. The reason why commercial real estate is such an effective hedge against inflation is that during times of inflation, the price of real estate — particularly larger multi-tenant properties — also goes up.

Take Advantage of Tax Benefits

The Internal Revenue Code offers a wide range of benefits to individuals who own real estate owners. For instance, smart investors can transition large portions of their real estate earnings into things like depreciation deductions and mortgage interest as a way to shield their dividends. Before diving into this sort of high-level real estate investments, though, it’s wise to have a conversation with your tax accountant about how to derive the most benefit from this approach.

Commercial Real Estate Continues to Appreciate

A quick analysis of historic investment trends in commercial real estate indicates that commercial real estate appreciates faster than other investment types. One reason for this is that commercial real estate can appreciate in value because of things that exist outside of the market. For example, a landlord can make a commercial property more valuable by renovating or updating a building to make it more modern. These improvements make the commercial holding more valuable, even though the stock market is not involved in the process.

Commercial Real Estate Has Intrinsic Value

Another reason investors are beginning to turn to commercial real estate is because these properties actually have intrinsic value. While it can be difficult to pinpoint the actual value of a stock, a commercial real estate property is valuable because the land the property sits on has tangible value, as does the actual structure of the property itself. This intrinsic value means that commercial real estate holdings do not fluctuate in value as frequently as stocks do.

3 Great Tech Tools for Real Estate Investors

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Although the real estate world was late to the party when it came to adopting technology, property investors will be pleased to know that there are a number of tech tools out there that real estate moguls can use to increase their investment earnings. Just like in other industries, digital technology and online networks have made it easier than ever before for real estate investors to scale their businesses and grow their holdings.

This article will outline a few online tools and digital networks that savvy real estate investors should consider adding to their arsenal as they build their business.

Finding Sales Comparisons with Zillow

Zillow is a real estate listing website that offers a wide range of tech-related benefits for real estate investors. Zillow allows users to quickly compare current listing prices and market trends to see if they are making a fair offer on a particular property. If you’re thinking about placing an offer on a fixer upper in a college neighborhood, for example, Zillow lists the prices of all recent sales in the property’s neighborhood, giving you a good idea if you’re making an offer that will allow you to win the property. Zillow’s quick comparison feature makes it an indispensable digital tool for real estate flippers.

Online Communities for Real Estate Investors

Another tool real estate investors should consider utilizing is real estate-specific online networks. If you’re on Facebook, poke around and find the real estate investment groups for your area — there are sure to be a few! These groups — as well as Facebook chat groups that were made for landlords — are a great way to learn about local real estate events, foreclosures, and auctions.

For investors wanting to join a broader digital community, a popular real estate forum to look into is Bigger Pockets. This forum brings together real estate enthusiasts from around the United States to trade tips and tricks on the latest real estate investing trends.

Tools for Landlords Wanting to Estimate Rent

Depending on your real estate investment strategy, figuring out how much to charge your tenants for rent could be an important step in building a more sustainable, long-term real estate portfolio.

For aspiring landlords, a tool like Rent-O-Meter is a great way to ensure that what you plan on charging your tenants is in-line with what they might expect to pay elsewhere for something comparable.

Zillow also offers historical rent information on properties, making it just one more reason to acquaint yourself with the site if you want to consider yourself a tech-savvy real estate investor.

An Overview of a $30 Million Mansion

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What kind of real estate does $29.5 million buy? That’s a question that few will ever have the opportunity to explore–at least seriously. This Manhattan townhouse, though, allows a heady peek into the lifestyles of the upper echelon. Read on for a sampling of the delights of this Chelsea gem.
It comes with its own Bentley
Yes, it’s true: Whoever buys this house won’t have to worry about finding a place to park in Manhattan, as the pad comes fully equipped with a hot rod–itself worth half a million dollars. Check out the pictures here.
It offers two-plus bathrooms for each bedroom
While the mansion itself has a relatively modest five bedrooms, there are 11 baths, including a steam room and a sauna. This means that even if two people were to occupy each room, no one would have to take turns in the shower. Talk about how the other half lives.
There’s a yoga room and a lap pool
No need to join a gym–the tenants will have plenty of opportunities for exercise right in their own home. That ought to make the price tag sting just a little bit less.
The living room is the best spot in the house
Alyssa Soto Brody, the Realtor handling the property, is most enamored of the 26-by-23 foot living room. In addition to the 13-foot ceiling and wall of floor-to-ceiling windows, the space also boasts LED lighting that casts different colors on the enormous gas-powered fireplace.
A kitchen to die for
With its marble surfaces, cabinets covered in Swarovski crystals and vegan crocodile leather, and sleek chrome appliances, this area almost looks too pretty to cook in–although that’s not likely to bother the residents..
A room with its own floor
The fourth floor is taken up entirely by the master suite, which includes a gorgeous hand-cut mosaic Italian soaking tub.
The Realtor refers to the property as the “Bentley Batcave”
At 11,000 square feet, the space is clearly no cave; however, die-hard Bruce Wayne fans are likely to appreciate the comparison. While the price tag may be steep, bear in mind that in this corner of the Big Apple, parking spots alone have been known to fetch over $1 million.

New Virtual Lab for Developers, Builders, and Clients

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The real estate industry is a perfect one to make excellent use of the amazing game-changing Computer Aided Virtual Environment (CAVE) technology. Suffolk Construction, a national building contractor, announced having opened a Smart Lab in its Miami office in March, joining other labs in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Tampa, and San Francisco, all having opened during the past year.

Using CAVE enables an individual wearing an HTC Vive headset or a group exploring a virtual space via WorldViz VR 3D glasses to “walk through” a photorealistic future project’s 3D model that was created from architectural drawings and blueprints. Imagine being able to go to a work site, make design decisions, spot potential problems, ride elevators, go into rooms to make sure dimensions are correct, change appliances or the wallpaper or any item, all with a handheld controller.

Joe Fernandez, Suffolk Construction’s vice president of operations, said that the basic concept is being able to build a structure in pixels before building it in brick and mortar and therefore being able to show a client and the builders exactly what it is going to look like, both inside and out. According to a recent Software Connect survey, currently just six percent of construction companies implement VR technology, but that is expected to grow to 15 percent by the year 2020.

Additional features of the Smart Lab include a Data Wall of nine smart-board touchscreens providing predictive analytics and information for ongoing and completed projects, live streaming feeds of job sites, comparisons of construction at various stages, and more. Also included is a Huddlewall, which is a giant display for planning meetings which allow plumbers, electricians, painters, and others to collaborate on the current project in real time.

Projects that have already incorporated virtual reality technology in the designing and building include:

The Sunny Isles Beach Jade Signature futuristic luxury condo tower that opened on March 16, 2018; the new Royal Caribbean Cruises terminal at Port Miami, which is looking at a completion date of October 2018. Royal Caribbean has even designed some of their ships entirely using virtual reality; and the 638-room Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino near Hollywood that is due to open in the summer of 2019.

Best Architectural Designs

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Empire State Building

At 350 Fifth Avenue between West 33 and West 34 Streets, this Art Deco building has a steel frame plus granite, limestone, and mullions with aluminum. Dating back to 1930-1931, the skyscraper has 102 floors, is 1252 feet high, and has 6,500 windows with sandblasted spandrels that created the facade’s unique vertical striping.

This was the tallest building in New York City for over 40 years until 1972 when the North Tower of the World Trade Center was completed. Following the harrowing events of 9/11, the Empire State Building became NYC’s tallest building for the second time.

It was named a National Historic Landmark in 1986, was ranked number one in 2007 by the AIA on the List of America’s Favorite Architecture, and was named by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the Modern World’s Seven Wonders.

Chrysler Building

This is another skyscraper with Art Deco architecture and is located on Manhattan’s east side at Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street. Standing 1,048 feet high, having 77 floors, and dated 1928-1930 at a cost then of $20,000,000, it was the tallest building in the world before the completion of the Empire State Building in 1931. Steel gargoyles which depict American eagles stare out over the city, and there are sculptures of Chrysler automobile radiator caps and car wheel ornaments.

The entrance lobby is three stories in height, was refurbished in 1978, is shaped like a triangle with entrances coming in on all three sides, and is lavishly decorated with Moroccan red marble walls and Art Deco items of blue marble, onyx, and steel.

It is still the world’s tallest BRICK building, it has 3,826,000 bricks, is an outstanding example of Art Deco, and is mentioned by a multitude of architects to be one of NYC’s finest buildings.

Grand Central Terminal

At Midtown Manhattan’s 42nd Street and Third Avenue, and often inaccurately referred to as Grand Central Station, it dates back to 1903-1913 and has a Beaux-Arts stone facade style. Built in the heyday when long-distance passenger trains were so popular, it is still the world’s largest train station with below-ground 44 platforms with 67 tracks on two levels with upper-level 41 tracks and lower-level 16 tracks.