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Resale value high on buyers' minds
There's not much you can do about keeping a down market from having some impact on the value of your home. But, you can carefully choose the home you buy so that you end up with a property that holds its value well, even in a slow market. ...more |
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Buying vs. Renting Real Estate
Given recent changes in home prices and the current low mortgage rate climate, there have been significant gains in affordability for prospective first-time homeowners. Earlier in 2009, a provision in the Stimulus Bill provided for a first-time Homebuyer Tax Credit of 10 percent of the purchase price of the home up to $8,000. The CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® analyzed the difference between renting and buying a home in light of recent market and policy developments. Housing costs and tax implications of buying a home and renting a home were computed as a part of the analysis. ...more |
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Failed flip flirts with foreclosure
DEAR BENNY: I am retired. About 18 months ago (before the economic crash), I bought a fixer-upper and renovated it, but have been unable to sell it. If I let the property go into foreclosure, can/will the bank that gave me the mortgage try to get at my other assets (equity in my home, stocks, etc.)? –Irvine ...more
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Dos and don'ts of home selling
An energetic real estate agent can have your home on the market in a day. However, to provide the kind of marketing exposure you need to sell in today's market takes a little longer, unless your home is photo-ready when you list. ...more
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Water conservation tips
It seems you can hardly open a newspaper these days without reading the headline "Water is the new oil." But what does that mean exactly? In fact, water shortages may cause more severe problems than oil shortages: our lives literally depend on water, plus there are several alternatives to fuel but none really to water. We can technically "make" more water through techniques like rainwater catchment and desalination, but few individual homeowners have their own catchment tanks and even fewer are likely to rig up their own desalination plant. Even if such things were easy, it would still behoove us all to reduce our water usage first, not only because water is scarce, but also because we could all stand to shave a few dollars off our water bills. With that in mind we compiled the following tips to help you do exactly that. ...more
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Delay move until deal is done
Sellers should start packing as soon as they think they might want to put their home on the market. That is, they should start weeding out all the personal property they no longer want or need. It makes no sense to spend time and money packing and moving these things. ...more
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