Investing in residential rental property is one of the best ways for securing your financial future. One of the biggest killers of that plan is underestimating the costs associated with vacancies. According to the Nolo Network, one of the largest online libraries of legal information, vacancy costs are typically estimated to be 5% to 10% of the property's annual rental income. Vacancies are a fact of life in the rental property business, and although you cannot avoid them, there are things you can do to reduce them. [Read More]

A buyer's market in real estate is when there are more homes for sale than buyers. During a buyer's market, home prices lower and homes sit on the market longer. The real-estate market varies wildly from region to region, so even if it's not a buyer's market in other parts of the country, it could be in your area. If that's the case, you'll need to work harder to make your home appealing to buyers so that it sells at a reasonable price and doesn't sit unsold for too long. [Read More]

Social media is taking the world by storm and opening up new avenues for people to connect and reach out to one another without ever having to leave their homes. As of 2016, 78% of Americans have a social-media presence, and many actively use social-media sites to connect with family and friends. While social media has many benefits, it has also opened up new opportunities for fraudsters to steal identities. In 2013, a new identity fraud victim was affected every two seconds. [Read More]

An ideal path to homeownership starts with researching about the entire house hunting process. Before you own a home, it is easy to not think about things that can make or break your overall satisfaction. A small detail such as a city paying for 50% of sidewalk repair costs can make a huge difference. If you would like to stay in the home you buy, as opposed to upgrading to a larger and costlier home later on, you have to think about what could force or motivate you to relocate and then keep that from happening. [Read More]