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Archive for the ‘Renting’ Category
Buy or Rent?
Last year’s housing market fiasco has some people looking at real estate as a waste of money. What’s the point in buying when you can rent a nice apartment for the same price? Why go through the hassle of finding and paying for the perfect home?
Buying a home is an investment. There are disadvantages, but there aren’t many. You have to mow your own lawn, or pay someone else to do it for you. You have to handle snow removal and utility costs. You’re also responsible for repairs and maintenance.
On the other hand, your monthly mortgage payment is actually helping you. A renter is throwing money down the drain; there’s never any return for what they’re paying. They can rent the same apartment for 20 years, and they still won’t have anything to show for it. If you buy a home, you not only get the home itself, you get equity.
Equity is the total worth, or market value, of your home minus what you owe on your mortgage. For example, if you buy your home for $220,000 and take out a loan for $200,000 to pay for it, you start with no equity. Five years later, you’ve paid $40,000 towards what you owe. Your home value has also gone up from $220,000 to $230,000 (difference of $10,000). Added together, you now have $50,000 worth of equity. Equity can be borrowed, used for home repair or remodeling loans or for other expenses. It can also be used for a reverse mortgage. If you later sell your home for a less expensive property, you have “earned” the difference between the two homes.
Buying a home is less expensive than renting. You might be surprised by how much home you can afford. An easy way to get a rough estimate of this is to multiply your current rent payments by 200. You could buy a home at that price for the same monthly payment. If your rent is $900, you could buy a home worth $180,000. Obviously, this depends on your income and credit rating, but this quick exercise will give you an idea. Remember that the home you can get for this price is probably considerably bigger than your apartment is now.
Another bonus to buying a home is that there are no unpleasant landlords or building managers to deal with. If you keep up on your payments, you can’t be forced to leave your property. It’s yours.
As with any purchase, there’s always a risk. More times than not, though, buying a home is going to pay off. Don’t spend your life renting; you’ll be missing out on one of the best parts of life: owning your own little place in the world.
Number of Views :65Disadvantages of Renting a Home
If you have heard that the housing market is not doing so well, you may be considering renting a home instead of buying one. However, there are many things to consider when making such an important decision. Even though renting a home may seem like the best option these days, it has some disadvantages that are worth thinking about. Before making your decision for you and your family, it is best to be well informed. Here are some disadvantages of renting a home to consider before writing off buying altogether. This way you can make the best decision for your family and the future.
Ask your Syracuse real estate agent for advice
You may be thinking that this seems silly when you are considering renting and not buying, but a real estate agent can offer important information about the local housing market and some advantages to buying that may help you make a more informed decision.
Rent costs can change
Every year, your lease agreement can change and your rent is likely to go up. Buying a home may offer more financial security in the long run.
Cannot gain equity
You can never gain equity in your home even if you rent for a long time. You basically have nothing to show for your years of renting but if you buying a home, you can use your mortgage and then sell your home and possibly get your money back.
No Tax Breaks
When you rent, your landlord gets the tax breaks instead of you. If you own a home you can enjoy deductibles for mortgages, improvements, losses and more. You also can experience pride of ownership and enjoy all the benefits.
No Major Changes
When you rent a home, you cannot make major changes. You cannot paint the walls or change the kitchen, or even expand on the home without consulting with landlord first.
Also, if you want to make major changes, you may risk violating one of the apartment rules and risk losing the apartment.
These disadvantages to renting a home may help you to make a more informed decision and weigh the benefits and costs. This way you can decide if renting a home is really worth it or if you would rather take the risk of buying a home. It is important to consider the options for yourself and your family, not only for now but in the future.
Number of Views :92Four Steps to Making a House a Home
Congratulations, you’ve just bought a home! As you look around your newly acquired investment, you are first struck with a sense of pride, wonder, and excitement. As that feeling fades, a new one might take its place. You might notice that some of the walls have been painted a less than complimentary color, or that the carpeting has stains. Maybe the house just doesn’t feel like a home, your home.
That’s okay. It’s even perfectly normal. And, it’s a feeling that is easy to fix.
Before you do anything, start with a deep cleaning. Scrub the windows, walls and floors. Remove any window covers, and get a fresh look at your home. A fresh clean can make the home feel like it is yours—you’ve now put some work into it. That will allow you to really take ownership of the home.
Next, look at the walls. Are you happy with the colors, or would you like something different? Looking online for color ideas, or going to the local paint store for some paint swatches can inspire you to make changes. Consider the colors of any furniture, curtains, or other home items you already have. Find a color, or set of colors, that works well with the things you are bringing in to your new home. Just remember that it is easier to paint before you move everything in, if that is a possibility.
Flooring can be more expensive and more labor-intensive to change, but it can be worth it to get your home the way you want it. Before considering any changes, however, see if there are cheaper improvements you can make. Maybe the carpet only needs the care of a professional cleaning service, or perhaps the hardwood floor in the dining room needs to be sanded down and refinished. If you do decide to redo the flooring in your new home, be sure to consider how easy to care for the new flooring is. Picking something that looks nice, but will require a lot of extra work to keep it new, might not be right for everyone.
Now, it is finally time to move in your furniture. Set everything up, get settled, and take a look around. It is probably starting to feel like home now, right? Don’t hesitate to pick up accent pieces, new lighting, or other bits of décor to put your own personal style into your home. This is your place, and it should feel like you.
Even if you are still looking at homes to buy, keep these steps in mind. A house can change drastically with just a new coat of paint. It is easy to see a home for what it is, right now, when you are first viewing it. But I encourage you to take a closer look, and see a home for what it could be, with just a little work.
Number of Views :49Movers or Do it Yourself?
Buying or selling a home usually means one thing: time to pull out boxes and start packing.
For some, packing for a move is a great opportunity to look through the memories and treasures they have gathered throughout the year. For the rest of us, it is a stressful task that we would just as soon get over as soon as possible. Finding boxes, wrapping breakables correctly, and then carting everything to your new home can be stressful, especially if you’re already busy with work and family responsibilities.
The alternative, of course, is to hire a moving company to pack and move for you. Although this is the more expensive option, it can save a lot of time, which is why most people choose to hire a moving company. However, they can be expensive, and it is sometimes easier to move on your own.
So, should you hire a professional, or do it yourself? It depends on a few factors:
1. How Much Stuff Do You Have to Move?
If you are moving from a small apartment into your first home, and you don’t have a lot to move, it’s probably going to be easier to pack on your own, and then ask some friends to help you. If your family is moving, including children and all of their things, it is probably better to hire a mover, unless you have a lot of extra time and patience. This is especially true if you have a lot of heavy, bulk, or difficult to move items, such as furniture.
2. How Far Are You Moving?
Are you just going across town, or are you going across the country? A short move, even if you do have a lot of stuff, can probably be done with the help of family and friends, if you don’t mind making a lot of trips. However, if you are moving a long distance, even more than 30 miles away, it is probably smarter to hire a moving company, or at least rent a moving truck. Being able to move everything in one load will be much easier, and won’t take as much gas.
3. How Much Time Do You Have?
If your time is at a premium, consider hiring a moving company. Professional movers can do the job with very little input from you while you continue on with your busy day. While you will need to be home while the movers do their initial estimate and while they are packing, you won’t be spending the weeks leading up to the move trying to do all of the packing yourself.
4. How Comfortable Are You With Someone Packing and Moving Your Belongings?
The chance of something getting broken by a mover is small, but it is still a possibility and one that should be considered. Even if you hire someone to do the packing and moving for you, you should still take the time to package any irreplaceable belongings yourself, and drive them to the new home in your own vehicle. Many moving companies ask you to pack any jewelry, antiques, or other valuable items yourself, to avoid something being broken accidently.
You should also consider how comfortable you are with someone going through all of your belongings as they pack. Some people are comfortable with this, but many aren’t. Instead of hiring movers to pack everything, pack all of your personal items, such as clothing, yourself, and let the movers handle things like dishes, books, and bedding.
5. How Much Help Can You Get?
If you live in a town surrounded by family and friends that can help out during a move, you may not need to hire a mover. This is especially true if you have friends with pick-up trucks. Spending a day moving as a team may even be fun. However, for those who do not have anyone nearby that can help, hiring a moving company might be the only way to move.
Hiring a moving company is a great idea, if you can afford it and can use the extra help. But don’t discount the benefits of moving yourself, especially if you can get help for free. Renting a moving truck might be all that you need to get everything moved.
Have you hired movers in the past? Were they worth the expense?
Number of Views :123Lease to Own Options
The housing market is finally stabilizing, and right now, the price of buying a home is as cheap as it’s ever going to be. This is a good time to take advantage of market conditions. But what do you do if you don’t have good credit or the money for a down payment?
Consider a lease-to-own agreement.
A lease-to-own agreement, also known as renting-to-own, allows you to move into the perfect house now, locking in a low market price instead of waiting and watching home values climb before you are able to buy. Sellers are likely to consider this type of arrangement right now because this is a hard time to sell a home. There are more homes for sale than there are people to buy them. Many sellers are looking for a way to get the homes out of their hands without losing money. Renting-to-own provides the perfect solution.
A lease-to-own agreement involves several things. Like any home purchase or rental, it requires a contract. A typical agreement lasts one to three years. An initial upfront payment, usually a few thousand dollars, is paid as a deposit on the home. The rent agreed on is fair market value, plus extra to be set aside with the deposit. At the end of the lease agreement, this money is returned to the buyer, to put towards a down payment.
The extra money tacked on to the rent that goes towards your down payment is usually around $200. This doesn’t seem like a lot, but if your lease lasts two years, and you paid $3,000 as a deposit, you will have almost $8,000 towards buying the home. Depending on the price of the home you are buying, this may be half of the recommended 20% down payment, a significant amount.
During the time that the home is being leased, the buyer has the opportunity to get ready to buy the home. This is the time to concentrate on saving a down payment and fixing up any negative marks on your credit. This is also the time to “test drive” the home, making sure that it is what you really want.
You will have the option to buy the home at any point during your lease period. If, at the end of that time, you decide not to buy, you forfeit the deposit you originally paid, along with all of the extra rent that you have been paying towards the down payment. That is part of the risk associated with a lease-to-own agreement. What this means, however, is that you do still have the chance to back out of the agreement if you decide that you don’t want the home, even if you do lose your investment
When considering a lease-to-own agreement, one of the most important things that you can do is to very carefully read the contract before you sign. If you have any questions or concerns, have a lawyer read it over for you. Although it is rare, there have been times when sellers add clauses that allow them to evict hopeful buyers over minor issues, making a profit before selling to someone else.
If you get the chance at a lease-to-own option on the house you like, take advantage of it. Work hard to save up the money you need for the down payment, and get your credit in order. Especially if you are a first time buyer, a lease-to-own agreement can be one of the best ways to get into a new home.
Buyers, what would be some more reasons to consider buying through a lease-to-own program?
Sellers, would you consider selling your home this way?
Number of Views :63Apartment Vacancies Highest Since 1987
The vacancy rate for U.S. apartments rose to 7.5 percent in the second quarter, the highest rate since 1987, according to a report from researcher Reis Inc.
Second-quarter asking rent fell 0.7 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago to $1,040 a month. Including incentives, effective rent was down 1.9 percent from the prior year and 0.9 percent from the first quarter to $975, Reis said.
In some areas, including Las Vegas, San Francisco and San Jose, Calif., effective rents were down 2 percent from the first quarter.
“With general expectations of an economic recovery pushed back to early 2010 at the earliest, it seems likely that apartments will have to endure a few more quarters of distress, lower rents and higher vacancies,” said Victor Calanog, Reis director of research.
Source: Reuters News, Ilaina Jonas (07/08/2009)
Number of Views :50Tips for Renting an Apartment
You have that job, that car and plans of your own or maybe plans with your family, but you need a place to live. You would really like a house, but that just is not in your budget right now. You have decided to rent an apartment but you may have heard rumors and are not exactly sure what to look for or how to go about it. Well, these tips for renting an apartment may be just what you need to get started in finding a place that is right for you.
Do some research
Look online, in the newspaper and other rental places for apartments that are within your budget and are what you are looking for. You also may want to make a list of things to ask when looking for places.
Contact a real estate agent
When looking for a place to live, a real estate agent is a good resource. They can help you look for places that are affordable for you and help you find what you are looking for.
Examine the apartments carefully
Taking a close look at an apartment that is available may be a good idea. Check for things such as noise, maintenance problems and more. It is also important to ask about leasing options as well as other services offered.
Ask about changes that can be made
If you want to rent the place, ask about any changes that can made, such as painting, hanging pictures, etc, ask about deposit and cleaning policies as well as any pet policies if you have or plan to get a pet.
Write down or take pictures of anything that may be needed later
When asking questions it may be helpful to write down the answers and keep them and to take pictures of how your apartment looked before moving in. This way you will know what you are responsible for and what you are not.
When renting or buying any place to live, it’s important to get the best value you can for what you are able to pay. It is also a good idea to know what you are getting yourself into, so you can be prepared and happy in your new place. These tips should help you get started on your future and help you find a good place.
Number of Views :114