Florence Foote

Archive of Florence Foote's Articles

Florence has written 27 article(s) for the BiggerPockets Blog.

The Impact of Rent Control on Landlords: A Commentary

by Florence Foote | May 25, 2010

“We’re From The Government, and We’re Here To Help” These words, famously cited by Ronald Regan, can move many a real estate investor to tears. And not without justification. Many government schemes to “help” the – purportedly – underprivileged, backfire. No better example exists than rent control ordinances, which generally end up destroying the stock [...]

14 comments Read the full article →

Taxes

Prop 13 – Fixing the Loopholes

by Florence Foote | May 11, 2010

California initiated a major revolution when the people passed the legendary Proposition 13 back during the 1970s. As many people know, Prop 13 prevents reassessment of real estate until it changes hands. (In the meantime, the valuation can only increase by a tiny percentage every year.) This has been simply wonderful for homeowners who stay [...]

3 comments Read the full article →

Real Estate Investing

Future Shock: Demographic Trends Forecast Future Housing Demand

by Florence Foote | May 4, 2010

Google Labs introduced a nifty set of experimental tools for visualizing data. Although there are a lot of cool ones (government debt in Europe, anyone?), my attention was immediately caught by the U.S. population data set. That data is absolutely fascinating for any real estate investor who is interested in the demand side of the [...]

2 comments Read the full article →

Real Estate

The Art of War – How To Win The Real Estate Bidding War, That Is

by Florence Foote | April 27, 2010

You have probably heard of the ancient Chinese text “The Art of War,” written by Sun Tzu in the 6th century BC. The treatise is a philosophical guide to battle and has, amazingly, stood the test of time – it is as relevant to today’s business climate as it ever was to Chinese commanders six [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

Commentary

Wall Street v. Real Estate: Which Is More Trustworthy?

by Florence Foote | April 20, 2010

Wall Street (in particular, the S&P 500) has clearly been on something of a tear lately. But as they say in the fine print in all those ads, past performance is no guarantee of future performance. While the same could be said about real estate, at least with real estate, what you see is what [...]

14 comments Read the full article →

Real Estate Investing

Small Property Investing in a Rising Interest Rate Environment

by Florence Foote | April 13, 2010

According to a recent article in the New York Times, a sustained period of rising interest rates “is the inevitable outcome of the nation’s ballooning debt and the renewed prospect of inflation as the economy recovers from the depths of the recent recession.” People have short memories – it was not that long ago that [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

Real Estate Investing

Investing in “the Ick Factor”

by Florence Foote | April 6, 2010

I just finished reading a Michael Lewis article in Vanity Fair about Dr. Michael Burry, the physician-turned money manager. Burry is profiled because of his remarkable success in buying credit default swaps to bet against the subprime loan market. He saw what many of us saw – that subprime loans were a ticking time bomb, [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

Real Estate Marketing

Using the “Old” Media to Market Your Listings

by Florence Foote | March 30, 2010

What is the best kind of advertising? The kind that is not advertising at all, but editorial coverage. The reason for this is simple. We’ve all been bombarded by ads since we were little children. You can’t avoid them. Even movies and DVDs start with a half dozen ads for “coming attractions.” We all learn, [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

Mortgages & Lending

Option Arms – the Big Bang That Didn’t Come (Yet)

by Florence Foote | March 23, 2010

Josh Dorkin and I have both previously blogged about the looming threat posed by “option arm” loans, sometimes cutely called “pick-a-pay” loans. These are loans in which borrowers can decide how much to pay each month, with many predictably going for the minimum payment option. The Downside Possibilities What many borrowers may not have fully [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Realtors

Honestly, I’m Not Making This Up: MLS Rants

by Florence Foote | March 16, 2010

Last week, I criticized the practice of some agents who hide potentially important information from buyers by putting it in the secret “agent’s only” section of the MLS called “private remarks.” I stand by that post: if it is important enough for the buyer’s agent (and would not cause embarrassment or a security risk) I [...]

8 comments Read the full article →

Realtors

Sex, Lies and the MLS: Why What You See is Not Always What You Get

by Florence Foote | March 9, 2010

I believe most people, and even most Realtors, are fundamentally honest. Not only are there moral reasons for telling the truth, but these days, given the number of lawsuits that arise from real estate transactions gone wrong, it is simply good business to be honest. Thus, I am continually amazed by what I find under [...]

8 comments Read the full article →

Real Estate

Monkeying With The Numbers in Ape Country: Tarzana, CA

by Florence Foote | February 23, 2010

Ziprealty recently issued its report of real estate statistics covering the fourth quarter of 2009. This report never fails to attract a great deal of media attention, and makes headlines all over the blogosphere. But you might want to take those (and similar) statistics with a grain of salt. Among the hottest markets in the [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

Foreclosures

Why Too Many Foreclosures Can Lead to Devastation

by Florence Foote | February 16, 2010

Recently, I wrote about the path of progress and why one should consider investing in areas that will benefit from, for instance, the building of new rail lines which reduce commuting time and increase the quality of life for those who have access to such facilities compared to those who do not. As most people [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

Foreclosures

Foreclosure Alternatives are Gaining Steam

by Florence Foote | February 9, 2010

Nationwide, 1 in 4 mortgages were underwater by the end of 2009. Recent research suggests when a negative equity hits 25% (i.e., the borrower owes 25% more than the market value), borrowers tend to walk away from their mortgage, even if they are perfectly capable of making the payments. These two trends, taken together, can [...]

3 comments Read the full article →

← Previous Entries