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Blogs

Adding Value To Make The Sale

by Richard Warren | March 23, 2009

    
A few short years ago you could sell anything in the hot markets. Before you finished putting the sign on the lawn you had multiple offers in your hands. Competition for properties was so fierce that it wasn’t necessary to spend money or waste time fixing up a house because the buyers didn’t care. [...]

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Blogs

When Does A Recession Become A Depression?

by Richard Warren | March 16, 2009

 Are we in a really bad recession or a “mild” depression? Does it matter? At what point do we go from being in a somewhat normal recession to a full-blown depression? Where is that line and how do we know when we’ve crossed it? What is a depression anyway? Does anyone really know?
Recessions are pretty [...]

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Blogs

Bring Back Those Cute “WIN” Buttons!

by Richard Warren | March 9, 2009

The Federal Reserve, Treasury and two Presidents have been throwing everything at the current economic downturn in the hope that something might actually work. Despite interest rates reduced to near 0% levels, $700 Billion thrown at banks, the $168 Billion stimulus (remember those checks?), various rescue schemes to save major corporations, the economy continues to [...]

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Blogs

Another Financial Crisis Looming?

by Richard Warren | March 2, 2009

Could anything be worse than the foreclosure crisis? People who purchased more expensive homes than they could afford or used risky mortgages to obtain them are losing their homes in record numbers. Banks who aggressively pushed loans on poorly qualified borrowers are suffering the consequences. The economy has been dragged down by the crisis. Will [...]

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Blogs

The Spin Cycle – What Real Estate Statistics To Believe

by Richard Warren | February 23, 2009

     Sales are up! Sales are down. Foreclosures are up. Foreclosures are down! Which statements are correct and which are wrong? They’re all correct, if you spin them the the right way. But two opposite statements can’t both be right, can they? Yes, if you choose the proper time frame in which to measure them.
A [...]

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Blogs

Leverage: Friend or Foe?

by Richard Warren | February 9, 2009

On the surface, real estate is a terrible investment. With rental properties you have to deal with tenants, vacancies, maintenance and repair, insurance, taxes and so on. It is definitely high maintenance when compared to stocks, bonds or other investments. The rate of return isn’t so great either. If you pay $100,000 for a property [...]

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Blogs

What If The Real Estate Market Doesn’t Recover?

by Richard Warren | February 2, 2009

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The real estate market has to recover eventually, doesn’t it? Maybe, maybe not. Blasphemy you say? It really depends on what your definition of “eventually” is. You would be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t know that there was a stock market crash in 1929. That crash was one of the precursors [...]

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Blogs

Owner Financing: A Seller’s Perspective

by Richard Warren | January 26, 2009

If you absolutely must sell now and are not willing to slash your price, what do you do? What you need to do is stand out in a cluttered and crowded pool of homes for sale. One way to do that is to offer to finance the purchase. The current state of lending makes it [...]

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Blogs

A National GO Zone?

by Richard Warren | January 12, 2009

When portions of the gulf coast states,                                                    Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi, were ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Government stepped in to create the Gulf Opportunity Zone, or GO Zone. The idea was that the best way to attract private investors to the area was to create tax incentives that were too good to [...]

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Blogs

First-Time Homebuyer Credit – Is It Really a Free Lunch?

by Richard Warren | January 5, 2009

I was vaguely aware of the first-time homebuyer tax credit offered by the Government but never really paid much attention to it. I certainly wouldn’t be eligible for it since I have owned my home for a long time and have a number of investment properties as well. My real estate holdings are, for the [...]

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Blogs

Tales From The Pacific

by Richard Warren | December 15, 2008

I just returned from a 2-1/2 week cruise vacation from California to Hawaii. While I would like to say it’s good to be back, the truth is I wish I were still on the ship. I am a veteran of cruising as this was my ninth such vacation but this was different in that I [...]

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Blogs

Rehabbing To Flip

by Richard Warren | December 8, 2008

I’m on the final leg of my 2-1/2 week cruise of the Pacific Ocean.  Here is another repost of an article on rehabbing.  I’ll be back with a new post next week.

The Most Dangerous Game: Rehabbing to Flip
This week we will look at rehabbing with the intention of flipping. Of rehabbing for personal use, rehabbing [...]

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Blogs

Rental Property Rehab

by Richard Warren | December 1, 2008

I am now halfway through my 2-1/2 week vacation and currently in Hawaii. Here is another repost of a previous article on rehabbing.
Rehabbing A Rental Property
Last week we discussed rehabbing a home for personal use, this week we will explore rehabbing for the purpose of renting. Of the three main types of rehab, personal use, [...]

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Blogs

When The Bill Collector Calls

by Richard Warren | November 17, 2008

A couple of weeks ago I received a very unusual phone call. The caller stated that she was calling in reference to my XYZ Bank credit card and asked if I was Richard Warren. I have a credit card from XYZ Bank and assumed that the caller was soliciting me for some service even though [...]

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Blogs

Mortgage Market Snapshot Week of 11/10/2008

by Steve Heideman | November 10, 2008

It’s official. As of 11:04 EST Tuesday November 4th 2008 Barack Obama is the first black president of the United States of America.  In a unprecendented move, President elect Obama moved quickly appointing a 17 person bi-partisan economic team. Members of the team include such economic titans as  former Regan fed chief Paul Volcker, billionaire [...]

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