All Forum Posts by: Bogdan Cirlig

For me it all depends on the tax rate you are at vs your personal finances. Mortgage interest is pretty much the only personal tax "loophole" so to speak for W2 income earners. Since the US tax system is progressive, everyone wants to get down in the lower level of taxation, writing off that $50k or so per year will lower your AGI just enough so you won't get hit with AMT and lose those deductions just because you're considered "rich" at 250k per year :)

Second, it only makes sense if your mortgage + ownership costs (tax, insurance etc) are as close as possible (or lower) to your rent AND you bought in an area that you cross your fingers and hope it will appreciate significantly in next few years. Realize the fact that for first 10 years you will barely pay ANY principal back. That's one big gotcha most people don't realize, you are renting your home from.. "the bank" and you'd better stay in it or pray it appreciates, else it's an expensive rent. On average US families change houses every 7 years while getting 30 year mortgages, that's very expensive rent if your home didn't appreciate.

Regarding the 5% yes, you can, but expect the APR to bump up by 1% or so due to the increased risk plus that PMI added as well. However, gotta lose some to win some. You can remove PMI once the property appreciates so your loan becomes again 80% LTV.

Not sure 40 properties bought will change the asset class of that neighborhood, but great initiative.

LegalZoom.com ?

+1 for redfin. Loving it.

That's one thing I'm wrapping my head around, assuming a seller wants to get the highest price, why would someone not list a great deal everywhere possible? Why there is this "I have an unlisted REO sic!" (aside from the fact banks don't want to publicly brag about how bad their foreclosure tapes are :)

I can give you precise numbers for any area in the US. We compute that info monthly on all Geography levels from Nationwide down to Zipcode across about 1 million rentals monthly. Again, those are "medians", as @Ron N pointed out, various amenities will change that $/sqft however :).

Also, we do provide the Vacancy rate for sub-zipcode segments where that property is located.

www.Zilpy.com (disclaimer: it's my own company) is also providing this info and the Rent Estimate accounts for SFH/TH/Apt , Bedrooms and Baths plus SQFT of the property. Also you can find the market trends by major Metro areas, updated monthly.