Tuesday, February 5, 2019
Monday, February 4, 2019
Buying Or Renting A Home
It’s the American Dream to own a house; however, buying a new house versus renting a home each has their challenges.
It is a common question, “why should I rent a house if could buy a one?”
Unfortunately, the answer isn’t that simple.
Financial journalist Miranda Marquit outlines the 5 Signs You’re Not Ready to Buy a House Yet.
They include:
An unstable job
Lack of a long-term plan
You lack a down payment
You require an emergency fund
Credit card debt
While these items seem entirely necessary, it’s surprising how many people are willing to jump right into a mortgage without considering the consequences or long-term commitment.
Your financial challenges are not the only problem. Your social, financial and professional life should be in order, to buy a new house.
The actual cost of home ownership is higher than some anticipate.
Personal Finance specialist Camilo Maldonado of Forbes thinks true cost of home ownership is much more significant than others.
He states that:
“When it comes to thinking about the true cost of home ownership,
you need to have a holistic view of all of the related expenses.
At first glance, a mortgage payment might be less than your current monthly rent, but that mortgage is just the tip of the iceberg. For many people, the associated costs of home ownership might run as high as 50%+ of their mortgage payment. Ouch.”
Before buying a house thinks about specific conditions and understand your obstacles. Then decide either you want to buy a house or not.
But isn’t real estate a good investment?
The short answer is “sort of.”
Real estate has changed over the years. As LifeHacker columnist
Kristin Wong notes:
The biggest argument for owning a home is that it’s an “investment.” But a lot of people overestimate the return on this investment. People tend to believe that homes are appreciating assets, but this isn’t always true.
For the full article, click here.
Unfortunately, this is a hard pill to swallow for many people. They want to think their home is always appreciating, or gaining value. No one wants to hear that their house may not be worth as much as they believe.
Is Renting Right For Me?
The financial geeks over at NerdWallet echo the statements of Miranda Marquit.
They’ve taken it one step further in determining whether or not it makes sense to buy or rent.
By visiting their website, nerdwallet.com, you can use their calculator to determine how much buying a home versus renting will cost you.
For any savvy individual considering this question, NerdWallet’s calculator could prevent you from making an uneducated decision.
How Homeowners Can Update the Appeal of Their Rental Properties
Interesting video on how homeowners can improve the appeal of their rental properties.
Land Lord Hacks to 3x Your Time
Time is a valuable commodity for both landlords and tenants. Neither wants to waste time on a property that isn’t a good fit.
Whether it’s showing your listings or completing paperwork, finding the right tenant and keeping them can be time-consuming.
From a property owner perspective, it’s essential to filter potential tenants as quickly as possible. Get to the answer of whether or not they’re a good fit or not.
This, in short, is why many owners rely on property management companies.
If a tenant is not a good fit, it’s best to eliminate them as a prospect as quickly as possible. As a property owner, this will help you avoid wasting time. Similarly, from the tenants perspective, they aren’t kept waiting on a listing that they aren’t qualified for.
Rent Fax echoes this rationale in their article, “8 Ways to Save Time in 2019 for busy landlords”:
- Pr-Qualify Renters
- Don’t Waste Time With Unreliable People
- Upgrade Rental Appliances
- Outsource Your Laundry
- Digitally Manage Your Tenants
- Do a Pre-Move Out Walk-Through
- Use an App to Track Spending
- Learn Better Time Management Skills
Click here to read the full article.
To further assist you in qualifying tenants, it might be worthwhile to have answers to some necessary information about your property. In a study by Andrea Collatz from TransUnion, here are 11 things features that renters want in a property:
- Location
- Security
- Schools
- Parking
- Move-in ready conditions
- Appliances included
- Upgrades and renovations
- Age of property
- Open floor plan and storage
- Outdoor space
- A cooperative landlord
While many of the items on this list are dependent on the property itself, being attentive to the needs of your tenants can have a substantial impact on the overall relationship.
Managing the unexpected
Preparing for the unexpected is common when it comes to rental properties.
While at times it can be a headache, here are 4 apps from Quicken to help you manage your properties and make them as appealing to future tenants as possible
Property Buddy - with this app, property owners can manage both income and expenses for each property. Even if you’re working with a property management company, this app may help you stay on top of how much each of your properties is bringing in or costing you.
Zillow Rental Manager - let’s face it, listing a property can be a pain. With the Zillow Rental Manager, you can get your property listed on Zillow and leverage the power of their platform.
Homestyler - if an image can speak a thousand words, then homestyler can you rent it for more. The whole purpose of Homestyler is to take the guesswork out of renovation. If you’re curious what your property would look like with tile or hardwood, snap a photo of your property, and you can visualize what this might look like.
Thumbtack - while less of a property management tool and more of a resource, thumbtack allows property owners to connect with contractors in the event of property repairs.
If you’re a property owner and you use other apps to manage your listings, we’d love to hear about them!