http://www.financealley.com en-us editorial@financealley.com When it comes to real estate, the internet is a beautiful thing. It has revolutionized the real estate industry. Instead of spending countless hours [and dollars in gas] driving around looking at homes, the vast majority of buyers now sit and click throug... http://www.financealley.com/article_601890_33.html 17th August 2008 Location, location and location – it is the first rule of real estate that we all learn. While we have all had this rule hammered into our collective psyche, another rule is arising in this current dismal real estate market – the look twice rule. ... http://www.financealley.com/article_601889_33.html 17th August 2008 Flip that home and make big bucks. Buy a fixer-upper and clean up. This is the common theme of more than a few television shows and they make it look pretty easy. The real questions, of course, are whether this can actually be done and whether you should ... http://www.financealley.com/article_601888_33.html 17th August 2008 To say the current real estate market is a mess would be a slight understatement. We haven’t seen problems like this since the Great Depression. This is particularly true with banks, which are failing or on the cusp of doing so. Bears Stearns. IndyMa... http://www.financealley.com/article_600727_33.html 16th August 2008 The mortgage market in the United States is an interesting one because of the presence of semi-government entities in it. Freddie Mac is one such entity and a critical one to keeping the mortgage market moving. Freddie Mac is actually a nickname for t... http://www.financealley.com/article_600726_33.html 16th August 2008 In this era of more people buying homes in foreclosure and dealing with a third party (the one that holds the mortgage) there can be unexpected issues that will leave the buyer scratching their heads wondering if the home really was for sale. This was my... http://www.financealley.com/article_597328_33.html 13th August 2008 Buying home is both an emotional and financial decision. You want to stick to your budget, but you eyes can get mighty big when you see some homes. This is particularly true if you are a first time buyer and are looking at model homes. Let’s start w... http://www.financealley.com/article_582665_33.html 21st July 2008 One of the basic tools used by financial advisors is to show their clients the advantages of homeownership versus renting. As you’ve probably heard, renting always seems to come out as the bad option. Many are starting to question whether that is still ... http://www.financealley.com/article_582663_33.html 21st July 2008 The real estate market has typically been touted as a stable field where your investment will grow slowly, but surely, over time. And then the 21st century came and everything went nuts. The real estate market from the year 2000 through 2010 is shapin... http://www.financealley.com/article_582661_33.html 21st July 2008 Selling or buying a home is one of the biggest transactions you will ever enter into during your life. As with most transactions of this sort, a contract is required. Ah, but what if you are not a lawyer? Let’s start off with the basics. A contract i... http://www.financealley.com/article_582660_33.html 21st July 2008 When you list your home on the market, you have to realize potential buyers are going to go over it with a fine tooth comb. This means you need to make repairs before hand. Since you probably aren’t rolling in money, prioritizing repairs is often import... http://www.financealley.com/article_582659_33.html 21st July 2008 The real estate market is bouncing back from a legendary hot period by going ice cold. Money has dried up, home values are bombing out and foreclosures are at unheard of levels. Is there any silver lining to the current real estate market? Is there an... http://www.financealley.com/article_560504_33.html 21st June 2008 The real estate market is slightly cold these days across much of the country. If you hope to sell your home for a decent price, you need some factor that makes it stand out from similar homes around you. While the real estate market is down, energy p... http://www.financealley.com/article_560503_33.html 21st June 2008 The sky is falling! Talk to practically any homeowner these days and you would swear that Armageddon has arrived. While the real estate market is a mess, homeowners need to take a deep breath. Are there homeowners who are in deep trouble because the ma... http://www.financealley.com/article_550619_33.html 04th June 2008 Mention the word contract and images of expensive lawyers comes to mind. In real estate transactions, this is largely not the case anymore. Owning a home is the American Dream. While the last few years have been more than a bit rocky for homeowners, t... http://www.financealley.com/article_550569_33.html 04th June 2008 The hyped reasons for the massive slow down in the real estate market are the credit crunch and bursting of the real estate balloon. There is one other major problem that nobody talks about. At its core, the real estate market is no different from any... http://www.financealley.com/article_550565_33.html 04th June 2008 Down, down and down we go. Where will the real estate market settle? Is it possible to figure out where the bottom of the real estate market will be? It is an interesting question. The news is in for the recent financial quarter. Unfortunately, it read... http://www.financealley.com/article_550564_33.html 04th June 2008 The current real estate situation is a killer for most borrowers. While prices are down to very attractive numbers, getting funding to buy a home is very tough given the current credit crunch. If you want to get funding these days, you need to elimina... http://www.financealley.com/article_536203_33.html 13th May 2008 As of the writing of this article, the real estate market is a horrific mess as prices fall. This “down” market is, of course, a huge boon for home buyers. You can pick up properties at very low prices and make a killing when the prices recover in a y... http://www.financealley.com/article_536202_33.html 13th May 2008 Selling your home without a real estate agent has a lot of benefits. Many homeowners, however, fail to take this path because of a fear of dealing with the real estate contracts involved. This common fear is misplaced. When it comes to legal issues, t... http://www.financealley.com/article_526437_33.html 29th April 2008 The real estate market is cold, cold, cold. If you want to sell in this market, you need to spice things up. One of the best ways is to do a little plastic surgery on your home. Time has a negative impact on our bodies. Hair goes gray or falls out. Th... http://www.financealley.com/article_526436_33.html 29th April 2008 The real estate market is completely out of whack at the moment, which means you need to be careful. In short, you need to know the secret to avoiding a financing disaster when buying a home. As you know, the mortgage industry swirled the proverbial dr... http://www.financealley.com/article_526435_33.html 29th April 2008 You’ve put the property up on the market and are getting interest from potential buyers. In fact, one has made an offer you find generally acceptable, but has raised some problems regarding the home in it. What do you do? Let’s start off with a bas... http://www.financealley.com/article_526434_33.html 29th April 2008 Location, location, location – you’ve probably heard this phrase a thousand times, but what does it really mean? If you are in the market for a home, you’ll want to know why location is key. There are hundreds of reasons why location is so import... http://www.financealley.com/article_523488_33.html 25th April 2008 There is a lot that goes into selling your home, though this process may be easier than you think. To sell your home effectively, make sure to follow the subsequent steps. You’ve probably heard a lot about “staging,” “pricing,” and “advert... http://www.financealley.com/article_523486_33.html 25th April 2008 Do you really need an agent in order to sell your home? If you have been asking yourself this question, the answer is a simple “no.” However, you will need to know a few things about real estate if you want to make sure your sales goes smoothly. W... http://www.financealley.com/article_523485_33.html 25th April 2008 Ah, the open house – that one chance that you have to either snag a buyer ... or cause them to run screaming from your home. Open houses can be helpful, but only if you know a few tricks of the trade. If you have no real interest in selling your hom... http://www.financealley.com/article_523483_33.html 25th April 2008 Is it possible to sell a home without a for sale sign? Well, it is if you intend to sell it to your closest relative. Otherwise, neglecting to properly advertise your home will cost you those interested buyers. While it is a good idea to place a “fo... http://www.financealley.com/article_523481_33.html 25th April 2008 Real estate has often been viewed as a solid investment for a number of reasons. One of those reasons is the fact it tends to be fairly stable. This rule has been flipped on its head this decade. To understand the real estate market in the 21st Centur... http://www.financealley.com/article_518690_33.html 16th April 2008 For most people, it is difficult to look past today’s problems towards the future. The current real estate market is creating such a challenge for plenty of people. Homer Simpson is famous for yelling, “Ahh! We’re all gonna die! Run!” at the f... http://www.financealley.com/article_518688_33.html 16th April 2008 Whether we will admit it or not, we all think we are pretty clever. This can manifest in many ways. In real estate, it often happens when a seller blows their counter offer to a buyer. A real estate transaction comes around in a time tested manner. Th... http://www.financealley.com/article_515056_33.html 10th April 2008 Convenience is a fact of life. When a potential buyer wants to see your home, you must make it available to them or risk them looking elsewhere. This brings us to the issue known as the key box conundrum. What is a key box? It is a device that holds a... http://www.financealley.com/article_515055_33.html 10th April 2008 Banks have noticed a rather significant problem when they foreclose on homeowners. More and more of the homes are being trashed by the owners before they move out. Banks are now fighting back in an odd way. They are offering cash to owners that move out p... http://www.financealley.com/article_515054_33.html 10th April 2008 So, you need to sell your home. A quick dip of the toe in the real estate pool will tell you the market is ice cold. Don’t worry. In this article, we look at a secret method that will sell your home in a cold real estate market. The number one strat... http://www.financealley.com/article_515052_33.html 10th April 2008 Five years ago, you could sell a home pretty much as soon as you simply thought of it. Property was literally selling before it was placed on the market. Imagine that! Well, things have changed fairly dramatically in the last few years. The golden age of ... http://www.financealley.com/article_514861_33.html 10th April 2008 There are many factors that go into selling or buying when it comes to real estate. Some of the factors are dependent on understanding the game. This includes pricing. Specifically, there is more than on price for a home, neighborhood and city. The trick ... http://www.financealley.com/article_513282_33.html 09th April 2008 Real estate is a fairly simple investment game in the long run. Buy a home, improve it and then eventually resell it. Although we are going through a rough patch in the market, this still holds true. Some homeowners can, however, make an unfortunate disco... http://www.financealley.com/article_513281_33.html 09th April 2008 The current real estate market is an utter mess, which is leading to a situation where many borrowers are in financial trouble. This brings us to the secret to dealing with banks when you are having mortgage problems. Foreclosure. It is an ugly word. ... http://www.financealley.com/article_510985_33.html 07th April 2008 You’ve made the decision to sell. Now you are ready to go, but what do you actually do? The answer is simple. You need to take the necessary steps to get your home ready to sell. Living in a home causes wear and tear. This is true for any family or ... http://www.financealley.com/article_508016_33.html 03rd April 2008 One of the basic rules of real estate is to buy the cheapest home on the block, fix it up and reap the profits. When using this strategy, you have to be careful to make sure you buy the fixer upper instead of the money trap. Location is the primary ru... http://www.financealley.com/article_508010_33.html 03rd April 2008 Most markets are cyclical in nature. In practical terms, this means there are periods where the market in question is very busy and periods where it is very slow. Many people are surprised to learn this also applies to the real estate market. Buying a... http://www.financealley.com/article_508003_33.html 03rd April 2008 You’ve watched the real estate market for a while and are ready to make the plunge. Now that you’ve decided to sell, what do you look for? It can be tempting to make an offer on the nicest house on the block. This is a mistake. If you buy the most ... http://www.financealley.com/article_507996_33.html 03rd April 2008 The current real estate market is in the dumps. This has had the secondary effect of driving down the price of land. If you are interested in building your own home, it is a good time to buy land. Buying land may seem like a similar act to buying a ho... http://www.financealley.com/article_503136_33.html 02nd April 2008 The current real estate market is in a definite downturn. If you don’t need to sell, you shouldn’t. Ah, but what if you do? How do you stand out from the other properties and get buyers to make offers on your home? This brings us to the secret to sell... http://www.financealley.com/article_498650_33.html 28th March 2008 The Federal Reserve Bank has jumped into the mortgage market with both feet as it attempts to revive a critically ill housing market. This is good news, but also presents a trap for the unwary. The Federal Reserve Bank is touted with many functions, b... http://www.financealley.com/article_498395_33.html 27th March 2008 The Federal Reserve Bank has been taking a beating when it comes to how it has moved to handle the current financial and economic situation. The announcement of what is essentially a 200 billion dollar financing plan signals a change in direction. At t... http://www.financealley.com/article_492758_33.html 20th March 2008 While most homes require minimal improvements, you will be much better off if you make the types of changes that are worth the extra investment. Though there are no guarantees that any sort of home improvement will allow you to list your home at a hig... http://www.financealley.com/article_469831_33.html 06th February 2008 Is your home in need of renovation? Before you try to sell your home, there are a few things that you will need to repair. If you neglect to make necessary adjustments, you could lose a buyer. One of the very first things that home buyers will look at ... http://www.financealley.com/article_469830_33.html 06th February 2008 Is your home peculiar in some manner? Whether you live in a tree, or under water, unusual homes are not impossible to sell ... they just take a bit more effort. Though the marketing aspect of an unusual home is just as important as advertising a regul... http://www.financealley.com/article_469829_33.html 06th February 2008 When it comes to selling your own home, you should know that all buyers are certainly not created equal. Knowing how to spot each type of buyer is really half of the selling battle. There are a few types of buyers that you will likely come across when ... http://www.financealley.com/article_469828_33.html 06th February 2008