http://www.financealley.com en-us editorial@financealley.com The bad news is that your low ball home offers are not likely to be accepted. The good news is that they work anyhow. Let's look at why that is. Most real estate sells for a bit less than the asking price, but a "low ball" offer on a home is one that's... http://www.financealley.com/article_605550_33.html 21st August 2008 A bad credit rating is usually considered a problem, but is it always so? Are there circumstances where it can be beneficial? Credit is a tool that has to be handled with wisdom to be of value. Being able to borrow money or get credit cards doesn't aut... http://www.financealley.com/article_586134_19.html 23rd July 2008 The following types of homes are not differentiated by whether they are brick or wood or Victorian or modern. This is about the different purposes a house can serve according to your situation and goals. Which one is right for you? Maybe the advantages an... http://www.financealley.com/article_581551_33.html 20th July 2008 Most new investors in fixer uppers have the basic idea that you buy a house in need of some repairs and cleaning, you fix it up and sell it for a profit. That's a good start, but how do you know if there will be a profit, and what changes to make? Many in... http://www.financealley.com/article_566925_33.html 30th June 2008 There has been a lot written about the mechanics of how to buy a house. You get prequalified for a loan, then perhaps preapproved, and then you look for a home, make an offer, have inspections done and so on. Many people can help you through the process. ... http://www.financealley.com/article_563887_33.html 26th June 2008 When considering renting versus buying a home, forget the biased advice of those who think it is always better to buy. Instead, consider the important questions you need to ask. Here are four of them. 1. How long will you be there? Generally, if you... http://www.financealley.com/article_560978_33.html 23rd June 2008 You think it's time that you get a raise from your employer, but how do you go about it? Do it wrong and you may make things even worse. How do you do it right? Try the following five-step process. 1. Make sure you deserve the raise. It may seem too... http://www.financealley.com/article_559844_63.html 20th June 2008 You probably already know you should get several quotes on your homeowners insurance before buying. The difference in cost from one company to another can be significant, and checking rates is easy either by phone or on the internet. The problem comes in ... http://www.financealley.com/article_549674_19.html 30th May 2008 There are many more than five kinds of residential rental properties depending on how you classify them. But from the perspective of basic investment differences, there are five types that come to mind, each with their own problems and advantages. The fir... http://www.financealley.com/article_547875_33.html 27th May 2008 You might think that used car finance simple involves a dealer, a bank or other lender, and a down payment on the part of the buyer. That is how it works in some cases, but it gets much more creative than that. Let's look at a real life example, and see w... http://www.financealley.com/article_546461_19.html 23rd May 2008 If you are like most people, when you think about how to make money, you think about the specific jobs, businesses or schemes that will bring in the cash. But while there are many ways to make it, all these ways have their examples of success and failure.... http://www.financealley.com/article_545289_19.html 22nd May 2008 Home improvements are made for a variety of reasons. Sometimes those reasons are confused in the mind of the homeowner. That explains the first of the common mistakes listed below. 1. Not Being Clear About Your Purpose With any home improvement, you... http://www.financealley.com/article_544138_33.html 21st May 2008 Buying a home is often a stressful process, because it is usually the single largest purchase of your life. Even if it isn't your first house, it's easy to make a mistake that costs you hundreds or thousands of dollars. Here are three common mistakes to a... http://www.financealley.com/article_542603_33.html 20th May 2008 Want to have more creative concepts for your business, job or home life? Practicing can help, especially if it is with others. The first time you brainstorm with a group of creative people, you might feel like you are mentally slow, but soon you'll find t... http://www.financealley.com/article_530529_15.html 07th May 2008 So you want really cheap housing? Whether you are buying or renting, here are five ways to find a home that costs you less. Those are followed by a list of the real expenses you need to compare your options fairly. If you can live where you like, you c... http://www.financealley.com/article_530018_33.html 06th May 2008 What is frugality? The dictionary definition of frugal: "Practicing or marked by economy, as in the expenditure of money or the use of material resources." People think of it as simply being "cheap," in the fashion of Ebeneezer Scrooge. I see it as the p... http://www.financealley.com/article_523816_19.html 27th April 2008 When you want to save money on something, your first thought might be to look for a better price. That is one way to spend less and still get what you want. Let's take a good look at that before we move on to the second way. Save Money With A Better... http://www.financealley.com/article_522973_19.html 25th April 2008 There are two basic ways to buy a used car cheap, and one good reason: To save money. It isn't just that they cost less to buy initially. The research shows a four-year-old car can cost 40% less over its lifetime. That's including the costs of gas, oil, r... http://www.financealley.com/article_517777_19.html 16th April 2008 Haven't heard of evolutionary economics? It's not surprising. This is a new area of study that looks into the biological and evolutionary forces that shape our economic decisions. It is related to behavioral economics, another discipline you don't hear mu... http://www.financealley.com/article_516432_63.html 13th April 2008 It's funny but no fun to buy a new home and then discover that snakes are regular visitors in the living room. And you don't want to move into a house with a leaky roof or a wet basement. Or discover that you picked the worst neighborhood in town - after... http://www.financealley.com/article_513079_33.html 08th April 2008 Why do many poor people live just outside of our towns and cities? Because we won't let them live any closer. You see, low income residents are more likely to live in ugly homes and apartments. Other residents seek to ban such ugliness, and so attack the ... http://www.financealley.com/article_509907_18.html 06th April 2008 It is common to look for ways to increase your home's value when getting ready to sell. But there is another approach here as well. It is trying not to do the things that lower home value, or cost more than they return. What are these things? Let's look... http://www.financealley.com/article_507902_33.html 03rd April 2008 Why look at how sellers scare away home buyers? Because there is a lot to learn from other's mistakes, especially if you want to avoid making them yourself. Here are four such errors to watch out for. Selling What YOU Like One of the reasons ... http://www.financealley.com/article_486609_33.html 07th March 2008 What is the fair market value of your home? It is what your house will sell for with reasonable marketing efforts, in a reasonable amount of time. Of course, that definition probably isn't enough. What you really want to know is how to estimate that value... http://www.financealley.com/article_481224_33.html 25th February 2008 Done right, flipping fixer uppers is perhaps one of the easiest ways to get into real estate investing. Usually you want to get in and out of the property as quickly as possible, because every day you own a house has costs associated with it. Interest on ... http://www.financealley.com/article_467558_33.html 04th February 2008 Some real estate secrets are right out there in the open for everyone to see. The second secret below, for example, is simply to make low offers. Real estate agents and others will argue that you just waste everyone's time because low offers just aren't a... http://www.financealley.com/article_463004_19.html 28th January 2008 The benefits of home ownership are written about and talked about again and again. Home owners get to build equity by buying instead of renting. They get a tax deduction for the interest paid on mortgage loans. They get even more equity from appreciation ... http://www.financealley.com/article_255146_33.html 21st January 2008 The exclusionary rule need to be thrown out! This body of law basically says that evidence obtained illegally cannot be used in a criminal prosecution. The idea is that this will prevent the police and the justice system in general from illegally searchin... http://www.financealley.com/article_253616_18.html 19th January 2008 If prices have dropped where you live, you may wonder if you should sell your home now. That depends on a lot of factors, of course, like whether you have to move for your job, whether you are upside-down on the mortgage, and whether you plan to buy anoth... http://www.financealley.com/article_252938_33.html 19th January 2008 You probably already know how to find a real estate agent when you want to sell your house or other real estate. All you have to do is put a "for sale sign" out and wait for the phone to ring. But how do you find the right real estate agent for your prope... http://www.financealley.com/article_250903_33.html 17th January 2008 Wholesaling real estate can be a great way to get into real estate investing without much cash. It is also very low-risk when done right. But contrary to what many real estate gurus say, you can't necessarily do it anywhere. It will work best where there ... http://www.financealley.com/article_248260_33.html 08th January 2008 What are FSBO homes, and can you really make money flipping them? First some definitions. "Flipping" refers to buying and selling real estate for a profit over a short period of time. Some "flippers" are looking only to make money from buying low and rese... http://www.financealley.com/article_247824_33.html 15th November 2007 Anyone can buy real estate with no money down. All you have to do is offer a high enough price and make sure the seller gets some cash at closing (but not yours). Do that and someone will say yes to your offer. The problem, of course, is that just getting... http://www.financealley.com/article_247694_33.html 15th November 2007 A real estate purchase agreement is not a rough guide to a deal. It is a contract specifying exactly what legal obligations each side has. In other words, be sure it says what you want it to say, and has everything you need in it. Normally, if... http://www.financealley.com/article_246969_33.html 14th November 2007 To invent new products, you need to know how to generate new ideas - lots of them. Then you look them over and pick out the good ones. Here is one of the many simple techniques for coming up with ideas for new products.New Products From Old... http://www.financealley.com/article_239844_15.html 06th November 2007 New or not, the economy isn't an interesting subject to most people. Probably it wouldn't have been interesting to Jack, either, so we talked about classic cars and the internet. My wife and I met Jack in a hot springs pool near Canon City, Colorado, wher... http://www.financealley.com/article_230134_19.html 21st October 2007 Why is there cheap real estate? Is it just that some sellers don't know what their property is worth? Sometimes this is the case, but only rarely. More often a seller is willing to sell for less because it means selling faster or more easily. In other wor... http://www.financealley.com/article_215317_33.html 20th September 2007 The real estate closing was at the title company. The seller was nervous, because she had to do it without her husband, who had moved months before to start his new job. I was a new real estate agent, young and inexperienced. The buyer was a grumpy old ma... http://www.financealley.com/article_213793_33.html 18th September 2007 The first two tips for flipping a house are not about what to fix or change. They're about time and money. Specifically, they are about how time costs money, and about how to determine how much to pay for your "flipper" in the first place. Read thes... http://www.financealley.com/article_212973_33.html 13th September 2007 When I saw the "American Inventor" program, I immediately loved the show. It's a parade of ingenuity - and sometimes silliness and total ignorance of markets. Watching some of the inventors come onto that stage, I realized I wouldn't want to be a judge on... http://www.financealley.com/article_212095_15.html 11th September 2007 You probably have seen a rent-versus-buy calculator here and there online, and you may have even used one. They are supposed to help you decide if buying a house makes financial sense for you, but do they really tell you what you need to know? Let's take ... http://www.financealley.com/article_210963_33.html 03rd September 2007 Those who want to invest in real estate often get excited by HUD foreclosures, thinking that they are going to buy a house for half of what it's worth. Real estate investors know that this isn't too likely. However, there are opportunities for flipping th... http://www.financealley.com/article_210945_33.html 03rd September 2007 What you know about the market matters, if you want to save money on the things you buy. This is certainly the case with product life cycles. Understand them, and know where in the cycle a product is, and you get to pay a lot less. Fortunately, the lif... http://www.financealley.com/article_207458_19.html 28th August 2007 If you are interested in saving money on the things you buy, you have to start by being honest about what they REALLY cost. Lets look at an example of what this means. Saving Money On The Swimming Pool Jeff and his wife loved the idea of havi... http://www.financealley.com/article_206892_33.html 26th August 2007 The good news for sellers is that most home buyers don't know the following tricks. Even if they did, many would hesitate to use them. Some of them are unfair, but some are just good tough negotiating tactics - I'll let you decide which are which. In any ... http://www.financealley.com/article_205742_33.html 24th August 2007 A land contract, sometimes also called a "contract for deed" and other names, is a contract to sell real estate on payments. It is basic seller financing, in which the seller takes payments from the buyer rather than the buyer borrowing from a mortgage le... http://www.financealley.com/article_205234_33.html 22nd August 2007 How do you maintain and increase the rental income from your properties? Start by keeping your renters happy. That's what the first two of these tips are about. Happy Tenants Mean More Consistent Income 1. Find out why tenants leave. Sometime... http://www.financealley.com/article_203979_33.html 21st August 2007 Home pricing is an art, but fortunately there is a little bit of science to it as well. As in many areas of life, learning what not to do when pricing a home is an important part of doing it right. Here are some of the common mistakes sellers make, which ... http://www.financealley.com/article_203831_33.html 20th August 2007 You just bought a small apartment building. Do you hire a good property management company or do you try to manage your rental property yourself? The best answer to that depends on what your goals are and what your skills are. Your Goals Do y... http://www.financealley.com/article_202917_33.html 17th August 2007 Want to save money on the things you buy? Then you need to be aware of the games that retailers play. Here are two of the most common. Reference Price Advertising "Was $119. Now only $89!" You have seen ads like this, as well as similar signs... http://www.financealley.com/article_202164_19.html 15th August 2007