Deciding where to invest in a property can be a difficult decision. Identifying what risks your willing to take in order to receive a return is a crucial step in selecting a location. Understanding the four strategies of real estate investment allows you to build a diverse and safe portfolio, which provides you with a clear time span of when you can expect to receive your return. 

Core Assets: Core assets are regarded as traditionally low risk investments and consist of properties in major cities and metropolitan areas. Homes in these areas are usually high in demand due to their preferred location and ease of access to highways and local amenities. Investments of this type are regarded as the safest, according to Viewthespace.com, because they involve purchasing well built and high quality properties and leasing them to equally as quality and stable leases.  Although this is the safest strategy in t...

Selling your home can be a difficult process. Even after renovations and remodels, some houses remain on the market longer than desired. After many months of trying to sell your home and failing to see it make more than minimal progress, it may be time to step back and assess why your home isn’t selling. 

1. Price: Price is one of the most common reasons properties fail to sell. Some owners list their houses higher when the market is hot, believing buyers will pay any price. However, the lender as well as the buyer must approve this price. Most lending agencies conduct appraisals on listed properties before giving prospective buyers a mortgage loan. The amount offered in the loan will only reflect the amount that the lender deems the home is worth, leaving some buyers short of the listing price. Many agents will tell you they can get the price you want for your home. Always ask to see data and informa...
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New restaurant and sports bar, Social House, is set to open its doors in the upcoming first weeks of April. The owners plan to take a new approach to the traditional sports bar layout and give the eatery a more contemporary decor. The restaurant will incorporate the traditional multi television setup found in most sports bars, and add concrete, steel and wood fixtures and appliances to make the space seem more modern. 

The restaurant will offer community style tables and seating while serving traditional American food. The menu options were tastefully crafted by the Vice President of Tampa’s popular vegetarian hotspot SoFresh, Ricky Coston; who is now one of the co-owners of social house. This new space will also offer 32 unique beverages on tap, in addition to pitchers, a relatively new option in the Seminole Heights restaurant district.

According to creative loafing Tampa, the owners of Soc...

There are many reasons to refinance or sell your home. Some homeowners consider these options to avoid accumulating debt as a result of a loan. Others want to downsize their living space or access their home's equity. Both refinancing and selling provide the opportunity to alter the terms of an existing loan. These choices offer homeowners opportunities that can lead to unique long-term advantages or disadvantages. 

According to investopedia.com, Refinancing is the process of paying off an existing loan and replacing it with a new loan that includes the debt of the old one. Many people refinance by finding a new lender with better terms or interest rates. This lender may also offer homeowners the option to change their loan type from variable- rate to fixed rate, establishing a constant interest rate each year. Many homeowners choose this option to avoi...

Prospective buyers have different ways to purchase a home below market value. Some buyers choose to buy from homeowners, banks or mortgage lenders who own properties nearing or approaching foreclosure. Others opt for what is known as a short sale, a type of sales agreement lenders are willing to accept in order to reduce the loss of revenue that occurs as a result of a foreclosure. 

According to Realtor.com, a short sale is when a bank or lender agrees to accept a smaller payment than what was originally agreed upon by the homeowner. If accepted, the lender will come up “short” of the original amount owed. These sales on average take around 4 months to finalize. Despite the risk, this option may still be somewhat beneficial to the lender as they can avoid the expenses associated with foreclosures such as paperwork and attorney fees.<...

For some people, buying a second home or rental property is simply not an option. This is due to financing for real estate investment being far more complicated than a traditional mortgage or than financing for a home to live in. 

According to Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, investors looking at long-term investment properties need to cover down payments (typically 20%), closing costs and have 2 years of property management experience to get a loan or to use their property’s rental income to qualify for a loan. On the other hand, for vacation homes or short-term investment properties such as time-shares, coops, manufactured home and bed and breakfasts, mortgage or home equity financing may not even be available. 

But don’t let these financial factors stop you from investing in real estate. 

If you are seriously considering investing in real estate and don’t know what kind of financing op...

Following last year’s real estate market was like riding a rollercoaster. The market started off strong in 2018 and then softened before finishing with a mild flurry. However, one thing that did not change was America’s belief that owning a home makes sense from a financial standpoint.

Investing in real estate has many advantages. Properties are tangible goods, which makes them feel more real to investors, unlike the stock market. They are a great source of steady income, short-term cash or a long-term investment that can be passed on from generations to generations. 

Real estate investors also have a variety of property types to choose from, single family-homes, apartments, multi-units, commercial or retail space, condos or mobile homes. In addition, investors are not limited to buying and selling with real estate. They can flip a property, rent it, le...

Over the course of the last thirty years, a shift has happened. An entire generation has been raised to believe that a college education is their key to unlocking opportunities that were not available to their parent’s or grandparent’s generations.

Due to this, student loan debt has soared to $1.5 trillion and represents the largest category of debt, surpassing credit card and auto loan debt in 2010 and never looking back. As more and more Americans continue their education amongst rising tuition costs, this number will no doubt increase.

Many real estate experts have blamed student loans for a drop in the real estate investment and homeownership rate for young families, and to an extent, they’ve been right. Increased debt at the time of graduation has no doubt limited young people from being able to afford a home or any real estate investment property.

According to a Wall Street Journal’...