So far, I’ve had three showings — two groups of two girls, and a couple that’s moving in together. Both of the two-roommate showings were one roommate only, which is always a pain, because it means another showing if roommate #1 is interested. However, it’s looking like neither one of the two-roommate groups are going to bite. One emailed me thanking me for her time, and the other I haven’t heard back from. The couple seemed extremely interested, however, so they may come around.
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Craig’s list is a great place to advertise an apartment for rent — it seems like the only place that a lot of people look. However, each year that I’ve advertised there, I get at least one bite from a scammer. Here’s this year’s version…
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I’ve found that by giving people answers to pretty much every question they could possibly have, I get fewer calls and fewer showings. But, the people that I do get in the door are already really very interested. Last time I used this strategy I only had to do a few showings before I got a couple who applied on the spot.
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And I’m happy about that. The thought of renting to people without doing that small bit of due-diligence scares the heck out of me. The whole process was actually very quick, painless, and not all that expensive.
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Today, the 1st of the month, I got a call from my tenant, saying that they wanted to move out. They want to save up some money, and have decided that moving to a smaller space in a cheaper neighborhood was a good way to accomplish that. They’ll be moving out in 90 days, per the terms of my lease agreement.
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I read an interesting article today at efinancedirectory.com – detailing 5 “Rent vs. Buy” myths that we’ve all heard over and over in the past few years, dissecting them, and telling us why they are just that — myths. Myths that created a real estate buying frenzy that seemingly everyone got caught up in, buying houses they could barely afford because they were such a great investment. Certainly, some people were able to sell at the right time, and made a lot of money off of the housing bubble. A lot of other people, though, are currently losing their shirts. This article won’t help them now, but it does make a pretty good argument for renting.
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I recently met with my tax accountant — early this year, as I had a hunch I would have to pay in. I’m self-employed, and have been paying taxes through payroll, but hand’t been withholding quite as many as I should have. That, and I haven’t done much work on the duplex this year, so my “loss” from the duplex venture isn’t quite as great. One thing that could have helped a bit – keeping a better mileage log.
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My house is over a hundred years old, 108 to be exact. It’s settled a bit over the years, and seems to be still settling, ever-so-slightly. I’m a bit concerned about it, but most of my house-savvy friends tell me not to worry about it, the house is 100 years old and it’s only settled this far already… Because of all this settling, though, my front door has always been a bit sticky. In the past year or so, it’s apparently settled just enough to cross over from sticky to the top of the door not closing all the way.
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There are many electrical shortcomings in my duplex. Lucky for me, I have a friend who is an electrical engineer, and likes to work on houses. Of course, I don’t want to wear out my favors with him, but he’s started helping me with a few wiring projects here and there. I’m a bit sheepish when it comes to electricity (beyond installing new light fixtures, etc.), so it works out well for me.
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Yes, things have apparently gotten this bad. I read an article in the LA Times this week that profiles a couple of homeowners who are CHOOSING foreclosure after doing the numbers. Sounds shocking, but it does make some sense.
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Thus spake David Sambol, the president and chief operating officer of Countrywide, in an official statement today. But is that really fair? I mean, I’m not advocating throwing people out into the street or anything, and I don’t like to see people go into financial ruin, but when you sign up for an adjustable rate mortgage…. you’re signing up for an adjustable rate mortgage. That means that the rate ADJUSTS. You should be ready for that. It shouldn’t be a surprise.
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Location location location. When I’m trying to rent my apartment, I’m not just trying to sell people on the space, I’m trying to sell them on the neighborhood, too. The last ad that I ran included a list of “neighborhoodhood amenities” — restaurants, coffeeshops, stores, bars, parks, etc., that were within 5-15 minutes walking distance. It helped catch the attention of people who were unfamiliar with the neighborhood, and made my apartment sound like it was right in the center of everything.
I recently found a website that lists that information for you automatically, and gives your location a “walkscore” – a rank between 0 and 100, 100 being th highest.
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I have a friend who just bought a half-million dollar house on the lake for about $300,000. Why so cheap? The previous owners left it in sorry condition, and he plans to fix it up over the next couple of years, while living in it, and sell it for a hefty profit. The trouble is that he’s currently trying to sell his old house… and not having much luck in the current real estate market. Its been on the market for over two months, with only 5 showings. A second showing had him hopeful last week, but still no offers. Not even any low offers. And its a nice house.
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My uncle recently bought a fourplex, using some inheritance money as a down payment. He’s a realtor, and this is his first foray into investment property. I saw him last weekend, and was excited to see how things were going. But my innocent (and excited) “How’s the fourplex doing?” was met with a good deal of defnesiveness… So, not so great, I take it?
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Well, in the process of waiting-and-seeing about the duplex next door, it looks like someone else has swooped in and bought it. Not exactly swooped, because I wasn’t sure how badly I wanted it anyway. The new owners are a husband and wife with two dogs, who plan to owner-occupy the upper floor, and rent out the lower unit. They seem to have grand plans for renovation, too — they’ve cut down most of the scrub trees from the backyard, put up planters in the front, and have some lumber sitting out behind the house…
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After the whole subprime mortgage catastrophe, credit card issuers are worried too, and have startedslashing credit limits at the first sign of trouble (a single late payment, for example). The ratio of credit used vs. credit available is used in calculating people’s credit scores, so this may have a negative effect on many people’s scores. That, and if you don’t notice that your available credit is lowered, it could be pretty easy to accidentally go over it. Also not good.
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Not that long ago, when mortgage rates were commonly 10% or higher, ARMs were looked upon as a more favorable type of mortgage. (At that point, if the ARM was going to adjust, it was going to go lower, not higher, so adjusting was a good thing.) Historically, unless you were locking in during a time of extremely low interest rates (like now), an ARM would be your best bet over time. Sounds crazy now, what with all of the subprime mortgage fallout, but its true.
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A few days ago I used several online calculators to get estimates of the value of my house. Most were simple online calculators, but one, from HouseValues.com, arrived in my inbox, sent by an actual human being — a realtor to be exact. He sent three comparables — recent sales in my neighborhood, all of which were priced $10,000 to $20,000 below what I paid for my house a few years ago, and an estimated range of $219,900 to $234,900.
Four years ago, I bought my house for $230,000. A year later, it was appraised for about $280,000. So this was unhappy news, even though I saw it coming.
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I’ve been using zillow.com to watch the value of my home slowly decline over the past couple of years… luckily, since I’ve been paying down the principal on my 30-year fixed mortgage as well as my home equity line of credit, I haven’t seen my “zestimate” (Zillow’s home value estimate) dip below what I owe. It’s come down by about $60,000, though, from what my appraisal was when I refinanced a few years ago. Such is the current housing market.
For comparison’s sake, lets see how my home value stacks up on a few different (free) sites
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It wasn’t long ago that it was the landlords offering incentives. With the housing market as soft as it is, renting has been looking more attractive every day. Where I am, landlords have stopped offering (as many) incentives, and rents have edged up, while vacancy rates have gone down. While a few years ago, everyone I knew was in a mad dash to become homeowners, the situation is now the reverse.
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