Real Estate Daily Blog

by: Djai Tanji

Has it ever occurred to you not to hire realtors in selling a house and just save the money? Maybe it’s better if you think again. Yes you will be able to save 6% of your money but is it worth the hassle? Just imagine canceling your appointments if ever there’s an emergency call from an interested buyer wanting to see the house. Of course you should not say no to potential buyers. Bad thing is, you are not even 100% sure the buyer will approve of the house. Sometimes they just “see” the house. Now that could cause you quite a load of effort and money in your part.

by: Djai Tanji

Need a guide in selling or buying a house? Real estate agents can surely aid to lessen your burden and finding them is not that hard of a task at all. The most efficient way to find a good agent is through referrals. Of course nobody will refer a bad agent. You can ask around who’s at the top of their duty. It is also easy to spot them on open houses since they normally attend on such occasions. In that way you can interact with them first and then you won’t be having a hard time to select. Searching the internet is a helpful way as well especially nowadays that almost everything can be found online.

Taxes eat up a considerable amount of your income, but did you know that real estate gives you excellent tax breaks? Investing in real estate has many tax advantages over receiving a monthly wage. On Capital Gains Rates you already save a lot; on capital gains you only get taxed 15%, as opposed to the 35% for wage income. If you sell your residence, you also get an exemption if you’ve been living there for the last five years. You also get to deduct the interest you need to pay on debts you got from acquiring your real estate properties. You even get tax deductions for the wear and tear of your rental properties, even if the property’s value appreciates! There are so many tax advantages to investing in real estate. As long as you plan your income wisely, you’ll be able to save a lot.

You might love your dog, but your potentail buyer may not be so impressed.  Whether its because of allergies or simply not being a dog person, many buyers get turned off by homes with pets.  Here’s how you can show your house to buyers without having a rough time.

Find an alternate location where you can keep your pet, like a neighbor’s house or a family member’s.  If you are unable to temporarily relocate your dog, put him or her in a pet carrier when you have buyers looking through the house.  Your dog should not stay in such a small space for more than two hours, but this will give buyers more than enough time to look through the house and ask any questions.

If your house has some pet odors or carpet stains, hire a professional cleaner to remove them.  Buyers will immediately smell the odor of an animal and form an unfavorable early opinion.

This is a new one for as more and more development projects are put on hold till the economy improves, there comes a need for a way of protecting unfinished homes from the elements that can render them useless left exposed to the elements. Wood can rot and get water logged, furnishings and trim can warp and many other things that can go wrong that would ultimately end with the home being demolished. Shrink-wrap has been around for a long time and has been a mainstay in the food section of the supermarket and in the many warehouses, used to protect the item they are wrapped in while keeping them visible to the people who wrapped them. Now here comes a developer with an idea, cling wrap unfinished homes to protect them, till time comes to continue construction. The wrap would be a different type from that used in the food and materials handling industry for it would have to be tougher and resist damage from the weather. It would also have to be quite opaque so as not to get the contents damaged from the sun’s harsh UV rays. Innovation born of necessity, can it work for buildings and other larger structures?

The housing market is experiencing a very unusual phenomenon that my have to do with the current state of the global economy that has all but been rendered in shambles. Home prices rise slightly and then slump lower and this is a trend that has been seen to be continuous with no end in sight for the ailing economic unit. The many trending information has all but been rendered useless for they are so volatile they change by the day if not by the hour. The global economy is draining the resources of money markets so financing is not much of an option, with most have shed their many arms to strip down their operating expenses.

Surprisingly good breaking news for the real estate industry, there seems to be a small rise in spending in construction spending this month as with the similar rebound for February existing new home sales. They are however wisely met with skepticism due to the fact that most gains are downplayed by other economic developments that continues to result from this recession. Is this the recovery many industry experts are waiting for to ring the recovery bell, not at all and it may be a fluke of the markets due to the outpouring of government dollars and other incentives extended to boost the economy. Read the rest of this entry »

There are a sudden influx of extremely green and affordable low-cost housing options available to the public form technology developed in storm ravaged areas. From the recent housing developments in New Orleans, where such homes are being developed to replace the thousands of homes destroyed by Katrina and flood that followed they are available to most homeowners should they do so, made in factories and delivered according to your preferences by truck with just the foundation created on site as well as the hardware for hooking up power, water and other utilities. Once delivered, a few days gets it up and running, already loaded with the best available green technologies ready for occupancy in such a short time. Read the rest of this entry »

Wood has long been replaced by steel and concrete in the construction business due to the previous costs associated with it’s use. But there is a revival on the use of wood as the framing material of choice mainly due to the recession that has raised the prices of steel and many of the other materials used in today’s modern buildings making wood a better choice. Wood is today cheaper than steel even with the strength difference and new insight into the true ability of wood has been causing a stir in many construction industry circles. Read the rest of this entry »

It may sound like some marketing scam but networking does have some positive definition. When you’ve just moved to a new place, try to get to know your neighbors well. They’ll give you referrals to where to buy your groceries and produce, good schools and extra-curricular classes, or if they don’t will point you in the direction of those who might be more in the know. The same goes for co-workers, as they will also point you to good restaurants, shops, take out stores, and the like. You can also tap into online communities to get the low down on the neighborhood you’re living in. Online communities are a good source of information, with all the people participating giving their inputs and tips on how to better live in the community you’ve chosen.