The Freakonomics Summary

I'll pass along this link, currently active without paywall at the NY Times.  I think it presents a short, but balanced summary of Stephen Levitt's study on the behavior of real estate agents selling their own homes vs. the homes they represent.  In …

How can you buy a property in auction when you don't have the cash?

In real estate, like other industries, sometimes the vocabulary gets in the way.  It is not uncommon for many real estate advertisements to say "cash only".  Sometimes, that means what it says, but most …

Here are some tips for both Landlords and Tenants. These are good tips for any state, except were noted as Massachusetts Only.

Top 10 Lease Tips for Landlords or Lessors

1. Know your lease!  You can get copies of standard lease forms everywhere.  But …

What is a pre-foreclosure home?

A pre-foreclosure is a home where the home owners are late paying their mortgage. They are late enough where the bank has decided to protect it's right to foreclosure by filing a notice of intent to

Real Estate Strategy Overview

There are many ways to invest in Real Estate. But the profitable ways (for the little guys) are different, depending on where we are in the real estate cycle. To help identify the cycles, I've broken them down with the following nomenclature. It should be …

No, the IRS didn't forget about your investment property, and the tax deductions you took

Hey! Did you know I'm not a tax attorney or investment advisor? Well, I'm not, so make sure you remember that, as this is just a layman's example of how the …

How to Prepare for A New Tenant

Hello! As usual, a few caveats. Remember, this applies primarily for Landlords in Massachusetts, at least as far as statutory law is concerned. And in any case, I am not a lawyer, and this should not be construed as legal advice.

  …

Proving Government is always the last to know, Washington decides housing is a good risk

No matter your political stripes, we can all agree that that no one is better at missing a trend than the folks in Washington.

If you've been following this space, you're well …

First Time Landlords: Key Steps

OK, let's get the disclaimers out of the way.

1) I'm not an attorney, and this should be construed as helpful, but not legal, advice.

2) It's targeted at Landlords in Massachusetts. Laws in other states may differ significantly.

OK. So …

In this post, we're going to address several topics.

1) What does it mean to be pre-approved?

2) Should I look at houses before being pre-approved?

3) What do I need to do with my pre-approval before writing an offer?

Onward!

What does it …