Archive for the 'College and University Investment Property' Category
Aug 18, 2008, post by Oldman
Row homes are a classic housing style that is enjoying a revival because of the advantages it brings to home owners. Owners have full control over the building and the ground on which it is built. Since there is no common area to maintain, there is no home owner association, and no HOA fees.
In high density areas, a new style of row home is cropping up – homes that are contemporary in style, designed with outdoor patios, decks, roof gardens, and built with sustainable materials. This means minimal maintenance and greater affordability. During construction, some row home contractors offer retrofitted design options.
Several inches of space, covered by flashing and hidden from view, usually separate row homes from each other. This style of construction makes it unnecessary to have a homeowners association. Legally, these homes are considered separate entities due to the 2 or 3-inch separation between homes. Outwardly, they look like attached town houses. The properties are divided from each other by an imaginary lot line, making it possible for each owner to have full control over the home and the land.
This centuries old style, row homes, can be found throughout the world, in New York, Paris, London, New York, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia. The style and type of material used in constructing row houses vary. Many homes are primarily red brick in construction, with stone and marble accent. Some communities have homes that are built of solid granite. In architecture and city planning, a row home or terrace house is a style of housing in use since the late 17th century, where a row of identical or mirror-image houses share side walls. The first and last of these homes is often called an end terrace or end unit, and is often larger than the homes in the middle.
In the United States, Thomas Carstairs, a Philadelphia builder and architect designed the first row houses or terrace housing in 1799 for the Philadelphia developer William Sansom. Carstairs Row in Philadelphia was part of the first speculative housing developments in America. Many of Philadelphia’s row houses date back to colonial times. Prior to this time houses had been built individually, not in rows. In Philadelphia, Baltimore, San Francisco, and Washington DC, homes built side by side with the dividing walls being common on each are simply called row houses or row homes, and are quite common. In New York City and various urban centers around the country, a particular type of row home made of a brownish-red sandstone is called a brownstone. Despite the narrow lots, many brownstones are relatively large. Some newer row homes in these areas are often referred to as “attached houses”. In much of the Southern United States, they are referred to as row homes. In the Midwest and Great Plains they are referred to as “townhomes.” In the United States the term, “row home”, usually describes a two story, housing unit that shares a wall with one or more neighboring units.
May 09, 2008, post by Oldman
As a rental property owner, I am always looking for ways to maximize the rental income and keep my units marketable without having to do any major renovations. I am always keeping my eye out for potential properties that I can buy, and easily rent out that will cover the mortgage and a little more. That being said, one of the biggest mistakes that I see other landlords and rental property owners make is that they are reluctant to or just flat out won’t put any money into their properties because Read the rest of this entry »
Mar 29, 2008, post by Oldman
Fannie Mae announced yesterday the details of the new conventional loan limits. While these changes were made to buoy the sagging home finance market, please note the measures are conservative.
In a nutshell, here are some of the highlights:
1. The new loan limit for San Diego County will be $697,500
2. Eligible products are 30 and 15 year fixed rate mortgages and 5/1 adjustable rate mortgages – both fully amortizing and interest only.
3. Borrowers with existing first and second mortgages can NOT consolidate the two loans.
4. Borrowers must wait six months from their purchase or last refinance before closing loans on this program.
5. No cash out refinances loans will be permitted. Read the rest of this entry »
Mar 29, 2008, post by Oldman
By Jonas Elmerraji
When you’re looking to buy a home, there are plenty of choices available. One of them is the condominium. As you may already know, a condominium is a large property complex that is divided and sold in individual units. Compared to a single-family dwelling, ownership in a condominium includes partial ownership in shared “common property”. This presents unique challenges for condominium buyers. If you’re considering buying a condo, read on to learn a little more about this type of property and what ownership entails. Read the rest of this entry »
Mar 28, 2008, post by Oldman
by Glenn Curtis
1. Request Your Property Tax Card and Study It
Few homeowners realize they can go down to the town hall and request to view (or receive a copy of) their property tax cards from the local assessor’s office. The tax card provides the homeowner with information the town has gathered about the property over time.The card includes information about the size of the lot, the precise dimensions of the rooms, and the number and type of fixtures located within the home. Other information may include a section on special features, or notations about any improvements that have been made. Read the rest of this entry »
Jan 13, 2008, post by Oldman
If your income and savings are making home buying a challenge, consider these creative options.
Speaking from my own personal experience, the use of 4 of these techniques helped make possible home ownership for my husband and me. We purchased our first home using the following 4 creative techniques in 1 transaction: shared equity, seller financing, proposition 58, and refinancing.
Enjoy reading through these options. Call me to discuss and/or plan a creative purchase specifically designed for you. I’ll be happy to assist you with additional information. Read the rest of this entry »
Oct 27, 2007, post by Oldman
You may have heard of Zillow.com or you may have even tried it yourself. Zillow has a web site that gives free estimates and offers various online tools for real-estate buyers and sellers. It makes money from online advertising, selling ads to brokers, banks, contractors, appliance retailers and anyone interested in reaching homeowners and buyers.
The big idea behind Zillow is to make real estate more like a stock exchange, a transparent market where all information about every property is readily available, and as a result pricing is perfect. The problem with building such a system is that “the best information about the real estate market is locked up in people’s heads. Read the rest of this entry »
Jul 19, 2007, post by Oldman
Students and parents looking for student housing are considering buying rather than renting. Parents of students are investing in college and university housing to off-set a portion, if not all, of their child’s college tuition, with an eye toward renting out part of it to other college students. Investing around universities and colleges brings a steady cash flow combined with a low vacancy rate.
To help you purchase this type of student housing, the Federal Housing Administration offers something called a ‘kiddie condo loan’. Read the rest of this entry »
Nov 04, 2006, post by Oldman
Possessing “so many aesthetic and social attributes that anyone would be happy calling it home, or calling it home to one of their residences,” the editors of Robb Report magazine, the international luxury lifestyle authority, have named La Jolla, California as the best place in America to live.
Detailed in Robb Report’s July issue, which is scheduled to reach newsstands on June 25, “The Best Places to Live” feature article culminates months of research and dozens of interviews conducted by the magazine’s editorial staff “Determining our selections is an arduous process, as our editorial team spends months consulting with experts from all over the United States,” Read the rest of this entry »
Sep 19, 2006, post by Oldman
Why would you want to make your home into a boarding house? Maybe you shouldn’t. I enjoyed having people living in my house, and most of them became friends. On the other hand, you might not like that arrangement. I hated being a landlord when I owned rentals that were not my home. Each of us is different.
Consider Your Room Rental Options
You don’t necessarily have to live with the room-renters, so consider all the options available. You could do any of the following: Read the rest of this entry »
