BizJournals ranked housing affordability in the nation’s metropolitan areas. Their suggestion: If you are looking for affordability, avoid California — six of the seven most-expensive places for housing are found in the golden state.

The study compared median home payments, property taxes and household incomes in 50 metropolitan areas. L.A. was the most expensive, (more…)

The changing real estate market sees a new wrinkle being introduced, as a motivation for sellers to take action. It might be necessary to make sales given an influential economist, Yale University economist Robert Shiller, who says there is a good chance housing prices will fall further than the 30 percent drop in the Depression of the 1930s.

The real estate seller willing to guarantee money back is (more…)

The popular 1031 exchange has just been made safer for sellers of appreciated real estate.

Sellers performing a 1031 exchange can now worry less about not finding a suitable property in time thanks to a powerful tax deferral tool called the structured sale (aka Ensured Installment (more…)

Simon DeBartolo, the nation’s largest mall owner, has created a new subsidiary, Simon Brand Ventures. The company intends to strike deals with a variety of companies to hawk their goods and services to mall customers like vacation time-shares, car rentals, and even will get into the business of selling hotel rooms.

DeBartolo is also considering selling (more…)

Knowledge, awareness and action are how profits are generated. We have fifty-seven (57) stories here on our blog for you.

Stories like these:

Real estate sellers are using websites to barter homes…

Viewing real estate as (more…)

With the elections coming in the fall and a new president in office a year from now real estate investors are already scratching their head…wondering what a new administration will do with the capital gains tax rates.

The questions is: “Do I want to pay 15% now, or face possible higher taxes when I sell down the road a few years from now?”

The tax strategy in question is known as (more…)

According to ConsumersAffairs.com a trend is emerging in the U.S. Home owners are taking action on their own, looking to move their home that’s been on the market for nearly a year in the downturn.

Industry estimates say more than 16,000 people around the country are into this trend. There are at least five websites enabling web-savvy entrepreneurs to seize the new (more…)

A 28-year old New Yorker has created a password-protected website for residential properties–personalized sites for tenants, owners, etc. at large apartment buildings. Some 450 buildings since its January 2007 inception!

This means that real estate developers, property managers, building owners, (more…)

Are you the owner of a timeshare? If so, the next time you are negotiating for needed services, or possibly some home repairs, here’s a good question to ask, “Would you be interested in staying at ABC timeshare-resort in return for a portion or all of your bill?”

Your timeshare offer “providing vacation accommodations” makes for an excellent barter tool. One recent trade we learned about was (more…)

Chapman University (Orange Cty, Ca.) economist Esmael Adibi, and director of Chapman’s Anderson Center for Economic Research, predicts home prices to stay inflated. He says that homes will be overvalued by 20 percent even after prices fall 8.1 percent in 2008. He also added that home prices could drop by an extra 20 percent after this year, or prices could stay flat until income catches up.

Adibi said the last housing slump lasted 54 months and that home prices fell 17.7 percent peak to trough. The current slump is in its 27th month.

Merrill Lynch Sees Real Estate In A Far Different Light

Investment bank Merrill Lynch forecasts a 15 percent drop in housing prices in 2008 and a further (more…)