Rent Advantages

  • May be cheaper than a mortgage payment
  • Fewer (if any) maintenance costs
  • No down payment required (less deposit)
  • No real estate taxes (renters insurance optional)
  • Less stress (who cares, it’s not yours!)
  • Freedom to move or downsize when necessary
  • No risk of home price depreciation
  • Some utility bills may be included
  • “Free” amenities such as pool, gym, security
  • Money can be used for other, more profitable investments
  • Can’t be foreclosed on


Rent Disadvantages

  • Rental payment may exceed monthly cost of mortgage
  • No ownership or wealth creation
  • Payments never stop when renting
  • Rent will rise over time
  • Must deal with a landlord or management company
  • No tax benefits
  • Rules, regulations, and limitations
  • More…

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6 Reasons for Home Inventory Decline Applicable to Los Angeles Real Estate Market

  A recent blog post from the Wall Street Journal discusses six trends that explain the ever-decreasing number of homes for sale. Homebuyers experiencing frustration with the current Los Angeles real estate market should be aware that the following conditions are affecting housing inventory nationwide:

  • Fear of a negative impact to their credit discourages most underwater homeowners from short selling.
  • Some homeowners who would consider an upgrade to a more expensive home lack sufficient equity in their current residences to be able to afford it.
  • Homeowners who do have equity believe market values will continue to rise and are opting to wait so that they receive the…

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Are you trying to buy a property in the city of Los Angeles under $350,000?  

Having problems getting your offer accepted?  
Are you blaming your lazy Real Estate Agent for not working hard enough?  

While this may be true in some cases there are some important macro trends influencing inventory levels of Residential Housing in California that are having major impacts on the Los Angeles Residential Real Estate market and people trying to buy homes in Los Angeles.  Before getting pissed at your agent or frusturated with the process take a look at this well written article on doctorhousingbubble.com explaining some of the reasons the Los Angeles Real Estate market is experiencing such low inventory levels.

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(article via California Association of Realtors Newsline) 

 

Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief extended


Late Tuesday night (1/1/2013), Congress reached a settlement in the “fiscal cliff” negotiations.  As a result, the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act has been extended for another year.  The measure will continue to exempt from taxation mortgage debt that is forgiven when homeowners and their mortgage lenders negotiate a short sale, loan modification (including any principal reduction), or foreclosure. 

C.A.R. would like to thank the 26,296 California REALTORS® who sent messages to their members of Congress and made 1,862 calls in response to C.A.R.’s Call-for-Action.

Also under the agreement, so called “Pease Limitations” that reduce the value of…

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This is why the current political administration making the housing industry out to be the culprits for the country's financial meltdown in 2007 and over regulating the industry as a response makes no sense.  Especially in an economy where we need to be allowing industry opportunities to grow and flourish.  What happened to going in and making "change" with a scapel as opposed to a "cleaver" Mr. President?

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You don't have to pay the sellers just change the mortgage underwriting guidelines so that after a short sale where the seller fully participates (not someone who milked the system to live for free as long as possible) you can buy a home.  How about take the number of mortgage payments missed multiplied by a factor say 2, 3 or 4 + a base number ( say 3 months) and that is how long a buyer has to wait to buy a new home after a short sale versus the 3-4-5-7 years they have to wait for allowing the house to go into foreclosure. Do this and you'll get much better participation and you dont' have to use more taxpayer TARP-funded money to give to overextended homeowners.

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  http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-harney-20110220,0,6407654.story   

  • This will kill jobs in RE & Mortgage Industry, this doesn't just mean RE & Loan Officers this means all of the operational support, underwriters, managers, processors, also all of the services these businesses use i.e.- accountants, human resources people, maintenance, not to mention all of the industries that are connected to residential real estate: construction, furniture stores, material suppliers, landscapers, contractors of all trades, I have no idea what # of jobs we are talking about but there is 0 doubt that we are talking 7 figure job loss at the end of the day when the impact of these deciscions is analyzed across the country.  I don't understand why…

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