Move My Realty - Real Estate News

• Shop carefully. It's best to buy a home that can be rented for a rate that, after tax considerations, will cover the mortgage, real estate taxes, and insurance.

• Study up on housing trends. Ask the local or state planning department for demographic and economic data. The information can reveal facts that will influence whether or not to buy. For example, big companies going out of business or military base closings can be bad news.

• Don’t forget maintenance. Consider who’ll take care of the house in the owner’s absence. Property managers charge 6 percent to 15 percent of the monthly rent. Family members may be willing to do the job for free, but they could be ill equipped to do the job if the don't have any experience.

• Consider financing. Boomers with sufficient equity in their current homes can tap it to either buy their retirement home outright or secure a much lower mortgage rate compared with a loan at the rate often offered to buyers of investment property.

Source: The Washington Post, Belly L. Kass, Esq. (08/11/2007)

Zillow: Small Homes Hold Their Value Better
The value of midsize and large homes declined more in the last year than the value of small single-family residences, according to a second-quarter analysis by real estate Web site Zillow.com.

The value of single-family homes smaller than 1,200 square feet fell by just 1 percent, according to Zillow's report. Meanwhile, values of midsize homes between 1,200 and 1,900 square feet fell an average of 3.1 percent, and homes larger than 1,900 square feet declined 2.8 percent.

Zillow.com also offers a comparison of 66 metropolitan statistical areas on Zillow.com. These findings are culled from that analysis:

The highest-appreciating metropolitan areas (year-over-year):

• Grand Junction, Colo. (18.6 percent)
• Corvallis, Ore. (11.2 percent)
• Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, NC-SC (9.0 percent)
• Eugene-Springfield, Ore. (6.9 percent)
• Spokane, Wash. (6.1 percent)
• Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, Wash. (5.3 percent)

Most-depreciating metropolitan areas (year-over-year):

• Sarasota-Bradenton, Fla. (-16.4 percent)
• Melbourne-Titusville-Palm Bay, Fla. (-14.3 percent)
• Stockton-Lodi, Calif. (-13.5 percent)
• Charleston-North Charleston, SC (-12.8 percent)
• Daytona Beach, Fla. (-12.5 percent)
• Modesto, Calif. (-12.4 percent)

Most expensive metropolitan areas:

• San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, Calif. ($685,653)
• Honolulu, Hawaii ($632,270)
• San Luis Obispo-Atascadero-Paso Robles, Calif. ($537,722)
• Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, Calif. ($525,175)
• San Diego, Calif. ($505,334)
• New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island ($445,435)

Least expensive metropolitan areas:

• Jackson, Tenn. ($91,563)
• Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, SC ($101,178)
• Tulsa, Okla. ($102,876)
• Dayton-Springfield, Ohio ($108,121)
• Rockford, Ill. ($116,475)
• Columbia, SC ($116,865)

Source: Zillow, REALTOR® Magazine Online