4 Ways To Improve Your Credit Score

4 Ways To Improve Your Credit Score


This post is by our regular contributor, Catherine.
Quick: what number impacts your life the most?
If you’re over the age of 18, it’s probably not your SAT score — now it’s your credit score.
You probably know that your credit score impacts whether or not you can get approved for a credit card, a car loan, or a mortgage.
It also affects what kind of interest rate you can get on those loans.
So a good or excellent score can save you thousands of dollars over your lifetime. Plus, you might not know that your credit score can also affect your ability to get hired, since employers often run a credit check.


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7 Ways to Celebrate (Finally) Paying Off Your Mortgage

7 Ways to Celebrate (Finally) Paying Off Your Mortgage


If you own the roof over your head, odds are you also have a mortgage hovering over you, too. Month after month, year after year, you keep making tiny dents in that mountain of money you owe, feeling like you'll never reach the summit. Will this ever be over?
Well, guess what? Mortgage payments do eventually end. Hallelujah! And whether it took you 30 years or three, the elation you'll feel when you fork over that final payment may make you exultant, giddy, even a bit lightheaded. You're free!
So just how should you commemorate this auspicious occasion? Look no further than these ideas below (and even if you're still years away from being loan-free, it's still worth pondering as added incentive).
Throw a mortgage-burning party


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Could this venture-backed zero energy house revolutionize the home building industry?

Could this venture-backed zero energy house revolutionize the home building industry?




What if you could buy an affordable Zero Energy home that could be erected on your property in a matter of days, instead of the many months it usually takes to build a home on site? New startup Acre Designs promises to make this idea a reality, and could revolutionize the paleolithic home-building industry with their new, innovative approach to quick and efficient building using a kit home model. After receiving backing by Palo Alto startup incubator Y Combinator, Acre Designs is gearing up to start building Net Zero Energy kit homes throughout the country. They are on a mission to build better, more high-tech homes on a large scale that are both affordable and super energy efficient. And considering that the state of California is mandating all new homes to be Net Zero Energy by 2020, it seems that Acre Designs couldn’t have launched at a better time.


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Lennar Posts Delivery Gains, Pointing to Rebounding Housing Market

Lennar Posts Delivery Gains, Pointing to Rebounding Housing Market


Home builder Lennar continued to log another quarter of double-digit percentage gains in key metrics, pointing to a recovery in the U.S. home market.

The company's earnings and revenue also beat analysts' marks.

On Friday, Chief Executive Stuart Miller said "the housing market is continuing its slow and steady recovery driven by years of under production, tight inventory levels, attractive interest rates and the lowest unemployment levels since 2008."

Miami-based Lennar, one of the largest U.S. home builders by houses constructed, said the number of deliveries rose 12% for the first quarter from a year earlier. The company's results were hurt by its Houston segment which has faced continually low energy prices in recent quarters. Other than Houston, all of Lennar's segments posted delivery gains and overall growth being driven by the central and west markets.

The average price of a delivered home increased 26% to $366,000, reaching a record high.

The number of new orders increased 9.6% while backlogs increased 13%.


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How One Barcelona Firm is Taking the City's Historic Housing to Stylish New Heights

How One Barcelona Firm is Taking the City's Historic Housing to Stylish New Heights


Apartments in the seaside Spanish city of Barcelona, especially those situated in the late-19th-century Eixample district, often come with desirable assets: double-height ceilings with fancy friezes; French doors leading to balconies; cement tile floor tiles embellished with a riot of colors and patterns.
What most don’t have is a layout suitable for modern life: Original kitchens tend to be minuscule (they were designed for the maid after all), and windowless bedrooms can make you feel like you are doing penance.

"The first thing we do is look at the light and the how we can alter the floor-plan to let more of it in," says Rubén Berenguer, one-third of Nook, a Barcelona studio that has become the go-to for (principally foreign) buyers looking to turn their fixer-uppers into homes as sunny as the city's weather.
The other two "Nook People" (as they call themselves) are Ann García and Joan Cortés. They work together in an old industrial loft in the Poblenou neighbourhood, which they converted into a spectacular co-working space with a freestanding volume in its center that serves as a meeting room.


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811 Gold Beauty MLS# 1115736 (Big Bend) Jesse Rene Garza

810 Gold Beauty (Cedar Point) Jesse Rene Garza

5 worst housing markets for first-time buyers

5 worst housing markets for first-time buyers


First-time homebuyers will have better luck in some spots than others.


New homebuyers are far better off purchasing a home in many towns in the middle of the country, and far worse off in many cities in California, according to an analysis released this week by financial website SmartAsset.com. The site examined data on housing affordability for people living in the area (as measured by the ratio of median household income over five years to ownership costs over five years, including closing costs, mortgage payments, insurance and taxes), ease of getting a mortgage and the stability of the housing markets in cities with populations of 300,000 or more.


Oklahoma City tops the list, thanks largely to how affordable homes are in the area for those who work there (the median home is only about $125,000, according to Zillow) and how stable the housing market is. Tulsa, Okla. is second on the list; even though it has fewer mortgage lenders than Oklahoma City, it is even more affordable for residents with the median home costing just over $100,000. Indianapolis, Pittsburgh and Houston round out the top five. (Added bonus: all of these cities have unemployment rates below the national average.)


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5 Reasons You Need to Know Your Credit Score

5 Reasons You Need to Know Your Credit Score


Do you know your credit score? Credit affects more aspects of your financial life than you may realize -- the ability to buy a home or car, get a credit card, rent an apartment, or even get a job can be affected by your credit score. To help you better understand the importance of credit scores, Odysseas Papadimitriou, CEO and Founder of personal finance website WalletHub Opens a New Window. shared five important reasons why you should know yours.


Better interest rates on loansThe most obvious reason it's important to know your credit score is because your score determines your ability to qualify for loans and to get better interest rates when borrowing.
If you know your credit score, a little research can let you know how much you should pay in interest on a loan before you apply. For example, according to recent data, a consumer with a credit score of 720 can expect an interest rate of around 3.56% on a $250,000 30-year mortgage. So if you know your score is a 720 and a bank offers you a rate of 4%, you'll know to keep looking.


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Why Your Mortgage Might Be Missing From Your Credit Report

Why Your Mortgage Might Be Missing From Your Credit Report


Your mortgage is generally reported to the major credit-reporting agencies each month, just like any other loan or line of credit. And, so long as you're making all of your payments on time, its presence will help you build credit and secure affordable financing down the road.
There is an outside chance, however, that your mortgage might not make it onto your credit report. Here are two reasons why.
1. Your loan is in someone else's name
When you apply for a mortgage, your name and Social Security number are tied to that loan for its term or until you sell or refinance the property. Once the loan is made, your lender is not permitted to arbitrarily change its terms by adding or removing a borrower.
Take a married couple, for example. Let's say, they put their mortgage in the wife's name only because she had a better credit score or income at the time of the application. Were she to pass away, the husband would not simply start to get credit for any payments they made, given he wasn't on the original mortgage.


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Weekly Mortgage Watch - March 13, 2016

Weekly Mortgage Watch - March 13, 2016 [Infographic]

FIRST TEAM’S WEEKLY MORTGAGE WATCH (MARCH 13TH, 2016) THIS WEEK HIGHLIGHTS THE FOLLOWING UPDATES:

• Last week, mortgage rates managed to gain a little ground, bouncing off the positive economic news of the previous week and news out of Europe.
• The European Central Bank (ECB) expanded its effort to stimulate growth and reduce deflation risks. The expansion of the ECB bond purchase program now includes corporate bonds, and banks are paying the ECB more to hold excess reserves.
• Even with added challenges to international markets,our economy continues to grow, albeit unevenly.This week is a huge week for financial markets.
• In addition to significant economic data due, including Retail Sales, Industrial Production, and the twin Price Indices, the Federal Reserve meets to discuss monetary policy.
• While most experts are expecting the Fed to leave its programs and interest rates unchanged, the Fed’s economic outlook and expectations for future increases in its interest rate could move mortgage rates significantly.
• If the Fed Governors shrug off global challenges, and hold fast to increasing the Fed’s rate four times this year, mortgage rates will very likely rise. 

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The 11 best US cities for young people to buy a home

The 11 best US cities for young people to buy a home


According to personal finance site SmartAsset, fewer than 35% of adults under age 35 own a home. But owning a home doesn't have to be a far-off dream, even if you're still in your 20s or early 30s.
In a recent report, SmartAsset determined the best cities in the US for first-time homebuyers by looking at data on the affordability, mortgage availability, and stability of the housing market in every city with a population over 300,000.
For millennials in search of their first home, Oklahoma and Texas are going to be the best buys — five of the top ten cities are located in these two states. Read on to see which other cities made the cut, the average price per square foot of home in each city (from Zillow), and the percentage of loans that get approved in each city (from the Mortgage Bankers Association). For reference, the average loan funding ratio for major US cities is 69%.
We also included the median home prices for each city's metropolitan area, from the National Association of Realtors.




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18 money-saving tips for experienced homebuyers

18 money-saving tips for experienced homebuyers


In the complicated process of finding and buying a home, the uninformed shopper can get caught up in costly missteps along the way. From establishing a budget to closing the deal, here are 18 tips to help keep homebuyers on track and on budget.
Plan to stay put.

Current homeowners moving to a new city might assume buying is better than renting, but that's not always the case. It may make more sense to rent than to pay the one-time costs associated with buying if you have to move again soon. There are tax benefits to staying in a home for at least two years. Sellers can exclude up to $250,000 in capital gains ($500,000 for married couples filing a joint return) from a home sale, but only if they owned and lived in the home for at least two of the previous five years. The exclusion can be used once every two years.



Have options.

Negotiating can be difficult and uncomfortable, but one way to ease the tension is to have options. Find several properties that would make good homes and negotiate hard on the price, concessions, and repairs, knowing that a backup is ready if one deal falls through.


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New Mortgage Rules Introduced By Liberals Driving Up Housing Market: National Bank

New Mortgage Rules Introduced By Liberals Driving Up Housing Market: National Bank


The Liberal government’s new, tighter mortgage rules were meant to help keep the housing market from overheating, but National Bank says the new rules are doing the opposite, at least for now.
Economist Marc Pinsonneault says the new rules — which require a higher down payment on mortgages above $500,000 — account for some of the furious housing activity seen in Toronto and Vancouver, and will probably continue to drive activity higher in the coming months.
Vancouver has “the tightest home resale market in 12 years,” National Bank said Monday in its latest report on the Teranet house price index. Home sales are far outstripping new listings in that market.

National Bank noted that Toronto clocked a record number of home sales in February.


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Where Americans Buy Second Homes

Where Americans Buy Second Homes


Second homes are not just centered in beachfront communities. In fact, 913 counties within 49 states had second homes that accounted for at least 10 percent of the local housing stock, according to a new analysis by the National Association of Home Builders.


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6 pros and cons to living large in a tiny house

6 pros and cons to living large in a tiny house


The average size of a home in 2013 was 2,598 square feet -- an enormous increase over the cozy 1,525 square feet that was the average in 1973. As homes become bigger and mortgages grow to match, more and more homeowners are going to something much simpler and smaller: The tiny house. Usually defined as a home between 100 and 400 square feet, these micro-homes offer huge benefits, including lower overall cost, lower utility bills, a smaller carbon footprint and even the ability to move whenever you please.
Today's average tiny house costs about $23,000, and as a result, 68% of all little house owners aren't tied to a mortgage. Tiny houses can be built on site, or they can be easily shipped to the buyer, thanks to the fact that they will usually fit on a flat-bed truck. More companies that specialize in compact houses are popping up across the country, making it much easier for anyone to go small.
But is the tiny house movement really all it appears to be? As with any new trend, it's important to seriously consider the pros and cons. So we talked to a few who have lived in tight spaces and asked them the important questions: What do you love -- or hate -- about your small space?


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Home of the Week- 8611 Shady Mountain (McKenzie II) MLS# 1147486

Here's 4 reasons US home-ownership rates are so low

Here's 4 reasons US home-ownership rates are so low


U.S. home ownership has been languishing near its lowest level in about half a century after hitting a peak just before the financial crisis. And while there are few signs of an imminent rebound, it isn’t for lack of a desire to buy homes.

In the last quarter of 2004, before the housing bubble popped and the Great Recession reared its head, 69.2 percent of American homes were owner-occupied. But for roughly the last year, the homeownership rate has failed to crack 64 percent, and at one point rivaled a low last seen in the 1960s.

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3 Smart Financial Moves to Make For Your First House

3 Smart Financial Moves to Make For Your First House


Owning a home is a great personal goal for many, as well as a fantastic way to build your personal wealth. Unfortunately, some home buyers make simple mistakes that can cost them thousands of dollars. Those who do more research before getting started with a realtor can be ahead of the game and by doing so, you will be able to save a lot of money over the long-term.

Go to Your Local Credit Union

When shopping for just about anything, it is important to compare options. We do this with computers, automobiles, and clothing, but almost never do it with a home loan.
Do not just go with any bank. It is recommended you check out a local credit union, and then compare the costs and personal service you receive there to a large bank like Chase or Bank of America. You may find that the same loan has a big price difference depending on where you go.


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Mortgage rates well below end-of-2015 level for spring homebuying season

Mortgage rates well below end-of-2015 level for spring homebuying season


Despite increasing for the second week in a row, mortgage rates are still well below levels seen at the end of last year.
According to Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey for the week of March 10, this is only the second increase this year, making mortgage rates very attractive for the upcoming spring home-buying season.


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Young Bostonians Might Get Their Own 'Millennial Villages'

Young Bostonians Might Get Their Own 'Millennial Villages'


Boston has come up with a solution to its affordable housing crisis: build special communities to get those darn Millennials to stop renting multi-bedroom apartments. A Massachusetts State Senate committee on housing advised in a March report [PDF] that the city should build “Millennial Villages” to entice young professionals (20 to 34 years old) out of housing markets meant for families.
"Between 2000 and 2008-2012, 20-34 year olds were responsible for 73.9 percent of the population growth in the inner core region of Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville—more than 24,000 additional young residents,” the report states. “To afford housing, many of these ‘Millennials’ share rented apartment units in what has been the region’s traditional workforce housing stock—‘triple-deckers,’ duplexes, and garden apartments,” driving up the price of those units for both other single professionals and for working-class families, the committee argues. More than half of the city’s renters pay more than 30 percent of their income on rent—qualifying them as “rent burdened.”
How exactly the Boston metro area should go about developing these “Millennial Villages” isn’t clear. The report advises creating “appropriately-sized and priced housing for the 20-34 year olds” as a way to “draw out” young people from three- and four-bedroom apartments in older rental stock, making The Youth sound kind of like a poison that needs to be sucked out. (Some folks might agree with the sentiment.) Achieving such an urban design feat “will require collaboration between developers, architects, builders, the construction trades, universities, teaching hospitals, and state and local government officials,” the committee admits—a tall order.


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Why It's Better to Live Near a Target Than a Walmart

Why It's Better to Live Near a Target Than a Walmart


It’s widely known that location matters, especially when it comes to the value of your home. And the difference between living near a Target TGT 0.45% vs. a Walmart WMT -0.36% could be pretty substantial, according to a new report.
Online real estate information company RealtyTrac analyzed home values, appreciation, and property taxes in U.S. zip codes with a Walmart or a Target to determine which superstores give homeowners the biggest returns on their investments.
As it turns out, homeowners living near a Target saw the value of their homes rise higher since purchase. Among homeowners who sold in 2015, those with homes near a Target experienced an average 27% increase in home prices, which equals to an average gain of $65,569. That’s compared to a 16% increase, or $24,900, for homeowners near a Walmart.


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Shipping container-based housing comes to South Texas

Shipping container-based housing comes to South Texas


San Antonio, Texas-based firms Development Strategies, Inc and Alamo Architects recently completed the first phase of a shipping container-based housing development in Encinal, TX. The project comprises seven container-based apartments and focuses on energy-efficiency and affordability.


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Real estate authority deems Dallas a top 5 U.S. market right now

Real estate authority deems Dallas a top 5 U.S. market right now


In terms of online searches, homebuyers are targeting Dallas. Realtor.com released its hottest 20 cities for February 2016, based on the number of listing views by market as an indicator of demand and median days on market as an indicator of supply.
Surprising no one, Dallas shows up as the No. 3 most popular market in the country.
It’s the lone Texas entrant in a list that touts mostly California and Colorado cities. San Francisco, San Jose, Denver, and Vallejo round out the top five.


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House hunting? Here's how far your dollar goes in the top 5 U.S. tech hubs

House hunting? Here's how far your dollar goes in the top 5 U.S. tech hubs


If you live in a region with a thriving tech industry, you’ve probably noticed your dollar doesn’t go as far in the housing market as it used to.

There are a few factors causing rent and home values to rise, says Svenja Gudell, chief economist at Zillow, the Seattle-based real estate media company. Most notably, when tech companies do well they hire — and they tend to hire young people who look to buy or rent entry-level homes. This increases demand faster than inventory can be supplied.
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The Salary You Need to Afford a Home in These 25 Cities - Real Estate News and Advice

The Salary You Need to Afford a Home in These 25 Cities - Real Estate News and Advice


In a number of cities in America, you’ll need to earn well over the U.S. median income to afford an average home.
The average American needs to make a little over $51,000 a year to afford the median-priced home —including principal, interest, taxes and insurance—in the U.S., a study released this week by mortgage information website HSH.com. This assumes the buyer has good to excellent credit (and thus would get a mortgage interest rate—depending on location—of around 4%), put down 20% and would be spending no more than 28% of income on principal and interest.


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The best time of year to list your home for sale is coming up fast

The best time of year to list your home for sale is coming up fast


In early May, homes sell fastest and for more money, according to the newest data. This is the new magic listing window for the country's 25 biggest metro areas.
Weather and housing market dynamics affect the exact best window to sell in different areas, and this year, a low supply of homes on the market has pushed the window later in the spring.
In Zillow's first analysis of the best time to list, homes listed between mid-March and mid-April sold fastest and for the highest price.


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10 homeowner tax breaks you should be taking advantage of

10 homeowner tax breaks you should be taking advantage of


If death and taxes are the two things you can always count on in life, there probably should be a third: the bucketful of tax breaks Uncle Sam offers every year to encourage more Americans to buy a home.
For one, Americans are able write off virtually all mortgage interest, not only for your primary home, but for a second home as well under some conditions — up to $1.1 million of debt when you include home-equity loans that are used for certain personal expenditures, such as funding college education. In most cases, homeowners are also able to write off their property taxes.
All told, homeowners (65% of Americans in 2013, down from an all-time high of 69% in 2004) have opportunities for dozens more federal income tax deductions than renters. In fact, only 21 states and the District of Columbia offer renters any kind of tax breaks or credits — generally credits for what is considered to be the percentage of property taxes that is rolled into a rent payment. (In Maryland, the state calculates that 15% of a monthly rental payment actually represents payments for property tax by the landlord and that increased property taxes are passed on to tenants in the form of increased rents.) Other states offer property tax credits to low-income households when the property tax payments exceed a certain ratio compared to their income.


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Hot Houston Housing Market Cools As Energy Prices Dip

Hot Houston Housing Market Cools As Energy Prices Dip






When energy prices dipped to 12-year lows in December, Sullivan Brothers Builders decided to try to spur sales of its single-family homes in the Houston area by offering a $5,000 bonus—and payment of buyers' electric bills for one year.
"The price of oil has stalled some buyers," said Karen Travelstead, director of sales and marketing for Sullivan Brothers. "There were buyers ready to make decisions that kind of decided, 'Let's wait three to six more months before we decide.'"

Two months later Sullivan Brothers is still offering the incentives, and likely will continue them through the spring, to see if the global energy downturn deepens for the nation's most important oil and gas corridor, Travelstead said.
Houston, the nation's number one market for housing starts last year, is starting to show signs of a slowdown. Still, home prices in the metro area, whose job market is about 50 percent energy-related, may prove surprisingly resilient, in large part because supply has been struggling to keep pace with demand for the past few years – making for a hot market that more resembled San Jose, California, than any city in Texas, said Bill Gilmer, director of the Institute For Regional Forecasting at the University of Houston.


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What's your view on foreign ownership in the housing market?

What's your view on foreign ownership in the housing market?


The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation says it has been in contact with tax authorities and police agencies that track money laundering in order to beef up its data collection regarding foreign buyers.
It's an issue that has become divisive in recent months and years as Canadian house prices — especially in the two hot markets of Toronto and Vancouver — set sales records with each passing month.
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5 reasons why moving into a neighborhood is a good idea

5 reasons why moving into a neighborhood is a good idea


You have to live somewhere, right! Many consumers opt for urban settings to be closer to the office, the downtown atmosphere, or because of the hustle and bustle it brings. Many others would prefer a more suburban setting away from the lights and hoopla. In fact, according to a realtor.com article, those looking for a home in a suburbia neighborhood have increased by 6.7% in the last year. Why the increase in neighborhood living?
While the list is nearly limitless, based on your specific desires and needs, below are 5 reasons why real estate buyers are actively seeking homes in neighborhoods to live, grow and raise a family in.
The Price is Right
No one wants to overpay, especially for housing. What we all want is excellent value for a reasonable price with an opportunity to make a profit when we eventually sell. According to the same realtor.com article the median size of a traditional style home in a suburban neighborhood is over 300 square feet larger (median of 1,540 square feet) with an extra bedroom than you typically find in an urban setting.
All things being equal, it is no wonder many are opting for more space to start raising a family. Whether it is the appeal of an extra room or the tranquility of subdivision living, you can get very good value for your hard earned dollars in a neighborhood setting.
Crime and Safety Concerns


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Study: Renters' rise extends beyond big US cities to suburbs

Study: Renters' rise extends beyond big US cities to suburbs


NEW YORK (AP) — In the American imagination, suburbs are places to buy a house and put down roots. But a growing percentage of suburbanites rent, according to a new study.


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Economists Assign Blame For Housing Shortage

Economists Assign Blame For Housing Shortage


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Interest rates rise slightly after two months of decreases - Real Estate News

Interest rates rise slightly after two months of decreases - Real Estate News


For interested buyers and current homeowners looking to refinance their current mortgage, it's been great news to hear that low interest rates have continuedfor two straight months. However, the pattern may no longer remain. According to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey, rates ticked up for the week ending March 3.
"The market turbulence that kicked off the year subsided at the end of February, providing at least a temporary break in the flight to quality," said Sean Becketti, Freddie Mac's chief economist. "Treasury yields approached their highest level in a month, boosting the 30-year mortgage 2 basis points this week to 3.64 percent. Despite this welcome breather, Fed officials have been highlighting the downside risks to the economic outlook, and the market expects the Fed to refrain from any further short-term rate increases for now."


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Salary you need to buy a house

Salary you need to buy a house


While home prices are rising around the country, potential home buyers can take some solace in interest rates, which continue to defy expectations that they're going to increase.
The median price of a house in 27 major metro areas in the U.S. is $222,700. In order to afford such a house with a 20 percent down payment in the fourth quarter of 2015, a family would need to earn at least $51,114, according to a new analysis by mortgage research firm HSH.com. That's just slightly below the median annual wage of $53,000.
Of course, the old adage that all real estate is local holds true. A median-priced home in Pittsburgh costs $128,000, about a sixth of what it cost to buy a median-priced home in San Francisco. Residents of the former city would need wages of just $31,134 to become homeowners, while those in the latter would need to earn nearly $150,000.


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Here's The Most Expensive Zip Code in Every State

Here's The Most Expensive Zip Code in Every State


Ask a real estate agent what the biggest factor in determining a property's value is and they won't even have to think to tell you "location, location, location." The most expensive zip codes offer high-value homes with desirable features like a large amount of square footage, waterfront views and luxury add-ons.





To find the most expensive neighborhoods in each state, GOBankingRates surveyed median home value data from Zillow for hundreds of zip codes in all 50 states. This ranking lists the most expensive zip code in each state from the cheapest to the most expensive. Click through to see where most of the highest-valued properties are in your state.


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Top 10 Places Where Millennials Are Buying Houses

Top 10 Places Where Millennials Are Buying Houses

Here’s where they can actually afford to buy.

Fewer millennials are buying homes. More millennials are opting to rent, or faced with tight budgets, live at home with their parents.
But for those with the bucks for a down payment, the big question is, Where are they buying?


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Middle class can't afford homes near jobs

Middle class can't afford homes near jobs


A newly released study is highlighting an underreported aspect of the affordable housing crisis — the lack of homes that moderate-income families can afford to buy near employment centers in the region.
“To find a home they can afford to purchase, middle-income families must increasingly look outside of the region’s core, far from job centers for middle-income jobs,” reads the study released Wednesday, titled “Solving the Affordable Homeownership Gap.”
The study was commissioned by Proud Ground, a nonprofit organization that sells affordable homes throughout the region. It was underwritten by the Bank of America and can be read at


http://tinyurl.com/hpwa35p.




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4 Easy Ways to Invest in Real Estate If You're Not Donald Trump

4 Easy Ways to Invest in Real Estate If You're Not Donald Trump


No, you don't have to be The Donald to make good money investing in real estate -- but if you're not throwing around billions of dollars, don't expect to blazon your name on any high-rises, either.
Aside from the malls, office buildings, or ultraluxe residences preferred by the 1% of the 1%, there are plenty of opportunities that are more realistic for the rest of us. Here's a look at some of the most common options for a rookie to invest in real estate, along with the pros and cons of each.
1. Vacation homes


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Home of the Week- 9835 Marbach Canyon (Southbend) MLS MLS# 1146372

Home of the Week- 7924 Dublin Forest San Antonio (Stone Bluff) MLS# 1132412

Home of the Week- 8719 Trigger Corral (Sierra Mesa) MLS- 1200231

Home of the Week- 8610 Shady Mountain- (Buchanan) MLS # 1150155

Home of the Week- 8202 Lajitas Bend (Caddo) MLS # 1147462

Home of the Week- 5015 Italica Road (Terrazzo) MLS # 1139380

Home of the Week- 16927 Sonoma Ridge (Carlyle) MLS# 1148324

Home of the Week- 8202 Lajitas Bend- Caddo