buying a house

Will house prices keep dropping?

Posted 5 weeks 3 days ago by Philip Brewer

Real Estate and Housing, Investment

Foreclosure sign in front of a house

I don't think much of the "buy low, sell high" model for house purchases. I think a house should be purchased as a place to live, in which case the main questions are whether you want to live there and whether you can afford it, not whether prices have hit bottom. Still, it's a question of interest to a lot of people, so I've been meaning to write an article on the topic. Happily, Vladimir Klyuev, an economist with the International Monetary Fund, has written it, so I don't have to.

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Renting is cheaper

Posted 1 year 1 day ago by Philip Brewer

Frugal Living, Real Estate and Housing

Framed house

Everybody has seen a rent-versus-buy analysis. On one side you add up the mortgage, taxes, insurance, and maintenance costs (being sure to adjust for the tax write-off of the mortgage interest). On the other side you add up, well, just the rent, really. Then, at the end of 30 years the homeowner has a house and the renter has... nothing. Here's a different way to look at it.

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The cost of a free ride - why not to use a buyer's agent (submitted by Ken Rick)

Posted 1 year 30 weeks ago by Lynn Truong

Real Estate and Housing

real estate sale

My wife and I were house shopping and we decided to make an offer on a condo. We threw out a low-ball offer for the condo and, to our surprise, the seller's agent was very eager to work with us. He negotiated on our behalf with the seller, and basically came back and said that if we could raise our offer a little bit (but less than a competing offer) he would convince the seller to give it to us. Why would the seller's agent go so far for us?

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