According to Trulia’s Summer 2011 Rent vs. Buy Index, homeownership is less costly than renting in 74 percent of major U.S. cities. Trulia compared the cost of buying and renting a two-bedroom apartment, condominium or townhouse in the 50 American cities with the largest population.
The top five cities in which buying is cheaper than renting are Las Vegas; Detroit; Mesa, Ariz.; Fresno, Calif.; and Arlington, Texas. Renting is the better deal in New York City; Fort Worth, Texas; Omaha, Neb.; Seattle; and San Francisco.
Low mortgage rates, lower home prices and plenty of homes on the market have tipped the scale toward buying in many areas. A shortage of rental properties and higher demand for rentals has added to their cost.
Consider the following factors when making your personal decision about buying or renting:
How long am I going to stay in this location?
Even if buying is cheaper in your area, you should plan on staying in a home for at least five years before selling in order to recoup the costs of the purchase and build equity.
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Ive been reading Rich Dads Increase Your Financial IQ: Get Smarter with Your Money, by Robert Kiyosaki and while I like the general gist of the book (especially the first half), he rubs me wrong way in several places. One of these is in his use of math to support his opinions on real estate.
Much of the second half of the book focuses on real estate as a means to grow wealth, but he does make an important distinction between speculating for growth or flipping a house, and buying property as an investment. In other words, he espouses buying real estate for the purpose of renting it out and creating a cash flow, not hoping for the market to rise and create capital gains. Im not really interested in becoming a renter, but his approach makes a lot of sense to me, especially with the current economy, housing market and demographic changes.
Where I have problems is when he gets into things like OPM (Other Peoples Money).
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New year, new start! That’s how you might think many people across the UK have started 2012. But it appears, if you think this, you could be wrong.
According to a poll by First Direct, the biggest financial worries of the year in 2011 were not saving enough and not paying off enough debt – that sounds like a catch 22 to me.
Other worries are quoted as spending too much on a partner, lending or borrowing money from family, or, paying for an expensive holiday.
So whilst we enter the early stages of January 2012, I have to ask, what were your biggest worries in 2011 and where do you think 2012 might lead you?
For some, I hope it will lead to being debt free – to being more financially aware and confident in budgeting more effectively. For o
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If you’re looking to consolidate you existing debts, then there’s a good chance that you’ll be keen to minimise any other debts which you might encounter in future. Here are a few tips on managing your finances, and avoid large or numerous debts accumulating in future.
Firstly, it can be a good idea to work out a budget. Many people find that they build up significant debts without even realising it, simply because they have not been keeping track of what they spend. However, by working out what you can afford to spend in various areas of your life, this is far less likely to happen You may also find that you are spending much more than you realise on certain items, and may want to make the effort to cut back.
Think carefully about taking out any loans, or agreeing to certain repayment strategies. Use sites like lovemoney.com to make sure that you sign up to use the most suitable credit cards for you, and never count your chickens before they’ve hatched. For example, you should avoid making purchases which don’t require payment until a year later, if you are assuming that you will have the money by then for one reason or another. Often it
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The holidays are typically full of family time. You spend more time with family during this portion of the year than any other. In fact, it may be the only time you see some relatives face to face. That’s why some experts say you should take some time to do something more important than eating turkey and opening presents. You should use the holidays to discuss important financial issues with family members. “Use this time to engage your family members in a chat about financial planning – yours and theirs,” Eleanor Blayney, Certified Financial Planner, says. “No matter who has plans to visit this year, there are relevant topics for everyone in the family.”
Here are some examples of important issues that need to be discussed, and can best be done in person.
Financial discussions don’t have to be boring or difficult. Served up with some pumpkin pie, it can be a loving family discussion about the future. “Sharing financial and life goals with those most likely to be affected by those plans can avoid confusion or division among family members when important financial decisions need to be made,” Blayney says. “Take the time to
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First, the good news: more and more people are sourcing auto loans online. Now for the bad: the number is still very small.
Auto loans online
That information appeared last week in Automotive News, a trade publication, and appears to be based on research from the Power Information Network. Apparently if you add the number of cash buyers to the number of those with “direct” loans (those not arranged by a dealer) then the two categories together represented just 22 percent of all vehicle sales in the third quarter of this year.
That’s down from 31 percent during the same period in 2009. Of course, that year’s numbers were skewed by the great recession: fewer cars were sold then, and lenders weren’t lending, so only cash buyers and the hyper-creditworthy stood any real chance of changing their cars. Even so it’s slightly depressing that more people aren’t applying for auto loans online, if only because having an approved offer in your pocket puts you in a much stronger bargaining position when your dealer starts negotiating your finance package.
Auto loans and dealers–a bad mix
But it’s not just that.
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