People talk about running the numbers before buying an investment property, but before doing that we need to discover what are the numbers and how do you get accurate numbers. Running the wrong numbers can make the difference of making $500 or losing $1000 per month. In this article we will go through the costs and factors to consider to make your investments successful.

There's a lot of talk in real estate about green building lately, but the phrase is still a little vague. Here's a guide to understanding a few key terms, so you can investigate whether or not a potential home is truly eco-friendly.

Insulation and Building:
Many new buildings are being insulated with recycled materials, such as old blue jeans or blown-in fiberglass.

Their are alot of real estate agents out their. When you decide to list your house here is a guide to how to select an agent that will provide you the best service and get the top value for your home.

1 *Agents that are rude. Sellers often pick these realtors under the mistaken impression that it will benefit them because they have a "tough agent".

Like many financial decisions their are pros and cons of moving into the real estate market. This article examines the pros and cons of owning real estate.

Con: It goes down.
Just as nothing is completely certain, whether your real estate will be as profitable as you'd like depends on a variety of factors. Find out what you can about the area you're buying in - scout out local businesses and talk to your potential neighbors.

Downtown Austin has been growing over the last few years. The city council and the community in general is pushing for growing the downtown into a live-work area with high density, shops downstairs, and living upstairs. The term is "multi-use" and it is pretty much the montra for Austin real estate. There are 10+ condo projects going up in the next couple years that cater to the different appeals of living in downtown Austin.

People always ask me if this is a good time to buy real estate. Or they ask me if now is a bad time to buy real estate. I have the same answer for both questions: I don't know. More importantly, I don't care.

Don't get me wrong - if you're buying a property and plan to flip it in a few months, then the current direction of the market is very relevant.

A lot of people ask for advice on how to sell their homes. There is the standard good advice... You can hire a professional stager to make your home be on the level of a model home. You can retile you bathroom or install granite in your kitchen to have a little more upgrades than the one down the street for sale. You can do all kinds of things on the level of presentation.

Gentrification comes from the root of the word for 'gentleness', which isn't quite what we think of when we imagine ripping down quaint old homes and displacing lower income families.

But what about when the old homes aren't quaint so much as decrepit? And what about when your city has nowhere to go but take over those (often more centrally located) areas or expand into suburbs? What then?

In order to have a decent discussion about gentrification and to decide whether to buy in an area that is undergoing gentrification, let's look at some issues.

When you are looking at buying a residence, one of your considerations is whether to buy a home or a condo. These are some of the main issues to weigh when deciding which one is right for you.

Location:
Often in most markets, location can be improved if you get a condo over a house. It is generally true in most real estate markets that for the same price of a house away from the highly desirable locations of your town, you can find a condo closer in.

Recently people have been interested in a lot of the more exotic loan programs from no interest loans to negative amortization. There has been some negatives associated with these loans with the changes in the mortgage industry. So I wanted to take some time to talk about the almost forgotten 15 year loan. Some people see the 15 year loan as drab and boring compared to all the fancy loans out there, but there are a lot of benefits of the 15 year fixed-rate loan.

The first time you are getting a loan, it can be confusing what all is needed and how to start. This outlines the steps to getting a loan from picking a lender to closing.

1) Picking a Lender.
Comparing lenders can be daunting. All the components of a loan including the interest rate, origination fee, points, and other miscellaneous fees are hard to sort through.