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Category: Gathering Information

  • Three Tips For A Potential Real Estate Investor

    Reader Question: I am a young person who inherited money. I’ve been looking at different career options, and I have decided to invest in real estate, but I have little knowledge about it. Where do I find people with money who are looking for attractive real estate deals with a partner? Monty’s Answer: Real estate…

  • Three Ways to Buy a Home with No Down-Payment and Marginal Credit

    Reader Question: Can I buy a home with no down payment and marginal credit? I have been working a good job for over two years. I had several years of a bad road earlier. Do you have any advice? Monty’s Answer: For any person to buy property without a down payment and good credit may…

  • To Own Your Home, or Not

    Reader Question: Should we own a home, or not? We have been married for six years. We have rented till now and have saved enough for a twenty-percent down payment with a tidy reserve. A variety of concerns make us wonder if we should buy a home. The economy appears to be doing well, but underfunded…

  • Five tips when researching for a housing cooperative

    Readers Question: What is a housing cooperative? Monty’s Answer: When researching for a housing cooperative here are five tips. A housing cooperative is a form of ownership that creates an interest in an abode through stock ownership in a company, as opposed to a deed to a parcel of real estate. It could also be…

  • Retirement Home Search Requires Effort

    Reader Question: My wife and I are getting closer to retirement, and we can go anywhere we want in the USA. We want to find the right lake or mountain home. I am looking for a single agent/source to help us find what we want anywhere in the USA. I am discovering that real estate…

  • Who invests in commercial real estate in America?

    Reader Question: I am researching commercial real estate. Who invests in commercial real estate in the US? Monty’s Answer: The definition of commercial real estate is buildings owned by an investor or investors to generate income from rent. According to the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT), the total size of the commercial…

  • Five critical components for investing in real estate

      Reader Question: I am considering investing in real estate. Can you explain how people avoid taxes just by owning property? Monty’s Answer: Real estate investors do not invest in real estate to avoid taxes. They invest in real estate to build wealth. Appreciation, income, and depreciation create wealth in real estate. Depreciation is also…

  • Flip or hold real estate? A comparison

    Reader Question: I am interested in starting a career as a real estate investor. Both remodeling to flip or hold homes for the long-term interest me. I do not have any construction experience, nor have I any actual real estate experience. I am quick to pick up on training, and I’m people orientated so I…

  • Buy an existing new home vs. build from scratch?

    Reader Question: We bought a lot several years ago to build a home, and we are now ready to go forward. I have gathered some general information, but I’d like to have more of a general idea before we decide between buy new existing home or build from scratch? . Where can I find information…

  • Neighborhood Due Diligence Checklist

    Reader Question: We found a home we are very interested in buying. We hear a lot of different opinions about how to check out the neighborhood. Do you have a neighborhood due diligence checklist? Monty’s Answer: Consider a conversation over a checklist. The reason you hear so many opinions is that people’s circumstances and life…

  • Need to buy a vacant lot to build a house?

    Reader Question: We want to buy a vacant lot. After looking for resale homes for more than a year, we have decided to build a house. We have tried to buy a pre-owned home, but the lack of choices, bidding wars, and unsatisfactory home inspections have helped us realize that paying a premium for the…

  • Eight Helpful Actions Homebuyers Overlook

    Reader Question: We sold our home last year to downsize and rented an apartment for a year to try the lifestyle and give us time to consider what we would do next. We are now going to buy a home, but being out of the home buying market for thirty years, what are the big…

  • buying with a buyer agent

    Reader Question: What are the pros vs. cons of buying with a buyer agent representing me on the buying transaction? Monty’s Answer: Buyer agency, and for that matter, seller agency, is a concept in the law. Agency law varies somewhat in the statutes from state to state, but my experience is that interpreting the meaning…

  • Can we knock on doors near a home we like?

    Reader Question: Can we knock on doors near a home we may want to buy? We are interested in a home in a neighborhood that is a perfect location for us. We are unfamiliar with the area, and we are considering knocking on a few doors to develop a better sense of place and possibly about…

  • Ten Common Real Estate Scams

    Reader Question: ​What would be your advice concerning the different real estate scams going on. For example, is being a for sale by owner dangerous today? What are some of the warning signs of real estate scams? ​Monty’s Answer: Scams have always existed as there are elements in our society that lead nefarious lives. While…