What is the minimum down payment for an investment property?

Question: “I’m thinking of buying my first investment property. How much will I need to put down?” Answer: Almost certainly 20% or more. Anything below 20% down is virtually unheard of.
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This Week’s Crazy Building: Encinitas Boat Houses

“The Encinitas, CA Boat Houses” by Joe Wolf is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
If you have ever driven down Third Street in Encinitas you may have seen a strange site amidst the homes. Named the S.S. Encinitas and the S.S. Moonlight these 59 foot long, 21 foot tall “Boat Houses” have been part of the community landscape since 1926. Built from upcycled wood by architect Miles Kellogg they
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This Week’s Crazy Building: Marqués de Riscal Hotel

“Hotel Marques De Riscal, Elciego, Álava, Spain” by CO-120812 is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
The Marqués de Riscal Hotel in Elciego, Spain is a redesign of a 150-year-old winery. This highly unusual work by architect Frank Gehry seeks to embody the vineyard in an abstract way. The colors used are symbolic. Pink represents the wine itself, silver is found on the bottle’s neck, and gold is for the signature
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What if you can’t afford to buy a home you really want?

Question: “My husband and I are frustrated. We’re renting and we know it’s a great time to buy, but we can’t afford to buy a home we really want…” Answer: Some people call that having “champagne taste and a beer budget.” That’s a little rough, so I prefer to just say that some people have
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Should I reduce the asking price of my home?

Question: “My wife and I have had our home on the market since October, at $825,000 and it hasn’t sold. Our agent told us to reduce the price. But we don’t want to lose money. What should we do?” Answer: I hear that often and am sympathetic to your plight.  But it sounds like you’ve
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Do I need a property manager?

Question: “I plan to buy an investment property and am curious, do you recommend hiring a manager or doing it yourself?” Answer: Great question. And like many, it depends… Do you have the time to manage the property?You can go for long stretches where all you do is collect rent. But then you can have
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Should I buy a fixer-upper?

Question: “We can’t find anything we like in our price range. I’m trying to convince my wife to go for a fixer-upper so we can buy in the neighborhood we like. What do you think?” Answer: Great idea! Many people have bought fixer-upper homes and proudly shown me the before and after photos once their
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Are home valuation websites accurate?

Question: “A Realtor just told me my home is worth $850,000, but Zillow says $975,000 and…” Answer: Hold on…you must be a new subscriber to this newsletter! Otherwise, you’d have seen my regular rants (my son says too regular!) about how laughably inaccurate EVERY home valuation website is. Now, I’m not going to be like
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What’s the difference between a mortgage banker and a mortgage broker?

Question: “I’m shopping lenders for my home loan and one said she’s a mortgage banker. Is that the same as a mortgage broker?” Answer: Great question…and the answer is “no.” Mortgage BANKERThey handle everything in-house and lend you their own money, though they’ll probably sell the loan later. Mortgage bankers include banks, credit unions, and
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This Week’s Crazy Building: Capsule Hotels

“Capsule Hotel” by Kojach is licensed under CC BY 2.0
At first glance, this may look like a row of washing machines but they are actually rooms at a Capsule Hotel. Room sizes vary but the average is about 4 feet wide, 6.5 feet long, and 3 feet high. Composed of a narrow space with a bed and some other amenities such as an alarm
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