Elliot Caleira

Saving Money on Your First Home Purchase

June 9, 2016 By Elliot Caleira 1 Comment

Buying a home. It’s a quintessential part of the American Dream and, to this day, still one of the main goals to which millions of Americans aspire. But it is no small decision, and it’s something that takes a great deal of research and preparation to build towards. Buying a house is a difficult process whether it is your first or third time, so you can imagine how daunting it is to try to figure it out yourself without any prior experience.

One of the main things that you are likely concerned about when entering the housing market for the first time is the price. Naturally, you want to keep the costs as low as possible, without sacrificing on the things that are really important to you. Here are some ways to keep the costs down and save money on your first home purchase.

Shop Around for a Good Loan

It is not exactly a thrilling process to visit different banks and lenders to find a good mortgage on a house, but it is one of the most important parts of buying a new house. Don’t be tempted to simply take the first offer that you receive on a loan. Instead make sure that you shop around and be discerning in your final decision. You also need to make sure that you have a realistic budget set aside, for how much you can spare each month without harming your finances seriously.

Know Your Limits

Lenders will decide your loan amount based on your credit and tax information, but occasionally they will approve loans that are slightly above what you can really afford. It is important that you know what you can and cannot afford before you even go to the mortgage lender. You don’t want to end up with a house purchase that is going to put you in severe debt for the rest of your life. For this reason, you need to stick firm to your upper limit. It is also important to remember that, even if you see a good deal on a bigger house, there are things like higher utility costs to take into consideration.

Use a Realtor

You may have heard talk of the web making things so much easier when it comes to buying houses in this modern age. And while, yes, it is definitely a lot easier to buy and sell a house yourself today, it would be a mistake to forgo a realtor altogether. Especially for a first time home purchase, a realtor can lend expertise and knowhow that in invaluable to a novice, not to mention they will do most of the hard work for you. How does paying for a realtor save you money? They are likely to get you a much better deal on a property than you could ever get on your own.

Don’t Limit Your Search

Some people have preconceived ideas about what they want their first house to be like, but sometimes you have to realize that when you are entering the market for the first time you may have to make certain compromises. Of course, there are some things that are essential to each home buyer, so the best technique is to work with your realtor to put together a list of things that you would like (but are not necessarily deal breakers) and a list of your non-negotiables.

Decide What It’s Worth Spending On

This is another thing that your realtor can help you out with. Think about the things that you want out of a house, and which things you are will to pay for. For example, a home inspection and a home warranty are things that you will want to budget for, while extensive renovations might be something that you want to avoid. Again, it comes down to personal preferences, but all of the aforementioned are the kinds of decisions you will want to think about before you choose a house.

Photo: Flickr: reynermedia

Tips to Getting Access to Real Estate Data at a Small Price

March 17, 2016 By Elliot Caleira 1 Comment

Investors are always looking for better data sources to help them make better investment decisions. As more competitors seek to gain an advantage, analytics and big data are the next stage of profitable investing. For example, using mapping software you can quickly gain insights from useful data on demographics, territories, and more.

However, investors still want to get good value for their money. They want big data sources without paying a premium for the information. There are a few strategies they can take to get information at lower prices. There are now more free and low cost sources of information than ever before. Helpfully, they are all online as well. A lot of the expensive real estate investor software’s actually use data from the sources mentioned below.

Use public sources

The best way to get data at a low price is to get information that the government makes freely available to all market participants. The government makes sales, foreclosures, bankruptcies and other market data publicly available at local municipal sources. Large companies like CBRE and Jones Lang LaSalle also publish free market reports analyzing trends and providing critical information. The US Census Bureau and Data.gov provide free federal data as well. These are now available in helpful, downloadable formats. They can be plugged into algorithms or charts to help make simple investment decisions.

Free Google, Yahoo and Facebook data

Google, Yahoo and Facebook provide exquisite data free of charge. Investors around the world utilize these information sources to create large data sets and algorithms. Google Trends charts the volume of different search terms. This can give important indications into the popularity of certain products or services, as well as the main concerns that people are having. Similarly, the Facebook Graph is a publicly available tool that provides data on what users are liking and sharing. This gives important insights into purchasing decisions. Yahoo Finance provides a free source to download the movement of all stocks on a daily basis. The data can be easily exported into an Excel file where the investor can use VBA code to create sophisticated trading algorithms. For a fee, users can obtain data that is more frequent than daily opening and closing information.

MLS

The MLS system is the key real estate system of realtors, buyers, sellers and investors. It is a public exchange where a large array of data is found with all of the listings for homes on the market. They provide data about closings and market trends in the region. Well-known websites such as Redfin and Zillow incorporate MLS data. In addition, virtually every realtor has access to the MLS listings so that they can assist their clients. Investors can gain access to this site and download data so that they can make their own investment decisions. The site provides several useful customized formats to download and utilize the data.

Qlik

Qlik is a business intelligence company located in New York. The firm provides remarkable data sets for all types of businesses. The also acquired a website called Data Market which helped to broker useful data sets between buyers and sellers. Those large data sets can be immensely helpful to make important investment decisions, whether they are sales, tax, retail, agricultural, industrial or other types of data. Depending on the data set, these can be fairly inexpensive but can also be pricey. In any case, astute investors should be able to make a return on the money spent to acquire the data.

Overall, there are more and more ways to get big data at a very small price. Real estate investor software can help to analyze some of this information and produce investment decisions. At the very least, it can help investors gain better insights into the markets they are targeting. Big data is more important than ever and utilizing the necessary tools to extract value is becoming more important.

Photo: Flickr: Mr.TinDC

4 Things Every Homeowner Should Know

March 11, 2016 By Elliot Caleira 1 Comment

If you are like most people, your home is your largest investment and you want to take great care of it. Some people will complete do-it-yourself projects, others will hire a contractor to assist with repairs, maintenance work and upgrades. Regardless of the approach that you take to keep your home maintained in great condition, one thing is certain: There are some things that you need to know about your home if you want to keep your home maintained and in the best overall shape.

Think about each of these points and consider educating yourself about each of them. These steps will help you to take better care of your home now and in the years to come.

Where the Master Controls Are

As soon as you move into a new home, it is important that you familiarize yourself with the master controls. This may include the electric submeter, gas valve and main water valve. These are very important features that you may rarely need to access, but in a time of emergency, it is critical that you know where they are and how to make adjustments to them without delay. Therefore, if you do not know where these features are in your home, today is the day to educate yourself. They are usually located on the outside of the home or in the basement (if your home has a basement). Be sure you know where these things are.

What is Included in Your Warranty

Many homeowners have a home warranty in place, and there is good reason for this. A home warranty will pay for most of the repair costs on different components to your home. However, the warranty coverage can vary from plan to plan. Some may only have coverage on major components, such as the HVAC system. Other warranties may have coverage on doors, windows, major home appliances and various other features throughout the home. As a homeowner, you will be able to keep your home in better condition and take full advantage of the warranty that you have paid for when you read through the coverage and are aware of what your coverage entails.

The Age of Your Home’s Components

There are numerous major components to a home that each have a different life span. For example, a hot water heater may have a lifespan of approximately 10 years while an asphalt shingle roof may have a lifespan of approximately 20 to 30 years. When you have a newer home, it is easy to know the age of the components, and this is because many or all of them may have never been replaced. However, if your home is more than 10 years old, there is a chance that some of them may have been replaced already. It is important that you know how old your components are, such as the roof, hot water heater, HVAC unit, electrical system, pipes and many other components of your home. It is equally important to know what their life span is so that you can be more prepared to make repairs or a replacement as they reach the end of their useful life. A happy home is a home that you don’t have to worry about anything breaking.

The Cost to Replace the Components

Along this train of thought, it is critical that you also understand the cost to replace each of the components. This is especially true when some of your components are reaching the end of their life. For example, if you have a 20 year old HVAC system, it should not come as a surprise when the HVAC technician recommends a replacement to you rather than more repair work. Ideally, you will have been budgeting for this expense and will be prepared to make the payment when the time comes to replace the components.

Your home is likely one of your largest investments (if not the largest) and you want to keep it well-maintained during the years in which you live there. A warranty may make it easier for you to budget for repairs and to repair your home as needed, but there are other factors to consider as well. For example, you must be prepared to replace major components when the time comes, and you should be aware of where your main valves are for emergency situations. These tips will help you to better protect your home and to keep it in great condition over the years.

Photo: Flickr: deovolenti