May 19, 2010 by Chris.

Obviously this was going to happen! Anyone stuck with a property to sell right now (including me) is in for a long wait. I guess I’ll need to continue to rent my old condo for at least another year. The next few months should give us very little demand from buyers. This lack of demand should be fairly uniform whether you’re in Chicago or elsewhere.

Of course there’s a flip-side to everything. If you’re a buyer right now, you may be able to snag a better deal now, even without the tax credit, than you could have before April 30th.

Mortgage Applications Plummet To 13-Year Low As Tax Cuts Expire - Yahoo Finance

Posted in Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

May 12, 2010 by Chris.

This isn’t real estate related, but it’s too cool not to share. You can sign up for Square for free, and they send you a free reader that plugs-in to your iPhone headset jack. You can then swipe someone’s credit card on the go anywhere your phone works, and automatically charge their credit card, with the proceeds sent to you! The only fee you pay is the normal payment processing fee that is charged by all credit card processors. The fee is very reasonable and this service allows you to do this all without setting up a merchant account, which can be very time-consuming.

Just thought of the real estate application for this: you could use this app to charge a delinquent tenant for rent while you’re standing with them at their unit! No more, my check is in the mail, or bouncing checks!

Check out their site: About Square

Posted in Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

May 4, 2010 by Chris.

See the below article on Neeti Arndt’s blog (our real estate broker). Now that Fannie and Freddie are no longer backing interest-only loans for 2-4 units, there could be even fewer investors in the market for these properties. This could pose an attractive investment opportunity in the near term for buyers. The only downfall with investing in less than five units is that loan is based upon the borrower’s debt to income (DTI) instead of the property’s cash flow. This is why real estate investors are always seeking people with high FICO scores and low DTI values to partner on real estate deals

Fannie Mae Tightens Guidelines On ARMs And Interest Only Products : Neeti Arndt

Posted in Financing | Print | 1 Comment »