Where is the safest city in America? On the east coast, in a smaller metropolitan area with lower home prices, a boon for home buyers and investors. After comparing more than 180 cities across 39 key indicators of safety (like assaults per capita and road quality), WalletHub determined that Columbia, MD is the safest city [...]
Thinking about flipping homes in retirement? Here’s how to get started to with your first real estate investment and make sure you put your best foot forward. Q: I read your columns regularly. My wife and I currently live in the Northern Virginia area and will be retiring soon. We plan to move to Raleigh, [...]
Real estate investors often have a lot of questions once tax time rolls around — especially if they're new to the game. That's because while there are a number of tax breaks available to investors, like the depreciation deduction, Uncle Sam will also want its fair share of the income generated from investment properties. Real estate [...]
I received this email from a long-time reader of my nationally-syndicated column, which she reads in the Columbus dispatch every Sunday. I think it's a question a lot of readers have, so I'm answering it here. Q: I have a question for you. Since Donald Trump won the election and became president-elect, I hear a [...]
It’s one of Benjamin Franklin’s most famous quotes: “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Of course most people aren’t so certain about those taxes, particularly when it comes to taxes surrounding death and inheritance. Estate taxes—the so-called death taxes—have been a hot button issue for a long [...]
Mortgage rates have found their way down to the lowest point of the year. Last week, they hit 4.10 percent for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) and 3.23 percent for a 15-year. Last year at this time, they were 4.58 percent and 3.6 percent respectively, according to the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey. It’s [...]
