Written By Paula Pant
When we first purchased a house, we thought the only expense would be the mortgage. Haha!
Little did we realize that the mortgage is only the beginning.
Homeowners pay for an absurd amount of operations, maintenance and repairs:
Trash service. Water and sewer bills. Gutter cleaning. Termite treatment. Pest control. Power-washing. Replacing […]
Written By Paula Pant
I’m making a massive change in my search for my next rental house.
I’ve spent the past year searching for another rental house within walking distance of Atlanta’s most vibrant city park.
It’s one of the most desirable neighborhoods in Atlanta, especially among young professionals who want to live in walking distance to martini […]
Written By Paula Pant
After last week’s three-part series on rental property investing, several readers posed fantastic and hard-hitting questions. I answered most in the ‘comments’ section.
But one question deserved its own post.
How did you come up with the your maintenance cost estimate? I would expect much higher on such a large and old house. You’re probably […]
Written By Paula Pant
Note from Paula: This is the final installment of my three-part series about my building my real estate empire, one lopsided rotting house at a time. Check out Part 1 — House-Hunting — and Part 2 — Funding — before you read this conclusion.
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NOTE: This article was last updated in 2014 (and all […]
Written By Paula Pant
Note from Paula: In my last post — Part 1 – I described how I searched for a rental house. In today’s post, I’ll spill the details of how I put the deal together.
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To say that the house is a “fixer upper” is too polite.
The house is –- well, […]
Written By Paula Pant
Every major city I’ve visited — New York, San Francisco — has blown me away with one amazing aspect: its main park.
Whether I’m in Central Park in Manhattan, Golden Gate Park in San Francisco or Lumpini Park in Bangkok, I can’t help but notice a few common threads: these spaces are gorgeous, centrally located, […]
Written By Paula Pant
When you buy a home, you will learn that there are two kinds of mortgages: fixed-rate and adjustable-rate.
What’s the difference?
A fixed-rate mortgage gives you an interest rate that never changes. An adjustable-rate mortgage gives you a volatile interest rate: in times of slow economic growth and low inflation, the interest rate will be […]
Written By Paula Pant
The traditional American Dream is home ownership, but everyone who lived through 2008 – 2010 knows that home ownership, for many, became the American Nightmare.
What went wrong? (Aside from subprime mortgages and other things outside of our control):
1. Many people bought a home because it’s the “adult” thing to do … […]
Written By Paula Pant
Here’s the truth about houses: Unless you’re a landlord, your house will probably be the lousiest investment you ever make.
The myth about home ownership is that it’s a great investment — a way to “build equity” rather than “throwing your money away on rent.”
Hogwash.
Here’s the truth: When you rent, you pay […]
