Essential Things to Consider When Buying a Home

8/5/2009

 
Once you have made your decision to buy a home and stop renting, you'll need a strategy to get started on your search. The secret in searching for the perfect home lies in your ability to identify exactly what you want out of a MN home.

Many Minnesota first time home buyers feel overwhelmed and frustrated by the homebuying process simply because there are too many decisions to make. How do you decide on the best location? What if the home isn't in the best move-in condition? Can you afford to be so far away from work? Making sure you've asked yourself the right questions and creating a 'wishlist' for your ideal home will make the home buying process much easier, and also help you get over many of the challenges involved in finding that perfect home. Start creating your wishlist with the following essential questions and considerations in mind:

1. What are the amenities you are looking for? Ask yourself if you want a fireplace, swimming pool, a garden, etc. Create a basic criteria of amenities you would want in your home to narrow down your options. If a home doesn't meet your amenities criteria, simply say no to it and move on to the next one.

2. Specify where you want to be located. The home's location is one of the most significant factors when considering different homes, according to author Ilyce Glink of '100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask'. Your location will determine how far you'll live in relation to family and friends, your kid's school, your work, and shopping areas. Location also determines the time you'll spend traveling each day. Ask yourself if your home and location justify your travel time each day.

3. The size of your home. Specify how much space your family needs and if you are expecting any additions to your family in the near future. Your needs will determine the size of the home that you will purchase. If your family is growing, you might want to purchase a bigger home to accommodate your family three to five years in the future.

4. Are you willing to invest in renovating or refurbishing the home? If the house is not in move-in condition, how much are you willing to spend on modifications, renovations and other maintenance costs? Setting some guidelines in this area can help you eliminate certain homes from your radar as you search.

5. Will safety and security be an issue for you? If you have small children or are living alone, safety and security may be a top priority. Ask yourself what you will need in order to feel safe in the new neighborhood so you can eliminate homes that don't meet the criteria.

Being specific about your home buying criteria will help you save time in searching for your home. It will also make your stay in your new home more enjoyable because your new home would match your needs and wants.

Invest In Property And Join The Ranks Of The Rich

1/12/2009

 

It's a fact of life that you will have to pay your taxes each year, and it's equally inevitable that you'll hear people complain about them. Those who are tired of grumbling about having to pay their own taxes will often grouse about how much money the rich manage to avoid paying. No matter how one looks at it, it seems unfair - those with less bear the greater part of the burden while the wealthy have lawyers working around the clock finding new ways for them to avoid paying their share. With this state of affairs, it's no wonder that the lower and middle classes resent the rich.

Unfortunately, simply recognizing injustices and complaining about them isn't sufficient to change the ways of the world. The rich will inevitably have money and therefore power, and they will use this power to stack the deck in their favor, particularly when it comes to using tax breaks to keep their money. They will claim that there simply isn't enough money for everyone to get what they need, all the while cutting corners and keeping their spoils for themselves.  This extends to elected officials as well - how many poor politicians have you heard of?  

That's why you are going to have to take action. Don't be one of the downtrodden masses. If you want more money, you are going to have to go get it yourself. And yes, you too can get more money in the form of tax breaks.

Robert Kiyosaki, who authored the rich Dad, Poor Dad series, has this advice for those who would like to join the ranks of the wealthy: look at what the wealth are doing, and do that!  What did the rich do to make their fortunes, and how do they continue amassing more and more money?  The answer's simple: they invest.

"One of the reasons I chose to work predominantly in the B and I quadrants are the tax advantages," he says in his book, "Cash Flow Quadrant." The cash flow quadrant, after which he named the book, is his rich dad's diagram of the four different kinds of people, with respect to where they get their money and their philosophy about procuring money which, oddly enough, match up. In other words, people who are Employees have one set of values while the people who are Self-employed have another.

According to Robert Kiyosaki, the real money is in the business and investment quadrants of the Cash Flow Quadrant.

It's best to take an "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em," attitude towards the wealthy - there's no way you're ever going to beat them, so the next best thing is to become one of them. Know also that the rich aren't simply lucky; if you follow the examples set by rich people, you can become one of them, and you can get the tax breaks that they are able to get.

Here's how. You become one of them by using investments to make your money multiply. You can do that while remaining also in the E and S quadrants, if you are well-paid, but Kiyosaki advises that you join the B quadrant, by building a business system that will essentially work on its own without much input from you. Then you can either keep it or sell it, but you must invest.

So, invest - invest in apartments, MN condos, vacation homes, whatever suits your fancy. This is the true, time-tested road to wealth.