I met a very nice couple over the weekend who had just bought their second home, a condominium, and were in the process of selling their brand new white appliances to replace with stainless steel equivalents. I can certainly understand when someone wants a certain brand or type of appliance or furniture to satisfy a particular need, perhaps for cool looks, image, brand name, acceptance, keeping up with the Jones’, resell value, or whatever that need may be. The topic here is the cost of the white appliances.
In the real …

While working on the house over the past weekend, I remembered my childhood. I was around 11 years old. My father and I were building a house together. We had already built the foundation and were working on the walls. He was the master building the walls and I was the helper mixing cement and giving him stones and anything else he needed. In those days, we had tools that were made to sell but not to last. The hammer looked very nice but after a few nails, the head …

Real estate as an investment for most people means home ownership. For the great majority it represents their largest asset and largest source of debt. Let me share a couple thoughts that may help you avoid common mistakes.
You will invariably hear rules #1-#3 in real estate as location, location, location… This is not entirely true. Be careful since deception is not uncommon as we have seen in recent past!
Your home is not an investment; it is an expense. Investments have returns, your home only has expenses such as taxes, heating/cooling …