Why you should care about Zip Car

Zip Car is the name of a car sharing service. For a fixed monthly fee, Zip Car subscribers have guaranteed use of a car. For their monthly fee, subscribers can reserve a car on line, and pick it up at various conveniently sited locations. Cars are located in neighborhoods throughout a city; say in the parking lot of a supermarket or transit center. Once you’ve paid for a monthly subscription, the only cost is for the gas you use. Insurance, maintain ace, tabs, etc. are included in the monthly subscription cost. In some ways, this is the best of both worlds; you have access to a newer car when you need it, without the headaches and all the expenses of owning your own car.

When you think about it, given how car-centric we are as a country, car sharing is a quietly radical idea. Five years ago, you probably never heard of Zip Car, or for that matter, urban farmers markets, 100-mile menu sourcing, and walk scores. Now, at least in larger cities, these things are all ubiquitous. When seen individually, these might seem like random data points, not really connected to anything. When seen collectively, however, they paint a far different picture.

So, back to Zip car and why it matters, these are all indications of a changing American lifestyle and preferences. In a sense, the chicken and the egg. Not being tied to a car, not needing one every day frees you up your housing choices, allowing you to live in a denser neighborhood, where you don’t necessarily need car for trips to the store etc.

You see, ultimately, the real estate market (your real estate market) is just a reflection of America.  America has grown and changed over the last century and houses and housing patterns reflect this. At the turn of the 19th century somewhere around 60% of the population lived on and worked on farms. Transportation consisted of walking or horses. How things have changed!

BuildSmart can help you navigate the changes in the housing market and help you make decisions that will add value to your home, whether you are remodeling, buying a distressed property or contemplating a renovation. Call us today.

Alphabet Soup or learning to love alphabet soup

Vast.

It’s the only word that can describes the government’s role in the housing industry. This support is both direct and indirect.

Indirect support consists of the mortgage interest deduction that gives home owners the ability to deduct the cost of mortgage interest from their taxes.

Direct support incudes programs administered through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and loan guarantees made by the GSE’s (Government sponsored enterprises) of Fannie Mae, Ginne Mae & Fredie Mac. In addition to these federal programs, most states have some kind of “office of housing”.

In case you hadn’t noticed, the federal government isn’t known for its transparency. This is especially true in the opaque world of these programs. So, although there exist many benefits for home buyers through these programs, they are hard to identify and hard to access. So, where do you begin?

The government, like any large organization tends to operate in silos, what this means is that there is virtually no connection from one program to the other. So, just because you applied for one program and maybe you didn’t qualify, there is no one “connecting the dots” with other programs to see if they work for you instead. Since these various housing programs are organized on an agency by agency basis, I think a good place to understand what’s available, is to look at them on an agency by agency basis.

We'll cover that in an upcoming post. In the meantime, contact BuildSmart and we'll help you understand the alphabet soup that is government housing programs, and how the might be applied to your specific home buying, or home renovation need.

Intelligent participation

If we were academics, we’d be content with the analysis of the roots of the current housing crisis and then participate in the obligatory hand wringing over the future of, home ownership, the middle class, America, apple pie, etc.

While all these topics make for interesting speculation and some idle chatter at your next cocktail party, the problem with stopping there, is that you really haven’t solved anything have you? The goal of BuildSmart is to empower you with the insight and knowledge to participate intelligently in the housing market. To understand both some of the bigger trends that affect real estate and knowledge specific to take advantage of them on the ground.

The problem with the collective handwringing about the future of the housing market, the country, the middle class, etc. is that while your wringing your hands about how bad it is, etc. someone else is sizing the opportunity and that person should be you.

So we ask you to stop worrying and to start thinking about how you can position yourself as a homeowner or investor with a solid strategy that actually results in being on top. Call BuildSmart today and let's discuss your path to building your value and equity.

Yes, flipping IS gambling

The economist Keynes once remarked, that in the long term, everyone is dead. How does this apply to the BuildSmart approach you ask? Well, in the old model of steadily rising home prices and an active market, home buyers were curiously uninterested in the actual price they paid for their home. What was more important was the initial monthly payment. The assumption was that whatever you paid for the home was unimportant since it would quickly be worth more.

The most radical form of this was the practice of flipping. In flipping, you could tie up a property say a new condo under construction with a small deposit, once completed, you could resell the condo and pocket the difference between what you paid for it and the new (higher) price.

This was speculation, pure and simple. If you made money flipping properties, you no-doubt felt pretty clever. Speculation however assumes an environment of rapidly rising prices. Without this environment it makes’ difficult, if not impossible to make money speculating in real estate.

BuildSmart's approach focuses on creating long term value that can ride out market fluctuations - it's not a model for flippers looking to make a fast buck. If you are a home buyer or owner who is in it for the long run, then BuildSmart is for you. Our approach focuses on understanding how a property can be enhanced for maximum value, in the most affordable way imaginable for the home owner.

When we say we "turn owners into builders", we also mean a number of things: professional builders look at home renovation remodeling differently than the public - we'll help you see your project through those same eyes; and with BuildSmart, you'll also become a "builder" of value and equity. Call us today to explore how we can help you.