Real Estate Quotes

If you are renting to a tenant, your contract should cover hazard reduction and require the tenants to have tenant insurance coverage. As a condition of your tenancy agreement, request a copy of the policy. [2006] - Douglas Gray

The personal information record is normally kept with your will, for example, in your safety deposit box, with an extra copy kept at home. [2006] - Douglas Gray

The legal fee for preparing a basic will is very modest, ranging from $200 to $300 or more per person. If your financial affairs and estate are complex, this fee could be higher because of the additional time and expertise required. [2006] - Douglas Gray

Real estate commissions are negotiable based on various factors, including the services provided. The traditional rule of thumb is 5% on the first $200,000 and 2.5% thereafter for an exclusive listing, and 7% on the first $200,000 and 2.5% thereafter for a multiple listing (MLS). [2006] - Douglas Gray

If you're a buyer who wants a 15 percent reduction in price, you could get it if you're willing to pay cash, do a quick deal, make other concessions, or buy when the market is cold. [2006] - Robert Irwin

It's the agent's duty to inform a buyer if the offer is unlikely to be accepted, not argue with the buyer and try to coerce him or her to raise it. [2006] - Robert Irwin

How fast is the turnover of houses in the multiple listing service? Anything over five or six months is considered high and indicates a slow market. Anything under 60 days indicates a hot market. [2006] - Robert Irwin

About 85 to 90 percent of all residential real estate in most areas is sold through agents. It's important to pick agents at the onset whom you believe are good negotiators, not just friendly faces. [2006] - Robert Irwin

Modern sales agreements typically provide (or agents should write in) that included in the purchase are all wall, window, and floor coverings and built-ins. Further, there's the walk-through. [2006] - Robert Irwin

Will the arrival of a major new employer create an increase in the demand for apartments? If so, this may be the time to look at apartment buildings. [2004] - Frank Gallinelli

In the absence of usable market data, many investors like to use a vacancy allowance in the range of 3% to 6%. An exception to this rule of thumb usually occurs in the case of a newly built project that is being leased for the first time. Vacancy during the initial lease-up period can be much higher. Conventional wisdom also has it that a property whose actual vacancy history is close to zero has probably been rented at less than market rates. In other words, if you don't experience some vacancy, you're just not charging enough. [2004] - Frank Gallinelli

You can depreciate a residential income property over 27.5 years, and a nonresidential property over 39 years. [2004] - Frank Gallinelli

Recite this mantra whenever you consider purchasing an income property: If it's not worth selling, then it's not worth buying. [2004] - Frank Gallinelli

7% of the selling price is an estimate of cost of sale that has traditionally been popular among income-property investors. This amount would presumably be sufficient to cover the legal and brokerage costs for a typical transaction. [2004] - Frank Gallinelli

Most lenders require a DCR (debt coverage ratio) of at least 1.20 in order to finance an income property. A property with a 1.20 DCR has income before debt service that is 1.20 times as much as the debt service--in other words, the property generates 20% more net income than it needs to make its mortgage payments. [2004] - Frank Gallinelli

With commercial mortgages, your personal credit is not irrelevant, but you will find that the lender is particularly interested in the ability of the property to produce income. [2004] - Frank Gallinelli

If your property is a smaller residential building (or even your personal residence), the assessor or appraiser will probably have used comparable sales rather than income capitalization to establish value. [2004] - Frank Gallinelli

Unfurnished apartments tend to attract better-quality tenants who are likely to stay longer while furnished apartments are easy to rent but tend to attract more transient tenants. [2004] - Mike Summey

If you can buy a property for 100 times the monthly rent or less, you've got a good buy. [2004] - Mike Summey

We strongly recommend that you raise rents by a small amount frequently rather than by a large amount occasionally. [2004] - Mike Summey