Silicon Valley Real Estate Investor

Coming interest rate hikes will be good for some, bad for others. http://bit.ly/bJOwo4 #
Merced County law enforcement targets real estate fraud – Local – MercedSun-Star.com: http://bit.ly/blWG44 via @addthis #
Google launches 'person finder' for Chile quake victims http://bit.ly/cyBAdM #
(so true) RT @TrendyDC: ?? Careful with links to live #hitsunami feeds. Popular target for spammers/malware right [...]

RT @BreakingPANews: #Palo #Alto #Real #Estate Market Update January 2010 – … http://bit.ly/aDA1ja #
RT @EpiGal: RT @MentorNetTweet Women, Blacks, Latinos are losing grounds in Silicon Valley http://tinyurl.com/yz4xydw #
RT @tankovic: Bay Area home prices may drop, real estate firm warns – San Jose … http://bit.ly/dbbuMB #
RT @heloc: How To Increase #real #estate #investment Profits When Exiting [...]

RT @RuthADonaldson: "Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning."Bill Gates #
How To Immediately Triple Your Wholesale Real Estate Investing Business http://bit.ly/cdtUQD via @addthis #
@MaryPopeHandy so how did it go talking to all those SCU MBA students? in reply to MaryPopeHandy #
3 Marketing Mistakes You Cannot Afford to Make in Your Wholesale Real [...]

@mlomb I suppose it's because when it comes to lingerie, it's not love that's in the air in reply to mlomb #
@TXRealtyNews wholesaling contract assignment? nicely done! in reply to TXRealtyNews #
The Top Five Signs of More Real Estate Pain to Come http://post.ly/LtZx #
How to write a real estate business plan http://post.ly/LvlW #
The [...]

Qing Li provides an excellent overview of the local housing market on his blog Lively Estate.

As someone who appreciates, well-presented data, I especially liked the following graph he provided (click the graph for full size). For example, a snapshot of the inventory in Santa Clara County this Jan 2010 reveals that the total housing inventory has fallen by about two thirds since the same time last year.

RT @LandUseXperts: Retail Contractors Expect Business to Remain Slow in 2010. http://bit.ly/5Wxwjy #CRE #
RT @borrowing: HUD Changes to Mortgage Insurance Premiums…Not as Bad as You Might … http://bit.ly/8Dd7Vn #
RT @PicAndClickCash: Biggest Real Estate Deal in History Goes Belly-Up http://bit.ly/8Qz7GQ good explanation of the stuy town debacle #
RT @TimOwensby: “No man’s credit is ever as good [...]

Tim Owensby at the Investing Notes blog has put together a great list of top mistakes made by new real estate investors. This list makes for enjoyable reading because all of us have been there at some point or another.

Here is a brief summary of Tim’s top 10 list of no-no’s in reverse order …

Over at InvestingNotes, Jan deSalvo writes a pretty interesting article detailing some horror stories she’s personally experienced over decades of working with property managers.

The stories aren’t pretty but do contain some classic elements; lack of accounting for repair & maintenance costs, poor paperwork when it comes to maintaining leases; suddenly not being able to get in touch with the property manager for long periods at a time, comingling of personal and business funds, etc; the list goes on.

… Like free ice cream, that is, in the sense that you may not really want it, but you don’t want to miss out on it either?

The $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit certainly has its supporters as well as its skeptics. 
Supporters say it is encouraging home buyers in those cases where they really do want [...]

The Tax Foundation has taken data recently released by the Census Bureau, regarding property taxes (payments to all taxing jurisdictions) collected in the US in 2008 on owner-occupied housing, and published this data into a series of comparative charts. I think these charts do a great job at putting things into perspective. What is different about this survey is that it focuses on owner-occupied housing, whereas other Census Bureau compilations include property taxes paid by businesses.