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A TIC Joins My Real Estate Microcosm

My little rundown block in San Francisco is becoming quite the real estate market microcosm. So a new unit just came onto the market. That’s it to the right there–the lower left window in the blue building beside the rather putrid green apartment complex that I will neither confirm nor deny is the site of (more&hellip)

How Much Money Should I Put Into My House?

I’m sorry to break it to you, but you’ll never know the definitive answer to this question. It is the ultimate unanswerable question, and it’ll haunt you throughout your life as a homeowner. Tough breaks, but that’s just how it is. See, when you first find your dream home, the question is: how much should (more&hellip)

Reader Profile: Buying at Top of Market with No Regrets

Name: Jane Age: 57 Occupation: Writer/Columnist, Vacation Rental Owner Location of property: SOMA (South of Market) in San Francisco Size: 600 sq ft, 1 bdrm/1 bath Years Owned: 3 What motivated you to buy? I had just divorced and needed to find my own home. My ex husband and I had been living in a (more&hellip)

Financing My Condo, Grandma Style (part 2 of 2)

This is last of a two-part miniseries about my adventures in condo financing. If you haven’t read it yet, check out Part 1. When we left off, I’d just left the mortgage broker’s office in San Francisco, flying high with aspirations of wheeling and dealing in real estate. There was just one fly in the (more&hellip)

Financing My Condo, Grandma Style (part 1 of 2)

I nearly have a panic attack every time I think about the process I underwent to finance my condo. I very nearly got myself into the situation in which many Americans are finding themselves–in an oversized adjustable rate mortgage with no equity in their properties. After I found my dream condo by accident, I took (more&hellip)