Posted in
Houses and Apartments on the August 16, 2008
There’s nothing like growing up in a small, three-bedroom ranch house to make you crave big houses. Ever since I can remember, I was fascinated by the idea of one day owning a big house. I loved anything with mansions on a hill, castles, forts, or Châteaus. My parents seemed to feel the same way. On weekends, we would drive through the expensive, ritzy neighborhoods on the edge of town. My parents said it was because they were more scenic, but I knew in my heart that we were there to look at the big nice houses. My parents were great parents, but they never had a lot of money. They always felt a little bit insecure about this, even though they could provide for us. I was grateful for everything that they did for me, but I did share their dreams. One day, I wanted to own a big nice house too.
When I started to look at big luxury houses, however, I was a little bit dismayed. At the time, I was working a good job. My income was in the high five figure rang, but even so I knew I would never be able to afford any of the really big houses that I saw. Real estate cost too much money. Property rates were high in the area I was currently living in, and even small houses were pretty expensive.
One day, however, I came to realize that it would be possible to buy a bigger house. The key was to look for unconventional opportunities. Most people who are buying real estate simply look at the market, but there are other places where you can acquire big houses. You have to be willing to do a little fix up work most of the time, but it is well worth it. You can end up with a great home at a very affordable price if you know where to look for it. After going to a few of these auctions, I started to bid myself. Soon, I was living in one of the really big houses on the outside of town!
Tags:
big house,
big houses,
buying real estate,
luxury houses,
small houses
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Posted in
Houses and Apartments on the August 14, 2008
No matter what the market is like, you are usually at somewhat of a disadvantage if you are a tenant. It is better in some areas than in others, but no matter where you are, you are the one with more to lose. You are the one who pays money every month and gets no equity. You are the one who has to live in squalor if there is a leak or other serious problem that the landlord refuses to fix. You are the one who can end up homeless if things do not work out with your lease.
This is why it would be so nice to have a site with apartment reviews online for people to look at. Unfortunately, all of my apartment ratings review efforts have failed. As a tenants rights organizer in the San Francisco Bay area, I know a lot about how the Internet has changed things for tenants and for landlords. You can now find apartments to rent quicker than ever before, making things much easier for both landlords and tenants. You can post feedback about a housing situation, telling anyone who sees it whether or not an apartment was good. The problem is, however, that no one will see it.
The big problem is that, although there are places where you can leave apartment reviews (at least in theory) no one is going to see them. You see, almost no one uses these sites, and few people are aware that they even exist. Just having the information out there on the Internet is not going to do anything for anyone. The important thing is for people to know where to look at apartment review articles.
The only way to successfully publicize apartment reviews is to do it for a specific area. The site has to be made for one community, and word has to be spread in the community. Not only do people need to know where to go for apartment reviews, but the knowledge has to be widespread enough that it will make a difference. Only if a significant proportion of the population is willing to review apartments does the site become useful. Otherwise, it might as well not even exist. Until it is popular enough that any particular room for rent you are looking at is likely to be up on the site, why would you bother? Getting it to that point, however, is difficult.
Tags:
apartment ratings,
apartments
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