Real Estate: The Only Private Investment?

Time was, anybody who wanted a safe and anonymous hideaway for financial assets turned to offshore banking. Swiss bank accounts and offshore havens in places like the Cayman Islands allowed depositors both legal and not so legal a way to safeguard assets from risks of...

Internet Real Estate Sales: Changing the Game?

Online real estate transactions now account for over half of all housing purchases in the US alone. The Web offers a place for buyers, sellers, agents and investors to do business that bypasses the traditional “brick and mortar” style of doing business – and it’s...

Oil Prices and Real Estate: A Key Connection?

Since late 2014, oil prices have been steadily falling. While that makes US drivers very happy, plunging prices can deliver a hit to the recovering real estate market in areas where the oil industry has a high profile. US oil prices are now dropping below $200 a...

Zillow’s Zestimate May Not Get You Very Far

Realty Times – A couple of weeks ago real estate columnist Kenneth Harney reignited a heated real estate conversation about the use and value of “Zestimates” — the automated property value estimates that appear alongside otherwise objective...

Failed Policies Keep Renters Renting

It’s practically a given in American society that owning a home is the key to stability and success. But although the US government has spent more than two decades drafting a variety of policies to create that “homeownership society,” the percentage of homeowners has...