Of the homes sold across the nation, 20 percent are sold by the owners, without a realtor. Surveys show that the primary reason is money; the sellers wish to save the cost of a realtor's commission, which usually ranges between five and seven percent of the purchase price of the home. Unfortunately, many of these owners end up regretting their decisions, because it costs them that five-to-seven percent or more due to unexpected pitfalls in the sale. Read more…

How to sell your own home for sale by owner and save thousands. Take out an advertisement, hold an open house and put up a for sale by owner sign, if it was only that simple. Read more…

Let's face it, the reason most people use the "For Sale By Owner" or FSBO method is to save on the real estate commission. What those people don't understand is that the process of marketing and selling a home or condo is just that, a process. Read more…

White belt, green belt, brown belt, black. Novice, apprentice, journeyman, master. VP, GM, COO ... Oh, never mind. Poems are good for listing four things. But excellence can't be reduced to some simplistic four-level hierarchy. It has five levels. Read more…

The Motley Fool - Private mortgage insurance (PMI) is extra insurance a lender may require you to buy if you're forking over less than 20% of a property's value as a down payment, because people who put down small amounts are more likely to default on a loan. If you opt for mortgage insurance, once you've got 20% equity in your home, you should be able to cancel the insurance. (Though an appraisal may be required beforehand.) Read more…

AP - As if Countrywide Financial Corp.'s CEO isn't getting paid enough, the mortgage lender's board is taking the unprecedented step of lavishing him with $10 million in retirement money. Read more…

Jeff Hayden preys on smallish companies on the brink. Not because he's a vulture investor seeking to turn around a struggling business. He just wants its real estate. And he wants it cheap, so he can then rent it back to the company for a juicy profit. Read more…

One of the many oddities of real estate investing is that the best time to plunge in is usually just when things are starting to go south - meaning now. Read more…

When you hear "JetBlue," "AirTran" or "Southwest," you think "cheap fares." These and other low-cost airlines have rapidly expanded in the past six years, bringing bargains to more markets and burnishing their reputations as the value-minded traveler's best friend. Read more…

Employers continue to boost starting salaries for the Class of 2006, which is enjoying the strongest job market in four years, according to a recent survey. Read more…

Just as image is important in selling real estate, odors also play a crucial role in making or breaking a good deal. The next time you're putting up your home for sale, don't just focus on the visible selling points of your home. The unseen, smelly details count as well. Read more…

Reuters - GE Capital Solutions, the leasing and financing unit of General Electric Co. , said on Monday it would buy restaurant real estate investment trust Trustreet Properties Inc. for $17.05 per share in cash, or about $1.15 billion. Read more…

Reuters - Simon Property Group Inc. , the largest U.S. retail property owner, on Monday said quarterly funds from operations, a key performance measure of real estate investment trusts, rose 9.4 percent, as higher rents and sales offset lower occupancy at the company's malls and outlet centers. Read more…

You may think deciding whether to sell your home or not is your only major decision. Once you make the decision, however, you also need decide if you will sell it as a FSBO property. Read more…

As the real estate market cools down, attracting buyers is becoming more difficult. FSBO sellers, however, certainly have fewer problems with this issue. Read more…

Last spring, Curtis Burttram found himself in a bind. His wife was battling a serious illness, the couple was sitting on two small rental properties near their home in rural Albertville, Ala., that they didn't have time to manage, and prices in the area had begun to slip. Read more…

Eminent domain is a hot-button issue this fall - 12 states have measures on the ballot to restrict government from taking property for private uses. Read more…

St. Louis has been judged the most dangerous city in the United States, according to a survey released Monday by Morgan Quitno Press, an independent research publisher in Lawrence, Kansas. Read more…

When Toyota introduced the car-based crossover SUV, or CUV, in 1996 it created the "vehicle category that ate everything." Read more…

AFP - Imperial Tobacco, the world's fourth-biggest cigarette maker, has rolled out an 8.5-percent rise in annual net profit, sparked by strong sales in home market Britain and beyond mainland western Europe. Read more…

AP - A jury found former Cendant Corp. Chairman Walter Forbes guilty of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and two counts of making false statements Tuesday in a massive fraud scheme that cost the travel and real estate company and its investors more than $3 billion. Read more…

AP - The future is gnawing at homeowner Scott Klimek. Will the interest rate on his adjustable-rate mortgage go up? Will he be able to afford the monthly payments if it does? Read more…

AP - The Associated Press-AOL Real Estate poll on public attitudes about mortgages and particularly adjustable rate mortgages was conducted Sept. 26-28 by Ipsos and is based on telephone interviews Ipsos conducted with 2,001 adults from all states except Alaska and Hawaii. That included 289 people who bought a home in the last two years and 401 likely to buy a home within the next two years. Read more…

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Considering a remodeling project to boost the value of your home? Before you drop $40,000 or more on a new kitchen or master bath, consider the newcomer on the renovation block: a rooftop solar-power system that not only will lower your overhead costs and insulate you from a volatile energy market but will likely add just as much to your home value over the long haul. Read more…