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Articles & Books From Ralph R. Roberts
Organize, declutter, donate—downsize and simplify your life Downsizing For Dummies provides you with strategies to downsize your life by moving to a smaller home, decluttering, simplifying your budget, and saving more money. You’ll find tips to help decrease your cost of living, lower your home maintenance costs, protect and leverage your assets, and decide whether downsizing is right for you and your family.
Article / Updated 12-06-2022
Unless you’re downsizing in place, the process involves moving out of one home into another or living as a nomad, traveling from one place to the next. Whatever you decide, you can be sure of one thing: You’re about to make some very big decisions.
Addressing your changing priorities
Over the years, your choice of home was probably driven, at least in part, by a growing family and accumulating wealth.
Article / Updated 08-03-2023
To a great extent, successful downsizing relies on careful planning. Of course, even with the perfect plan, you’re likely to encounter unexpected challenges. We know a couple who planned impeccably and still had to downsize three times before they finally found the right fit.However, a well-laid plan can help you avoid many of the most serious and unpleasant surprises and recover more easily from those that are unavoidable.
Article / Updated 12-06-2022
Downsizing can mean anything from scaling back on living space and possessions to choosing a completely different lifestyle.When you’re deciding whether to downsize, you need to do a gut check — honestly evaluate your situation and your mindset. Your situation may be that all your children have moved out and you have far more home than you need; or your expenses are rising and you’re afraid of running out of money before the grim reaper pays a visit; or you’re bored and you want to finally pursue your dream of joining Cirque du Soleil.
Make foreclosure investing work for you with this practical and easy-to-understand guide Looking to kick start your own property management career? Check out Foreclosure Investing For Dummies, which will get you started buying foreclosed properties to turn into your own income property! In this book, you'll learn to navigate the complexities of home auctions, deal with emotional former homeowners, and how to handle renovations.
Go head-over-heels for house flipping! Flipping houses profitably may not be easy, but it's far from impossible. With the right guide, you can avoid the risks and reap the rewards like a seasoned expert. Flipping Houses For Dummies is that guide. The perfect blueprint to property resale, this book walks you through the absolute necessities of house flipping.
Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-01-2022
Foreclosure investing is complicated and risky. I’ve seen individual investors lose tens of thousands of dollars at a single auction simply because they had no idea what they were doing. You’re smart to study up on the process before putting any money on the line.This Cheat Sheet will get you up to speed in a hurry on foreclosure investing and help you steer clear of some of the major pitfalls.
Article / Updated 03-08-2017
The first step in the house flipping process is the most crucial to your success — finding a property or properties with profit potential. Following are some ideas of where to look:
Look for dontwanners in your neighborhood — vacant, unkempt homes the owners "don't want."
Search on Auction.com.
Read local foreclosure notices, available through your county's sheriff's office or register of deeds.
Article / Updated 03-08-2017
When you're just getting started, be sure to pick an easy property to flip — a great house that's merely cosmetically challenged. Then make the following improvements:
Clean everything thoroughly.
Repaint the interior walls, all white.
Install new wall-to-wall carpeting where it makes sense to carpet.
Replace all light-switch and outlet covers.
Article / Updated 03-08-2017
A key first step to profiting from a flip is not to pay too much for a house. When deciding how much to pay, estimate the amount you can reasonably sell the house for after fixing it up, and then subtract your expected costs, which include the following:
Purchase price
Cost of repairs and renovations
Any back taxes due on the property
Holding costs (property taxes, utilities, insurance, interest payments, homeowner association fees, and so on for the time you expect it will take to buy, fix, and sell the house)
Any agent commissions and closing costs when selling the house
Aim to earn at least a 20 percent profit after subtracting all costs.