Hedging Your Bets On Your Very First Flip

So you think you’ve read enough books, gone to enough seminars, watched enough HGTV, finally
got an offer accepted on an investment property and are now waiting for it to close. What should you expect? Smooth sailing or a nightmare? Is there an in-between?

So let's goes over the possible outcomes,  it’s good to talk to others who have been there/done that. And even though none of it will insulate you from reality, here are a few ways things can go.

Best case scenario is, of course, that it goes swimmingly, making you think you’ve got a handle on this investor/flipper thing. Here's an example of a couple who had great success with their first purchase. No major issues, making them confident that investing in real estate is much less complicated than they originally thought. But the couple had also done their homework. They took the time to speak to other flippers, studied how to evaluate the value of a property, took notes of what damages or potential expense to look for, and learned how to evaluate the housing market. They also got wisdom from others on the importance of how to communicate with their clients. If you do all these things, “Then you stand a much better chance of having a really smooth, profitable first purchase. Of course, a lot needs to be learned on the job, and you’re bound to make mistakes here and there, but this ‘pre-deal education’ will go a long way.”

The key in the beginning, anyway, is to be involved in EVERY aspect of the investment — from knowing the numbers to knowing the area to analyzing the repair costs. Don’t leave any of this in the hands of others. “Successful closes depend, in large part, on your commitment to, become the expert in your market,

Many investors buy too high; get their rehab estimates wrong; miss something in the walk-through that’s going to cost them later. “Profit on your first deal is by no means a guarantee. However, your first close can make you money. So let’s say you’ve done your homework and educated yourself on the process, how to price and value things, and you’re ready to go. Crunch time. Your accepted offer is accompanied in your mind by a certain profit figure when all is said and done. First home buying experience was exciting, fun and stressful all at the same time. What was supposed to be an 8 month flip with a six-figure return turned out to be a 1.5-year flip and with a mediocre return. “We learned very quickly that it’s good to trust people, but you must VERIFY that their information is true. We are talking permit and contractor delays, hiring the wrong people and finding more repairs than originally anticipated. Hopefully there is enough equity in the deal to cover any such short comings. 

Takeaways are the following:

• Learn by doing, not just reading about it. Know that ANYTHING can happen.
• Profit is never guaranteed (at least not what you may have originally had in mind).
• Gather a solid, trustworthy team around you.
• Make sure the information the homeowner is giving you is true. Don’t take their word for it, even if they had good intentions.

Have a heart. You are buying what was once someone’s home. Treat them and the deal with care and compassion. Closing a profitable deal was only half the excitement. The other half is coming through for your seller. To them, it may be much more than a transaction.

Thank you for visiting my blog, I hope you enjoy it and learned a thing or two. 

Roxy Redenbaugh, Broker

Sr Mortgage Consultant

Residential and Commercial

www.roxyloans.com

The Greatest Compliment I Can Receive Is A Referral From Friends, Family, and Business Associates,

NMLS#269926 Company NMLS#1930219

Using Real Estate As A Vehicle For Wealth

For many of , our most significant investment and largest profits in life are due to having bought a house — something that acts as a de facto bank account, grows in equity and provides shelter all at once. But what if we want to use real estate as a money-making opportunity instead?

Real estate has, of course, made many millionaires. The Wall Street Journal recently reported how more than 80% of borrowers who refinanced in the third quarter chose the “cash out” option, withdrawing $14.6B in equity out of their homes, according to government-sponsored mortgage corporation Freddie Mac. Now, many are finding their homes to be a tappable source of wealth. “Home equity is the big pot of gold,” said Sam Khater, the chief economist at Freddie Mac.

It’s not hard to see why many have successfully made money buying and selling real estate because of the diverse ways to grow wealth with real estate investments. Creating wealth through real estate is common among the most successful investors, whether they’re house flippers, residential home landlords, or large apartment complex owners.

Knowledge is, of course, key. Real estate investors always seem to know more than those around them — what drives markets, how to time market cycles, and which things to watch out for. “They are much more likely to recognize shifting markets before others do and are prepared to take advantage of these opportunities when they present themselves. The very best never stop learning, and real estate is no exception. Apart from websites where investors can learn, network, and find solutions to their problems, some also collect books written on how to invest in real estate, reading them over and over again. Developing the ability to analyze a property for cash flow as well as recognizing an under-valued property when you see one. Then develop a basic understanding for estimating rehab costs along with the various pieces at play when it comes to owning rental property.

“The more you know about real estate investing, the less fear you’ll have. Overcoming fear is one of the best things you can learn to do if you want to carve out a successful career for  yourself in real estate.

Patience is also a virtue. That it may sound simple, but that’s not always the case. “When it comes to real estate investing, there is a lot of pressure on you to move and move fast. The best deals go quick, and allowing projects to run past the agreed upon timeline can be expensive. Investors are constantly facing pressures to do more, do it faster, and do it cheaper.”

The best investors know when they need to run fast and when they need to stop and wait to see how things develop. Patience can take several forms when it comes to real estate investing. Learning to recognize areas where you’ll need to practice it can save you from a lot of expensive mistakes.

Understanding market cycles are also of vital importance. Top investors zig when everyone else zags. They are fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful. Waiting for the market to slow down, or crash even, can require more intestinal fortitude but it is also a much better time to be picking up assets.”

Learning how to transform a property, how to be efficient, and how to be keenly focused and how to develop important relationships, go to BiggerPockets.com, where you can get tips like this for free.  Top notch investors see ways to add value to properties without spending more money than they have to. For those with the vision to bring it about, there can be big rewards for those who buy the ugly duckling and turn it into the beautiful swan.

Thank you for visiting my blog, please leave a comment or question and come back again! 

Roxy Redenbaugh, Broker

Sr Mortgage Consultant

Residential and Commercial

www.roxyloans.com

The Greatest Compliment I Can Receive Is A Referral From Friends, Family, and Business Associates,

NMLS#269926 Company NMLS#1930219

Source: Wall Street Journal 

Can You Get A Commercial Loan with just 10-15% Percent Down?

Question: "I have about 10–15% to put down, but I’m afraid they won’t qualify me because I don’t have the 30%. I also want to use the properties leases as additional income to help swing my DTI in my favor. Is there a way to accomplish this? Or should I just focus on getting a cheaper property with cash?

In the commercial world, it’s tough to buy with less than 20% down.

Commercial loans are appraised and underwritten differently from smaller residential income properties (1–4 units). Lenders do not use debt-to-income ratios (DTI).

Both the appraisal and the underwriting will be done largely on capitalization of income. First, let’s define a capitalization ("cap") rate for those readers who may not be aware of the term.

When we evaluate income property, we first reconstruct the income and expenses. We’ll look at scheduled market rental income and subtract a reasonable market vacancy factor. The resulting number is called Effective Gross Income. Next, we’ll reconstruct operating income for the property. We will include a management fee, even if one is not currently being charged, and standardized factors for repairs and replacements. We’ll subtract those expenses from the Effective Gross Income to get Net Operating Income (NOI). The NOI does not include depreciation or debt service.

We calculate the cap rate by dividing the NOI by the property’s value and expressing the quotient as a percentage. Thus, a $1 million property with $80,000 NOI would have a cap rate of 8.0% (80,000 / 1,000,000 = .08 = 8.0%).

An appraiser will use a market cap rate for the type of building he is appraising and work backward, dividing the NOI by the cap rate. A building with NOI of $100,000 in an area where the typical cap rate is 7.5% would have a derived value of $1,333,333 (100,000 / .075 = 1,333,333).

The lender will base their loan partly on "debt service coverage." This means that they’ll expect a certain amount of cash flow left over after the debt service. They will use the calculated NOI to arrive at that number. If their guidelines specify debt service coverage of 1.2, that means that our building with NOI of $100,000 would support annual debt service of $83,333 (100,000 / 1.2 = 83,333). Working backward from the annual debt service and using the loan terms available, we’ll get the size of the loan (with some possible limitations).

Annual debt service of $83,333 represents a monthly payment of $6,944. If the lender is willing to make a loan with a 5% interest rate amortized over 25 years, you’d have a loan of $1,188,000 (trust me on this. I know things). So working backward to check our work, we divide the $83,333 annual debt service into our NOI of $100,000, and we get 1.2.

These kinds of loans are almost always "portfolio" loans. This means that the lender will not sell them on the secondary market (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are among the largest buyers of residential mortgages), but will hang onto them. Because of this, they have the flexibility to set their guidelines. They will typically do two additional things with their loans: they will extract a personal guarantee, and they will have a maximum loan-to-value ratio (LTV) for their loans. If their maximum LTV is 80% (which is typical), the loan we’ve just calculated would be good for a property valued at $1,485,000 (1,188,000 / .80 = 1,485.000). If the property you are considering has a price lower than that, let’s say $1,300,000, the lender is likely to approve you for $1,040,000–80% of the purchase price. If your personal financials look good, some lenders may be willing to extend more credit. They might look at "cross-collateralization," for example. This means that they would encumber other properties you own to secure the excess. They may also make the loan "recourse." This means that in the event of foreclosure, they would have the right to come after you personally for any shortfall if the property should not bring in enough cash at sale to clear the mortgage and costs of foreclosure. This personal guarantee can make refinancing or selling those other properties difficult.

The primary things to keep in mind with commercial financing is that the lender is looking very hard at the economic viability of the property when approving a loan.

Thank you for visiting my blog, let me know if you have a question, or I'd love to hear your comments. Come back again soon. 

Roxy Redenbaugh, Broker/Owner

Cascade Lending LLC 

Residential and Commercial

www.cascadelendingllc.com

The Greatest Compliment I Can Receive Is A Referral From Friends, Family, and Business Associates,

NMLS#269926 Company NMLS#1930219

Vacation Homes Increasingly In Demand Because Of Remote Work Trends

It's not something you'd expect during a pandemic and recession, but numbers don't lie. According to a PRNewswire report, sales of vacation homes are soaring. According to Redfin's report, demand for second homes skyrocket 100% from a year earlier—the fourth triple-digit increase in the last five months. That outpaces the demand for primary homes.

Home sales are on the rise across the board due to record-low mortgage rates but also because of a wave of relocations during the pandemic. Demand for second homes rises to the top among more affluent Americans who work remotely, no longer need to send their kids to school in person, and are limited by travel restrictions, according to Redfin's lead economist Taylor Marr.

"With mortgage rates at all-time lows and offices shut down across the country, the dream of having a second home outside of the city is becoming a reality for many wealthy Americans," Marr said. "Unfortunately, at the same time, millions of less-fortunate families are behind on their mortgage or rent payments due to financial hardship brought on by the coronavirus pandemic."

Some of these second homes may eventually turn into primary homes, as it's not uncommon for a buyer to close a deal on a second home before putting their current house on the market. It seems resort towns across the U.S. have attracted more homebuyers. Hotspots include Lake Tahoe, Cape Cod, Palm Springs, the Jersey Shore, and Bend, OR.

Even when offices reopen, folks will be able to spend more time than ever before in their second homes because many employers will continue to offer flexible remote-work policies. With workers still commuting in one or two days a week, resort towns that are near major cities will likely continue to heat up."

Thank you for visiting my blog, please leave a comment or question and come back again! 

Roxy Redenbaugh, Broker

Sr Mortgage Consultant

Residential and Commercial

www.roxyloans.com

The Greatest Compliment I Can Receive Is A Referral From Friends, Family, and Business Associates,

NMLS#269926 Company NMLS#1930219

Source:PRNewswire, Redfin, TBWS

'Aging in Place' Helps To Fuel Housing Shortage

As the baby boomer generation has aged, it has also stayed put. And for all the innovations
builders and product manufacturers have come up with to help seniors “age in place.” they may have also made it difficult for would-be homebuyers, causing a lack of housing inventory.

According to a new report from Freddie Mac, 2019 will see a significant shortage of available homes here in the U.S., failing to meet needs by 2.5 million units. It doesn’t help that at the same time millennials are buying fewer homes at this point in their lives compared with previous generations at similar periods.

As seniors continue to prefer to stay where they are as the optimal way to live out their remaining years, housing inventory has tightened nationally. According to the report, for people between the ages of 67 and 87, homeownership rates dropped by 11.6 percent for previous generations but only 3.6 percent for the current (leading edge) generation of seniors, identified as having been born between 1931 and 1941.

New advances in information technology may be the culprit, as well as accessibility to better healthcare and education, with the report crediting those advancements as “boosting and extending” housing demand among seniors. The result? The current senior generation has become much slower in transitioning out of homeownership than prior generations. Reverse Mortgage is another retirement tool being used to keep seniors in their home. 

The U.S. Census Bureau says lost units will need to be replenished at a rate of 350,000 homes per year in order to bring the market to a “well-functioning” status. “Vacant homes increase liquidity in the market, enable prospective buyers to find a match, and give prospective sellers confidence to list their home for sale,” the Freddie Mac report states. “Vacancy rates are an important indicator of housing market vitality. Too high a vacancy rate reflects a moribund market, while too low of a rate reduces the efficiency of the marketplace.”

While this does not bode well for home shoppers, it will boost spending on renovations, according to Chief Economist Sam Kater. “We believe the additional demand for homeownership from seniors aging in place will increase the relative price of owning versus renting, making renting more attractive to younger generations.” If that is true, however, those in a position to purchase the limited number of homes available may well see their property values increase more quickly than anticipated.

Thank you for visiting my blog, please leave me a comment and let me if you like my blog and the information I post. 

Roxy Redenbaugh, Broker

Sr Mortgage Consultant

Residential and Commercial

www.roxyloans.com

The Greatest Compliment I Can Receive Is A Referral From Friends, Family, and Business Associates,

NMLS#269926 Company NMLS#1930219

Source: Realtor, Reversemortgagedaily, FreddieMacTBWS 

Staying Sane As Work-From-Home Realities Continue

Today, millions are working productively from home, and even when it felt feasible for employers
to ask them to start their commute once again, many have extended the work-from-home option into 2021. But how has this played out with remote workers? Did their giddiness to set up a laptop and work in their sweats last? 

In the best of times, working from home is associated with all sorts of positive emotions for remote workers — freedom, autonomy, trust and happiness, to name just a few. Indeed, remote work is often considered the ‘holy grail’ of flexible work options, with benefits galore that far outweigh any potential downsides. Working from home during the pandemic, however, is not welcomed by all. Juggling personal and professional priorities without access to many of our normal outlets can weigh down on many of us.

It may well be that the key to handling working remotely is accepting (instead of resisting) some of the negative emotions that comes along with it. Trying to develop an “attitude of gratitude’ may well be one of the quickest paths to a positive, happy outlook. While it may feel cathartic to complain, in one study, participants who wrote a few sentences a week for 10 weeks about things they were grateful for were more optimistic and felt better about their lives than those who wrote about what irritated them.

So what can you be grateful for? A supportive boss? Being able to watch your kids grow up and have more time with them? Having more time for self-care? “How you frame something in your mind determines how you experience it. ...So, if you approach things with a ‘glass half-empty’ attitude, you’ll tend to experience them as lacking. Fortunately, you are in complete control of your mindset.”

Other ways to happily accept your remote fate include setting up an efficient, comfortable
home office instead of taking up space on the sofa with your laptop. Even if your dining room table is all that is available, consider surrounding yourself with things that make you happy — plants, photos of the family, and artwork. Design a backdrop that makes your Zoom meetings look professional once that laptop camera turns on.

Remember the routines you once had when getting ready for work? Develop new ones and stick to them. Perhaps that means getting out of bed and stretching, doing a few minutes of meditation, and then heading to the Nespresso machine. Set up designated break times all day long and tell your boss, co-workers, and family members when you will be available to them.

Bonding with others and feeling like you’re part of a community is key for staying upbeat, so work on developing your work relationships remotely....“Virtual meet-ups, instant messages, group chats and other forms of remote communication can all help.” Productive hours (when you’re “in the zone”) should be focused on getting your best work completed.

Instead of scrolling through your phone while you eat lunch, take the time to “play” at something you really love. “Spending 30 minutes between meetings doing something you enjoy can temper any stress or negative feelings you’ve been having.” If you take care of you, you show up for others when they truly need you. Don’t let self-care slip by the wayside.

Adequate sleep, good lighting, healthy eating, limiting sugar and alcohol, and exercising are all ways to use self-care to combat stress. Taking the time to be outdoors helps tremendously as well. Courtney cites studies that showed that those who spent more time outdoors (even just walking around the block or visiting a local park) reported better sleep and felt significantly less anxiety, stress, and depression than those who spent less than 30 minutes outdoors each day.

Thank you for visiting my blog, please leave me a comment and let me if you like my blog and the information I post. 

Roxy Redenbaugh, Broker

Sr Mortgage Consultant

Residential and Commercial

www.roxyloans.com

The Greatest Compliment I Can Receive Is A Referral From Friends, Family, and Business Associates,

NMLS#269926 Company NMLS#1

Source: MoneyTalkNews | TBWS

Getting Prepared To Buy Your First Home

 For some it seems like a no-brainer. Renting a home feels like throwing money away, offering no sense of ownership whatsoever. Buying a home is investing in the future. Even if it takes up to 30 years to pay off the loan, you have been LIVING in your investment.

According to a new study by Framework, however, there is more than meets the eye with first time home buyers, who see it as laced with blind spots and pre-loaded with anxiety — mostly because they went into it fairly blind, without enough education and information. The surveys were completed by two groups: recent first-time homebuyers and prospective first-time homebuyers.

The report says only 41% feel very well prepared for the home buying process, 57% worry they can't afford homeownership, 47% think the home buying process is "rigged" against the buyer, 44% fear making costly mistakes, and 55% said they could use an independent advocate to coach them through the process of home buying and homeownership. On top of that, more than half of first time home buyers in both groups said buying a home was more difficult than it should be.

So what does this tell the average real estate professional or mortgage loan officer? That they may have fallen short of making their buyers literate enough to have confidence in the process? While, once they had been through the process of buying a home, 64% of responders said they emerged from it knowing a lot more about the financial aspects of it, most wished they had taken some kind of class to prepare them for it.

When you think about it, those in the industry often don't do a great job in explaining aspects of homeownership not in their purview — things like paying taxes, how and when a payment can adjust, or promoting the idea of having a home ownership "slush fund" in the case of an emergency, such as flooding, a failing roof, or plumbing leaking underground. Of course, these aren't included in the warm, fuzzy feelings industry professionals care to project as they lead buyers through the process, but that doesn't mean first-time homebuyers shouldn't be encouraged to find classes or sources that address their concerns.

CurrentMortgageRatesToday.org says that while the largest cost of owning a home will be
your monthly mortgage payment, there are several other costs that you should be aware of when trying to find out how much homeownership will cost you — things like an HOA fee (and what it covers), property taxes, homeowner's insurance, and utilities. And then there is maintenance and repairs.

There are always risks inherent in any large purchase. But it's up to the potential homeowner to decide if it's the best financial step for them. Lenders and Realtors often offer courses for first-time homebuyers, but they can also be found online as well.

Thank you for visiting my blog, please leave me a comment and let me if you like my blog and the information I post. 

Roxy Redenbaugh, Broker

Sr Mortgage Consultant

Residential and Commercial

www.roxyloans.com

The Greatest Compliment I Can Receive Is A Referral From Friends, Family, and Business Associates,

NMLS#269926 Company NMLS#1

Source: PRNewswire, currentmortgageratestoday.org, TBWS

Obstacles That Can Hold Up Closing For Both Buyers and Sellers

Whoever said it’s the little things that count wasn’t kidding when it comes to closing escrow
on a house you just bought or sold. If your escrow agent or real estate consultant were able to articulate all the hoops that must be jumped through from the day an offer is accepted to the day you hand over the house keys, they will have earned hero status.

The BIG things for the seller include signing off on the buyers’ inspections or fixing anything that comes out of them as a negotiation point of the sale, making sure the buyer gets a final loan approval and seeing their funds being deposited in escrow. But what about some of a sellers’ most overlooked things — those that have the capacity to wreak havoc at the least minute, keeping escrow from closing just when you thought the money would be in the bank?

Little things can be mini-bombs that go off at the last minute. You may not give utility bills a second thought. But utility companies, as well as closing personnel, will certainly notice that you forgot to pay your water bill. Any bills that stacked up against your property are your responsibility until you hand over the house keys. Failure to pay a $55 water bill can see everything come to a screeching halt.

A detailed walkthrough of your property is not only expected by the buyers, but encouraged
by their agent, their banker — anyone who has an interest in seeing the transaction close. If they saw your home furnished and appearing in pristine condition when they made their offer, but now see gouged floors and banged up walls that weren’t there until after you moved out, it’s your responsibility to fix it, even if it’s due to natural causes, like flooding from a bad storm. Damage that occurred after a home inspection is always the responsibility of the seller, so fess up and make good on any damage that was your fault or even may have been your fault.

An issue that crops up more frequently than anyone would want to admit is property line and survey issues. If your neighbor was such a bud that his play set’s piers were cemented into the ground within your property line, it can hold everything up until the structure is moved if the buyer requests it. If you built a storage shed over a utility easement without knowing it, you’re still at fault and must remedy the situation. Fences don’t always follow property lines, either. Make sure you study the survey performed on your property and get these things addressed before the buyer heads over the sign papers.

So now we’ve warned sellers. What if you are the buyer? Something Realtors or Loan Officer's might not warn you about (but should) is committing the error of making major purchases AFTER your loan approval — one that has the capacity to lower your cash reserves and/or affect your credit score, making your loan approval become a fleeting moment instead of a reality. While it’s a royal pain for YOU, since you thought you had chosen the house of your dreams, think as well about the seller of the home you offered on in good faith. They may have already purchased another home and physically moved out. Your faux pax may have just caused a domino effect to take place, with escrows fallouts happening in rapid succession. Any other changes in your income, credit or access can change your approval, be careful during escrow to make sure you have no changes until AFTER you close escrow. 

The key here is to stay vigilant as to any potential hiccups that can occur by staying in close touch with your agent, your escrow officer, and any loan personnel that may be involved during closing week. They may have multiple transactions to deal with, while you have one — your own. And what can appear to be a small hiccup on the surface can bring things to a screeching halt if not dealt with promptly. While everyone tries to keep things together on your behalf, being proactive is never a bad idea.

Thank you for visiting my blog, please leave me a comment and let me if you like my blog and the information I post. 

Roxy Redenbaugh, Broker

Sr Mortgage Consultant

Residential and Commercial

www.roxyloans.com

The Greatest Compliment I Can Receive Is A Referral From Friends, Family, and Business Associates,

NMLS#269926 Company NMLS#1930219

Fun Real Estate Facts That Will Make You Smile

Sometimes it’s not the big real estate news about trends and statistics that send us falling
onto our backsides — it’s the lesser-known facts that make us smile, make us think and realize the world is a crazy-messy place.

Inman News featured some amazingly entertaining real estate facts we’d like to share, and there is no time like the present — when we are reeling over stock market volatility and wondering what comes next — to get a bit of comic, head-scratching relief.

You want fries with that? Did you know that the McDonald corporation possesses one of the world’s most comprehensive (international) real estate portfolios? Franchisees do all the burger-flipping work while the Big D enjoys the land-holding and franchise fee revenues without worrying about the calories.

Some people are billionaires, but you wouldn’t know it by the way they live. Mogul Warren Buffet lives in the same house he bought in 1958 for a cool $31,500. Think his mortgage is paid off by now? A number of high profile celebrities have some frugal leftover tendencies as well, including Jay Leno, who made the choice to never spend his $15 million a year TV show salary, Leonardo DiCaprio, who drives a Toyota Prius, and Paul McCartney, who had his daughter pay her own way through college and asks party guests to pay for their own drinks.

You don’t have to sound brassy if you have a brass doorknob. You just don’t tend to pass on the flu as easily. According to a number of sources, brass doorknobs disinfect themselves, being the most antimicrobial metal of all. So next time you turn the knob or push down on a brass lever, you’ll have fewer worries that you may start sneezing because of it.

It’s a red letter day when you pay off your mortgage. The Scots not only think so — and they make sure you know about it. In Scotland when someone writes that last monthly mortgage check they run out and buy a bucket of and paint their front doors red. This mortgage-free announcement is thrilling to homeowners who definitely think it’s worth proclaiming.

Think a tiny paperclip is no big deal? Think again. Beginning in 2005, Canadian Kyle McDonald traded a paperclip for a pen, then for a doorknob, then a camp stove, a generator and on and on. He traded rent, favors, and even a movie role until he ultimately got a 2-story farmhouse for all his swapping efforts. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s not the little things that count.

Sometimes Public Enemy #1 is a nice guy. Some say this may be an urban myth, but the story continues to be told. Charles (Pretty Boy) Floyd, a Depression-era gangster not only robbed banks. He also served as a kind of modern-day Robin Hood, destroying mortgage documents in the process and freeing a number of citizens of their financial obligations. Sometimes the little guy comes out on top.

Capitalism produces winners and losers, but who’d a thunk the game Monopoly was designed by a woman to teach us a lesson? Still a bestselling board game, the concept taught us to buy up property, stack it with hotels, and charge fellow players sky-high rents for the privilege of accidentally landing there. But the little-known inventor, Elizabeth Magie had no idea that it would encourage its players to celebrate values opposed to those she intended to champion. A devout and vocal socialist, Magie proclaimed ‘the equal right of all men to use the land is as clear as their equal right to breathe the air – it is a right proclaimed by the fact of their existence.’ Seems Americans never grasped that idea.

Although India is a land of haves-and-have nots, one of the haves built a billion-dollar home. It boasts 27 floors (six of them for parking), 3 helipads, is staffed with 600 people, offers a 4-story hanging garden and is complete with a movie theater. We’re not sure how many bathrooms one needs for a life well-lived, however.

Thank you for visiting my blog, please leave me a comment and let me if you like my blog and the information I post. 

Roxy Redenbaugh, Broker

Sr Mortgage Consultant

Residential and Commercial

www.roxyloans.com

The Greatest Compliment I Can Receive Is A Referral From Friends, Family, and Business Associates,

NMLS#269926 Company NMLS#1930219