The housing market is in a tricky situation given massive unemployment, shelter-in-place, the coronavirus, and tremendous uncertainty. However, not all is lost, especially after a massive 44% month over month rebound in U.S. Pending Home Sales for May. Here are my housing predictions for 2021.

Overall, I believe the housing market will soften in 2020 and then reach new highs in the second half of 2021.

Given my housing market prediction, we all have a chance to buy property at a discounted price between now and around July 1, 2021. After July 1, 2021, I expect nationwide housing prices to have fully recovered.

Recently, I’ve been thinking about how climate change may positively or negatively affect real estate values.

If you are planning on investing in real estate and passing down your real estate holdings to your children, then it’s worth thinking about how climate change may affect real estate values in the future.

I realized the other day that every single one of my properties is on a hill. I didn’t purposefully go out and hunt for properties on a hill. It just happened that way.

The only property I owned that wasn’t on a hill was sold in 2017. Maybe subconsciously, the reason for the sale wasn’t due to the hassle of being a landlord. Perhaps it was due to my dislike of facing another building.

As a real estate enthusiastic, one of my main criteria for owning property is that it must have good feng shui. And one aspect of good feng shui is having a pleasant view. When you enter a property, you can just feel the positive or negative feng shui. A lot of the feel has to do with light, direction, sound, and layout.

Besides, having a view gives a property a unique competitive advantage. Views make properties more desirable. And the more unique and desirable the property, the better it will hold its value or appreciate over time.

Given it’s human nature to want what you can’t have, I decided to set my sights on acquiring a beachfront or close to beachfront property in Hawaii for my ultimate retirement home.

I dreamed of being able to step onto my ocean-facing deck and feel the sea breeze on my face every morning. While doing my morning stretches, I wanted to smell the ocean, especially now that rolling lockdowns will likely become the norm.

In my search, I found a couple of “affordable” beachfront properties in Honolulu that needed remodeling. Then I was reminded by readers, my father, and by several natural disasters that perhaps owning a beachfront property is not a great idea long-term.

Let’s take a glimpse at how climate change affects real estate investing.

With home prices still strong, it’s only natural that more homeowners are spending money on remodeling. COVID-19 is also causing more of us to improve our homes because we’re spending more time in them. The question is: how much should you spend remodeling a house for maximum profit?

You don’t want to spend a ton of money on remodeling and not recover its original cost. You’ve got to smartly remodel your home and not go overboard.

I’ve personally remodeled three homes and I never want to remodel again! But for those of you who want to suffer through the pain of remodeling, this post is for you. Whether to get a better deal or earn some sweat equity, here are some top down views I have about the process:

1. Pay more for quality material since labor cost is relatively fixed
2. Get the proper permits to protect yourself from bad workmanship, while also boosting the value of your home through a more  comprehensive 3R report
3. Expect the overall job to cost 30% more and take 30% longer, but don’t let the contractor know
4. Adding livable space is the most valuable type of remodel
5. Always speak to the last contractor’s client at the very least
6. Great homes have wonderful outdoor space, don’t neglect landscaping
7. The value of a remodel fades over a 20-30 year period, at which point a new remodel may be due
8. Decide whether you’re remodeling for profit or for personal use

The big question every homeowner has when it comes to remodeling is how much they should actually spend to increase their chances of not only getting their money back, but also making a positive return if you decide to sell.

I believe the #1 remodeling error is spending outside the scope of the home. Let’s discuss a framework.

Physical real estate is my second favorite asset class to build wealth. Online real estate is my first. Unfortunately, owning physical real estate can be a royal pain due to never-ending maintenance issues. Let’s look at some warning signs before buying a house.

After inspecting hundreds of houses and buying and selling multiple properties over the years, let me share with you some sneaky things sellers deploy to make a house look better than it really is as well as some warning signs to be aware of.

With the coronavirus pandemic raging on and a very dismal economic outlook when record-high unemployment, buyers need to be more careful than ever. There are opportunities to be had, especially since mortgage rates are at record lows. However, you must patiently search because inventory is also down.