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Real Estate Foreclosure Risk: The Double-Edged Sword In Real Estate Foreclosure Investments
As a real estate foreclosure investor, now is the time to take advantage of the growing opportunities and profits in the real estate foreclose market due to rising foreclosure risk. However, without accurate foreclosure investment advice you also face the ...

Title Insurance – Examples Of Problems And Advice
What is title insurance and why should any buyer get it when purchasing a home (single family, townhouse, condo, apartment, or whatever format your home purchase takes)? Doesn’t the attorney or settlement company handling the closing see to it that you ...

Top 7 Reasons Why FSBOs Fail To Sell Their Home On Their Own!
In the United States, less than 10% of all For Sale by Owners (FSBOs), are successful in selling their home by themselves. That*s because most people just give up because they don*t realize from the beginning the difficulty and complexity of the job ...


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Buying A House – Checking Exterior Wood
 

Wood Issues

Wood is a beautiful material, particularly when it is used on the exterior of a home. Compared to stucco and other materials, it is a wonder wood isn’t used more often. The reason, of course, is wood simply doesn’t hold up as well as man made materials. If you are looking at a home with a heavy emphasis on exterior wood siding, trim and so on, here are some things to watch out for when evaluating the opportunity.

1. The first thing to realize is the appearance of wood has almost no relevance to the condition. A perfectly good looking piece of wood trim may be infested with termites or rotting and you will never know by just glancing at it. When inspecting wood exteriors, never trust your eyes.

2. One of the biggest issues with wood is degradation. When looking at particular areas, make absolutely sure you physically touch the wood. In fact, you are probably best off giving it a fairly good poke with a finger. In doing so, you should be looking for soft areas. Soft areas are indicative of rot in one form or another. Finding rot in one area should make you very concerned about finding rot throughout the structure. Put another way, you may


want to start looking at other homes on your list.

3. Finding soft spots in wood can be troubling, but there is something worse. If you poke or squeeze a piece of wood and dust or bits fall off, run for the care. This type of degradation is often a sign of termite problems. Termite problems should be a huge red flag for any prospective home. If you buy the house, you are going to have to tent it to kill the bugs and pay to inspect and repair the damage done by the evil little bugs. In short, you are buying a minor, but expensive, nightmare.

Make no mistake, wood can be very attractive on the exterior of a home. Just make sure you don’t rely solely on a visual inspection of it when deciding on the merits of the house.



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Commercial real estate services expanding in US
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By Ilaina Jonas | NEW YORK (Reuters) - New commercial real estate brokerages are launching in the United States, in what may be a sign that the market's recovery is durable. Australia's UGL Ltd (UGL.AX), a huge property manager, plans to expand in the ...

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