One word you’ll hear thrown around a lot in the property buying process is the word contingency. The American Heritage Dictionary defines the word “contingency” as “An event that may occur but that is not likely or intended”….this might actually get you MORE confused AFTER you’ve discovered what the literal definition is, so let me give you a simple way to think of it.  When you’re buying a...

As I discussed in my “Common Real Estate Tax Benefits” video, one of the key qualities that make real estate investments stand out from other types of investments is the ability to depreciate the actual property — among other deductions.  The rule is that if you own an apartment or multifamily building, you can write off the improvements in a straight line method over 27 in a half years.  If you own any other type of asset...

A large percentage of people when purchasing a home usually do so by obtaining financing. The common practice is to save up for a home and put down 20%…right?  Well, not necessarily.  Although there is conventional financing done by most banks that can help buyers with only 10 or 5%, what about those with a little less than perfect credit or just a little less down??  How do we help those people get a loan?  That is where most buyers turn...

Most people are aware of the fact that when you sell a long term investment such as real estate or stocks, you have to pay taxes.  And these taxes don’t come cheap – currently capital gains tax is 15%, and California has its own capital gains tax of 9.3%.  To put this in perspective, if you bought a property for $500,000 and years down the line you sell the same property for $1M, on that $500k profit you have to pay $121,500…PLUS your cost...

Hi…my name is Davide Pio, and I’m a real estate broker.  I love what I do, and I love helping my clients.  My specialty is commercial and investment real estate.  By this I mean I help my clients – who are usually investors – find properties that match their needs.  The thing I love most about my job is the chance to enlighten my clients by showing them possibilities they never knew existed. And if my clients did know these possibilities...

One thing that’s commonly asked of me from non-commercial agents and investors alike is what all the different terms mean.  Net Operating income (NOI), Cap rate, Cash on Cash, Internal Rate of Return (or IRR) and Net Present Value, or NPV.  Knowing these terms and how to calculate them is essential to anyone who invests in real estate.  This is especially true for new investors.  If you’re learning or if you’re a bit...

In the investment world, there’s many different ways you can invest your money.  One would be stocks — You buy a small piece of a company, and if the company does well you’re piece is worth more…maybe it even pays a dividend.  Then there are bonds — you along with others pool your money together to loan out to companies and they pay you a fixed rate over the long term.  Definitely considered more...

One of the biggest positive factors when buying real estate is all the tax benefits you are able to realize.  Real estate is actually one of the most tax-friendly investment vehicles. You can write off practically everything — mortgage payments, expenses,…even the property itself in most cases! Of course there’s multiple ways of structuring a real estate sale as well to defer tax payments. First, let’s start with the...

If you pick up a copy of any major newspaper and open it to the business section, you’ll commonly see headlines of extremely large real estate purchases that are usually well over $50-100 million. Most people glance at these articles and think “man it must be nice.” However, most people don’t realize that these extremely large transactions don’t involve just one individual as a seller or buyer…in fact, only a...

One common misconception I see when I’m working with new investor clients is related to financing.  Most people who are ready to invest in commercial real estate are usually somewhat familiar with the home loan process.  That’s commonly because they might have bought a home or two in the last few years and they remember the mounds of paperwork that go with it.  Although there are a select few similarities, getting a loan for a commercial...

A large percentage of people when purchasing a home usually do so by obtaining financing. In doing so, the most common first step is getting preapproved with a bank or lender.  The preapproval process is fairly straightforward.  First, you have to decide if you want to go to a bank – such as Bank of America or Wells Fargo — or a mortgage broker.  Although there are a few minor differences between the two, there’s really one...

  One of the most common questions asked of me is if a buyer can get a better deal by buying a foreclosure rather than a short sale or regular sale.  The immediate response to my buyer is if they know what the difference between all three of them are?  …usually they don’t – which is completely ok.  People hear things repeatedly in the media and it’s hard to sift through what’s true and not true.  I’m going to clarify the difference...

  One of the first choices you’re going to have to make when you decide to buy a home, is what TYPE of home you want to purchase??  Do you want to buy a condo or co-op?  A townhome?  A detached home?  As I explained in my “Home Buying Process” video, this is going to be one of the first choices you’re going to have to make.  I can’t make the decision for you, but I can help with explaining the difference so you can make a choice that works...

  In my opinion, credit scores are one of the most obscure and methodical concepts to a client. I’ve actually had clients tell me something they swore would help their credit, when in fact it was the complete opposite. One of the many examples I have is when I had a client tell me that he never fully paid off his credit cards because paying interest helped him get a better credit score. I’m going to explain to you what...