Smartmoney.com Is Right On The Money When It Comes to Useful Tools

I have found that Smartmoney.com is a site that I visit at least once a day. I really enjoy the articles as well as the interactive features. My favorite section of the site is the personal finance portion. My two favorite sections deal with real estate and automobiles.

One of my favorite sections is the real estate section of the personal finance portion of the website. I am looking to purchase a house in the next five years. This section has many great articles and resources that I find very informative. One article in particular is by Stacey Bradford entitled "Tips for First-Time Home Buyers." This article points out key elements in how to approach and prepare for purchasing your first house. The author give great advice including paying down debt and working on increasing your credit score. A person's credit score is very crucial in determining the interest rate a borrow can expect to pay on their mortgage. The article also explains how a person should budget for a mortgage payment and what percentage of take home pay it should consume. The author also explains various types of mortgage loans and what sets them apart. The article also points out that a borrow with trouble credit has many options including an FHA loan. I found this article very interesting and useful.

Another great feature in the real estate section is the various financial calculators offered. My favorite calculator allows you to enter a mortgage amount, interest rate, down-payment, and loan term to show you what your mortgage payment would be. A $200,000 6% fixed 30 year loan with no down-payment would figure out to be a mortgage payment of $1199 a month. This is one of the many great tools in the real estate section.

Another article of great interest to myself is "So You Want to Be a Landlord" written by Bill Bischoff. I have noticed that many people have became wealthy investing in the real estate market. I have heard that owning rental properties is a great way to diversify a person's portfolio. This is a very interesting article that deals with the tax side of owning a real estate rental property. Being a landlord offers some substantial tax advantages. Some of these advantages include being able to depreciated the property and various write offs. Many investment properties begin having negative cash flows, but over time as rents increase, cash flows become positive. When you have a positive taxable income from a rental, you are not subject to self-employment taxes and you have a lower tax rate. The article also explains how taxes are calculated when you sell your investment.

Another real estate article that I enjoyed was "A Home-Buying Primer". This article was also an article that has great information for a first-time home buyer. This article is answers a few basic questions that many first-time buyers have. Some of the questions deal with brokers, loan types, bank approval criteria, tax benefits, and more. This article is set us as an F.A.Q format or frequently asked questions format.

The other section of the personal finance site I prefer is the automotive section. This section has a lot of great resources for a person interested in cars. It offers great tips on purchasing not only new, but used cars as well. This sections also has great information on insurance, repairs, leasing, and more.

One of my favorite articles in this section is "Ten Ways to Keep Your Car Out of the Shop" by Stacey Bradford. This article has the punchline is that it contains information that your mechanic doesn't want you to know. It offers ten great maintenance tips to help avoid costly repairs. One of these tips is to not run your car on empty. This is something that I am guilty of. The article states that when you run your car close to empty it can cause you to have to replace components or your fuel system such as your fuel injector. This repairs can be costly. Another great tip is to make sure your tires are properly inflated. Tires that are under or over-inflated can wear out quicker than tires that are properly inflated. Replacing tires can be very expensive. The article also lists other ways to help keep your car in good shape by coming to a complete stop, turning the key in the ignition gently, listening to your car, and not riding your clutch. I thought this was a great and informative article.

Another great article in the automotive section was written by Stacey Bradford as well titled "The Best Way to Sell a Used Car". I have had to sell and buy used cars before so I can relate to this article. It give great advice on how to sell your used car in the most efficient and beneficial matter. The first step is to list it online. The Internet is a great resource to use when trying to sell a used car. The next tip is to make sure to to try to make the car look as visually appealing as possible. It is important that your car be clean when you are trying to sell it. The author recommends three sites in particular to use in trying to sell your used car. These sites include eBay Motors, Auto Trader Online, and CarsDirect.com. The author give details on each site including number of visitors and cost for posting an online ad or auction. A seller should also research what the market value of the car is buy using such tools as KBB.com and Edmunds.com.

The automotive section of the personal finance site offers calculators like the real estate section offered. A person can figure out what a monthly payment on a car will be given a certain price, interest, rate, and number of years. The site also offers some great worksheets that deal with making decisions such as buying versus leasing and cash back versus low APR. The small decisions can cost you a great deal in the long-run. This is why these resources are so useful.

The personal business section of Smartmoney.com is one of my favorite web sites to visit. Not only do I like the information that I read in the real estate and automotive sections, I enjoy all the other sections as well. The personal business sections offers advice on colleges, careers, taxes, retirement and many others. Unlike some news articles, these article can be applied to my everyday life. I have found a lot of great information in these sections. I believe that a smarter consumer will ultimately be a more successful consumer as well. Some of the advice can help a person manage their money better and possibly help create wealth in the long-run.