Be Literate in what you buy

Benefits of Duplexes, Single Family Homes and Condos Investment

Duplexes / Multi-family
Duplexes are basically normal houses which are split into two housing units, and are separated by a common central wall. Each unit has discrete entrance door usually mounted at each frontage.
Whatever your purpose in acquiring these duplexes, herewith are some benefits which are inherent in this type of home as follows:

• If you have an eye for an investment, duplexes are better option because these generate more cash flow over the time you own the property.  With two housing units as source of your monthly rental income, USA Advantage confirms that you have higher probability of a continuous income because of the greater number of units as compared to single family homes.

• The home values of your duplex in the neighborhood in which you live have generally higher values than the single family home. A recent study made by Moxie Realty Group of Austin showed that duplexes have about 25% higher selling price than single family homes in the same neighborhood.

• On living in one unit of your own duplex, you can sustain your daily living expenses by having one unit rented. This set up will allow you to supervise the tenant as well as the maintenance of the building.

• Duplexes have great advantage especially in running its operation and maintenance. These structures have only one roof, one set of gutters, one basement and one yard which needs termite and pest control. This arrangement will make your maintenance activities easy to manage.

Single Family Homes
Single family homes are detached houses which are not connected to any other structures, and are intended to be occupied by one family. Furthermore these units do not share an inside wall with any other house or dwelling.
If you are planning for a residential place, and you consider dwelling in a single family home, you may find these interesting benefits which are built-in this type of structure as follows:

• Single family homes enjoy the advantage of having about 15% to 25% lower property insurance premium rates than duplexes.

• When the time comes that you want to sell your property, you will have no difficulty in marketing it because there is a great demand for single family homes.

• In single family homes, you have clear and less complicated parking conditions. Moreover you have the opportunity of building garage or carports.

• Single family homes provide privacy to the dwellers. This is an inherent advantage of this unit because the dwellers are completely disengaged from other tenants.

• Re-sale value for single family homes is superior because these can be marketed to both owner-occupants as well as investors.

Condos
Condos or condominiums are form of housing tenure where a specified part of a piece of a real estate is individually owned. Individual home ownership within the condo is interpreted as ownership of only the air space within the boundaries of the said condo.
If you are looking for a place to reside, and you consider residing in a condo, you may find these exciting benefits which are integral in this type of homes as follows:

• Condos provide low maintenance as you are not responsible for the repair of exterior and common areas.

• Generally condos are built in prime locations which are convenient to city centers, shopping malls, restaurant, etc.

• Living in condominium is much safer and secured compared to single family home or duplex.

• Condos usually offer access to amenities such as swimming pool, gym, tennis courts, reception areas, etc., which provide luxuries you may not otherwise be able to afford.

Teens and Leisure Reading

 

By Deborah Williams
A recent analysis of several studies was made by Common Sense Media.  The nonprofit reports that there is a definite reduction in the number of adolescents who read for pleasure.  NPR’s National Desk correspondent, Jennifer Ludden, reports, “Nearly half of 17-year-olds say they read for pleasure no more than one or two times a year—if that.”

Could the limitless access to technology be the reason?  Common Sense Media founder and CEO, Jim Steyer studied the effects of technology on children, and he believes that technology access is just part of the problem.  Steyer describes several possible reasons for less leisure reading by adolescents:

• Most children have access to e-readers, or other smart electronic devices like phones and tablets.
• Some students say that they would read for pleasure, but they have too much homework.
• The Internet can be very distracting.

Parents can still promote reading:

• Be a reader themselves.
• Purchase or borrow books from the library.
• Schedule a regular time for children to read each day.

Take Notes by Hand or Electronically? By Deborah Williams

Today’s students are very attached to their electronic devices.  That includes their laptops.  Most prefer to type papers and to take notes that way, but is that good for them to do?  A report on the Science Daily website about a recent study by researchers found that taking notes on laptops may not be the best option.  Princeton University’s Pam Mueller, lead author of the study, reports, “Our new findings suggest that even when laptops are used as intended — and not for buying things on Amazon during class — they may still be harming academic performance.”
Mueller and her UCLA colleague, Daniel Oppenheimer, conducted as series of studies that asked college students to take notes on a TED Talks video about topics for which they had little knowledge.  Some were given laptops and others received notebooks.  The only other instructions were to take notes in their usual fashion.  After their viewings, the respondents completed three distracter tasks.  Thirty minutes after completing the tasks, students answered factual-recall questions about the video they watched.  Researchers found that both groups of students performed equally well when recalling facts, but those who took notes by hand performed significantly better than those who used laptops to take notes.
That’s not all the researchers found:

• It may be that longhand note takers engage in more processing than laptop note takers, thus selecting more important information to include in their notes, which enables them to study this content more efficiently.
• The researchers also found that longhand note takers still beat laptop note takers on recall one week later when participants were given a chance to review their notes before taking the recall test

Not convinced?  Technology has created a compromise platform that combines both: