Author: Mary O'Neil

Equity is the difference between what your house is worth and what you still owe on your mortgage.

Many renters know that finding affordable housing is tricky these days. As a result, many low-income families turn to housing vouchers to help cover the cost of the rent. More than 5 million households use federal rental assistance through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Section 8 program, and about 70 percent of those individuals…

When putting in a rental application, you want to represent your worthiness as a tenant as completely as possible. Promoting yourself can only get you so far in the eyes of a potential landlord, but the word of someone else often carries more weight. For this reason, you may want to beef up the materials…

For those with poor credit, renting a house is difficult. Most landlords require tenants to have a minimum credit score to rent a house. But most people hardly ever check their own scores, nor know how to raise a low one. Before you start looking for that perfect house to rent, consider researching your own…

Having a rental property today doesn’t mean you have to follow a traditional rental income path. You don’t have to collect monthly rent from tenants who sign long-term leases. There are options. Landlords today can look at a rental property and see it as an investment property. But they can also decide to turn it…

Home Owners Associations (HOAs) cover a variety of neighborhood costs. From maintaining common spaces like a pool or tennis courts to hosting community events, the role of an HOA is important but it also means those living in the neighborhood have to pay. When you’re a renter, there can be some confusion as to who…