In 2011 I wrote about the advantage of buying a home over renting one.  It was based on a report of the greater Phoenix area prepared by local analyst Fletcher Wilcox of Grand Canyon Title in 2010. It analyzed whether it was cheaper to pay rent or pay a mortgage on a single family home, and buying came out way ahead.  But is that still the case with the increases in the price of homes since that time? 

Want to show your smarts?  Try asking someone this question: who is the United States’ number one export partner?  My guess is they will say China, Japan or Europe, or depending on what part of the country you’re in, maybe Mexico.  But the answer is in fact Canada.  And as far as I know, that has almost always been the case. 

People are putting money into their homes again now that values are rising. Of course the declining values didn’t stop remodeling, as owners without equity decided to stay put and improve rather than do a short sale.  In any event, owners can significantly recoup their costs if they do certain remodels now and sell later, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Remodeling “Cost vs. Value Report”.