Curriculum Real Estate & Housing
Real Estate & Housing
Renting versus buying, how mortgages actually work, and housing as part of a financial plan.
- Renting vs. Buying: The Real Tradeoff Why renting versus buying isn't simply 'throwing away money' on one side, and the actual factors that should drive the decision. 📄 Read-aloud
- How Mortgages Work The basic mechanics of a mortgage loan, and why so much of an early payment goes toward interest rather than the loan balance. 📄 Read-aloud
- Down Payments and Closing Costs The two big upfront costs of buying a home, and the insurance product that exists specifically because of small down payments. 📄 Read-aloud
- Fixed vs. Adjustable Rate Mortgages The genuine tradeoff between payment predictability and a potentially lower starting rate, and why that tradeoff shifted after 2008. 📄 Read-aloud
- Property Taxes and Homeowner Costs The recurring costs of owning a home beyond the mortgage payment itself, and why they're easy to underestimate. 📄 Read-aloud
- Real Estate & Housing: Checkpoint 1 Covers renting vs. buying, mortgages, down payments and closing costs, mortgage rate types, and homeowner costs. 5 questions
- Home Equity and How It Builds What home equity actually is, the two distinct ways it grows, and the practical ways it can be accessed. 📄 Read-aloud
- The Housing Market and Interest Rates Why mortgage rates move with the broader economy, and the specific way rate changes ripple through home prices and affordability. 📄 Read-aloud
- Real Estate as an Investment The two main ways to invest in real estate beyond your own home, and the tradeoffs each involves compared to other investments. 📄 Read-aloud
- Housing Affordability and Cost Burden How economists measure whether housing is genuinely affordable, and why the issue extends well beyond any individual buyer's choices. 📄 Read-aloud
- Refinancing: When It Makes Sense What refinancing actually does, the costs involved, and the simple math for figuring out whether it's worth doing. 📄 Read-aloud
- Real Estate & Housing: Checkpoint 2 Covers home equity, the housing market and interest rates, real estate as an investment, affordability, and refinancing. 5 questions
- Landlord and Tenant Rights The basic protections renters and landlords have under most rental agreements, and where to find the rules that actually apply. 📄 Read-aloud
- Property Appraisals: How Value Is Determined How a professional appraiser arrives at a home's value, and why that number can matter as much as the agreed sale price. 📄 Read-aloud
- Mortgage Points: Buying Down Your Interest Rate How paying extra cash upfront can lower a mortgage's interest rate, and the math behind deciding whether it's worth it. 📄 Read-aloud
- The Economics of Rent Control How limiting how much rent can rise affects tenants and the housing market, presented from both sides of a genuinely contested debate. 📄 Read-aloud
- How Home Insurance Premiums Are Priced How insurers decide what to charge homeowners, and why the same house can cost very different amounts to insure in different places. 📄 Read-aloud
- 1031 Exchanges and Deferring Capital Gains on Property A special tax provision lets real estate investors sell a property and roll the proceeds into a new one without paying capital gains tax right away. 📄 Read-aloud
- Homeowners Associations: Rules, Fees, and Tradeoffs Homeowners associations manage shared spaces and enforce community rules in exchange for mandatory fees, trading individual freedom for collective upkeep. 📄 Read-aloud
- Reverse Mortgages Explained A reverse mortgage lets older homeowners convert home equity into cash without monthly payments, but it steadily reduces what they or their heirs keep. 📄 Read-aloud
- Real Estate Cycles: Booms, Busts, and Why They Repeat Property markets tend to move through recurring phases of expansion and contraction, driven by how slowly new supply responds to rising demand. 📄 Read-aloud
- RERA: Protecting Homebuyers How India's Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act protects people who buy homes under construction, and what problems it was designed to fix. 📄 Read-aloud
- Stamp Duty and Registration Charges What stamp duty and registration charges are when buying property in India, how they vary by state, and their economic effects. 📄 Read-aloud
- Co-Living and Shared Housing How co-living spaces and shared rentals offer young workers and students affordable, flexible housing in expensive cities, and the economics behind them. 📄 Read-aloud
- Buying Property Jointly and in Women's Names How co-ownership of a home works in India, the stamp duty and tax benefits of joint and women's ownership, and why it matters for women's financial security. 📄 Read-aloud