Tips for becoming a better investor

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Like many things in life, success in investing lies in sticking to and mastering the fundamentals. However, it can be tempting to look for faster ways to earn big and neglect many of the basic tasks. For beginner investors who want to improve, here are some of the tasks that should never be neglected:

- Saving up. This should be the starting point for anyone who’s aiming for financial independence. Unfortunately, many neglect to put away money for savings. While saving can be hard, it is a necessary task and everyone should make an effort to put away a significant part of their earnings into their savings.

- Investing in stocks. While many successful investors have found a gold mine in stocks, a few novice ones believe in the potential of stocks and mutual funds as long term investments.

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- Learning to manage the account. Learning to build a diversified portfolio of stocks and low-cost mutual funds on one’s own allows one to accumulate more wealth due to lower costs.

- Diversify. It makes sense to spread one’s assets to a few stocks because some investments can fail.

- Look at the long term. Many beginner investors may get tempted by schemes that promise to get them rich quickly. If something sounds too good to be true, then it might be best to steer clear from it.

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Tony Hartman of Denver is the senior managing partner of Mark Capital LLC. For more resources on investing, visit this: Google+ page.

The rising demand for multi-family housing

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The housing market is in recovery although not in the way desired by many. Instead of being characterized by improvements in all housing types, the recovery seems to affect some developments more than others and some types are still stuck in recession levels. Among the surprising trends found in this housing recovery is the strong demand for multi-family housing.

Currently, buildings with five or more housing units comprise up to 35 percent of the total housing units constructed in 2014. The usual figures amount to about 25 percent. This may come as a surprise to many real estate investors, so understanding why multi-family housing is more popular now is crucial to predicting whether this trend will stay for long. 

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In understanding the popularity of multi-family housing, investors can analyze demographics and changes in the lifestyles of consumers. Part of the reason this housing type has become more in demand lately is the rise in number of young adults who are most likely to live in apartments. Their preference for apartments can be linked to the popular choice of lifestyle -– many young adults now shun car-ownership in favor of living somewhere they can simply walk to work.

Given these factors, it would be safe to say that this high demand for multi-family housing won't be around for long. As these young adults age, settle down, and start their own families, many are likely to see the benefits of moving to a single-family unit later on.

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Tony Hartman of Denver is a real estate investor who is well-versed in residential and commercial properties. For more news on the housing market recovery, visit this: Twitter page.