Certified financial planner Sophia Bera answers:

I'm in my 30s and ready to buy a home. Should I get a 15-year mortgage or a 30-year mortgage? What's the difference, and how do I decide?

Picking a mortgage really depends on your personal situation. There is no one “right” answer.

As you make your decision, it helps to understand how these options differ. Choosing between a 15-year and a 30-year mortgage could be a six-figure decision, so it’s one that you shouldn’t take lightly.

By the way, I think now is a great time to opt for a fixed interest rate. Rates have been hovering at a historic low for awhile but we don’t know how long that will last, so consider locking in a low rate in now.

A 15-year mortgage generally has a slightly lower interest rate, but a higher monthly payment. A 30-year mortgage will have a higher interest rate, but a lower monthly payment. What you gain in lower payments for the 30-year mortgage, you make up for in interest — while 30 years is double 15, you’ll actually pay more than double the amount of interest for that longer mortgage.

Interest rates on 15-year mortgages are about one half to a full percentage point lower than on a 30-year mortgage which is another great reason to take a look at a shorter term mortgage or consider refinancing.

So which should you choose? It comes down to where your money needs to go each month. If you have other debts besides a mortgage (like a student or car loan), or lots of other financial goals you’re saving up for, I’d recommend the 30-year mortgage. The lower monthly payment will allow you to allocate more money toward debt payments and savings.

If your mortgage will be your only debt, I recommend the 15-year mortgage. In this case, it’s worth it to pay more each month to get the big savings in interest payments.

For example: If you took out a $200,000, 30-year mortgage at a 3.75% interest rate, your monthly payment (principal and interest only) would be $926, and you will pay over $133,000 in interest over the life of the loan. If you were able to afford a 15-year mortgage at a 3% interest rate, your monthly payment (P&I only) would be $1,381 per month and you would pay less than $49,000 in interest, saving you $84,000 over the life of the loan.

If you choose the 30-year mortgage today and you plan on staying in your home for a long time, you can refinance to a 15-year one later (once those other debts are paid off and you feel on top of your other financial goals). This will raise your monthly payments, but save you thousands in interest. It’s a good option if you’re able to allocate more money toward monthly mortgage payments in the future.

If you’d like to calculate a few different scenarios, a mortgage calculator can help you see how different mortgage terms affect your monthly payments and overall interest payment.

Good luck with your home purchase!

This post is part of a continuing series that answers all of your questions related to personal finance. Have your own question?Email yourmoney[at]businessinsider[dot]com.

Sophia Bera, CFP® is the Founder of Gen Y Planning and has been quoted in The New York Times, Forbes, Business Insider, AOL, The Wall Street Journal, and Money Magazine. She tweets, travels, and loves helping millennials manage their money more effectively. Curious? Sign up for the free Gen Y Planning Newsletter.

SEE ALSO: ASK A FINANCIAL PLANNER: 'How many bank accounts should I have?'

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A unique house situated in the affluent town of Hillsborough, California, remains unsold after nearly a year on the market.

Known as the "Flintstones House" to inhabitants the San Francisco area for its kooky attributes, the house was originally listed for $4.2 million.

After two price chops, it seems no one is quite taken in by its charms enough to lay down that kind of cash.

Indeed, many neighbors and locals call the home an eyesore, especially after it was painted orange and purple, according to Tech Insider.

Take a look around the home that has divided a community.

Alain Pinel Realtors has the listing.

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Even from far away, it's easy to The Flintstones House isn't a normal property.

It's made from concrete that's been painted orange and purple, though it was first finished in an off-white color when it was built in 1976.

The odd shape of the house was created by applying shotcrete to both a steel rebar structure and a series of mesh frames held up by inflated balloons typically used for aeronautical research.

Jerry Rosengarten just put his Southampton home on the market for $5.15 million.

The exquisitely designed house combines modern and antique details.

"I built this house for sale, not for everyone, because it is a truly custom home," said Rosengarten, a real-estate entrepreneur who owns the famed Bowery Hotel.

Let's take a look at this elegant residence, courtesy of the listing by Douglas Elliman.

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Finished in 2016, the 6,662-square-foot home is designed to effortlessly combine old and new.

A set of gates welcomes visitors to the property, ensuring privacy in a neighborhood that has become increasingly popular in recent years.

The house sits on 0.58 acres, boasting large, mature trees; two outdoor fireplaces; and a lower-level rock garden patio for entertaining.

Greenspoint Place, a 1.5-million-square-foot, six-building office and retail complex on 36 acres, whose occupancy plunged below 40% when Exxon Mobil moved to its new campus, was sold at a foreclosure auction on July 5. It crowned a nasty quarter in Houston’s oil-bust office market.

The complex was owned by a partnership of two giants: one of the world’s largest developers, Hines, and the General Motors Pension Fund. They’d acquired it in the 1990s. In July 2012, they’d refinanced the first mortgage of $145 million with Northwestern Mutual.

Letting the lender deal with the problems was the logical solution. In early June, Hines told the Houston Business Journal in an email:

“Considering the average occupancy rate in this depressed submarket is only about 50%, due largely to the fact the energy market is hurting, ownership of the asset will be turned over to the lender. We believe that is the best course of action for the property at this juncture.”

Hines, with $89 billion of assets under management, could have easily kept the property, losing money as it went. But it chose not to. With its excellent insider knowledge of the market, it decided that this wasn’t a temporary real estate downturn, but that it was hopeless in the longer term and that it was better to bail out now. Let the lender take the losses.

During the foreclosure auction, Northwestern Mutual Life submitted the “highest and best bid” of $77.5 million and ended up with the property, which it will try to market and lease.

But finding tenants will be tough. The entire office market of the North Belt/Greenspoint area, with 11.3 million square feet (msf) of space, got hit hard by Exxon’s departure, which vacated 2 msf at the worst possible time. Commercial real estate services firm Savills Studley just reported that the availability rate in the area hit a catastrophic 51% in Q2, the highest of any area in Houston. In Class A properties, it soared to 66%.

Of the 193 msf of total office space in Greater Houston, 50 msf of space, or 26%, is available. That’s up 5.9% from Q1 and up 21% from a year ago! In Class A buildings, availability rose to 29%.

Following on the heels of North Belt/Greenpoint is the Katy Freeway sub-market where availability jumped to 37% overall, and to 41% in Class A buildings.

Hope? In Q2, there has been a “surprising jump,” as Savills put it, in activity: 2.9 msf were leased, up 75% from the frozen level in Q1. That’s still 18% below long-term trend of 3.3 msf, and “does not yet represent a reversal from the trend.” Over the last four quarters, 8.5 msf were leased, 36% below the 10-year average, and the lowest four-quarter volume on record.

And much of this deal volume is companies vacating one office and moving into another, which doesn’t help the overall market that much.

Plus, it wasn’t oil companies that suddenly decided to take on new space. Of the ten largest deals, nine were by non-energy companies accounting for 96% of the volume on a square-foot basis.

The largest deal: American Bureau of Shipping leased the entire CityPlace 2 tower with 326,800 sf, which will break ground next year. So this doesn’t help the current market either. In fact, the office space it will vacate is in, you guessed it, the Greenspoint area.

The sole energy company among the top ten is Patterson-UTI Drilling. It will move into 34,748 sf at the vacant and immensely desperate Remington Square III Tower, built last year. It will move out of its space in, you guessed it, the Greenspoint area.

Companies are downsizing and trying to shed office space they leased years ago during the boom when they believed the industry hype that there would be an office shortage, but never occupied this space. This hogging of unused office space in itself creates demand and pushes up prices and fosters the illusion of a sustainable office boom – and a shortage. But now this empty space is hitting the sublease market overnight.

And “see-through buildings” – a term coined during the 1980s oil bust for shells of buildings whose floors weren’t built out – are showing up again on the sublease market.

Just in June, ConocoPhillips put the entire 597,000-sf EnergyCenter Four tower on the sublease market. It was completed last year, has never been used, andremains an empty shell. “See-through” because you can see through the building whose floors haven’t been built out.

Shell, BP, BHP Billiton, and Noble Drilling also have at least 300,000 sf of office space each on the sublease market, waiting for a tenant.

They’re responsible for this sublease space until lease expiration. Then it becomes the landlord’s headache. By 2018, about 30% of these leases will have expired, and by 2019, 48%. As the costs shift from tenants to landlords, they might decide that this is hopeless, as Hines had done. Landlords might then shuffle a big part of the loss to the lender.

Sublease space in Greater Houston has soared to 11.7 msf, according to JLL’s Houston team. Every month on average, 580,000 sf of subleases are coming on the market. In June alone, a stunning 2.14 msf! In two years, sublease space has nearly tripled! This chart shows what the quarterly sublease fiasco looks like:

And according to JLL Houston, very little has been absorbed. Year-to-date, only 802,500 sf of it was leased in 140 deals with a “tiny” average of 5,732 sf. Just small companies looking for opportunities.

So what about asking rents? They dropped only 1.2% in the quarter to $29.40 in the Greater Houston market. But the metric is becoming meaningless. Savills Studley:

In order to avoid marketing dramatically lower rates, landlords and sublessors continued to shy away from the concept of asking rates altogether. In the second quarter, only 26.8% of all available space was listed without face rent. In the sublease sector, rates were withheld for 58.1% of the available square footage.

And these withheld rental rates “depict a narrative of ‘take’ rates dramatically lower than disclosed ‘ask’ rates.”

But in every meltdown there are opportunities. “For financially and operationally sound companies” – so not exactly the average oil and gas driller – “with upcoming lease expirations or other space needs, uncertainty within the tenuous future should provide enough leverage to strike a tenant-friendly deal with flexibility and a generous tenant improvement allowance.”

If there were only enough of these potential tenants! And if only they didn’t have to move out of their existing office space!

In Calgary, the epicenter of the Canadian oil bust, the office sector is collapsing at a breath-taking rate. Read…  How the Oil Bust is Crushing a Downtown of Office Towers

SEE ALSO: One province in Canada's real estate market is 'collapsing at a breath-taking rate'

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Facebook is thinking about opening up an office in San Francisco, which would be a huge boon for employees who have been dreaming of an easier commute, the San Francisco Business Times reports, based on conversations with three real-estate sources.

Most of the biggest tech companies in Silicon Valley, including Google, Apple, and Yahoo, have a smaller office in San Francisco, but Facebook has always decided to keep its Bay Area employees together at its huge Menlo Park headquarters.

This decision has brought grief for city-based employees because the commute can take up to two hours with traffic, which can feel like "a soul-crushing waste of time" despite the Wi-Fi-enabled free shuttles.

Anecdotally, this issue comes up in almost every conversation we've had with Facebook employees. Apparently, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made it clear that he prefers to keep all employees together to foster creativity and better collaboration between teams. Facebook has even paid employees at least $10,000 to move closer to the office.

But Facebook is now reportedly contemplating leasing "hundreds of thousands" of square feet, though the plans are very preliminary, sources tell the Business Times' Roland Li.

Though, having a smaller city office can cause its own problems, like having employees jockey for the chance to work there. We've heard that Google, for instance, has had to warn employees that they can't work in the San Francisco office on Fridays just to make it easier to launch into the weekend.

Facebook didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Los Angeles' most notorious house has just sold for a cool $2.29 million, Curbed LA reported. Though it was long rumored to be haunted by previous residents, the home was originally listed in March for $2.7 million, boasting beautiful views, a glass conservatory, formal dining room, and a third-floor ballroom and bar.

However, the home has in fact been uninhabited since the 1959 murder-suicide that occurred in one of its four bedrooms. Dr. Harold Perelson, a cardiologist who lived in the house with his wife and three children, was the alleged murderer — killing his wife with a ball-peen hammer, attacking his daughter, and finally taking his own life.

Infamous for its chilling story, the house has remained somewhat of a time capsule. While it's been used as storage for some of its more recent owners, only one family is rumored to have lived on the property since the incident. If the rumors are true, they fled in the middle of the night on the anniversary of the killing.

Listing agent Nancy Sanborn told Curbed that the new owners plan to fix up the home before moving in.

Just before the house went on the market, photographer Alexis Vaughn was able to go inside the property and capture a few images of its interior. Below are 14 photos that Vaughn told us she hopes "transports my viewers there."

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The house was originally bought by the Perelsons for $60,000 in the 1950s.

Source: Medium

At that time, the house was described as a "delightful 12-room home, with terraced lawns, artistic gardens and a magnificent view," according to a recent article by Jeff Maysh on Medium.

Source: Medium

It was at 4:30 a.m. on December 6, 1959, when Perelson attacked his wife with a ball-peen hammer to the head. Because of the trauma, she asphyxiated on her own blood.

Top tech workers in San Francisco can add another perk to the free meals and massages: zero-down mortgages.

Housing prices in the San Francisco Bay Area have gone insane in the past few years, to put it mildly. San Francisco's median home value sits at $1.13 million, a 67% increase since 2011, according to Bloomberg. In 2015, San Francisco's median home price was six times the national average.

This upsurge is the result of a variety of factors, but it has been driven forward, hard, by the rise of the tech industry.

Yet there's a strange paradox for tech workers who are trying to buy homes. On one hand, their enormous salaries are pushing up home values. But on the other hand, a lot of their assets are in things like company equity, and aren't liquid.

This means it can get tricky when tech workers are trying to come up with a down payment. Bloomberg notes that some of these down payments can cost as much as the average US house ($187,000).

But companies like San Francisco Federal Credit Union are being proactive about this problem. In December, the company started offering zero-down mortgages on homes costing up to $2 million, according to Bloomberg. SFFCU defends its practices by pointing out that it rejects four in 10 applicants, and that approved people have an average household income of $219,000, and a 747 FICO score.

“We are vetting our borrowers to make sure they can afford it and have reserves," SFFCU chief lending officer, Rebecca Reynolds Lytle, told Bloomberg. But still: “It’s a loan — it’s not going to be risk free.” 

Others are not so charitable about this type of lending practice.

“Given what we went through in 2008, zero-down financing is suicidal for our country,” Chuck Green, CEO of mortgage broker Bay Area Capital Funding, told Bloomberg.

But zero-down mortgages aren't the only way banks are trying to attract tech workers. 

First Republic Bank has even opened branches inside Facebook and Twitter's headquarters to try and snag them.

SEE ALSO: This is why San Francisco's insane housing market has hit the crisis point

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Are millions of homeowners sitting on much bigger equity nest eggs than they think? Do you know how much equity you’ve got? If not, could you be missing opportunities to tap into it for worthwhile projects at close to all-time low interest rates?

Academic and financial industry research suggests that large numbers of Americans don’t keep track of their equity and don’t really know how they could use it. That’s curious because home equity has almost never been higher or easier to access. The Federal Reserve estimates that, thanks to rising prices and principal paydowns, total home equity surpassed $13 trillion in the first quarter of this year, more than double what it was in 2011. Black Knight Financial Services, a mortgage data and analytics company, estimated last week that $4.4 trillion of equity is immediately “tappable” — that is, owners can withdraw funds via equity credit lines, equity loans and cash-out refinancings, and still retain a healthy equity cushion in their homes.

Equity is the difference between the market value of your home and the total mortgage debt you’ve got against it. A $350,000 house with $175,000 in mortgage debt has equity of $175,000 — a 50 percent equity position. Thirty eight million owners nationwide have at least 20 percent equity, averaging $116,000 per owner, according to Black Knight. Many lenders will allow owners to tap into that equity to the extent that their total debt does not exceed 80 percent of the home’s appraised value.

So in the example of the $350,000 house with $175,000 in equity, you might be able to borrow another $100,000, bringing your total debt up to $275,000 or just under 80 percent of your property value. If there’s no need to pull out that much — say you need some cash to renovate the kitchen and add a bathroom — you could borrow considerably less, say $25,000 or $50,000.

But before any of that happens you need to know the basics about equity — starting with how much you’ve got. Research by mortgage investor Fannie Mae and analytics firm CoreLogic has documented that owners frequently underestimate the home equity they’ve accumulated. Millions of owners saw their property values plummet during and after the financial crisis and recession. Following that nightmare many seem to have tuned out news of home value rebounds, which have been substantial in many metropolitan areas and spectacular in others.

If you don’t know your home’s approximate value, it’s tough to calculate your equity position, even if you know your unpaid mortgage balance to the penny. There are multiple resources online (Redfin.com and realtor.com are examples) to help you keep up with local sales trends and provide rough estimates of almost any property’s value. Just type in an address and see what pops up. You can also talk with local realty agents and, if you’re willing to spend a few hundred dollars, hire an appraiser to get a professional opinion.

Then there’s the knowledge gap about equity-tapping tools and uses. New consumer survey research by Navy Federal, the world’s largest credit union, found that 55 percent of survey participants reported having “little or no knowledge of home equity loans or lines of credit.” Eighty-eight percent were generally aware that home equity funds could be used for renovations to their homes, but between 32 percent and 48 percent didn’t know they could spend equity dollars on medical bills, weddings, and “unexpected expenses.” In fact, lenders do not restrict your use of equity cash.

Equity credit lines, popularly known as HELOCs, allow you to pull out funds whenever you need them, up to a set limit. Navy Federal’s HELOCs provide a 20 year period of withdrawals followed by 20 years to repay the balance. The current variable interest rate is 3.99 percent.

Equity loans are fully amortizing second mortgages — you pay interest plus principal for anywhere from 5 to 20 years. Interest rates at major banks run from the low 4 percent range upward, depending on your credit standing and equity cushion.

Still another way to access equity is to refinance your mortgage for a higher amount than your current balance — a cash-out refi. It’s like any other refi except that you walk away from the closing with money in your wallet and a larger loan balance, ideally at a lower interest rate than you had before.

Bottom line: Check out your equity. You may well have more of it at your disposal than you thought.

SEE ALSO: A down payment turns out to be the biggest hurdle for millennial home-buyers

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Should you buy or rent a home?

The flowchart below may be able to help you decide.

Like with most money questions, there's no one universal answer. Instead, it depends on your own situation, from the state of your savings to whether you're willing to coordinate getting a leaky faucet fixed.

When going through the chart, keep in mind that your answer is just for now. If the chart says that you're better off renting, then it certainly doesn't mean that you have to rent forever.

In six months, a year, or even a matter of weeks, your situation could change and so could your answer.

For more insight into any of these questions, check out the explanation from financial experts.

SEE ALSO: Here's how long it will take to have a down payment by saving $10 a day

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Homebuyer demand fell 17 percent in June, the fifth-consecutive month of year-over-year declines in early-stage homebuyer activity. The Redfin Housing Demand Index, based on thousands of Redfin customers requesting home tours and writing offers, fell 7 percent from May to a seasonally adjusted level of 88 in June.

Today Redfin unveils an improved version of its Demand Index, which tracks the earliest stages of homebuyer demand across 15 major metro areas. The Demand Index uses a new methodology that computes a seasonally adjusted value to reflect the level of homebuyer activity, enabling us to compare demand from one month to another accounting for expected seasonal changes. Redfin also introduces seasonally adjusted metro-level Demand Indices for 14 markets.

The Redfin Housing Demand Index, the industry’s first and only measure of homebuyer activity prior to purchase, has a benchmark of 100, representing the three-year historical average from January 2013 through December 2015. A Demand Index reading over 100 reflects high, or stronger-than-expected demand. A reading below 100 means demand is relatively weak and there is less activity than expected. The Demand Index is a forward-looking metric that is highly correlated with existing-home sales levels seen two months later as reported by the National Association of Realtors.

The number of Redfin customers requesting tours in June was up 9.2 percent year over year, the smallest increase in tour activity seen since August 2014. Customers requesting tours fell 6 percent from May. Seven percent fewer people wrote home-purchase offers in June than did a year earlier and there was a 5.6 percent drop in offer-writing activity from May.

Based on June’s demand decline, we expect sales to slow from their current pace in August.

Even though the market feels hot, with 7.6 percent fewer homes for sale across the 15 metros tracked by Demand Index, there simply wasn’t much for buyers to act on last month. Still, there were more buyers than homes, which meant homes sold quickly, many over list price and often in bidding wars.

“These major metro areas have all felt the squeeze from inventory, meaning there was just less for buyers to look at,” said Redfin chief economist Nela Richardson. “It’s not surprising that demand reflects that squeeze. Even strong buyer interest can’t squeeze a fresh listing from what’s become a dry turnip of housing supply.”

Metro-Level Demand

Demand fell from last year in 10 metro areas in June from May. The biggest year-over-year decrease in demand was seen in Denver, where the Demand Index fell 54.7 percent. Baltimore saw the biggest annual increase in demand, up 20.7 percent in June. Six markets posted month-over-month decreases in demand. Atlanta posted the biggest monthly decrease, with the local Demand Index down 47.1 percent in June.San Francisco posted the biggest month-over-month gain, up 45 percent.  

“After enduring slumping sales for most of 2016, San Francisco is poised to rebound in the second half of the year,” said Richardson. “The increase in homes for sale and slowing price growth have encouraged Bay Area buyers, drawing them back into the market.”  

Washington, DC

"There's a mismatch in the market between what homes are in high-demand and what homes are available for sale. The sweet spot for buyers is between $350,000 and $800,000 but most of the homes being listed fall outside that range. It's frustrating for buyers competing in intense bidding wars for homes in that range and for sellers above and below it seeing their homes sit on the market."

-Dan Galloway, Redfin Agent

Baltimore, MD

"This is the busiest summer I've had in the five years I've been at Redfin. Demand is strong for this time of year because spring got off to a late start, thanks to snow in March, when sellers are normally landscaping and getting their homes ready to list. So we're still experiencing a spring market, and low mortage rates, thanks to Brexit, are driving more people than usual to buy now."

-Lynn Ikle, Redfin Agent

San Francisco, CA

"Unlike many other cities, San Francisco sees much less of a seasonal downturn come summer time. In fact, we often have an influx of buyers in the summer. This year that was the case in June. One key factor is that price growth has slowed, and with a return to more normalcy in the market we are seeing a lot of people touring and making offers. It used to be that only ultra-aggressive buyers were successful, but that's not the case anymore. This summer, buyers who want to find a house actually can and there's much less buyer burnout. I think we'll continue to see high demand throughout the summer and into the fall."

-Mark Colwell, Redfin Agent

Second homes aren't just for the 1%.

"Anyone in any income bracket can afford a second home if they set themselves up to do it," luxury real estate expert Shane Herbert of Park City, Utah tells Business Insider. "In Park City, we sell $80,000 condos and $20 million homes. The media is so focused on the 1% and what they can do in the world, but there are so many opportunities for everyone."

If you have the money, what next? Below, find seven questions to ask yourself as you hunt for your second home.

SEE ALSO: ASK A FINANCIAL PLANNER: Should I get a 15- or 30-year mortgage?

1. Do I really understand what it takes to carry a second home?

Even if you're flush with cash, Herbert says most people underestimate the cost of carrying a second home. "It's two of everything," he says. "Two tax payments, two insurance payments, having to pay someone to cut the lawn twice."

Plus, he cautions that lending standards might be more stringent in second-home markets. "People need to be prepared to put more down if they're going to seek financing," he says. "The lender could ask for as much as 30% down if you're buying something like a resort condo. Knowing what type of product you're buying might dictate how much you need to invest initially." In addition to a higher down payment, a lender might look for extra documentation that the buyer has extra cash on hand or a lower-than-usual debt-to-income ratio.

"Think: Do I have time to finance this property?" Herbert suggests. "Lenders generally put the buyer under more scrutiny on their second home."

2. How much time will I spend there?

If you can float the cost of your second home today, it's time to look a few years into the future. "How much time will you spend there?" Herbert asks. "How many years will you enjoy the property? Are your kids five, and you want to own through senior year of high school?"

3. What type of memories do I plan to make there? What's the lifestyle I will live?

Once you know how long you want to be there, it's time to consider how your family's life there will change over the years. This summer, you might have elementary school kids who just need a sprinkler and a local ice cream joint to be happy. But what about when you have teenagers?

Herbert points out that in Park City, most of the second-home owners are seeking a lifestyle where the family can ski together. "But you might find out later that all members of your family don't ski," he says. "Make sure you're not focusing on one area because you think that's the activity your family will enjoy for the next few years."

One of the best ways to get an idea of what life is really like there is to talk to people who live in the community, he says. Ask the Chamber of Commerce and your realtor if there's anyone you can talk to about the local lifestyle.

Taylor Swift bought an 11,000-square-foot Rhode Island mansion for $17.75 million in 2013, and she reportedly paid for it in cash.

Since then, the musician has put her hard-earned, lavish home to good use by hosting numerous parties with famous friends, known as her squad.

Built in 1930, the mansion sits on the highest point in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, and features 700 feet of shoreline and views of Little Narragansett Bay, according to the real-estate site Zillow.

It includes eight bedrooms, eight fireplaces, and a pool in the back, which was the site of a notable Fourth of July party that Swift hosted this month.

Check out the inside of Swift's home and see her A-list parties in action:

SEE ALSO: No one wants to buy 50 Cent's incredible $6 million mansion that he's been forced to sell due to bankruptcy

MORE HERE: Inside Drake's $8 million mansion with a pool that puts Hugh Hefner to shame

This is High Watch in Rhode Island, Taylor Swift's seaside mansion.

She reportedly paid for the mansion by wiring $17.75 million in cash to a realtor in 2013.

Source: TMZ

Inside, Swift's pad has over 11,000 square feet of space.

By Katie Hawkins, as told to Natalie Wise

A lot of people think I’m crazy for buying a house by myself in the city. It comes up a lot in conversation. People think buying a house is something you do as a couple once you get married. But I don’t want to pay rent my whole life. I’d rather make the most of my money.

Still, every time I looked at the numbers for buying a house, they were big. But every time I paid my rent, all I could think about was how that money could be going toward a house. Real estate in Atlanta is expensive, but so is rent.

I didn’t think I had the purchasing power for a traditional loan until a friend told me about a different kind of loan that required living in a non-gentrified neighborhood for five years to qualify for no down payment. I took this as a sign and decided to talk to a real estate agent.

The real estate agent found me an even better loan, where I didn’t have to commit to staying for five years. As soon as I realized I really might be able to buy a house, I cut back on everything, spending as little as possible and saving as much as I could. You don’t even want to know how little my food budget was or how much ramen I ate.

Originally I wanted a fixer-upper, thinking I could have roommates to cover the cost of renovating. But after offers I put in on two homes fell through, I found a small condo.

The purchasing process itself wasn’t easy. I had a lot of trouble closing the deal, but we made it happen. I was 28 when I bought the condo.

Lessons learned

My best advice to anyone looking to buy a home is to find a good real estate agent. I felt very alone throughout much of the home-buying process. Most of my friends had their husbands to lean on emotionally, but I was on my own. My agent made things easier for me. The best tip he gave me was to drive by houses I was interested in at night to make sure the neighborhood felt safe to me.

Negotiating the price took a month and a half. I had already moved out of my apartment, so I was couch-surfing with friends. When I felt I had overstayed my welcome, I slept a few nights in my car.

That was the breaking point. When my real estate agent heard that, he told the clients, and they signed the next day. I had to pay closing costs, though, which took every bit I had saved at the beginning.

Home sweet home

My condo is located in Grant Park, a fun neighborhood in Atlanta. Location is one of the main reasons I put in an offer on the place. I love the neighborly feel of having a park outside my door and a popular coffee shop less than a minute walk away, and being able to bike to work on the Beltline.

The condo is small, with only 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. But it feels cozy, and I’m making it more and more like home each day. My favorite feature of the condo is actually the hall coat closet, which are surprisingly uncommon in apartments and condos. It’s more of a home feature. I also love my walk-in closet.

I was lucky that the bathroom had just been renovated before I moved in. I’ll probably want to upgrade the kitchen appliances soon, and will probably need a new hot water heater in the next couple of years, too.

I’m glad I didn’t get a fixer-upper now. I can barely keep up with cleaning the 700 square feet I have now. Not to mention I’m still learning how to use power tools.

I am super grateful for this condo, and I love it. The comments about buying a house alone don’t bother me as much anymore. I love the freedom I have.

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Despite the bruising housing market crash of 2008, home ownership still ranks up there with a successful career and happy family life as a key pillar of the American Dream. In fact, a recent survey found that 71% of adults say that purchasing a home is a top personal goal.

Buying often makes financial sense, which is why phrases like “renting is just throwing money away” and “it’s better to buy than to rent” have likely been drummed into your head.

“Historically, buying has been the way to go,” says Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®) Jennifer Lane, founder of Compass Planning Associates. “Members of the Baby Boom generation settled down young and usually worked for a single employer with a pension.” But these days, the old rule doesn’t necessarily apply. “Now, it’s important to be mobile for your career,” adds Lane.

The fluid nature of today’s work world may in part explain why renting is on the rise. According to the report, ‘From Own to Rent’ by real estate information site Trulia, the number of tenants jumped from 39% to 43% between 2006 and 2014. But a host of other circumstances also make writing a monthly check to a landlord a smarter course of action.

Before you hit the open house circuit, find out the eight signs renting is the wiser strategy.

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1. You might move in the next 5 years.

It takes about five years for your investment in a home to earn money, so if you suspect you’ll want to move before then, beware. Not only will you have to shell out serious cash for a down payment, selling can be pricey, too.

In addition to the average Realtor’s commission of about 5%, you’ll pay transfer and capital gains taxes, escrow fees and moving fees—plus the potential cost of improvements to bring your house up to code and have it staged to make it attractive to potential buyers.

“You want to stay in the home long enough for the equity you get from paying off the mortgage to outweigh those additional costs,” says Ralph McLaughlin, chief economist at Trulia. “When making the decision about whether to rent or buy, the single most important consideration is how long you think you’ll be there.”

Even if you’re planning on staying put after you buy, take an honest look at how secure your life situation is. “If you don’t have a solid career path, dislike your boss or have a gut feeling that the company is headed in the wrong direction, hang tight and keep renting,” says Brendon DeSimone, manager of the Bedford, New York, office of Houlihan Lawrence and author of “Next Generation Real Estate.”

Evaluate your personal life as well. “Your relationship should be on stable footing,” DeSimone says. Expect to settle down in the near future and even start a family? Don’t buy a place that suits the single-and-no-kids version of yourself. And if your love life is rocky, hold off on purchasing a home together. “I’ve had clients tell me they bought a place because they wanted to make the relationship work,” DeSimone says. “Then they end up getting divorced and are forced to sell too soon.”

Finally, get real about the lifestyle you hope to pursue. When you project what your life will look like in half a decade, does it make sense to live where you are? “Remember that renting gives you the flexibility and freedom to travel,” DeSimone says. If enjoying a free-wheeling, footloose experience is appealing, then don’t spring for a place right now.

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2. You can’t afford a 20% down payment.

Congrats, you found your dream home! Put down less than 20%, however, and it can end up costing you in the long run. “If you can only put a low down payment on a house, that generally means you’ll be charged a higher interest rate,” McLaughlin says. “You’ll also likely have to pay mortgage insurance, a monthly fee that ranges from about $50 to $500 and goes directly to an insurance company protecting the bank’s interest—not yours.”

Usually you can stop paying for insurance once you hit a 20% loan-to-value ratio, but in the meantime, the whole situation is a money suck. And since the majority of your mortgage payments are going toward interest, you’re not building a lot of equity.

Contributing less than 20% can also put you in a precarious financial position. “Even if you think you’re ready to be in the home forever, life happens, and the 20% down payment gives you a safety zone,” Lane says. Since the cost of selling can be in the ballpark of 10% of the house’s value, if you’ve only made a low down payment, the closing fees can easily surpass what little equity you’ve earned.

On top of that, if the property has lost value, you might not be able to net what you bought it for. And if you don’t have enough ready cash to bring to the closing, you could be stuck in the house or forced to file for bankruptcy. Gulp!

3. You already have a sweet deal on rent.

If you’re paying next to nada for a fabulous pad in a high-demand area, it may be savvier to sign another lease instead of buying. “On a month-to-month basis, it’s often cheaper to rent,” says Lane.

Of course, just because you’ve scored a bargain, don’t make the mistake of spending that extra cash on fun stuff, like clothes, dinners and trips. “A mortgage is a forced ‘savings’ program, where the amount of principal increases over the years,” Lane says. “So if you do have a crazy-low rent, establish an intentional savings plan and invest the difference.”

Begin by calculating how much you’d pay for a mortgage on a similar home in the same area—let’s say $1,800 a month compared to your $1,200 rent. Then, set up direct deposit to funnel the $600 difference straight into a mutual fund. Who knows? You just might be able to use it for a down payment in the future.

Rupert Murdoch has finally shed his West Village townhouse for a sale price of $27.5 million, according to The New York Observer.

Murdoch was originally asking for $28.9 million for the six-floor, 25-foot-wide townhouse. Murdoch bought the home for $25 million in March 2015, but listed it for sale just five months later.

He also owns the penthouse at One Madison, which he still has listed at $72 million.

The townhouse was bought through a shell company called West 11th Street LLC, according to The Observer.

Dolly Lenz had the listing.

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Located at 278 W. 11th St., the 25-foot-wide townhouse was originally a bed-and-breakfast.

Murdoch converted it into a six-story mansion — counting the basement and roof deck — that is now "triple mint,""turn-key," and "ready to move in tomorrow," Lenz told Page Six.

Source: Page Six

If residents prefer not to take the winding sculptural staircase, then a four-person elevator can take them between the various levels.

The most expensive home currently for sale in the state of New Hampshire is actually three houses in one. 

Owned by the family of Bob Bahre, the New Hampshire International Speedway founders who sold their stake in the company for $340 million in 2008, the property stretches over 16.5 acres on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee.

The property encompasses two main homes — one for Bob and his wife Sandy, and one for their son, Gary — that total more than 63,000 square feet of space. There's also a third structure, an "entertaining barn" where the family has toasted Nascar drivers before big races and where Gary has hosted prominent economists during a summit he puts on each year. 

Though the property has had a significant price chop since it first came to market at $49 million in 2014, the current $25.8 million price tag still makes it the most expensive home in the state. The Bahre family doesn't think much of the title, though.

"It's kind of odd to think that I was fortunate enough to live in what's considered the most valuable house in the state," Gary Bahre told Business Insider. "My mom and dad gave me a lot of opportunities, and I'm grateful for that."

Kristin Claire of LandVest and Christie's International Real Estate has the listing.

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The homes sit on the very edge of the 28-mile Lake Winnipesaukee in Alton, New Hampshire.

There are multiple docks to help take advantage of the water.

The family custom-built the homes over the span of roughly five years. They bought the land for just $2.5 million in the '90s. "At that time, my parents and I owned the speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire, and we were really active in the business there. That's why we wanted to buy a space nearby in the first place," Gary said. "My parents were hopeful that I would have a family of my own, so they pushed me to build my own home. But my house requires more animation than a 53-year-old bachelor could give it."

This year, sellers are unabashed in stating that they think now is a good time to sell and that they hold the power in the housing market. According to the latest Redfin Survey of home sellers conducted this month, 52 percent think now is a good time to sell in their neighborhood (up from 34 percent last year) and 58 percent think sellers have more power than buyers (up from 44 percent last year).

This is the second consecutive quarter in which the majority of sellers think now is a good time to sell and nearly the highest level of seller confidence we’ve recorded.

It makes sense that sellers are feeling good. June was the fastest and most competitive housing market on record. Inventory has been down nationally and is downright barren in cities such as Seattle, Denver and Oakland. Nationally, there are just 2.8 months of housing supply, the lowest level Redfin has recorded since we began keeping track in 2009. Six months of inventory is considered to be balanced, with lower figures favoring sellers.

Redfin real estate agents report that they’re starting to notice a newfound confidence in home sellers. That means it’s a critical time to advise against going overboard on price as today’s buyers are savvy and unwilling to overpay despite sellers’ control of the market.

“While we’re noticing a shift among sellers in terms of their confidence in getting their homes sold quickly and for good prices, it’s up to the agent as their advocate to keep their expectations grounded and recommend a pricing strategy that is most likely to get the best value for their home,” said Atlanta Redfin agent Sascha Gummersbach. “A seller’s market doesn’t grant homeowners a license to skip things like valuable upgrades, home staging or setting a price based on comparable homes in their neighborhood.”

Seller concerns about finding another home have declined compared to last quarter

Finding a home to buy remains at the top of sellers’ list of worries, with 30 percent identifying that issue. The good news is that overall concern about finding a desirable, affordable replacement home has declined seven percentage points from last quarter. Concerns about low appraisals and about buyers being discouraged by general economic conditions and rising mortgage rates are less widespread than they were at this time last year.

Sellers want larger, nicer homes in higher-rated school districts

Wanting a larger or nicer home topped the list of reasons people are looking to sell at 40 percent, up from 29 percent last year. Selling in order to move to a better school district increased to 15 percent, up from 7 percent last year.

“Many move-up buyers have told me they are buying now to take advantage of low mortgage rates,” said Redfin Little Rock real estate agent William Porterfield. “Buyers are trying to get as much home as possible before rates rise.”

Pricing in the middle is still the preferred method

Sellers’ pricing strategies have remained largely unchanged since a year ago, led by pricing in a middle range at 55 percent and pricing high at 33 percent.

About the survey

Redfin conducted the survey by email July 16-19, 2016, receiving responses from 1,793 homeowners in 24 states plus DC.

SEE ALSO: Here's a look at housing demand in 15 major US cities

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As of about a month ago, I'm officially a homeowner.

My husband and I laid claim to our own little corner of a building that used to be a pickle factory, and so far, it's been both my greatest joy and the biggest source of stress I've ever encountered in my life.

Most people only like to talk about that first part.

It's like when you announce you're pregnant: Before you get knocked up, your friends are telling you what a joy it is to make offspring and how their kids are such a blessing and they wouldn't imagine life any other way.

But when you share the news about your own bundle of joy, suddenly those blissful new parents change their tone. "Ha! Good luck ever getting sleep again!"

Buying a house is like that.

Every one of your friends who own their own place want you to be part of the club. And there are a lot of benefits—don't get me wrong. I have so much more space. I can paint the walls whatever color I want to. And I can make plans for, like, 10 years from now and know we'll probably be living blissfully right here in this loft. But some other things about owning are the pits.

A short list from my really long month:

SEE ALSO: This flowchart could help you decide whether to buy or rent a home

Things can break at any moment

Before you close on your home, your lender will likely arrange for an inspection to determine if there are any pressing repairs that need to be finished before the sale, or factored into your contract.

Our inspector warned us about the 12-year-old air conditioner—still doing just fine, knock on wood—but the weaning washing machine, about 20 days from deciding to leak all over the laundry room, evaded detection.

So, yeah, we had to unexpectedly replace the washer in the first month. All you can really do is shrug, then continue to save for unpredictable repairs.

HOAs are a blessing and a curse

If you're buying a condo, like we did, there will be something called a homeowners association that collects fees from residents of the property and uses those funds to take care of the building itself (and sometimes pay utilities like trash, water and sewer).

Coming from apartment life, it's nice to know that certain things are being taken care of outside of our four walls.

But monthly HOA fees won't cover everything. When the roof springs a leak—like ours has (I'm telling you, it's been an expensive month)—the HOA will issue an assessment, which means that the residents pool together to pay for the repairs. The leak isn't affecting our unit, but we're part of the HOA, so we're expected to pay up.

You can't know or predict everything

My husband and I are impulsive people who know what we like, so I'm actually not surprised that we bought the second home we saw. But whether you make on offer on the first place you see, or take months to conduct a thorough search to find the perfect place, there are still things about your home that you're going to learn on the fly.

For instance, I've learned that there's no easy way for drivers to deliver packages to the people in our building. And more often than not, those packages get left out in reach of the elements, resulting in me having to ship two very soggy books back to Amazon.com.

The best thing you can do to really understand what it would be like to live in a place is to talk to neighbors and even the seller. This package problem wouldn't have changed how I felt about buying our loft, but I wish I could have started working on another plan for shopping online before we moved in.

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Urban Outfitters may sell trendy clothes, but the company's former CEO has an eye for design that doesn't stop at the checkout counter.

According to Curbed NY, Urban Outfitters' former CEO Glen Senk and husband Keith Johnson, a onetime Anthropologie buyer-at-large, are listing their Greenwich Village townhome for $17 million. 

The couple purchased the home for $8 million in 2012 and spent a year renovating it. In 2014, Harper's Bazaar published a photo tour of the stunning home, which Senk described as "kind of the gay couple's ultimate fantasy town house."

You'll find Italian-inspired elements throughout the home, as well as a welcoming outdoor space. Although Senk said the couple was "planning on being here for quite some time," it seems that that is no longer the case. The unit spans five stories and has four bedrooms and 4.5 baths. 

Leighton Candler and Jennifer Reardon of The Corcoran Group have the listing.

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The five-story home in Greenwich Village features a balcony with prewar details.

The living room boasts high ceilings and lets in plenty of natural light.

Take note of the Italian details decorating the chef's kitchen, complete with Art Deco elements and rustic charm.