Investment of one's had earned money could be a tricky business. Like the stock market, the real estate market too is temperamental and may exhibit unpredictable behaviour. In the US, as much as one- third of an average American's total assets after deducting the liabilities lie in the real estate area. It is further interesting to note that 48% of the American millionaires have made their wealth in real estate.

Even with the elements of uncertainty and risk looming over many people are drawn towards property investment. Let us explore what makes real estate business attractive to an ordinary American.

Several factors encourage even the most cautious of individuals towards making an investment in commercial real estate. These are 1) it is income generating 2) tremendous appreciation of the capital investment 3) the fact that the investment can be made with up to 30% cash down 4) upholds some value of security and 5) offers lots of diversity.

Having seen the attractions of property investment, an understanding of the factors determining the trends of real estate business is also equally important.

These include:

1) state of economy: this essentially affects people's capacity to purchase. The global economy when becomes dull, real estate business also generally slows down.

2) bank interest rates: when there is a hike in the rates, naturally the buying power drops.

3) legislative factors can exert a considerable influence on properties. Policies of the government involving tax deductions and subsidies can affect the market considerably.

4) demographic statistics like age/ gender/ income/ migration data/ population expansion etc. can affect prices in the real estate market significantly.

As was accurately predicted in the late 90's, the US economy took a turn to the down in 2008. Even with this prior knowledge in hand, nobody seemed to be prepared for the devastating destruction it caused.

The real estate market typically and invariably falls through a cycle of 4 stages and it pays to have an understanding of this to know the trending in the market.

These stages will be: 1) the stage of recovery- as implied, here the government takes measures to lower the interest rates prompting investment and when the economy is low, prices to drop. And the process of recovery thus starts when vacant places start getting occupied. 2) stage of expansion where occupancy becomes near total and demand increases. Prices especially rents start to go upward. Increased profit will naturally attract more investment and so expansion continues. 3) stage of expansion along with increased supply where prices are high demands are high and supply is also high. 4) stage of recession: the first pointer to this is the stagnant rent rate even with the high occupancy rate. Now the occupancy starts falling. Though this will arrest measures to provide new supply, those that have been already delivered have to stay and remain unoccupied. The rent rates drop and subsequently the income of the investors. Next, the interest rates go up. The combination of dropped rates of rent as well as occupancy and increased rates of borrowing will considerably eat up the investors resources with not much scope for profit prompting foreclosures.

So what is the duration of this cycle? Statistical records prove that on an average this cycle can range between a time period between 10-20 years with the exception of WW II and 1979.

Currently we are moving to expansion from recovery and 8 years ahead of the recession of 2008. So when is the next catastrophic crash predicted? As per experts' opinion it might be in the year 2024.

In summary, the real estate market in the US is not all that unpredictable after all. A proper understanding of its fairly regular behavioural pattern can bring higher returns and security to the investor. So the dear investor makes an effort and the property market beckons.

Expert economists are of two kinds, those who believe in the economic cycle theory and those who don't. The theory of economic cycle has helped predict most of the financial market collapses and peaks of the past. As per this theory, the US could be heading for one of the worst financial crisis ever around 2017-2020. Is this bound to happen? If yes, what would be the circumstances leading to such a predicament and more importantly what could be its impact on the already widened economic strata of the society?

Unemployment crisis that especially aggregated by military layoffs and tech company layoffs that shook the nation is now slowly settling down. Job market does not bleak mow and more people are changing their status to employed from unemployed. But even then, the crisis is hovering around the corner waiting to smother us down. It has not developed overnight, but is the result of a series of events that have been slowly, steadily and stealthily making the economy unstable and leading us towards doom. Currently, as a result of inflation rearing its ugly head, the prices of commodities are on the rise and dollar on the low. The cost of education, healthcare and properties are on the rise. At the same time, income/wages is stagnant and does not show any inclination to increase. The US market is very much consumer based and has always encouraged the consumer to spend more and more. The consumer does exactly as prompted, even going beyond his/her means by borrowing more and more. The rich will get more money to invest back in the market. This widens the chasm between the rich and the mediocre/ poor of the society, making the rich richer and the poor, poorer. This could be the saddest but realistic fate of 90% of the Americans in 2017.

So the answer to what would be the circumstances that lead to 2017 crisis is without doubt, a debt laden market. Inflation is also the culprit causing more layoffs, increasing the need to borrow more and this will in turn cause more inflation raising the interest rates culminating in less economic activity. Turning a blind eye or denying its existence does not resolve the issue as it is very much here and now. There may be some economists who might fear deflation, but one begs to differ here as nothing can empty a bank account like inflation. Though inflation is said to shift the money from the savers and investors to the debtors, the wages lag and cost of living rises unbearably.

So the net effect here is economic stagnation and decline.

The summary of an analysis on this financial crisis which appears to be inevitable is though this crisis will make the rich richer, the market again is dependent on how much the mediocre / poor will spend. So the way to survive would be to curtail spending and to live well below means.

Predicting the future is a very hard task especially in the event that there are still problems with discovering what's happening in the economy of today. Anyway, it is still essential to predict the future when you are starting a fresh career, enrolling in college or investing in new skills.

The rate at which the business world is changing these days is getting higher than ever. Two of the major contributions to the fast rate of business world change are better technology and globalization. A method to actually predict which exact fields will get hot in the future is by staying away from those which aren't hot. Every year, the government's Bureau of Labour Statistics draws up a list of industries that are declining and have common trends. The list most of the times might involve jobs that are cheaper overseas, like jobs that are in low – skill assembly or machines that are becoming good human replacements, for instance call centres. Other fields that require cutting costs and downsizing are vulnerable as well.

In essence, building a lot of skill sets can be an effective way to be distinguished from others in the market. Some of the skill sets that can be considered include analytical expertise and liberal-arts background or a law degree with scientific knowledge. It is important to keep in mind that the best lasting skills are usually those that are transferable between different fields.

Either way, one will have to set up one's career in a field, so these are some fields that will most likely flourish by 2020.

Therapy and Counselling: The fact that mental heath is just as important as physical health has definitely been established. Also according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics, the demand for family and marriage statistics is most likely to increase by 41% in 2020.

Data Crunching: The time of big data is just beginning as many organizations are demanding to have information databases for their customers, competitors and themselves. Marketing and market research are two fields that are growing in the use of data exploding.

Finance. The movement and management of money is technically complex, and integral to most companies. That means there will be more need for finance experts. There may even be a shortage as students that were once involved in finance look into other different fields.

Computer Engineering: These days, most software developments are done overseas but there is still strong demand for high level computer experts to put systems together. For example, computing at high speed is rapidly becoming a competitive advantage and majority of organisations require faster and more secure networks.

Scientific Research. New innovation will keep on generating leaps forward in pharmaceutical, assembling, transportation, and numerous different fields, which implies there will be solid interest for labourers educated in science, maths, and designing. A few territories that show specific guarantee should also be considered: biotechnology and biomedicine, nanotechnology, mechanical autonomy, and 3D printing, which permits the assembling of physical items from an advanced information record.

Owning a Home in US Has Fewer Tax Benefits Than You Think

According to a research by John Burns Real Estate Consulting LLC, the tax benefits gotten by every home owner have been unattractive to normal buyers ever since the rates for mortgages began to drop in 2008. Notwithstanding the fact that most of US generations have been relying on those same tax benefits.

According to Burns, in the case of two people that are married and at a point paid 20% for a home at a median price and borrowed the rest, the normal deduction was about 2500 dollars more than the initial price they'll get when they itemize their interest for mortgage and property taxes. In a report released on April 10 2016, Burns communicated that when compared, it was discovered that those expenses were easily more than the normal deduction per year from 1972 – 2008.

The costs for borrowing that were near record lows have made the amount homeowners are capable of deducting from when filing their income taxes to reduce drastically. Back in 1971, the normal deduction for two married people was at 1, 300 dollars, but nowadays they go for 12,600 dollars. This means that there are no taxpayer's benefit for the first 12,600 dollars of itemized deductions. This was according to the research performed by Burns. Burns also said that's a major reason first time home buyers in the U.S are depressed. According to Burns during a phone interview with Bloomberg, a big reason most entry-level buyers refused to come back is because the tax benefits used to provide urgency for buyers. But now that the benefits are gone, so is the urgency.

A normal entry-level buyer paying up to 95 percent of a home that is median-priced in the US drops lower than 12,000 dollars as interest for mortgage and property taxes. According to the report given by Burns, this amount isn't enough to warrant itemizing.

Interventions by the Fed

The average rate for a fixed mortgage of 30 years was at 3.58%, as per data provided by Freddie Mac, this rate is the lowest rate seen in about 3 years and it is also very low when compared to the 6.63% rate of July, 2008.

Truly, little mortgage rates will be an advantage for entry-level buyers as purchases will be easier to afford. Also, even though at the time some mortgage holders are not receiving the deduction in interest, changes will begin to become visible as the rates continue to rise said the National Association of Home Builders' chief economist, Robert Dietz. The deduction will later assist in reducing the increase in cost for borrowing which have been predicted to rise as the benchmark lending rates rise.

Dietz also communicated that according to an analysis performed by the Joint Committee on Taxation's homebuilders' group of figures, 7 out of 10 mortgage holders take the deduction. Dietz also added that some of those buyers have probably bought the houses before the crash of mortgage rates.