Before the widespread advent of condominiums, one of the most prevalent application of air rights involved railroads. With the density of many metropolitan areas and the advent of stronger construction materials (particularly steel and concrete), many railroad companies made extra income by selling or leasing their air rights.
The most common, but overlooked, example of using air space above railroads is street overpasses above railroad tracks. When the local, state or federal government builds an overpass above train tracks, they first had to obtain the air rights over those tracks. A more discreet application has become more widespread in 20th-century cities, where land is so valuable. The Merchandise Mart and Central Post Office in Chicago, portions of the St. Louis downtown riverfront and the Park Avenue developments in New York are all examples of developments over railroad tracks. In each case, the railroads sold or leased the air rights above their tracks to allow developers to build above them. Of course, some of ground and sub-surface portions were also transferred so that columns and caissons could be built to support the developments above. Caissons are typically from the ground surface down to several feet below the surface; the columns would then rest atop the caissons.

Air rights come into play with many condominiums. Often, the condominium owner only owns the air rights, while the homeowner association owns all the walls, ceilings and floors. The condo owner only owns the air space within his or her unit. Nevertheless, that air space has proven very valuable, as condominium development has exploded throughout the country.
Within the unit’s air space, the condominium owner enjoys the usual bundle of real property ownership rights, such as possession, control, enjoyment, exclusion and disposition. The homeowner’s association can and does impose restrictions on these ownership rights, but the unit owners are normally given wide latitude.

If your lender tries to sell you (optional!) life insurance with the mortgage think it through and don’t let the lenders pretty talk convince you. Even in the hardest of times, such as we have these days, do not always justify buying a life insurance from your mortgage broker. And there are some simple reasons for that. First of all, in most cases the insurance your lender will try to sell you will be a lot more expensive that the regular, old-fashioned term life insurance. Also, any other mortgage protection should be looked upon with caution as it may turn out that it will be cheaper just to save money and attempt to pay your mortgage back faster.
Although you will most probably be asked to buy a homeowners insurance, or mortgage insurance (even though you may already have life insurance) remember that you are free to choose how much insurance you need and feel free to shop around and find the best rates for you. Again, this way you may save a few hundreds.

If you are applying for a loan it is always good to ponder on your total monthly income prior to consulting a loan broker. Although you might think that ‚not showing off’ with some of your income may be desirable from the point of view of paying taxes, when it comes to mortgages the more the better. So if you have an ‚unofficial’ income it is good to make it official and thus make it count for the bank. This way you will be able to take a bigger loan, or for a longer period of time, which would, in turn, mean that you have a smaller monthly installment to give back. The bank will keenly take into consideration your self-employed income, as well as sales commissions, or disability income. Even if you have child support, or alimony (provided you have the court order mandating the payments and some proof that they are made) you can add that too. If you also happen to have any, long forgotten stocks options, assets, or even royalties from computer software you may be almost certain you will be a valuable client in the eyes of any bank.