Real Estate Remains A Strong Investment

Opportunities to make big, quick profits in residential real estate tend to come and go in cycles. When a local market is hot, families may find it possible to buy a house at an attractive price, fix it up, and watch its value rise in just a few years.

 

When the same local market is at the low end of the appreciation cycle, reaping a profit on the family home can take a good deal more time but the reward can be just as satisfying if price and location and carefully considered.

Even in uncertain economic times like these, history shows that real estate is one of the soundest investments a family can make. During the Great Depression of the 1930s when the stock market plummeted as much as 89 percent, housing prices dropped only 39 percent. According to most of the research on housing trends, prices continually stay at the same level as, and most often appreciate faster than, the rate of inflation. Housing prices actually rose an average of 10 percent during the recessions of the mid-1970’s and early 1980s.

CENTURY 21 statisticians report that the rate of home appreciation since 1990 has been around five percent nationally, with inflation hovering around four percent. Homeowners, obviously, are still staying ahead in the real estate game on average.

And, with mortgage interest rates the lowest they’ve been in two decades, real estate today is a more attractive investment than it’s been in years.

First-time buyers are the big winners in this environment. Drawing up a budget can help you and your family decide on what you can afford. Once you’ve determined a price and picked your desired community, shop around to find the best house you can buy for your money. This strategy can help you realize greater appreciation two or three years down the road.

This is also a good time to purchase a second or vacation home. A bargain cabin in the woods today might bring an excellent return when housing prices move upward. Affordable second-home prices also allow you to purchase a vacation home that can serve as a stepping-stone to a larger retreat in the future.

But appreciation isn’t the only advantage to buying a home. The federal government thinks home ownership is so important to the future of our country that it allows mortgage interest to remain the last substantial tax shelter for families. Owners can also take deductions on their property taxes. And, the profit on the sale of your home remains tax free as long s you buy a house for a greater or equal price.

So before you decide that this is not a good time to invest in residential property, re-examine the financial benefits of owning your own home and put them to work for you. 

 

 by: W. Troy Swezey

 

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Things to Consider When Looking for Property for Rent

Property rental business is so promising these days but before you jump in and start working, there are some main information to take note. Having a rental property is a good investment which can last for a long time. This can assure more earnings and consistent collection of money. Since this a rewarding business as time goes by, it will greatly help you to be consistent,  so consider the following tips:

 

Buy only what you can afford 

 

There is a secured loan involved in rental property. You must be fully aware of your financial situation so as to buy only what you can afford. This will save you from uneasy situation wherein you have to face extra charges or fees on your loan. If you are a first time, consider the lesser expensive home and once you are used to it, you can go for more expensive properties that you think will yield good result.

You will have different expenses such as down payment, loan closing and the amount that will be covered between what the tenants pay and the mortgage loan. There are instances that renters can no longer pay or at the worse will not pay, you will be the one to shoulder the mortgage.

In owning rental property, you must consider the total mortgage payment that you will be paying if the house will stay empty for a long time. Aside from these expenses, unexpected costs may also include repair and ongoing maintenance of faulty fixtures. As an owner, you must be responsible for all the necessities of the house and therefore, it is a must to pay special care and attention on it.

 

Check if the location is good

 

Most of the renters work or have business around the area of their homes so the better the location of your "for rent" property, the better. This will make it more attractive to potential renters especially if the neighborhood has a very good reputation. It must be appealing to your target market, say for example some colleges, malls, companies or park.

The location has a great effect whether the house will stay vacant or not. If you are lucky to get one at the center of the city, there is a great chance of getting more interested buyers.

 

 Mortgage loan

 

There are different terms applies on it so select the best deal applicable to your goal. This may require you to speak with different lenders to discuss the changes in rate and other details.

 

   by: Oliver Darraugh

 

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Save Yourself From Foreclosure

Foreclosure! The word can strike terror in anyone's heart. It happens when a person has no way of paying installments and the bank thinks there is no other way to get funds. 

But this is not necessarily the last resort. Before the bank decides on a foreclosure you should examine your financial situation. 

What It Means? 

If you are losing out on the financial front and are likely to default on payments or have already defaulted a couple, you will need to look at the option of short sale. Foreclosure means that you have a permanent mark on your record. Because of it, your FICO score falls down drastically. 

This type of property short sale remains on your record for a period of 10 years and is open for anyone who has an internet connection. For example, a prospective employer can run a credit check and view your foreclosure records. This can create a negative impression on you. If you apply for a loan at a later date, this record might discourage banks. 

Benefits Of Short Selling 

If you are thinking of short sale foreclosure, the former is a clear winner. In a short sale, your credit record will only show that you have sold at a price which is slightly lesser than its original cost. It will not change your FICO score drastically. 

Before your financial situation turns bad you can check out this option of short sale foreclosure. Many firms offer to help and sort out a solution for your problems. They will complete all the formalities on your behalf and see to it that you come out of these circumstances better off than you were. 

When you feel that you have no other option in front of you, you are in dire need of funds or have recently lost your job and have no way of keeping up with the mortgage payments then you are better off selling the property than losing it in a way that will permanently mar your record. 

When you are looking at the option of short sale foreclosure, you will be in control of all the proceedings. To help you with this long and lengthy procedure you can use a professional firm who will negotiate with the lenders on your behalf. They will take care of all the paperwork and show the lender how they will benefit from this short sale. 

Losing out on your home is a highly stressful process. But it is better to lose through a short sale foreclosure where even though you lose your home at a lower value you are comforted by the fact that you are in control of the whole process. 

The Benefits Of Using Professionals 

The benefit of hiring a professional short sale services firm to take care of these proceedings is that they have the knowledge and expertise to use the methods which will give results. They can handle the extensive paperwork with ease and inform the seller when there are any decisions to be made. They have their own experts like realtors, attorneys, and negotiators who can handle any volume of work. 

With the help of these experts, your short sale foreclosure experience will be smooth and you can emerge from this situation wiser and more knowledgeable.

Author:Rich Griffiths

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Learning To Invest In Foreclosures

There is lots of talk these days about foreclosures. Investing in foreclosures can be a big money maker when it comes to real estate investing niches. While investing in foreclosures results in large profits when you choose the right house, there are pitfalls that you must look out for before you buy a foreclosure. There are a lot of other factors to consider. 

A foreclosure occurs when the owner defaults on the mortgage. The bank has to start the process of taking the property that was pledged as security for the homeowner's loan. If the homeowner can't remedy the situation by paying the bank any money that is then owed, the property will likely make its way to public auction where it will be sold to the highest bidder at a sheriff's or trustee's sale.

When you are investing in a foreclosure, the first step is to determine what you are doing with the property. Do you plan on flipping it for a profit? Are you going to keep it as a rental? This will determine what area you should look in when searching what type of foreclosure properties you're interested in pursuing. 

The main factor to consider when you invest in a foreclosure is to know the law in that jurisdiction. There are laws that vary from state to state and county to county that govern foreclosures and if you violate those laws, accidentally or purposefully, serious consequences will follow. 

A lot of the home study courses and infomercial gurus advise buying a foreclosure and then renting the property back to the homeowner with the hope that they'll repurchase it at a higher price in the near future. 

Do not do this! One of the highest risks a real estate investor can take is letting the previous owner come back and reclaim their property because they misunderstood what you had agreed upon. In most states, you, the real estate investor, is the "bad" guy - you lose! 

Besides, would you really want a tenant in your property that has a history of not paying their bills? Of course not! You should always run a credit report on the potential tenant no matter what their excuse is today. However, many beginner real estate investors as well as many experienced foreclosure investors do that very same thing each day and pay a high price for doing so, oftentimes losing their investment completely when a judge declares that the transaction was indeed a usurious loan instead of an option to repurchase. 

During various stages of foreclosure, you can make a deal happen between you and the homeowner in default, wait and purchase at the auction, buy after the auction or many other more sophisticated strategies. If you intend to buy a property at the public auction, know that in some states, the law sets a certain time frame for foreclosures to become finalized commonly referred to as a redemption period. 

If you're considering investing in foreclosures, it is highly advisable for you to find out if and how this law potentially affects the ownership and possession of the property in your local area. You may think you own the property, when in fact you are a temporary caretaker for a set period of time. Once again, know rhe law! 

If there is a redemption period, the homeowner could be working out a deal with another investor or attempting to sell the property in some other manner without you even being aware what is happening. This can obviously have a big impact on what you do to the property during the redemption period, even if the property is vacant at the time of the auction. 

You could find yourself investing in foreclosures, putting money into them, only to lose all of the profit you thought you had coming to you. You are buying real estate foreclosures to make a profit. Act like it and treat it has a business! 

Many real estate investors look at investing in foreclosures as a sure bet to increase their wealth and or portfolio but fail to realize the potential pitfalls that await them. Knowing what to do as well as what not to do will save you a ton of money and headaches as you progress into the arena of investing in foreclosures. 

When you finally decide to buy real estate foreclosures, the bottom line is always to make a profit. A good rule of thumb to follow is only consider buying a foreclosure if you stand to make at least a 30% profit no matter what happens. That way, you'll never have to worry whether or not you should make a deal or not. 

Once you learn your local market for investing in foreclosures, you will find yourself keeping an eye on which properties are headed to foreclosure and how to potentially make potentially high profit deals happen on a regular basis. You will also begin networking and becoming familiar with other investors in your area. 

Finally, do not do everything yourself, especially if you are just starting out in the business. You should actively seek out someone more experienced than yourself to model. 

And remember, that education and specialized knowledge are key as well as taking massive action on what you learn along the way will guarantee your success as a pro real estate investor! 

Author: Richard Bleuze

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Using Real Estate Investor Websites

To become a successful real estate investor, it requires you to have a consistent and effective marketing system in place to drive continuous leads from not only sellers, but also buyers and private lenders. 

The marketing you have in place will directly affect the amount of deals you have in your pipeline, and that will directly affect the number of deals that you close on and produce a profit. 

While there are many very powerful ways to market your business offline (i.e. direct mail, bandit signs, print classifieds, etc), there are much more effective ways to market online. 

Using the internet and real estate investor websites as a marketing medium not only allows you to test and measure your results almost instantly, but it also allows you to automate the process completely so you are not involved in the process other than managing the leads that are produced. 

Here 3 quick examples of how you could market online to find motivated sellers as well as build a buyers list for your properties very quickly… 

1) Use Google Adwords and create a geo-targeted search marketing campaign to attract people in your local area that are searching for targeted keywords like “sell house fast”, or “buy foreclosures”, then link back to your website with a feedback form to be completed. 

2) Post an ad on Craigslist for a property that you have for sale, and mention that you have other discounted properties for sale and then link back to your website with a feedback form. 

3) Create an account on Facebook and submit friend requests to all the real estate related professionals in your area. For example search for friends who are realtors, mortgage brokers, real estate attorneys, title insurance agents, surveyors, etc. Then when you have a property for sale you can post a comment there and redirect them back to one of your websites with more info on the property. 

But where this all comes together is in how you collect these leads. To make this a fully automated process you will want to try and pre-screen your leads so when you do talk with them they are qualified and ready to do business. 

The way you do that is by having a simple web page on your website that has a form on there that can be completed by your site visitor. And when they submit the form have their details saved to an email auto-responder like aweber.com to automatically follow-up and educate your prospect on your services. 

That way when they call you, they are already on board with what you are looking to do… whether that is to buy their property using creative financing, or to sell them a discounted property, or even to borrow private money from them to do deals. 

You would want to create a separate site like this for each prospect type you are marketing to so you can increase the conversion rate of the form submissions. For example, you would have a web page specific to sellers, with a form submission and auto-responder for seller info… a separate one for buyers, and another one for private lenders. 

Author: John Schroeder

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Benefits of Real Estate Investments Strategies

Real estate investing has offered investors much better returns than most other investment options. Real estate investment is one of the safest investments available. The security of real estate investments is becoming more and more increased these days. 

Real estate investment is a safe way to start making your personal wealth and retirement finance provided if you act wisely. Real estate investing offers excellent long term returns and sometimes even short term gains. Real estate investing can bring you high profits if you follow certain tips. 

Many countries offer wide real estate investment opportunities. Real estate investors can easily find excellent profits in rentals, rehabs and high-end properties. Buying properties to use as rentals is very successful real estate investment strategy. The high-end properties have powerful demand among real estate investors, especially in the most desirable areas, such as Paris. The most successful real estate investment strategy is rehabs. Rehabs are also the most risky form of real estate investments. If there is huge demand for finished real estate properties, the opportunity for real estate investors increases widely. Finished real estate properties provide excellent opportunity for real estate investors who are willing to rehab and then rent or sell properties. Real estate investors who want to sell a property after grasping it for only a few years can benefit from this type of real estate investment strategy. Real estate investors who rehab properties can either sell or rent the rehabbed properties for a worthy premium. Real estate investors can buy a run-down property in a main location at a cheap price, remodel or modernize it and then resell or rent it successfully. 

Flipping, Bargain purchase investment strategy, Increase value investment strategy, Double-digit cap rate investment strategy, and Commercial Real Estate Investment strategy are the other real estate investment strategies. 

Flipping involves buying and selling real estate property without actually taking ownership of the property. Flipping enables you to make money with real estate without possessing the property. Bargain purchase investment strategy involves purchasing real estate property for at least 20% less than the current market value. Increase-value investment strategy involves buying a real estate property for its current market value, remodeling the property in order to increase its value by at least 20%, and then selling it. Double-digit cap rate investment strategy involves buying a property having a capitalization rate of 10% or more. Commercial Real Estate Investment involves buying commercial properties that are bigger than a 4 unit apartment building. It is better for the real estate investors who are beginners in the field to avoid commercial real estate investment strategy. 

On the other hand, if you have experience in real estate investments, you can go for commercial real estate investment as the competition is much less. 

Different real estate strategies require different amounts of time. For example rehab is really time-consuming. Real estate investors must not choose a time-consuming investment strategy if you cannot spend much time for real estate business. Some real estate strategies require huge amounts of cash. For example, to buy foreclosure properties whereas buying a property at auction requires little or no cash. The different real estate investment strategies provide different benefits. It is up to you to choose the strategy you feel more comfortable with. But make sure you choose the right strategy that best suits you, and work accordingly.
Author: Jeff Adams


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Real Estate Investing Basics

 

Real estate investments may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but some people who have already tried investing in real estate know that it can be profitable. 

Real estate investment experts say there are several keys to making significant profits in real estate investment deals. And when the deals are profitable, you will certainly be well on your way to success.

For real estate investment neophytes, don’t be afraid of the challenges and pitfalls you may encounter along the way. There is definitely a lot to learn, but in the long run after you have gained some experience, you’ll hopefully become a master at closing profitable real estate deals.

There are 5 core skills that are necessary for building a real estate investment business. 

These will be the key factors in creating a profitable real estate investment portfolio.

These are the 5 core skills of real estate investment:

1) You must learn when and where to find the right kind of sellers.

2) You must learn the art of being a master negotiator when it comes to closing your real estate investment deals.

3) You must be able to quickly and accurately analyze each real estate investment deal so you’ll know exactly when to proceed and when to pull the plug.

4) You must become an expert in all areas of real estate investment and understand such terms as lease options, cash sales, wrap mortgages, short sales and other terminology common in the real estate investment trade.

5) You should totally understand the meaning and concept of investing in real estate, including all of the financial risks and benefits.

Now is a great time to consider investing in real estate. There are great potential rewards and the effort you put forth can yield enormous monetary returns on your investment.

 

Your confidence level will grow when you’ve gained some experience and closed on your first few real estate deals. But, don't stop there...

Continue to learn about real estate investing and to develop your investment skills. In a short time you may find yourself managing a profitable and growing portfolio of investment properties.

Continue to follow your real estate investment "game plan" and always keep an eye out for the hidden investment opportunities. The opportunities are definitely out there and with a little knowledge and desire can be yours for the taking. So, why not get started in what might be a new and exciting (and profitable) career today? Author: Richard Rigor

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