Do You Want a Quick House Sale With No Estate Agents Fees?

If you want a quick house sale, you will find that the traditional method of selling through an estate agent is not without its drawbacks. You risk the possibility of the property chain breaking down or the buyer of your house pulling out at the last minute.

There are a number of things that you can do so that your house sells fast: -

1)Spring clean – this doesn’t cost anything, but even if your curtains and carpets need professional help, it will be worth the money and help your house sell fast.

2)De-clutter and de-personalise – A quick house sale will depend on how much it feels like home to your potential purchasers. Throw or give away what you don’t need and store everything else neatly in your cupboards. Serious buyers are likely to look inside of these as well. If they are overfull, buyers may assume there is not enough storage for them.  Don’t ruin your chances of a quick sale because of this.

3)Go neutral – colour is personal to the individual and differences in personal taste can affect your house sale. If you create a blank canvas for your buyer, it will be easier for them to visualise how they can make your home into their home.

4)Maintained – make sure you have no unfinished DIY, if you want a quick house sale.  Every time a buyer encounters a problem that he thinks needs fixing, he will mentally be reducing your house price.

5)First impressions count – view your house from outside and see how it compares with the others in your street. Maybe a few simple measures are needed, like cutting the grass or trimming the hedges.

6)Make sure there is a purpose for each room and above all make sure your house smells nice. Cooking, smoking, pets, damp, and blocked drains can all prevent you from getting a quick house sale, especially here in the UK.

Does all this sound too much, well there is an easier way.  There are quick house sale specialists, cash buyers, who offer to buy your house fast, no matter what condition it is in. One such company is A Quick Sale Direct. They understand that there are many reasons for needing to sell your house quickly, like chain breaking, bereavement, ill health, divorce, relocation, debt, repossession, retirement or an inheritance.

They will work with you to find a solution for any problem and may be able to give a provisional offer for you home within hours. A quick cash house sale can be achieved throughout the UK in as little as a week, but it will always be in a time frame suitable to your self and family. Thus giving you the speed and certainty, which you cannot achieve with a traditional sale with and estate agent.

Anand
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/do-you-want-a-quick-house-sale-with-no-estate-agents-fees-678170.html

House Foreclosures at Auction

We all know it: open cry bidding means placing the auctioned item on a competitive market. On this market, you will frequently encounter the opportunity to bid for house foreclosures. Due to the fact that these are distressed properties, this is a particular type of real estate auction where the properties auctioned may very likely be obtained within price ranges benefiting the buyer. However, the buyer is not the only one who gains advantages from this kind of real estate auction. On the contrary, the seller will have his own profits, even if we are talking about house foreclosures.

The first and most significant advantage point for the seller is that the marketing plan is regularly translated into dynamic, persevering, determined actions, as they should be when real estate auction is concerned. This means that the competing atmosphere typical for bidding circumstances will render house foreclosures, as our case is, more noticeable and, at the same time, circumscribe them to aggressive (and therefore beneficial) interest. Moreover, the sellers are not included in the transaction, a fact which saves them a lot of time and a lot of stress as to how they should conduct the negotiations to their advantage. When house foreclosures are released on an auction market, the owner of the house is no longer involved in the direct selling of the property.

Even more, because these are real estate auction circumstances, house foreclosures will be sold incredibly fast. No need to worry that the selling process is going to last forever or that it is going to be very difficult to find the homebuyer/investor ready to make an acceptable offer. The moment that house foreclosures enter the auction market, a lot of the time which would have been spent on individual investigations (the right of the potential homebuyer to see what he is going to buy) is spared because real estate auction means acting on the spot, prepared to buy even properties you haven’t yet seen, as long as you consider them a profitable investment or a reliable future home. In addition, since the negotiations are practically succeeding one another at incredibly fast developing seconds, the sale is considerably accelerated as compared with a case where the seller is supposed to reach a face-to-face compromise with a potential homebuyer/investor.

One advantage shared by both the seller and the buyer is that the day when a certain foreclosed property is going to be sold in a real estate auction is known. This eliminates a lot of the stress generated by the fact that you (either seller or buyer) don’t know when you will finally be able to transact/acquire a certain property. To what concerns the buyer’s advantages, one of them is that, especially in the case of house foreclosures, the potential homebuyer is fully aware of the fact that the seller is determined to sell a house on the exact spot, at the precise moment of the auction. Therefore, certainty as to the seller’s resolve to sell is one aspect covered to the buyer’s advantage.

Worried that you cannot be certain of just how “in good condition” a house is? You have certainly heard that not all house foreclosures guarantee houses that do not need repairs or adjustments. Well, however, in real estate auction circumstances, each potential homebuyer will receive the customary due diligence checklist, in which data concerning potential damages which require immediate adjustment are also included. Subsequently, even if you cannot proceed to an on-site investigation of the houses auctioned, a type of house analysis is however available.

Nonetheless, never forget that in open cry bidding circumstances you are on a permanently competitive market. At times, even foreclosed properties may reach prices matching the quality of the market. This means that the price ranges are also likely to turn competitive, which, again, is an aspect offering advantage to both the seller and the buyer. While for the seller the advantage is quite obvious (he might just get the chance to sell a distressed property at a price very close to the real market value of that property), the buyer needs to look deeper into the consequences of acquiring even a distressed property at a competitive price. More precisely, a property purchased within competitive limits is a property that actually has a competitive value. As a result, the knowing, resourceful investor will appreciate a valuable opportunity which could bring him subsequent profit. Also, pay attention to one detail when you auction for foreclosures: 10% cash, cashier’s check or money order must be presented at the time of the bidding (of course, by the bidder).

In the end, foreclosed homes sold in real estate auction circumstances make an advantage both for the seller and for the homebuyer. A house, even a foreclosed one, bought at real market value, if exploited skillfully, is a chance to obtain unmatched future gains. The key is to have the necessary determination to keep up the pace with the competitive market initiated by any auction.

Amelie Mag
http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/house-foreclosures-at-auction-107952.html

Mistakes Investors Make

I’ve been trying to put this together for a little while from my own experience, from others I’ve talked to, and from the One-on-One students I’ve worked with.. They’re in no particular order; I just put them down as I came across them. Remember, these are my own opinion, so take them as such.

1) Not knowing your market, and how to market to it.
How you effectively market to your area depends on the type of market you’re in, including how seasonal your market is. For instance, in working with students from fast-selling markets like California, we’ve found that bandit signs are effective. In slower markets like Denver, direct mail works very well also.

Additionally, think about your season. In colder climates, direct mail works well in the wintertime when houses sell slowly, and bandit signs are more effective in the summer months. However, in Arizona, summer is the slow time, and in the winter houses sell faster.

2) Not knowing if your marketing is effective, i.e. not tracking your marketing.
This is critical, and plays closely into number 1 above. If you have no idea how well or how badly a marketing campaign is working, how do you know where to spend most of your money? No matter how you do it, track your marketing. Keep weekly statistics, and keep them over time.

3) Not writing out your marketing plan
Many students I talk to have a shotgun approach to marketing. They mail out 100 postcards to out of town owners this week, a couple hundred letters to foreclosures next week, and then put up a few bandit signs. Then they get busy, and forget about the marketing they’d planned.

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Okay, old tired cliche, but it really does hold true. Write down your marketing plan, post it somewhere you can see it, and look at it daily so you know what you’re supposed to do that day.

4) Allowing a tenant/buyer to move in without an option deposit.
Oh man, I’ve NEVER done this, and had the tenant immediately stop paying rent, while renting out one of the rooms to a friend while collecting money from them which they never paid to me, and I had to evict them, and had a house vacant for two months and lost lots of money! @#($&Y%

Okay, this was one of my bigger blunders, and I definitely learned my lesson. Always, always, always get an option deposit on a lease/option, or a security deposit on a rental. Then if the tenant defaults at least you have something to cover the vacancy.

5) Being “nice” to tenant/buyers.
The reason I let the person above move in without an option deposit was she was a single mom, who had been through the mill, abusive marriage, just getting back on her feet, “I promise your kindness won’t go unrewarded Mr. Landlord”, etc. I bought the sob story, and paid for it.

Sometimes I work with tenants if they have a good track record, but only for a short while. In this business, we have to sometimes be more harsh than we want, but if you bend too much, it’ll only make your life more difficult.

Itinerant tenants will suck all your money and time.

6) Being scared.
This one’s pretty understandable. This is new territory for most people. I’ve talked to people who were high powered folks in their field, and are nervous talking to sellers or meeting with sellers for the first time.

There’s one way, and only one way, to overcome this. Just get out there and do it.

7) Not signing up deals because you’re not sure how you’re going to fill them, or they don’t fit your strategy.
I talk to many students that because they don’t know what to do with a property, or how to sign it up, just pass it by. My advice is just sign it up. If you do it wrong, there are lots of outs in the agreements, and you can always renegotiate with the sellers. If it doesn’t fit your perfect strategy, flip it to someone who wants it.

Being inconsistent.
Marketing hard one week, then doing nothing for two or three weeks is one example. Making one tenant pay on the 1st, and another on the 6th is another (and a possible legal liability).

Real Estate investing is a very new thing for most people, and working for yourself is also pretty new. So it’s pretty difficult to have a routine to follow. My advice is systematize your business as soon as possible so that you can hand over the mundane chores to someone else, and you can concentrate on what’s important. Watch what you do each week, and try to consistently do those things which make you money.

9) Procrastinating.
Many students spend lots and lots of time analyzing their market, setting up their office just so, writing articles about mistakes they’ve made, etc. Another word for procrastination is – FEAR. Like I said earlier, the only way around fear is to just get out there and do it.

10) Not setting aside reserves for unexpected expenses
I coach students to set aside enough cash to pay for two month’s rent on every property. However, after you’ve saved about 5 properties worth, you’re probably okay. But you have to be the judge of how much you want to have in reserve. Either way, you need to have something in the bank because unexpected expenses definitely do happen – and if they don’t, you’ve saved for that trip to Thailand!

11) Not setting up third party notification for water & HOA bills
Boy, have I learned my lesson here. The problem with water & HOA is the governing body can slap a lien on your house if the tenant isn’t paying the bill. I used to let tenants pay their own HOA bills, and I didn’t have any kind of notification set up that let me know when there were problems. Suddenly, I’d get notification from the HOA’s lawyers that there was a lien on the house. Same thing with the water bill.

I now pay the HOA bills myself, and the tenants reimburse me. I still get the same rent, but add the HOA on top of it. My thought is, they’re the owners (or future owners) of the house, they get all the benefits of the HOA, so that should be separate from the rent, and paid by them. Also remember if you don’t use my rental agreement that you make sure the HOA fees can be added to the rent, and they can be evicted for non-payment. If you’re using my forms, it’s already in there.

Same thing with water, but I have the tenants pay. The nice thing about water is, if it doesn’t get paid, it gets shut off. So the tenants generally have incentive to pay. But I still want to know if the bill isn’t being paid. If a tenant gets behind on this bill, make sure you keep checking with the water company, and make them pay it. Set up third-party notification for the water bill, and monitor it.

This certainly isn’t all the mistakes I’ve heard or made, but it’s a good start. One last one – Here’s the biggest mistake of ANY I’ve ever heard:

Not pursuing your dreams! Whether it’s through real estate, or MLM, Day Trading stocks, or that franchise, don’t let fear stop you. Do whatever you have to live life in the juiciest, best way you possibly can. Financial freedom is one of the first steps to the life you really want to live.

Scott Taylor
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/mistakes-investors-make-55561.html

Property Managers: Leverage Rental Property to Generate Property Management Business

Consider expanding your service offerings to include mortgage services.  Mortgage services are extremely profitable.  Many states only require one or two courses to get licensed, and you may be able to use the loan officer course to get MCE credit for your real estate license.

You probably have a large pool of prospective investors with adjustable rate mortgages who need to refinance their mortgage. Why refer this business, when you can easily provide this service. You already have an established relationship with each owner.  If you own your office, you may even consider subleasing space and partner with a mortgage broker. Our in house mortgage broker pays us rent and refers real estate and property management business to us. This drastically lowers the overhead cost for both companies.

In my last article, I discussed how 2008 will be a great opportunity to purchase rental property from motivated landlords with negative cash flow properties.  As property managers, we can easily achieve instant equity by purchasing property below market and earning a commission at closing. We can increase our return on investment with monthly cash flow, appreciation, principle reduction, and tax savings by depreciating rental property. However, only licensed real estate professionals can use rental property to generate business income.

No other investment can potentially offer a greater return for a property manager than investing in rental property.  Our company provides maintenance, sales, leasing, property management, and mortgage services. We leverage all of our services to generate as much revenue per client as possible.  We offer a one stop shop for all our customers. 

As a licensed real estate broker and loan officer, we generate thousands of dollars each year by assisting tenants living in rental properties I own to purchase homes. We assist tenants in repairing their credit, obtaining a mortgage, representing them as a buyer’s agent, and utilizing our in house maintenance company to help them fix up the property or make any necessary repairs. Not only are tenants happy to utilize our services, but they refer business to us as well.

In our market, there is a huge demand for home buyers who just sold their home and need a place to park while they build a new home. Yet few property managers offer lease terms less than six month, because short term leases are not profitable for the owner. I fill this market demand with properties I personally own and network with Realtors and builders and offer short term leases for their clients and customers. In return, I ask them to refer my company future property management business. We will refer the owner back to the Realtor if they decide to sell the property in the future. This makes the sales transaction go very smoothly, and Realtors are thankful for us providing this service. We have obtained many property management referrals because of this service offering. Even the short term tenants have referred property management business to us.

The more properties you purchase, the more you can leverage your company’s services to generate business income. You will save thousands of dollars in income taxes each year by depreciating each rental property.  Owning rental property can lower your income tax liability to low single digit percentages. Some landlords with a large rental property portfolio pay no income taxes, because their depreciation expense exceeds their taxable income.

I encourage property managers to take advantage of near record low interest rates and purchase as many rental properties as possible. Leverage your rental properties to generate incremental business income.  

In my next article, I will discuss how licensed real estate agents can leverage rental property to generate additional business and tax savings.

Kris Colquette
http://www.articlesbase.com/real-estate-articles/property-managers-leverage-rental-property-to-generate-property-management-business-699415.html

I Received an Offer on My House…now What?

Your Realtor has just informed you that he/she has received an offer on your property! Now what?! Of course, the first question that pops into your head is, “How much did they offer?” However, there are a few key items you should pay attention to on real estate offers: the price (naturally), closing costs, inspection contingency, closing date, earnest money deposit, commission, and a pre-approval letter.

Of course, the price is the first item to check. Is the amount within range of what you were hoping for? If it does, scan the offer for any references referring to closing costs. If the buyer is seeking help from you on the closing costs in a specific dollar amount, you need to subtract this from the price offered and you’ll get the true price being offered. The more closing costs they need covered, the higher the sales price should be.

A smart buyer will have an inspection contingency in the offer, which basically means the offer is only valid if the buyer is satisfied with the results from a professional inspection. If the buyer is not satisfied with the inspection results, they can legally walk away from the offer altogether. Check for two items under this contingency: the deadline in which they must conduct the inspection, and the deadline when they must inform you that they want specific items repaired or replaced on the property before the offer moves forward.

The buyer should have specified a closing date on which the closing will take place on or before. This date is likely 4-5 weeks from the date of the offer. If the buyer is not using a mortgage and is offering “all cash”, the closing date could be 1-2 weeks away.

An earnest money deposit, or “EMD”, is an amount of money submitted to the buyer’s broker from the buyer. This amount is typically 1-3% of the offered price and is more commonly referred to as a “good faith deposit”. It reassures the seller that the buyer won’t default on their offer and if they do, the EMD is released to the seller and seller’s Realtor. If everything goes smoothly and the offer turns into a closing, the money is applied to the purchase price of the property. Examine the amount of the buyer’s EMD and if you’re not satisfied, you can require more in a counteroffer.

The commission is also important to look at, as it effects your net profit from the sale of your house. Typically, your Realtor has set this amount in your listing agreement. This amount is used to cover both real estate agents in the event of a sale. If the buyer’s agent is asking for more than what your Realtor anticipated within your listing contract, make sure that it is your Realtor and not you that will be taking a cut. Of course, this is also something that can be negotiated down in a counteroffer.

A pre-approval letter from the buyer’s lender (assuming that the buyer is using a mortgage) should accompany the purchase agreement. This letter verifies that the buyer is pre-approved for the amount of money that he/she is offering. If an offer comes in without one, ask your Realtor to request one from the buyer’s agent. Don’t consider any offer until the buyer has shown that they have enough “purchase power”.

Have your Realtor review the offer with you – it would also be a good idea to have a lawyer look at it. The offer will likely have a time limit for you to respond to it – typically 48-72 hours. Use as much of this time as possible – make the buyer sweat it out. Keep in mind that almost every offer is made in anticipation that the seller will counteroffer, so counter with a price and a set of terms that will put you in a satisfactory profit range and will not give the buyer any unfair advantages. Give the buyer a 24-48 hour time limit to respond to your counteroffer. Good luck!

For more free articles and previews to The Field Guide to Flipping Homes, visit the official site at www.homeflippingfieldguide.com

Matt Sheuerman

Wholesaling Bank Owned Foreclosures ‘ a Definitive Guide

Beginning investors who find themselves strapped for cash often start real estate investing by wholesaling properties to other investors.

With the market in its current condition more and more investors find that they are coming across hordes of motivated sellers. Unfortunately, all of these potential prospects tend to share one thing in common. They don’t have any equity! This little dilemma is causing many investors to turn their efforts toward bank-owed foreclosures.

The single biggest advantage associated with REOs is the fact that equity can be created instantly either by finding a hot deal or through shrewd negotiation. There’s nobody telling the bank that they owe too much on a property and can’t lower the price a bit. In theory…any house could be sold for as little as a dollar.

In fact, there is only one downside to wholesaling REO properties. Non-assignability. When an investor gets a bank owned property under contract it always comes with multi-page addendums that make the deal non-assignable.

A lot of new wholesalers will consider this one obstacle to be the end of the line where flipping bank owned homes is concerned, never knowing that there are four ways to maneuver around this bump in the road.

Method #1 – Add to Contract, Then Quit Claim

Most banks do not have an issue with adding an additional party to a contract, they just do not want the ORIGINAL parties removed from it at any time. So Ivan Investor can get an REO property under contract for $50,000. Ivan calls Louie Landlord and after talking about the deal Louie agrees to pay a total of $60,000 for the property.

Ivan calls the bank up and requests that an addendum be drawn up that adds Louie to the contract and title. The Bank agrees and everyone shows up on closing day.

Louie brings TWO certified checks. One for $50,000 for the purchase of the property, and one for $10,000 made out to Ivan. All parties then show up for closing and both Ivan and Louie then own the home. Louie hands Ivan the $10,000 check and Ivan signs a quit claim deed removing him from title on that property. Pretty simple, right?

Pros: The advantage to this method is that there is only one set of closing costs. It’s a rather simple and straight-forward method that works for most deals. It works around the 90-day deed restriction that comes packaged with many Fannie/Freddie properties.

Cons: Here are the negatives that come with this method. This does NOT work for HUD properties because HUD does not allow any changes to the parties that are on the original offer and the end buyer usually cannot be getting a mortgage because a mortgage company won’t allow you to be on title if they are lending someone else money against the home.

Method #2 – Simultaneous Double-Close

The simultaneous double-close (also known as a simul close or a “dry” close) is actually two transactions. An investor is buying from the bank and then instantly reselling to a third party in a separate transaction. It follows a typical A-to-B-to-C deal flow.

The “twist” that comes with this method is that the wholesale investor never actually brings any money into play. The end-buyer’s funds are used to fund BOTH transactions. This is possible because, as long as both closings take place on the same day, it doesn’t matter which one closes first for the title company’s accounting purposes. The second transaction (B-to-C) could take place a 9am with all the paperwork for that transaction taken care of at that time while the first transaction (A-to-B) doesn’t close until 2pm.

What really matters is that the deeds are RECORDED in the proper order when filed with the county. It’s important at that time to have the A-to-B deed filed first with the B-to-C deed following on record.

Pros: This works well for those who have zero cash as long as they have a good title company that will still do these types of transactions. It still works even with end buyers that are getting conventional financing if the end buyer is getting their financing through the right lender.

Cons: This method is NOT an option if the end buyer is getting FHA financing. This method also does NOT work for Fannie/Freddie foreclosures in most cases because these super-banks put a deed restriction in place that prevents you from reselling the property to ANYONE for a full 90 days.

Also, with all double-close deals there are two sets of transfer taxes, recording fees, and other closing costs that cut into your profit. Of course you can just build that into the deal by lowering your offer price in order to circumvent this small annoyance.

The biggest roadblock to getting these transactions closed is the fact that fewer and fewer title companies are comfortable with the “dry” simultaneous close where the wholesale investor brings in no cash to the deal. In fact, they are often refusing to close these deals at all!

Method #3 – True Double Close

The true double close (also known as a “wet” close) is the same as the simultaneous close in that the investor is buying the foreclosure property and instantly reselling it to the end buyer for a profit. However, the wholesale investor is actually bringing in his own cash to fund his end of the deal.

This little difference makes the title companies happy but it doesn’t work so well for beginning investors that don’t have piles of cash sitting around to make the deals work.

Then came Flash Funding. There are “transactional funding” lenders will lend you all the money you need to do these same-day double-close deals…for a price. Most will never run a credit check or request an appraisal on the property.

The pros and cons to this method are pretty much the same as the simul close, except that on the good side more title companies are willing to do business with you if you go this route and on the bad side you have additional costs in the form of Flash Funding fees chewing away at your profits.

Method #4 – Sell The LLC

This last method has been popularized by Steve Cook who’s said that he swiped it from commercial real estate investors who have been using it for years to avoid paying transfer taxes.

The idea is that an investor would submit an offer in the name of an LLC. If the investor was placing an offer on 1221 Sycamore, he may send it in with “Sycamore Group LLC”. If the offer is accepted, the investor immediately faxes in his LLC articles of organization and creates the company to match the Buyer on the purchase agreement.

From there the investor finds his end buyer and they agree that on closing day the end buyer will purchase the entire LLC from the original investor for the amount of the wholesale fee. From there, as the new owner of the LLC, the end buyer is empowered to close on the original transaction and purchase the property.

Pros: The upside to this method is that you workaround the extra costs in the form of transfer taxes and/or Flash Funding fees that come with the two Double-Close methods, and for those who are concerned about guarding their privacy, your name never goes on the deal.

Cons: The major obstacle to this one is that the end buyer has to pretty much be paying cash. Banks do not loan traditional mortgages (either to owner occupants or investors) in company names. You have to buy it in your own personal name to get a mortgage. Other concerns are that if you do this often enough you may attract the attention of state regulators who are confused as to why you start and sell 5-10 LLCs each month.

Armed with these four workarounds, investors nationwide are able to successfully wholesale flip REO foreclosures. None of these methods require the wholesaler to bring his or her own cash into play other than the initial earnest money deposit and none require a credit check. One of these methods will work for pretty much any situation you will come across when flipping bank owned homes.

Brian Kurtz
http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/wholesaling-bank-owned-foreclosures-a-definitive-guide-736881.html

The Risks Of Rent To Own Real Estate Purchases

Copyright (c) 2009 Kentaro Konika

Rent to Own means the process that lets you pay for your house by paying rent. Owners who wish to sell their house can benefit from taking on a tenant who pays rent each month yet makes repairs and looks after the house as if it were their own. For the new buyer, this effectively means that each payment you make goes towards buying your house, which may sound like a fantastic deal. However, it is not a clear cut as it may seem and you should know the downsides of this option so that you don’t end up losing everything.

When you buy a house on the rent to own scheme you should know that not all of your monthly rent will in fact go towards you buying the house. For the new owners, you will in fact be paying off some interest each month to the previous owners, meaning that you will have paid a lot more by the time it comes to purchasing the house outright.

On top of this, any rent to own tenant should be aware of the fact that you will have to pay money up front. Whilst the schemes may be advertised as no money down, there are special payments that are usually required which can cost you up to 5% of the final sale price of the house. This is known as ‘options consideration’ and you must certainly take this into account when working out how much you want to spend on your house.

Scams do exist when it comes to money up front. Make sure that you do not have to pay a finder’s fee or money to fix your credit. It is much wiser to spend some extra cash and hire legal help who can save you money and hassle down the line.

Whilst you do pay money up front, this is no guarantee that you own any part of the property. Many people believe wrongly that this is a down payment, but it is in fact a payment that only goes towards the price of the house if you can pay all the payments and buy it outright. If you end up not buying the house, your original money is completely lost and you are not entitled to any percentage of the home.

These are just a few of the reasons for the sad fact that many people who rent will never end up owning their house. If you have bad credit ratings you may be attracted to such a scheme, but this is exactly the people the scheme is aimed at – people who will probably never be able to pay enough to own the home by the deadline.

It is important to take into consideration all of these factors before choosing a rent to own scheme. Whilst this is great for families or individuals who are working towards saving enough money for a property there are risks which you should always bear in mind.

Kentaro Konika
http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/the-risks-of-rent-to-own-real-estate-purchases-817072.html

How I Was Paid $500.00 to Add an Investor to My Buyers List

Today, I want to give you the opportunity to hear about a house flipping deal where I only made $500.
People ask me what is the most money you have ever made on a house flip and I have made as much as $30,000 on one deal that I split with friends but I like to give the worst case. With these numbers the $500 and the $30,000 those are not the norms for my market as I say each market is different but for my market my range is between 3 – 7 thousand dollars per house flip so that could be a little less or little more but that is the actual range. Want to tell you about this particular house flip, picked up a house in an area I was familiar with but I had never done a deal in that area.

This was a lower priced area which in my mind was no different from the lower priced areas where I was making a killing. But, it is all about perception with your investors. You can’t make someone spend their money in areas in which they are not comfortable with spending their money. As far as I was concerned and based on past experience this area it was no different than any other area I house flip in. Basically I put the house under contract for $10,000. I estimated it was worth $60,000 after the repairs.

I did not get any calls on the house flip. One guy I had not done business with before called me and we both went out to look at the property together (which is normally not the case, I normally send the investor out to take a look at the house.) I actually met him at the property this particular day. Guess what he offered me? … $10,500, so I had it under contract for $10,000 the difference was $500.00.
I’m normally going to collect $500.00 earnest money especially with a new investor to secure the contract and house flip so when he gave me the earnest money check I was already paid. Normally, I have to wait till closing to pick up my money.

Only thing I did was follow the deal through, once we got to closing the seller of course received their check for $10,000. I really don’t like to come to a closing without picking up a check.
The way I look at it is pigs get fed and hogs get slaughtered, which simply means don’t be greedy.
This guy paid me $500.00 to be on added to my buyers list. End of story.

By the time we closed it took maybe an hour of my time. That is $500.00 for an hour worth of goes back towards more marketing to get my phone ringing with more motivated sellers. This was the only way to look at the deal.

He paid me $500.00 to be added to my list of buyers list and I suggest that you look at it that way. You may not always make what you want on a particular house flip but if its a first time buyer that you are dealing with, you are adding someone that is a cash buyer.
Who knows how much you will make in the future off that particular buyer just for taking less on a house flip to start the relationship.

Ty Taylor
http://www.articlesbase.com/real-estate-articles/how-i-was-paid-50000-to-add-an-investor-to-my-buyers-list-683122.html

Make Cash With Home Foreclosure

When an owner fails to make payments on a mortgage it will result in the foreclosure of the mortgage. The mortgage company can then declare that the full amount is due and needs to paid immediately. The acceleration clause in your mortgage will accomplish recovery. Most often, court proceedings or grants of power to sell the property will result, and thus put the house up for foreclosure.

Too Good To Be True?

Some newspaper advertisements may seem to be too good to true when they offer house foreclosures for amounts owed on the mortgage with late charges as well as lawyer’s fees added on. Is such a great deal really possible, many have wondered. Well the answer is a short one, yes. One can buy home foreclosures at rates well below that of the property’s worth, though it will take a lot of cash on hand as well as steady nerves, plus some good old fashion luck.

However, one should not discount the attendant risks involved in buying house foreclosures and it may not be the great windfall one imagines it to be. A home foreclosure happens when the borrower defaults on there mortgage, usually the the form of non payment, the leader then decides to enforce the terms of the mortgage to help recover as much money as they can.

More times than not the bank will be the buyer, they might settle for a upset price, or the amount of the outstanding mortgage and which the lender will take as payment. Know this it would make good sense to know what the upset price is before you try to buy a foreclosed property.

So what kind of a bargain is a home foreclosure for the buyer? Since buying in this manner is akin to buying in wholesale, one may assume that one can get a twenty percent benefit on the deal under ideal circumstances, which may hard to come by. And, it is really for the seasoned investor rather than a novice and inexperienced buyer.

Before you jump into the home foreclosure game, you should expect a lot of company, not depend on major incentives, get to know lender time tables, also plan on major repairs that might be necessary and don’t forget to be on the look out for any liens. It is also wise to try to deal with longtime homeowners, it’s best not to get the house from the foreclosing owners that tend to used small down payment.

Perry Gibson
http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/make-cash-with-home-foreclosure-91452.html

Gilbert Homes – Selling Your House: Ways To Increase Its Value

There are several reasons why people sell their house. One is because they have plans to move to another location. Another is they have noticed for foreclosure and they can no longer afford to make payments. Whatever the reason for selling the real estate, it is important that they manage to acquire the highest possible value of the property.

In order to improve the value of your house, you have to allocate enough time to check it in and out. A few repairs will add more to the value of the house. You may not be able to mimic those by Gilbert Homes but you are able to generate a good sum of cash when you finally close the deal.

Here are some ways to improve the value of your house:

1. If you were the buyer, what would you think? What would you want your potential house to look like? What would you expect from a house that is within a particular price range? Once you are able to answer these questions, look at your house. How much would a buyer like you pay for it? Why do you think the value is just as much?

2. The next best thing to do is to consult a home inspector. The inspector will check what needs repair in your house. He will check all parts like the wall, ceiling, roof, air conditioning system, and other features that the buyer will most likely expect to be in top form. Follow make the necessary changes as suggested by the inspector. Having a home inspection ahead of time will allow you to choose the contractors and materials that are within your budget.

3. Do minor repairs and save from it. Things like repainting and changing the doorknobs are simple repairs that you can handle. You can also improve how your yard looks like. Clean it from trash. Remove anything that is unpleasant to the eyes.

4. Remove clutter inside your house as well. If you are going to move, it is best that you pack all personal items. You can leave some furniture behind to make it more appealing to potential buyers. However, do not overstuff the house. Most buyers want to have a fresh start. They want to redecorate and add their personal touch.

5. Make sure that you acquire permits for the additional structures in your house. Keep in mind that the appraiser will not add value to your property if you cannot present any permit. If you were going to add structure, it would be better if it were functional and pleasant looking.

Buyers will not want to pay for something they cannot use. They will also have doubts of purchasing a house with awkward looking structures.

If you are wondering how Gilbert Homes does it, you do not need to look too far. You can start by asking yourself what you want from a house.

However, you have to be willing to spend some time, money, and effort to ensure a good market value for your home.

Chris Turley

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