Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

• Feb 3

  Foreclosure Crisis Takes the Spotlight in Newest Political Rhetoric

  It looks like the presidential candidates are finally paying attention to the housing crisis. In this Tuesday’s State of the Union speech, President Obama touted his settlement with big banking. The settlement would dampen the startling foreclosure rate by giving $25 billion to homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages. Immediately after the speech, White House staffers and the GOP candidates began talking about how to fix America’s housing crisis. Here’s what they had to say.

  • Mitt Romney. Romney stuck to his guns in last Thursday’s Jacksonville GOP debate. As president, he would repeal the Dodd-Frank Act, which Republicans believe is preventing the housing market from realigning itself naturally. “Let [the foreclosure crisis] run its course and hit the bottom,” he said. “Allow investors to buy homes, put renters in them, fix the homes up and let it turn around and come back up.” Romney also said that he wouldn’t be opposed to working with banks to renegotiate the mortgages of homeowners in default.
  • Newt Gingrich. Newt’s proposal for fixing the housing crisis is simple: he wants to colonize the moon. Yes, we’re serious. The former speaker of the House first advocated repealing the Dodd-Frank Act. “If they would repeal it tomorrow morning,” he said, “you would have a better housing market the next day.” He then advocated lunar colonization as a way to ease the housing crisis while jump-starting the stagnant economy. Former senator and astronaut John Glenn called Gingrich’s space case “optimistic at best.”
  • Ron Paul. Although Paul only has 12% of the vote, he’s starting to gain serious support within the GOP as the only candidate with a definite plan to cut government spending. He’s proposing a $1 trillion cut to the budget, including giving the axe to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He also supports repealing the Dodd-Frank Act.

  What exactly the GOP contenders would do about the housing crisis isn’t yet fully clear. We’re waiting, but at least they’re beginning to talk about it. Look for the housing crisis to stay in the spotlight throughout the Nevada and Maine primaries, and remember to stop back here for even more tips, tricks and news from the world of real estate.

  Tags: foreclosure, mortgage
  Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

• Jan 24

  The Housing Plans of the GOP Candidates

  Do you know how your candidate plans to fix America’s housing problem? If you don’t, then you better start doing your homework. The race to win the Republican Party’s nomination for the 2012 presidential election has kicked into high gear, and it’s time for the nominees to explain how they intend to fix the country’s most pressing financial problem. If you’re voting in the Republican primaries and want to learn about your favorite candidate’s housing plan, here’s a brief overview.

   

  • Mitt Romney. The GOP’s maligned frontrunner last spoke about the housing crisis in early November, so it’s been a little while. In that most-recent weigh-in, he suggested that we should accelerate the foreclosure rate around the country in order to force the market to hit bottom. Once it’s flattened, investors will be able to pick up foreclosures for cheap and develop them into rental properties.

   

  • Rick Santorum. Rick Santorum was once the strongest advocate for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s affordable housing plans, which many right-leaning politicians believe was the cause the market collapse. Although he’s one of their most vocal detractors these days, he hasn’t yet come up with a plan to solve the problem he helped create.

   

  • Newt Gingrich. The former speaker of the House has been mostly quiet regarding his plans to do to fix the housing crisis. However, his campaign has announced that he’s been in discussions with mortgage lenders and other financial experts as to how the market could be resuscitated.

   

  • Ron Paul. For a libertarian candidate, Ron Paul has tremendous momentum leading into the South Carolina primaries. He’s also the most vocal candidate on the subject of America’s housing problem. Paul would completely eliminate the government’s role in the market. He would dismantle federal mortgage guarantors Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and even eliminate the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

  Reducing the government’s role in the housing market seems to be the popular, if vague, plan of choice for many of the Republican candidates. But if a right-wing politician wins the election this November (and regardless of whether they cut the budget by a little or a lot) we’re likely to see the number of foreclosures rise for a spell before hopefully grinding to a halt.

  Tags: housing plan, housing problem
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• Jan 19

  The White House Wants You to Rent Out Foreclosures

  Forget about flipping houses. If you want to make some real money on the housing market in 2012, help out the White House and start renting out foreclosures. This past Tuesday, the Obama administration announced that it’s working on a pilot program to sell off batches of Federal Housing Authority-owned foreclosures around the country – as rental properties. While there are many questions that need to be answered before the program becomes active, there’s also a lot of money to be made for real estate investors who have the cash and the work ethic to succeed.

  The White House’s plan makes sense when you think about the data. The desire for owner-occupied properties is still weak, thanks in large part to the banking industry’s reluctance to approve new mortgages. At the same time, the popularity of both rental properties and rent-to-own properties is climbing steadily as the children of the new millennium get older, have kids and outgrow their apartments. Turning otherwise useless foreclosures into rental properties seems like a pretty good solution to the problem.

  The only catch for private investors is that the government wants to unload these properties in bulk. They’re planning to sell off the foreclosures in batches of 25 to 500. Although the properties are going for 20% less than their current market value and the government is instituting financing plans for the program, buying that many houses might still be too expensive for many individuals. On top of that, you’ll also have to deal with rehabbing and managing more than 10 foreclosures at once, making business partners and employees a necessity.

  However, if you keep your eye on the prize, it could end up paying off. Rental income builds up slowly, but once you amass enough properties, you can easily earn six figures a year for a minimal amount of work – especially if you pay for your foreclosures up front.

  We’ll deliver all the details as the plan progresses, so make sure to check back often. After all, this could be the investment opportunity of a lifetime.

  Tags: foreclosure, mortgage
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• Sep 20

  My Home Caught on Fire: Now What?

  Every year, thousands of homes across the country suffer from fire damage. While even a small fire can be devastating to homeowners’ possessions and their wallets, it doesn’t have to mean the end of the world. If you’ve been the victim of a fire, here are some steps to take to save your real estate investment:

   

  1)    Cut Your Losses. Don’t try to save anything that’s been burned. While it can be painful to part with a significant part of your floor or roof, wood that has been burned has been compromised and should be replaced. You can hire a professional clean-up crew to remove the refuse, but it’s cheaper to have a dumpster placed on your property and do the hauling yourself.

   

  2)    Get The Soot Out. The oily black soot left over from house fires is corrosive and will damage any surface it comes to rest upon. After clearing the damaged property, clean up the remaining soot as fast as possible to keep your real estate investment intact.

   

  3)    File a Claim. If you have homeowner’s insurance, you should file a claim to compensate for the costs of the upcoming repairs. Take detailed notes, and don’t be afraid to send pictures – and an itemized list of damages, too. The insurance company won’t reimburse you unless you can prove the worth of what was destroyed.

   

  4)    Handle the Smell. No matter the size of the fire, you’ll have to deal with the lingering smell of smoke – and not just because it’s unpleasant to you. It can kill your property value if you decide to sell the house. There are several ways to deal with this odor, but the cheapest way is to buy a smoke-concealing spray and treat all of your exposed wood with it. There are also several companies that offer oxy-treatment chambers, and those can help significantly. But if the smell is intolerably bad, you should consider demolishing the area and starting over from scratch.

   

  The key to repairing after a fire is to move fast. Don’t linger over what can’t be saved – focus on what can be. It’s a tragedy when fire strikes your real estate investment, but by following these tips, you can make the recovery a whole lot easier.

  Tags: home repair, house fire
  Posted in Home Improvement, Uncategorized | No Comments »

• Sep 14

  Terms Every Real Estate Investor Should Be Familiar With

  The language of real estate can be confusing – especially all the legal jargon, like “escrow” and “liens.” If you’re going to be successful on the real estate market, though, you need to be able to speak this language fluently. Whether you’re an ambitious investor or you’re just trying to sell your house, here are four real estate terms you should be familiar with.

   

  • Escrow. If you’re selling your house, this is a term you should know. The word “escrow” refers to money held by a neutral third party to be distributed according to a set of instructions. When you list your house on the market, banks will often have you open an escrow account to make sure that the homeowner’s insurance and taxes are paid on time. Trying to move can be stressful, but it’s even worse if you need to remember to make large, periodic payments. By holding money in escrow, you can get the bank to pay your fees for you.

   

  • Liens. A lien is a claim or hold on a property, and you’ll sometimes hear this word when you attempt to buy a foreclosed home. If the previous owner didn’t pay property taxes to the state or was behind on their insurance, a lien can be placed on the property so that the new owner is forced to pay off the debts before they can take the title for their own. Typically, you want to avoid buying a house that has a lien on it – and make sure to never get a lien placed on your own home, because it could kill the property value.

   

  • Refinancing. Refinancing your home is the act of renegotiating the terms of your mortgage to adjust the rate or length of the loan. This can be a good decision if you have a 30-year loan and you suddenly find yourself in a better spot financially. When this happens, you can increase your payments so that the loan will be paid off in 10 years instead.

   

  These are only a few of the terms that every real estate investor should be familiar with. Remember that you can’t control a situation you don’t understand, so if you’re buying, selling or flipping a house, make sure to learn the definition of every confusing phrase or word you come across.

  Tags: real estate investing, real estate terms
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• Sep 9

  What to do if Your Home Has Flooded

  Just last month, Hurricane Irene caused record amounts of flood damage to Connecticut houses. While there’s nothing anyone can do about natural disasters like Irene, you can still save a flooded real estate investment if you follow the proper procedures. Here is a list of steps you should take if your home has flooded:

   

  1)    Turn off the power. When returning to a flooded home, the first and most important thing to do is to kill the power and the gas, no matter how much water has invaded your home. Water is of course a conductor of electricity, and you could be endangering your entire family if you don’t remove the risk.

   

  2)    Document everything. No matter which agency handles your home insurance, in many cases it’s going to be a fight to get the amount of compensation you need to cover your damages. Make sure to take pictures of everything that was damaged, and make an itemized list with appropriate values. Be prepared to provide receipts if you have to. They can be a pain to locate, but they’re worth the trouble if they can prove that you deserve compensation.

   

  3)    Replace any wet carpeting. After your house has been cleared of water, remove and replace any carpeting that is still damp. It won’t be cheap to install new carpets, but there’s nothing you can do to save flooded fabric. It’s guaranteed to harbor odious mold that will sink your property value.

   

  4)    Get a few dehumidifiers. Your best friend when you set out to repair a flooded home is a dehumidifier. Buy several. They’ll suck the remaining water out of any room and will slow the spread of damage. Floors made of real wood can even be saved if you pull the floorboards up and then place them in a small room with a running dehumidifier.

   

  A house that has flooded can seem like a tragedy, but it’s not the end of the world. If you work hard, fast, and safely, you can save your real estate investment and live happily ever after in the Constitution State.

  Tags: flood, home repair
  Posted in Home Maintenance, Uncategorized | No Comments »

• Aug 30

  5 Ways to Get Outside in San Diego

  Buying a home in San Diego doesn’t mean you can’t stay close to nature. America’s Finest City is surrounded by pristine California wilderness, and there are so many ways to take advantage of it. Whether you’re a hardcore surfer or a weekend walker, here are five different ways you can get outside in San Diego:

   

  1)    Hit the Beach. San Diego has over 20 public beaches, and the California weather means almost every day is a good day on the Pacific. You can take a surfing lesson, rent a boat or just go for a run on the sand.

   

  2)    Explore the Desert. There are ordinances in place to prevent sprawl and keep the “nature” in San Diego real estate. Because of this, the city is home to several open space parks and nature preserves that comprise over 10,000 square acres of natural habitat. You can take a hike, climb some cliffs or just sit and enjoy the desert sunset.

   

  3)    Ride Your Bike. Nearly every road in San Diego has a bike lane, and there are multiple bike paths that cut through the city and its parks. You can ride your bike every day of the week and take a different route every time. If you want to enjoy pedaling with some friends, San Diego hosts an organized bike ride at least once month.

   

  4)    See Some Wildlife. There are hundreds of species of animals living in San Diego’s nature preserves, but you don’t need a set of binoculars to see them. The city is home to one of the finest zoos in the country, the San Diego Zoo. Here you’ll find animals native to San Diego County and many, many more. You can spend an entire afternoon walking through the exhibits and still not see everything there is to see.

   

  5)    Learn to Fly. If you’ve ever wanted to go hang gliding, parasailing or kite surfing, San Diego is the place to be. The strong ocean currents just offshore of America’s Finest City make it a great place for wind-powered sports. If you don’t have your own equipment, don’t worry. Lessons and rentals are available in many locations throughout the city.

   

  Investing in a San Diego home is a great decision for anyone who wants to stay close to nature in a big city. From surfing to sailing and biking to gliding, there are so many ways to enjoy the outdoors that you’ll never get bored.

  Tags: buying a home, san diego activities, San Diego real estate
  Posted in Home Buying, Uncategorized | No Comments »

• Jul 25

  Is Flipping Real Estate a Solid Investment?

  When many people think about real estate investing, they think about flipping real estate, and with shows like Flip This House dominating the airwaves, it’s no wonder. But in today’s market, is flipping real estate still the solid moneymaker it was in the past?

   

  Traditionally, flipping real estate simply meant purchasing a property at a low price and selling it as a slightly higher (but still low) price. Today, people who perform these types of real estate transactions are known as wholesalers. When you flip, you’re doing something more. Although all the television shows call the process “flipping,” you’re also rehabbing properties. It’s more time-consuming than wholesaling properties. After all, you have to manage a crew, stick to a timeline and sell a home – all while staying under budget. Can you still make money following this more complex process?

   

  Absolutely! Rehabbing and re-selling is form of real estate investing that can work for anyone who makes careful decisions. At its heart, flipping real estate is about finding a low-priced property, doing your renovations and selling at or slightly below the market price. As long as the cost of your renovations doesn’t price the home out of the market or exceed your profits, you will be able to make money with flips.

   

  The trick to real estate flips in today’s market is finding a property at a great price. You’ll need to be able to negotiate and bargain-hunt for excellent deals in your area. Although seeking out foreclosures can be an easy way to find a cheap home, fantastic properties can still be found on the housing market – particularly if a family needs to sell fast to stop foreclosure.

   

  Although you may not be able to get away with some of the flipping tips they show on television (marble counters aren’t the right choice for every neighborhood, after all!), you can still find a fixer-upper and get it in shape for a sale. The heyday of elaborate flips may be over, but hey – that just means you’ve got less competition. So why not enter the real estate investing business by seeking out a deal and turning it into somebody’s dream home?

  Tags: real estate investing
  Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

• Jul 13

  5 Improvements Real Estate Investors Can Make Today

  Real estate investing can be a tricky business with plenty of highs and lows. Smart real estate investors know that what works for one deal may not be the best option for the next. If you’re looking to change things up, here are a few options you might consider:

  1.    Research a new area. Real estate investors tend to focus on one area – such as multi-family homes – before moving on. If you’re looking for a new deal, why not research a different niche? You may find there are opportunities in your area for types of real estate investing that you haven’t yet explored. Broadening your perspective never hurts, either. You might come up with new and fresh ideas for your current investments.

  2.    Amp up your networking. Real estate investing is all about knowing people and making deals with them, so check in with your network. Ask your contacts how business is going. This help you build stronger relationships with real estate investors in your area, and you might also discover opportunities you didn’t know about.

  3.    Reorganize your office. Sometimes simple things can make a big impact, and reorganizing your office may help you see what changes you need to make in other areas of your life. If you don’t want to organize your entire space, just pick one area. Those file cabinets could use an overhaul. Surely something in there will spark a new idea …

  4.    Read up on productivity tips. Productivity tips for real estate investors can help you work faster, better and smarter. Save time by streamlining your day and working more efficiently. You’d be surprised at how much time in a day is wasted, so look for opportunities to improve.

  5.    Consider your partners. Many real estate investors work with one or several partners to accomplish their deals. Looking into new and different partners may give you opportunities for new investments. If you don’t have a partner, consider adding one for your next deal. All that networking you did earlier should come in handy here!

  If you’re in the real estate investing business, sometimes small changes can make a big difference. Boost your business by taking a step towards something new today.

  Tags: real estate investing, real estate investors
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• Jul 7

  How to Become a Real Estate Agent

  Are you looking for a great career that can put you in touch with tons of people around your community? If you love watching “home renovation” shows, enjoy interacting with a variety of people and like the idea of helping families make great purchases, then becoming a real estate agent might be the perfect thing. Before you can become a licensed real estate agent, you’ll need to fulfill a few requirements and make some important decisions:

  • Decide if it’s for you. There are many things you’ll need to figure out before you decide to pursue getting your license. Real estate agents tend to work on a flexible schedule, meaning you may need to work in the evenings and on weekends. You’ll also need to know whether or not you enjoy working under deadlines and with a variety of different people.
  • Fill out an application. Before you proceed any further, you’ll have to apply for your real estate license. In most states, you have to be at least 18, although some states require you to be 21. Each state has different requirements, so make sure to research the particulars for applying in your state.
  • Take classes. Next, you’ll have to take classes in real estate. The courses can vary, but you can expect to spend at least 40 hours in the classroom. Many community colleges across the country offer licensing classes, or you might opt to attend a specialized school, so look around your area to figure out your options. You’ll learn about all the different aspects of the real estate field, from mortgage requirements to how to list properties on the MLS.
  • Find a broker to work for. After you’ve taken the classes, you’ll typically need to work for a broker for a period of time. This gives you practical experience in the field before striking out on your own – although you may decide that you enjoy working for a brokerage.

  If you’re considering a career in real estate, make sure you read up on the process and learn the different steps you’ll have to take to get licensed. Becoming a real estate agent is a fairly lengthy process, but you’ll be rewarded with an excellent career you can be proud of.

  Tags: real estate agent
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