Top Real Estate Articles

Find Bank Owned Properties In Your Area

Nov 11, 2009 Foreclosures

Looking for a house? Right now, you can take advantage of some incredible deals on bank owned homes. For many, the economy has posed hardship and the loss of jobs, homes and worldly goods. However, for others, there have been bargains galore that they are snatching up. Many people are looking to buy second homes, investment property and any houses they can find to resell later when the market takes an upswing. No matter why you’re looking for houses, you can get the greatest deals in recent decades on bank owned homes, right now.

Bank owned homes are properties that were foreclosed on for one reason or another. The bank will take over possession of a property in the event of a foreclosure and sell it in one of two manners. Either they will list it with a Realtor or firm and hope to sell it quickly in order to get any return or they will post it for sale, auction style.

When people can’t make the payments on a property, there is typically a list of things that happens. When one payment is missed, typically the bank will begin sending letters and making phone calls to the property owners to find out why payment has not been received. If no contact is made in a relatively short period of time, the bank begins to get concerned.

They may ask the bank for a homeowners refinance loan in order to get the payments current on their home loan and possibly pay off other debt that they have outstanding or overdue. This will help a lot of families in need and it should be considered immediately upon realization that the first payment may not be made on time.

If the homeowners have been paying on the property for a considerable amount of time, the bank will do everything that they can to make alternative payment arrangements for the home owner. The last thing that the bank really wants is to have to take over the property.

When this can’t be accomplished, the bank has no other alternative but to start foreclosure proceedings. It’s the very worst thing that can happen to you as a homeowner and the bank is not very fond of this either. It costs them a lot of money to deal with the logistical and legal issues involved with foreclosure. Many times, when a homeowner knows they are going to be foreclosed, there may be issues with destruction of property, as well. The bank will then lose more money, getting the home back in order.

When you are looking to purchase a home for yourself, you can get some great discounts when you opt to buy a bank owned property. Always make sure that you are prepared to take over payments or get a loan, for yourself, first.

If you’re going to buy a bank owned property, make sure that you hire your own home inspector to go over the house thoroughly. Make sure it is worth the asking price and don’t be afraid to bargain with the bank!

If you are searching for a cheap house that you would love to buy for your family, you should look at bank owned homes. These house are all bank owned homes, foreclosures, bank owned property listing, and are really cheap.

Tags: bank owned, forclosed, forclosure, forclosures, Foreclosed Homes, foreclosure listings, Foreclosures, home, houses, properties, property, reo

How To Flip Real Estate Without Buying A House

Jul 16, 2009 Real Estate Investments

locating real estate deals to wholesale can be frustrating for some one just beginning in real estate today. However I must make a point for you that right now in this sluggish economy deals are every where if you know what you are looking for, the real difficulty is in finding buyers for deals, but that is another story.

For this article, I want to talk about an how to find real estate deals to wholesale. Assuming you already know how to find buyers and have already built a huge buyers list.

With your list in place all you have to do is find the deals, this is really the easy part. Many investors know how to find deals but can’t sell them so your job is to find these investors and the deals will follow.

Here is what I suggest to do. Google your area for real estate investment clubs and see if there are any in your area. If their is not one you might want to start one. Then look in the yellow pages and start calling realtors and ask them if they know of any investors in your area that you are looking to try to meet some in investors and network, most people will give you a name and then just track them down kind of like a blood hound. Next go to craigslist.com and look in the real estate section of your area and start emailing the investors in your area. Try to contact them and network a little with them and see if you can try to sell there properties.

What you really want to do is get the ability to pitch the other investors deals to your lest or do some marketing to try and find a buyer for there property. I want to do this for two reasons. one is to make some money selling the property with no risk and the other is to continue to build your buyers list with other investors properties. That is the real key. using other properties that you basically control but not own to continue to build a buyers list.

Tags: b, Blogging, business;finance, buyers, deals, flip, flipping, forclosures, h, home, house, how to find buyers, how to find wholesale real estate deals, INVESTING, real esate investing, real estate guru, real estate investing, Real Estate Investments, system, Wholesale

Investors Tool Box

Jun 8, 2009 Real Estate Investments

I am always being asked. “Doc what advice can you give me that will help me with investing. What tricks of the trade or inside tidbits can you share with me?? The best answer is you need to develop a “toolbox”.

Now before you go nuts scratching your head, let me define the areas of the tool box. The tool box has three areas.

1) Grey matter tools: This is the in your head part of the tool box. It is the manner in which you think about investing, the guidelines you use to select investments as well as ALL the information you call on every time the prospect of an investment even shows its self. It is the investment filter you have developed for yourself.

Simply put..it is the mental list you use when you start thinking about investing. the “what’s, where’s and how much’s”.

IMPORTANT ELEMENT. While we all know that a zillion books have been written about investing. It is important to understand that you MUST have some knowledge from that book…WHY? Because if you understand what other investors are reading?it actually makes it easier to work with them since you understand where they are getting their basic tactics and understanding from, that helps steer them to the investments THEY are making.

2)Your on-line tool box: Most investors use the web daily. Its a great information source, but most investors also have tunnel vision when they are on the web. we get stuck using a few websites that we think are the best at that will cover all our needs. WRONG answer. This causes a type of blindness I call “INFO INPUT SHUT DOWN”.

Ok so how do you avoid Info input shut down? You have to open your tool box up to get some fresh tools.

Just go to the free email server of your choice…create a new email address that you will use to collect email updates/newsletters from various websites. then go thru them at your leasure.

Once you join an email list..no matter what stay with it for at least 6 months. (Not all great investment tidbits are sent out at first.) Email lists to get on are for: investment clubs, investment blogs, investment reference sites, etc, etc.

I avoid most of the “pop up” mailing lists for the simple fact that if the info they offer is any good?someone else is going to share it and it will cause enough of a buzz that you will hear about it. If that the case then go ahead and join it.

Other online Tool box sites are certain “E tools”. These go way beyond having a mortgage calculator online. We are talking about tools that you are almost chomping at the bit to try. (I have to admit I have a few of these in my Tool box?I use them every day) When you find these tools you will just know it, find them and BOOKMARK them!

3) And last but not least… actual physical, hold in your hand, tools. It can be a great “go by list”. A solid flash light. anything that makes the time in the field looking at investments easier.

Build your tool box and USE IT.

Tags: forclosures, foreclosures investing, Investments, Real Estate, real estate - advertising, real estate - buying/selling, real estate - consultancy real estate - finance, real estate investing, Real Estate Investments, Real Estate Investor, Real Estate Investors

Working with your lender to avoid forclosure

Apr 21, 2009 Real Estate Investments

If your home is on the verge of foreclosure or you fear the chance of it, you certainly will do any possible means to save it. But the problem is how you will do it? The first step, is going to your lender and asking for help. DO NOT OVER LOOK THIS OPTION!

If contacting your lender at the first sign of financial problems seems to be not so good of an idea. It may be because you are embarrassed to discuss money issues to others or you simply don’t see the need to inform your lender right away of your present financial standing. But the truth is, asking for your lender’s help will save you a lot of trouble and it will could help you save your home.

People often have the perception that lenders, like banks, think only of themselves and don’t care about the future of the borrowers. This leads to the common notion that lenders show no mercy to homeowners who have defaulted on payments and will take the homes when the very first window of opportunity opens. The truth is lenders like owners will do everything they can to avoid home foreclosures.

If you miss payments for 3 consecutive months normally the lenders usually send a Notice of Default. However if you know your in trouble DO NOT wait until you get the notice to take action. Call your lender as soon as possible. Inform them of your reason of default on a payment and ask for an alternative payment schedule or temporary lower rates until your finances have recovered. You can also ask for Forbearance where your lender waives some of the penalty fees as a result of default or a mortgage refinance without going through the process of re-application. Most mortgage lenders are more than willing to help you to avoid repossessing your home.

Talk to your lender, inform them of the situation, and ask for payment alternatives. Don’t wait too long before you make a move to save your home. Act fast. Understand the gravity of the situation and do something. It is your obligation to pay your mortgage but when worst comes to worst, your lender will help you keep your home.

Tags: business, finance, forclosures, Foreclosure, foreclosures investing, homebuying, Investments, real estate investing, Real Estate Investments, Real Estate Investor, Real Estate Investors

Real estate…the LONG TERM investment.

Apr 6, 2009 Real Estate Properties

Have you heard these “bits of advice”????This is not a good time to look at property investment? Now is not a good time to invest in the stock market? Now is not a good time to buy oil futures? We have heard this from every “GURU” on the nightly news. The fact that this is a common belief does not make it true. Now is the time to go against the flow of popular opinion and buy an investment. The risk must, however, be a reasoned one and never spend the rent money on risky things.

If you are willing to move against the flow you must seek out deals and only buy bargains. Property investment is great because you can feel the permanence of your investment and over time real estate has proved itself to be a solid money maker. Contrary to all the latter day negative gearing you need to make sure of a positive cash flow. Rents must give a return on investment. Simply put…. you do not buy at silly prices you buy only when the figures give you a return.

With the current feeling of uncertainty, buying bargains is not difficult. Foreclosures are not nice for anyone to deal with and being a buyer at a foreclosure or mortgagee sale can make you feel very uncomfortable and even intimidated. These properties do have to be sold though and foreclosures will work to an investor’s advantage. Its just bargain shopping on a bigger scale.

You don’t have to work with just foreclosures. Many people got into the property investment business over the last few years with the promise of easy profits and now feel worried and insecure with mortgages over their family homes or repayment bills that will not lessen in the near future. They just want to quit the game no matter what and will take a loss to set themselves out. Just do not make the same mistake they made. Do the math!! Get a return on your investment. Lastly have the right mind set which is to buy for the long term. Property investment is a long term game and very lucrative over a long period. Just make certain that you are happy and secure with a long term investment and you will really cash in when the next real estate price surge hits.

Tags: business, finance, forclosures, INVESTING, Investments, Real Estate, real estate investing, Real Estate Investments, Real Estate Investors, Real Estate Properties, retirement, wealth building

3 easy steps to a better FICO score

Apr 3, 2009 Real Estate Investments

It used to be that “people” made decisions about your credit worthiness. You knew your banker and your handshake was all the collateral you needed. Those days are long gone, and now a single number - your FICO score - determines your credit worthiness.

Although there are several credit models, the most commonly used is FICO, based on a model created by Fair, Isaac Company. Their consumer website is myfico.com, and you can find information about the FICO credit scores there.

A FICO score is one of the main factors used to determine your interest rate and the amount of a loan you will be offered. A good score makes you a more attractive loan then say someone who has a less then stellar credit history.

Keeping your credit history in good order and improving your rating is not a hard thing to do…but it will take time. Here are a few ideas how to do just that.

FIRST: Obtain a Credit History

You may not have a history for several reasons. Maybe you pay all your bills with cash, maybe you?re a student, maybe you have never needed a loan for anything. All this will have an effect on your history. Don?t be upset…if you?re like most people you will get a credit history far sooner than later.

The easiest way to raise your score is acquire a loan, and pay it off on time. In general, installment loans are weighted more heavily than credit cards. In other words, you will improve your credit score faster if you buy goods with an installment loan, rather than acquiring a credit card.

Another way to acquire a better credit history is to take $1000 and open a 6 month CD account at a financial institution. Now, get an installment loan for $1000, using that CD as collateral. Now, here’s the trick. Take the $1000 loan, and open another 6 month CD account at another institution. Take another loan for the $1000 at the second institution. Do this one more time.

In the end you have 3 loans. Pay the minimum payments for 6 months…then cash out the CD’s and pay off the loans in full. Now you have a credit history.

SECOND: Keep your credit history clean.

Ok…now you have a good history. No major debt…now to keep the FICO as high as you can.

Make sure you don’t close your old accounts. (Unless of course they charge you a fee of some sort to keep it open.) Part of your credit score is based on the amount of credit available vs. amount used. If you close old accounts you may impact this part of your credit.

Another thing to be aware of is how you manage your money. Here?s the scenario: you have a $2000 credit card. Every month, you charge about $1800 to that card. And, every month you pay it off. But here’s what happens - your credit card company reports your credit information monthly to FICO. However if they report it on the day before you pay it off…the credit agency sees you carry a balance every month. If you can try changing the days you pay off your credit card.

THIRD: Repair Your Poor Credit History

At some point there is a very good chance you will have something that causes your credit rating to drop. Don’t panic…poor credit can be fixed. Understand however that the process takes time. In some cases you may need to talk to a credit counselor to assure you address the reasons for the drop as well as remove any future habits that may cause it to drop again.

The most heavily weighted part of your score is based on your payment history. The first thing to do to start repairing your credit history is to pay your bills on time. The mortgage is the most important, followed by installment loans, and finally credit cards.

The next largest factor on your credit is how you have used it. You can improve it by paying off your credit cards.

When you?re all done with the rest of things…review your credit report. Get one from all the credit agencies. Look for errors and mistakes. Contact them to see if they can remove them or correct the errors.

A strong, healthy, and clean credit score is a major part of your financial world. Keep it clean and don?t risk it. A good score can factor into things you can’t imagine. Don?t damage your score if you can help it.

Tags: credit, Credit Score, finance and investing, finance and investment, financial services, financing, first time mortgage loan, flipping houses, forclosures, foreclosures investing, Investments, personal finance, real estate investing, Real Estate Investments

Where to look for foreclosures

Mar 18, 2009 Real Estate Properties

In a down real estate market, finding foreclosed homes is easy. However to make your search easier, here is the list of the places where you can find foreclosures.

Auctions

Auction companies hold a inventory of properties, sometimes selling as much as 100 homes or more in just 1 day. Since the bidding is relatively quick and houses can be sold in a matter of seconds, prices of real estate can go over the board but you can find really good properties in their inventory.

Some Large Bank Websites

Most major banks maintain a list of foreclosed properties that they now own. Visit bank web sites and check out the foreclosed properties listing. More often then not this is a great method to find good solid investment property…just be warned…banks take FOREVER to move on a sale if your offering below what they feels is “Fair market value”.

Online foreclosure companies

There are a few companies online that specialize in selling foreclosed homes. A small,one-time membership fee is charged to anyone who wishes to access the list of foreclosed properties. Once you join you will normally have access to a list of property from across the nation. This is very helpful if you have a part of the country you prefer to invest in.

Real estate agents

These agents are either maintaining personal web sites or are under real estate companies that sell foreclosed properties. You can search them online or browse through yellow page listings. Major cities have real estate offices where you can inquire into possibility of acquiring foreclosures.

Real Estate Signs

You don’t need to look anywhere else because you can find foreclosure signs around your neighborhood.These signs contain address and contact information of the agents you can visit or call. The best thing about considering homes with real estate signs is that you can actually check the condition of the house on-site. And with one phone call, you can arrange with the agent the date when you want to see the interior of the house.

Government Agencies

Department of the Treasury and other government agencies have a list of real estate properties for sale. Usually, when buying a house from these agencies, you are required to acquire the services of a real estate broker or personally submit an offer. Go to any of the government agencies web sites for more information. VA forclosed homes, Fannie Mae foreclosure homes, Housing Urban Development, Small Business Association just to name a few.

Tags: forclosures, Foreclosed real estate, Foreclosure, foreclosures investing, INVESTING, Investments, real estat, Real Estate, real estate investing, Real Estate Investments, Real Estate Investor, Real Estate Investors, Real Estate Properties, reo