Honest Realestate Agent

Archive for February, 2009

Building a new home can be one of the most significant financial investments you will make. With so much at stake, you certainly don’t want to encounter problems that could have been averted by making the effort to properly investigate the contractor.

Selecting the right contractor is therefore essential. It is imperative to have a builder who is well-accomplished and of high integrity, one with the appropriate know-how and skills in building a new home. One of the principal facets of this is finding a contractor who is skilled at supervising the team of subcontractors required for building a well-made house.

Following are some important tips in selecting the right contractor for you, from Aspen Valley Homes, your premier Prescott home builders:

Don’t ignore the importance of forming a good working relationship with your home builder. The preferrred prospect is someone you belive you will like, trust and respect.

Request references from the builder and verify their claims. Make certain the prospective contractor is insured and certified – you can stave off wasting time investigating builders if you’re uncertain of their qualifications in the beginning. Contact the state or local licensing body, the Better Business Bureau or National Association of Home Builders to see if any charges have been made against the builder.

Review the inspection and building permit records for previous homes constructed by the builder. Obtain a list of previous jobs and visit the local government office where records of inspections and permits are maintained. These are public records and should be easily accessed for viewing. In particular, look for failed inspections or permit violations. Understand that even the most reputable of builders will often have a few minor issues; however, repeat infractions or extensive failures should raise a red flag.

Find out how many years the contractor has been building custom homes. Longevity is a significant indicator of work quality and customer service.

Find a good design checklist and use it when meeting with potential builders. Asking info like what areas, price ranges, and materials they specialize in allows you to evaluate the builder’s expertise with regard to your specific needs.

Speaking of which, be sure to look for a contractor who builds the specific type of homes that you are looking to build. Builders will have different domains of competency – be sure to select someone with the appropriate experience.

Personal referrals is the best method for identifying good contractors. Ask contented homeowners in the area for builders they would unreservedly recommend.

Be certain to talk to people who have recently had homes built by the contractor you are considering. The input of actual customers is very important.

When at last ready to sign the contract, make sure to read it carefully – make sure it is complete and correctly covers all facets discussed verbally. Also, be sure you can get a warranty with your new home. This can be crucial to protect your considerable investment.

Choosing the proper home builder is possibly the most crucial step in building your new home. Following appropriate guidelines can help you find a quality builder in your area and fend off the pitfalls of inferior workmanship. These tips will assist you in finding the {home builders|Prescott home builders} who are most qualified and best-suited to build your dream home.

Buying a your home, whether it’s your first home or your dream home, is one of the best investment you will ever make. That’s primarily due to the fact that you can pay off your mortgage and build equity in your home over time. On the other hand a renter will keep paying rent and will more than likely see their rental payments increase over the years.

You can calculate your mortgage using a mortgage calculator. Once you start making your mortgage payments you find yourself with that recurring dream of being mortgage free.” For most people that day is pretty far off in the future, but it is possible to speed up the process.

Your REALTOR® will be able to advise you on ways you can pay down your mortgage as quickly as possible. This should help you when you're arranging financing on your home. Be sure to discuss various options with your financial institution before choosing a mortgage.

Schedule of Amortization
One of the ways to pay down your mortgage quickly is to shorten the amortization period.” By choosing a shorter amortization, you will not only pay for your home in less time, but you will make substantial savings in interest too.

When you using a mortgage calculator, the most common mortgage amortization is 25 years. By shortening that period to 15 years, you will erode the amount of money you owe much more quickly and make fewer interest payments. A shorter amortization period is not suitable for everyone since it does mean you will be making higher monthly payments, but for those who can afford this cash outlay the long term savings pay off.

Normally a mortgage payment is structured so that it is blended and applies to both principal and interest so near the beginning of the mortgage the amount of interest pay is very high. However, with each payment, more and more of is applied to the principal. Ask your real estate agent to provide you with examples of how your payments would look amortized over 25 years compared to 15 years.

Options for Payments
The more popular payment choices today are semi-monthly, bi-weekly and weekly versus the previous preffered payment method of monthly. With these types of payment options you will reduce the amount of principal you owe faster because you make payments on a much more frequent basis and less interest is accrued. Many mortgages also offer homeowners the option of making an additional payment each year or increasing your payment each month. Making the equivalent of one extra payment a year can save you a considerable amount over time.

Anniversary date
Many different types of mortgages permit you to make a lump sum payment on the mortgage anniversay date. Again this lowers the amount of money you ultimately payout in interest resulting in savings long term. It’s wise to find out what “pre-payment” privileges are available on the mortgage you choose.

Your REALTOR® along with either your bank, trust company or mortgage broker can help you look at all the possibilities for financing your home and can tailor a mortgage that fits your income and your goals.

Shop around
Try to select a mortgage that provides as much flexibility as possible. Try to ensure you can make one extra payment yearly and select the payment plan that works best for you. Your REALTOR® is experienced and knowledgeable about the many mortgage options and the types of payment plans available and can act as your guide to help you become mortgage free sooner.

Article by Patricia Hodge-Rendall, Broker, Remax Realty Specialists Inc., 1-866-675-3434

If you are an impulse shopper, then it is not recommended that you attend a real estate foreclosure auction in order to get a deal on a house (whether to live in it or to invest in it).  Auctions give off a sense of urgency worse than your bladder does after guzzling a two liter bottle of cola.   If you are serious about getting property in a particular area, then you will be better off with watching HUD foreclosure listings like a hawk.

Get That Mouse Clicking

In order to find HUD foreclosure listings in your desired area, you first need to get to the Housing and Urban Development’s home page at hud.gov.  This will take you a series of links all about how to bid on a HUD foreclosure home and about what is (and isn’t) included in a HUD house.  Most importantly, there is a listing of states for the HUD foreclosure listing in those states. 

Fore example, let’s say you want to see all of the HUD foreclosure listings in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  You click onto Pennsylvania link and you will most likely get a warning that you are leaving HUD’s home page to another web site.  This is nothing to be alarmed about.  Click on to “Go on to web site requested”.

This will take you to the Pennsylvania HUD approved broker, Hooks Van Holm.  Yo see that there is a long list of Pennsylvania towns and cities, but certainly not a comprehensive list of all the towns and cities in the state. These happen to be the only ones with a HUD foreclosure property in them. You scroll down to find Lancaster and click the link.You might also heave a sigh of relief to see that your home town is not on the list (if you happen to reside in Pennsylvania).

Bidding Process

You make the bids for the homes on a HUD foreclosure listing in much the same way you would bid for an item on eBay.  You have a long time to make up your mind and aren’t pressured.You do need to inspect the property yourself and to get a home inspector to go over it.  Never bid on a HUD property sight unseen.

The first ten days that a HUD property goes up for “auction” is reserved for bids from the previous owners (should some miracle occur in their financial lives) or for people who want to actually live in the home.  On day eleven onwards, the bids are opened up to real estate investors or “flippers”. 

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You’d have to be dead not to be moved by the foreclosure stories in the press, on television and maybe even in your own neighborhood.  Americans in particular find their identity through their homes.Although a house does not make a home, any kind of foreclosure can drive a person crazy.  This is now the best and worst times for real estate foreclosure investing.

Sticks And Stones

It is recommended that you keep your enthusiasm for real estate foreclosure investing to an absolute minimum.  Although there is nothing illegal in real estate foreclosure investing, the current American recession has made the general public very easily angered.  The general public looks at the turmoil, weeping and destruction around a simple HUD foreclosure home and then assumes that you are a heartless Scrooge for being into real estate foreclosure investing.

The best thing you can do in this situation is not to argue back.You quietly do the best you can with the foreclosure property that's fallen into your lap and turn it onto a home for someone.If you believe in a God of some sort, than you can pray for the people who were kicked out of the home you now own.  By giving generously to homeless shelters and Habitat for Humanity, you also prove that you are putting your money back into the community and not just in your pocket.

Trust In Allah, But Tie Up Your Camel

It also is a sad fact that some people are trying to take revenge in any way they can on anyone who takes possession of their former home.  On the morning of this writing (July 24, 2008) a Massachusetts woman committed suicide in a foreclosed home that was going under auction.

It has been suggested by housing experts that as the America housing crisis grows, so will the revenge patterns.  Homemade bombs are being found, tons of pets locked in a home to die of starvation and someone leaving a ten foot alligator with attitude has also occurred.In this day and age, you need to keep your identity a secret and get a good security system for your home. 

You need to keep your guard up about strangers coming around your house, calling your or offering business proposals.  You need to educate everyone in your family not to talk to strangers, or let a strange person in the home.  Even though you might trust that no one will so crazy as to try to hurt you over real estate foreclosure investing, you never know.  As the old saying goes, “Trust in Allah, but tie up your camel.”

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Those in the market for a new home may want to consider looking at homes that are near to foreclosure. While some of the pre foreclosure homes on the market may not be such a good deal, there are going to be some that can be purchased at considerably less than their market value. Additionally, buying a pre foreclosure home before they get to the auction block may also benefit the current home buyer in getting them off the hook for the mortgage and the cost of going through the foreclosure process.

One of the difficulties in buying a pre foreclosure home is getting information about when they are going to go into foreclosure. Many lenders are reluctant to advertise the properties that are close to going into foreclosure and most homeowners are embarrassed by the upcoming proceedings. In most instances, the earliest indication of a pre foreclosure home becoming available will be when the process has started and a notice in placed in the newspaper as required by law.

Real estate companies sometimes know about a pre foreclosure home before the legal process is in action when homeowners put their property on the market,, hoping to sell before the lender begins the process of booting them out of their home. It is also possible, especially if the amount owed on the mortgage is less than the value of the property, to buy a pre foreclosure home, affect some repairs and then turn a quick profit by selling the home to a qualified buyer.

Staying Informed About The Foreclosure Market

Persons interested in buying foreclosure home will want to be educated not only about the value of the property in which they are interested, but also in the value of other nearby properties. Many times, if there are a number of vacant homes in a neighborhood, the home values tend to drop, making it more difficult to recoup the cost of the home. When looking at pre foreclosure home sales, potential buyers should look at overall value of the neighborhood in which the property is situated.

Home sales are one of the few areas in which the value of the product is contingent on the value of adjacent properties, since it cannot be picked up and moved to a better area. Research will also be needed when buying a pre foreclosure home to insure there are not other financial obligations tied to the value of the property. It is possible the current owner took out other obligations using the property as collateral and a pre foreclosure home may end up costing more than the property is worth.

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You can realize investment in real estate in order to obtain profit in two ways: you can either buy, manage and then sale a property or you can buy it in order to rent it. Real estate development is the improvement of a specific realty property as part of the strategy in the investment of real estate. This is generally considered as a real estate sub-specialty. Relative to the other investment kinds, real estate is a form of asset that has fixed liquidity.

Real estate also is also regarded to be capital intensive and is highly dependent on cash flow. Improper management of capital or cash flow can results in a high level of risk or even insolvency. Failure to manage them properly can result in a financial loss.

Acquisition and sources

Acquiring and looking for sources of real estate is not hard although the real estate market in numerous countries are not that efficient or organized compared to other having instruments of liquid investment. Individual properties are not interchangeable and are unique by themselves. This presents one big challenge to investors who want to evaluate investments and price opportunities. This is one reason why when searching for properties wherein one can invest in, it involves competition and substantial hard work among the investors to be able to purchase properties. The same property can result in completely different appreciations depending of its location, say the state where it resides. You would not have to invest the same amount of money for a property in Texas or for a florida real estate.

Another part of the problem can be the dealing of the transaction. Investors of real estate usually use a number of appraisal methods in order to figure out the value of the property before the purchase so they can deal a better price.

Sources of properties for investment include:

• Agents of real estate

• Market listings 

• Private sales

• Public auction 

• Wholesalers

When a good opportunity is found, the investor will negotiate a sale price and terms with the previous owner, then after the business talk, the contract for sale will be executed. In order to be assisted in the process of acquisition, the investors can sometimes employ attorneys or agents having the knowledge about real estate. This is due to the deal that acquire a real estate posses a lot of complexes which may lead to a very costly deal if executed improperly. 

During property acquisition, the investor makes an offer to buy the reserve of the investor’s right to complete their transaction upon satisfactorily negotiating with the latter. This reservation money can be refunded or not and is a sign for the investor’s intentions and seriousness to buy the property.

The terms for the offer in property investment include several contingencies that allow the investor sufficient time to complete diligence and acquire funds before the final purchase. During the contingency period, the one investing usually reserve the right to abolish the offer with no attached penalties and accomplish refund on money deposits. Once the contingencies expired, rescinding usually requires the forfeit of money deposits and may sometimes leave penalties as well.

That is why, to avoid such penalties, the investor must have a great deal of understanding and knowledge on the venture that he has to overcome. Legal advises from people having investing backgrounds will greatly help to lessen the risk.

In June of 2008, foreclosure filings were up an average of 50% in most American states.  You can take this news in many ways.  But for the real estate investor, this is great news.  There are now more choices than ever to not only make a profit, but to help become your own boss and be in charge of your financial future.  However, don’t be tempted by the vast array of HUD foreclosure homes that are on the market.You still need to look at each HUD foreclosure home with a cool head before deciding on making a bid.

Do Your Research

Remember, HUD foreclosure homes are sold as-is, even if there are corpses and craters inside of it. Never contemplate bidding on a HUD foreclosure home sight unseen.You must inspect it yourself.  You also need to keep in mind that if people are going to be living in the property right up until the sheriff kicks them off, they will leave damage in their anger that you will be responsible to fix.

Although HUD foreclosure homes often come with commission fees paid by Housing and Urban Development, they don’t often pay the back taxes or any other fees that the previous owner couldn’t pay for.  You need to get the HUD broker to check up on the physical and financial condition of the house.

Finding The Property

A HUD foreclosure listing is a matter of public knowledge, much in the same way marriages and divorces are.  You need to check out your state’s HUD’s web site in order to keep tabs on which foreclosed houses they are planning on buying.  Don’t expect them ever to get a property in a hard-to-get-into neighborhood, or a home that’s worth more than $400,000.

You then need to contact the broker or company that is working with HUD to sell the property.This is the person or business that you will be getting to know very well in your pursuit of the HUD foreclosure home.  If a HUD employee offers to work with you as a real estate broker to help you buy the home, bolt.This is illegal. 

What Am I Bid?

For the first ten days that the HUD foreclosure home is on the market, only people wishing to live in the home are allowed to bid.  If you are a real estate investor, you will have to wait.  Odds are that your HUD foreclosure home will still be there waiting for you.  You then bid electronically with your HUD-approved broker.  You’ll know in a few days if the bid was accepted by HUD.

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If you’ve heard about getting a house at a bargain basement price with real estate foreclosure auctions, you heard right.  However, you do have to know what you’re getting yourself in for.Never buy a home from a real estate foreclosure auction that you haven't inspected yourself AND had a hired home inspector go through.  The main thing to keep in mind with any kind of real estate auction is that once that gavel hits, the home is yours – for better or for worse.

You Marry The House

You should treat a real estate foreclosure auction more seriously than you would in selecting a marriage partner.  Getting divorced is a heck of a lot easier than trying to unload a house you don’t like – especially in today’s tight economic climate. That property becomes more involved with your life than a spouse ever would.  It might even wind up taking over your life – in ways both good and bad.

Just like in marrying a person, when you “marry” a house, you also take on not just the house, but any issues that come with the house.Part of your inspection into a house on a real estate tax foreclosure auction should include how much back tax or any other fees are owed on it.  You will then be responsible to pay all of those off – even though they were run up by the previous owner.

Check Details

Be sure you check with the laws about real estate foreclosure auctions before bidding.  Some states will require that the house must be paid for in cash at the auction.And then some counties within your state will have differing rules.  Some will also have specific real estate tax foreclosure property laws, whether you are buying a home to live in it or as an investment.

Other than the huge amount of money involved, the actual auction is very much like a livestock auction.  Everyone’s in place and raises their hands or signs to make a bid.  Be sure you know in advance how much a bid is.  For some auctions, it’s $1000, for others it’s $5000.  The bank that owns the home usually makes the first bid, even though they don’t want to keep the home.

Other fees you need to find out about before the real estate foreclosure auction includes the cost of title transfer fees, document stamps and the auction fee.  And also, you have to keep in mind that a mortgage does not come with the house.

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There are many different names for a house that’s been foreclosed upon because the owners couldn’t keep up with mortgage or other payments.  One of the names that these properties are referred to is real estate tax foreclosures.  In many states in America, the property tax costs thousands of dollars.  People can loose their homes from not being able to pay this hefty tax.  For whatever reason, a foreclosure is a foreclosure.  Here is some foreclosure help on how to buy these homes.

Who Owns The Home?

In the case of a real estate tax foreclosure, the government assumes ownership of the foreclosed house or business.The government does not want to keep their real estate tax foreclosure properties and are looking to dump them as quickly as possible for whatever price they can get.  This is your tax dollars at work, ladies and gentlemen.

One of the advantages of having the government own the home (however briefly) is that they list real estate tax foreclosures all over the place.  A foreclosure or property sale is a matter of public record.  Another advantage is that the government is eager to sell.  However, the government is not too interested in making any deals. 

Make A Checklist

Most real estate tax foreclosure properties are sold “as is”.  That means if the home is in crappy condition, you will be responsible for fixing it up.  This is different from traditional home sales, where the owner usually has to make repairs as part of the deal.  This means you have to hire a home inspector to give you a report on the real estate tax foreclosed home.  Don’t trust anyone else’s home inspector.

Many real estate companies in the area often work with the IRS in order to sell real estate foreclosed homes.  You need to check with them about finding out just how much property tax is owed, and what other fees are.  Other fees can include transfer of home title.  You also need to find out what the current assessment on the property is so that you know if you can afford the property tax.  Never assume you can sell within one year of purchase.

The real estate company may also be able to give you a free history of the real estate tax foreclosure property, but usually you have to pay a fee for that, too.  You need to see when major repairs were made and if the home was damaged by an natural or unnatural disaster.

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One of the big stories in the news this entire year has been the number of foreclosures on people’s homes all over the country.  As a result of so many foreclosed homes we are also seeing a rise in crime as criminals are stripping out the valuable parts of the homes in the affluent neighborhoods simply because no one is living there to protect the home.  As the government slowly moves towards helping people in trouble with their mortgages there are ways you can help stop foreclosure and prevent yourself from losing your home. 

The American dream involves everyone owning their own home and with a little foreclosure help you can be improve your chances of heading off foreclosure and keeping your part of the American dream alive.  One of the big problems with foreclosure help is that people often do not seek out foreclosure help until it is too late.  You would be surprised at where you can find foreclosure help if you just admit early on in the process that you are having problems making your payments and you need help.

Believe it or not you can get foreclosure help from the bank that currently holds your mortgage.  Many people have no idea that foreclosure help exists from their mortgage holder and because they do not investigate this option they wind up finding out way too late that they could have prevented foreclosure by just working with their existing loan holder.  The bank does not want your home and the bank does not want you to go through foreclosure.  The bank will use foreclosure as a last resort and to avoid using foreclosure they will usually offer some sort of foreclosure help.  So if you find that you may be getting behind on your mortgage payments then one of the first places you should be calling is your mortgage holder for foreclosure help.You would be surprised at the programs they have available to help homeowners that cannot make their scheduled payments.

Protecting Your Back

Of course the other place you can find foreclosure help is an attorney’s office.  Many people avoid hiring an attorney because they either cannot afford it or they do not think it is necessary.In reality, if you get yourself to the point where foreclosure is a definite possibility, at that point you need the services of an attorney and it is in your best interest to hire the best attorney you can afford.  Foreclosure is an ugly process but a lawyer can help you to protect yourself from many of the legal problems that come with foreclosure.

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