Real Estate Networks

“You’ve been approved!” The words you have always wanted to hear when you filled out the home loan application. It swirls through your mind the opportunities and memories you will cherish in your new home. Before you even start shopping for a home it is best to understand in real terms what you can afford. Your income level may make it tight for you every month to make the mortgage payment if you purchase too much home.

You may wish to know how much the home may cost you before you sign your contract. So you will need to be a financial calculator to figure out the monthly paper in real-terms. There is an easier way. The Internet has become the best place for mathematical equations and there are some great websites that will do the figures for you should you know the absolute basics of the transaction. Here are some of the factors that can help you determine what your monthly interest rate will be:

Amount of home

Percentage of interest

Duration of loan (5, 15 or 30 years)

Down payment

Insurance (percentage of loan)

Start date of the loan

Sites like bankrate.com” target=”_new bankrate.com and countrywide.com” target=”_new countrywide.com provide free online calculators. Save yourself time and frustration trying to determine the monthly payment when these programs offered free work well. Some of the calculators can also factor in extra payments to your schedule and will show the end result savings. An amortization schedule is also provided to show you how your payments over the thirty years reduce your liability and increase your equity in the property.

Most mortgage lenders will give you a maximum you can afford and should be within a few dollars of the actual dollar amount should you ask them for the monthly payment calculated. Your being comfortable with the mortgage payment will help you recognize your monthly commitment to the property. There is a lot more involved than just making the payment to the mortgage, utilities, upgrades and other expenses come into play when factoring in all your overall commitment.

About The Author

Jakob Jelling is the founder of cashbazar.com” target=”_new cashbazar.com. Visit his website for the latest on personal finance, debt elimination, budgeting, credit cards and real estate.

..using just two resources correctly.. Because no one succeeds by themselves.

According to the famous “6 degrees of separation”, right now you know someone who knows someone who knows someone who can help you build your fortune.

That’s why you need to create a list of people you can turn to for help. Two resources who should be on that list are a real estate attorney and CPA (if you live in Canada, this person is known as a Chartered Accountant, or CA).

They’re critical to your home business.

Not to mention they may have long-term relationships with contractors, mortgage experts, other home business entrepreneurs, and realtors – whom they can refer to help you.

So choose wisely…

Get someone with the contacts and knowledge that can help your home business build a team of experts, and meet other real estate investors as well.

Now let’s consider what makes a CA/CPA and real estate attorney most suitable.

First, choose someone who is active in the business community and belongs to some sort of
professional organization, a local business club, the Better Business Bureau, local Chamber of
Commerce, and/or other similar organizations.

They’ll help you create tax savings, and refer your business to their contacts so provide them with three dozen business cards and encourage them to give these out to professionals that they know who can help you.

While this may seem aggressive, they realize that as your business grows, so does theirs. They should be more than happy to pass on the contacts to you — it’s a win-win situation.

Secondly, hopefully they both should be real estate investors, or at least have extensive experience representing real estate investors and home based business owners.

If you are serious about starting and running a massively profitable home business, or just want
to add an additional $40,000 Cash To Your Bank Account in the next 90 days, then don’t wait another
moment.

Take advantage of this revolutionary, step-by-step wealth creation system today…Act now and order here

For Sale By Owner homes are often a sore spot for realtors who believe that they, and only they, have the skills, resources and experience to sell a home and get top dollar for their client. But realtors are missing a great opportunity to talk to buyers if they fail to capitalize on what FSBO’s have to offer…A HOME FOR SALE!

And FSBO’s are so determined to do everything without a realtor that they make some very simple mistakes…Buyers do not like the owner to be around when they go to open houses…it makes them uncomfortable and unable to talk freely about the home. Also, buyers are under the impression that they will get a FSBO home for less money, so they tend to lowball their offers.

So, how can realtors and FSBOs help each other??? A realtor can market a home for a FSBO without any fee if the owner agrees to pay the realtor a buyer’s agent commission should that agent bring a buyer to the table. In a return, the realtor could hold open homes with the potential to not only sell that home, but pick up buyers who may not be interested in that particular home, but are not currently working with an agent. I have seen this work with great success for both parties!

Andrea Rothman is a REALTOR in the SF East Bay and has worked with many buyers and sellers. Visit her website at bay-homes.net bay-homes.net, or contact her by phone 510-734-4683 or by email at mailto:arothmanhomes@aol.com arothmanhomes@aol.com.

Often times during my platform presentations at real estate events I share the stories of the BIG ones that got away in my real estate career. I even share the story of when things went horribly wrong with a large rehab project I was working on. So wrong in fact, the experience nearly wiped me out of the business for good.

I tell those stories as my way of keeping things real. I want the people in the audience to understand that this is a business like any other whereby things occasionally go wrong. Such stories could affect my back-of-room sales, so says conventional wisdom. Not hardly! Just the opposite becomes my reality. I intend to attract the student who is a realist. I don’t care to work with people who think real estate investing has some magic pill to make them money.

Rather I pull in people as clients who understand risks are present and the objective is to minimize risk as mush as possible. As a result of my harsh reality of things gone wrong I invariably hear from others in the audience who’ve had a thing or two go wrong in their own financial lives. Like a common denominator our bumpy experiences serve to link us as alumni from the school of hard knocks.

Most recently I spoke in front of a large audience that was alive and enthusiastic. At the end of my presentation as I was in the back of the room signing orders from a frenzied crowd, I noticed a gentleman kind of hanging around in the near distance. After four years as a platform speaker I’ve come to recognize that “hanging around hesitancy” as a person with something heavy on his mind. Usually they’re waiting to have a private conversation with me. This guy was the big strong silent, contractor type, complete with the rugged jeans and lumberjack shirt.

Finally, as the crowd disseminated, he approached me then leaned in over the table between us to speak. My mind prepared for a personal story of some kind. This gentleman said to me with a teary-eyed far away stare, that my story had really inspired him. He apologized for not being able to invest in my program due to his financial shortage.

He went on to explain, “You see Ken, I just lost $300,000 last month on a commercial deal gone wrong.” I nodded my head letting him know it happens to the best of us. I also let him know, it is the best of us who get up after a knock down and keep plowing ahead. His grim serious look slowly turned to a slight crooked smile. He nodded his head in agreement. His next statement caused us both to laugh a hardy laugh between understanding souls.

“Ken” he said “it’s good to know I ain’t the only one to make a dumb*** mistake in this business.” “Well my friend,” I said while packing up my things, “look on the brighter side of life, at least it wasn’t your arm you lost. Money, is something we can always replace, especially in the world of real estate investing.” His $300,000 loss could easily be turned into a $million dollar recovery, on his very next deal.

Ken Williams, The Wholesale Wizard, is a real estate developer/investor who creates and delivers dynamic in-person and tele-seminars to thousands of people every year. Ken’s down-to-earth, no-nonsense approach to the world of real estate investing is highly valued across the real estate industry. For more information on Ken, his training seminars and products, visit thewholesalewizard.com thewholesalewizard.com or Ken’s blog at kenwilliamsthoughts.blogspot.com kenwilliamsthoughts.blogspot.com

The best thing you can bring to a tough seller’s market is an open mind.

As a seller today, think of your competition, if you decide to go it alone, there are thousands of licensed Realtors in your area and they are all gunning for the same buyers to buy their listings.

Agents will stop at nothing to offer incentives that have actual traction to get homes sold. Those incentives include rewarding the selling agent tickets to Hawaii, cash bonuses, or even (in one case) a Porsche.

This just illustrates how hard it can actually be to sell your home today. The end of the year is especially tough for sellers because of the holidays.

In the market for a long haul - or avoiding the market crawl?

If you are trying to sell in this market, the key is to focus on the business model that best fits your needs and motivation. Your motivation may include a specific timeline or a required return on your property from a finance standpoint. I will provide you with a side-by-side comparison of all of the Real Estate Sales business models.

For Sale By Owner, (FSBO): This is the true do-it-yourself to selling your home. Expect to spend a significant amount of your time holding open houses. Get geared up for Realtors and a practically endless number of cold calls from them trying to win your listing. You might even print up some flyers and put out some advertising. The Downside: You’ll be competing for home buyers against savvy agents who have the backing of billion-dollar companies and their marketing muscle. You’ll also be largely excluded from Realtors showing your home because it is not on the market as far as the MLS is concerned. The Real Estate industry by and large sees you as a risky proposition since you have no licensing or insurance to guard the transaction if something goes wrong.

Pay (discount) Commission: Since the agents of these companies are members of the MLS (multiple listing service) you can expect that they will list your home there. Don’t expect any (or much) marketing besides that. The upside here is that you might actually be on the ball field with the rest of the real estate industry. You might have access to an agent to conduct the transaction for you because writing contracts is no fun. Expect to do most of the advertising yourself, and that your home will be on the market a very long time. You should also not be surprised if your home suffers several price reductions at the hands of an unmerciful market. Don’t be surprised also if and when people don’t schedule to see your home, and if they say away in droves. Your house is on the market , but no one knows it, and your home is practically invisible. It is also in competition for many other perhaps similar homes that do have the benefit of marketing.

Full Service. The most common misconception with this business model is that you are paying one agent a commission of your home sales price. In fact it is typical that half of that commission is paid to the selling agent, while the other half is paid to the agent representing the buyer. The actual Realtor typically sees only a portion of the commission. Things like market share, technology, training, and support go into an agent’s decision when choosing their broker. Your agent really acts like an employee for you in this case. In general, these agents work only on commission and that means that when the market is slow, so is their income, and a paycheck is never a guarantee.

Variable Service, This usually an extension of the full service model. The strategy here is that the agent’s commission could change based on variables are in play in the specific transaction. If for instance the listing agent also provides the buyer, then they may provide a lower commission to the seller. Another typical scenario is that a separate buyers agent provides the buyer and represents the buyer exclusively. In this case the buyer’s agent is entitled to the commission set by the listing broker before the transaction and agreed by both parties. If the market says sluggish, a common trend is to provide a set of incentives to the buyer, and/or the buyer’s agent. Sometimes these incentives can be quite dramatic in value or scope, and all of this depends of course, on the motivation of the seller.

You have to pick the business model that works in your best interest. However, it is my experience that when the market gets tough, that it takes service to sell your home. Always ask for what benchmarks your agent can offer during the time your home is on the market. Ask for results that will give you a good idea of the exposure your home is seeing within the market.

Here is a side-by-side examination of the

Mortgage loans are commodity products just like toaster ovens. Not many homeowners in the United States understand how the retail mortgage market works. As a result, nearly everyone overpays for their mortgage one way or another. Here are the basics of understanding retail mortgages to help you avoid overpaying when refinancing your mortgage loan.

There are two markets in the mortgage industry. The primary or retail mortgage market is where mortgage loans are sold to the public. That’s right, mortgage loans are sold just like toasters. A toaster is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it; the same is true for mortgage loans. The secondary mortgage market is made up of investment firms and quasi-government, for-profit organizations such as Fannie Mae. The retail market is where you will be obtaining a new mortgage when refinancing, and the focus of this discussion.

The retail mortgage market is made up of a variety of different “store fronts.” You have the choice of purchasing your mortgage from a bank (a very bad idea), a mortgage company (the average retailer), a mortgage broker (third party vendors), or a broker-bank (banks pretending to be brokers…also a very bad idea). All of these with the exception of banks and broker-banks are reselling loans from a wholesale lender. When you request a quote from a retail lender, be it over the Internet, from a local mortgage company or mortgage broker, they are simply passing a quote to you from the wholesale lender.

What’s the catch? The retailer never quotes you the same interest rate that the wholesale lender qualified you for. Retailers always add their own markup to this interest rate. This markup is called Yield Spread Premium and is cleverly disguised in such a way the average homeowner never realizes what’s happening. Why do the retailers mark up the interest rate? After all, they get the origination points for referring your loan. Retailers receive a bonus from the wholesale lender for overcharging you. Not just any bonus, a large bonus. Here’s how the Yield Spread works.

Suppose you sit down at Joe’s Mortgage Company and Joe quotes you an interest rate of 6.75%. You think to yourself, 6.75% that’s not bad deal, and happily sign for the loan. Joe gets to keep the origination fee; after all, he’s got kids to feed right? What Joe isn’t telling you is that the wholesale lender qualified you for a 6.0% mortgage loan. Joe marked the interest rate up .75% because the wholesaler pays him a bonus of one point for each .25% he overcharges you. One point equals 1% of the loan amount and in this case if your loan was $150,000, Joe walks away with a whopping $4,500 bonus for ripping you off. You have no idea that you were just scammed.

How can you avoid Joe’s scam? Homeowners that learn to recognize Yield Spread Premium can avoid paying it. To learn more about refinancing your mortgage and how to avoid overpaying for the loan, register for a free mortgage guidebook.

To get your free mortgage guidebook visit RefiAdvisor.com using the link below.

Louie Latour specializes in showing homeowners how to avoid costly mortgage mistakes and predatory lenders. For a free copy of “

Rezone a property and you can instantly make it more valuable. Of course, zoning is not your decision, and there is no guarantee that you can get a property rezoned. There are some ways to make it more likely, however.

Rezoning can instantly increase or decrease the value of a property. The value of real estate is not determined just by where it is located and what is on it, after all. It is also a matter of what the owner can legally do with the property. For example, I have even seen small lots in mobile home subdivisions sell for more than bigger pieces of land nearby, just because there were so few places where the zoning allowed mobile homes.

A house on a small lot might be worth $90,000 if it can only be used as a rental or as an owner-residence. But that same piece of land might be worth $150,000 after the house is torn down - if it is zoned to allow a store in its place.

The idea, then, is to buy a property, and request a new zoning designation which makes it more valuable. If you can get the zoning changed, you can then resell the property for a profit. And if that sounds too easy, you are right. It takes some work.

Start by finding properties that are on the edge of better zoning, or even mixed in with properties that have a more valuable zoning. Often an area’s zoning is changed by the authorities over time, but they don’t change the designation for all the properties. Since a property zoned residential in the middle of a business zone doesn’t make sense, getting it rezoned may involve simply asking.

The primary problem with this strategy is that there really is no guarantee that you can convince the zoning officials to zone your property the way that you want. And if you get the property zoned before you have an accepted offer, the seller will realize that the value has increased and ask more for the property. So how do you avoid the risk of buying a property that is worth exactly what you paid for it?

Do your homework, for starters. Look at the city’s master plan, to see what they expect the city to look like in the future. If the zoning you want is in line with their plan, they usually won’t refuse your request once you point that out.

Don’t expect to get a home in the middle of a single-family home subdivision rezoned for a duplex or a business. You are looking for properties which you can reasonably argue should be zoned the way you want. Other properties adjoining it should already have the zoning you want, and you are more likely to succeed if properties on two sides or more are zoned the way you want.

Another thing to watch for is what has happened with other property owner’s requests. If the local authorities have been systematically approving zoning-change requests on a given street, buy a cheap property there and get in line.

Of course, you also have to look at how much of an increase in value you’ll get with the zoning change, and how much it will cost for the whole project. A property with a ragged old house might be worth $50,000 more once it is zoned commercial, but what if it will cost $45,000 to buy it, get it rezoned, pay the holding costs, tear the house down, and sell it? I wouldn’t even consider doing a project on that narrow of a profit margin.

There are other possibilities that don’t involve selling right away, of course. If an area is changing, becoming more commercial, you might buy a little rental home that at least covers your costs every month, just to be ready when the zoning changes in a few years and the property values soar. You might also get zoning that allows you to convert a home into offices for attorneys or other professionals, and so get higher rent than from a residence.

To just buy with the expectation of getting a property rezoned is speculative to some extent. To reduce the risk, at least buy at a good price based on the current use and zoning designation. That way, if your plan falls through and you have to sell for close to what you paid, you’ll only lose your transaction costs.

Copyright Steve Gillman. For a housesunderfiftythousand.com Free Real Estate Investing Course, and to see a photo of the home we bought for $17,500, visit: HousesUnderFiftyThousand.com HousesUnderFiftyThousand.com

Speeding Commercial Real Estate Sales in Slow Markets

Effectively building commercial real estate wealth requires the ability to spot a great bargain and the ability to sell that property well, no matter what the state of the market. The real estate market is notoriously cyclical in nature and somewhat difficult to predict. The market for local and national real estate can turn quickly and it is important for every investor in real estate, from the largest player to the smallest, to have strategies in place for selling properties in down markets.

In a hot real estate market, of course, little marketing is required. We have all heard the stories of bidding wars breaking out in the residential market at open houses in California and elsewhere. In the commercial world, it’s not unusual to have 30, 40, or more institutional and private investors bidding on a piece of prime commercial real estate in a strong urban market. In these kinds of markets, all a Seller needed to do was hang up a metaphorical “For Sale” sign and wait for the hordes of buyers to appear.

Of course, these markets do not last forever. Lately, we’re seeing some pressure on cap rates as short term interest rates have climbed in response to the Fed’s tightening. Those formerly “hot” markets have become “luke-warm” markets and are cooling further. As prices for residential and commercial real estate spiraled ever higher, more and more buyers found themselves priced out of the market. Even the creative financing schemes created by mortgage lenders often failed to close the gap. In hindsight, the downturn seemed inevitable, but many failed to see it or prepare for the inevitable slowdown to follow.

Fortunately it is not too late for sellers of residential and commercial real estate to get the most out of their property, even in a slowing market. Listed below are some strategies for turning that “For Sale” sign into a “Sold” sign.

• Price the property properly. The market will tell you what you property is worth, regardless of what you think. Price the property realistically, especially in a down market. It is important to understand that the value of a particular piece of real estate is derived not only from the underlying value of the property itself, but by market conditions.

• Offer incentives to attract buyers. Offering unique incentives can go a long way to boost the attractiveness of a particular piece of property and help you stand out from the crowd. Some sellers are including perks like free plasma TV’s, vacations, sporting event tickets, and other unique incentives. What’s important to note about these offerings is that while they represent a very small percentage of the value of the property being sold, they create traffic, interest, and distinguish you from the competition.

• Don’t overlook the value of curb appeal. How your property looks from the outside is an essential part of marketing, called “packaging.” Enhancing your property’s curb appeal can often be achieved with little expense. Consider painting, re-landscaping, signage, and minor parking lot repairs. Between two similarly priced properties, the better looking one will probably get sold faster.

There is no doubt that selling a property in a down market can be a challenge, but the good news is that these strategies can help to preserve those hard earned profits.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete statement with it: ‘“The Investment Property Insider” is published by Craig S. Higdon, a veteran commercial mortgage broker. He publishes the weekly e-zine and blog, InvestmentPropertyInsider.com InvestmentPropertyInsider.com, for commercial real estate investors, developers, and industry professionals. Visit the blog and get this free report: “The 7 Biggest Loan Mistakes Real Estate Investors make and How to avoid them.” ‘

When Christy Corder — a first time home buyer just out of law school — decided to buy a home, she wanted to get the best deal possible, but was too busy studying for the bar exam to do all the work herself. She didn’t have the time to “shop around” with a dozen different Realtors - most of whom were incompetent anyway.

In a competitive market where there are practically more people with a real estate license than with a driver’s license, Christy realized that agents will do anything to get a customer’s business… ANYTHING! To capitalize on that fact, she developed a plan she could use on any real estate agent, in any market, and not only got them to bend over backwards for her, but she was assured that she would receive a nice chunk of that agent’s check at closing if all of her requirements weren’t met.

Some of the tactics Christy used are as follows:

Quickly separate the winners from the losers.
Due to the fact that most agents couldn’t negotiate their way out of a paper bag, Christy needed a way to quickly identify the best agents who could get her the best deal on her home from the rest of the crowd. That way, she didn’t end up finding a home with an agent she might not want negotiating on her behalf.

Christy had a couple agents in mind, but rather than wasting time looking at a bunch of homes with each of them, she decided to construct an interview for each of those agents. After her interview, she would either identify an agent worth working with, or look around some more. Either way, she wasn’t going to waste a minute of her time looking at homes with an incompetent agent.

Guarantee they are going to be the ones doing all of the work.
In an earlier attempt to find a home, Christy found more homes she wanted to see on her own than the agent she was working with found. She didn’t have the time to do all of her agent’s work, and knew that her agent SHOULD be able to find everything she was finding. However, typical commission structures give no incentive (or disincentive) for agents to do that work.

Christy changed that by making her agent agree up front that she would be compensated fairly out of the agent’s commission if she found the house herself. As a result, not only did her agent search the MLS several times a day, but he went above and beyond the call of duty to find other homes not in the MLS — and he found them before 95% of other Realtors found them!

Keep them on their toes with a “cancel anytime clause”.
Any agent who wanted Christy to sign an agreement committing her to use them for the next 6 to 12 months just wasn’t going to cut it since most agents sit back and relax as soon as they get a buyer to sign any such contract. Once Christy found that her agent “passed the test”, she told him she would sign a 12 month contract, but reserved the right to cancel her contract with that agent at any time - for any reason. That way, if the agent got too busy for her, wasn’t finding enough homes for her to look at, or turned out not to be as competent as he initially appeared to be, she could get rid of him.

Force them to stop selling homes as if they were used car salespeople.
Nothing irritated Christy more than agents who kept pointing out the obvious with each home — as if she were blind and didn’t notice that the home had vaulted ceilings, or which bedroom was the master bedroom! Christy felt that an agent’s job isn’t to show off the painfully obvious positive features of every home they see — but instead to watch out for her interests and find out everything WRONG with that home. She developed a condition which any real estate agent who wanted to work with her had to agree to — up front. That condition essentially guaranteed her agent would never waste her time with “used car sales” tactics, and instead act as her advocate — making sure she doesn’t buy a home that she won’t be 100 percent satisfied with after her purchase.

All of the agent’s work will cost her nothing, and on top of that, if desired, she could make money from her agent.
Considering she was just out of school, Christy didn’t have much at all in savings, and she wanted all of that to go towards buying her house and furnishing it. The last condition Christy required of her agent was that she didn’t pay him a dime out of her pocket. In fact, she devised a very interesting plan that leveraged her contacts with the community to make money with her agent instead of ever having to pay a dime in steep commissions if she wanted to work with that agent in the future.

For a free report with full details on how you can get more out of your make-them-pay.com/?source=GA real estate agent, visit make-them-pay.com/?source=GA Make-Them-Pay.com

To fully understand and grasp Annual Percentage Rate (APR), there are terms to keep in mind. When you finally understand each mortgage term and definition, you can understand the basic concepts of APR. APR is short for Annual Percentage Rate which means true cost of borrowing. The fees below may be included in APR.

Points

Mortgage Lenders levied this charge at closing. A point represents one percent of face value of mortgage loan.

Pre-paid interest

It is the interest charged to borrowers at loan closing to pay for the cost of borrowing for a partial month. For example, if a loan closes on the first of the month and the first payment is due 10 days later, the lender will charge 10 days of prepaid interest.

Mortgage Insurance

The borrowers are usually required to pay when loan to value ratio exceeds 80%. This insurance protects the mortgage lender from default of mortgage payments.

Title or abstract, Escrow, Attorney, Closing, and Notary fee

The agent charges for their services.

Recording fee

The cost obtained in writing or entering an instrument in a book or public record

Appraisal and Credit report fee

Mortgage Lenders collect to pay the appraisal and credit-report Company.

Processing, Underwriting and Document Fees

Charges for the lender’s services associated with making the loan.

Dennis Estrada is a webmaster of mortgagecalculatorme.com/” target=”_blank mortgage calculators website which calculate the monthly payment, bi-weekly payment, affordability, refinance, annual percentage rate, discount points, and more.