Posts Tagged ‘Foreclosures’
How To Deal With Real Estate Agents Who Are Short Sale “Specialists”
Monday, September 6th, 2010As a short sale investor, you may find that there are times when you find a good short sale deal with the help of a real estate agent. Many times, the agent in question will bill him or herself as a “short sale expert,” which may be a title that helps attract listings and implies a familiarity with the short sale process.
As short sales take over more and more of the market, increasing the numbers of agents are labeling themselves in this way. However,does this actually mean anything, and is the title worth the commission that the individual in question is going to charge someone – probably you?In some cases, working with an agent who specializes in short sales can really smooth the way through a transaction.
If the agent has connections with the lender who has the lien on the property or has already done a great deal of the legwork necessary to set up the property for a short sale, then their commission may be a small price to pay for the time, effort and money you will save getting the deal under way. In cases where the agent actually has standing relationships with lenders or has already set up the property to be short-sale ready, it will likely be worth it to work with them.
However, other “specialists” may have far more limited use. Some agents simply add this description to their list of titles to indicate that they will work with short sales or know the basics about what one is. In this type of scenario, they may be little help and you may end up spending a lot of time explaining what you are doing or trying to work around them rather than being able to utilize them as part of your team. If the real estate agent in question cannot contribute to the process in a positive manner, then their specialization will probably not be something that makes them an attractive temporary member of your deal-making team.
Of course, if you can find the property with the help of an agent who is a short sale specialist, then regardless of whether or not that billing is accurate, you might have to work with them. But, if you have a choice in the matter, look for agents who have the relationships and experience to actually back up their claims before you sign them on.
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Short Sale Leads In Surprising Places
Monday, September 6th, 2010There is certainly no shortage of potential short sale transactions in the current housing market. In fact, according to some estimates, about 1 in every 4 homes for sale is up for short sale. That’s 25% of the market! However, with the advent of government programs designed to help homeowners get short sales done in a smooth and efficient manner by working closely with their banks, the short sale process is, for many investors who relied on creativity to get their deals done and sold off to other buyers, becoming more complicated rather than less so.
Fortunately, not all properties are eligible for these programs, and these properties are far more likely to be distressed than your average primary residence. That’s right; I’m talking about vacation homes. Around the country, second homes are hitting the market in record numbers.
In Minnesota, “the Land of 10,000 Lakes,” lakefront properties are succumbing to foreclosure in record numbers as owners struggle to negotiate short sales, while analysts predict a serious foreclosure run on Florida beachfront luxury properties as vacation-home owners in that area try to get out before the oil hits the coast or simply opt to walk away.
Second homes are not qualified for federal assistance or short sale programs of any kind in nearly all cases, making them prime candidates for more traditional short sale negotiations. It’s not that the lenders do not want to make a deal, it’s simply that with the huge emphasis on HAMP and HAFA, most people don’t know that they have any other short sale options available.
As a short sale investor, you can help people whose finances and livelihoods are jeopardized by second homes that they cannot afford and that they are unable to sell in a traditional fashion. These properties are a great source of leads for you for short sales, and often they sell at higher values because they may be viewed as “luxury properties.” Make sure that you do not neglect this great potential source of deals when you are investigating short sale leads.
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Are You Looking For Foreclosure Listings?
Monday, September 6th, 2010The biggest problem with prospecting is not finding a good lead, but all the time that you waste eliminating the bad ones.Some investors pay for qualified lead lists, letting other companies do their leg work for them. This is a good way to qualify your leads, but not the only way. There are things that you can do for yourself that cost little or no money up front.There are two on line services that can help you eliminate the dross from your prospect list with speed and efficiency.
The first is a good on line foreclosure listing site. This can help you in three ways.First the search and filter features of a good listing site allow you to set specific selection criteria for the sites that you want to view. This can be on price, location, house style, number of rooms or even the current condition of the house. You don’t have to waste time eliminating the properties because that fall outside these parameters because you never see them.Next it shows you pictures of the property. Often a single look at a house will tell you that it’s just not right for you.
If you do your work from man computers, using a web based email product allows you access from any PC connected to the web.If you use a notebook or netbook, a PC based client can be a good choice and often has features that are more robust than their web based counterparts.
After you get started with email, you will need to find a good on line foreclosure listing site. These sites feature photos of the properties as well as detailed information including price and condition.The best feature of these sites is their search engines, which can limit the listings that you see to those which fit your specific criteria.
All factors that greatly affect the selling price of the property later on.By using a good map site, you can identify properties that sound like a good deal on paper, but will never sell for enough to make a profit.
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Pre-Foreclosure Versus Foreclosures
Friday, August 27th, 2010Due to the recent real estate collapse, many people across the United States are losing their homes to foreclosure. The period of time before the official foreclosure is called pre-foreclosure. Depending on the state the pre-foreclosure period lasts from seven days to a 60 days. Real estate experts know that the pre-foreclosure period is a great time to purchase a home.
Many of the ‘for sale by owner’ signs that you see are from owners that are in pre-foreclosure. The bank usually allows the homeowner time in which to try and sell their home before it is foreclosed. This is common because the bank is not in the real estate business and would prefer the current owner sell the home to cut their losses rather then having to seize the home themselves.
Here are many advantages to buying a pre-foreclosed home from a homeowner rather than bidding on a foreclosed home at an auction:
- Pre-foreclosed homes are often sold for less than foreclosed homes. To avoid credit problems a homeowner is motivated to sell their home before the bank takes possession.
- Since you won’t be at an auction, you will be given more time to talk to the home owner about any questions you may have concerning the house.
- There is usually less competition for a pre-foreclosed home than a auctioned foreclosed home. You won’t have to worry about placing the highest bid.
- More time to consider your finances before making the decision to purchase a home.
- Auctions can be a skill in itself and many people are not comfortable in that environment.
- You can bring an inspector along with you to inspect a pre-foreclosed home.
- You don’t need as much cash up front like you would at an auction. You can pay a down payment for as low as a few hundred dollars!
As with any house purchase make sure you check for any judgments, or liens against the estate. Bring along someone how is familiar with buying real estate and if possible have the house professional inspected. The risks are comparable to a traditional type of home purchase but with the advantages of foreclosure discounted pricing.
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How To Save Your Home From Foreclosure
Wednesday, August 25th, 2010Lenders are conscious about the financial circumstances and problems that may affect their clients. Lately, thousands of individuals have encountered issues trying to repay their home loan, pressuring them to deal with foreclosure of their homes. For anyone who is looking to avoid foreclosure of your home, you should consider a loan modification.
Folks usually think that their loan providers are interested in removing their properties. This really is far from the truth in the present financial situation. Because of the economy, foreclosed houses usually do not sell fast and they usually have to be sold below the market value. So the lenders usually lose more money if the property goes into foreclosure.
For most folks, the loan modification procedure is not simple. Each lender functions differently, with their own rules and restrictions. Knowing these guidelines will boost your chances of approval.
For starters, acquire your monthly income stubs, tax information and any other financial documents. You’ll be required to write a hardship letter, describing the reason why you fell behind (this could be from a loss of job, illness, sudden death in the family, etc). You must say why a loan modification would help you. Make sure to be totally truthful in your letter. Additionally, you will need to supply a financial worksheet. This is where you must record your monthly income and expenditures. Make sure you include every little thing.
You might want to consider a loan modification service to speed up the process, as they’ll do all of the crucial paperwork for you. Because these experts talk your lender’s language, the odds of approval are better.
Many loan modification services offer free consultations, so I highly recommend you make use of a free consult to decide the best strategy. Stopping foreclosure is doable, providing you take quick action.
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How You Profit From Using The Right Real Estate Software
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010Millionaires are made every day in the real estate industry. Even though this is a true proclamation, there are numerous investors who have lost everything by investing in real estate. Some started out with real estate as a diversion, but to sincerely succeed, you need to treat your real estate investments as a business. As a business, choosing the suitable business tools and software are essential to your success.
Choosing A Good Real Estate Software
Regardless of whether you are a first time investor, or a seasoned specialist, having the right investment analysis software can help you avoid the pitfalls that may not otherwise be visible. In the past years, because real estate was such a blistering market, countless investors skipped the analysis and just bought property. Sadly, now countless of individuals investors have lost their life savings and their property to foreclosure. Using the suitable real estate investment tool would have helped countless of individuals investors avoid this unfortunate circumstance.
Getting The Best Real Estate Tools To Maximize Your Business
When trying to profit from investing in real estate there are numerous tools that will minimize your risk. Aside from financial analysis, you will need the programs that will help you track your revenue and expenses and help you to profit from your real estate investment. If you plan to purchase property and rent it out as part of your business, you will need tools to track rents. If you flip the properties that you invest in, contract management programs and tools may be needed to track expenses. Regardless of your goals, choosing the appropriate real estate software will help you minimize your risk and maximize your return.
Before investing in a real estate software program, or even before you make your first investment, you first will need to write down what your specific goals are for your real estate business. Are you going to be a short term flipper, or a long term investor? By setting up your specific business and real estate investment goals, you can identify the tools and software programs that you will need to help you succeed in real estate.
Believe it or not, the right software is critical to your success when buying real estate. Although you can succeed by investing in property without using the analysis and tracking tools, your risks are much much higher. There are a lot of buyers who have bought without the use of any type of software. However, the number of investors who have lost everything because they could not quantify the risks is even more staggering.
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Using Real Estate Software To Calculate Your Investments
Sunday, August 15th, 2010Buying real estate as an investment purposes requires a superior understanding of the risks connected with the purchase decision. There are lots of resources on hand to help guide the choice, but few are as useful as a respectable real estate software package.
Depending on your wishes, there are numerous without charge investment software calculators accessible, and their complexity varies from high end programs to the incredibly simple. As an instance, a complex real estate software may be able to fully calculate investment danger of developing a complete that can be used to analyze full high rise development packages, and a easy real estate calculator can be as basic as an excel spreadsheet.
Regardless of your goals, a respectable investment analysis will help you comprehend the risks linked with each opportunity as well as the predictable payoff. For most residential and even multi-unit residential investors, a easy spreadsheet can be used to assess the predictable cash flow and long term return of an investment property. For more aggressive real estate investors, and individuals that ought to show banks their proforma, there are a number of real estate software packages on hand that are affordable, or perhaps complimentary.
Whether or not you utilize a software package, spreadsheet, or easy calculator, you do need to complete some analysis to understand the potential profit of a real estate . Even though investing in real estate bears a lower risk than other investments, the odds still exists that the will cost more than it returns.
By performing your calculations before you make the investment using a real estate calculator or investment analysis software, you should be able to better deal with your risk and make the most of your whole return.
Regardless of how you choose to perform your analysis, by performing these calculations before you commit cash to the investment can save you from the pain of losing money and possibly facing foreclosure if the property cash flow goes down. By being conservative, taking your time, and fully understanding the investment opportunity, you can better ensure that your investment expectations will be met
If you are looking to purchase investment property, the IP Ware residential and commercial real estate investment analysis software is a user-friendly option to help reduce your risk and improve your success.
What To Know To Price Your House Correctly
Saturday, August 14th, 2010Before actually putting your house on the market you need to consider exactly how much you could get for it and how healthy the market is.
There are a number of resources you can look to for information about pricing your home, with the best one potentially being your Realtor.
A Realtor with knowledge and more preferably based in your area would be your best bet. What they need to know is how much houses similar to yours in your area have gone for and why they go for that amount, they need to have quick access to this information. Be sure to change Realtors if the current one will not entertain the price you have in mind for your property, you need to get the best possible results from your sale.
Private sales are also popular because people do not want to pay for Realtors and with lots of research and study on the market in your area it is very achievable.
If a similar home has sold in your neighborhood you can get an estimated idea of your house’s worth. Where developers have built many houses lumped together they are essentially the same design with little changes. There are several ways to find out if a property has sold. Talking with the new or old owner, if you are friends, can be the easiest way. Finding old advertisements to see what the house listed for, or contacting their Realtor for that information, can also give you a starting place for pricing your home. House sales are public record so go to where the information is stored and research it if none of the other options work.
Another way is to look at real estate ads and find homes similar to yours to see their prices. It is great for an estimate but does not give you a professional comparison between your house and the exact street and neighborhood where your house sits.
The property values can be compared by looking them up in some cases. Many localities now list tax values on line, giving you an easy tool to compare your home with another that you think is similar. While tax values are not always market values, if your home has a higher tax value, it should also have a higher market value. Some localities also include such information as a property listing card which will include size, porches, outbuildings, type of heat, type of siding, when constructed, and other information that can assist you in evaluating how your home compares.
If in doubt, price a little high. It is easy to negotiate down the price, but negotiating for more money is always harder, the house may have to be put off the market then put back on again to achieve this.
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Tax Sales Will Turn Your World Upside Down
Friday, August 6th, 2010Have you heard about tax sales recently? Have you been wondering what they are and what they can do for you? Lots of people have had this experience. “Who would sell their taxes?” many are wondering. Others, knowing that tax sales actually involve real estate, are wondering how these sales can work for them and what they need to know about the ins and outs of the whole process.
Tax sales are held annually; sometimes more often than that. They are auctions held by the government to recoup back due taxes. These properties are sold in the form on tax lien certificates – an opportunity to make a good interest rate, but necessarily gain a property – and through tax deeds – where the investor becomes the new owner of the property.
You also have the option of purchasing properties before the tax sales even occur. In order to do this you can pick up a list of the properties being offered from the county auditor. These lists are usually available 1-2 months prior to the tax sales and can often be found on the internet with weekly updates. When you have the lists you need to do some research on the properties and then contact the owners.
By contacting the owners you can try and work out a deal to get the property before anyone else does and without the stress of having to compete at auction. Tax payers who haven’t paid up to the point of the tax sales generally don’t have the money and are in a stressful situation themselves. They are often willing to work with investors and will let them secure a great deal, because it helps them out as well.
Make sure that you also research the properties. Research is essential to successful investment, because you need to know what you are getting yourself into. It is possible that the property could be in poor enough condition that even a small amount of money spent at tax sales would not be worth it. So, drive by, talk to the owners, do some internet research, whatever it takes to make a good decision.
Tax sales offer you an opportunity to make anywhere from 18 to 50 % in interest in only 1 to 5 years. They are a great way to get involved in the real estate industry for flipping, renting, leasing, or owning. You can also simply make some quick money by reselling the property to investors. Whatever your desires are, tax sales are definitely worth putting a little more time into learning about.
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Do You Need Help Saving Your Home From Foreclosure: Go To Your Lender
Sunday, July 25th, 2010If your home is on the verge of foreclosure, you will do anything possible to save it. But the question is how to do it. One answer… ask your lender for help.
For most home owners, contacting the lender at the first sign of financial problems seems to be not so good of an idea. It may be because they are embarrassed to discuss money issues to others or they simply don’t see the need to inform their lender right away of their present financial standing. But the truth is, asking for your lender’s help will save you a lot of trouble and it could help you save your home.
Most people have the perception that lenders, think only of themselves and don’t care about the borrowers. This leads to the common notion that lenders show no mercy to homeowners who have defaulted on payments and will foreclose at the first opportunity. The truth is lenders like owners will do everything they can to avoid home foreclosures.
Lenders usually send a Notice of Default, also known as a NOD, if you miss payments for 3 consecutive months. DO NOT wait until you get the Notice to take action. Call your lender as soon as possible. Inform them why you have defaulted on a payment and ask for an alternative payment schedule or temporary lower rates until your finances have returned to normal. 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, whichever you think is more economical. Almost all mortgage lenders are willing to work with you to avoid repossessing your home.
Make sure you talk to your lender, inform them the cause of your delay, and ask for payment alternatives. Don’t wait 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.
Doc Schmyz has invested all over the US. He built a free free website shares Real estate investing information for all over the US. Find real estate information by state
