Flipping Fixers: Using Transformation Psychology for Top Dollar
February 29, 2008
Satisfying and lucrative real estate investment depends upon your correct assessment of profit potential, of course, but your ultimate success depends on your ability to transform a fixer into a dollhouse. The renovation process involves physical work and choosing the best supplies, in order to create maximum positive emotional effect and profits.
By incorporating the psychology of residential design, you can make wise choices in transforming your fixer house by using colors, textures, building materials, and decorations that will assure a future speedy and cost-effective sale.
The psychology of residential design addresses the entire home, inside and out, but the techniques of Transformation Psychology are a bit different, because your ultimate goal is different. The use of Design Psychology in your personal home is much more individualized, while renovating a doghouse into a dollhouse integrates more generalized design ideas to create a home that will be appealing to a broader spectrum of people.
Using Transformation Psychology to increase your real estate profits means that you must learn how our human senses and emotions are affected by our decorating details and choices of materials. Buyers view a prospective home with their eyes, but their brains interpret what they see and feel according to subtle touches you have purposefully put into your house.
Home Equity Loans ? Beware of Appraisal Fraud
February 29, 2008
A new report by the independent Demos group has revealed what may not be a surprise to many people ? corruption is rampant in the home appraisal industry. The bust in the dot-com market of some five years ago has left would-be lenders with a surplus of cash to lend. This has led to a huge boom in both mortgage and home equity loan lending. That’s not a bad thing; a record 69% of Americans now own their own homes. Owning a home is easier than ever; in 2004 the average down payment was a record low of only three percent.So if everyone is buying a home, and loans are easier to obtain than ever, what is the problem? The problem is that nearly 55% of the appraisers polled in the survey said that they had been pressured by lenders to deliver appraisals that met a "target" value. The appraisers said that failure to meet the "target" value resulted in either their not being paid, or not being hired again. Since most appraisers want to keep working, they have had a tendency to meet the target value, even if it means that they have overestimated the value of the property. This drives prices artificially higher and leaves many homeowners with mortgages that may be worth more than the homes they were meant to finance. This problem becomes acute should the owner need to sell the home, only to discover that it isn’t worth as much as he or she owes on it. The worst-case scenario to result from this would be a burst in the current real estate "bubble" and a nationwide collapse in home values, leading to massive foreclosures. This probably will not happen, but there are several things prospective borrowers can do to avoid being caught in the appraisal trap:
Foreclosure Home Deals
February 28, 2008
Did you know that you can save tens of thousands of dollars on the purchase of your home by investing in a foreclosure or preforeclosure property? When you are trying to purchase a home for the first time, and you have limited resources and limited funds, it is particularly important that you get the most “bang for your buck”.
One way for a young family to get the most home for their money is to purchase a “distressed” property. With research and due diligence, you may just end up with a larger or nicer home than you thought you could afford, but without the extra price tag. One way to accomplish this is by purchasing a property that is in foreclosure. You may want to look for an REO Foreclosure.
What’s an REO Foreclosure? This stands for “Real Estate Owned”, or in other words, property that was foreclosed upon by the bank holding the mortgage, and now belongs to the bank. But, the bank is a bank and not a real estate investment firm. They are simply not in the business of residential real estate and have no interest in the home other than to recoup their investment.
Sellers, Are You Having A Hard Time Selling Your Home?
February 27, 2008
Sue and Chuck DeFiore have the perfect solution for you ? Lease Purchasing your home!
What is Lease Purchasing?
A Lease Purchase is a process that combines a basic rental lease with an agreement to purchase, or with an option to purchase the property. The Buyer (or Lease-Purchaser) pays to the seller a monthly payment that usually approximates a rental amount or a typical mortgage payment on the home. A percentage of that payment is typically applied towards the purchase price. At the end of the term, the buyer has the right to purchase the property for the price and terms to which both parties have previously agreed.
Put another way, a lease purchase is essentially a rental agreement combined with a purchase contract with pre-negotiated terms. The buyer leases the property for a specific period of time and then purchases the property before the end of the lease agreement. Sales price, length of rental, rent credits, escrow instructions, etc., are all contained in the agreement.
A lease purchase is a wonderful way to control property without the headaches of banks, mortgages, taxes or immediate loan qualifying. Lease Purchasing gives you the right to buy the property, but not the obligation to buy.
Think You Can?t Afford Your Own Home, Think Again!
February 26, 2008
Do you have bad credit, no credit, filed a bankruptcy, have a ton of late pays, medical bills, or been through a divorce? Well, we have the perfect solution for you - Lease Purchasing your own home!
What is Lease Purchasing?
A Lease Purchase is a process that combines a basic rental lease with an agreement to purchase, or with an option to purchase the property. The Buyer (or Lease-Purchaser) pays to the seller a monthly payment that usually approximates a rental amount or a typical mortgage payment on the home. A percentage of that payment is typically applied towards the purchase price. At the end of the term, the buyer has the right to purchase the property for the price and terms to which both parties have previously agreed.
Put another way, a lease purchase is essentially a rental agreement combined with a purchase contract with pre-negotiated terms. The buyer leases the property for a specific period of time and then purchases the property before the end of the lease agreement. Sales price, length of rental, rent credits, escrow instructions, etc., are all contained in the agreement.
Should You Allow Buyer To Rent During Closing?
February 25, 2008
It’s not uncommon for an investor to sell a house and have the buyer request the right to rent and occupy the property while the closing is being completed.
You’re a bad guy if you refuse and often in hot water of you agree. Here are the potential problems with renting before closing:
1. Buyer is in the home for two months and then the potential lender decides the buyer can’t qualify for the mortgage loan. Now that’s bad news!
2. Buyer is in the home for two months… gets a bad case of buyer’s remorse and wants out of the deal. Now that’s bad news!
3. Buyer is in the home for two months and comes to the closing table with a long list of needed repairs he has discovered during residency. Now that’s bad news!
4. Buyer is in the home for two months during which time he does serious damage to the property and then disappears. Now that’s bad news!
Is there any good news? Well, you are getting rent money for those two or so months.
Let’s check the score card:
Bad News = 4 Good News = 1
Late Mortgage Payments Sabotage PMI Cancellation
February 24, 2008
There’s something you should know about PMI!
Private mortgage insurance is commonly referred to as PMI. If a buyer makes a down payment of less than 20% of a home’s value the lender will insist that a premium for PMI be added to every monthly payment.
Statistics prove that the more money a buyer has invested in a home the less likely they are to default on mortgage payments. With less than 20% down lenders want added security for the loan and so PMI was developed. Nice for lenders… expensive for borrowers.
The federal Homeowners Protection Act of 1998 mandates two ways to cancel PMI.
1. When regular monthly payments have paid down the loan balance to less than 78% of the ORIGINAL APPRAISED value of the home. Current appraised value does not count even if the value of your home has doubled.
2. If you pay an extra amount over and above the monthly payment so that the loan balance falls below 80% of original value.
The act excluded FHA loans made before 2001. Mortgage insurance on those loans can never be canceled.
Real Estate Disputes And Partition
February 24, 2008
What if two people pooled their resources and began investing in real estate. Like many partnerships things progress smoothly for a while and then a dispute arises.
Now they seldom can stand to talk to one another and then only through clenched teeth. A sad story, but one that is not uncommon.
What if they have an undivided interest in a fourplex. They want to end their investing enterprise, but they can’t agree on the disposition of the property?
An action for partition may be the only solution. That means one of the investors turns to the court to decided how and when the interest in the property will be divided.
In a partition action the owner or claimant of real property or any interest in the property may compel a partition (division) of the property between him and other owners. It may vary from state to state, but in Arizona the partition complaint is filed in the superior court of the county in which the property is situated.
The court will hold a hearing to “determine the share of interest in the property sought to be divided of each of the owners or claimants, and all questions affecting the title…”
Are You Really A Twenty First Century Investor
February 23, 2008
Today’s residential real estate market for investors has become very competitive in most major markets. The vast majority of real estate investing seminars and clubs are encouraging you to search out desperate home owners or distressed properties to be rehabbed.
Not to mention the fact that today’s disillusioned stock investors have now realized that residential real estate investing offers better returns, with less capital risks. As you seek to identify your lucrative real estate opportunities, have you noticed that the good deals are getting harder to find?
I am not here to discourage you from investing in real estate, but would like to share real estate investment opportunities and information with you?..opportunities that only a few people are aware of and regularly participate in. That’s right; I am referring to a niche investment market that has VERY LITTLE competition. This unique information is currently setting new trends within the commercial real estate investment community!
Real Estate Investing Requires Education
February 22, 2008
I really believe in getting an education in real estate investing, especially before launching a real estate investing career. I have been investing in real estate for 25 years, but I still spend thousands of dollars each year to learn more about real estate investing. To avoid unnecessary risks, you need to know as much as possible. If you make a wrong move in buying, managing or selling your property, you can lose everything, and your efforts will be flushed down the toilet. On the other hand, if you have what I call know-how savvy, you can weather almost any of the financial storms that will inevitably brew around your real estate investing venture.
Here are some of the critical essentials to make real estate investing pay off.
1.You’ve got to have a solid overview of the business.
You just can’t go out and start making offers - even if you have some money. I guarantee you’ll lose your money if this is your approach.
Don’t think that fixing up houses is a piece of cake. You’ve got to know what you’re doing.
2.You’ve got to have a good contract.
