Flipping Houses: Make $30,000 a Month Flipping Real Estate

Okay, you know the drill: purchase a house below the current market rate, make some repairs and improvements to it, and then turn around and sell [flip] the house to generate big profits.

While the concept of flipping houses is nice, the reality is that so much more is involved in flipping real estate. Without the proper knowledge on how the process works, you could end up being saddled with a house you really do not want to own or end up taking a big loss on the sale of your property.

The real estate market has the potential to create huge profit windfalls for the savvy buyer. Here are a couple of tips to help increase your profit margin when flipping houses:

Buy low and sell high. How do you find homes today to buy below the market?

1. Create a free brochure titled “3 ways to avoid foreclosure and get cash NOW for your equity”. Then, distribute your brochure to people who are currently in the foreclosure process and homeowners who are currently 90 to 120 days behind on their mortgage payments.

By the way, one of the helpful tips in your brochure should be to call you for a quick sale.

You can obtain foreclosure information from your local court house. For a list of homeowners who are currently behind on their mortgage payments you will need to contact a credit agency - Experian.com, Equifax.com, or TransUnion.com.

2. Contact divorce attorneys in your area. Offer your home buying service as a resource to help clients liquidate their homes quickly at a fair price.

Now, before you get into house flipping there are five main points you must take into consideration prior to closing on your deal:

Acquisition Costs – Every home will cost you money before the deal is even finalized. Plan on writing out checks to your attorney, to the title company, government agencies – such as recording fees, and an application fee for a mortgage [unless you are paying cash], and other closing costs.

Look into getting an option arm mortgage loan with a 1% minimum payment. This type of loan program can increase your cash flow by cutting your monthly payment in half!

These loans will also allow you to take a small piece of your equity and turn it into a tax deduction by creating deferred mortgage interest.

Management Costs – During the period you own the home you can expect to shell out cash for property taxes, utilities, lawn maintenance, homeowners insurance, mortgage payments, and more. The longer you keep the home, the more expenses you will incur.

Home Improvement Costs – Are you ripping out the kitchen? Laying new flooring? Putting in a new garden? Whatever repairs and improvements you make, are you certain that you can recoup these costs when you flip the house? Will the value of the house increase enough to cover your expenses?

Selling Costs – Once you are ready to sell the home, will you be selling it privately or through a realtor? Real estate commissions running as high as 6% can eat up your profits very quickly. In addition, you will need to pay an attorney to represent your interests and pay any other related expenses.

Capital Gains – A “good problem” to have is to make so much money off of flipping houses that you have to worry about paying capital gains taxes. You may avoid federal taxes, but your state or local government may assess a tax on you. Count on it especially if you live in a high tax area!

The “deal” you thought you made with the purchase of a house can quickly evaporate if the market turns cold or your expenses run too high. Carefully consider all five points before taking action and know your local real estate market inside and out.

Yes, people do make tidy profits by flipping houses, while others lose out. Do your homework before jumping in to make certain that you understand everything before buying a house that you plan on flipping later.

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Hartley Pinn
Mortgage Loan Officer
Mortgage Leads

Real Estate Investing - An Alternative To Traditional Stock Market Investment

From a historical perspective, investing in real estate is almost as old as the construction of property itself. Indeed many business owners who created their wealth through companies then went on to diversify into real estate investments. In fact, over the years real estate investments have produced similar returns to those found in the stock market. Let’s take a look at some of the reasons:

First of all, and most obviously, the supply of building land around the world is limited, even when taking into account landfill opportunities. Since the world’s population is growing and the demand for housing ever increasing, then there would seem to be a never-ending and increasing requirement for real estate of all types.

Now let’s take a look at the mechanics of buying property. Here it can be seen that investing in real estate is quite different from most other traditional investments such as stocks. With real estate you can often borrow up to around 80 percent of the value of a property, sometimes even the full value and beyond under special circumstances. Thus a more modest investment of say 20 percent of the value can be used to buy and control the full value of the larger investment. Naturally, if the value of your investment increases, I.e. property prices rise, then the value of your real estate investment also increases. If so, then you are into profit, including that on the money you originally borrowed.

Naturally, there will be costs associated with real estate investing (such as legal fees and property maintenance, taxes, etc), but these are usually small in comparison with the potential gains.

Borrowing in order to invest in real estate makes real estate a type of leveraged investment. But if you know anything about leverage, you will realize that leveraged investments can also go against you. What, for example, if the property you purchased for $300,000 decreased in value to $240,000? Even though the value only dropped by 20 percent, you actually lose 100 percent of the original $60,000 investment. And if you have a mortgage on this property making up its full purchase price, you will actually need to pay money to the mortgage provider in order to cover the costs of selling the property. That’s in addition to the loss of the whole of your initial investment.

So, as you see, investing in real estate is something to be taken very seriously and should not be done with money which you might need for other things in the near future. Investment in property is more secure as a long-term investment. In the above example, if you could have held onto the property and not sold it, the loss would purely have been ‘on paper’. In all likelihood, over time the value of the property, unless grossly overpriced when you originally bought it, will rise and you will likely not only recover the full value of the initial investment, but also possibly make a nice profit when you do come to sell.

Another reason that real estate is a popular investment is that there are profits to be made from it whilst you are the owner. In addition to the tax-saving benefits (in that any tax due on the property’s increase in value doesn’t become due until it is eventually sold), you can also make additional money from renting out the property. This can often cover all your running costs of the property, plus providing a profit on top.

Unless you make a large down payment, early on during your ownership the monthly operating profit from your property business is likely to be small or non-existent. But over time this profit will increase as the amount of rent you can charge increases at a higher rate than the running costs. Naturally these profits will be subject to normal income tax rules.

A further benefit of investing in property is that you might be able to purchase cheaply a run-down or ‘distressed’ property and fix it up or develop it further. Properties like this can still be found if you look around carefully. Naturally, investing in this type of real estate can still produce large gains. This is something you certainly can’t do with traditional stock market investments.

However, returning to the initial question about whether real estate investing is still a viable option when current prices seem to be nearing their peak: yes, it can still be so, but you might need to be more creative and prepare to be in for the long haul. Property ‘flipping’ methods that worked extremely successfully yesterday, might not work at all well tomorrow.

You might also consider diversifying into overseas real estate markets. Whilst this will require greater study and analysis, and there are many more legal issues to consider, seeking out what appear to be undervalued international real estate opportunities has the potential to be highly profitable if handled correctly.

Naturally, you should always seek the advice of professionals, both financial and legal, before investing in properties of any description, particularly when considering investing overseas. There might be major implications to your overall taxation. Risks can also be substantially higher when you are not there to oversee your investment in person.

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Source: Ezine Articles

Key Terms to Know When Buying a Home

Turn your dream of home ownership or moving up into a reality, but do it right. The real estate market is a difficult one, and should not be entered casually. There are so many legal/real estate terms, contracts, listing agreements, disclosure statements, title documents, etc. Getting as much good home buying advice and becoming an intelligent homebuyer is one of the best things you can do to avoid making costly mistakes. Do your homework, know your real estate terms, get your hands on as much expert information as you can, and hire a good agent. With this in mind, the following items are important elements for a homebuyer’s core knowledge.

Buyer’s Agent
Buyer's Agent is the real estate broker or licensed agent with who created a legal contract with a buyer to become the exclusive buyer's representative in searching and negotiating for real property. An exclusive buyer agent has, by code of ethics, your interests in mind with the planning and evaluating property, negotiations, financing, inspections, etc.

Exclusive Agency Listing
This is a common type of real estate listing agreement. A specific broker is given the exclusive right and authorization to market the seller's property. A key to this agreements is that if the property is sold while the listing is in effect, the seller must pay the broker a commission regardless of who sells the property. Therefore, this type of listing agreement offers the best opportunity for brokers to earn a commission. The Exclusive Agency Listing is also known as an exclusive right to sell listing.

Debt-to-Income Ratio
The debt-to-income ratio is a percentage figure used in the lending industry to estimate how much (as a percentage) of your monthly income will be going to pay your monthly debt payments (and how much you can afford). The debt-to-income ratio is easily calculated by dividing your fixed monthly debt expenses by your gross monthly income. It is calculated by taking your prospective monthly debt payments (PITI, auto loans, credit cards, student loans, personal loans, alimony, child support, etc.), divided by your gross monthly income. A percentage of less than 40% is considered to be a good debt service indicator.

Earnest Money
Earnest Money (escrow deposit) is the specific monetary funds provided to bind an real estate sales agreement or some other transaction requiring a deposit. The deposit acts as evidence of good faith in purchasing real estate. The amount of earnest money varies based on the type of property being purchased and local market conditions, but is truly one mort part of the sales contract that must be agreed to by both parties. The seller or broker places the money in an escrow or trust account until closing, when it becomes part of the funds applied to the purchase price. Earnest money is forfeited by the buyer if they fail to carry out the terms of the contract agreement. In the event the property does not close, the sales agreement spells out the conditions under which buyer would forfeit the earnest money.

Grant Deed
The grant deed (or just deed) is the legal document that is used as mechanism to transfer ownership of real estate from one party (grantor) to the new owner (grantee). The grantor will sign the deed as part of the closing and the deed will be notarized by your title agent officer (acting as a qualified notary public). The conveyance through a deed (by gift or sale) is considered a voluntary act of an owner.

Lead Paint Disclosure
In March of 1996, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published a final rule, Lead; Requirements for Disclosure of Known Lead-Based Paint and/or Lead-Based Paint Hazards in Housing, (61 FR9064-9088). This final rule requires persons selling or leasing most residential housing built before 1978 to provide purchasers and renters with a federally approved lead hazard information pamphlet and to disclose known lead-based paint and/or lead-based paint hazards.

Purchase and Sale Agreement
Ah....you find the house you want to call home and you will make your offer by submitting a contract for purchase and sale agreement. This is your blueprint for the entire transaction. The contract defines both parties’ legal relationship and spells out their rights and duties.

Sellers Disclosure
In the purchase and sale of an existing home, the sellers must complete a seller's disclosure statement regarding the home. Disclosures cover a variety of topics, including the condition of title, the availability services, flood issues, easements, zoning, and details regarding the history and the condition of the house. Unless the buyer waives review of this statement, the seller must deliver a completed statement to the buyer for review prior to or within a certain time after the purchase and sale agreement has been signed by both parties. The buyer then may elect to terminate the transaction by giving timely and appropriate notice to the seller. If the buyer does not object, then the disclosures are deemed to be acceptable to the buyer.

Most state laws mandate that disclosures be on special forms the seller must sign and date. Also note, that if there is a real estate broker or agent involved in the transaction, and if they have personal knowledge of any latent defects, the agent is legally obligated to disclose those defects to the potential purchaser, regardless of whether the seller discloses or disclaims.

Title Insurance
Title insurance is the insurance which protects both the lender and/or the homeowner against loss resulting from any defects in the chain of title or claims against a property that were not uncovered in the title search, and were not specifically listed as exemptions to the title coverage on the title insurance policy. Potential defects may run to through fee history (chain of title) and to any lien encumbrances.

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Home Buying Intelligence Magazine
Provides articles, guides, and quizzes about home buying and selling.

Choosing a Real Estate Agent

Search Ozfreeonline's complete list of Australian Real Estate Agents

Before you go looking at houses, you’ll need to find a real estate agent. Hiring a real estate agent takes a little bit of time to do. You’re making one of the most important financial decisions in your life and you want to make sure you hire the right person.

You can get recommendations for agents from family members, friends and co-workers you trust who have used that agent themselves in buying a home. You can also check the internet, newspaper listings, and "Homes for Sale" publications.

The best type of agent to look for are the ones who work in real estate full-time. Sometimes, the part-time agents may not devote enough time towards finding a home for you. You want agents who do this for a living full-time and will make sure that your housing needs are met. Also, because there is such a high turnover among real estate agents, you want to find several that have been doing this for at least the past couple of years.

Try to find agents that are licensed and have the Graduate, REALTORS® Institute series (GRI) accreditation from the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR). Agents who have the GRI will usually have it printed on their letterhead or business cards. If not, just ask if they have this particular accreditation.

After selecting several agents, set up interviews with each one. The interviews don’t have to be long, no more than an hour. During the interview, explain to the agent what kind of house you’re looking for, what neighborhoods you’re interested in, and the price range you’re comfortable with.

Ask the agent if he or she is a buyer’s agent. A buyer’s agent represents the buyer only. Most agents say they represent the buyer and seller, which is called dual agency, but they really only represent the seller. These agents must legally negotiate on behalf of the seller and put the seller’s interest first before yours.

Ask if the agent is an "exclusive buyer’s agent". This type of agent only works with buyers and does not sell homes. Ask to talk with past buyers who have bought homes in the neighborhoods you’re interested in.

After conducting interviews with all the agents, choose the one who answered your questions well and made you feel that you’re interests were important and they’re committed to finding that perfect home for you.

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Michelle Roebuck
Mortgage and Home Buying

First Time Home Buyer Loans - How to Apply for a Mortgage Loan

For a first time home buyer, applying online for a Low Cost Mortgage loan makes the experience easy. You have plenty of time to compare rates and terms to find the best financing for your situation. With just a few steps, you can secure financing for your home with the lowest possible rates.

1. Select Your Terms

Mortgage terms affect both your interest rate and payment. With a large amount of flexibility, lenders allow you to tailor your loan to fit your budget needs. So if your goal is to purchase the most with your income, look into an adjustable rate mortgage with initially low payments.

For security, fixed rates can also have reasonable rates. For even lower rates, you can purchase reductions by paying points at closing. One point equals one percent of the principle. Paying points is affective if you keep your mortgage for at least seven years in order to recoup the cost of buying the rate reduction.

The length of the loan will also affect your rates and payments. 15 year mortgage provides you with a cheaper loan, but payments are about a third higher than a 30 year mortgage.

2. Research Your Lender

Even a difference of an eighth of a point in rates can save you thousands of dollars. The easiest way to save money on your home’s purchase is by finding the lowest costing loan.

With online mortgage companies, in just a few minutes you can request loan quotes without hurting your credit report. Every time a potential creditor accesses your report, it temporarily hurts your score.

Rates are one way to evaluate loans. But closing costs can also add up to thousands. That’s why the APR number is important. It gives you the total cost of the loan. But if you plan to move or refinance, focus on low closing costs rather than low rates.

3. Apply Online

When you have found the right lender, you can start your home loan application online. Even if you haven’t found the right house, you can still get pre-approved and lock in your rates.

With online financing companies, your paperwork is expressed mailed to you. You complete the forms with a notary’s seal. Working with your real estate agent, escrow company, and seller, the date of sale can then be finalized.

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Carrie Reeder
ABC Loan Guide

Finding Southern California Real Estate Foreclosure Property

Southern california real estate foreclosure:

If you want to find Southern California Real Estate foreclose property its best to use services that make it their business to provide listings. At one time finding distressed properties was primarily in the hands of experts that make a full time living purchasing southern California real estate foreclosure property, normally doing some cleanup, repair and restoration and then selling the property for a handsome profit.

Things have really changed and the process no longer is limited to those in the know. With some simple homework or a couple classes most people can take advantage of buying and selling these types of properties. The growth and success of the internet has leveled the playing field and opens up the previously hard to find information to the simple click of the mouse.

You now can sit back with your favorite drink, relax while looking for the homes or properties in the area's that interest you and poof in a very short period of time you'll have a raft of information that you were looking forward right there in front of you. Hit the print button, map it out and you're ready to go.

Most services charge a small membership fee to access their data base, but by comparison it amounts to nothing compared to driving to the county clerk and recorders office spending hours there finding what you need that you can find out online in minutes. You now are easily able to explore the vast southern California real estate foreclosure market.

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Real Estate Foreclosure

Buying A Home? Reasons to Consider Financing Your New Home Loan Online

Financing your new home loan online can save you time and money. With information at your fingertips, you can quickly educate yourself about the loan process and compare mortgage lenders to find the best rates. With 24 hour access to low-cost mortgages lender, you can lower your financing costs from the convenience of your home.

Educate Yourself

Educating yourself about the mortgage financing is one reason to go online. Mortgage lenders provide information about the home loan process, types of mortgages, and factors to consider in buying a new home. Mortgage lenders sell their services through their informative sites, not high pressure sales tactics.

Mortgage lenders also offer helpful research tools on their sites, such as payment and amortization calculators to allow you to budget your payments. These types of tools gain you access to information not readably available in a bank office.

Save Time

With mortgage lenders’ streamlined online process, you save time comparing mortgage rates and applying for financing. You can compare rates by requesting quotes that you will receive almost instantly.

Quotes that request only the most basic of information will give you a general idea of mortgage rates. This tool can help you quickly sift through potential lenders. Since there are so many factors that determine a mortgage rate, you will need to fill out a more detailed application for a specific quote. You can save time by doing this online, or request a paper application through the mail.

24 Hour Access

Online mortgage lenders are open 24 hours. You can read up on loan information or apply for a mortgage on your time schedule. Some lenders even allow you to check the process of your mortgage loan through a password protected site.

Cost Savings

With reduced cost in personnel, mortgage lenders can then pass on the savings to you in the form of reduced origination fees, closing costs, points, or interest rates. Some mortgage brokers claim you can save up to $1500 on a $100,000 loan by using on online mortgage lender. However, mortgage lenders do not reduce the same fees and interest rates, so you need to compare lenders to find these low-cost mortgages.

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Carrie Reeder
http://www.abcloanguide.com

Buying and Selling Used Vehicles

Buy and Sell Used Vehicles at Australian Used Cars For Sale

As used cars age, finding them for sale in good condition becomes increasingly difficult. At the same time, they continuously lose marketable value. How can we find good values when purchasing, and get a fair price when it comes time to sell? Continue reading to find out...

Buying

When buying any used car, overall condition must be evaluated and weighed against the asking price. This includes the condition of interior, exterior, and mechanical components. Common issues to watch for on used cars follow:

Check the Interior for:

* Fading or Cracking Dashboard, steering wheel, pillars
* Carpet damage, spills under seats, shoe wear
* Strong musty odor, especially during HVAC operation
* Worn seats including adjustment, buttons, upholstery, cushions, air support
* Unevenly worn pedals indicating possible mistreatment
* Smoke damage including falling headliner, used ashtrays or lighter, burns, thick film on glass or other smooth surfaces
* Malfunctioning gauges, moonroof, windows, vanity lights, controls, electric accessories
* Leakage under dash including clutch and brake fluid near pedals, coolant near floor vents, water

Check the Exterior for:

* Rust around rocker panels (especially under ground effects of SC), wheel wells, under floor pan, doors, suspension components, spoilers, trunk
* Signs of accident damage such as repainting, bondo, ill fitting body panels, frame/unibody denting
* Damaged paint and clearcoat especially bumpers, ground effects, and roof
* Damaged or missing trim, molding, lamp assemblies (esp LED taillights and yellowing lenses) badging, ground effects, air dam, antenna, windows
* Wheels damaged or bent from curb rubbing and other abuse
* Sagging doors due to hinges worn from excessive load bearing

Modern vehicles have many complex mechanical components, and condition should be verified by qualified personal. If you encounter the following symptoms or others you are unfamiliar with, it is wise to seek an expert:

* Unusual sounds such as whining, whistling, howling, grinding, rubbing, rattling, knocking, tapping, or anything else which stands out. Listen in all places while car is idling and driving including, underhood, suspension, transmission, exhaust, rear of vehicle, ect
* Unusual odors such as strong sweet smell, burning, gasoline
* Uneven engine idle, backfire, or misfire
* Transmission grinding, slipping, or hesitation while driving or changing gears
* Clutch engagement near end of pedal travel, excessive pedal play, slipping or revving when shifting/accelerating
* Excessive engine or shifter movement, indicating possible torn mounts Spongy pedal, whistling, grinding, or shaking when braking, fading or low stopping power
* Low, dirty, or contaminated fluids especially coolant, oil, and automatic transmission
* Suspension leaning, excessive bouncing, harsh ride, pulling, poor handling, or dog tracking.
* Smoke from exhaust or underhood, excluding thin light-colored condensation buildup

Some minor issues are to be expected with a used purchase, and the price you pay should be adjusted accordingly. A common method of pricing used vehicles is to determine the fair market value then deduct the average cost of repairs. Tools to determine fair market value include the Kelley blue book and points of sale such as newspaper classifieds, ebay, and autotrader magazines. Price of a used vehicle may be influenced by rare models or packages. Car clubs specializing in the rare model can offer help in these cases.

Selling

When selling your car, several factors should be considered to receive the best price.

* Level of cosmetic and mechanical maintenance
* Logs of maintenance, repair, and modification history
* The type of person buying your car, and where to find them

A car which is clean, well maintained, and in good overall condition leaves a positive impression on potential buyers. This concept is clearly demonstrated by car dealers when you visit their used car lots. Also, presenting logs or receipts to help buyers verify your cars history will increase their level of confidence when it comes time to make a purchase from you.

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Thunderbird Infoway

Free Classifieds - Using Them to Promote Your Stuff Online

Sell your Stuff @ Oz Free Classifieds Online

Classified advertising is a form of advertising that is particularly common in newspapers and other periodicals. A classified is usually textually based and can consist of as little as the type of item being sold, and a contact number to call for more information. It can also have much more detail, such as name to contact, address to contact or visit, a detailed description of the product or products. There are generally no pictures or other graphics within the advertisement, although sometimes a logo may be used.

Classified advertising is generally grouped within the publication under headings classifying the product or service being offered, for example: Accounting, Automobiles, Clothing, Farm Produce, For Sale, For Rent, etc. Classified advertising is different from display advertising that often contains graphics or other art work and which is more typically distributed throughout a publication adjacent to editorial content.

The free classifieds are part of free classified advertising. The free classified advertising is the advertising free of cost.

In recent times classified advertising or classified ads are not merely confined to print media, rather expanded to internet network. The free classifieds and free classified advertising have become hot online catchwords. Craigslist was one of the first online classified sites.

The free Internet classified advertising is rapidly growing trend of recent times. There are numerous companies and websites that offer the free online classified ads. These websites receives free classifieds ads and advertise them free of cost.

There are also country specific classified online sites like usfreeads.com for United States. There are a number of agencies throughout the world that have made a business out of the classified advertising industry. For example: Wide Area Classifieds has created their own classified networks in which businesses and individuals can place ads in hundreds of different papers across the country.

According to market researcher Classified Intelligence, in 2003, the market for classified ads in the United States was $15.9 billion (newspapers), $14.1 billion (online). The worldwide market for classified ads in 2003 was estimated at over $100 billion.

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http://www.onlypunjab.com