Real Estate Investing Advice & Information

There are many signs to watch for when looking for the best time to purchase a home or property. Keep your eyes on the classifieds in the local newspaper. Many sellers will list their home without a real estate agent or broker in order to save on closing costs. Also, check the legal notices for properties going into foreclosure. These notices will give the address of the property. It may be possible to arrange a private sale with the owner, avoiding the process of foreclosure. Some of these properties may be eligible for a short sale which is making arrangements with the lender to accept a price lower than the balance due on the mortgage. Many Open House signs in a neighbourhood indicate many sellers anxious to find a buyer. Check with local real estate agents for the number of houses on the market, and the length of time they have been listed. When there are many properties on the market, sellers are anxious to find buyers.

When interest rates begin to rise, some buyers will stay out of the market, making a favourable purchase more likely. Prices fall as interest rates rise. Another rule of thumb when considering whether to buy in your market is to compare rents for similar properties. What would the house you are looking at rent for? If the potential annual rent is more than 6% of the purchase price, it is not a good buy.

When considering whether now is a good time to invest in real estate, take into account whether the market where you live has stabilized. If prices are still going down, you may find yourself owing more on the property you have just purchased than the market value a year or two from now. That would mean that unless you intend on holding on to the property for a long time, you might be trapped in a home with no equity. It would be impossible to refinance for repairs or renovations, or to lock in a lower mortgage rate. continue reading…

When the going gets tough, the tough gets going. When foreclosure looms on the horizon, it is time for you to act, not give up. Even if you don’t know the way out of this mess, merely taking action might eventually lead you to someone or something that will help you stop the foreclosure.

Robert Schuller spoke perhaps the most popular words in the last century – “Tough times never last, but tough people do”. So if you are tough, it is time to show what stuff you are made of when you are faced with potential foreclosure. If you hold on, the moment will pass, and you will still be there to tell the tale of how you fought a foreclosure to a halt.

In the past you have faulted in your mortgage, so that now they are here to take it all away from you. Remember this, even they hide their faces behind the name of a corporation, ultimately it is still people who are behind it all; and if you can bleed, so can they. There is no reason why they should not respond to your pleas when you show them that you will be good to your word. continue reading…

Homeowners are often worried about further collection attempts after a foreclosure has been completed. After losing their homes, they worry about seeing their car repossessed, bank accounts levied, or wages garnished. But in most cases, there is little chance of a deficiency judgment or future collection attempts due to the numerous obstacles in the path of the bank.

This is the factor that most borrowers do not consider when worrying about the possibility of a deficiency judgment. It is often not in the bank’s interest to spend its time and resources pursuing previous foreclosure victims who found it difficult to pay back their original loans. It costs money and takes time to hire attorneys and proceed with another lawsuit in the court system, and there is little incentive to do so against defendants who proved they do not have the financial ability to pay a judgment.

There are at least five considerations that banks have to take into account before they proceed with suing and attempting to collect on a deficiency judgment. These considerations are as follows: Does the law allow a deficiency judgment? Was there a deficiency at the sheriff sale? What is the fair market value of the home? Is there a reason to expect the borrowers can pay? Is the judgment likely to be discharged? These five issues are discussed in more depth in the paragraphs following. continue reading…

One of the best ways to make the right move when it comes to stopping foreclosure is to look towards an existing mortgage, with modification in mind. And in case you don’t know, this is one right move to stop foreclosure in its tracks.

This you do by actually approaching your original lender, which would be a bank or some other loan firm, and come clean about having troubles with the terms of the old mortgage you took.

Tell them you are interested in changing the terms on say, a temporary basis, such as reducing the interest rate on the loan, or altering its principal parts. You may be surprised to find that the lender often never minds to do this for you, so long as they can extend the amortization on the advance so that your overall payment may be reduced. This may admittedly be tough to realize, but that’s why you will have to go through it with a foreclosure negotiator. continue reading…

You may be eligible for a loan modification or up to $1500 for relocation assistance if you can answer yes to these questions.

1. Is your home your primary residence?

2. Is the amount you owe on your first mortgage equal to or less than $729,750?

3. Are you having trouble paying your mortgage?
For example, have you had a significant increase in your mortgage payment OR reduction in your income since you got your current loan OR have you suffered a hardship that has increased your expenses (like medical bills)?

4. Did you get your current mortgage before January 1, 2009?

5. Is your payment on your first mortgage (including principal, interest, taxes, insurance and homeowner’s association dues, if applicable) more than 31% of your current gross income?

If you do not qualify for the government incentives we can still give you Cash For Keys.

FAQ’s

What is a Short Sale?

It is when the lender agrees to accept less than the full amount due on a mortgage when a property is sold. Usually, the lender will accept this to avoid the time and expense of a foreclosure. continue reading…

Although there has recently been an upturn in home sales, the inevitable steps of foreclosure are still threatening many homeowners. While it is not particularly unusual to get into financial trouble these days, especially with regard to consumer debt, however, losing one’s home to foreclosure can be one of the most devastating experiences that an individual or family can face in a lifetime.

Given the current economic downturn and the worldwide recession, many people are losing their jobs, the benefits that accompanied their jobs, as well as their life savings from investments. As a result, a downward, personal economic spiral begins, which makes it impossible to meet daily expenses. If they are homeowners, the beginning stages of foreclosure generally follow.

Many people are not aware of how soon after missing several mortgage payments that a foreclosure proceeding can begin. If you are one of those who are not clear on this, then here are some key points that may prove useful to you.

A foreclosure of a property may occur when a homeowner does not make the mortgage payments timely or fully. In the case of foreclosure, timely does not mean that you were a few days late in sending in your payment. Nor, does it mean that you missed the due date, but were able to make the payment prior to being 30 days late. The issue of timeliness begins when are unable to make a payment, and then subsequently after 30 days, you do not have the means to catch-up by paying prior month’s payment well as the current month’s payment. continue reading…

When you’re dealing with a troubled mortgage, you may be tempted to just sign the deed of trust over to your lender and walk away. And it seems like a simple fix, just sign some documents and you’re off the hook, right? There’s more to a deed-in-lieu than just walking away, though. Before you decide to commit to this strategy, be certain you’re making an informed decision.

Most lenders will not allow you to consider a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure until your home had been listed for sale with a realtor for at least 90 days with no offers. Basically, a deed-in-lieu is just that, signing the deed of trust and giving the property back to your lender. It’s a step above foreclosure, but just barely.

Your lender must agree to the deed-in-lieu. Without their agreement, you may voluntarily sign the deed and mail your keys to the mortgage company. In that case, however, the property will go to foreclosure and you could be held liable for whatever monies the foreclosure auction does not bring to pay off the mortgage. That is, if the auction bid is less than the amount needed to pay off the mortgage, you may be held responsible. In some states, your lender may be able to pursue a deficiency judgment — which means they can sue you for the difference. continue reading…

Knowing how to find land before a real estate agent has it listed at top dollar is terribly important if you want to make profits in land, either residential, or farm lands, or hunting lands.

There are several methods of finding land and some of the more popular methods are simply looking in the offline classifieds, as well as the online classifieds. Of course, Craigslist is a good source of information.

To find land that is in foreclosure, you can contact your county clerk’s office and get information on any pending foreclosure sale. You could contact local banks and determine if they have any bank owned land that they want to sell.

Plus a good source for finding land before it is listed by a Realtor, is property in probate. continue reading…

For those who are struggling to make ends meet and pay bills each month, you should know that when it comes to your mortgage, you have several options at your disposal. Whether you are a couple of months behind with your payments, or just now realizing that you may fall behind in the near future, these avoid foreclosure options could very well help you save your home.

The first thing in any financial crisis that needs to be done is that you have to realize that you have a problem. Hopefully, this realization will come before you find yourself in such a financial quagmire that there is little hope of holding your head above water. If you have this epiphany before your mortgage payments fall past due, you have more options available to you.

At the first sign of financial problems, you should contact your mortgage lender, let them know your situation, and calmly ask them if they have any options that may help you keep from falling behind on your payments. Depending on how long you have had the mortgage, and your past history with the lender, they may be willing to put you on some sort of hardship program, basing your monthly payment amounts on your income. This is especially a good option for those who suddenly find themselves living on one income, due to death of a spouse, divorce, or sudden disability/illness. continue reading…

Loan modification is one of the methods to save the borrower from the threat of foreclosure. Foreclosure is never beneficial for either borrower or the lender. Hence most of the time even the lender want to avoid foreclosure. However both have to find some way so that neither of the party is in loss. The lender wants to confirm that they suffer from minimum loss. Hence they have to modify the loan in some way or the other. This is called loan modification. Let us see how it works?

Actually there are different ways of modifying the loan. The first method which one can recall is related to the ARM and FRM. You should know that the fixed rate mortgage is taken when you want to buy a house for long period of time. The interest rates in the case of the ARM are more and that in the case of FRM is less. Hence one way of modifying the loan is to convert the Adjustable rate mortgage interest rate into fixed rate mortgage interest rate. In this way the borrower will have to deposit the low monthly installment.

There are some other ways as well. Sometimes the lender agrees to collect the past dues at the end of the total payment. In this way you will have to deposit just the present installment and you need not worry about the previous unpaid installments. You will have to pay them at the end. continue reading…