October « 2011 « Entre Realty

October, 2011

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17
Oct 11

Sarasota Foreclosures – Home Buyer’s Financing Secret

Real estate investors (yes, even Sarasota foreclosures bargain hunters) leak secret financing tool used to scoop up ugly properties no retail buyer ever would consider…until after the investor shines it up and scores a huge payday.

Jim is not such investor who is NOT scared off by an ugly property’s “as-is” condition.

He possesses a secret weapon…so powerful he bought a house no one else would touch.

He bought this house at a STEAL…a mere 84% of after repair value (ARV).

So what’s this secret weapon Jim possessed allowing him to RECEIVE the 0,000 this house needed to transform it from a dump into a jewel after renovation?

If you want to STEAL a home no one else wants, not face heavy competition from rabid investors throwing cash at all offers & getting the money you need to renovate the house, you need this secret weapon.

Now it’s time you get the inside scoop on this powerful secret weapon helping savvy house hunters steal great opportunities.

IT’S NOT A DUMP FOR LONG….

No more suspense: Jim’s and all other savvy (insider) buyers’ secret weapon is FHA’s 203(k) program!

What is it?

It’s a little-known Federal Housing Administration loan program that’s been around since 1978 and it’s taking the fear out of “as-is.”

Ironically, it’s still a big secret.

Why?

Many mortgage lenders, experts claim, are not up to speed on it…though it’s been around since ’78.

As I mentioned, Jim found a house in “rough” condition priced waaaaaaaaay below market. Why?

Its condition scared off all potential buyers, except Jim that is. Jim grabbed this property for about 74% of after repair value (ARV) BECAUSE even savvy buyers didn’t know about 203k’s.

Jim’s property clearly required about 0,000 in LEGITIMATE repairs, i.e. foundation, roof, HVAC, etc. Yep, easily 0k….

With the help of the FHA’s 203(k) renovation financing loan program, Jim rolled this 0,000 repair estimate into his mortgage.

Jim KNOWS he would not have this incredible opportunity without the 203k program. In no way could he cough up 0,000 in repairs on top of his down payment & closing costs.
Key 203k Points:

1. The work has to be done within six months after escrow closes.
2. Borrowers have the option of putting up to 6 months of mortgage payments on the end of the loan if they don’t want to live in the house while the work is being done.
3. Repairs must undergo stringent oversight — no inflating repair costs to skim off the top.
4. FHA home loans require certain health and safety standards be met and that needed repairs identified during the inspection process be completed before escrow closes. *Minor repairs and improvements costing between ,000 and ,000 can be done after escrow closes for borrowers who opt for a streamlined repair program.
5. 203k also can pay for new appliances, remodeled kitchens and bathrooms, and additions as well.

As great as 203(k) financing is for some buyers; it’s not for all buyers. A buyer will have to work with contractors and may have to wait several months before moving in. That alone doesn’t appear to many savvy, informed buyers. Further, competition for “tear downs” is heating up as the 203k’s go mainstream.

203k is still a secret to many mortgage professionals and buyers alike. You might want to keep this powerful secret weapon in your back pocket…you might need it when you come across a jewel in the “ruff.” Do you want to buy or sell a house in the Sarasota area? Please call me. I want to assist you. Have a question, comment or experience regarding FHA 203k? Scroll down & share your experience. I want to hear from you!

Foreclosures – including Sarasota foreclosures – don’t scare off savvy, informed buyers who negotiate even BETTER prices on houses no one else wants. These savvy, informed buyers turn around & get the money they need to renovate these homes, bringing them back to pre-distressed condition. An otherwise horrible situation turns good for the house, the neighborhood & the buyer of course.

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17
Oct 11

Possible Changes For Home Mortgages?

POSSIBLE CHANGES FOR HOME MORTGAGES?

Will anyone be able to buy a house following these possible changes for home mortgages?

With all the ballyhooed changes occurring in the financial sector and the government ‘foreclosing’ on Freddie and Fannie, thus dwindling their roles in mortgages, many changes are on the horizon for people looking to get a mortgage. Whether you’re an investor looking to flip for a profit or a Realtor who relies on conventional financing or a potential home buyer / seller, you will be affected by the possible changes for home mortgages:

Possible Changes for Home Mortgages | Increasing interest rates
Currently, rates are extremely low because the government is subsidizing them. But with Freddie and Fannies’ eventual departure (and the tax payers being taken off the hook for potential defaults), mortgages will be considered riskier, therefore, one of the possible changes for home mortgages is higher mortgage interest payments to offset the risk. How much will rates rise? It depends on how far back the government is pulled from the market. US New & World Report listed a potential scenario:

A more likely outcome is a hybrid system in which private lenders bear more of the risk, while the government insures them against catastrophic losses and charges a fee to cover the cost–similar to the way the FDIC insures banks. A recent study by Moody’s Analytics calculates that such a system would raise mortgage rates by about 30 basis points, or 0.3 percentage points. If the whole system were privatized, Moody’s estimates that could push rates up by about 120 basis points, or 1.2 percentage points, compared with a government-run system.

On a 0,000 home loan, this could impact monthly payments anywhere from -0.

Possible Changes for Home Mortgages | Higher down payments

Lenders are going to want to see home owners put some skin in the game. Since the housing bubble burst, home owners who got into houses with no money down found it very easy to walk away from when the going got tough. Therefore, it seems likely that the required down payment on the majority of mortgages will be between 20-20 percent. The requirement to have this much cash as a down payment will drastically reduce the buying pool, especially for first time homeowners.

Possible Changes for Home Mortgages | Fewer fixed-rate mortgages

Banks don’t like such mortgages because consumers can refinance if rates go lower, but banks can’t hike rates if they go higher. Therefore if the government is no longer backing loans, then the 30 year fixed rate will most likely disappear as well. In its place will most likely be 30 year variable rates that readjust to the market every couple of years. These types of loans are prevalent in Canada and Europe. Since both the homeowner and the market are analyzed every couple of years, the homeowners’ credit scores and debt-to-income ratio will have to be controlled better by the homeowner to minimize interest rates.

Possible Changes for Home Mortgages | Conclusion

In conclusion, these possible changes for home mortgages, such as higher interest rates, variable 30 year loans, and higher down payment requirements will reduce risks for Lenders but hurt the chances of average people trying to purchase a house. Younger first time homeowners who haven’t had a strong credit history, have school loan debt, haven’t been employed very long, haven’t acquired enough income for the down payments won’t be able to qualify for these types of mortgages. Entrepreneurs, business owners, and independent contractors are eliminated from the pool of potential buyers as well. When you look at a 20% unemployment rate as well, relying on conventional financing as an exit strategy for real estate professionals is extremely risky. Due to the possible changes for home mortgages, more real estate professionals are looking for alternative ways to buy and sell houses with mortgage assignments.

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16
Oct 11

How to write an effective sales letter

A beautifully written sales letter can make customers to give your sale or product a try. But winning their trust is also very important than just attracting customers. Lots of people hesitate to trust new companies as they fear they might not satisfy them. Same thing happens to you as well. So for writing successful a sales letter in a certain manner you should always keep on reminding yourself that you are writing for those people who have a resemblance to you and demand nothing but professionalism and solid information.

The following small suggestions, tips or principles can make you write a successful sales letter:

1) Convincing Heading:

One of the most crucial and important part of a sales letter is its heading or headline. It can bring or take a sale from you. If your headline is weak chances are greater that most of the customers will lose their interest and may not even read the whole letter. You can brainstorm to get a perfect heading for your product’s sales letter. Its better that you sit and write every heading you can come up with and then choose one from the list. Humorous headlines that make some point and evolve curiosity are also a good addition for your headlines list.

2) Simple style of headline:

Many people think that arty and elaborated font style can make sales letter a hit but it is not right. This can generate an image of unprofessional-ism and also can be a source of distraction for your text body. Therefore employ a simply style of writing like Vardana or Times Roman. You would definitely want an easily readable headline for your readers.

3) Professional Logo or letterhead:

An unprofessional letter can cause a lot of difficulties for achieving your sales goal so in order to give a pure professional look it is best to employ a logo or a letter head related to your product and business. Be careful with the choice of logos and letterheads as they can make or break customers trust in you.

4) Captivating first Paragraph:

After putting a beautifully attractive headline, next thing is to be sure that the first paragraph is as good as the headline because if it is not, you will almost be wasting your headline. One of the techniques to make a beautiful first paragraph is to ask a question. You can also narrate a story to make your audience take interest and read further. But be careful and write what you want to, in a short and precise way as people usually don’t want to read long stories with same repeated sentences/words. Be straight forward as sometimes people just want to get info about your product and its effects on their lives.

5) Readability:

Make sure that a consumer should be able to clearly read your sales letter. Avoid long sentences and rich vocabulary. Make sure you are writing with simple and everyday life vocabulary in a conversational way.

6) Welcoming Structure

Make sure that your sales letter’s overall appearance is having a welcoming tone in it. Filling letter with lots of long paragraphs will make people not to read the whole letter. You will therefore have to write both for skimmers and thorough readers. It would be better if paragraphs are not more than six lines.

7) Employ Page Breaks

To make people read whole letter without thinking that the letter is lengthy is to employ page breaks. There fore use sentences like “now its time to introduce you to . . .” at the end of the page to make readers read the next page for curiosity.

These simple tips can make a lot of difference to your sales letter and thus can contribute to its success. Good Luck!

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14
Oct 11

Secrets of Hosting a Successful Moving Sale

Are you facing an upcoming move or relocation? If you’re like most of us, this is an incredibly busy time. There are people to notify, utilities to transfer, and plenty of boxes to pack. All of this adds up to a large potential for stress.

Ironically, actually adding something to your moving checklist may make things easier in the short and long term- hosting a moving sale (a.k.a garage sale, yard sale, white elephant sale, flea market, etc.) Now I understand that this sounds silly when you first hear it. After all, you’re frantically busy with moving, so how on earth will you have time for a garage sale?

The answer is actually pretty simple. The time required to move is directly related to how much stuff needs to be moved. The more things you have to move, the more time it will take. So when you’re looking around at what needs to be moved, think about this: If you choose not to sell excess items, when will you have time to:

get the items organized
prepare, wrap and pack them
write down the items in your moving inventory
make sure the items are properly covered with moving insurance
label the boxes the items will go in
physically move the items
load the items into the truck
unload the items from the truck
unpack the items at your new destination
break down the boxes the items arrived in
find space for the items in your new place
and set them up?

Also, you might think of it another way. If you imagine that you are simply packing unused items to be delivered at your moving sale

And on the positive side, you might earn between 0 – 00 on a well-planned, well-executed garage sale, which works out to a pretty decent wage per hour.

Here are a few basic tips:

Pack separate boxes in each room for your “moving sale” items as you pack up everything else. Store “sellable” items in these boxes, and then simply put them out on the actual moving sale day.
Stuck on how to price things? Start by dividing the original price by 5 and then discounting for any damage. This helps insure that most items will be sold out by the time the sale is completed.
It’s easier to make categories of items all the same price, such as “all clothing each.” It also saves hours of time creating tiny price tags! You can also price items by table, meaning everything on a certain table is priced at one fixed price. However, if you follow this route, it can be difficult to remember where each item came from.
Make arrangements in advance to have a charity donation truck arrive at the closing time of your moving sale to take away anything that wasn’t sold. The charity gets donations, and you clear out of any items that didn’t sell by the end.
Price everything to be easily divisible by 2. This allows you to hold a “1/2 price clearance” during the last hour of the sale, and clear out lots of remaining items and pocket cash you might have missed otherwise- you would be amazed how many times I have seen this work successfully.
Have lots of spare change (bills and coins) on hand on your person (not in a box that can be stolen at the sale). Lack of having correct change is a frustrating reason to lose a sale.
Start advertising at least 2 weeks prior to the sale. Use clear street signs in very large letters, ads in local papers, and flyers on cars in a 5-block radius from your place.
Recruit as much help as you can stand for the big day. You can use assistance for watching tables, helping customers move items and answering question.

Following this steps should ensure a successful move and the chance to put some well-earned dollars in your pocket.

There are several great, FREE resources online for you to use for your move. Here are a few from the author’s website, Movers-Edge.com:

Getting organized for moving, with plenty of advice on how to get started.
101 Best Moving Tips, collected from over 100, books, articles and moving websites.
Ultimate Moving Checklist, containing dozens of items you might otherwise forget.
Easy-to-follow packing tips to make the hardest part of moving easier.
Finding great movers/ moving companies, including resources on where and how to check out your potential vendor.

I wish you the very best of luck with your relocation!

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13
Oct 11

Three Tips on Avoiding Foreclosure

How close do you feel to compltely falling under the pressure of your mortgage? Changes in income can produce stress, fear, and anxiety. Finding a way to avoid foreclusre may be one of your top priorities. Her are three ideas to help you avoid foreclosure.

Income

Handwrite your exact income. Use a journal or notebook that you can refer back to at a later time. Write down how much income you earn before and after taxes. Read books like Dave Ramseys Total Money Makeover. In this book he discusses that the mortgage or rental payment should be close to twenty five percent of your income.

Job

See what you can do to create additonal income. This may not always require taking a traditional job. Think about how you will feel with a few months of mortgage payment in savings. This could be a side job such as childcare, selling things around the house, or selling your knowledge through consulting services. Ignore what other people will think about you. These may be opinons from friends who are one or two paychecks away from missing their mortgage payment. Build an emergency account with the extra income earned. Do something that earns cash each week or month.

Opportunity

Seize daily opportunities to save money. This could be by learning how to coupon. The immediate savings could be placed into your account, or placed toward outstanding debt that is due immediately on the mortgage.Use your additional income to first add 00 to an emergency account, over time build this up to six months of living expenses. Start to attack your debts started at the lowest and pay the minumum on other bills. Once the first bill is paid off, keep going on attacking the other bills.

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11
Oct 11

Reasons Every Phone Sale Should be Verified by Another Person

Phone sales are very different from sales made face to face or sales made inside of a store. Many companies work off of a commission structure and a salesperson stands to either make a lot of money or lose their job based on their performance. The article to follow will discuss a few reasons why every phone sale should be verified by another person. The verification calls should be taped and monitored in case of a dispute later.

1) The protection of the salesperson! A salesperson may make a sale for several different items and if the customer agrees and then recants later on, the sale was already verified and the salesperson cannot get in trouble. People do change their mind, but it should not be blamed on the salesperson who initially set the service up. Verification calls are great for protection of the salesperson! The caller should be very clear as to the service(s), the price(s), and a clear confirmation of the service should be made.

2) The protection of the customer! A customer that never orders an item, but the salesperson said they did will be justified by the verification call. Some salespeople are corrupt and will try to set up service for people who never agreed. If a salesperson turns in a sale and the verifier calls to confirm and doesn’t receive a clear confirmation, then it is not a sale. Verification calls are for the protection of the customer.

3) The protection of the company! Any company that has people making false sales should be aware of it and deal with that individual accordingly. Companies have lost a lot of money employing corrupt salespeople and the verification process will catch someone who is doing the company wrong.

A verification call should not be another attempt to sell the product initially offered. The process should be short and sweet with the understanding that the customer is aware of the service, the price and that they agree with the terms. Any rebuttals should try to be overcome, but the job of the verifier is also not to try to sell the product if they don’t want it. The sale, if not confirmed, would be given back to the salesperson to call at a later date. This is how the verification process should work and every phone sale should have one!

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11
Oct 11

Getting You Started Through This Short Sale Survival Guide

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We would like to talk to you today about our Short Sale survival Guide that we mail out to our clients. Once you come to our web site, you will find a request to receive our Short Sale Survival Guide.

In our Short Sale Survival Guide we will enclose a checklist for you with everything that you need. You will find everything that the bank may want to process your short sale. One of the great things that you will find is that we build a very clean packet when we send this packet off to the bank. Just like arriving to a job interview not dressed well, if your packet is not tidy the bank won’t pay much attention to it. This sets us apart from most short sale agents out there.

As you look through the short sale guide, you will locate particulars about carrying out a short sale, hardship letter, W2′s, bank statements, latest pay stubs, IRS forms, as well as copies of your mortgage statements. There will in addition be documents to defend you. Everything in the short sale method can be explained in a letter.

Inside the guide we also include a sellers agreement. This provides us the ability to talk to the bank and negotiate on your behalf. There is also a “please don’t contact me by phone” document. How many of you have missed payments and get phone calls from the bank? This sheet states to the bank that you are not to be called.

Loan modification waivers, trustee sale plus liability disclaimer. If you are in default on a loan the bank holds the right to foreclose on your home. If you are in a short sale you have a wonderful opportunity to evade foreclosure. If a real estate agent guarantees that they can avoid foreclosure, rush off from them fast.

The Short Sale seller advisory was made by the Arizona Department of real estate. It is also supplied in the Short Sale Survival Guide. A timeline and expectation list are also provided.

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10
Oct 11

The Best Home Filing System

Consider this scenario: You need an important file from your table immediately. You know you have dumped it somewhere, but just when you need it most, you just cannot remember exactly where. Time is running out and you are shuffling through hundreds of folders with hundreds of files. Your table looks like an avalanche has swept over it, making the search more difficult. Can you relate to the frustration? How long exactly does it take you to sift through your files to retrieve an important document?

Review your home filing system. How do you go about filing your bills, mails, receipts, and other documents? Do you know what papers to shred and toss to the garbage bin and what to keep? A cluttered desk requires you to spend more time, effort and energy sifting through the clutter every time you look for something, but having a simple and organized home filing system can save you from all the trouble.

The best home filing system is a system that meets your needs and grows to adjust to changing needs. A home filing system should allocate a place for everything such as mails, bank statements, bills, receipts, advertising fliers, etc. A home filing system should put an end to the seemingly endless struggle to find papers. Find a space in your home — like a filing cabinet or a drawer — to organize paperwork in your home filing system.

Use folders in your home filing system. This will allow you to categorize your papers. You can put all business and financial related documents such as bank statements, receipts, tax returns, etc., in a folder. Other categories should be placed in other folders. For example, personal documents like birth certificates and medical information, should get their own category and folder.

You can also put a document in the top folder that guides you to where you placed your files. This would help you to save time going over a whole folder full of documents. Remember to keep your home filing system simple. Use categories that are broad enough so that you’re not using one document per folder – otherwise you may end up sorting through hundreds of folders instead of hundreds of documents.

Label everything in your home filing system. This is most helpful to spare you from groping your way through the chaos. You may remember what you put in the folders now, but tomorrow, you will forget. Once you get the hang of a home filing system, you can easily access files.

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9
Oct 11

Home Foreclosures in 2010 Top 1 Million For First Time

BANKS SEIZED more than a million U.S. homes in one year for the first time last year, despite a slowdown in the last few months as questions around foreclosure processing arose, a leading firm said on Thursday.

Banks foreclosed on 69,847 properties in December, bringing the year’s total to 1.05 million, topping the prior record of 918,000 homes seized in 2009, real estate data firm RealtyTrac said.
The number of foreclosure filings, which includes default notices, auctions and repossessions, was a record 2.9 million last year, including 257,747 filings in December.

“Total properties receiving foreclosure filings would have easily exceeded 3 million in 2010 had it not been for the fourth-quarter drop in foreclosure activity — triggered primarily by the continuing controversy surrounding foreclosure documentation and procedures that prompted many major lenders to temporarily halt some foreclosure proceedings,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.

“Even so, 2010 foreclosure activity still hit a record high for our report, and many of the foreclosure proceedings that were stopped in late 2010,-which we estimate may be as high as a quarter million, will likely be re-started and add to the numbers in early 2011,” Saccacio said.

December filings were 2 percent lower than November and 26 percent lower than December 2009. The firm said Nevada, Arizona and Florida continued to post the highest foreclosure rates in the country.

And just five states California, Florida, Arizona, Illinois and Michigan — accounted for more than half of all foreclosure activity.
One in every 11 housing units in Nevada received at least one foreclosure filing in 2010, more than four times the national average.

In 2005, before the housing bust, banks took over just about 100,000 houses, according to the Irvine, California-based company.

Read here for more information related to Business News and Business News India.

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8
Oct 11

Lease is an Option to Own Home

In these days owning a house is a distant dream for many, especially in metros. Rising land prices along with high construction cost made ownership impossible for many middle-class families. Most of them are not sure home ownership is in the cards.

Across the world, housing prices are rising and owning a house is becoming a stretch for many. Owning a bit of land in prime areas in metros is a lifetime achievement for many, especially for the families of middle class and poor. ”We can’t afford to buy a home. Housing costs are so high that we haven’t really thought about it” is a buzz word among middle class.

There are many options before you to have own house. Banks, financial institutions are ready to provide loans with attractive offers. For a cash-challenged home buyer, a lease-to-own agreement may be the best way to own a house. A lease-option agreement is both a lease that allows you to occupy the home and an option that allows you to purchase the home in the future at an agreed-upon price. It gives a chance to check out the neighborhood and other necessities to occupy the home before you decide whether you want to buy it.

A lease-option agreement should be formalized in a written contract, which should specifies the amount of rent that will be credited to the down payment, duration, the sales price and the expiration date of the option. Any contingencies or other important terms of the agreement should be stated in the contract. Remember, you not only own the house, but the land it sits on.

A typical lease option agreement may requires you to pay a somewhat higher monthly rent for the home and obligates the owner to credit a portion of that rent towards your down payment. It allows the owner to sell the home to you without paying a commission to a broker. Payment of other closing costs such as title insurance and transfer fees is subject to negotiation and should be addressed in either the lease option contract or a later addendum to that contract.

The owner is responsible for property taxes, insurance, repairs and maintenance of the property during the lease-option term since you have no ownership interest in the property. You would not suffer a loss if the property were damaged or destroyed during your lease-option term. Instead, owner would suffer. Once you purchase the property at the end of the lease-option term, you will be responsible for the taxes, insurance, and repairs related to the home.

A lease option doesn’t obligate you to purchase the home. It is an opportunity to do so with the advantages of a known purchase price and a rent credit towards the down payment. Usually lease-to-own agreements are complex legal arrangements. Moreover, these are state specific and not all states have identical laws. So, that is better to take a legal advice before signing the agreement to make sure your interests are protected.

Entre Realty