Learning To Buy A Real Estate Foreclosure

By Wade Robins
You may have been one of those lucky enough not to get caught in the recent collapse of the US housing market bubble, but hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of home owners were not. There are currently thousands of homes in pre-foreclosure or foreclosure in all fifty states and you may be able to buy a real estate foreclosure at a significant discount to its most recent selling price. But most often, your savings will be somewhat smaller.

When you buy a real estate foreclosure, you will be purchasing it not from its distressed owner, but from the lender who has already retaken title to it. The previous owner had opportunities during the foreclosure process to cure any default on the mortgage, so if you hesitate to buy a real estate foreclosure because you empathize with the owner, the owner has already moved on.

Why The Lender Wants To Sell

The lender who has reacquired the property will be a motivated seller, simply because they are not earning any income on it as they did when there were monthly mortgage payments being made, and they do not want the costs of insuring it and paying the property taxes to add to what they have already lost.

If you are qualified to buy a real estate foreclosure, you may not only get it at a discounted price--you can usually expect a 5 to10% discount--but you may also find the lender willing either to give you very favorable terms on the mortgage rates or closing costs, or to lower the down payment.

Preparing To Buy A Real Estate Foreclosure

If you are serious about learning how to buy a real estate foreclosure, you will need to spend considerable time in research to learn how to know when a property has entered the pre-foreclosure state, and be ready with the funds to purchase a property when it goes to auction. You should always view a foreclosed property in person, or have a realtor do it for you, before attempting to buy a real estate foreclosure.

If a property’s previous owner lacked the funds for the mortgage payments, the chances that there were not funds to maintain the property are high. There is little point to getting a nice discount when you buy a real estate foreclosure, only to have to give it all back and more in repair costs to make the property inhabitable. For more info see http://www.1realestatehelp.com/Articles/Real_Estate.php on Real Estate.

Buying a Pre-Foreclosure

If you learn how to find properties in pre-foreclosure and have the heart for it, you may contact the property owner directly and attempt to buy a real estate foreclosure as a private deal. Granted that the owner may be under significant financial stress and not the most co-operative of bargaining partners. But if you are willing to offer a fair price for the property, you will be giving that owner a golden opportunity to save his or her credit record, and have a much better chance of getting a loan on a new property.

About the Author

You can also find more info on Real Estate and Real Estate Foreclosure. 1realestatehelp.com is a comprehensive resource to g

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Why Real Estate Investing Scores Over Stock Investment Alternatives For Safer Deals

by crackmarketing
Real estate is preferred over stocks at least as a short cut to medium term investment. It is wise to pick real estate, keeping in view sale price appreciation in real estate right from the beginning of 1999. As per tracking done by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, the sales price for real estate escalated more than 56% from 1999 till end 2004. During this period there was a corresponding drop in the S&P index in the range of 6%.

Skeptics are predicting a bust in the real estate market, but that is not keeping homebuyers from investing in real estate. April 2006 figures of the National Association of Realtors suggest that in the previous year 7.2 million homes changed hands at a median price of $206,000. This was up 15.1%.

Real estate investing is relatively simple when compared to stock markets. To be a successful investor in stocks you need to understand the technicalities of the stock markets, which are more than the average person bargains for. Most people work through brokers and are unaware of the reasons for their gains, if any, and whether they have received the full amount to which they were entitled against their investment. They have to rely on what they are told by the party handling their stocks, as they are not conversant with the 'hows' and 'whats' of stock market functioning. The same goes for losses suffered.

Real estate investing on the other hand has a more 'hands on' approach, which most people find simple and easy to understand. With a little calculation and foresight, a proper investment strategy can be formulated to make a decent profit with very little personal investment. The bulk is taken care of through suitable and timely financing. An owner occupied investment property can be financed with a 10% down payment. Therefore a $100,000 home can be secured by making a personal investment of just $10,000. A ten percent increase in the sales price in the first year, which is quite reasonable to expect, would get the entire initial investment back. Of course there would be closing costs involved, but they will be deductible as expenses.

There is also another advantage of depreciation as a tax benefit. Under US tax laws, it is understood that the value of a residential house will depreciate to zero in twenty-seven and a half years. However, the value of the land on which the house is built would not depreciate. The value of the construction and the land is understood in the ratio of 80:20. As per these figures, a $100,000 house will generate depreciation (on the $80,000 attributable to the construction) of $2,909.09 each year, which can reduce taxable income from other sources like salary payments etc. to place a person in the lower tax brackets.

A good way of investing would be to find bargain real estate below its real value for say $100,000 and invest $20,000 as down deposit to secure it and add another $2,500 in closing costs. Then, you need to identify someone to clean and paint the property and work for a bank reappraisal for its real worth of $120,000 or above, if it merits more value. The next step is to obtain a 'home equity line of credit' to get back the initial investment.

About the Author

Real Estate Investments are easy if you follow the 4 step program. Do not be scammed by Real Estate Investment Guru 's . Our program is free. http://www.realnetusa.com.

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Finding The Best Time To Buy Your Own House

by Gerald Mason
Renting should be thought of as the short-term solution to the housing problem. Let us not rush out and buy a house, and get stuck too permanently in one place. Don't be in too big a hurry to buy.

Renting will provide a place to live, without too much capital investment, and will permit you to move without too much trouble, if necessary.

If you have moved to an entirely different part of the country, you should be careful not to buy until you have decided for sure that you intend to stay. It may also be better to rent for a year or two, until you discover what town or what part of town is best for you.

Sometimes a good house can be rented for a year, with an option to buy included in the contract. This gives you more time in which to make up your mind.

Buying a house is a large undertaking, which should be given plenty of thought and consideration. In the meantime, renting is obviously the thing to do. If you rent in the part of town where you think you might like to live, you can study the neighborhood to find out whether it is just the district you want or not. When you have decided exactly where you want to live, it is time to begin thinking of buying or building.

Buying a House

It is too bad to get a house bought and then decide to move. But it is equally unfortunate to postpone buying too long. Rent money is lost and cannot be recovered. If you are reasonably sure that you are permanently located, that is for five years or more, then it is time to begin to think about buying or building a good permanent home.

Perhaps the ideal way to get a suit of clothes would be to find a good tailor, have him take your measurements, and help select a suitable fabric; then let him make the suit. But most of us go to the places where they sell ready-made suits and buy them di¬rectly. This saves time and is usually less expensive, though admittedly the fit is often not perfect, and the tailoring somewhat less than might be desired.

It is a good deal the same way in getting a house. You can hire a good architect to design you a house and find a reputable contractor to build it, or you can buy a house ready made. The ready-made house may not fit your family as well as the custom-built house, but it may be a pretty fair fit, and you can live very happily in it.

A tailor-made house will probably cost more than a ready-made one, but whether it will be worth more will depend upon the wisdom of the designer, the skill of the builder, and the cooperation of the owner.

In this present chapter we shall consider only the proposition of buying a house already built. In a later chapter we can go into the problem of actually building your own house.

It costs something to keep a roof over your head, any way you do it. It is one of the expenses of living just as food and clothing are.

The question to decide is how to get the most satisfactory roof with the least expenditure of time and energy.
The ownership of a home is now within the reach of any person who has the determination to go out and get one. It may take time and it will certainly take effort, but it is greatly worth while.

The satisfaction of having a place of your very own, a fortress from which you can defy the cruel world, a headquarters for your living, a place where the landlord does not tell you what to do, and particularly what not to do; these are some of the Why do you want a new house? Are you tired of renting, or has your family outgrown the present house? Or are you in the wrong neighborhood? Or is the house getting obsolete? How much do you want a new house? Enough to spend the best years of your life paying for it?

Why should a person own his house?

Because he does not like to have a landlord come and collect a big price every month for the privilege of living in his rundown old house; because the payments he makes on his own house gradually give him an equity in the place; because it saves the necessity of moving so often.

In a rented house a person can't make any changes without permission and then he doesn't want to make them anyway, as he may have to move soon,

If you want to buy a house it is well worth using a free mortgage calculator to save you money on your mortgage.
rewards of owning your own home.

About the Author

How To Save On Your Mortgage: Save Money With Mortgage Calculators http://www.greatpublications.com/mortgagecalc.htm

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How Low Can We Go? with this Housing Market

by Julie Jalone
Another month of real estate sales in the Sacramento area and another month where the media is reporting, “lowest since…” Yes, September sales in the greater Sacramento area were the lowest yet in for the eight county region of Amador, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba during 2007.

Looking a bit closer to home and only at existing detached home sales, we saw one year sales volume declines of 43.3 percent in Sacramento County, 39.2 percent in Placer County and 24.9 percent in El Dorado County. In Sacramento County, only 846 existing homes changed ownership compared with 1,146 in August and almost 1,500 in September of 2006. The September sales in Placer County totaled 258 compared to 401 in August and 426 last year. El Dorado had 145 sales in September, down from 195 in August and 193 in September 2006.

According the story in the SacBee, “Home loan woes undercut sales” the Sacramento area is not alone. “The Bay Area and the nine county Southern California region both reported the lowest September sales in more than two decades.”

During September median sales prices continued to decline. Sacramento County’s median sales price for existing homes was $310,000, down 17 percent from the benchmark high in August 2005 and down from $350,000 a year ago. The positive news for sellers in Sacramento was the median sales price remained unchanged from last month.

In Placer County the September median sales price was $400,500, down $29,000 from last month and 11.8 percent from a year ago. At the peak of the market in August 2005 the median sales price for a home in Placer County was $505,000. The drop from then has been 20.7 percent.

Over in El Dorado County the September median sales price was $390,000, down from $428,750 in August and $448,500 in September 2006. It should be noted that in counties like El Dorado where there are not a large number of sales, these numbers can change dramatically each month depending on the mix of homes sold.

The pressure on sellers to reduce their asking price to get showings is very strong right now. Although we have started to see a seasonal decline in available homes on the market, it has not been enough to allow prices to firm. According to TrendGraphix, the data arm of Lyon Real Estate, the number of homes for sale in Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado and Yolo counties totaled 16,081 at the end of September. This is more than the number of homes on the market in September 2004. Over at HousingTracker the number of homes on the market, in their defined Sacramento area, was 18,007 as of October 15th. This is down from a high of 18,844 at the end of August. Clearly we have more homes on the market than active willing buyers and until this changes the downward pressure on asking prices will remain.

Unfortunately there is not one thing you can point to and say this is causing the slowdown. Clearly the recent changes within the Mortgage lending industry have reduced the number of buyers who can qualify. The large number of homeowners who are in financial difficulty because their payments have increased and their homes are not worth as much as they owe is an issue. We have long enjoyed buyers moving here from other parts of the country. This has slowed due to problems in their own area, in other words, they need to sell somewhere else before they can buy here and can’t. Finally, there are potential buyers who are just waiting to see what happens. Why buy now when I can buy later at a lower price is their motto.

With the falling prices the lower end of the market is now below $200,000 and appears to be attracting investors back into the market. Several sources have reported this but there is no hard evidence this is a growing trend although I did get a call from an investor in the Bay Area is interested in looking at some property to rent. We will see.

Based on what I am seeing in my business at MagnumOne Realty, I believe we may see a spike up in sales in October and November. We have had more showing in the past few weeks and I think there is a natural desire for buyers to want to be in their new home for the holidays.

About the Author

Julie Jalone is a professional experienced Realtor serving the needs of buyers and sellers of residential real estate in the Sacramento area. Her company, MagnumOne Realty is known for providing high quality customized individual service making the process of buying or selling a home easier for you. To learn more about Julie and her business, visit her website at jalone.com where you will find real estate news, analysis, Free home search, resources, links and her daily blog, ”Keep it Real in Sacramento.”

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