Basic requirements of a Valid Real Estate Contract

The basic requirements to make a real estate contract valid are:

There should be a mutual agreement between two parties to enter in to a contract.

A contract for purchase and sale of real estate should be written because if one backs out, it will be extremely useful for the other person.

A contract should identify the parties with their full names and initials.

A legal description about the property is required because the contract should identify the property exactly.

A contract should also state the purchase price of the property.

A contract should have consideration because this is the value that binds a contract.

A contract must be signed by the two parties for it to be effective.

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Reasons to have a partner in real estate investment

1. If you have a partner with you in real estate investment then he/she will help you if you would have been missed any steps of the procedure to be picked up before it's too late because there will be more than one perspective looking into it.
2. They can assist you in fundamental paperwork such as taxes,license,etc., and even strategies are often better when handled by two people.
3. You can achieve your goals, keep standards and can move forward in your real estate business when you have a partner.
4. Having a partner you can have a spare time and you can invest more money on the investment that will provide you both with the best chance you will be successful. They will provide you the ability to continue to expand your real estate business and make plenty of profit from renting out your properties.
5. You partner also will bring all of their networks of contact with them to the table. The wide variety of professions that can be required to successfully run and grow a real estate empire.
6. When looking for and selecting a partner to invest with, you will need to find someone who has been skilled. They must be confident in major renovations then this could be your strong point.Choose partner who had good neighborhood with financial support.

Keys to Successfully Negotiate in Real Estate

The ultimate dream for any buyer or seller would be to succeed in real estate and one must be aware of the steps you need to follow.

Negotiation is always complex and both buyer and seller would expect that the outcome favors them but neither party gets everything they want. So, you should develop a strong bargaining position in order to get the most from the transaction. There are five keys which determine the winner when negotiating.

At various times it will be a buyer or seller market and at some times it may be a market where supply and demand is equal. But if you have a property in a very good area, you can close it for a better deal than elsewhere.

If you’re business are a loss and its displayed on the local paper you will not be able to succeed in the bargaining process. On the other hand, if you are one among six buyers looking to buy a property - the owner will pick the offer which is bided high.

A lot of attention depends upon transaction prices but the key to a good deal may be complex. If you see two identical properties sold on the same day for $275,000. One property has undergone renovation but the other property has not renovated. As a buyer you would like to buy the first property which is renovated but as a seller you would like to sell the second property which gives you maximum profit.

In a transaction, the side which has representation gets the advantage at the bargaining table than the other.

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Five Areas to Concentrate When Buying a Home

You should be extremely careful when buying a home because it might give a lot of trouble after buying it. You must concentrate on the following five key areas which will save you lot of money.

Electrical

You should not assume that everything will be fine with a new house. You need to check if the electrical is done correctly. You need to have a complete inspection to rule out if you have any problems in electrical.

Foundation

Before buying a home, you need to check the foundation and see if it might trouble you in the future. Trees planted wrongly might cause a serious problem on your foundation within a few years.

Plumbing

Another important area to check is plumbing because this might result in expensive repairs if the issues are undetected or not properly fixed.

Attic

The Attic can tell everything about a house because it’s the sort of the eyes to the soul of the home. You can find where all the damage has been by checking the attic.

Landscaping

Please make sure that there is a 12 inch barrier between the landscape and your house. Otherwise you may run the risk of getting crack on your foundation which results in soil expansion.

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13 Warren Buffett Quotes for Real Estate Investors

“Look at market fluctuations as your friend rather than your enemy; profit from folly rather than participate in it.”

“Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.”“Our favorite holding period is forever.”

“Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.”

“I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful.”

“Wide diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are doing.”“Never count on making a good sale. Have the purchase price be so attractive that even a mediocre sale gives good results.”

“We will reject interesting opportunities rather than over-leverage our balance sheet.”

“It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.”

“A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought.”

“The most important quality for an investor is temperament, not intellect… You need a temperament that neither derives great pleasure from being with the crowd or against the crowd.”

“You ought to be able to explain why you’re taking the job you’re taking, why you’re making the investment you’re making, or whatever it may be. And if it can’t stand applying pencil to paper, you’d better think it through some more. And if you can’t write an intelligent answer to those questions, don’t do it.”

“I really like my life. I’ve arranged my life so that I can do what I want.”

Tips for investor to Improve Credit rating

Credit maintenance is very much important for a real estate investor and one should really be aware of it. An investor should understand the limitations of bad credit and the benefits of excellent credit. Lets have an over view of how to calculate credit scores and to increase it.

Credit scores are calculated using a wide range of information. The incidence of paying late and your mortgages, car loans, credit cards, personal loans are all considered. Hence you should pay your mortgage first when there comes a situation to pay mortgage and utility bill.

There are certain areas of credit which are less understood like your average age of credit account because credit bureaus prefer to look older accounts. Its always good to keep your old credit card accounts active with low balances because older accounts reflect positively.

Credit bureaus always look for your low balance on credit ratio and this will reflect positively on your score. You must obtain a copy of your credit score every 4 months because mistakes are tend to happen on credit reports due to misreporting or credit bureau errors and this is a fast way to improve your score. Pulling your credit report too often will have a negative impact on your credit and improving your credit should be your top priority. Buy more and pay less which will ride on your score.

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Tips to Reduce your Rental Vacancy Rates

Vacant rental property is a big headache and it can only be cured by a paying tenant. There are various costs associated with rental properties and some are mortgage payments, hazard insurance, maintenance and land scaping. If you want to have a successful real estate investing career, you need to reduce your vacancy rates.
To achieve this you should follow these eight steps:

Research:

Certain areas may not be good for investing and hence you need to research a lot about the neighborhood before investing in commercial real estate.

Location:

Rental properties located in areas which have a lot of traffic are easier to rent than that of a hidden property.

Act Soon:

You should start repairing your house immediately once your tenant vacates your house. Every day that passes will make you lose your money.

Fixing the price:

You should fix a competitive price for your rental property by investigating with other local properties and experts.

Advertising:

Start advertising based on your locality. If English is not the first language in your location, you can use another language to advertise.

Onsite Management:

Multi unit properties fill vacancies using on site management. You can even consider this.

Lease Agreements:

Longer the tenants grow, deeper their roots will grow and the cost will be far less than carrying a vacant rental month after month.

Rent-to-Own:

Offering rent to own option will attract a higher caliber tenant. They will maintain their credit score properly to make them eligible for the purchase. They will treat the property with respect and you need not pay commission to agent.

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How to find the perfect vaccation home?

To buy a vacation home is rewarding as both personally and financially, but before taking moves, take the time to engage, organize your finances and choose a trustworthy professional.Follow the tips given below

Do Homework:

You have to read the classifieds, search in the internet and look at maps for all details. Note down ideas and information for future reference.

Take a Drive:

Go a drive and identify the towns, counties or regions that fits for you. It is not necessary to make any major decisions at this point, but should begin organizing your search criteria.

Be Realistic:

Think how often you will be using the property?Whether you going to buy or lease?Think about your finance to purchase or lease. See whether this purchase will make you investment.

Find an Agent:

It’s a time to find an agent who can help you to make your dream a reality. You should find a local agent. Visit the place where you want to buy a property.Local agents tend to have thorough knowledge of specific areas, and can easily help you sift through the merits of various properties.

Must Invest in Future:

When you search for second home, keep resale value in mind. Make sure your purchase possesses as many distinctive features as possible.

Price Point and Timelines:

If a turn-key cottage with a boat house is attracting you, but the price seems a bit steep, think about a fixer-upper. If waterfront taxes is getting you down, then purchase property with shared water access, that will cut costs dramatically.

Clear Accessibility Issues:

You need to be aware when buying the property. You must know that you have complete access to the land must not cross someone else’s property . You should also find out if the main road leading to the property is maintained year round. Island properties can also pose barriers in terms of access, so take all variables into account.So work closely with your agent to draw up an offer that protects you and your investment.

Three Important Steps to Protect Yourself Today

In real estate investing, protecting your assets is very important. If you don't have assets, then you need not worry about anything and you can be safe. If you have assets, then you must buy good insurance to protect it.

As an investor, you can easily focus on the deals and the numbers about the properties. People might think that a real estate investor will have a lot of assets and plenty of cash but its not necessary that you must have a lot of cash while you start investing in real estate. Once you start capturing deals you'll get that confidence and start earning money.

Within a short time you can reach heights with your work, effort and knowledge. Protect in your assets might be boring because it involves having conversations with professionals who won't even have time to talk with you. Its as boring as talking with a doctor.

There are various concerns in protecting your assets. They are

1. Liability
2. Tax Strategies
3. Estate Planning

All three have unique strategies but they don't compliment each other. If you look for the simplest tax strategy, then it might not be the best for asset protection. On the other hand, if you devise an aggressive plan then it might be worse your tax situation. In order to avoid these, take the title to a land trust which simply hides the beneficiary details from the public record. This might not cost you extra.

Use “Single Member, Manager Managed LLC” which exists only for liability purposes and not for tax purposes.

Multi member LLCs are not good because they make you file another tax return which inturn results in more expenses.

Structuring Your Foreclosure Deals

There are five basic ways for you to construct a deal during the foreclosure process.

• A property can be controlled by acquiring an equitable interest. It’s not necessary to have the legal title to the property instead you can profit by selling your position in the contract.
• Buy a property by taking over the existing loans on the property. Earlier you involve, less the amount of cash you will spend.
• Once you pay of the existing loans, the threat and pressure on the property will be gone.
• Without stopping the foreclosure, acquire deed and ownership without paying off the loan. Make the seller understand the real risks and make him agree that the foreclosure can be avoided only when:

You find a buyer who can cure the foreclosure prior to the sale

You get the lender to work with you and give you some time to arrange financing

• Acquire "Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure." This is otherwise called the "back door" approach.

Tips for effective PostCard Marketing for Real Estate Investing

In order to reach the motivated sellers in real estate investing easily is by targeted direct mail. Post cards are much effective and low in cost.

Some companies are providing online tools to create post cards from scratch. If a designer had created one for you,then you can upload it to their website and customize it as you need.The following are the things you should be noted in order to have effective postcards.

Color:

your post cards must not stick out from the junk, else it wont be noticed. Bright colors such as yellow, red, green and blue will create wonders.

Graphics: 

If you want to grab the attention,then you have to use a catchy graphic such as a house or dollar notes. You must incorporate this in your marketing.

Content:

Start catchy opening with heading always. People are not interested with tons and tons of text.Be brief, to the point, precise and clear.

Labels:

Address labels and postage stamps make the post cards stick out.Use bright label with different tone

Three Important Steps to Protect Yourself from lawyers

No one enters into real estate business thinking of earning a lot of money in some time and then giving it to lawyers. But this might happen if you don't take the precautionary steps right from the beginning.

An average American gets sued seven time in his life time and there are chances to get sued even more. If someone slips on the steps of your property and gets injured, later founds that he cant work anymore. He will find a lawyer to take on his case to get him something out of you.

If you haven't taken the proper steps, you will have a lot to lose and it won't take more time for a lawyer to find the properties you own if you have tied up all together. If you are in such a situation, you need to make it difficult for a lawyer to find you and sue. You need to add as many layers of complication to protect yourself.

Land Trust:

It's a big risk to keep the title investment property in your own name even if you own just one property. Instead, you can put each property in separate land trusts. Since each property has its own trust, it won't show your name and the properties you own.

Trustee:

Beneficiary will be the property owner and trustee will be the manager of the trust. In certain situations, the beneficiary's name can be disclosed unless the trustee is an attorney. In such cases, trustees can claim attorney-client privilege and your name need not be disclosed.

The corporation or LLC:

It would be better if you are not listed as the beneficiary and instead you can form a LLC or corporation and have your business entity listed as a beneficiary. You can even file those papers in Nevada which has the best asset protection laws than any other state and hence it will take more time for a lawyer to find you. Its always better to have an attorney and consult with him during issues. These tips would really be helpful not in building wealth but in keeping it safe.

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Steps to be Taken in Case of Fire Accidents

What should you do if your rentals caught on fire and was totaled? Lets discuss about the necessary steps to be carried out if this happens.

Immediately you need to contact your insurance company and get a check of the value. You will have a specific time period until which you can claim for the money. As a landlord, you should take note of the following steps:

Make sure you know the value of your property and insure for it completely.

You should include all parts of your property on the policy. Otherwise your insurance company will not cover it.

Hire an insurance adjuster who will make sure that you get the required money. You need to pay 10% of the money you receive to this company.

Properties can be insured either for full replacement or actual cash value. If you have insured for a full replacement, you need a public adjuster who will help you get everything. Other option is actual cash value with which most houses are insured.

On the detailed copy of your insurance policy, you will see some code letters and these codes will be defined on the policy. This is called the certified copy of your insurance policy and you can't get it easily. You need to struggle a lot to get it.

If you have opted for actual cash value and your property is low priced, there might not be any additional charges to pay for the public adjuster in getting your insurance amount.

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commodity of investment in real estate investing

When you are looking at an investment you should know some of the important investment steps, so here they are:

Your expensive loans should have been paid off. That means make yourself debt free from other than a housing mortgage.You should be ready to invest at any time.

You should know the absolute basics such as Debt, equity, conflict of interest, mutual fund, hidden charges, term insurance, budget ,etc.

You have to find your own adviser.Research about him. Trust, but verify. Once you trust, let go.Resolve conflict of adviser.He may be inexpensive. However, inexpensive need not mean cheap.

You need to understand your assets and liabilities in order to start your new life, set your goals and set up an emergency fund.

Keep monitoring but you cannot go too wrong.Invest your money in the best fund houses and schemes.

Overconfidence leads to over trading often, taking unnecessary risk and eventual losses is the thing that when the bull turns as bear. Also remember that you incur commissions every time you trade - this expense can often erase profits or increase losses.

Patience is the virtual thing that pays for itself. When the market or stock get dips, there are always investors who panic and sell. Selling should be treated just as seriously as buying.

A Good Looking House Will Sell Soon

A house should have an excellent appeal so that any buyer who passes by would really like to note down the real estate agent's name and number. A city townhouse with no front yard would not create an impact but a suburban house with nice trees and lawn would be an excellent place to admire and live in.

One important thing which you could not control is the condition of your houses nearby. If your neighbor's house looks good, then this would create a very good impact for the buyer. If the other houses are filled with unwanted products, then it might be a disadvantage for you. For your house to be sold soon, your neighborhood should also look good. If your neighborhood has well-built townhouses, a school, a social club then this would be a big advantage when you sell your house.

The other important things to consider when selling a house are putting a new coat of paint, keeping the edges trimmed and adding lot of flowers on the lawn can create more attraction to your house. Make sure you water the plants regularly and preserve the lawn properly. Its not about how good the house feels but its about how good it looks. Its not just about the outer part, but you should also take care of your interior when you are looking to sell your house.

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