Know the laws concerning real estate

Real estate is a highly-regulated business where lot of fraud and unethical practices happen. You can seek assistance from a real estate attorney, but you should also strive to educate yourself.

At a minimum, you should be aware of the following:

Landlord-Tenant Rules

How much does it cost to evict someone? How long will it take? Can I serve notices myself or if there are any special rules applicable for my city? Is there a limit for the security deposits? Should I pay interest for the deposits? How long can I hold the deposit once a tenant leaves?

Legal Documents

What form of documents are used in my area? Are there any special forms for real estate agents? You should be aware of the local forms and have knowledge about how to tailor them for your needs.

Recording Rules

What are the filing fees for legal documents and what format should we follow?

Disclosure Laws

What should be disclosed to a tenant or buyer? This information can be obtained from your local real estate investor's association.

Interest Rate Limits & Other Loan Regulations

Since the limit for charging interest might differ for each state, you must find the interest rate applicable for your state.

Fair Housing

When your rent your property, you should not discriminate against people based on race, religion, sex, age.

Licensing Laws

You need to check with your state licensing agency for information about licensing laws. You should also be aware of consumer protection laws.

For more information about commercial property investing, visit here.

How to deal with Agents in real estate

Real estate agents offer a valuable source of potential real estate deals for investors. Since real estate agents offer more information they are very important for an investor.

Most investors find it difficult to deal with real estate agents because they prefer home buyers with good credit and cash. They would like to get their interest money without any hassles. You should be ready to offer a reasonable commission to grab the attention of the agents. You should give more commission if you are presenting a solid cash.

Another important thing is to prefer a short closing date because agents will advise clients to take the offer which gets more commission and closes faster. If you want to give creative offers to the owner, you need to speak with them in person because if you present the offer to an agent it will not be presented in the same way to the owner.

Just like any other person, real estate agents would like to make more money. Unless you offer more incentives, you won't get the cooperation of an agent. Some agents are unethical and they will lie that your offer is rejected. If you come to know that a broker is not good, you can directly deal with the seller.

For more information visit: http://www.rementor.com/

Basic Legal Requirements of a Real Estate Contract

Real estate contract is one of the widely used tools in real estate business. Eventhough you are a beginner, you should know the nuts and bolts of how a real estate contract works. Contracts are usually drafted like an offer which will be signed by the buyer. Once a mutual assent arises, the contract becomes applicable.

To make a real estate contract valid, the following requirements are needed:

Mutual Assent - There must be a mutual agreement between the buyer and seller.

In Writing - The contract for purchase and sale of real estate must be written to be enforceable.

Identify the Parties - The contract must exactly identify the parties.

Identify the Property - The contract must exactly identify the property as well.

Purchase Price - The contract must exactly state the purchase price of the property.

Consideration - A contract must have consideration which is the interest that induces a promise.

Signatures - Contracts must be signed to be enforceable.

For more information about commercial property investing, visit here.

How to Determine Property Values in Today's Market

In the current market situation, figuring out the value of a property is very difficult. Comparable sales method is the most common method used to determine the value of single-family homes, condominiums and rental buildings.

You can even research about the sold properties of your area on local government websites. There are many online databases which allow you to check the price of properties within a specific area. They have complete details about the properties including square footage.

Several free websites also offer property data but the information would be less when compared to paid sites. Certain websites offer computer-generated valuation called automated valuation models which aggregate sales data. Local MLS are the most useful computer database for getting information about comparable properties. This database provides complete information about comparable properties and this data will not be available through other sources and these MLS aren't accessible to the general public.

There are many factors which has to be considered when evaluating a residential property but the key factors are location, size and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms.

For more information visit http://www.rementor.com/n-realestateinvesting.shtml.

Turn Your Real Estate Investing Losses into Cash

Why you have to invest in real estate?

Cash flow, capital appreciation, and the tax breaks. When real estate creates a cash flow and you don’t have to pay any tax on the money. There is also a paper loss created so that you can use to offset other income. 

There are three types of real estate:

Where the real estate is actually a business:

If you rent out your real estate less than a week and if you provide some services like housekeeping, then your income is considered as the ordinary income and your loss is an ordinary loss. This real estate loss can be offset to any kind of income without any kind of limitations. If your rental property is running in a loss, talk to an experienced professional to determine whether any of it could be considered a real estate business.

Where the real estate is an investment:

Yes your real estate is a business. Of course your real estate is an investment. A real estate investment is one that is not put in service.  For example, you buy a bare piece of property.  That is an investment unless you are renting it out to someone. The expenses go along with an investment must  be capitalized.

Where the real estate creates a passive loss:

If your rental property is put in a service then it is not a business, you have a passive investment.

If there is a loss, you can deduct your loss up to certain amount of your income. If your income is low then you need to detect certain amount of loss. If your income is over $150,000, you can’t take any of the loss against other income.

A Step by Step Guide to Eviction in All States

The eviction process is too expensive, time-consuming and it would be a confusion for many landlords. To successfully manage your property, you must be aware of the eviction procedure for your individual state. The eviction laws and regulations differ for each state and the terminology might vary by location as well.

All landlord's should understand the legal process of evicting a tenant because there is no other legal way to remove a tenant. An illegal eviction is that when a landlord decides on his own without following the regulations of the state. No matter how worse the situation becomes, landlords should never do anything like: 

   1. Changing the lock;
   2. Shutting off the utilities;
   3. Removing the tenant's personal property;
   4. Threatening to make the tenant leave;
   5. Harassing a tenant.

Legal Process for Evicting a tenant

1: Proper Notice to the tenant
2: Filing in the Court
3: Court Hearing
4: Writ of Possession
5: Eviction Day

For more information visit: http://www.rementor.com/n-howtoinvest.shtml

Ways to Eliminate Risks Involved in Investments

Real estate investing might appear scary for beginners but your fears shouldn't prevent you from jumping into the real estate business. To minimize the risks and to feel good about real estate investments, consider these steps:

1. Buying the right choice

Apart from choosing the right location, you should also consider:

What the house is worth in “as is” condition?

How much will it cost to be fixed?

What is it worth once it’s fixed?

What will the house rent for?

2. Choose the right finance

Avoid risks by buying houses without bank loans and if something goes wrong, your assets need not be handed over.

3. Know your house

Prefer a certified home inspector to inspect the home and be prepared about your expenses.

4. Know your boundaries

Try to know the boundaries of your property and don't get any future surprise.

5. Use a professional team

Your team should include an attorney, realtor, contractor and property manager who will provide you with the advice you need.

For more information about commercial property investing, visit rementor.com

Investing in a Changing Market

There are lot of people who ask, "Will real estate investing work in my market?" The truth about real estate investment is, if you were able to adapt its techniques it will work in any market.

Real estate markets can be described in many ways, "hot" versus "flat", "rising" versus "falling" or "buyer's" versus "seller's". Real estate markets are subject to fluctuations but these might not influence the ability of an investor in making profits. Flipping could be the least risky way for an investor in an uncertain market to make profits.

Real estate markets don't rise and fall rapidly unlike stock and commodities markets. If you are looking for long-term investing, you need to consider additional market factors before making a decision.

The Ideal Market for Investing? Actually there is no such ideal real estate market for investing. Its quite difficult to find bargains in rising markets, if the market keeps raising and if the price of the property also increases.

But, when the property value falls bargains become available. You need to assess the true value of the properties and decide when you can sell them for profits. You must purchase properties at a larger discount and sell them for a profitable sale later.

In contrast, when property values are falling, more so-called bargains become available. Yet you need to assess the true value of these properties based on when you expect to sell the property. Thus, your purchase must be made at a steep discount to allow for a profitable sale later.

For more information visit: http://www.rementor.com/

Why Do You Want To Invest in apartments?

The foremost step in building a real estate business is to find what your goals are and you need to carefully handle every step in real estate investing. The reason to start investing in property may vary from person to person but the main objective of most investors would be:

Cash Flow

Renting a property is a method of generating income and providing positive cash flow. The goal of renting out property is to create revenue every month and to capture the appreciation until the property is owned. This approach is more passive than real estate investing. This approach can be associated to a real estate investor as there will be no time frames.

Instead of handling the headaches associated with being a landlord, you can handle this job to an experienced company who has proven qualifying long term and credit worthy tenants.

Resale

In this method of real estate investing, the returns are immediate. In this method, the investor will purchase a property, repair and resell it for a profit. Due to the heavy time investment, this will become a full time occupation for individuals in the future.

The first process involved is to find the right property at the right price. The next step would be funding. Once you have find the right property and closed the deal, you need to conduct the repairs within your budget. After the repairs are over, you should search for a buyer to sell the finished property.

For more information visit www.rementor.com