Posts Tagged ‘house values’

There are many ways to build your fortune in the world today. One of the most common, and often the easiest to begin, even for the common entrepreneur, is purchasing investment property . In fact, you will often hear many rags to riches stories about the unemployed worker down on his luck that became a millionaire by investing in the realty market in one form or another.

There are many different types of methods for investing in this risky yet profitable venue. Realty is a great line of attack for anyone who is willing to take the time to learn the risks, options, and possible rewards for this type of investment process. Some of the more common ways of obtaining investment property are following.

The first way is called the Pre-construction investment. This is a highly speculative and very risky sort of investment that booms or busts with the times. The risks involved in this type of investment should not cover up the fact that many millionaires have been fashioned through this type of investing. And many more will be created in the future. Pre-construction investing is a type of investment where the investor purchases options on the property before any ground is broken for building. This type is more popular in high demand areas that experience housing shortages. These shortages often cause prices to rise quickly and the units are quickly sold before they are completed or any actual money changes hands.

The second type of purchasing investment property is through rental property. Property normally gains value over time. One problem investors have is the ability to hold onto and afford to maintain multiple properties over an indefinite period of time while waiting for house values to rise. One way to overcome this is by renting the properties to tenants while the property values are increasing. The tenant covers the cost of the note on the property making the venture less risky. There will still be the risks of dealing with tenants, such as property damage, failure to pay the rent, and possible legal problems of poor tenants.

Another option is the lease options. There are few people who never experience financial rough spots. Often these people are denied traditional home loans because of their poor management of debts in the past. For this reason they may be willing to pay for the opportunity of rebuilding their credit while working towards home ownership. For these people, a lease option presents a workable and often valued solution. Those investors who are willing to take the risks often find the rewards are well worth those risks.

We have all heard the stories of the investors who make millions by flipping houses. This type of purchasing of investment property has grown tremendously in the last few years due to the popularity of home improvement and house flipping shows on television in the last several years. More and more people have decided to pursue this sort of investment hoping to create big profits in a short period of time and with a small investment. The problem, of course, is that it looks much easier on television than actually doing it. Add to that the fact many people have unrealistic expectations when it comes to costs and their abilities. There are plenty of risks involved with this type of investment too. Successful flippers however see potential for great profit in a relatively short amount of time.

The final type of investment property is the buy and hold. As mentioned above, realty normally gains value over time. Even buildings in total disrepair are worth something just for the land they sit on. Purchasing several houses or large lots of land and holding on to them for as long as necessary before selling can often lead to financial gains. The longer these properties are held the better, providing a greater opportunity for the value property to increase.

These are only some of the investment property opportunities that exist for those who are interested in investing in realty. Other options include commercial and development properties. Needless to say realty investing offers many opportunities to the confident investor.

Source : Property Management

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Author: Kamyar Shah
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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During this credit crunch time, “I want to sell my house” is the cry of many a householder for various reasons. Whether your wanting to move to a bigger, or smaller house, if you’re relocating, or if you have mortgage arrears that are spiraling our of control, selling your house is going to be a major part of seeing your goal realized.

Having spoken with a number of estate agents and property buyers, including estate agents in London, here are the main points you want to consider when its time to sell your house:

1. Determine where you want to go. What’s you’re ultimate goal in selling the house? What will you achieve by selling the house? It always helps to write this down and have it in a prominent position in your home, so you are reminded of your goal. Determining what this goal is will also help you decide how much you need from the house sale to achieve your goal. “Sell my house for the highest price I can get ” is not really a goal because even if you get the highest price for the property, will that help you achieve your goal? How much do you really need from the sale of the house?

2. Get your house valued. This will help you determine How much you can reasonably expect from the sale of your house in the current climate. In this current “credit crunch” environment get 4 maybe even 5 estate agent valuations. This is because house values can fluctuate with each agent, so you want to get a good idea of the average price you can expect to sell at. Do your own research by talking to your neighours, either those who are selling, or those who have moved into your immediate area, and ask them what value was placed on their house.

3. Determine the right estate agent to work with. You need to work with an estate agent who is going to be proactive in selling your house. He or she will need to be looking for people who want to buy houses like yours, and this will mean you discussing your requirements with them. If the estate agent knows what you need to achieve, he can try to find buyers that meet that criteria.

4. Make your house presentable! First impressions are key to a succesful house sale. You may need to spend some money in making your house “look nice” for a potential buyer, but you should certainly make the effort in terms of “elbow grease”. This will include giving some areas a lick of paint to make areas more clean looking, decluttering flat surfaces like shelves and cupboards, and ensuring that each room has an air of spaciousness about it. Give high priority to your front garden or balcony, if you have one. Even before a prospective buyer sets foot over the threshold of you door, they will have made a buying decision based on the impression given at the front of your property. Probably the best way to prepare is to go around the house, making a list of all the things that would turn you off buying the house. Then plan for a seven to ten day clean up, dealing with all the areas that you can manage. This will make a significant improvement on your ability to sell your house, and the price that you will get for it.

5. No Offer is a silly Offer! Even if the offer is below market value, once it actually meets your own criteria in terms of what you need, then you’re a winner! Unfortunately, the market is shrinking all the time, and so are property prices with it. This means, If you know what you need from the sale of your house, and you achieve it, then you are in a better position than some who are holding out for as much as they can get, yet seeing that amount dwindle away on a daily basis.

Colin Baptiste has a keen interest in property investment in the UK. Many people in todays credit crunch are asking how do I sell my house in this current market? Visit his site and get a Free Report on selling your house

Author: Colin Baptiste
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Do you have mortgage payments that you can no longer afford and you need a fast home selling strategy right now? In today’s bad economy, one in thirteen home owners are facing foreclosures due to personal financial difficulties brought on by unemployment and rising living expenses. House values are dropping as well and you may actually be paying more than your house is now worth.

You may have reached the place where you must choose between selling your home and defaulting on it or selling your home before it drops further in value. But, you wonder how in the world can you sell your home in today’s sluggish real estate market?

Be Bold and Sell Your Home Yourself

Most people who sell homes quick, go beyond the traditional means to succeed. In the past, if you needed to sell your home, you just found a real estate agent or broker, signed a contract and waited for them sell the house. As you know, this can take months or even years while they advertise, handle their other accounts, attempt to ‘stage’ your house for showing and bring through streams of potential buyers to see your house (or NOT!).

Plus, if they eventually do sell your home, they receive a chunk of the sale price as a percentage payment for their services. In today’s difficult economic times, you need to sell your home fast plus keep the total sale price, right?

Here’s a few innovative selling suggestions:

• Sell Your House on eBay – It costs $150 a day to list your home on eBay, but the bites you will get from fishing in this large pond can land the big fish of a serious buyer…even across the country. You never know who may be moving to your area and who is in the market for a home like yours.
• List your house on nontraditional networks – Online outlets such as homes.com, zillow.com, craigslist.com, yahoo.com, and trulia.com receive the most traffic of any online sites. Remember, two out of three prospective home buyers begin their property search online.
• Rent a billboard in your local community – Yes, that’s right…advertise for everyone to see! This strategy may sound a bit whacky, but remember…be bold. Passivity must not be an ingredient in your fast home selling recipe. Your objection to this suggestion may be the cost, but actually, billboards aren’t as expensive as you think. Many times the phone number to call for info is on the billboard itself. Also, you can even go to your local print shop and have matching magnetic signs that say “Buy My House”. Attach them to your vehicles and just see how many people call or walk up to talk to you about your home sale. In other words, blitz your community!
• Offer buyer incentives – Offer to pay closing costs, prepay taxes, a year of maid service or a year of pool cleaning. Even offer the buyer a weekend in Paris for purchasing your home! Sometimes it takes drastic measures in drastic times to sell a house. These incentives can save you big bucks in the long run.

Or, Choose a Proven, Step by Step Action Plan to Help You

If the various fast home selling strategies suggested above seem too difficult to implement or if you’re just not sure where to start, you may need a proven plan of action already laid out for you to follow. You can either choose a reputable realty agent to help you or choose one of several do-it-yourself systems that can take you by the hand and show you step by step how to systematically market and sell your house before your next month’s mortgage payment is due.

If you need a fast home selling plan that will guide you in selling your home and that will bring you top dollar of the fair market value, be sure to check out several online realty sources that offer reputable service to homeowners.

P.S. Orr has been writing articles for 6 years on a variety of topics of interest. Come visit the latest website at http://www.latexmattresstoppershop.com/index.html which helps people find the best deals on a latex mattress pad and more information about quality latex bedding essentials.

Author: P.S. Orr
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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It’s been a dismal year for House Sales UK. The market values are around 16.2% less than they were a year ago. The average house price is now roughly one hundred and sixty thousand pounds, down from roughly

The benefits of home ownership are written about and talked about again and again. Home owners get to build equity by buying instead of renting. They get a tax deduction for the interest paid on mortgage loans. They get even more equity from appreciation in house values. But you probably know all this.

What you may not know is that there is an even bigger opportunity to profit from home ownership. It is due to a change in the tax law that was quietly made a decade ago. To really take advantage of this opportunity does require that you think about your home as an investment, and that you are willing to move every few years. But the profits can be very large.

Tax Free Profits From Home Ownership

The way the law used to be, you could sell your home and not pay capital gains tax on the profit, but only if you bought another more expensive home. Apart from that, you could take an exclusion from capital gains tax on the gain from your home once in your life. Thus you could down-size in retirement without having to pay tax on the increase in value when you sold your home.

The law was changed years ago though, allowing anyone to sell a home at a profit without rolling the gain into the next home and without paying any tax on it. There are certain rules of course. Talk to a tax expert for the more intricate rules, but essentially you are free to sell at a profit without paying taxes on the gain if you have lived in the home at least two of the past five years. Furthermore, you can take advantage of this every two years.

In other words,if you want to, you can move every two years, selling your home for a profit each time, and not pay capital gains tax. Or you can move out, rent the house for up to three years, and still sell it without a tax on the profit. There are some other rules (total gain excluded is limited to $500,000, for example), but understand this simple law change, and you can see how home ownership can become very profitable.

For example, there was a man in Arizona who bought homes just to live in them for two years and sell them. He found houses that needed work, bought them cheap, fixed them up, and sold them for large profits after two years. A typical deal might involve buying a fixer-upper in a neighborhood of $200,000 homes for $120,000, and making it worth $200,000 with $20,000 worth of work. He could sell it for $280,000 two years later.

Now, this was during the boom time in home prices, when 20% annual appreciation happened for years. But even if you buy a home for $200,000 and do nothing, 5% appreciation means it will be worth $243,00 in four years, still enough for a profit after selling costs. Buy smart and you could add another $10,000 to that profit. Buy a fixer-upper that you can add $50,000 in value to with $20,000 in repairs, and you can see how this strategy can work, even if you don’t do it every two years like this man did.

Now, what if you don’t want to move every two years and make your homes into a business? Keep the opportunity in mind in any case. Remember, if you move for other reasons, and you are in a rising market, you could rent out your home (if you have the resources to buy the new home without selling this one) for up to three years.

In an area with 12% appreciation, that would mean a $240,000 home is worth $337,000 after three years. Assuming you had good renters who didn’t damage the place (and whose rent covered the mortgage payment), that’s an extra $97,000 profit (on top of any gain up to the point when you moved) – tax free. Did you know that home ownership could be so profitable?