~*Nicole*~ asked:


I have been interested in it for awhile - I worked at a law office for a couple years - would that help me get my foot in the door at a Real Estate company? Anyone have any advice or experience to share with me?

MAYNARD

Joe Cline - Austin Real Estate Broker asked:


Decide to Buy

The first step in buying a house is to try and understand what you hope to achieve. When you begin to think about buying a new house, there are many questions you should ask yourself such as: Why do I want to move? How soon do I want to move? How long do I plan on living in the home? For some people renting or putting off buying makes sense. Expect to commit to your home for 3-5 years if you want to avoid losing money on the home.

Needs Analysis

Once you decided that home ownership is right for you will want to decide a few things: What are the most important features to you in a house? How much do you want to invest in your home? Initially? Every month? Do you have lifestyle changes coming, such as adding a baby, having kids move out, or retiring? What part of town do you want to live in? What school district do you want your kids to go to school in? Once your goals are clearly defined you have your target.

Get Pre-Qualified

An important part of the home buying process is to be qualified for a loan. You should get a “pre-qualification” letter before you start actively looking for a house. Most lenders can provide this over the phone or with a simple 1-page questionnaire. This typically takes 20 minutes. Some data you should have ready is your and your spouse’s name, address, phone numbers, social security numbers, and past two years of employment, residential, bank, asset and debt information. If possible, you should try to get pre-approved for a loan which is a more serious level of commitment from a lender than a pre-qualification. To receive a loan pre-approval, all employment and credit is verified. This will mean that you are approved for a loan, subject to a final credit check and an appraisal of the subject property.

Make sure to inquire about all loans costs (origination fees, discount points, etc) and find out about closing costs. Closing costs are the fees for services, taxes or special interest charges that surround the purchase of a home. They include up front loan points, title insurance, escrow or closing day charges, document fees, prepaid interest and property taxes. Studies show that the closing costs, which can average 2 to 3 percent of a total home purchase price, are often more costly than many buyers expect. Unless, these charges are rolled into the loan, they must be paid when the home is closed. Finally, make sure your lender provides a Good Faith Estimate according to the Truth in Lending Act (Regulation Z). This allows you to “compare apples to apples” between different lenders.

Home Search

After you’ve found a house that you like, fits your needs, and has potential, you’ll need to prepare an offer. Determine whether or not the house is priced fairly by doing a thorough Comparative Market Analysis. Then review the seller’s disclosure and make appropriate adjustments and write your initial offer. Offers should include an earnest money check (made out to a title company), and an option money check (made out to the seller).

Some of the words in the previous paragraph may not be familiar to you. Let’s look at them:



Option Money - a check made out to the seller in exchange for the unrestricted right to terminate the agreement for a specified number of days. This is not found in many states.



Earnest Money - a check made out to a Title Company as a show of “good faith” that you are seriously intending to buy the house. The amount is usually around 1% of the home’s value.



Escrow Account - a special account administered by the Title Company that holds your earnest money until closing.



Title Company - a company that verifies the validity of a title and offers insurance to protect against problems with any liens on a property or clouds on a title. This company also conducts the closing.



Closing - the actual process of transferring the title of a house from the seller to the buyer (including assigning any liens to lenders for mortgages).



Inspection and Repairs

To protect your best interests, have structural and systems inspections done by qualified inspectors of your choice. Your lender will typically also require a termite and wood destroying insect (WDI) inspection. The inspection is a great opportunity to ask questions about your prospective home and learn important information about where everything is and how it works.

When the inspection reports come in, you will need to decide if the home is acceptable “as is”. If you require repairs to be made, then you will have to negotiate with the seller. At that point, you make a counter offer to the seller requesting either that the repairs be done before closing or extra money to be given to you at closing to cover repairs. The seller can either negotiate these points with us or decide to not continue to negotiate. If the seller rejects the offer and you do not want to buy the home as is, the contract falls through, the seller would be free to accept another offer, and your earnest money would be returned to you. If you come to terms an amendment to the contract will be made and we will waive our option to terminate. Then you will contact your lender to request an appraisal and start planning your move. A day before closing or on the same day, it is recommended that you walk through the house to make sure that everything is in order. This protects you from closing on a home that has been damaged in the move out process or that has been taken possession of by another party.

Closing

The exciting day is finally here! You will review the settlement statement (HUD-1) so that you can clear up any questions before closing. Possession of the home generally happens the same day that papers are signed, but sometimes a snag in the funding of the loan will cause a delay in possesion. For this reason it’s best to allow an extra day (or more if we are closing on a Friday or day before a holiday) before you need to be able to move in.

After closing you should file a change of address. File an official change of address form at you local post office or online in the advance so that your mail delivery will not be interrupted. Many corporations, such as credit card companies and magazine subscriptions, take 1 or 2 months to process a change of address.

Congrats! You are now a proud homeowner!



MATTHEW

Gary Boomershine asked:


The credit crunch is fueling the popular belief that investing in today’s real estate markets is a strategy reserved exclusively for wealthy entrepreneurs. This is absolutely false: You don’t need any cash or credit to make a killing.

Generate Cash Flow with Common Sense & Solid Strategies

There are some especially high-performing strategies that are geared for today’s market conditions that require no cash or credit and will maximize your investment returns (ROI). All that is required is a keen eye for uncovering the high-equity real estate deals that spark business growth and the sound strategies that will fill your pipeline with the leads you need to keep the deals flowing.

Why? Because by definition, high-equity properties carry low — or no — mortgage debt. As a result, there are fewer complications and hazards that can slow your deals down and clog your business pipeline. It’s no secret: In this business, delays can cost investors valuable time and money.

Credit Crunch Strikes High-Equity Homeowners

Even among the 24 million homeowners who bear no mortgages on their properties, one-third of them are soon likely to find themselves underwater in these properties. There are many social and economic factors currently at play to imperil homeowner equity, among them are:



Heavy blows to retirement savings accounts in the recent Wall Street debacle,

Rising health care costs,

Spikes in grocery, fuel, education and credit costs,

Inflation, and

Unemployment or underemployment.



The Truth about the Credit Crunch in Today’s Markets

Due to the credit crunch, many high-equity homeowners are likely to encounter new challenges in getting the credit lines they need to help them through the rough spots. This is likely to intensify as overall U.S. economic conditions worsen.

Investing in properties that have minimal mortgage burden is a great hedge to protect investors from inflation. This concept is appealing to a growing number of entrepreneurs who’ve been watching the U.S. economy lately.

Mine for High-Equity Deals with Premium Real Estate Marketing Tools

Even in the Information Age, it is easy for investors to get lost in the challenge of generating the leads they need to advance business growth. In this arena, the proven method of real estate marketing via direct mail emerges as a time-efficient and cost-effective option for getting laser-targeted leads on a consistent basis.

Combined with the relative ease of buying houses with equity, real estate marketing via direct mail emerges as a winning strategy for investors. And, because of limited competition and broad reach, this strategy finds the solid high-equity opportunities wherever there is a property that’s worth more than the seller owes in mortgage debt.

With high-equity real estate deals, investors can offer sellers attractive options and also benefit from greater flexibility in how transactions are structured. For example, investors can offer sellers fast cash in exchange for a reduced price, pay for the property over time with a note, or even delay payment until the property is refinanced or sold in the future.

Max-Out Your ROI: Deploy Direct Mail Marketing in High-Equity Markets

There are five major real estate market segments that offer investors the greatest opportunities to access equity. Use sound marketing strategies, such as direct mail marketing, to tap these markets and boost your bottom line.

In many cases, investors can build their own mailing lists based on information housed in public records. Because this information often changes and quickly becomes outdated, many investors choose to outsource their real estate marketing to save time and money on postage.

Using direct mail allows you to systemize and automate your lead generation. This can save you valuable time and money in the investment trenches. There are other benefits to outsourcing your real estate marketing, which we’ll explore later in this article.

The Cream of the Crop: Five High-Equity Markets for Hungry Investors

1. Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs) with Equity:

Homeowners in this segment typically had an ARM for three years or more before the date of sale. If they owe less than 70 percent on the loan relative to the house’s value, these homeowners with equity may be looking to escape their loan commitments before the mortgage resets.

Direct Mail Real Estate Marketing Prescription: Send an optimized, monthly mailing starting with an optimized real estate marketing letter, and then mail three real estate postcards. Repeat the process for desired results.

2. Free and Clear:

To boost profits in this segment, target homeowners with 40 percent to 100 percent equity. U.S. Census Bureau data reveal that property owners in this arena currently control one-third of all single-family homes. Often, they’re near or at retirement age, are empty nesters and are looking to downsize.

Direct Mail Real Estate Marketing Prescription: Once you’ve got this list, mail cost-effective real estate marketing postcards every 90 days.

3. Multi-Family with Equity:

Zero in on sellers with 2 or more units with a maximum loan-to-value of 70 percent or less to buy, hold or flip income properties. High-equity property owners often are motivated to by tenant management and maintenance headaches. They also may like the idea of financing the investor’s purchase if they also can benefit by deferring capital gains taxes and generate cash flow through a note rather than through rent.

Direct Mail Real Estate Marketing Prescription: Mail an optimized real estate marketing letter every 90 days. Afterwards, send 3 real estate postcards and repeat the process until desired results are achieved.

4. Absentee Owners:

Also known as out-of-area owners, this segment of homeowners has a mailing address on public record that differs from the property address. It includes weary and stressed-out landlords with single-family homes and multi-unit properties.

Direct Mail Real Estate Marketing Prescription: Get this list from pouring through county records or from real estate marketing professionals. Send real estate postcards every 90 days and update your list after each subsequent mailing. Revisit your list after a year or more has passed to evaluate the data and your real estate marketing campaign’s success.

5. Wholesale Properties:

These properties are typically about 20-years-old and tend to have deferred maintenance issues and cosmetic challenges. In this category, homes with loans that come in at about 70 of a property’s value can be prime targets for savvy real estate investors.

Direct Mail Real Estate Marketing Prescription: Send an optimized, monthly real estate marketing postcard for 6 months. Afterwards, deploy a 90-day drip campaign.

To Outsource, or not to Outsource?

Not only is effective marketing a mystery for many investors, it is costly, tedious, time-consuming and for many — it is a shot in the dark. Many investors choose to outsource their real estate marketing to minimize these problems — and to benefit from the professional experience and expertise that only a first-rate company that specializes in direct mail real estate marketing can provide.

What to Look for when you Outsource

If you do decide to outsource your marketing, look for a reputable company that specializes in direct mail real estate marketing. In most cases, the workload reduction, superior leads, optimized results and overall headache reduction more than covers the costs. But selecting the right company for the job is critical to your success in the high-equity — or any real estate investing arena.

A great real estate marketing company should have the best lists for any given market segment. The firm should be familiar with what type of mailing (such as postcards or letters) should be used and how often each mailing should be sent to attract your desired response. From experience, they also should be able to tell you how to optimize your mailings to attract the best, most qualified leads.

When you outsource your direct mail real estate marketing, you should receive quantifiable results in your ROI. This includes real-time reporting on the effectiveness of your mailings. In addition, your lists should be regularly “scrubbed” of obsolete and outdated addresses to save you money on postage.

If the marketing company leverages its high-volume business to secure discounts on mailings for investors, you’ll likely know you’ve likely got a good candidate on the line to handle your business marketing needs.



SHELBY

stick man asked:


This is assuming you already passed your states test for a real estate license? What is a good Marketing plan?
Thank you sarah

IRVING

John Ash asked:


The most common ways of looking for real estate listings are through the Internet and through your local newspapers. No matter what you are looking for, whether it is a home for you and your family to live in or real estate to invest money in, real estate listings will be the prime way for you to find the real estate that is best for you. To find real estate listings, you can use both the Internet and newspapers. It is up to you which one you choose.

Newspaper real estate listings

Looking at real estate listings in the newspaper is one of the most traditional ways to find real estate to purchase. Today, it still stands as one of the most used ways to look over real estate listings. Unfortunately, looking through real estate listings in newspapers can become very time consuming. You will find yourself flipping through pages. After reading through them all, you have to go back and find the ones that fit your needs the most.

Once you find the real estate listings that fit what you are looking for, you have to take the time to write down the contact information and then call them and make an appointment to view the property. Sometimes the real estate listings do not include pictures, which can be a total setback. Newspaper real estate listings are updated every week or so. This means that real estate you are interested in may not be available once you get around to it. If someone were to purchase the real estate before you, you have no way of knowing it before you waste your time.

Internet real estate listings

Since the Internet has grown more and more popular, finding real estate listings online has become one of the easiest and quickest ways to find real estate. The best thing about internet real estate listings is that they are updated two or three times a week. This makes it easier for those who are looking for real estate to buy because they do not have to worry about the real estate being unavailable or already sold.

Also with internet real estate listings, you will be able to few high-resolution photographs of the real estate you are interested in, instead of relying on a small black and white photo out of the newspaper. This allows you to truly see what the real estate looks like. Finding the perfect real estate for you is easy online. You do not have to go through lists and lists of listings to find one that is suitable for you because with a simply click of your mouse, you could find the real estate you are looking for.

Online, you can pick certain criteria such as how large the real estate is, where it is located, etc. This cuts down on the amount of time spent looking for real estate that fits your criteria. With online real estate listings, you do not have to worry about finding contact information. Most times, the website will provide you with a service to contact a realtor, or you can easily print out the real estate ad.



MIKE

Abby P asked:


I know there are a lot of real estate schools out there but I am looking for one that will teach me the most information they can on commercial real estate in specific. It has to be a school I can do online or through correspondence. Thanks!

CARMINE

Melissa T asked:


I obtained licenses to be a Notary Public and Real Estate Sales Agent. Due to the damage of the Real Estate Market, I put my license in Referral Status. Does anyone have any tips to build both businesses?

GREGORIO

Joy asked:


I live in Chicago IL, I’m thinking about going into real estate as a new career. Is the pay for real estate high and is it a good career move.

MANUEL

Brad Wozny asked:


Knowledge is basically the most important key to success in any industry and specially in real estate investing. Even if you know some of the basic techniques in real estate, then you can successfully buy the best property or home without any down payment. However, increasing knowledge among people has no longer kept real estate investing a specialty of wealthy businessmen only. Today, real estate investing has become a very common financial motion for almost every individual. This change is basically because of the concentration and elimination of company pension plans. Personal investing guides have also replaced these plans as they have become the preferred plans to retirement.

Real Estate Investing Books: Real estate investing books would literally increase your potential knowledge and information in the real estate investing field. Generally speaking, the people who write these books are the ones with experience in real estate industry, and thus they write from personal experiences. There are also real estate investing guide books that are published in electronic format, which are known as Real estate E-books. Real estate investing books would offer you almost all the possible information that is used by professional real estate investors. If you have only recently entered the real estate market then it is important that you posses the required important information which can be found in these real estate investing books.

Real Estate Online Information Sources: Real estate investing includes various categories and sub-categories and there is plenty to learn in the real estate investing market. Although you might find real estate investing books a good source, finding information over the internet is a better idea.  There are tons of websites on the internet, where you can find the desired information. You can even find real estate companies online who would keep you alert with the latest happenings in the real estate industry. If you are planning to buy a property or need to invest in real estate, then an online source would then be your best option. Most of the online real estate companies have a great source of real estate listings that you can refer to. Apart from this, you can also invest in one of the listed properties if the prices and the location match your requirements. These online companies would offer you various real estate investing tips and guidelines on how you could make great profits through the various properties that you have.

Other Sources of Real Estate Information: Apart from these information sources, you can also opt for a real estate investing course. You probably could get the most out from a real estate investing course, but you just have to choose the right one. If you are really interested in discovering all the inside secrets of real estate investing, then a real estate investing course can teach you just that. The best part is that that are a number of real estate workshops, classes and courses that educate and offer the required information about the real estate investing market. You just have to choose the right course that would fulfill your need and make you a better real estate investor or help you make a great decision.



IRA

Real Estate Advisor asked:


One of the original counties of California, San Diego County is named in honor of the Franciscan St. Didacus of Alcala, known in Spanish as San Diego de Alcala de Henares. Located in the far southwest, bordering Mexico, it is the third largest County by population in the State of California.

Sun, sand and surf is a way of life with people in San Diego. The county is blessed with year round good weather making it a favorite with first time visitors as well as residents. No wonder then San Diego County is a preferred choice of people looking for prime real estate. The entire County is known for its natural splendor, and whether it is the North County area, Central San Diego, East County, or the South Bay, real estate is buzzing throughout San Diego County.

Although most of the communities make for great real estate, each one of them has a distinct identity of its own. Coronado, located across the bay from downtown San Diego, for instance, is a world famous tourist destination offering a peaceful life to its residents. La Jolla, located 15 minutes from San Diego offers up beachside market comforts with fabulous restaurants, art galleries, museums and the famous Scripps Institute of Technology. The list goes on and on.

Whether you are buying, selling or renting property in San Diego County, your choices are plenty. It all depends on what kind of property you are looking to buy or sell. A simple online search can yield you great results with virtually thousands of properties up for sale.

When buying or selling a home, you should know that there are a variety of factors that influence a home’s price. Perhaps the largest contributor is the price of similar homes in the same community. Other factors include a home’s proximity to the ocean, the quality of schools, crime statistics, availability of local hospitals, proximity to police stations, availability of recreational facilities, etc.

Be sure to find a knowledgeable Realtor who can guide you throughout the home buying and home selling process. A good agent will assist you with locating a home that meets your needs, negotiating a good price, and will guide you through the home loan, escrow and closing processes.



KRISTOPHER