Are Property Tax Lien Certificates as Profitable as Seen on TV

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Investing in property tax liens can be very profitable, but if you’re new to the tax lien arena, some background information is the best place to start. In its simplest form, a tax lien is a mechanism that guarantees that a lender will be paid for a debt by allotting a tax commitment on the debtors’ property. This then effectively prevents the property owner from raising further capital or financing secured against that property.

The tax lien is secured on the personal property or real estate owned by the debtor - the most common form is the mortgage lien. There are several other types of tax liens but we’ll leave those for another line of discussion. Each variation of lien carries its own set of rules on how it is implemented, and each may also vary from state to state.

Here we are talking about property tax liens specifically, of which there are two main types; the particular lien and the general lien. A particular lien allows the investor (the person lending the money or providing the services to the owner) to claim access to the property (or the equity held within it). Liens are either legal (or federal) in nature - which means they are enforceable in a court of law - or equity liens which are bound by equity courts.

When buying a tax lien certificate, rather than buying the property, you are actually only lending the property owner the money they need to repay their back taxes. Initially, you are not buying the property. In return however, the property owner is legally agreeing to repay a predetermined amount of interest on your loan - which can be anywhere from 6% to 50% depending on the agreement and the state where you are buying the lien. The property owner is also agreeing to repay your money within a predetermined time period, which will be stated as part of the tax lien certificate.

So here’s how we make our profits. If the property owner is able to repay the value of the tax lien certificate back to you within the allotted schedule, including all interest owed to you, he retains ownership of the property, and his credit rating remains intact.

In the event where the property owner is not able to repay the tax lien back to you, in full, ownership of the property is transferred to you as the purchaser of the tax lien certificate. The property is now yours for you to do with as you wish.

Tax lien investments are pretty much guaranteed to make money whatever the outcome. Where the property owner is able to repay the lien on time, your profit is the amount of interest that was due from the lien certificate. If the property owner is not able to repay the certificate, you become the new owner of the property with nothing more to pay other than your original investment in the tax lien certificate.

There is a lot more information you need to be aware of, and a lot more knowledge required before you go off a buy your first property tax lien certificate, but in simple terms, it is a very realistic model to make money and invest in real estate.

Home Improvement - Know When to Stop Remodeling

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Buy a home, improve it and sell it for a nice profit. Heck, it is the American Dream. While the strategy is a good way to make money, this is only true if you do not go crazy with your remodeling and spend far more than you can recover when you sell.

Far too often, homeowners do not consider the importance of a great kitchen area. There are numerous homes on the market right now that include great landscaping, new floors, and an old kitchen. Since buyers want to see an updated kitchen, this is one way to effectively turn them off from your home.

That said, if you are going to put top of the line appliances inside of a home that is not worth that much money, don?t expect to snag a lot of buyers. Most buyers will know the value of the home prior to stepping into it, which means that they will not spend more for an updated kitchen.

Personally, I like funky home designs and color combinations. If you do as well, it doesn’t mean you should necessarily implement them when remodeling. It usually pays off with quicker sales if you stick to more traditional home designs.

It is also vital to understand the difference between smart and unfortunate expansions. Adding another room to a home is a good move. Adding a five foot niche to a room usually is not very cost effective. Again, make sure you are going to recover your investment.

Use paints to brighten up rooms, clean the home thoroughly, fix those parts that are hanging and loose, and pay careful attention to the kitchen and bathroom in order to attract buyers? attention. These are the things that will really make your home stand out from the rest, so skip those elaborate steps.

I think it is again important to mention personal taste. Whatever you do to the home, make sure the improvement is within established norms. Odd designs and color combinations are hard to sell. You do not want to have to redesign the home twice.

Do not view your home as a place you live in when remodeling. View it as a product that must be sold for a profit. Do your plans increase the price you can ask for that product? If so and the amount is more than you are spending, you are on the right track.

Think You are going to live 20 years longer than your plans now

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If there is one thing that stands out in apartment ownership what is it?

john krol Boomers Bank

So it finally hits you that investing in real estate is the best possible move you can make with your money. You would like to buy an apartment building, your search for reading material on the topic has brought you to this article. What one thing do you need to consider when making this investment?

The answer; use, use and use. Use is the most important factor in terms of the property’s value. For your investment to be a success, you need to think of the building’s use for you as well as for your tenants. You need to also put yourself in the shoes of your customers, i.e. your tenants. To kick start things, first attain information on the demographics of the area in which you want to invest in. This should give you a basic idea of who your target audience is and will also allow you to build a general profile of your client.

With that profile in mind, think then of what the average tenant would need if he/she lives in your building. Regardless of who you rent out to, people will always need and want basic amenities near by. Thus, you have to ensure that the apartment building you buy is located near a grocery store, entertainment facilities, medical facilities and the like. You should note that although people might have cars, they do not like to driving for more than 10 minutes to get the basic necessities. For example, in an emergency situation, no person would like to drive more than 10 minutes to get to a hospital.

Following the universal needs, you need to look a little more closely into the profile you have outlined. The more you breakdown this profile, the greater will be chances for success. For instance, if currently you feel that your building will primarily be occupied by families, then you should study the demographic data carefully to figure out what kind of families are we talking about. Will the families be newly married couples or families with school-going children? If it?s the former of the two cases, then your building should ideally be located near a good quality daycare center. Meanwhile, if it?s the latter of the two cases, then you will be best positioned if the building is a near a good quality school.

Use is possibly the most important factor when one is to make a purchase. Combine that with customer profiling, and you have the recipe for success. However, always remember that you shouldn?t venture outside your comfort zone unless you absolutely have to. Comfort zone here refers to areas with which you are familiar and have possibly had experience in previously. This point is important always but even more when you are initially starting out as a real estate investor. When starting out, stick to what you know and try out new things only when you feel you have a handle on the situation. And always, always, keep your eyes and ears open to absorb whatever information you can about your location so that you are never left in the dark.

The is a new video on this and other subjects related to retirement and IRA-401k’s its a blog at the following address http://blog.ira-401k-realestate.com also ask for the ebook its free

Stop A Foreclosure

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Greater than 30% of homeowners before the housing slump are foreclosure casualties now and experts predict that that figure will worsen beyond 50% over the next two years. Apart from those which were uncontested, many affected homeowners had fought and lost. If only they had the benefit of the rescue programs that are in place nowadays, a great many of them would have come through.

It is nevertheless a daunting task to stop a foreclosure in the wake of the housing market instability and credit squeeze. That is why the whole exercise must start with a concerted evaluation of the entire financial situation of the threatened homeowner. It may even turn out to be more desirable to forgo the subject property. For or against foreclosure, it is critical that you come out of it in the best possible terms as it will have undeniable bearing on your financial standing thereon.

It rarely comes bigger than that, the decision must be made only after a thorough examination of all the options available to help you tackle the situation. They include: refinancing, loss mitigation and other waiver and relief measures. On top of it, it pays to make note of regulatory reforms in the pipeline as if there ever was a good time to be hit with foreclosure threat, this is it.

Once the decision to stop a foreclosure is taken, you can’t get into action swift enough. This is because it becomes a race against time with immediate effect but take heed not to overreact into a panic. There are basically two ways of handling it, namely engaging a turnkey third-party for it or going it yourself. That’s a key decision in itself as the former will incur further expenses but the latter is going to be challenging both in spirit and energy.

What has become popular nowadays is a combination of both, purportedly for the “best of both worlds”. There’s a certain pattern to many of the eventual success stories about surviving foreclosure: -The affected homeowner takes charge and makes the calls. -Never fall for scams and cons. -Check out every option including those that seem out-of-reach. -Positive, tireless and focused engagement.

The internet and other media are flush with information to help you do that. There are also many guides and handbooks retailing very competitively to initiate the layman to stop foreclosure.

While the overall situation remains grim, the horizon seems to have cleared up a little. Consumer confidence index (Conference Board, June 2008) actually improved, albeit marginally and in a symbolic twist, home prices in Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Dallas, Denver, Minneapolis and Portland increased month-on-month over April (S&P/Case-Shiller, May 2008). Meanwhile, the government is now even helping lenders to help their mortgagers with their latest bill (Housing and Economic Recovery Act 2008), on top of continually bringing more rescue channels to defaulting homeowners.

Effective Tenant Screening For Landlords

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I became a landlord when I inherited an apartment building from a family member. It proved itself to be a great way to earn income and it definitely keeps me busy. While I enjoy it, there are things that I have learned along the way that I had to learn the hard way.

When dealing with people you have to be careful as they are not always as trustworthy as they might first appear. As a landlord I have an obligation to protect my property, my family and the other people who rent from me.

One sure way to try and protect all people and property is to run some screenings on people before you rent to them. There are several types of screenings that you can run, to help you decide if you want to rent to someone.

I like to do a background check, a social security background check and a tenant screening. I use MacDataAdvantage.com, a great site that can help me with any and all of the screenings and checks I need to run on someone.

A tenant background check is an important process before a rental agreement is signed. Personally I would not want a sex offender living in an apartment next to a family with young children. I also wouldnt want someone who had a history of destroying property.

I know I wouldn’t want someone with a known history of destroying property to live in my building either. I have also found that running a social security background check is useful. If I have someone who constantly runs out on their rent, then I’m probably not going to take the risk of them running out on me.

A couple of years ago I had a couple approach me to rent one of the apartments in my building They were nice and neat, well mannered and their application form looked fine. I was pleased that I was renting to them because I was sure that they would be no trouble and would rent for a long period.

Then I run the screenings and all the warm fuzzies I had with those two went right out the window. Not only did they have a history of nonpayment of their rent, they had forfeited their security/cleaning deposit twice before for breaking things in the home and for leaving things very dirty.

Real Estate - The Real Estate Market Can Boost

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Many reasons have been reported for the mega mess that the real estate market is in today. Also it has been reported that this mess is the lending establishments’ fault. Others report that it is the home buyer’s fault. But if the facts are looked at closely it is probably due to both factors. Home buyer’s don’t always use common sense in picking out a house and wind up with too much to handle long term. The mortgage folks have been real free with the money up till the foreclosure fiasco. Maybe they were a bit too free loaning out money for real estate loans? This will be a discussion of these factors.

Home buyers have long bought big when it comes to homes. Sometimes so big that they get themselves in over their heads with their mortgage payments. If they could only see the problems that could arise in the future they would think twice before having such mortgage payments to deal with. Some home buyers have made huge mistakes by grabbing mortgage loans that have rates that vary. They start off low but rise and this makes the payments often too high to handle. Also the taxes and insurance for the house can rise too compounding the problem.

When you are thinking about buying a house you must inform yourself on which loans are wise and which ones are not. You also need to fully understand how much you really can spend a month on your house. It is real easy for you to buy more in a house than you need. This can lead to financial woes later.

Large expensive homes have been bought by relatives of mine only to be lost in foreclosure. In fact the only way they even got considered for the loan is that they lied on the application. Companies in the practice of lending money have lent to homebuyers whom they knew were doomed to be foreclosed on. This particular practice though is now outlawed in many states.

On the local news channel there was a report of a home in the midst of foreclosure recently. The home was made specifically for this family that was unable to repair their old house. This was done for no cost to the family. This house could have brought them years of joy but regrettably is being foreclosed on. These people have taken out more than one loan in large amounts and now cannot repay the loan. You would think with this being publicized on TV while the house was being built that this family was not well off that they would not be able to borrow such a large amount of money. Evidently no one at the bank or mortgage company watched TV that night.

The people that donated this house should be more aware next time that someone may misuse having such a special gift. There are many people that would cherish that kind of help and take care of the house forever. They would not just use the house for a cash cow and then not be able to pay the loans.

Only a few things have been written about so far on the troubles that face the real estate markets today. Other reasons include what happens when people wind up out of work. They have less cash coming in to pay the bills so everything gets more impossible to pay on time. The house payments can even get so far behind that the mortgage companies foreclose.

There are also incidents that can happen where people become physically injured and cannot participate in their jobs. This causes money troubles sometimes very severe ones. People not only have medical bills mount up but their regular bills to the point that they try leaving their house payments lapse trying to take care of everything. This lapse causes major problems that can lead to a house being foreclosed on and sometimes worse.

The wounds of the foreclosure mess will eventually heal. There are always new buyers out there. The buyers today can sure find some bargains too so I am sure that these foreclosed houses will get snatched up along with new ones being built. We need to educate ourselves and not let a crisis like this one ever develop again. This is one real estate problem we as a nation do not need again in our recent future.

Commercial Real Estate Brokers - How to Find Them

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vesting in real estate is a well known and popular investment plan. A lot of investor opt to go the real estate way while others use real estate as as their 9-5 job. In this industry, we have real estate brokers, real estate attorneys and investors and other people that work and earn a living.

On the other hand, we have people that do not want to go into real estate as their primary profession but want to invest and earn good sums of money since its an attractive avenue to invest in. For these kinds of investors, acquiring the services of a reliable real estate broker can make a huge difference between an awesome deal and a bad one. How then can one choose a good real estate broker? Below are three tips you can use.

1. Reputation of the Commercial Real Estate Broker

One of the first and most important thing that you need to research on is the reputation of the real estate broker. You cannot buy respect but need to earn it and this applies to real estate brokers. Dependable and trustworthy real estate brokers who have a good reputation have earned it over a number of years because they have helped those that wanted to buy homes get the property of their choice at a good price.

2. Work with Brokers With Experience

Reputation and experience go hand in hand. Real estate brokers that are dubious don’t last for long since bad news travels faster than the good news. Experience is therefore a good barometer to use since dependable brokers who have been in business fro quite some time have not made huge blunders that would take them out of business.

Another thing is that good real estate brokers are not only people that represent the interest of the seller but try to match the needs of the buyer. They also have a sizable database of properties available for sale at any point of time.

They have a team of people that they work with in to ensure that they get the best investment deals between the buyer and seller thus ensuring that both the buyer and seller are satisfied at the end of the day.

3. How Are the Properties Arranged?

Real estate brokers that are good group their properties in a way that both the buyer and seller will understand. One way that they do this is arranging the properties on the basis of where the properties are located, price or even on the basis of the types of house the person is buying.

They also offer advice to the seller on issues such as repairs or give them tips that would help them get better price for the properties that they are selling.

4. Is the Broker a Keen Listener?

Another thing is that good real estate brokers will keenly listen and take note of the requirements of the buyers and direct them to properties that fit their requirements. This is in contrast to bad brokers that only show potential buyers list and ask them to choose the ones that they want. Getting a good broker can be eased by contacting family or friends that have previously used the services of a good broker.

Foreclosed Homes Investing

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Real estate investment is in the final analysis the fastest and best way to attain enduring financial protection. Buying foreclosed homes has always been among the most fruitful real estate investments. Realtor Carolyn Capalbo says that there’s no slackening. Realtors don’t always want to present all the foreclosed houses as it could need more effort than it is worth on the small amount of commission. If you do some of the foundation work and get the agent in when necessary to finalize your choices it would be beneficial for both you and the agent.

Bank Foreclosures - One route to take when pondering about buying real estate repossessions are bank foreclosures. Banks are a really effective way to go when it comes to foreclosures. Bank foreclosures are the properties that have been appropriated as an upshot of the mortgage not being paid. These dwellings are subsequently bought by the flippers at auctions and are subsequently resold to the public. Banks may also extend low-cost funding to buy REO homes. Towns and cities likewise offer property foreclosure possibilities. Real Estate Owned (REO) dwellings are houses that the bank has taken back. Countrywide Homes house loan repossessions have been on the increase over the last 6 months.

Banks and financial institutions are so hungry for the all-powerful buck that they are willing to give anybody a home loan. Banks do not prefer to foreclose on your home any more than you care to get foreclosed on. Often times they would choose to take a little less immediately than wait perhaps up to a year before they may get a property foreclosure off their accounts. Bank held houses are even hotter, reduced a mean of 15.5%. In Elk Grove, the average price reduction for a quick sale is 11.9%, while for an REO it’s 17.1%.

Lenders generally sell these foreclosed holdings at sales that oftentimes have scant or no promotion and are carried on rather quietly. Advertisements about lending institution foreclosed dwellings can generally be discovered in local papers or online. Bank repossessions are apt to sell very rapidly as the lending institution wants to make good on their loans. Baton Rouge has approximately 410,000 citizens living within its boundaries with a mean family income of $37,224. Banks are amenable to sell homes of loan defaulters for scarcely enough to recover their investments in the home. A taxation default could also result to a repossession by the authorities in order to recover the outstanding tax revenue .

The House okayed a bill that may extend tax relief to house owners in trouble with repayments. Under present-day legislation, if a homeowner’s lending institution forgives part of the householder’s debt Homes built previous to 1978 could contain lead-based paint, which could do injury to your family, therefore be sure to learn about this possible hazard and what you can to do to rectify it. Teachers and law enforcement officers qualify for fifty% discount rate* in certain cases.

Mortgage lenders have been compelled to tighten their lending practices because of the unprecedented number of foreclosures that hit record levels in 2007. This, according to some, is also one of the reasons why many borrowers are unable to refinance their mortgages and get out of the clutches of foreclosures by having payments lowered. Mortgage sources tell 3 On Your Side lenders promising loans under the prime interest rate with 100 percent financing and no money down are luring folks with bad credit or no credit into homes they cannot afford. They suck borrowers in, only to hit them six months later with adjustable rates that send their notes into orbit — with high pre-payment penalties that prevent the homebuyers from refinancing.

Mortgages are still a comparatively low number when likened to the overall number of phone calls, but it’s increasing day in and day out. And whilst more people in reality called us about their property loan during 2006 than 2007, far more families rang us at a pivotal point where they were looking at foreclosure legal proceeding in the courtroom, or more worrisome, that they’d already been handed a legal notice to get out, or the sheriff was at the threshold.

Mortgage lenders could be among those ?small? banks that fail. Mortgage servicers and lenders have a strong incentive to help homeowners avoid foreclosure because they stand to lose $40,000 to $50,000 in net value when a typical home loan is foreclosed. Finding a solution to foreclosure can be in the best interest of both the homeowner and the lender. Mortgages are typically used and are foreclosed judicially. MERS local counsel advises that a loan can be foreclosed in the name of MERS.

Financing Your Churches Future Home

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For most churches the purchase of a new church building is the largest financial transaction most of the members of the church have ever been involved in. As a result the process is one that can become intimidating to those charged with the responsibility to represent the congregation. It is a serious responsibility that in most cases will determine the location of your church for the next 30 - 40 years.

Let me ask you a question. If you had a problem with your foot, it just hurt all the time, what would you eventually do? You’d probably go to a doctor. Would you go to a dentist? No, why not? Aren’t dentists doctors? Of course they are, but they don’t specialize in feet do they. So, one of the first things I suggest to churches that have made the decision to build or buy an existing church building is to start building a team of church professionals, specialists that understand “CHURCH”, professionals that have been through this process many times. The big advantage is not that the professionals have all the answers, but they have many questions you may never think to ask yourself.

This is one of the first things that I ever mention to a church; is to find a church friendly lender and do it very early. This is so important, because at you as you start shopping for land to build or an existing church you need to know exactly how much money you can spend. You can save yourself a lot of time and heartache and put yourself in position to gets a deal done when they are available by getting your banker on your team early.

If you have a church building to sell, and you want to move in the next 24 - 36 months you need to get your building on the market now. Most churches don’t want to do this, they want to find a new church first, but you need to have your money ready first. To solve the problem of making your church homeless, agreements can be structured that allow you to stay until you have a place to go.

The first step that many churches take in the relocation process is to find a building that they want and then they search for financing so that they can pay for it. The problem is that most of the time sellers or both land and buildings are not usually willing to wait for you to sell your building and put together a loan. In order to put yourself in the best position to get the best deal is to get you money in hand, including equity from your current building and any loans needed.

Most lenders do not understand “Church”; they can’t look at you as a “personal account” so you fall under the commercial lending area. Most commercial concerns make a profit. Most churches don’t. Lenders almost never foreclose on churches (bad public relations to be the bank that closed the church) so they have to qualify churches differently than most other commercial accounts. In my experience you are light years ahead of the game by working with lenders that understand church, and there are many that do. As mentioned above, it’s best to deal with church professionals.

As you choose a lender you will be best served by talking to several and finding the right fit between you and the lender. This is normally a long relationship you are building so do so carefully.

During the application process you will be asked for all the normal information on your church such as, financial history, attendance records, cash positions, equity etc. The lenders use this information to qualify you for a loan, and this will give you a good idea about how much you borrow. With this number you can shop for church buildings with confidence and find the property that meets you needs and have a good chance to close in a timely manner.

Many lenders will want you to have around 25% - 35% equity in your new building. In order to raise money, many churches will run capital campaign. This is another area that many churches try to take on themselves. Typically when churches do higher a professional to come and manage the campaign the professional campaign will usually raise about 2 - 3 times the amount of the money that an “in house” campaign can raise. It is a good idea to speak with multiple capital campaign companies, and find one that is a good fit.

This article really just scratches the surface of the topic of church finance. This is why you really need to pray, plan step of the process with the church professionals so they can help you with your successful relocation process for your church.

Foreclosure How To Buy REO’s

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What does foreclosure how to buy your first real estate investment and bank owned property have in common? For most people when they hear about foreclosure, they are not thinking about the investment potential. What strikes my mind is the monumental opportunity some lucky investor will have by taking the time to structure a deal that makes it possible for the bank to get the property off their books, and for you the investor to make a hearty profit.

It’s a good idea to be pre approved for a mortgage loan. Of course if you’re loaded, then money is no problem. but if your not, then your just like the rest of us first time real estate investors. Foreclosure investing revolves around the investors ability to think in financially creative terms, to structure deals in a way as to make the property profitable. research all the available information on any property that looks potential profitable.

This is a very grave problem for the mortgage company as well as the property owner. The lender want’s to regain the money tied-up in the property. The home owner has bill’s piling up, they are missing payments and praying for a miracle before they hit rock bottom and lose everything.

When they receive the letter from the lender notifying them that foreclosure proceedings have been started unfortunately, this is when most home owners just throw-up their hands and ride their bad times into the ground. Your credit may not recover from foreclosure for ten to fifteen years. That means no charge cards, car loans and just try to get a lease on a nice apartment with bad credit.

The fear of foreclosure can have a paralyzing effect on people but if these property owners start thinking about what they can save from this difficult situation they would quickly realize their most important asset is their credit rating, without a good credit rating it can be a very long road to financial recovery, but by selling the property and getting out from under the debt, and saving their credit rating when their situation improves, they will have the credit to move forward in their lives.

Don’t underestimate the cost of repairs. It is always best to get estimates from a couple of well established contractors. Don’t forget that repairs on a home will take time. If your plan is to sell the house you should consider the time it will take to fix it up. Keep in mind contractors can be notorious for not staying on schedule. Look for a reliable contractor that you will be able to work with, by using the same contractor on many properties you will find they know what your trying to do and the work will go a lot smoother.

With this kind of motivation, coupled with the principle of supply and demand, will result in foreclosed properties being abundant to investors well below their market value. The difference between what an investor sells a property for, minus acquisition cost and expense, is the investor’s profit. Investors can raise this profit in two ways. The first is to maximize what the price they sell the property for by making upgrades. Since foreclosed properties are taken from the previous owners, they are probably not in pristine shape, without some minor work before re-selling, as a conventionally marketed property.

Some bank owned properties will need minor repairs, upgrades or improvements that the investor can make which will increase the selling price of the property. Other way’s the investor can increase their profit margin is by cutting the cost of acquiring the property. An alternative way to do this is foreclosure how to buy bank owned property with steep discounts.

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