Buying A House With Good Feng Shui

Writen by Michael Teo

In today’s society where most people are living in an urban jungle, it is becoming more difficult to find a house with good feng shui. If we were to look around our surroundings, we will notice that we are living in an environment that is surrounded by lots of man made sha qi.

To assess the feng shui of a property, one must study the effect of the environmental energies namely, the external and internal environment. The external environment refers to the surrounding environment or the topography of the neighbourhood such as the buildings, roads, seasonal wind directions, water features, landscapes, vegetation, shape and qi of the land. In the internal environment, feng shui focuses on the physical structure of the property such as the outlook, shape, layout, the orientation of the main door, the interior d

Foreclosure Investing Principles of Success

Writen by Paul Wells

During my years of foreclosure investing I’ve identified four key principles that have led to my success. This article describes those principles do you have them?

1. You need to make a commitment to succeed. Real estate investing is simple, but it is not easy. Many, many long hours punching in numbers, looking at houses, evaluating deals, talking to people, constructing deals, seeing where your profits will come from are going to have to be spent in order to become proficient at buying and selling real estate.

You need to have a plan and execute your plan to succeed. Remember, those who fail to plan are planning to fail. The investors I know around the country who are wildly successful have overcome challenges, stuck with it when times were tough, never gave up, and had a true belief in themselves that they would succeed and that failure was not an option.

2. You need capital or a way to raise capital. You can buy real estate with little or nothing down, as many people have indicated over the years. However, the person that has capital at the ready is the person that is able to pull the trigger quickly and potentially reap very large rewards. So you need to have money for your real estate transactions in some way, shape, or form.

You might think that your resources are extremely limited. Through perseverance, ingenuity, creativity and enthusiasm, though, you can find all the capital you need through what is known as “private funding”. Private funding is the use of individual investors’ money to fund your deals. These individuals are far less critical than banks when it comes to funding deals. Private investors look for a lower loan to value ratio than lending institutions do. Of course, it’s easier to find willing private investors when you have a solid track record of success in real estate. But there are proven ways to find private investors as a beginner, too.

3. You need to leverage your resources. Real estate creates wonderful leverage for the investor, allowing them to parlay their investment into bigger and better real estate transactions each and every time, through shrewd research and prudent investing.

4. You need to take massive action. This means doing whatever it takes to make tons of offers and create massive activity that drives your investing business forward. If you do not create massive amounts of action in the first six months to get your property funnel filled with deals, you more than likely are going to lose your initial start up money.

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Paul Wells has been investing in foreclosures full time for more than 5 years. For more foreclosure investing secrets like the one in this article, subscribe to Paul’s Free Foreclosure Investing course here: http://www.FreeForeclosureInvesting.com.

How to Become a Real Estate Appraiser

Writen by Nick Hunter

Learning how to become a real estate appraiser starts with an introduction to the work itself. Real Estate Appraisers will either work for themselves or are part of a larger company. Many work for lending institutions, including banks and mortgage companies. Appraising property is necessary before a bank or other lender will approve a mortgage for a home buyer. Appraisers will look at many factors when examining a properties value. These would include:

• Size of the home and the land
• Age of the home
• General condition of the property
• The surrounding area and neighborhood
• Market value of similar homes in the same area

A real estate appraiser needs to pay attention to detail and be good with numbers. Gaining expertise through experience and training is the key on learning how to become a successful appraiser.

Training to become a real estate appraiser

Each state has criteria that must be met to become a state licensed appraiser. Most states require work experience and educational requirements, including passing state exams. Many states allow for appraisal online course learning. Taking an online course offers the flexibility to study on your own time.

Most states require a minimum 90 hour pre license course, followed by a proctored exam. This means that after you have completed the appraisal course, the school administrator will arrange a local proctor to arrange a test setting under that person’s supervision.

These appraiser courses follow the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practices (USPAP) and their rules and guidelines. The majority of the appraiser course will teach the fundamentals of real estate appraisal and how to evaluate properties effectively and professionally.

Continuing education is required after you are state licensed. Many of these courses can be delivered online. State requirements for initial training and continuing education vary.

Real estate Appraisal Job Demand

Gaining real work experience is the most important part of becoming a real estate appraiser. The competition in this field is growing, but the real estate market continues to grow and the opportunities are there for the right person. Real estate agents, home inspectors and real estate appraisers are in high demand in many areas of the country. Many people who work in this field do it part time. This is the same for home inspectors.

Put some thought into what you want to do. Learn how to become a real estate appraiser in your state. Good luck!

Nick Hunter is the President of American Investment Training (AIT) http://www.aitraining.com and the owner of http://www.propertytrainingcourse.com a real estate training website.

Why You Need To Start Investing In Commercial Real Estate

Writen by Scott Scheel

People often ask me how I got started in commercial real estate, and I tell them that it was a conscious decision for me.

Most people who begin investing in real estate start off with single family residential properties because that is what they are most comfortable with. They tell themselves, “All I need to do is a couple of deals a month. I’ll make myself five or ten thousand dollars, then at the end of a very few months most of my problems will be taken care of.” They do not really understand everything that is involved in getting these properties going.

They think they are going to be making big money, but before long, oftentimes they end up with a lot of problems and a lot of headaches. They might have traded in their job for a perceived higher paying job, but find that it is really taking a toll on their lives.

If you belong to a real estate investment group, take a look around you. Look at the people who have done twenty five to fifty houses or more. Are they living the life of their dreams? More importantly, are they living the life of your dreams? They may be better off than you are now, but is this really what you want to work towards? I know so many people who have a large portfolio of properties but really haven’t achieved the type of freedom, success, and wealth that they truly desire. How can you change this? In my opinion, the answer is commercial real estate.

WHY COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE?

When I decided to start investing in real estate, I stopped and took a look around. I realized that the people who were making the big money in real estate were the people who owned buildings not houses. People who owned the large apartment buildings, the large office buildings, the large warehouse and industrial space those are the ones who really seemed to be living a lifestyle that I wanted.

They didn’t have to be there tending to their properties; they had property managers who took care of that for them. Yet, they were the ones spending the checks, catching planes to exotic locations and destinations, and living the lifestyle that I desired so much.

After looking at this for quite a while, I decided that there must be a way of getting this done. They couldn’t have been much smarter, have learned much more, or have had access to more resources then I could. Even though I didn’t know how immediately, I knew I could figure out a way to do it.

I sat down and took the time to learn how to invest in commercial real estate, which is what I would recommend that you do. I studied and figured out exactly what it would take, and as I learned, commercial real estate became less and less of a mystery to me.

How can you start? First of all, let’s talk about why you would want to do it.

MORE CASH FLOW

What are the benefits of commercial real estate? First of all, one of the biggest benefits is that commercial real estate is valued differently. By “valued differently”, I mean the amount of income that a property produces is directly proportionate to its worth. So if a property produces more income, then it is worth more. It has very little to do with “market comps”.

Second, along the way you are going to get a far greater cash flow. Imagine if you were to buy a $250,000 home. That $250,000 home may rent for somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,500 per month. The underlying mortgage on that home may be somewhere between $1,000 and $1,400 per month. So you end up struggling to gain between $100 and $500 per month in positive cash flow. That’s not a very high number for the amount of work you have to put in, and it certainly is not going to get you on the jet set.

Now, let’s take a look at a similar investment from a commercial standpoint. That same $250,000 investment may end up yielding you an 10 unit apartment complex, based on $25,000 per unit to acquire the property.

(Please note: Although these numbers work in MOST parts of the country, I realize there are certain high priced areas, notably the west coast and parts of the northeast, where houses start in the $600,000+ range, and $60,000 and up per unit is much more common for apartments. Rest assured that these concepts still work 100% only the numbers, and the PROFITS, are larger.)

Let’s say each of those units were two bedrooms, which could rent in most areas of the United States anywhere between $400 and $600 per month. For simplicity’s sake, let’s use an average of $500 per month. At $500 per month times ten units, you’re bringing in $5,000 per month more than double the rent that you could expect to get from that same $250,000 single family home. Your underlying mortgage payment would be very similar to what you would expect on a residential property; for this example, let’s use $1,400 per month.

Your cash flow on this 10 unit apartment building will be $3,600 per month ($5,000 per month income, minus a $1,400 mortgage payment). Now that will make a difference in just about anyone’s life.

LESS RISK

Third, and most essentially, you’re now spreading out the risk over ten tenants, as opposed to one. If your single family home goes vacant, you’re on the hook for the entire mortgage. Every penny of that mortgage, all of the maintenance, and everything that goes along with it is now your responsibility. If the house is vacant for two months, you’d better be planning on spending a minimum of $2,800 to cover that mortgage plus miscellaneous expenses including maintenance, utilities, taxes, and insurance. Potentially, you’re looking at a very heavy negative cash flow.

On the commercial property, however, if one of your ten units goes vacant at $500 per unit, you’re still bringing in $4,500. So you get slightly less positive cash flow but you’re certainly not experiencing negative cash flow. Say three units go vacant you’re still covering your mortgage and putting cash in your pockets! Do you see how there is actually LESS risk in commercial properties?

INCREASE VALUE AT WILL

The fourth reason you should be investing in commercial real estate is because of a concept called “forced appreciation”. Forced appreciation means doing things with your property that will increase your income and decrease your expenses. Remember that the more income your commercial property brings in, the more it is worth.

As an example, let’s go back to our 10 unit apartment building. Let’s say we plan on improving the quality of each apartment unit by replacing the flooring, upgrading to nicer doorknobs and bathroom fixtures and lighting fixtures, perhaps even adding some ceiling fans all relatively inexpensive fix ups. As a result, we can now raise the rents by $50 per month per unit. That’s $600 more in annual income per unit times 10 units, or $6,000 more per year total (which will also recapture all the costs of the fix ups).

Next, let’s decrease our expenses by $100 per month by passing on a portion of the utilities to the tenants, or by doing some competitive shopping for our lawn care service and finding a company that does the same great job for less money per month. Times 12 months, we’ve just saved ourselves $1,200 per year.

Total increase in annual income is $7,200 ($6,000 plus $1,200). By increasing our income by $7,200 per year, we’ve increased the value of the property by $72,000 or more. That’s the power of forced appreciation.

There are a lot of strategies that you can use to force appreciation and these are just some of the simplest. But needless to say when you’re dealing with 10 units in one building, for instance in our small example, you’ve got an opportunity to improve many things that will help you justify the increased rents. Also, you’ll be seeing yourself dealing with a better tenant mix. Higher quality properties tend to bring more stable tenants.

PASSIVE INCOME = FREEDOM

All of this leads us to the fifth reason why you should be investing in commercial real estate and that is the passive income. Passive income is the key to commercial real estate. The way that commercial properties are managed and the way they allow for a concentration of efforts lets you to put someone in place to manage those properties.

In the beginning, on the smaller 10 unit buildings, you’ll probably need to manage them yourself. But as you climb your way up the ladder, and you start dealing with 20 units or above, you can then offer free rent on one of the units to someone in return for managing the rest of the units for you. As we discussed earlier, even with 10 units you can still make a monthly profit if a couple of the units are vacant, so giving away one unit is certainly a small price to pay in return for the freedom it gives you.

Now you’ve got an on site building manager who handles all of the tenant problems, tenant issues, tenant improvements, cleaning, and trash removal all in return for free rent in your two bedroom, $550 per month unit. Usually these people have other jobs, so you’re not their sole source of income. If your buildings are large enough to keep them busy full time, however, you will probably have to pay them an hourly wage in addition to the free rent, but that will only be a small portion of your total monthly profits.

Meanwhile, all the checks come directly to you. You deposit them, you pay the bills, you keep the difference and believe me, that difference can be substantial. Even on the small 10 unit buildings that we’ve talked about, it’s easy to generate $2,000 to $3,000 dollars per month in positive cash flow, over and above your expenses. On larger, 20+ unit buildings, it’s not difficult to create positive cash flows in excess of $5,000 to $10,000 per month if these properties are acquired properly. And since someone else is managing the properties for you, all this money flows to you passively, while you are spending time with your family, or traveling, or looking for exciting, new opportunities.

Obviously there are many more great reasons to invest in commercial real estate than these five that I’ve given you in fact, I could easily list another thirty: cost recovery, how it’s financed, management opportunities, scales of economy, and so on.

GETTING STARTED

So, how do you get started?

Just as you would get started investing in residential real estate by getting your education first (either “the easy way”, through books and courses and investor group meetings, or “the hard way”, through the school of hard knocks), the place to get started with commercial real estate is by getting your education and learning the terminology. It’s not that different from residential real estate, and it’s not that difficult to understand.

Next, look around see what’s going on in your market place. Find several small apartment, office, or retail buildings for sale, get the financial information on them, and learn how they work what they rent for, how full they are, how the utilities are split up, what the expenses are, and so on. Start doing some “practice” deals go through the motions of buying the property with as much diligence as you would if you were buying a single family home. Once you understand what the income is and what the expenses are, you can start to figure out how you would acquire that property.

The sooner you get this process going, the sooner I guarantee that you will be a commercial property owner. Don’t wait to get started now is the time! This is the best commercial market in the last 50 years. Properties are available extremely inexpensively, and there are many distressed properties just waiting to be picked up with millions of dollars in equity in all of them. The bank rates right now for commercial property are extremely low. These factors combine to offer you an incredible opportunity. Do not let this market place pass you by, or you may very well regret it.

Can you imagine buying five 10 unit apartment buildings in the next 12 to 24 months? At the end of that time, you’d have 50 units, managed by someone else, and generating six figures of annual passive income. The exciting part is that apartment buildings are just the tip of the iceberg, and in my opinion, not even my favorite investments. I personally prefer office and retail space which have a much higher profit potential. Apartment buildings are nice but office space and retail space generate the really big money.

I can promise you that if you start following these simple strategies, you’ll generate more than enough gold to fill up the pots for yourself as well as your family and loved ones. The sooner you get started, the sooner you’ll see your first $1 Million profits!

J. Scott Scheel has been investing in commercial real estate for over seven years, and has created profits and equities of over $8 Million in commercial property investments over the last two years alone. He is successfully teaching students across the country how to make millions in commercial real estate. Click Here for a FREE audio CD from Scott to learn more about getting started in commercial real estate with no cash, credit or experience!

Important Things to Look at For Long Term Real Estate Investing

Writen by Teve Torbes

If you want to buy a house to own it for awhile, what are the things you should think about in knowing what the future value will be? It’s often surprisingly easy to predict what areas are going to be “growth” zones that will produce high real estate returns - and if you’re in it for the long haul, you want to be in one of these.

First, think about whether there is a good school system in the area. This is a big factor in property values. A school system is good largely based on the property tax returns, so make sure they have some big businesses in the area to give the town money to fund your school district. Second, the closeness to all the things people like to do is very important. People want to live where they can be entertained - so make sure the place you buy a house is a place you’d want to live yourself. Sports events, movie theaters, comedy clubs - all these kinds of things are going to have to be nearby for people to come live there. Third, demographics. You want an area where the salary has been on the rise - a town where average wealth and income is increasing is a place where people are moving in, often out to live in the suburbs. All these wealthier people will improve the local housing stock as they move in - making your property worth even more. That’s the most important thing in making sure you’ve got a good investment - the properties around you.

Teve Torbes is an awesome owner of a frontline flea control site, who knows a whole lot about program flea control stuff. He has also created a valuable frontline flea medicine resource.

How Do You Profit From O.P.P.?

Writen by Sue And Chuck DeFiore

In a previous article we introduced you to the concept of O.P.P., or Other People’s Property, and the many ways in which you can profit.

In that article we asked you what you would do if you found a business that:
* could generate multiple streams of income
* would work in any area of the country
* could be worked both locally and nationally
* could be worked both on and off the web
* would allow you to build your long term net worth
* and, can be started either in your spare time or part time

Remember, what we are talking about is a wonderful business that allows you to generate immediate cash flow and also build your long term net worth.

That business revolved around the Creative Real Estate niche of Lease Purchasing.

This article, the third in the O.P.P. series will briefly touch on some of the strategies that are available to the Lease Purchase consultant.

The Strategies

First, is the co operative strategy. It is the easiest for the beginner to start with. The co operative is used when the seller may not want to give over total control of his/her property. The seller wants some say as to who goes into the property. When we assign the contract to a tenant/buyer, we receive the assignment fee. It typically takes us about two weeks to move a property, and we usually look for a $5,000 assignment fee.

The co operative strategy, along with all the other strategies available to you, can be utilized for all types of property: single family, mobile homes, townhouses, condos. It works well with sellers who are motivated; with investors who have rental property and for those sellers who are not in a rush to move their property.

This is a favorite strategy of ours.

Some of the other strategies available to you in lease purchasing are:

The sandwich deal. This is when you lease purchase the property and then sub lease to a tenant/buyer. It affords you great profit potential. You can collect money up front as option consideration, you receive the positive cash flow and you can make additional money at the end if the option is exercised. For those of you not familiar with the term positive cash flow, this is the difference between what the tenant/buyer pays you and what you pay to the original seller.

With the next strategy, the straight assignment, you contract for the property and assign or sell that contract to a tenant/buyer. This does not require the seller’s approval. In the straight assignment you make your money in assigning the contract to a tenant/buyer. Remember too, you can sell a straight assignment to an investor.

The pure option. The pure option on a property allows you to purchase the home at a future date. The terms also are set. You can take the pure option and sell it to another investor. Again you want to negotiate good terms for yourself, so you can make money when you flip this to an investor. This is a very fast way to generate cash flow.

There are other strategies available to the Lease Purchase consultant, such as the cash or cash equivalent strategy, note creation and of course, our favorite, consulting. We’ll cover these in a future article.

The niche of Lease Purchasing grants you the ability to reach your financial freedom, with O.P.P., Other Peoples Property. All it takes is the desire to succeed, some time investment on your part and some specialized knowledge.

What are the benefits to the business owner?

* Little start up capital needed.
* Little or no credit needed.
* Wonderful cash flow can be generated immediately.
* Excellent and realistic first year income can be achieved.
* Business can be started simply, no major equipment to buy.
* Business can be operated full time, part time or in your spare time.
* Best of all, the business can be operated from your own home office

As you can see, Lease Purchasing comes very close to being the Perfect Home Based Business. A realistic first year income is $50,000 to $75,000 for someone working full time. You can add $20,000 to $30,000 to your present income on a part time basis.

Don’t you think you owe it to yourself to explore the potential of O.P.P.?

What are you waiting for?

Copyright DeFiore Enterprises 2000

Interested in having your own successful, home based creative real estate investing business? Chuck and Sue have been helping folks start successful home based businesses for over 19 years, and we can help you too! To see how, visit http://www.homebusinesssolutions.com for the latest FREE tips and tricks, educational products and coaching in creative real estate investing and home based businesses. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to our

Tips on Money Saving [when Selling your Home]

Writen by Sameer Panjwani

Selling your home can be an expensive process in terms of time, money and energy spent. You’d ideally want to save as much as possible when putting your home up for sale. Well, here are a few tips you could use to save some money when you go about selling your home:

Real estate commissions charged vary with each agency. Therefore, bargaining with an agency before settling on a commission rate may help in reduce your outgoing. A 1% commission would be ideal and some brokers are known to settle for commission percentages in that range. Try to limit the time of agreement with one agent to no more than 6 weeks. This gives the agent sufficient time to sell your house and if it doesn’t prove to be enough, then you should be in a position to change agents. You don’t want to be stuck with an agent not able to sell your home.

Going with multiple agents is not advisable as the fees will increase to about 3%+ as their is no exclusivity out here. However, this could also have a favorable impact in that you could sell your home quicker.

Never tell an agent what other agencies have valued your home to be. They may try to manipulate the offers. Make proper enquiries from various real estate agencies; speak to the right people in charge. Enquire about their charges. Bargaining always helps as the fees are negotiable.

Selling your home privately (on your own the fsbo way) can save you a lot of money. However this requires a lot of time and effort but is a huge money saving tip. Selling your home on your own is highly possible these days especially with an online advertisement. Sites like ChoiceOfHomes.com have known to produce great results for homeowners selling their home on their own. Advertising could also be done through newspapers, flyers and pamphlets. In newspapers, it is best to keep the ad brief as charges are per line or the number of words. You must also ensure that the ad must not be uninteresting so as to just glance through. It should capture the readers attention. Another tip when placing a newspaper ad is that you could refer to an online listing for more information that way a lot of people get to view your home and it’s details online and are in a better position to decide whether they should call you or not.

It is best to sell your home when the market is booming and when the demand is high. The chances of higher profits is greater during this period. Also, generally, the real estate market is stronger in early and late summer than the rest of the year so it’s more advisable to sell your house then. Think wisely and you’ll come up with a few more ways of how to make more money from your home sale!

Sameer S Panjwani ChoiceOfHomes.com Sell your House Online the FSBO way and save on precious real estate commissions.

Baby Boomers lead to Booming Real Estate Profits How to Profit from PreConstruction Investments

Writen by Doug Lasley

Baby Boomers currently make up a tremendous portion of our population, with most of them reaching retirement over the next 15 years. Research has shown that a big percentage of these Boomers plan to move away from their current location, and are looking to move to areas with warmer climates and a better level of living (which is the Southwest and Southeast portions of the United States). Another factor involved is that a large number of these Boomers are well off financially and have the needed money to relocate and invest in a new home or even a second home.

Armed with this knowledge, real estate investors can utilize it to their advantages. Here are some items to remember before deciding on a new real estate investment property.

The best way to minimize risk it to invest in an area that Boomers will want to live in. These of the most popular areas include Florida, North Carolina and Arizona.

If you find and invest in a real estate opportunity in an area that you are confident will attract Boomers, hold on to it. Even if prices drop, the demand the Boomers will create will drive up the price of your investment as the supply drops.

How long will it take to see a return on an investment? There is no way to truly know, but looking at the sheer number of Boomers, it appears as if there should be at least a 15 year period of favorable market conditions.

For those looking to invest in this Boomer market, but want to get in and out within a couple of years brings up certain obstacles. To make this happen, the investor must make their investment, and then have their property suddenly in the eyes of the Boomers. This requires the property to be marketed by someone else.

Remember, there are risks involved when looking for a short term investment. When investing in the proper location, you allow yourself the option of selling early or holding on to the property for the long term.

The best properties to invest in are the places you would like to retire in. Is the property around amenities like golf courses, lakes, mountains, etc? What is the climate like?

This Baby Boomer market is a unique opportunity, and one we believe will provide tremendous real estate investing opportunities for at least the next 15 years.

BuyVacationCondos LANDDepo Doug Lasley (Broker Associate)

Contact: 407 876 5771

info@BuyVacationCondos.com

http://www.BuyVacationCondos.com

Orlando Investment Property: Will the Purchase of US Property Help to Obtain a US Residency Visa?

Writen by Graham Pyle

The question whether purchasing US property helps to obtain US residency is somewhat confusing, for paradoxically both a yes and no answer can apply. With many British people seeking such a “sought after” status here is what I have found from my experience involving British buyers.

The E investor visa application is the most popular residency route with immigrants for a suitable new or established US business venture provides a relatively easy path. However careful research and planning will be necessary to avoid a costly and disappointing outcome.

With many British buying vacation homes in Florida for rental and investment reasons, many ask if their property purchase can help them to obtain US residency status.

Anyone expecting a visa based on the purchase of a single US home will be severely disappointed, for it will never be able to justify a business investment reason.

However a carefully presented visa application that involves the purchase of 3 or more homes together with submission of a comprehensive detailed business plan could succeed.

If a visa application is poorly presented or it shows the property as being a “passive investment” it would normally be declined. Anyone considering an application is best advised to use an experienced professional with a proven track record in the preparation of such a business plan.

The purchase of property alone will always be viewed as a passive investment, however should the application clearly demonstrates an “active property business” an E2 visa may well be issued.

It is also imperative to prove a “substantial financial investment” as being made prior to the application being submitted and although no actual sum is detailed anywhere in reality it should not be less than $100,000. Property loans are allowed although when the case sufficient projected business profit margin will be necessary for as the expense and risk increases so too does the scrutiny from the issuing immigration authority.

Of equal importance is the need to clearly show that the business will be viable and that it will be able to support the owner’s future living expenses etc

The supporting business plan should clearly demonstrate a defendable reason why it will generate future employment, plus as a guide projected generated profits of at least $50,000 per annum generally would be expected. Clarifying property, as an important role in the business plan is essential as would be the case with such proposals as a guest house, hotel or property rental firm.

Vacation rental homes can be treated similarly to a hotel acquisition for the property purchased has a similar function, however homes should never be bought for any personal use!

Property assets purchased specifically for a rental business do of course require regular maintenance and rental bookings require necessary appropriate personnel for the business needs, no wonder property management is a popular form of investment proposal.

In Central Florida, especially in the Disney catchments a constant demand for “good quality well run” property management firms still exists despite a number of holiday rental firms already operating in the area.

The constant growing demand for good quality management results from many new firms increasing their portfolio of homes, which seemingly reduces some firms’ business operating standards.

This problem was the underpinning reason for my firm’s decision NOT to enter into property management, despite the obvious financial temptation.

Back in 1985 there were very few holiday property management operations near Disney for by and large hotels were the main form of rental accommodation. Over the next few years we arranged thousands of property sales to British buyers all of whom bought for personal holiday use and potential rental income during their absence.

In view of the importance our buyers applied to property management, we decided that we should do everything to provide the best possible service. As such it would be best for us to remain totally independent and unlike many of our real estate competitors we resisted the financial temptation.

As a result we continue to track and monitor the performance of some 700 property management firms in Central Florida and the valuable information we gain often helps our client buyers.

There is thought to be over 50,000 British owned homes in Florida and of course many more are owned by other non residents.

The constant demand for quality small to medium sized property management firms is naturally creating attractive investment opportunities for budding entrepreneurs in search for a new way of life. Those keen to try and keep their investment risk to a minimum and are nervous of investing cash into a new business venture may be hard pressed to find a better alternative than a property based management business.

Orlando Investment Properties purchased in the “Sunshine State of Florida should keep rising in value for property prices here are still much lower than many comparable states such as California, where prices are almost 3 times higher!

Those interested in obtaining more information regarding a resident E2 visa application or Orlando Investment Property should contact Graham at Florida Countryside 08456 444 747 You can also obtain a free DVD “The definitive guide to buying in Florida”

Graham Pyle was one of the first UK Estate Agents to recognise the potential of the Florida property market and has been in the business for 20 years. Graham regularly holds seminars and presentations in the leading UK exhibitions, has featured on ITV’s ‘I Want that House’ and has many articles published in specialist magazines like A Place In The Sun and Florida Homes. http://www.floridacountryside.com/ http://www.orlando investment property.co.uk/

5 Magic Points: Should I BUY or RENT my HOME?

Writen by Tom Levine

Buying a Home is the American Dream. It is more than a place you put your hat at the end of the day. It defines you, protects you, and prospers with you. Yes, Home Ownership is a noble pursuit, but it always starts with this first, important question: Should I buy or Rent my Home? The answer, surprisingly, is not so obvious.

Now the question of “affordability” is an important one, but that’s not the subject of this article. We have a free calculator at our website. You’re welcome to use it. The subject of this article, however, deals with the questions that must be answered, before a renter can migrate into the magical realms of HOME OWNERSHIP.

Here are 5 MAGIC POINTS that you need to examine, on whether or not to BUY or RENT your next Home:

1. EXPENSES

2. COMMITMENT

3. MONTHLY PAYMENTS

4. TAX RETURNS

5. WEALTH

1. EXPENSES:

Renting a home requires that you give a check to the landlord each month. That’s it. You’re done. Everything else is simply taken care of for you. When you OWN a home, you are in business for yourself, and this means that you must handle all of the expenses yourself.

1. You are responsible, of course, for the monthly mortgage payment to the bank…

2. You must pay all your utilities, including phone, gas, electric, cable, trash, water, etc.

3. Don’t forget your responsibility to take care of maintenance. Not having enough money in the bank account is not a good enough excuse. If it’s broken, ya gotta fix it!

4. Don’t forget your Homeowners Association Dues, your Membership Fees, Property Taxes, Special Assessment taxes, insuranceyada, yada, yada.

When you rent a home, you give the landlord a check. When you buy a home, you must ensure that all expenses are met and managed every single month, forever…

2. COMMITMENT:

Renting and Buying have different financial commitments.

1. To rent a home usually requires a lease. Sometimes it’s month to month; sometimes it’s a 12 month lease. But, no matter what, there’s always a way out. Your commitment is limited to the time you choose to stay and reside there.

2. When you buy a home, you usually sign a 30 year mortgage, which most people would argue, is like forever. You are committed to ensuring that the payment is delivered to the bank or lender every single month, on time. They don’t care if you want to move at some point. You can sell your home of course, but you can’t just break your mortgage, like you can break your lease.

Buying a home requires a long term, financial commitment. Renting a Home simply requires that you cut a check each month you reside at the home of choice.

3. MONTHLY PAYMENTS:

It always appears that a renter will pay less each month on monthly payments. Let me shed some light on this subject. Examined closely, this is as far from the truth as the moon to the Earth. Let’s use an example:

1. As a renter, you pay $800 a month, let’s say, that increases 5% each year. The math may differ with you and your landlord, but you get the idea. Barring rent control, this is inevitable. Simple enough.

2. As a Homeowner on a fixed rate loan at $1000 Principal and Interest per month, the payment never changesNeverNot ever

3. In other words, the renter’s monthly rent will eventually SURPASS the homeowner’s mortgage paymentMuch faster then you might expect.

In this example, our Renter’s Monthly Payments will exceed our Homeowners Mortgage Payment, in about 6 years.

4. TAX RETURNS:

A renter usually does receive a tax benefit from the State and Federal tax boards each year, sometimes referred to as a “renter’s credit”. But the Homeowner receives a deduction on the Interest paid on their loan. This is a huge benefit to the homeowner.

1. Let’s use the same example with our $800 renter. At the end of the year, our renter might receive a $600 renter’s credit on their 1040EZ form when doing their taxes. Simple enough.

2. Our Homeowner, on the other hand, paid a total of $12,000 in mortgage payments, of which about $11,500 went towards INTEREST. This INTEREST is a write off.

3. Let’s see$600 versus $11,500. Hmmm. I like that math. That equates to a nice healthy tax return for most of us, come April of next year.

Take those thousands of dollars in tax return, and go on a nice Cruise around Jamaica!

5. WEALTH:

It’s arguably much, much harder for a renter to build wealth. There is no built in mechanism for appreciation, whereas the homeowner has postured themselves wisely for the future.

1. Let’s say we have a renter that wants to get wealthy. Great! They must go find a business to run, or a stock to invest in, or come up with a great invention, or be the next rock star, or follow a family friends “tip”, and go do Cattle Futures from August to September (just an example, folksI don’t know anything about cattle). In any event, most people would be concerned that our renter is following the proverbial “pipe dream” towards wealth.

2. But let’s say we have a homeowner who wants to build wealth. Great! What do they need to do? Simple.NothingPay the mortgageLive in the houseGo work your job. That’s it. Real Estate appreciates in value, on average, over the long haul, like no other financial vehicle. It is a virtual certainty, and it is automatic. The homeowner controls the total value of the home. That’s the magic of leverage.

3. Let me drive the point home: Someone might buy a house at $150,000, let’s say, and over the course of 7 to 10 years, it is completely reasonable to suggest that this very same house could be worth around $600,000.

Renters do not have a built in advantage for building wealth, whereas Real Estate appreciates in value as a virtual certainty. They don’t call home ownership the “American Dream” for nothing!

SUMMARY:

The subject of deciding on whether to Buy or Rent, is not simple. In the end, it boils down to a question of complexity. Being a Renter is simple. Being a Homeowner is more complex, and yet, that does not mean that it is not within your grasp. It IS!!! There are so many people that are just waiting in the wings, yearning to help you get there. Real Estate Agents, Mortgage Brokers, Friends, Family, etc.

With all of these resources around you, just about anyone can own a home, and in this great country, the American Dream of Home Ownership is completely within all of our grasps!

But do me a favor. Give yourself the time to examine these important questions first. Look within. As we all get older in life, we yearn for more. Buying versus Renting is a common theme in this journey. As we wave goodbye to the younger years, we say so long to the simplicity of life, and we say hello to the promise of prosperity, wealth, and a better tomorrow. We also say hello to higher, more complex things. Often times, it’s simply the willingness to accept complexity that will get you to the understanding you need.

Best of luck on your journey, from Renting to Owning your next Home!

We’ve enjoyed providing this information to you, and we wish you the best of luck in your pursuits. Remember to always seek out good advice from those you trust, and never turn your back on your own common sense.

About The Author

Tom Levine provides a solid, common sense approach to solving problems and answering questions relating to consumer loan products. His website seeks to provide free online resources for the consumer, including rate watch, tips and articles, financial communication, news, and links to products and services. You can check out Tom’s website here: http://loan resources.org , or you can email Tom at info@loan resources.org .

Copyright 2004, by LoanResources.Net

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