Foreclosure Law 101 For Homeowners

Writen by Mel Goodwin

Foreclosure laws vary from state to state but here is some general information about foreclosure laws. When a person falls behind on their mortgage payments and they have defaulted on their debt, the bank may foreclose on their property.

The bank does this by filing a lawsuit in order to get a court order to foreclose. Once the court declares foreclosure on the property, they auction it off, with the highest bidder purchasing the property. There is a waiting period between the date of the lawsuit and the foreclosure sale, which is often between three and twelve months depending on the foreclosure law in the state.

They publish a foreclosure ad according to foreclosure law at least thirty days before the auction, once a week for up to three weeks. Before they place the first ad, the homeowner must receive a sheriff’s notice of foreclosure sale. Immediately after the sale, the sheriff gives the title/deed to the new owner.

If you have fallen on hard times and missed some mortgage payments, there is still a chance to save your home especially if you have not received a foreclosure notice yet. Return all phone calls and answer any letters regarding your home. Go in and talk to the lender or bank. Often they would much rather work with you instead of foreclosing on your property.

Hiring an attorney familiar with foreclosure law is often a wise move as they can not only act as intermediary at this very stressful time and protect your rights but also work with you on saving your home from foreclosure.

You may be able to pay some of the missed payments and/or set up new monthly payments. At times, the bank will even allow you to refinance to reduce your monthly payments. As mentioned earlier, banks really do not want to foreclose on a home if they do not have to. Ask questions, seek help on foreclosure law and be aggressive about keeping your home.

Learn more about basic foreclosure law fundamentals and other advice if you or someone you know is in a potential foreclosure situation.

Using Foreclosure Law to Your Advantage

Writen by B Shelton

Foreclosure law varies from state to state with regards to the exact process that must be followed in order for a bank or lender to foreclose on your home. Knowing the foreclosure law in your state can help you negotiate with your lender and perhaps avoid foreclosure altogether.

One of the largest differences in foreclosure law is whether a state uses mortgages or deeds of trust for real estate. “Deed of trust” is a term that’s not heard as often as mortgage, but in essence, they have the same function they protect the lender from default on a loan that is secured by real estate. The major difference is in the process the lender must use to obtain the right to recover your property and sell it.

When you sign a mortgage agreement with a lending institution, you retain the deed to the property, and have full legal title to it but you allow the lender to place a ‘lien’ on it. If you do not make the payments on the loan as agreed upon, the lender can foreclose on the property.

In some states, a deed of trust takes the place of a mortgage. With a deed of trust, you give the deed to the land or property to the lender, but the lender can only use or sell the property if you default on the loan.

In states that use mortgages, foreclosure law makes foreclosure a judicial procedure. A lender must prove to the court that the borrower has defaulted on the loan, and that they, the lender, have made appropriate attempts to resolve the default with the homeowner. There is a definite sequence of events that must be followed as prescribed in the foreclosure law, and knowing that sequence in your state can help you understand your options in terms of resolving the issue before it goes before a judge.

In states that use a deed of trust rather than a mortgage, the lender must go through certain steps of notification as required by foreclosure law in that state, but does not need judicial permission to proceed with a sale or foreclosure on the property to which they hold a deed in trust.

States whose foreclosure law requires judicial action include: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.

Brian Shelton makes it easy to sell your house fast. To claim your free report entitled “How To Sell Your House In 7 Days or Less“, visit the http://www.HouseSoldIn7Days.com/

Buying a Condo In San Jacinto California

Writen by Lidya Hardy

Buying a condo on the beach sounds like an extravagant dream to most Americans, but it doesn’t have to be. Oceanfront properties can offer incredible rewards for those who invest, as long as they look carefully into the purchase beforehand. If you are hoping to purchase such a condo as a dream retirement home, perhaps you could consider purchasing the condo years earlier than you actually retire, and lease it to vacationers to help subsidize your retirement home. While Florida may be the most popular area for oceanfront property, it is by no means the only option. Florida offers the incentive of warm temperatures year round, and also a lower cost of living than many seaside alternatives. However, both coasts, even on the northern shores, offer rewards unique to the individual area. Before you jump into your investment, browse other areas, and be sure to look into the cost of insurance for the location. Condos on the beach will need insurance that covers both hurricanes and floods. These are some basic guidelines that are important if you’re considering buying a condo on the beach:

• Talking to other residents can help you to understand the basics about the condo. For example, how often is maintenance required? Are the walls as thick as you would hope?
• Ask to see the minutes from the last meeting of the Home Owners Association (HOA). Through this you can see the issues that are important to the other residents, and if there are major complaints, you may realize that it is time for you to find another condo.
• Find out how well stocked the funds are in the HOA’s reserve. The reserve funding will cover emergency situations and most maintenance. The larger the reserve, the better chance you have of not being asked to pay for another unexpected expense.
• Buying a condo on the beach can present more legal issues than buying a single family home, and it is often recommended that you use a lawyer to check over the bylaws with you and see if there has been any past legal action against this association. Some condo bylaws may prohibit renting out the complex, or may prohibit the use of decorations on holidays. Look over them carefully and make sure that you can easily comply.
• If you’re hoping to rent out your condo, it’s important to see how renter friendly the complex is. If the renter population is over 10%, then the bylaws should be clearly laid out. Do they find renters for you? Do they have a copy of the rental lease that a lawyer can go over with you?

If you do decide to rent out the condo, there are some other important decisions for you to make. Do you plan on using management services, or doing it yourself? While using management services may sound inviting, keep in mind that these services may charge as much as 60% of the income, making it difficult for you to profit from the venture. Also, keep in mind that choosing to lease the property means that you might have to forgo using it during the summer season. Buying a condo on the beach could offer the dream of a lifetime to the individuals who take the time to research their options. You can have the dream home, the vacation destination with a view, and the investment opportunity, without the hassle, if you do your homework. Use all the same resources you would use to purchase any other home: the internet, newspapers, and real estate guides, and remember, it’s worth your time to check out all the options.

Inside San Jacinto Real Estate is a network entirely devoted to real estate information. The entire Inside Real Estate network has more than 100,000 pages of real estate for cities allover the United States. Inside Real Estate covers several topics from the basic “how to’s” of real estate to city specific real estate information.

Real Estate Options Can Make You Rich

Writen by ENoverichard D

A REAL ESTATE OPTION IS A PIECE OF PAPER that allows you to control a property such as a building, a piece of land, a hotel, motel, etc. without owning it. And an option can cost a little as zero dollars, or up to several hundred dollars. Let’s see how you might use an option based on a real life property:

1. A Beginning Wealth Builder in a residental area took an option on 33 single family homes in the month of September.

2. The option cost nothing that is, zero dollars and ran for 120 days through the option period.

3. At the end of the 120 day option period this Beginning Wealth Builder would have to buy these 33 homes for a total cost of $796,000, or lose his option opportunity.

4. Using creative advertising and sales methods, this Beginning Wealth Builder has been able to sell 15 of the houses for $748,000. His cost for these 15 is $392,000, giving him a profit of $748,000 $392,000 = $356,000 before expenses. The other 18 homes he’s selling for $565,000; his cost for these = $404,000; profit before expenses = $161,000. Total profit before expenses = $517,000. Even with several thousand in expenses his profit is still significant and gives a nice year’s income.

HOW COULD ANYONE MAKE THIS MUCH PROFIT in this a short time, you ask. The answer is easy to give, and it has several parts. This Beginning Wealth Builder:

* Knows the area these homes are located in because he has carefully studied values and sales in this location for a long time.

* Offered buyers good value for the price they paid, making this a win win sale for the buyers and the seller plus the issuer of the option.

* Arranged the financing so the buyers could get mortgages that are affordable and allow them to earn money from the homes they bought.

* Held to his asking price even though buyers tried to “knock him down” in price to get a better deal.

IF THIS TYPE OF REAL ESTATE INVESTING INTERESTS YOU then you should give it some thought and:

1. Read a typical option; learn what’s in it. Get another version of the basic option if the one you read does not appeal to you.

2. Look around your area to see what kinds of properties are in demand which you can take an option on and re sell at a profit. REMEMBER: NO LICENSE OF ANY KIND IS NEEDED TO DEAL OPTIONS.

SO IF YOU’D LIKE TO HAVE THE POTENTIAL of earning some $500,000 in less than six months, consider real estate options. They do work for Beginning Wealth Builder’s!

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Advantages of a Furnished Apartment

Writen by Ispas Marin

The first issue for you to consider whenever you want to rent an apartment is whether you need it for a long period of time or a short one. This is very important because if you are intending to spend more years in an apartment you may consider to make some changes in it. This will be a sort of ‘home’ for you and the idea is that you should like it. For short term contracts there are some hotel type accommodations which offer furnished apartments. These are generally named ‘Extended Stay Hotels’ or ‘Corporate Housing’. The name suggests that the persons who are using this service are sent by their company for a couple of months duties. These furnished apartments are cheaper than a regular hotel room because you are given a discount for using the apartment for a longer period of time.

The annual rentals are the name of the houses and apartments which can be rented for a long period of time. The duration of the contracts for these is in between 6 months and a year.

A very pertinent question regarding the matter of renting a furnished apartment is where to find the advertisement or the media aspect which announces an available apartment or house. You can look for them mostly in the ‘rentals’ or ‘apartments’ in your local newspaper or the newspaper distributed in the particular town you will move to. You can find many offers in these newspapers and if something attracts you can make a phone call and the administrator will be most pleased to show you around.

You can also look for furnished apartments on the Internet by specifying the city and even the area you would prefer to rent an apartment. There are many websites specialized in this field which will show you the best offers and discounts for the furnished apartments. You should chose the free websites which are paid by the persons who are willing to rent their apartment.This is worthwhile to be mentioned as there are websites which will ask for an amount of money from you so as to present you the available furnished apartments from that town. The price is not standard, yet most of the websites are asking for about $100 for this task and they ask it in advance.

Many announcements are made in the local stores or supermarkets and you should be always alerted for any possibilities. Mention to every person you meet that you are in need for a furnished apartment: friends, persons you work with because if they hear about an offer they will let you know.

For Dubai furnished apartments & villas for rent for business or holiday use just visit us at http://www.dubaifurnishedapartments.com

Flat Fee MLS Listings Is This The Future Of Real Estate

Writen by Richard Massey

Realtors are all a buzz about this new form of listing houses on the MLS (multiple listing service). Some feel it creates more work for the buyers agent, while others see this as a way to tap into the For Sale By Owner market.

It use to be when you made the decision to sell your home, you essentially had two methods available to you. You could list your home with a traditional real estate company and pay 6 7% commission or you could try selling on your own “for sale buy owner”.

Research shows that nearly 50% of all home sellers start out trying to sell their property on their own. Although some home owners are successful with FSBO, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) home seller survey, only sixteen percent of sellers actually sell their home without exposure on the MLS. And many of them end up giving away their commission savings to the buyer to close the deal.

Realtors tend avoid for sale by owner properties because they are working with buyers and have no written agreement to be compensated. If the seller has not agreed in writing to pay a commission to the agent, the buyer could cut the agent right out of the deal and negotiate directly with the seller. It happens….

With flat fee MLS service, the seller has agreed in writing to pay a commission, usually 3%, to the buyers agent. This motivates Realtors to bring the seller a buyer.

How it works:

Real estate commissions by law are negotiable. In a flat fee listing, the listing agent agrees to a flat fee instead of a percentage of the sale price. This can be anywhere from $300 $600 for the service of adding your house to the MLS. Then you choose how much to pay the buyers agent in commission for bringing you a buyer (typically 3%). So in the sale of a $200,000 house you would pay $6,000 plus the flat listing fee, saving a close to $5,700 in commissions. The plus side is in the listing agents contract, the right to continue advertising you house FSBO. So in the event you find a buyer without an agent you save on all commissions and only pay the flat listing fee.

• What do you get with flat fee MLS listing:

• Advertise your home on Realtor.com

3 Tips to Staging the Outside of Your Home Like a Pro

Writen by Kathleen Yamauchi

Are you considering putting your house up for sale, but not sure where to start? Afraid it will take too long to sell, or that you won’t get the price you want? Think about “staging” your home, or in other words, setting the scene for immediate buyer interest in your property.

To be really effective, you need to look at both the outside and the inside of your home. Here are 3 tips to get you started with the outside of your home:

1. Go stand on the street to see what clients see when driving up to the house. Be aware that any negative impressions they get outside the house (landscaping not maintained or non existent, peeling paint, etc.) is just going to make them think that the house itself has not been well taken care of. So even if you have spent the time and money to fix up the interior, it would all be wasted if the clients get a bad first impression as they drive up to the house.

2. Next, step outside your front door and close the door; then stand on the stoop and look around for 5 minutes. While the realtor fumbles for keys and tries to figure out how to open the door, the clients are standing behind and looking around. So what are they seeing? Dead plants, old Halloween decorations in the middle of January, cobwebs? Again, not a good first impression!

It’s definitely worth it to take some time and clean it up. Want to go a step further? Try a new coat of paint or some new furniture or accessories.

3. Don’t forget the backyard. While that might not be part of the potential buyers’ first impression experience, you still should make sure it’s in the best condition possible. Pull up weeds, water plants, do some sweeping (if that’s applicable in your case) and maybe even purchase new furniture or accessories (plant pots, bird houses, etc.)

And the biggest tip of all? Imagine yourself as a potential buyer looking at your property for the very first time. What impressions are you getting? Would YOU buy your house? What would you like to see changed before you put an offer on your house?

And don’t worry about spending several thousand dollars to get your house ready to sell - you’ll get it all back when your house sells. Proper staging helps you sell your house in a shorter time and at the price you want.

~~~
Kathleen Yamauchi is a long time realtor located in Prescott, Arizona. For more free tips and resources on buying and selling your home and other real estate advice, visit her web site at http://www.kathleeny.com.

Moving Guide: Working with a Real Estate Agent

Writen by Nancy Curry

Buying a house is one of life’s most exciting and nerve wracking adventuresespecially if you are a first time home buyer. There are so many things to think of, factors to consider and issues to remember. A good place to start is with your real estate agent, and choosing the right agent can make all the difference in the world.

Sellers’ Agents

In most cases, real estate agents are considered “seller’s agents”. In this capacity they have an agreement with the owner of the property you are interested in, and they receive a commission of the home’s final sale price.

A seller’s agent can help you find and purchase a property and may provide some of the same services as a buyer’s agent, but obviously their loyalty lies with the sellers and not with you. A seller’s agent has a duty to get the best possible deal for the seller, so always assume that any information you give a seller’s agent will be passed on to the seller.

Buyers’ Agents

A buyer’s agent’s primary objective is to get the buyer lowest price possible on the home they want. A buyer’s agent tries to find you the best possible house for the lowest possible price. Just like a seller’s agent is prohibited from giving away too much information to the buyer during the sales process, your buyer’s agent is prohibited from doing anything that will hurt your chances of getting a property for the lowest price possible.

A buyer’s agent often handles many of the tasks required to get to closing (such as inspections, helping you find a lender, tracking the progress of the loan, working with the closing attorney or agent).

Buyer’s agents are usually paid a portion of the seller’s commission fees at closing. However, a contract may state you will pay the agent a fee if you purchase a For Sale By Owner home.

Dual Agents

Sometimes you can end up with a dual agent. A dual agent is a realtor who is working as a seller’s agent for a particular property and, should you become interested in the property, serves as your buyer’s agent as well.

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