Time Shares Are They For You? Do You Have The Time To Use Them?

Writen by Leo Love

I recently had a call from a company promoting Time Share packages. These are resort style developments that people can go and spend a week or two at.

They said they would call later to confirm a date. Meanwhile I forgot about it. The company called me up about two weeks later and I was surprised to hear back from them. They had a resort not far from where I live so I thought I would go down there on the week end to check it out.

I started to thing about the whole concept of time shares and of the people I had heard or knew had one. I started to think of the time share as a real estate investment. Would it appreciate in value? Would anyone want to buy it off me if I wanted to sell it later on down the track? What I came up with was, time shares are a bit like the stock market. That is they don’t have any real concrete value. Sure if you bought an expensive one in Hawaii or down in Florida it would probably maintain it’s value, but the buy in price would be huge. And they are always building these kind of resorts everywhere.

The first thing that struck me at last weekends resort was how old it was. I would not be able to claim any depreciation of the value of my time share purchase. This time share would be a liability not an asset for me. Also when I went there I would not be able to claim my travelling expenses, meals or taxi fares etc. These are things I can claim with my real estate investment properties.

Time shares do allow you to change your holiday destination so you can stay at another resort that is affiliated with your resort. This can be in anther country as well. That is a bonus as you can get to see other parts of the country or overseas locations as well. If you own real estate investment units in different locations that are in a holiday letting pool you can go and stay in your own unit. You pay the property manager there and then you get your own money back less some expenses. How cool is that?

Owning your own units also give you full control of what you want to do with that investment property especially if you want to stay there. All you have to do is arrange it with your property manager. In a time share you are locked in to a certain time and you are very rarely able to change it especially at short notice. This has happened to someone I know.

The real kicker with investment properties is the capital growth you get that is compounded each year. With a time share your purchase price could very well be dropping each year. With your time share there is nothing you can do to add value to it to make it more valuable. This is not the case with a real estate investment property. You can drive the value of your property up by doing just small cosmetic renovations, that can add massive value to the property. By doing selective make overs and touch ups you can control what your investment is worth.

An experienced investor would do this as second nature. But everyone’s values and concepts of things are different. That is why these companies are able to sell time shares to some people who don’t think like an experienced real estate investor. I am not bagging time shares, but I think it is a shame some people buy a time share before they have bought an investment property. A better way would be to use the profits from your investment property to buy your time share.

To your investing success

Leo Love

PS If any of your family or friends are interested please pass this on to them.

http://www.therealestateinvester.com I am a passionate investor. I also use mentors to give me the edge to buy and find the best deals. I love to pass on what I’ve learnt to others

Pierce Brings Top Quality California Real Estate To You

Writen by Matt Morrison

California real estate is in demand and quality homes are, as well. JD Pierce understands quality and takes pride in their homebuilding and fulfilling the homebuyers’ expectations. Whether you are in the market for a home located in a community of old fashioned values or you’d rather be located near a golf course, JD Pierce will have something to match your criteria if you want quality and comfortable living. If you are contemplating purchasing California real estate, contact JD Pierce Company to help you select a home that will be perfect for you.

Veranda, located in Beaumont, California is one such community of Pierces that is in development and is for those looking for top quality California real estate. Comfort and style are on the agenda and these three or four bedroom homes will offer you as much as 2,500 square feet of living space along with a two car garage. Located near the 36 hole PGA of Southern California Golf Club, it is a comfortable atmosphere. This California real estate, designed by Pierce, is for those looking to live in a community of comfortable living.

Tesoro offers single level and two story living in San Jacinto, California and is one of the new real estate developments of JD Pierce. These upscale homes will offer a square footage over 3,400 with as many as eight bedrooms and you can even add on a two or four car garage. This California real estate deal will also offer a choice of architectural styles, which include Spanish Colonial and French Country and more. These prime real estate properties are waiting for you near Hemet in Riverside County.

Pierce has other California real estate developments going in Victorville. Here you’ll have choices from Cherrybrook Lane, where you can find old fashioned homes and the feeling of an old fashioned community. Sevilla will allow you a more upscale home with up to six bedrooms and up to four baths and it is justly slightly more than Cordoba, which has homes that are top quality as well. The California real estate offered by JD Pierce is truly magnificent.

The fact is JD Pierce Company is the one to go to if you are looking for California real estate in community developments that are considered to be top quality and high magnitude. JD Pierce Company has been in the business of California real estate for many years and they pride themselves on being able to fulfill the dreams and expectations of their clients. If you are interested in California real estate, you don’t have to look any further than JD Pierce.

Matt Morrison is a regular author for Florida South Homes and California Real Estate Pierce.

Buying An Investment Property? Then Buy A Cheap One!

Writen by Nick Radford

If you’ve decided to buy an investment property, you will really get your investment off to a flying start if you can find a cheap one. This doesn’t mean you should buy any property, just because it happens to be cheap. It means looking for opportunities to acquire a good property, in your target location, that for some reason, is being offered at a cheap price when compared to similar properties.

Buying at below market price does three, great things for your investment:

In my experience, it is perfectly possible to buy cheaply, once you have a clear idea of what you’re looking for. Seek out a 10 15% discount to normal market value. Opportunities for bargains like this appear all the time, but you’ve got to look for them. Don’t just walk into your local estate agent, chequebook open, like a lamb to the slaughter, ready to buy the first property you’re shown!

I’ve found three main opportunities for bargains:

However, modernisation can be very worthwhile, providing that the price reflects the necessary work.

Whatever the reason, rushed sales often mean lower prices and you can take advantage of this.

Nick Radford is an experienced UK property investor. He has been successful at buying, selling, letting, managing and developing property. He has written about property investment for several years, and has been published in print, as well as on the net. He is now writing for CountryLandOwner.com, http://www.CountryLandOwner.com.

How You Will NOT Make Money in Real Estate

Writen by Simon Chobod

We all have seen some book called “How I Turned my last dollar into $1 Million by buying real estate in my spare time”. Some of us even bought such books on an impulse with high expectations.

They all start about the same: “I had been young, unemployed and I used borrowed money to buy a foreclosed apartment, which no one wanted to touch with a ten foot pole. Actually the bank was ready to give a full price loan to anyone, who would be foolish enough to take this disaster out of their hands.”

Guess what? The lucky buyer painted the apartment bright green and it immediately sold to the next fool for $50,000 more. You don’t believe him? Me neither. But check the Internet and you will find plenty of sites teaching you how to flip houses for an instant profit by painting their doors in “happy” colors.

Before you ran out searching for foreclosed apartments badly in need of painting, have patience and finish this article. Most of such books are variations of the popular book series of the 19th century - “How you can become a Happy Millionaire”.

They all use primitive hypnotic techniques to fool their readers. They start with: “Your mind will change and grow, slowly and steadily with every page you read. With every thought and insight you gain, your desire and courage will grow as well.”

The wild success of such techniques was attributed to the low levels of education of the reading public 150 years ago. Well, we should think again. Look at the amount of books Robert Kiyosaki is selling. His Rich Dad Poor Dad series are great in persuading you about the need to make money, but fall short on particulars about how exactly you can achieve that.

Despite an attempt to put an entertaining face to the age old scam, most of those books’ techniques are surprisingly similar. They all have this line in common: “Since every millionaire started with a desire to become rich, you must develop a burning desire for money as well. And write this down, have a plan. Once you wrote down a plan, you are half way there.”

That course of action remains me of a poor Jewish matchmaker in some remote village in Russia in the 19th century. There was a nice old maid in this village. She had a heart of gold, but was not a great beauty, so no one wanted her. The matchmaker decided that she needs his help. Whom should she marry? The King of England was widowed recently, so he was obviously in search of a spouse. A perfect combination.

The matchmaker spoke with the elders of the village, and they all agreed that it might be a good idea. Than he spoke with the maiden herself, and she also reluctantly agreed. Well, said the happy matchmaker rubbing his hands, half the work is done.

When you hear how easy it is to make money by flipping houses, you should realize that even if some of those stories are true, they are highly selective. They are not representative of the real life situations. Those books are always telling that you can make a fortune by finding stupid sellers, whom you can swindle out of their money.

There is always a seller in those books, who so badly wants to get out of his house that he is ready to accept half the price. In real life, if the sellers are willing to sell for half price, that means the area around the house is in bad economic situation. There are no jobs in this area or there is a rising crime wave, so most residents want to move out and very few want to move in.

If this seller had a chance to sell for more, do you think he would accept your offer for a half price? Most probably he thinks that a next offer might be even lower. If you will try to sell his house for more, do you think you can fix all its problems by just painting it?

Whoever is trying to sell you such simplistic view of the Real Estate investing, doesn’t have your best interests in mind. He is tricking you into buying his books, and he is using the psychological trickster techniques. Most such techniques work on the subliminal level. That means that they can trick you only as long as you are not aware of them.

Now, if you want some self help book to make you feel better, there is nothing wrong with buying Robert Kiyosaki Rich Dad Poor Dad books series. It might even alleviate your boredom for an evening or two.

But if you want to preserve the value of your investments, or make some money for your retirement, realize that those books are poor substitute for a real learning. In order to make heavy financial decisions, you will need much more than a pep up talk.

We all need some reassurance here and there. If hypnotic self help books can provide it to us, so much for the better. As long as you don’t start to gamble your life’s savings using the advices found in those books.

You can ask, aren’t there some good books on Real Estate investing with sound financial advise? Yes, there is plenty of good information available and you can also find smart books on the subject. But that will be the story in my next article.

To learn more about financial and investment advise and retirement planning visit new Money Management Forum at Wise Investment.info

Want To Sell Your Home Faster? Try Home Staging!

Writen by Marie Borges

Home staging tells homeowners how to prepare and market their home for sales in the real estate market. Professional home stagers are professionals that help you in preparing your home for sale. They help you create a very good first impression on potential homebuyers by taking care of your house and its appeal.

Professional home stagers rearrange your home’s furniture, making it more organized. They help you redesign your house so that it appeals to potential homebuyers in the market. They can also suggest and in some cases, purchase furniture or fixtures to make your home show it’s absolute best!

To put it differently, they make your house sellable with their design experience and expertise. Home staging is particularly useful where prices appreciate slowly and finding a buyer takes a lot of time.

The Home Staging Process

Determining the Listing Price

Writen by Phyllis Harb

The unfortunate fact is that price is the number one factor that most homebuyers use to determine which homes they want to view. It is also important to remember that although you and your Realtor set the asking price, the selling price is determined by what a buyer will pay.

The Correct Price Will:

Result in a quicker sale, with less inconvenience to the seller
Expose the property to more buyers
Increase Realtor response
Generate more ad calls
Prevent your listing from getting stale or “shop worn”

Typically homes that sell more quickly, sell closer to or sometimes over asking price.

Some Common Reasons for Overpricing

Over improved property
Original purchase price too high
Desire “negotiating room”

Overpricing Pitfalls

Most of the activity on your home will occur in the first few weeks. Pricing a home properly creates immediate urgency in the minds of buyers and agents.
There is a pool of buyers who have seen most available homes in their price range and are now only waiting for new listings or price reductions. A buyer that has been waiting, may fail to see your home if it is priced too high.
Sometimes, a price reduction may be too late, as interest by both buyers and Realtors may have waned.
Buyers and their agents are very aware of the length of time on the market; the most common buyer question continues to be: “How long has it been on the market?” Often buyers are reluctant to make an offer on a home that has been on the market for “awhile” believing that there is something wrong with the home.
Unfortunately, overpriced listings frequently help you to sell your neighbor’s reasonably priced home, making it appear that their home is priced very well.

The Role of a Real estate Agent in Pricing

Provide you with a comparative market analysis, which is a comparison of recent homes with similar amenities that are available, in escrow and sold.
There is no “exact price”; your home is worth what a buyer is willing to pay.
The market determines value; together you and your agent determine asking price.

Realtors have no control over the market, only the marketing plan. The seller determines the asking price. Some inexperienced agents may try to “buy your listing”, never select an agent based on their recommended asking price; select an agent on the marketing plan. If you list with an agent who has provided you with an unrealistic asking price, they will only pressure you for a price reduction.

Phyllis Harb, a California native is a Realtor/Marketing Specialist at Dickson Podley Realtors in La Canada, California. Dickson Podley is a family owned boutique firm with offices in Glendale, La Canada, Altadena, Pasadena and Monrovia. Harb has been assisting Los Angeles County home sellers and buyers since 1989 and additionally offers over 10 years experience in real estate lending. Harb has an award winning web site @ http://www.RealtorHarb.com and may be contacted at 818 790 7325.

When Buying a Spanish Property Do You Need An Agent? Find Out Now

Writen by Vince Barnes

As many have learnt the hard way - there are agents in Spain who will willingly take you for a ride - and it tends to be the bigger and well known foreign agencies that are the worst (the very ones who say you can trust them). So in this jungle is it worth using an agent to buy your Spanish Property or is it worth going on your own?

There is no doubt that an agent can be of great assistance if they know their area and should be able to help you narrow down your search to a few specific properties. Ideally they should sit with you a while and endeavour to discover your real requirements for your house. But this boils down to much more than how many bedrooms a house has and if it has a pool or not. For example you may see your dream house in a photo, and the agent takes you to view it, but after talking to you he/she discovers that one of you doesn’t drive. The house may be perfect but the area is miles from anywhere. Clearly then going to see such a property would be a waste of your time.

You can rest assured that if you visit 10 agents at least 9 of them would take you to see this house. The sad fact is that most agents aren’t really concerned about your needs, only whether you buy a property from them or not, so you may end up being shown many houses that really don’t fit the bill. You will feel frustrated, dejected and probably begin to think that your dream home doesn’t exist.

They may have nothing better to do with their days (and in today’s slow market it is probably a welcome relief to be showing houses than sitting in their office drinking coffee). But do YOU really want to be trailing around houses that do not meet your basic needs let alone your implied needs.

Also some agents put you under inordinate pressure to buy and some (like my now friends who bought by a main road) are pressurised into buying something not suitable for them. Don’t ever be pressurised by anyone. If you don’t feel comfortable with a viewing for any reason - politely say so and exit.

I once asked to see apartments within 200M of the beach and was shown a town house 20 minutes inland (that’s 20 minutes drive inland). When I asked why we had come to see it I was told that it was a lovely house. No doubt it was but it wasn’t what I asked for. Needless to say we went back to the car park to pick up my car amid protests from the agent that he had some really nice properties to see.

Your time is important and you need to utilise it very carefully. A good agent on the other hand, is worth his (or her) weight in gold. They will help you through every step of the way and guide you through the minefield and ensure you get the best property to suit your needs. At the very least they will try and understand you as a person/family and try to ensure that they match you with an ideal property. It shouldn’t stop there though. A good agent will also help you long after the ink has dried - easing you into your new life, helping you locate schools, buying cars finding tradesmen and much more.

How do you find a good agent?

Finding bad agents is easy. Finding mediocre ones equally so. So how do you pick out the good from the bad? The easiest way is to ask questions. Many people advocate only using agents who have API membership - this is the Spanish Estate Agents association (or one of them). However whilst current membership extends certain safeguards on the client, not all API registered agents are still registered. Equally not all non registered agents are bad. Wow what a battle - how do you judge?

Prepare a list of questions to ask them the following is a sample, but not exhaustive, list

How long have they been in business

How many clients have they dealt with

What services do they offer their clients both during and after the sale

What commissions do they charge

Do they speak good Spanish (if not how can they possibly operate in Spain)

Do they translate all documents in English

Can you speak to some previous clients

and anything else you deem important. Also ask in local bars (specifically Spanish ones) who they would recommend - the Spanish don’t like estate agents and so will only give you recommendations that they believe are good.

What about going it alone?

So let’s assume you decide you don’t want to use an agent. How do you find a property yourself? In the Costa Blanca and the Costa del Sol you will find many publications (CB News, Inland Trader, Costa Del Sol News, Sur in English). However these are English Language papers and so you will in the main be dealing with English owners (a lot of whom have over realistic ideas as to the values of their property). Also be wary because a lot of agents advertise in the local papers in the lineage ads. Why - It is cheaper to do so and a lot of people just go straight past the main display ads for agents.

The internet is obviously a good source with sites such as ThinkSpain.com and Kyero.com - but these tend to be mainly agents advertising. In fact most of the properties advertised on the internet are agents. You may find a few For Sale By Owner type sites - but not many for the Spanish Property Market.

You can also pick up a copy of the local Spanish Papers (in the Valencia region a great source is Levante). These have adverts by Spanish People for property. You will find these comparatively cheaper than similar properties in the English Speaking Press.

You could also drive out to the areas you would like to live in look for Se Vende Signs (for Sale), ask at bars, in streets and anywhere (obviously this requires a knowledge of Spanish) but you would be surprised how many properties are up for sale but not advertised - there is a great jungle telephone system working out here. Many a time I have asked about property for sale to be told that neighbours have properties for sale - and the prices being asked are considerably less than you find in the estate agents.

Finally you could locate a buyers agent who would only act on your behalf. Be wary though many so called buyers agents are really just estate agents or collaborators who use the term to lead the buyer into thinking they are working for them. If it is a true buyers agent you should be paying their commission not the seller (or their agents)

So If you choose to go it alone make sure you do your homework - locate your area first then locate your property.

To use an agent or not? If you find the right one they can make the process so much easier. There are a few good ones. There are also many who have the best intentions but don’t really know their right hand from their left, and there are others who will rob you blind if you let them But if you have no other option then just make sure you choose wisely.

Vince Barnes is the owner of http://www.SpanishProperty Direct.co.uk - a website aimed at informing buyers about the process of buying in Spain and keeping up to date with news and regulations affecting the Spanish Property Market. He has also just published the book - “The Insiders Secret Guide To Buying A Property In Spain - The Book Estate Agents Don’t Want You To Read” - available at http://www.spanishproperty direct.co.uk/book.htm.

Foreclosure Investing Secrets of Finding Private Money

Writen by Paul Wells

You can acquire foreclosure properties by going to the bank and getting a loan. One of the challenges with that is you can only get so many loans in your name. As of this writing conventional lenders will only allow you to have 4 loans in your name. This article explains what I did instead: found private money.

The people you’re looking for are private individuals who have money to invest in real estate. Many of these people may currently keep their money in CDs, mutual funds, IRAs, etc.

Why do they put money into these types of accounts? They want a good return on their investment. If you can offer them a higher return than they’re currently getting on their CDs, money market accounts, etc., do you think they’d be interested in talking to you? Absolutely!

However, here’s one of the challenges. These people are not knocking on your door. You’ve got to go find them. Just like the creative real estate business is a numbers game, so is the ability to find private investors.

Are they hard to find? No. It’s simply a numbers game and it takes a little detective work to ferret out these investors but you’d be surprised what can happen in a year.

In order to be successful, though, you’re going to have to put CONSISTENT effort into finding this type of person. If you’re not putting in the effort of finding funding partners, you’re probably in the wrong line of work. However, if you’ve got the attitude of I know I can, I know I can, I know I can, and will take massive amounts of action to find these private investors, you will do very well in this business and you will find your investors. And as long you continue to find properties that are profitable to the private investor the money will stick around. You’ll even start to get calls from these investors wanting to invest in you and your business if you are successful.

Private investors are relatively easy to find. You can find them by talking to people and telling them what the type of investor you’re looking for. Believe me, if you offer the type of returns that the creative real estate business can offer, the word will spread like wildfire that there is a person out there who can give above average returns on investments in a very short amount of time.

One of the easiest ways to get in front of private investors is to meet with all the private professionals that you know. Do you have a doctor, a CPA, a lawyer? All of these people are great to start with. You’d be amazed at the amount of money that your CPA deals with on a daily basis for his clients.

You may say to yourself, “I don’t have the experience or track record to find private investors. Why would these people give me any money?” However, if you can offer them X amount of return on investment, secured by at least 70% to 80% loan to value on real estate, you’re going to find these people. Money follows opportunity. And in this case, you are the opportunity.

Show your potential private investor that you’ve done your homework. Provide them with the details they need to see. Provide them with the projected profit, and give them the peace of mind that you know what you’re doing. Believe me, if you continue to produce returns that excite them they may offer you more and more money and they will have friends that will do the same. It just takes time.

Just remember that most private investors who lend you money are interested in a return on their investment. If you happen to make more money than you thought you were going to make on a deal, throw the private investor a little extra. Put a little more on the top. Whatever it takes to start using a private investor, use one.

_________________________________________________

Paul Wells has been investing in foreclosures full time for more than 5 years. To ask Paul a question, go to his Foreclosure Investing blog here: http://www.AskPaulWells.com

What is CREA and how does it help Buyers and Sellers?

Writen by A. Mark Argentino

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) is a trade association in Canada and it represents more than 82,000 real estate people across Canada . CREA’s primary mission is to represent its members at the federal level of government. CREA also defends the publics right to own and enjoy property in Canada.

CREA owns the MLS