How to Win the Bidding War on the Home You Want

Posted on May 27, 2015 by robertjrussellcompanies

If you are buying a home at the height of a citywide seller’s market or simply want a sought-after house in a neighborhood with limited turnover, you may find yourself in the midst of a real estate bidding war.

Competing against faceless prospective buyers may bring out the warrior in you, but before you decide to go all out in your battle, you need to step back and decide how much you really want that particular home.

Should You Compete in a Bidding War?

In the thick of competition you may forget your end goal is a home you love and can afford to own. If your offers have been turned down by several sellers because of competing buyers, then you may feel pushed to make an aggressive offer for the next home you like.

You should stop yourself from competing just because you think the time is right to become a homeowner or to move up into a new place. Instead, think about whether you really want the particular house enough to fight for it.

To guard against making an emotion-fueled offer for a house, take a hard look at your finances. While it may feel good at first to beat out other buyers and to purchase a property, it won’t feel so great in a year or two when you are struggling to make the payments on a house beyond your means. Know your limits before you begin to bid.

Prep for Battle

Your first step before entering a bidding war should be to consult with a lender to understand the maximum amount you can borrow, to evaluate how much cash you have to spend while keeping enough money in a reserve fund.

Next, make sure you hire an experienced REALTOR® who can share information about local market conditions and communicate with the seller’s agent. You should rely on your REALTOR® for advice about how to handle a bidding war, but be sure to do your own research: visit a lot of homes in the area where you want to buy so you understand the value of various properties before you make an offer.

Bidding War Strategies

Your REALTOR® should work with you to craft an attractive offer based on the list price for the home, a comparative market analysis of similar homes, and knowledge gained from the sellers’ agent about the sellers’ motivations and preferences.

In a bidding war, it’s important to work with a REALTOR® who will move quickly to present your offer and any counteroffer, one who is easy to communicate with during the transaction.

While you may assume money is the motivator that steers sellers to one buyer over another, there are other ways to make your offer attractive, such as these ideas:

  • Solid financing: You may be competing against cash buyers, so make sure your loan pre-approval is in place and you have completed all required documentation other than identifying a specific property.
  • Eliminate contingencies – carefully: If you own a home now, you may want to offer to buy another home without making your contract contingent on the sale of your current home. You take the risk of carrying two mortgages for a while, so make sure you can safely handle the payments. You can also decide to have an “information only” home inspection rather than making your offer contingent on the outcome of the inspection.
  • Make the settlement date convenient for the sellers: Rather than negotiating on a closing date convenient to all sides, you can tell the sellers you will work with their schedule or rent back the property to them after the closing.
  • Offer to pay all closing costs: You can reduce the sellers’ out-of-pocket expenses by offering to pay their share of the settlement fees, but before you do this get an accurate estimate of what those costs will be and make sure you have the funds available to pay them.
  • Personalize the transaction: Sometimes the tipping point for sellers who receive multiple offers is something emotional rather than financial. A personal letter describing your love of their home may tilt the scale in your favor.
  • Try an escalation clause: Money talks, too, so you can add an escalation clause to your offer that increases your bid by a certain amount above other offers. Just make sure you set a limit on how high your offer will go.
  • Control yourself: Remember that any offer is subject to an appraisal (unless you waive that contingency, but that’s not recommended unless you have plenty of cash), so be careful not to bid above the market value of any property.

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15 Things to do in an Elevator

Posted on May 18, 2015 by robertjrussellcompanies

1) When there’s only one other person in the elevator, tap them on the shoulder and then pretend it wasn’t you.
2) Push the buttons and pretend they give you a shock. Smile, and go back for more.
3) Call the Psychic Hotline from your cell phone and ask if they know what floor your on.
4) Bring a camera and take pictures of everyone in the elevator.
5) Move your desk into the elevator and whenever anyone gets on, ask if they have an appointment.
6) Lay down the twister mat and ask people if they would like to play.
7) Leave a box in the corner, and when someone gets on, ask them if they can hear ticking.
8) Pretend you are a flight attendant and review emergency procedures and exits with the passengers.
9) When the doors close, announce to the others, “It’s okay, don’t panic, they open again!”
10) Grimace painfully while smacking your forehead and muttering, “Shut up, all of you, just shut up!”
11) Crack open your briefcase or purse, and while peering inside, ask, “Got enough air in there?”
12) Stand silently and motionless in the corner, facing the wall, without getting off.
13) Wear a puppet on your hand and use it to talk to the other passengers.
14) Listen to the elevator walls with your stethoscope.
15) Draw a little square on the floor with chalk and announce to the other passengers, “This is MY personal space!”

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Selling when your house is facing foreclosure

Posted on May 15, 2015 by robertjrussellcompanies

In order to start fresh in life, free from the yoke of pulling the debt, you will have to take concrete steps in that direction. If your house is facing a foreclosure, then you would definitely have to find a lender who will directly purchase your house and give you the right market value for the home.

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To assess the right market value, you have to do some research in understanding what the market value of your home is. The market value will depend on several factors like the condition of the home, the location of the home, the mortgage on the property, whether the home is occupied by tenants or not etc. Fortunately, nowadays there are home buying services available that are ready to purchase your home in a short notice, say within seven days and giving you the right market value of your home.

Of course, the right market value would be decided by the factors mentioned above, but still you should look for home buyers who can help you avoid the foreclosure. Essentially, you will have to find home buyers who can exert certain influence at the bank so that the bank/lender forgives the deficiency amount after you have repaid the debt in part. This is the only way that you can start a new life after losing your home without the burden of debt and this procedure is technically known as the short sale procedure.

The short sale practice has multiple benefits over the foreclosure procedure. For example, foreclosure does not relieve you of the deficiency debt, but in the sale process there is a possibility that the lender may agree to forgive the deficiency amount and let you start a new life without the burden of debt bothering you. For that essentially you will have to find yourself home buying services that can exert that influence on the lender to let you avoid the burden of debt in the future.

If selling house fast is your major worry at this point of time then it is recommended that you definitely go for a short sale. If you compare a short sale with a foreclosure, you will find that there are multiple advantages of the sale procedure over the foreclosure. One of the major advantages of the short selling procedure is that you can actually earn some money by the procedure according to the HAFA program or the Bank of America Cooperative Short Sale Program. The amount you earn as an incentive for short selling your home can be up to $3000, which is a considerable amount that you can utilize the repayment of your debts with the bank. In a quick sale process, you are the one who is calling the shots rather than the bank. There is no relocation credit in case of a foreclosure scenario. If you want to sell a foreclosure home in Connecticut, you can definitely do that by finding a suitable investor online.

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Top 5 Seller’s Misrepresentations

Posted on May 14, 2015 by robertjrussellcompanies

Do you have ability to identify and tackle home seller’s misrepresentations while buying your desired home? The real estate market experiences fluctuations with the changing time. As a result, various elements in the market struggle to find their way to make money despite the market variations this is why Seller representation is so important.

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Sellers’ dishonesty tends to rise with the fall in real estate market. They make use of various tactics to cheat the potential home buyers.

This is why buyers find it difficult to carry out fair property transactions while dealing with such dishonest sellers. Home sellers try their level best to convince the buyers to purchase their home at an unreasonable rate. Hence, home buyers need to be aware of decisive tricks played by the sellers and they should even have knowledge of right measures that will prevent them from falling prey to the market deceptions. Here are some of the seller’s misrepresentations that you need to identify and tackle properly while purchasing your dream home.

Financial frauds: Common misrepresentations are often financial. Sellers play tricks to mislead the potential buyers with respect to the cost of their annual taxes or monthly utilities. They make home buyers believe that their desired home is more affordable. You can easily deal with such a tricky situation by following right measures. Ask for utility bills of past few months from sellers in order to verify the costs. Pay a visit to the tax assessor’s office to verify all by yourself the prevailing tax situation. Doing so, you won’t fall to the tricks played by home sellers.

Dimension misrepresentations: Some sellers try to exaggerate the dimensions of the home that they intend to sell. Most of the times, they are not even aware of the exact dimensions and just to make it appear more appealing they wrongly represent exaggerated values. This is when the buyers need assistance of an efficient appraiser. By employing some reputed real estate valuations, home buyers can get right dimensions that were previously quoted wrong by the sellers to hike their home rates.

Unbearable neighborhood: Another important fact that sellers can try to hide or even omit while convincing you to buy their home is the unbearable neighborhood. If the seller is trying to sell home due to some intolerable neighbor residing next to him, he won’t attempt to inform you about it. The best solution for this kind of lie is to take a walk in the same locality and try to inquire about the people residing nearby to get an idea about the prevailing atmosphere in the community. If a particular neighbor is genuinely troublesome then you will get to know about it as the rest of the members of same locality will complain regarding the same, if you have a chat with them. Avoid purchasing house if the neighbors are the real nuisance.

Imperceptible problems of foreclosed homes: Most of the times, the bank-owned homes do not come with a full disclosure. So, it is advisable to be watchful while purchasing some foreclosure home. While most of the states have introduced laws about disclosure, some of the states in the USA lack them. Hence, at times the buyer won’t be aware of a particular issue that prevails in the house that is listed by seller for sale. Without any physical evidence, a seller might not attempt to inform you an issue that can matter you a lot in future. For an instance, a leakage that is about to form or any hidden termite problem while developing the home. The best way to deal with such issues is to hire some renowned real estate appraisal services to carry out an extensive home inspection and appraisal that properly cover problems due to mold, pest and leakage. Experienced appraisers will give you fair value of the home by deducting the cost due to prevailing faults inside the house.

Unfair market value and nasty surprises: A home seller may hire a seller’s agent that convinces you to buy home only keeping in mind the interests of the seller. Seller can quote a high house rate that is actually unreasonable and inaccurate. A home buyer should not fall victim to such a kind of deception. To protect yourself from such a kind of seller’s misrepresentation, you should hire a buyer’s agent and appraiser that can offer you fair and accurate market value of the desired home. An efficient appraiser can even make you aware of the nasty surprises that you may come across after purchasing the specific house.
If you learn to identify all these seller’s misrepresentations along with the right measures to tackle them, you can get your dream home at a fair market rate and without being duped by any decisive tricks of home seller.

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No Money Down buying Real Estate

Posted on May 13, 2015 by robertjrussellcompanies

We all know that most of the funding for real estate transactions come from mortgage loans, as cash buyers are very rare. Most of the lending institutions require the borrower to arrange for a down payment (usually 20% of the purchase price), as a condition to secure the loan.

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So, an average home buyer has to make this payment, and then qualify for the home loan. In other words, you must have at least 20% of the purchase price, for securing a loan, to buy that property. Is it possible to buy the property with no money down? Yes. You can go for real estate investment with no money.

‘No Money Down’ Concept

As mentioned above, borrowers have to make provision for down payments, in case of mortgage loans. Then, what is the meaning of no money down? Does it mean that you don’t have to make the down payment on a house? No. It denotes a down payment that is remitted with none of your money. In other words, the concept of ‘no money down’ simply refers to a down payment that can be made by money, which may be borrowed from friends or relatives or from a money lender. In short, you don’t have the money to make the down payment, but you borrow it from other sources. So, the concept of ‘no money down’ actually means a down payment made with money obtained from other sources. It can also be termed 100% financing, as you are buying real estate with none of your money.

How to Buy Real Estate With No Money Down

Now, you know that even if you resort to the concept of ‘no money down’, you have to make the down payment, but with the money obtained from other sources. What are the other sources? Here are some guidelines regarding the possible sources, from which you may obtain the money for down payment.

The easiest way is to borrow the required amount from your friends or relatives. You can pay them back in installments.

Another option for buying real estate with no money down is seller financing. The seller may agree to make the down payment, so as to sell the property as soon as possible. It may also happen that some sellers agree for a down payment, which is remitted as monthly payments with a higher interest rate.

You may also take over the seller’s existing financing as part of the purchase price for buying commercial property with no money down. In other words, you can buy the property in return of making the mortgage payments of the seller, regarding the concerned property. This will be beneficial for the buyer, if the interest rate of that loan is lower. However, make sure that you go through the documents of the existing loan, as some of the loans have a due on sale clause, which inhibits the new buyer of the said property from taking over the mortgage. However, the lending institution may not exercise this clause, even if it is incorporated.

There are some rental properties that are attached with an option to buy. In such cases, a lease option to buy home or option agreement is made, in which the owner of the property and the lessor agree for a specific sum to be paid at regular intervals and the latter is allowed to use the property. The lessor can purchase the property within the lease period for a predetermined price. It has been observed that a partial or total rent will be adjusted towards the purchase price.

Sometimes, personal property or professional services of the buyer can be used as a substitute for down payment.

Another option for buying real estate with no money down is to get a partner, who can dole out money for the down payment.

You may borrow against insurance policies or other property. You may also apply for down payment assistance for first time buyers.

Negotiate with the lending institution for a 100% financing. Otherwise, you may also opt for a second home mortgage loan, that can be used for down payment.

However, it will be always better to have a good idea of the various options, before adopting any of them. You have to think of the pros and cons, and then decide.

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Buying – Selling Property Part-time

Posted on May 12, 2015 by robertjrussellcompanies

Whether you have a job that you are looking to supplement by selling real estate part-time, or you want to do it part-time to earn extra money, selling houses part-time is different than selling full-time.

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When time is of the essence, you have to plan carefully and budget your time to make the best out of the time you do have. The following tips are things to remember when you are starting a part-time real estate business.

  1. Learn everything you can

Knowledge is power. You want to buy some books and maybe take some courses before you begin buying and selling houses. This can help you avoid a lot of the mistakes that first time buyers make. Talk to others who are in the business and get some advice.

  1. Make a schedule

Before you buy your first house, sit down and make up a schedule for doing your real estate business. Figure out what times would be best for you and when you can work, and make up a schedule that you can stick to. If you are a stay at home mom, this might be the time when the children are at school or during their naps. If you have another job, this could be in the evening or on the weekends.

  1. The Internet is your friend

When you have limited time, you can use the Internet to find good deals and keep in touch with real estate agents via email. A lot of times these days, you can view a virtual tour of houses without leaving the comfort of your home. It used to be that you would have to leave your house to look at houses, but the introduction of the Internet has revolutionized the real estate business.

  1. Go for drives

Once you have found a few houses that you are interested in, go for a drive and look at the neighborhoods where they are located. You want to find out as much as you can about the neighborhoods and about the other houses that have been sold there. This way you can have some bargaining points for when you go to purchase a house.

Buying and selling houses can be a great second income as long as you are careful and keep your eyes open. It’s important to learn to budget your time and learn to use the resources of the Internet to do a lot of work from right inside your home.

You do not need a lot of time to sell houses as long as you budget your time right and stick to your schedule. Think about what time of day is best for you to conduct your business and to make contacts. Then figure out a time to go out and look at houses in person. Once you have done it for a month or so, you will get a system and find that things will get easier.

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Building a House – Cheap

Posted on May 11, 2015 by robertjrussellcompanies

Buying a house is an important milestone in a person’s life. As soon as person attains financial stability, he starts working upon his dream of buying a house. Oftentimes, people have to forgo their dream or postpone it until they gather enough resources.

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However, there are indeed some ways of materializing your dream into a reality. In times when money is difficult to come by, buying a house from a construction company, or hiring a general contractor to build your house are expensive options. But you can do it yourself, and save a ton of money. Interested? Here’s how.

What is the Most Inexpensive Way to Build a House

The idea of building a house on your own may sound really overwhelming at the first. You may assume that one requires extensive knowledge regarding building materials and construction to build a house on their own. However, this is not entirely true, as you can learn a few basic things and only outsource work that requires specialized skills and expertise. When you think about saving money on building a house, you cannot help but think of modular homes. Modular homes are pre-built houses which are assembled on site. These houses come at a very cheap cost. However, you have to bear the transportation cost of the assembly. Modular homes are comparable with standard homes in all aspects. Hence, this is one option you can sure consider. If you insist upon building a standard home, then you can still save a lot of money doing it on your own. Here’s what you will have to keep in mind.

Planning and Estimation

The first step to any complicated job is extensive planning. The importance of planning only magnifies when you are about to undertake something as complicated as building a home. Draw a plan of your future home or hire a planner. Get an estimate on building materials, labor jobs, and various other aspects of home construction. Find out what jobs you are capable of doing, and which ones need to be assigned to professionals.

Arrange Finances

After you get an estimate on the various construction aspects of your home, assess your financial situation, and find out how much you will need to borrow. It is necessary to make a financial provision that is 10 to 15% more than the estimated cost. It allows you to cope with any unforeseen expenses that might arise.

Appoint Subcontractors

Appointing one general contractor is a bad idea if you wish to save money on building expenses. Instead appoint subcontractors for various jobs like plumbing, flooring, windows and roofing, kitchen modeling, electrical work, etc. Although you may have to collaborate with numerous people at once, you will save up to 25% of cost of building a house. Do not make advance payments to subcontractors and make the deadlines clear to them.

Apply for Permits

This is another task which you will have to do on your own. Apply for various construction permits and obtain them beforehand. Get acquainted with neighborhood rules and regulations and building codes in your area.

Do as Many Jobs as You Can

Instead of assigning all the jobs to professionals, try to complete some minor jobs on your own. There are numerous, smaller labor jobs can eat a considerable portion of your budget. Hence, it is recommended that you do them on your own. For instance, you can let the plumber do plumbing work in your bathroom, but lay the tiles and vanities yourself. However, make sure you possess the requisite skill for the concerned jobs. If you do not, it is best to rely on professional help.

Although, doing it yourself is the cheapest way to build a house, be prepared to do a lot of hard work. Undertake it only if you believe you can handle the tremendous workload that is bound to come with it.

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How to Track Paid Advertising!

Posted on May 10, 2015 by robertjrussellcompanies

How to Track the ROI of Your Online Advertising Campaigns

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Legal Matters For Landlords Screening Tenants

Posted on May 9, 2015 by robertjrussellcompanies

Being a landlord means handling a lot of responsibilities. One of the biggest of these tasks is screening potential tenants. If the landlord does not put a lot of effort on screening tenants, he or she could end up with a bad tenant which is not a good thing for any rental property business. A landlord should also understand that it is not a good thing to trust your guts when screening tenants.

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There are two things that you have to keep in mind when basing your decision on gut instinct. First, it simply does not work. The second thing is that it is illegal. The reason why it is not legal is that there are laws regarding tenancy which require all landlords to be fair to everyone. Thus, you cannot reject an application because you feel that there is something off with the appearance or vibes of the potential tenant.

Since we have already touched on one legal consideration for landlord, it is best to understand other legal matters that landlords and tenants should be aware of. Since it is required by law that a criteria for accepting tenant applications should apply to everyone fairly, it is important for the landlord to have a policy written down. It is important that under all circumstances, the landlord should stick to the policy. It is the reason why property managers sometimes forbid even landlords from placing tenants on the property without the potential tenant going through the screening process that have been set in place.

To protect yourself and your business, make sure that you are transparent during those times when you need to reject an application because of something you found out during the screening process. This way, you avoid the rejected tenant from filing a complaint.

Make sure that you also keep your records even if it dates back to several years prior. By hanging on to these records, you can show when prompted that you have a policy in place and you have been following it to the letter through the years. Also, if you have rejected applications that you need to discard, make sure that you destroy them completely like shredding them. Do this especially for those applications with sensitive personal information like Social Security numbers.

Keep in mind too that laws regarding tenancy could vary from state to state. Some state would have laws that are more in favor of landlords while some states may be a bit biased towards tenants. California for example has laws that are more in favor of tenants.

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House Flipping – Class 101

Posted on May 8, 2015 by robertjrussellcompanies

House flipping is not a new way to make money, but it is growing in popularity. Several major television networks feature television shows where individuals and companies buy homes and sell those homes quickly at a profit. These shows make it look easy because they seldom show the hardships that those companies and individuals face.

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You can start flipping homes for profit, but you must understand how the process works.

When you flip a house, you must purchase that home for a set price. Most house flippers have a cap or maximum amount that they spend on a house. If the house goes over that price, the buyer walks away. You become the owner of that property until you sell it later. You must make the mortgage payments on that property and cover any additional costs until the house sells.

Where to Find Houses

The best place to look for houses is in the classified section of your newspaper. Pay special attention to real estate auctions and foreclosure sales because houses typically sell for less than the buildings would if sold through an agent or broker. You should also keep an eye out for houses sold by owners. The owners want to maximize profits and decide to sell on their own rather than work with a broker. The sale prices are often much less than the cost of buying through a broker.

Fast Flips

The trick to success at flipping homes is to flip the home as fast as possible. Most flippers get in and get out in less than a month. Flipping a house does not involve renovating the entire property, but making a few quick changes that help the house sell for more than the original purchase price. Flippers often paint the walls, lay new flooring, clean existing flooring and make cosmetic repairs. Depending on the amount of time and money you have available, you might add a few elements such as a new bathtub or deck.

Getting Funding

You often see investors or flippers working in small groups, which is a simple way to get funding for the project. You might work with a few friends or family members. Everyone in the group puts up an equal share and split the profits when the house sells. Some groups even use one person as the handyman or project foreman. This person does not put money up, but does work on the house for his share.

Flipping Tips

When flipping a house, make sure that you pay attention to the surrounding areas. Not all homes need new cabinets, granite counters and fancy bathrooms. Only make as many changes as you need to get the house sold. When you make too many changes and add too many elements, you cut into your potential profits.

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