Archive for January, 2010

Buying Commercial Property

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

An option is just what it sounds like. You have the option to buy the property or not. The option will state the time period in which you can buy the land and at what price. If you have found some property that you like but have not been able to obtain the contingencies or escape clauses that you feel you need, then perhaps an option would be in order. Let’s assume you have found a tract of land that you really like but the owner in not accommodating and will not finance the purchase, and you can not borrow the purchase money. But you want the tract for its resale value and feel that you can successfully market the entire tract, or the smaller parcels, over the next few months. You could tell the seller that you desire the option to buy his land within say, a 6 or 12 month period, at a certain price. This would be after having negotiated the price of the property, of course. If the seller agrees to the terms of the option, he will tell you how much the option will cost you. He may state that for $1,000 you can buy the property anytime within six months at the price you have agreed upon. Or he may raise the price somewhat. One way or the other, the option is going to cost you something because the seller takes the property off the market and expects compensation. The price of the option is the price you pay to have the ability to accomplish the investigation, planning and advertising that you normally would do with a delayed closing.

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Commercial Property Land

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

A lien is a claim against a property which is used as collateral for a debt and the most common ones are; Mortgages, Deeds of Trust, Property Taxes and Judgments. Frequently when a person buys real estate, they go to a lending institution and obtain a loan. In some states, they are required to sign a Mortgage and a Promissory Note. In others, they are required to sign a Deed of Trust and a Deed of Trust Promissory Note. A Mortgage is an instrument used by which the buyer pledges the property to the lending institution as collateral for loan and describes the terms and conditions of ownership. It also contains the rights of the lender in the event of a default. A Promissory Note holds the borrower personally responsible for the loan and spells out the loan amount and terms of repayment. A Deed of Trust is sometimes called a Trust Deed or a Trust and is similar to a Mortgage except for the rights it offers the lender during a foreclosure. A Deed of Trust pledges property as collateral and there are three parties involved. The Trustor is the buyer who grants the trust and the Beneficiary is the lender. The Trustee is an independent party who holds title to the property on behalf of the lender. The Trustee either releases the title as the loan is paid off or institutes a foreclosure if there is a default. A Deed of Trust Note accompanies the Deed of Trust and spells out the terms of the loan repayment.

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Home Inspections

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

As a result of numerous reports of counterfeit real estate transactions, a large number of prospective home buyers have lost their trust in buying properties. Due to the small amount of buyers, a large number of home sellers have been forced to agree with offers that are below their anticipated profits. In order to resolve this issue that is unfavorable to both home sellers and buyers, engaging in a home inspection is perceived as a solution to bring back the positive image of buying and selling properties. Requesting for a home inspection may at times make home buyers feel embarrassed because they fear that this would make the home sellers feel uncomfortable. Most of buyers think that by requesting an inspection they are insinuating that the seller did not take good care of the property. Remember that first of all, this process is a common prerequisite for you to be aware of the current status of the property. Engaging in this should not be seen as a move that questions the home owners’ capacity to take care of the property. This is also a helpful way for you to be informed of the possible expenses that you will have in the future. The report given after the conducted inspection will most probably contain the specific repairs that you need to do with the property. Conducting a home inspection is not only beneficial for the home buyer, but for the home seller as well. Having an inspection report at hand will serve as insurance for the home buyer that the property you are selling is in an outstanding condition. And this may then lead to instantly getting an attractive deal. This procedure will also be an effective advertising strategy for you to be able to sell your home immediately. Having an inspection report will also save you the time and effort of having to deal with very fastidious buyers who go through even the smallest details of your house. As a home seller, you should also keep in mind that before you undergo a home inspection, you should set your expense limitations. Discuss beforehand with the prospective buyer as to what costs you are willing to shoulder. You may also negotiate that both of you get equal share of the expenses.

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Commercial Real Estate Investment Tips

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

A big key to success of any commercial investment real estate property is management. Bottom line, proactive and effective management can add literally tens of thousands of dollars in cash flow and profits in a short time. Of course, bad management can suck out those profits just as quickly. The nice thing is in general; management isn’t as difficult as many are lead to believe, if you do it correctly. What I’m going to talk about in this section is doing the management correctly to make sure you get as much money, return and cash flow out of the property with as little amount of hassle and headaches as possible. When you boil it down, there are only three types of property management. You manage the property yourself. When you manage it yourself, you take care of everything, you field the phone calls, draft the leases, make arrangements for maintenance and repairs, etc. You are the “business owner” and business operator. Hire a manager. But still maintain total control. In this scenario, what happens is, you go ahead and hire a resident manager to run the operations on site for you. In other words, let’s say you buy a 24-unit property, you could have your resident manager live in one of the units and manage the units and manage the property from there. In this scenario, you’re still in control as I said before of finances, where the money goes, what gets spent, when the maintenance people get called, etc., however, you’ve got someone in place to take care of all of the hassle factors involved; the small tenant complaints, things that come up here and there in the middle of the night, they can be taken care of easily without bothering you at all. Plus, you’re still in control of the day-to-day operations, knowing what goes on everyday (as long as you do talk with your manager on a daily or at least a minimum of a weekly basis.) You have all other jobs delegated and taken care of by someone else, but still maintain overall control of all of those that you do delegate.

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Investing in Commercial Property

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

As we speak Residential Property, financial institutions, stock markets and bank’s interest rates are offering very poor returns & even poorer security for investors. Currently Commercial Property is offering the best returns to investors and also offering the most security for investors. Firstly if you are looking to invest in Commercial Property it is important to identify what your investment goals are. These may range from short term capital gains by buying and selling to long term cash cow investment and even negative investments that are deliberate tax deductible. Once you have established what your goals are you can then determine the type of commercial property you should pursue. The age old adages of high risk = high return and low risk = low return are simplistic ways to differentiate between the types of commercial property investments available. That being if you are looking for a long term investment with capital growth you will most likely look at low risk investments such as properties with banks, petrol stations and other similar solid tenants. However if you are looking for short term capital gains most buyers will look to either purchase a property at a sharp price for resale, add – value to a property for resale or acquire a vacant property with the intent to tenant it for resale as well as other capital gains vehicles. Once you have identified what type of investment you wish to pursue the next step is to identify what areas you wish to invest in. I recommend that investors should predominantly invest in areas they are familiar with (so that they can readily view the property and are also able to readily assess the local market), however if investors have valuable and reliable investment advice to call upon then this rule need not apply. However be wary of individuals touting themselves as commercial property experts, whilst many may claim they are the majority without doubt are not.

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Tips For Buying

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

The residential real estate market has declined precipitously over the last couple of years. There is a large inventory of homes for sale that are being offered at a discount. This is not to suggest that every house selling below asking price is a good deal. In fact, some homes on the market are still overpriced. For many sellers, “discount” simply means a reduction from their initial asking price rather than representing true value. Having said that, there are a few savvy tactics you can use to uncover bargain homes for sale in nearly every market. In this article, we’ll provide a list of five of them. Some will seem intuitive while others may surprise you.
-Conduct Research Online
Millions of people who are looking for residential real estate conduct some degree of their research online. But, most of their effort boils down to checking the listings and browsing for houses within their price range. With a little planning, you can create email alerts that will notify you of price changes and other listing modifications. Find a few homes for sale that appeal to you, but are above your budget. Then, set up an alert for each one. You might find the owners will lower their prices due to the soft market, thereby bringing their homes within your price range.
-Let The Listings Go Stale
Real estate professionals realize a listing that crosses the “90 days on the market” line goes stale. That means the likelihood the house will move for the seller’s asking price declines – sometimes dramatically. The “days on market” figure is a good barometer to use if you’re looking for a bargain. The problem is, a lot of real estate websites don’t offer it. You may need to contact the seller’s agent to find out how many days a particular house has been on the market.
-Lowball The Bid On A Fixer-Upper
The soft market has discouraged a lot of sellers trying to unload their homes. This has led some sellers to let their houses fall into disrepair. To be sure, many of the homes listed as “fixer-uppers” actually need a significant amount of work. It’s often more work than most people are able or willing to handle. On the other hand, there are plenty of homes for sale that suffer from cosmetic shabbiness. That’s often a sign the owners are willing to lower their price just to move the house. Put in a low bid and you might pick up a bargain.
-Find Those Who Flip Houses
For years, real estate investors were able to make a sizable profit by purchasing homes for sale, fixing them up, and flipping them. That works well when the housing market is strong and prices are climbing. When the market turns downward, their fortunes move in the opposite direction. Many of these “flippers” are desperate to sell because the loan on their property is straining their budget. That creates a bargain-hunting opportunity for you.

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Commercial Real Estate

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

If the idea of investing in Commercial Real Estate appeals to you, then maybe you can take the first step towards doing so – by investing in your education. You see, to understand the value of the Commercial Real Estate around you, you need to know the ins and outs of Commercial Real Estate and real estate investment. This will help you avoid money pit investing so that you wind up with a quality Commercial Real Estate investment that will appreciate in worth over time. The first thing you really have to understand about investing correctly is that it is really possible to do so. Despite what many naysayers may have been telling you, Commercial Real Estate investment is a good one. Even in today’s declining US housing market, or residential properties, the commercial market has not seen the decline in value that the residential market has. Commercial investors are typically smarter and don’t make the ‘emotional’ moves that a residential investor might make. So as a result, the investment did not experience the false appreciation that housing saw. Second, don’t let fear get in the way of sound Commercial investing. Once you have been educated in what you have to look for in quality structures, use your inner voice to let you know which ones are good to buy within your investment budget. Then combine that inner voice with good, sound research. Quality research can help show you which investments are more likely to be winners, which ones are just so-so, and which ones will never amount to anything unless you tear them down and start over.

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Home Value

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

If you are planning to put your lovely home for sale, then you must need some guidelines to help you out in being able to present the best price possible for that invaluable asset of yours. This may not be very easy at first, but surely, sufficient time is what you will need to successfully attain this. Now without a doubt, you must be a little confused on where to effectively start in doing the best makeover that you had been thinking of all this time. What am I supposed to do? Where am I expected to commence? To start off with this feat, you may try to look into the following for some enlightenment. Expect that you will realize in time where and how you are really supposed to begin with regarding this undertaking.
-Home Decontamination
Before pursuing anything, you must start cleaning and organizing your things properly. Everything must have its specific place for you to leave out a good impression to the potential buyers. Make sure that you clean the two most important rooms in your house-the kitchen and the bathroom. Remember, these are where the people are most concerned of in terms of sanitation and orderliness. You would never want to disappoint then with clutters right?
-Painting Quest
To give your home that brand new look, you have to coat it with fresh and alluring paints. Bear in mind that paints are among the easiest, quickest and least expensive ways in shaping the breathtaking impact of your house. Nevertheless, you may make use of the wall papers as its alternative. Furthermore, to enhance the charm of your home, you may start hanging paintings on the wall.
-Patching-up the Lighting
To make your home come out bigger, refreshing, and elegant, do not forget the lighting. Here, you do not actually have to spend too much. All you need to do is to replace the off-putting bulbs, and or fix the damaged ones. To specify, fluorescent lamps or lightings would be great to ensure that appealing brightness.

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Investing in Commercial Real Estate

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

The Miami-Dade industrial market surprisingly has continued the healthy pattern of leasing and sales activity in the fourth quarter of 2007, much like how it performed in the previous quarter. More than 1million square foot of industrial space was leased in the fourth quarter. Availability and vacancy rates remained under 6%, which is still below the national average of about 10%. The fourth quarter of 2007 basically performed the same as the third in activity and pricing,however it lacked the panic that happened during the summer’s credit crunch. The Miami-Dade commercial real estate market experienced small corrections and the re-pricing of certain assets, however the general effect was not as negative as many had predicted. Despite current economic difficulties, and uncertainty hovering the credit markets as well as the specter of an upcoming recession and the residential fallout, Miami-Dade County continues to remain a viable destination for both local and international traders and investors. Industrial Vacancy Rates Go Up, The vacancy rates for the commercial and industrial sector have steadily gone up by 1.6 percent from the 4.2% rate recorded in the same period last year. Bulk space saw an 1.8 percent increase while flex space also saw a rise of 2.9 percent from the rate recorded during fourth quarter of 2006. Miami-Dade’s availability levels also went up from 5.6% in the fourth quarter of 2006, to 7.8% in the fourth quarter of 2007. Some commercial real estate analysts are also forecasting asking rates to stabilize with limited future increases. One of the main reasons why asking rates could stabilize is the adding of more space, which is expected to enter the market this 2008. These factors have attributed to continuing tight market conditions despite the increase in vacancy levels, and the negative absorption levels recorded.

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Home Purchase After Bankruptcy

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

Filing a bankruptcy is considered a dark time in a person’s life. Discharging your debts and getting a fresh start is an uphill climb. Sometimes you might wonder if you could be able to buy a property or home after you declare bankruptcy. The good new is-yes! It is no longer impossible to buy a home after bankruptcy. These days, mortgage companies and many online lenders are now offering home loans for those who have a bankruptcy report on their credit. Even some lenders will approve your loan one day after the discharge. There are several reasons why a person chooses to file bankruptcy. First, the loss of work, unexpected high medical bills, and plenty of credit card debts. The mortgage lending industry has established special loan terms and packages for those who filed for bankruptcy in the past. With your home as collateral to a loan, the lender is more confident in approving your loan, as soon as you are discharged of the bankruptcy. You can get a good interest rate and affordable payments from both online and traditional lenders. The interest rates are currently lower than they were before. Do not allow a past bankruptcy prevent you from owning the house of your dreams. After 18 to 24 months after the debts have been discharged, you can qualify for a home loan. Your bankruptcy history is not as important to a loan officer as your capacity to make a down payment and your income stability. What can make or break your ability to buy a home after bankruptcy is really based on the debt to income ratio.

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