Jul 1, 2008
Well - one may really ask that since we keep seeing real estate in the U.S. declining in value. I’ve seen just in the last two months, one home go down $20,000 in value. One of the key things hurting the values in a given neighbourhood are the short sales that then bring in the comparables down quite a bit.
For instance, if you see a home worth $300,000 and in the neighbourhood 2 short sales happened where the bank accepted an offer of $250,000 for a $300,000 worth home - they did so as they are motivated to get it off their books as no bank wants to keep a non-performing asset. So the downward spiral into Dantes’ inferno of real estate price declines keeps on going because the foreclosures are steadily increasing in this economic environment and the ‘teaser’ rate loans that are adjusting to ‘fixed’ rate, omg I can’t afford this mortgage payment anymore!
So what is real estate investor to do when the equity you think you may have might keep going down?
The key is to know what the demand is for property in that area and that is not as easy to discover as the supply of homes are. If you have a qualified buyers list wouldn’t that make you feel much safer in your real estate investments and take your risk out if you have a buyer before you even contract that property?
If that is of interest to you, check out how to get your real estate buyers’ list going by visiting virtual real estate investing and marketing system
Jul 1, 2008
Hi, Maria Gudelis here and I just had to blog about some shocking news - I’m not sure how to take it as I know in the real estate frenzy heyday, Countrywide would loan money to anyone with frankly, a pulse! However, I’m not a huge fan of blame and lawsuits flying around when everyone’s hand was in the cookie jar of greed!
An excerpt from the breaking news by Reuters:
“Florida sued mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp (CFC.N) on Monday for predatory lending practices, alleging the company at the center of the U.S. mortgage crisis made subprime loans to people who could not repay them.
The Florida attorney general filed the lawsuit, which names Countrywide Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo as a defendant, in state court in Broward County, Florida.”
To see the entire article, click here.
Enjoy reading, Maria Gudelis
Jun 28, 2008
Dubai anyone? That is where the timeshare and fractional ‘players’ are going to but don’t forget the great deals to be made in the fractional real estate segment in great areas of the United States like California, Las Vegas, Florida and any sun or ski destination! [Read more]
Jun 27, 2008
Fractional real estate is a market segment along with timeshare segment of real estate is really a hot topic these days. During a recession, the timeshare market always does well as people who can no longer afford second home ownership turn to less expensive solutions. The fractional real estate concept has really evolved in recent years. [Read more]
Jun 26, 2008
Wow - do you know those bid full page ads you see of this major real estate auction with teasers of seeing $400,000 homes with a ’starting bid’ of only $120,000. That is a juicy deal so yes, crowds come rushing into the ‘event’ of the full day real estate auction being held in your area.
Well, guess one couple didn’t like the end-result of the deal they thought they won at auction…you can read the entire article about the filed lawsuit in the O.C. Register by clicking here. Below is an excerpt:
At an auction in Pomona in March, Juan and Laura Torres made the highest bid — $146,000 — for a Corona property, according to the suit. Ms. Torres believed she had opened escrow on the property after signing paperwork at the auction and agreed to pay a 5 percent “buyers premium,” bringing the total price to $153,300. However, 30 days later, she was told that “she would not be able to purchase the property unless she came up with $50,000 more money,” the suit says.
Jun 26, 2008
It amazed me the other day while I attended a real estate conference by Bill Gatten and Bruce Norris that a lot of folks did know the procedure in how to buy real estate at an auction that are put on my REDC - Real Estate Disposition Corporation and many other similar companies. You know the ones I’m talking about - they advertise huge full page ads in the newspapers with starting bids of home at something like 1/4 of the value of the home.
OK, so the first thing you need to do is simply call them to find out their purchase procedures. Yes - it really is that easy! Just tell them you are a real estate investor and you are interested in buying a property at their upcoming auction.
Here is how it worked at a recent auction I phoned about - they simply wanted a cashiers check for $5,000 initially for you to bid, and say if the winning bid was $200,000, then they wanted 5% within 24 hours - meaning I would have to bring in another 5% for a total of $10,000. Then they wanted you to close in 30 days. So you would need to either get a loan or use cash (private hard money lending for instance) within the 30 days to buy.
Sound pretty simple right? Well here is something else Bruce Norris said at the Bill Gatten / Norris conference - can you believe that the lenders are the ones that don’t have their ducks in a row and the closing sometimes goes way over the 30 days as they don’t have all the paperwork ready for you to close! Fancy that - a lender being swamped with paperwork! I’m just joking - we all know their is a mountain of paperwork lenders are facing in today’s foreclosure environment but just wanted to give you a heads up that you may have more time than 30 days to close and what that means, more time to find your retail buyer to flip that house to!
Jun 25, 2008
It seems the tide is turning to finally get great deals at the real estate auctions you see advertised for the last year by big companies like REDC and others. Just look in your local newspaper for that HUGE advertisement of a live real estate auction. As you know, I, Maria Gudelis am a huge fan of selling your real estate via an online real estate auction but I haven’t spent a lot of time at real estate auctions to buy real estate as they were not the best place to find deals over regular mailings, phoning fsbo’s and other marketing methods to get your deal. [Read more]
Jun 7, 2008
One of the questions often asked is how in the world should do I leverage the internet? Well, from real estate investor friends to real estate gurus’ that come to me for advice, the key change from “what was” to “what is” today is that you absolutely CAN NOT have just one static plain TEMPLATE real estate website. The main reason why is that google hates that, and if 1,000 other real estate investors have also bought that ’static templated ‘ site from the vendor…guess what…google sees that as duplicate information and will actually penalize your from being on page one of google. [Read more]
Jun 6, 2008
Hi, Maria Gudelis here…figured with the heat being turned on in June as temperatures soar, Dow Jones diving…what next? Well, real estate investing of course! The time is now (pardon the cliche) to start looking at the deals that abound in the pre-foreclosure market.
Why pre-foreclosure real estate investing? Because it is one of the easiest, low risk, no huge cash outlay type of real estate investing to make! One of the hot tips for the month to give you is that there are two great sources of getting deals to your front door so to say. One is via a realtor, and the other is simply calling your local attorneys in the area.
I would highly recommend that you call 10 realtors and 10 lawyers as the stats go…only one out of 10 you will find that you want to work with. Some will be great, some will be downright rude, some will be just wanting to waste your time…so thus, the 1 out of 10 ratio. It is worth the time investment as that one realtor or lawyer can provide a deal for you that is going to put $10,000 at least in your pocket.
May 31, 2008
Hi everyone! Thought you’d like to know what the Top Ten Searches are right now in eBay Real Estate Category. As you know, I am a firm believer in using eBay Real Estate to both buy and sell real estate. One thing to consider, is if you have any deals in the top ten searches…well then you even more so MUST use eBay real estate as millions of people online all over the world are searching YOUR area for just that - real estate in your city or state!
Click on the more button to see the TOP TEN LIST of Searches in eBay Real Estate: [Read more]
