Real Estate Blog

The stimulus money the feds have released into the economy has had a huge impact on the real estate market, including allowing cities to use the fund to purchase low income housing. The purpose for this is simple, it is designed to help the real estate market while supporting the poor in the communities.

With the economy sinking so low and unemployment engulfing the job market, for the government to do this is a step in the right direction. Cities have to buy up some kind of buildings, homes or apartments to help the poor people find places to live.

Without the recent changes, a city would have to contract for a certain agreed upon payment for the rental property and then, reluctantly, property owners may agree to allow the poor families to rent from them.

Some of the occupants of this kind of housing are disabled and need special care, or they may just be people who are unemployed and need help getting back on their feet. Residence in this type of housing is typically short term so that people do not overstay their welcome, unless conditions demand a longer stay.  Read more...

Home foreclosure is a not the best situation to be in. Once the notices start coming and the phone starts ringing you can’t really keep hiding. Your going to hear from lots of people who claim that they can help you. These calls are from organizations that have their own motives and goals. In desperate times even a good sales pitch may sound like a miracle.

A number of people who are going to send mail or call. Most likely they were able to get your address or your number from the court system. Due to the legal nature of the process your information will be deemed as public and be published. This means anyone with internet access can find you. In some cases they may get your name from a list that was generated on the web…most of these lists go to investors/ investment trust companies.

These are the most common people or organizations that are going to give you call:

Swindlers/Con Men/Crooks  Read more...

How come anytime you walk in to a book store and find your way to the business or financial books all the views that are expressed in the titles are very similar??? In one way or another they all call out for a monetary version of bloodshed. I mean think about the titles: “How you can crush the other guy”or “it’s not personal its business”, “How to come out on top” etc etc. When I got into the real estate investment game I spent hours trying to find the one book that would teach me how to become that REAL ESTATE INVESTING GOD I knew I could become. After reading most of the popular books at the time I actually would feel beat up over the content. I mean did I have to be a “take no prisoners” type of investor? Did I have to prey on some one else’s misfortune?? The answer was no. So I set out to build a list of my own investment rules. I think we each should have our own set of investment rules. Doc’s Rules for investing:  Read more...

Is your office crammed with filing cabinets to the point where it takes you a half an hour just to find the paperwork you need? Many property managers are facing this problem since they have so much they need to keep track of. Eventually, the lists of apartments, tenants, expenses, and payment histories gets so long that you don?t know where to keep all of the information. This is where property management software comes in handy.

The software is designed to store all that information that you try to organize every day. The software also allows for the paperwork and information to be available at all times as most of it is hosted online. This will make keeping track of payments of rent as well as the mathematical calculations that need to be done. All of this is made easy as you can access it in an instant.

The software also tailors to those with multiple properties by offering several customization features. This allows property managers to break down their properties into separate complexes or by room type or even by price point. Not only will this make sorting your properties easier but you can do it in multiple ways depending on how you need it sorted at that given time.  Read more...

Commodity investing may become the hottest investment in the first decades of the 21st century. Right now gold prices have broken the $1000 per ounce barrier for the first time in history. It is predicted that this upward trend in gold prices will continue for the foreseeable future. Oil prices have also started reaching $80 per barrel and it is expected that oil price will soon be above the $100 per barrel mark. It may eventually reach the $200 per barrel barrier. If you are interested in investing in commodities than you can invest in a commodity mutual fund! Many people are not aware that commodities as an asset class has a lot of potential especially in the 21st century. It is being predicted that the 21st century belongs to the commodities.

Just buy the shares of the commodity mutual fund and let its NAV appreciate before you can sell for a capital gain. This is the simplest way for you to get involved in investing in commodities as the mutual fund portfolio management will be done by a professional manager and you have to do nothing.  Read more...

Investing in commodities may be something that investors thought of boring and dull only a few decades back but not anymore now. If you are interested in investing in companies that are involved in the production, transformation and distribution of commodities, than one of the best ways to do so is through investing in the Master Limited Partnership (MLP).

The shares that an MLP issues are called Units and the investors who own them are known as Unit Holders. MLPs are public entities that trade on public exchanges. An MLP issues shares that trade on an exchange just like a company stocks that trades on an exchange. You can invest in an MLP by buying its shares on an exchange.

Right now there are not many MLPs in the market. You will only find 3-4 dozen MLPs listed in the different stock exchanges. When you invest in an MLP, you are essentially investing in public partnership. There are tax advantages to investing in MLP. Unlike regular corporations, an MLP is only taxed once. Now most of the MLPs trade on the New York Stock Exchange. A few MLPs also trade on the NASDAQ and the AMEX. Tax exemption on MLPs gives them certain benefits that other companies in the same industry lack. There is a tax exemption on MLPs. You must be curious how this tax advantage works out. Because of  Read more...

You might have heard some of your friends talk about trading crude oil futures. You must have been surprised because many people think that trading crude oil futures is only for the hedge funds or really wealthy people. Well, you can trade crude oil futures if you want to. But don’t do it without getting a good training.

Every day perhaps billions of dollars worth of crude oil gets traded. You must be thinking that crude oil contracts get traded between the oil producing countries like Saudi Arabia, Russia, Nigeria and so on with non oil countries. Now to your surprise, New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is considered to be the hub of crude oil trading in the world. You should be aware of the power of crude oil in the global economy. Crude oil trades around the world. Crude oil is one of the most heavily traded commodities in the world.  Read more...

As said, this has to be done on a quarterly basis. The reason MLPs exist is to distribute all available cash back to the MLP unit holders. The following factors are considered before determining the amount of cash distributed to each individual investor:

1) The difference between the total cash flow and the cash flow ploughed back into the MLP for futures growth. 2) How many units you hold as an MLP investor. 3) The incentive distribution rights created for the GP.

So once you decide to invest in commodities, you have many investment options like mutual funds, stocks, ETFs as well as MLPs. You must do your due diligence while making your investment decisions. There are always pros and cons of each investment vehicle!

You can invest in commodity stocks, you can invest in commodity ETFs, you can invest in commodity mutual funds. The possibilities are many. So investing in an MLP is just like investing in stocks. Investing in MLPs is quite simple. Since an MLP is a publicly traded entity. You can simply invest in an MLP by calling your broker and telling him or her how many units of a particular MLP you are interested in buying.  Read more...

If you sell real estate fast you might regret it for a long time. Many Germans say they would use a real estate broker when selling their property so that they can avoid making big mistakes. But the numbers do not tell the same story.

About 80% of all real estate transaction run through private hands. Even though a study of real estate service company PlanetHome, a subsidiary of Hypo Vereinsbank showed that especially the 50-plus generation and households with more than five members rather have a real estate broker involved in their property transaction, Germans don’t seem to fully trust real estate brokers.

A private sale can become a real disaster, but a sale where a real estate broker is involved can be much easier. You don’t have to deal with all the work and you will probably arrive at the price you anticipated. A private sale can be complicated and take a lot of your time, and you might end up in the middle of negotiations you really are not prepared for. According to the study results, this is the biggest reason that almost half of all Germans prefer to use real estate brokers in their real estate transactions.  Read more...

Foreclosure is a common term which may require no elaboration. What’s unclear however is the appropriate action to take when faced with the first notice of foreclosure. The thing with financial matters is that you are unable to access instant money from your bank, or wish for an unexpected financial breakthrough. So you do need to think critically and examine your option before you initiate it.

Foremost, what you need to realize is that your lender has zero interest in your property and the foreclosure notices you are getting are because said lender wants to protect their financial good. Even if your property is subjected to repossession, still it will be auctioned to the public.

You can leverage this to work to your advantage. Aware that the lender is not keen in your house or your piece of property, you can convince your loan provider to extend the foreclosure by the amount of time you need. If you can come up with a sound plan for your lender, one that is acceptable and favorable to both parties, your request for extention might be granted.  Read more...