Get Into Real Estate Now

When there is a huge amount of homes on the market and not nearly enough buyers looking, you may think that it is not the time to purchase an investment property. But that is just the opposite of true. Now is the time to make the jump into investing in the real estate market because now is the time to be getting a bargain on a property. There are prices dropping on properties everywhere, and with so many lenders in the market these days, there is always an incentive to use when purchasing a new property. Most offer competitive interest rates and many offer great financing programs that will entice you into using their lending institution. Use these offers to your advantage by accepting the best one for you. Likely, you will be able to take your pick between several.

There are sellers all over the country, but especially in the Florida area, that have taken some highly creative steps to ensure that their home is the one that a buyer picks. They have realized that it is a very competitive market and they have to do something to win your choice for their home. Not only are they offering the typical incentives of paying closing costs and new dŽcor allowances, some are offering tax and insurance payments for a year, one year maintenance plans, even big screen televisions, boats, and cars on some of the higher end properties. Some of the sellers have even agreed to a lease to purchase plan instead of outright selling the property, just so they can get new owners into their property.

Although it seems that interest rates have been on the rise lately, they are still below their standing just five years ago and these great deals on interest rates make it an even better time to make the decision to invest in property. Some lending institutions are willing to offer even greater deals on the interest rates to gain customers. They may offer below market financing, and if you happen to be a first time home buyer, a great deal is even more likely to be awaiting you. Make sure you ask for any first time homebuyer deals that may be available.

One way to make money in real estate is to purchase land or properties that are located just on the outskirts of somewhere that is vastly growing. The more an area grows, the closer it will get to you and the more in demand your property will be for businesses or homes. If you have a savvy business sense, you may be able to pick up on an area that will be a huge business area in the next five years but is still fertile farmland now. This will allow you to purchase at a cheap price and sell at a very high price. Many people have made their fortunes in ways very similar.

Getting into real estate is not always the cheapest way to make money, but it is a fairly sure bet on getting a positive return on your investment. If you are able to invest in real estate now, you should do so as soon as possible. Make sure that you check out the properties well before you purchase so that you know you can make money on the property and not lose a great deal when you have to do too many repairs.

Indiana Real Estate

The land of the Indians - that is Indiana. Indiana became the 15th state of America on December 11, 1816. It was once home to the mountain lions, bison, and elks. It was also here that great battles were waged over land disputes. The wars routed the native Indians. These wars fill up the history books of Indiana. The people of Indiana are called Hoosiers.

Geography and Demography

Indiana takes up 35,867 square miles (making it the 38th largest state). This is home to some 6.3 million people. Indiana is the smallest state west of the Appalachian Mountains (not counting Hawaii). Bordering Indiana on the north are Lake Michigan and Michigan State. On the south, is Kentucky, and Ohio lies on the eastern horizon. Illinois takes up the west border. Indiana has five urban areas and smaller industrial cities.

Industry

Indiana’s economic stability is founded on several industries:

Mining
Agricultural food processing
Meat packing plants
Textile mills
Farm equipment manufacturing
Transportation facilities
Furniture factories
Pharmaceuticals
Steel
Compact discs
Electrical appliances
Mobile homes

Festivals and sights

Hockey is to Minnesotans while basketball is to Indiana. Every year Indiana holds the Hoosier Hysteria where high schools compete for championship.

Another event that holds the breath of every Hoosier is the annual Indianapolis 500 American Automobile Race. This is held on the weekend of Memorial Day. Indy 500 as it is popularly called was first held in 1911. The race venue is always at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The event draws in thousands of people.

The Feast of the Hunters Moon (West Lafayette) recreates the yearly gathering of the French and native Americans. This is held early in autumn along the banks of the Wabash River. During the celebration, thousands of people hear the reports of rifles; smell wood smoke while they have fun watching the reenactment.

Strawberry Festival (Crawfordsville) is celebrated on the second week of June when strawberries abound. Various activities enliven up the festival – there are talent contests, food vendors, craft booths and live entertainment.

There are also different scarecrow festivals in Indiana. In Wanatah, the festival is held every September. Different booths are set up showcasing culinary displays and handicrafts.

Every July 7 and 8 the people of Delphi celebrate the Canal Days Festival. The festival is celebrated with a grand parade. Food, music, and displays are abundant.

In Winamac, Indiana antique tractors take the stage during the annual Antique Power Show. Held at the city park, people will be beholding antiques and other collectibles from tractors to the horse pull. This is held every July.

Little children enjoy the celebration of Swiss Days. The highlight of the celebration are plentiful children’s activities. Swiss foods are sold and sampled. Swiss Days are also celebrated every July.

The August Fun Fest by the River feature a 350 car cruise-in. Live bands spice up the celebration. Crafts and food are available for sale. Entertainment is available for everybody of all ages. The festival is held in the Victorian Village, North Manchester.

Indiana Real Estate

As mentioned above, Indiana has lots of interesting things going on. Aside from all these, the offered Indiana real estates are numerous. Many people have appreciated this opportunity to be part of the city and many are still clamoring to have a home in Indiana. The Indiana real estate industry is definitely a hit.

Know What Is Right Real Estate Deal

We usually focus on investment in any real estate deal and in that course we forget to consider the most important issue that is whether the deal is right or not. If one wants to determine the potential deal is good or not then here are few points that can help you:

• Leverage is important in investment as you can put your money in more number of properties and earn well. See if you invest in one property and that property is not appreciated well with time than you would not get much profit. In case you invest in more than one property then there are chances of earning more profit as the risk is leveraged. One of those properties will definitely appreciate and you will gain profit. So it’s always a better practice to invest fewer amounts in more number of properties. That’s why leveraging is a very important concept in real estate investment. If the property goes up in value then the returns are exponential. Even if the property rates fall down one can always pay back the debts as the real estate is considered cyclical in nature.

• Equity is another important aspect in real estate which can have various forms like discounted property price, foreclosure, poorly managed property. Equity can be created in many ways but its better to buy into equity.

• In real estate deal cash flow is also very significant aspect. Cash flow can be dependent on various factors like rate of interest on finance, the down payment the financial institution ask for and even the local market condition. It even depends on the factor that there are single or multiple occupants.

• Property is always bought with the aim of earning profit for that its value needs to be appreciated with the passage of time. For that the buyer needs to investigate for the surroundings where he is buying the property. With the choice of right neighborhood the other aspect is the time to plan for real estate deal. Both these factors will definitely bring profit to the property dealer. But always consider the risk factor because your assumptions can go wrong even. So always prepare a back up plan. Like if in case some of your property does not get appreciated then the alternative is to rent it out so that you will have some cash flow. So one must always keep an alternative plan ready for that worst that can knock your door any moment.

Out Of Date Real Estate

As with any other possession, whether it's clothing or cars, there are trends in real estate that come and go. These trends eventually make their way down through the levels of home ownership, and mark a property as "clearly hot" or "clearly not." If you're planning on selling or buying, it might be wise to take a look at current "out" trends such as these.

First of all, swimming pools? Not such a big deal anymore. More home buyers today are thrilled with a huge backyard, and not as thrilled with the fact that it's taken up by a huge tiled pool. Although once the symbol of opulent luxury, a swimming pool in the backyard nowadays tends to label your property. It makes it suitable for a certain type of buyer- and the right buyer may very well pay big bucks for it- but it can take away from the general market appeal of a home. Today's family wants a big yard with lots of potential for landscaping, jungle gyms, or gardens; and an inset swimming pool removes that potential.

Another trend that is suddenly disappearing from the market is the age-old trend of bay windows. These high-maintenance windows, while beautiful from both inside and out, can be a negative on today's market. That doesn't mean having one will lower your property value, but if you're considering installing one, you might want to think again. The more glass in a window, the more likely it is to break, be broken into, and leak warm air during the cold months. If you have a bay window, make sure it's properly sealed and has good insulation, and try to plate it with the heaviest glass you can afford.

Another "trend" on its way out, although it's so old it can hardly be called a trend, is carpeting. Home owners today are conscious of the fact that carpet styles come and go, but wood floors will always remain. Carpeted rooms require more maintenance than wood floors, and cost more money; a carpet wears out and goes out of style much more quickly than a wood floor. If your house has carpet over floors that you'd just as soon not expose, installing wood floors for the sake of higher property value can be a tremendous expense. In that case, the shrewd home seller may simply choose to re-carpet. If you go this direction, make sure to pick a durable carpet that wears well and doesn't adhere to any particular style.

Whether you're buying, selling, or building, the best advice is to keep an eye open for what's popular today, and use those trends as starting points when it comes to making decisions about your house. Each property is different, and each home owner has his own sense of style. In the end, regardless of trends, it all boils down to what works for the home, as well as for the people living inside it.

Real Estate Course

You have decided you want to pursue a career in real estate. Before you go out to match a newlywed couple and their dream home, get ready to study.

In the United States every state requires you to pass a licensing exam and take a basic real estate course. Then after you have obtained your state license you will need to periodically take a real estate course to fulfill your continuing education requirements associated with your real estate license. You can see that it's not just being able to sell; you must be able to study also.

Considering that there are hundreds of classes and real estate courses going on every day. These courses are to assist you in gaining adequate knowledge to pass the required state test. This then makes finding a real estate course that will provide you with the best and most appropriate information, very important. Check around before you decide on which real estate course you will take. Cost, location, and especially important is the passing rate of its other graduates on the state exam all need to be considered. You also want to be aware that there is a difference between a real estate broker's license and a real estate agents license. You certainly do not want to sign up for the wrong real estate course and find out you have studied for the wrong state exam. Each state is also different in the number of real estate course hours that is required prior to you taking their state exam.

A real estate course taken from an approved real estate school is the preferred method of preparation. It can be online or offered in a classroom type setting in your local area. Many of today's large real estate brokers offer a real estate course to prospective agents. Some technical colleges also offer the necessary hours in Real Estate Principles for your specific state.

To find the right real estate course for you there are three basic ways.

There is a joint endeavor by many real estate educators to create a database of current and accurate information in regards to real estate courses. This is meant to be convenient and allows you to find the real estate course you need. The real estate course list may vary, but on an average there are over 2,500 courses going on in the United States as any given time.

You may also want to use a website that has national listings of real estate schools. Contact the specific school and see it the real estate course you need or want is offered. You can then ask any questions you may have about the school. You can also get the dates the real estate course is being offered and the cost.

Then as we stated there is the option of taking a real estate course online. The advantage of this is, you would progress at your own pace or need to worry about the drive. There are well over 2,000 online real estate courses.

Four Steps To Real Estate Investing Success

The following article is the result of years working in the real estate business. It was written to answer some of the most frequently asked questions, as well as address common issues that people have with this topic. I hope that you will find the information in this article helpful.

Real estate investing is always good and sometimes it's red hot. When it's hot dozens of real estate seminars begin rolling across the country and thousands of people spend thousands of dollars for investing education.

It's startling to learn that of all those thousands of eager folks who attend these seminars only about 5% buy even one investment house. Why? The real estate gurus sell the "sizzle" and make profiting from real estate sound easy. The truth is that it's simple, but not easy.

Here's a quick plan that will enable anyone to begin building financial independence.

There are basically four steps to investing in single family homes:

1. Buy homes below full market value. Yes, people really do sell homes for less than the home's full value. The key is to understand that most home owners will only consider a purchase offer that is all cash and within 5% to 10% of their asking price.

The successful investor learns to find financially distressed home owners who have no choice but to sell for less than market value. They have lost their job or been suddenly transferred; they are divorcing; they been living beyond their income; the family has been overwhelmed with medical bills and, not uncommonly these days, their money has gone to support a drug habit.

Those are examples of motivated sellers. They have to sell and they will accept something other than a conventional, all cash offer.

2. How do you find motivated sellers? You work at it! Like any business it is important to develop a little marketing plan. One that is simple, yet very effective, is the one that was proven 75 years ago by the Fuller Brush company; door to door sales.

You are selling your skill as a home buyer to people who must sell. Your are there when they need you and you have the skill to help them solve at least part of their problem. With door to door prospecting you will learn more and buy more homes quicker than any other method. However, most people just won't walk door to door for three or four hours per week. OK, there are other ways.

You can watch public notices for the announcement of foreclosure sales. Meeting with a home owner right after they've received a notice that they are about to lose their home allows you to deal with a very motivated seller. Other public notices that provide buying opportunities include probate, divorce and bankruptcy. You can follow the Homes For Sale listings in your local newspaper or Internet site.

You can telephone the names found in these notices or, and this is the least time consuming, send a postcard expressing your interest in buying their property. It will produce buying opportunities, just not as many as personal contact.

3. After you've found a motivated seller you must understand how to frame offers that provide benefits for both you and for the home owner. A good real estate investor quickly learns that this is not a business of stealing property, but of solving problems in a way that benefits the seller.

The home owner is in a tight spot of some kind and you can save them from public embarrassment and, in most cases, give them at least a little cash to get a new start.

No investor can afford to leave cash in every deal. No one but Bill Gates has that much available money. You must use creative techniques like, leases, option and taking over mortgage payments. Little or no cash is needed for those deals. You can find plenty of reasonable priced educational material on those subjects in book stores or on EBay. The same education that seminars sell for thousands of dollars.

4. You make your profit when you buy! Never make a purchase until you've carefully determined exactly how you will get to your profit. If you hold it as a long term investment will the monthly rental income more than cover the monthly mortgage payment? Will you sell the deal to another investor for fast cash? Will you do some fix-up and sell the property for full value? Will you quickly trade it for a more desirable property? Have a plan before you buy.
There you have four steps that even a part-time investor can execute in three to four hours per week. What's the missing ingredient? Your determination and perseverance. If you will unfailingly follow the plan for a few months you will be well on your way to financial independence.

OK, now that you have finished reading this article I want you to find more resources on this subject. Within just a short period of time you will have all of the answers that you need!

Bad Credit Real Estate Investing: Stop Dodging The Bullet & Clean The Gun

If I had a dollar for every email I was sent, message board post I have read, or telephone call I have received asking how to invest with bad credit, I would have retired 10 years ago. If most of these individuals would learn some age old truths, it would make their investing lives so much more productive.

The truth of the matter is, there are ways for a wannabe investor to begin investing with bad credit. There is wholesaling, flipping, subject to investing and a host of other guru related theories and techniques. The ultimate thing that will happen though, at one point or another, is that they will run into a wall where credit will be needed. If they really want to take their investing to the next level, they need to be the ones financing the properties and realizing the nice gains. Are there mortgage companies that will lend to poor credit clients? Sure, as an owner occupant. Try getting a 90-100% ltv loan for an investor property with a poor credit score...It just ain't gonna happen kids! Ah yes, but some wise person will point out that they indeed do have a program that will do this. Great! So, what is the interest rate and how many points are rolled into this and can I hear what the closing costs will be? Exactly my point. These loans, if they do exist, would be so expensive, that most all deals would not work using them.

Why not take a proactive approach and get yourself cleaned up “creditwise” before you attempt to do any investing? Yep, it can be done and yep, it will take some time, but it will make a huge difference in your financial future. By cleaning up your credit first, you will have the time necessary to gain the knowledge and direction that you want to head once you are ready to begin. It will open up a world of opportunities that are now closed off to you due to your credit. Once you make the intelligent decision to restore your credit first, you must then take a closer look at how you should accomplish this.

Let's step back and take a look at the big picture for a minute. Forget all the hype that you hear, both positive and negative, and let's face the facts. There are ways to clean your credit. 90% or more of all credit files have errors and these errors are NOT in your favor. There are also old debts that should drop off due to statue of limitations as far as how long something can be on a report. There are people that had filed a bankruptcy and all of the negative items were not included, there are things listed twice, collection companies that are no longer in business and will not verify the debt. The list goes on and on. The bottom line here is that you need to either learn how to get things removed off of your credit files yourself, or have a competent company that follows the law to the letter, do it for you. Do note that if you are going to do it for yourself, it is much more than sending in letters and waiting for items to magically drop off. You will want to arm yourself with knowledge of the laws: The Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act of 2003, Fair Credit Reporting Act, removal via section 609, the HIPAA and the Fair Debt Collections Practice Act. You will also want to be knowledgeable of what it means to validate a debt, as this is much more than a creditor verifying that they have a debt on record. Validation makes them prove the fact that a debt is owed (used properly, this technique can remove a great deal of items not known to be your debts).

For those individuals that opt to have their credit cleaned by an outside agency, there are a few things that you should consider. Contact the companies and actually interview them. Before you actually begin the questions, see if they are hiding behind the net. Ask them: Will they review your credit reports for free, BEFORE you sign up with them or pay them any money? If they say yes, go on with the following questions:

Do they only send dispute letters to the three credit reporting agencies, or will they dispute directly with creditor, collections agencies and courthouses if necessary? If so, is this at no extra charge?

If they charge a continuous monthly fee, what is their incentive to repair your credit quickly?

How many accounts will they work on at one time?

If you are going to hire a Law Firm, will they be representing you or sending the letters on your behalf?

Do you have to fill out your own disputes on-line?

Do they offer a TRUE 100% money back guarantee?

Do you have 24 hour, 7 day a week access to your account?

Remember...Do not EVER let a credit repair company pull your credit reports for "free"! They do not have a permissible purpose and it will count as an inquiry against you. It will actually LOWER your credit score.

You will be amazed at the amount of so-called professional companies and firms that will fail these questions miserably. Do not give up though. Once you find a company that answers these questions correctly, then guage your comfort level when speaking with them. You will be conversing with them for the next few months, so make sure it's a good fit. You will also want to feel that the company you choose truly has their clients needs as the #1 priority.

Finally, you should remember one main point. There is NO MAGIC BULLET that will clean your credit report overnight. Ask yourself this question: How long have you had bad credit? I would imagine that it has been a year or so if it has been a day. Wouldn't it be crazy to think that it can be erased overnight? It will take some time (3-6 months generally), but it is worth it when done correctly.

Make the right decision, learn a little patience, and get your credit restored before you attempt to enter the real estate game. Take the time to learn what it is you want to gain out of this amazing field, and do it the proper way.