Money Advice Guide

Why So Many Reports

When you buy a home it seems like there are so many reports that need to be made. You are advised to get the home appraised, inspected, checked for termites, surveyed and so on. Why so many different reports?

Each report will tell you something different. Yes, sometimes they overlap each other, but they all offer something that another report won’t cover.

Lenders make loans on the sales price or the appraised value — whichever is less. The appraisal is an estimate of value by an independent third party. This reduces the lender’s risk by assuring that the property is worth what you are paying for it. You, the buyer, can feel sure that you are getting a good deal.

The inspection is very important. It is not an appraisal. The appraisal helps confirm the home’s value, the inspection looks at the home’s condition. The professional inspector checks all of the systems of the house, from the structure to the electrical to the garbage disposal. Does the dishwasher work? How old is the roof and when will it need to be replaced? Is the electrical wiring up to code? The home inspection report will tell you what needs to be repaired, when and at what amount the repairs could cost.

The termite inspection is equally important as your home is probably built of wood. Most lenders will require a termite inspection, but not all will require a home inspection. You should insist on both inspections to protect your best interests. You don’t want to buy a home just to find out in a month that termites have destroyed the structural safety and it will cost you $80,000 to repair the home. The termite and the home inspections would help protect you against this.

Buyers must know about a property’s condition. You may think that you can tell a lot about a home by switching light switches and looking in the crawl space, but would you think to look in a basement furnace for rust as a sign of basement flooding? An inspector would.

The survey shows the boundaries of the property, where the improvements are located, the size of the property and other factors such as easements and encroachments.

This is also important. For example, if the current owners have somehow added a garage that barely straddles the lot line, a neighbor could demand its removal. IT may turn out that the property is much smaller than advertised, or that the fence belongs completely to the neighbors.

The survey shows any easements, or right of ways for others to use your property. For example, there is often a Public Utility Easement, or PUE, on a property. This gives that utility the right to enter your property and install, maintain or repair their system. The local electric company might have this right to maintain their poles and wires across your land.

So do you need all four checks? Yes. This is the best way to know exactly what you are getting. In real estate, surprises aren’t a good thing. When all your bases are covered you can sleep at night.

Martin Lukac, represents http://www.RateEmpire.com, a finance web-company specializing in real estate/mortgage market. We specialize in daily updates, rate predictions, mortgage rates and more. Find low home loan mortgage interest rates from hundreds of mortgage companies! Visit http://www.RateEmpire.com today.

Where is the Profit in Your Deal

When we see Donald Trump on TV, we see a guy who is living the high life.
Money, women and fame - all thanks to real estate. By media standards “The Donald” is a rich, successful real estate mogul. But, even he would have to admit that sometimes, he makes more money doing television than in real estate.

Whether you want a nice positive cash flow each month, or
a cash profit on a quick resale, the only honest and ethical way
to get there is EQUITY. Equity is the property value over and above
the total amount owed on the property.

You may think that an investor who owns say, 50 houses, is
probably very well set financially. He he might be…but
if this investor has refinanced his properties to take all the
cash out, or he paid too much to begin with, he may find
himself on the brink of foreclosure or bankruptcy if vacancy
rates climb.

One the biggest dangers I see today is the incredible pace
at which home owners and investors are pulling equity
out of their properties. (or worse, buying properties that have
little equity to begin with)

Many investors are buying properties without even
understanding how crucial equity is to their profitability.
And homeowners who get 125% loans on their homes
are asking for a foreclosure.

Regular readers know that I harp on the idea of keeping
a minimum of 20% equity in every property you own.
And the best reason to take lots of cash out of a property is
for the purpose of paying down debt on other real property.

Every week I get calls from investors who are desperate to
get a fix on why they are losing money on a deal. The number
one reason I see over and over, is a definite tendency to
take too much cash out of a property, which can kill your
positive cash flow.

It’s not flashy, it doesn’t sell as well as telling someone they
can make $10,000 by next week, but buying, holding
and accumulating equity is the absolute bottom line rule for
success if you are a small investor. I don’t want to burst
any guru bubbles, but the facts are the facts.

Let’s take my mom for example, who happens to be one
of my favorite investors and also by far, the most conservative one
I know. She owns 5 houses all paid for free and clear.
All are rented for an average of $525 per month.
(Her location is Cedartown, GA., relatively low cost compared to
Atlanta)
Her personal residence is paid for too.

Mom is bringing in $2,625 per month in rent. Taxes and Insurance
will get about $600 of it, leaving $2025. Over 12 months that
is $24,300. Not too bad. Added to other income and investments
this makes for comfortable, reliable retirement income.

On top of that, her passive income will increase over time as her rent
goes up. And, she is earning a solid 5% per year appreciation in the
value of each property. Some of her houses have doubled in value
over the past 12 years. In terms of equity, mom is worth a pretty
good chunk. In a good market, I’d guess about $800,000 just
for those 5 houses and her residence.

She took about 15 years to do it. Nothing fancy, just classic
real estate investing. Anyone could do the same thing easily in
10 years or less. But Mom knows that even when a property is
owned free and clear, there are still unexpected events and costs
that will eat into your cash flow.

She represents the vast majority of the conservative, “never-been-to
a-seminar-in-my-life”, types who make up the bulk of the real investors out there.
Some have 5 houses, and some have 75. I once worked
for a guy who had about 150 income properties. He was debt
free and had untold wealth in his equity. He had spent 30 years
building this portfolio, buying good deals as he came across them.

Like Mom, he also is careful to save money, avoid wasteful spending, and
keeps his equity in tact, so that his cash flow is in a safer range.

Equity gives you breathing room when the unexpected strikes.
You might have a tenant that skips out on you, or a tree falls on the roof and
your deductible is $1000. Practical real estate investing requires
equity for long term safety and security.

In contrast, many of the best known real estate gurus have been
broke and even filed bankruptcy. They could have used more equity.

Many people don’t know that real estate “guru” Robert Allen, the
author of “Nothing Down” and “Creating Wealth”, which ignited the
investing boom in the early 1990’s, went bankrupt in July of 1996.

It appears that his no money down deals loaded him with too much debt.
When interest rates went down and the rental market got
soft, there was not enough real equity there to pay the bills.

Remember investing guru Robert Huff? Well known in the 1980’s,
he wound up in bankruptcy too.

There are many gurus and investors who like to argue that equity
sitting in a property is money that is not being used.
I understand their point, but I respectfully disagree.
Taking equity out of a property also creates a situation in
which that property requires more cash flow to sustain the costs.
Then, when unexpected vacancies, higher taxes, or
bad tenants come along, the investor is left with too much debt
and not enough income to support that debt.
The result can be catastrophic for the over-leveraged investor,
some gurus have discovered.

Even “The Donald” has been broke. His restructuring of
massive debt on his New York City properties during the
late 1980’s was the basis for his “comeback” to real estate glory.
He got into a hole about 100 feet deep and then managed to
get himself out.
The book he wrote about the experience was a best seller that
made him famous.

Mom probably won’t be writing any books, but if she did, she would
caution Mr. Trump not to be over leveraged.
She will probably never be as famous as “The Donald”
but what ‘cha wanna bet she has more equity…

Donna Robinson is a real estate investor, author, and consultant located in Atlanta Georgia. You may read more of her articles on her website at http://www.RealEstateInvestorHelp.com or you may contact her by email at drobinson@reihelp.com or call 404 542-9903.

Tags: closing costs, mortgage closing, mortgage lenders, real estate, real estate investing

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