Nu-Way Real Estate

Author: Cristi Andrews

For years, Florida’s real estate market was booming. Today, however, there are multiple signs portending a significant downturn in the market. A variety of factors is contributing to an overall decline in Florida real estate values. Once sizzling Miami is lukewarm and the Orlando boom seems to be on its way to a bust. Hot markets in Clearwater, Tampa and elsewhere are cooling, too.

According to Moody’s, Florida is one of three U.S. regions in which a crash is distinctly possible. Investors hold a whopping forty percent of properties in these areas and as the market cools, they will be doing their best to cut and run from Florida. The experts at Moody’s also not that many of Florida’s recent home buyers signed off on interest-only mortgages and are also looking for a quick way out. Some predict an overall market correction of up to fifty percent over the next few years.

Industry analysts are not the only ones ringing alarm bells. A recent interview with the President of a real estate training school in Florida indicated that, “We’ve seen a big softening in Florida–there are fewer sales to spread around more sales people.” Florida is not the real estate cash cow it was only a few short years ago.

Compounding the problem is the increasing cost of property insurance in Florida. The commercial real estate market is struggling with premiums that have quadrupled over recent years. Those heightened insurance costs are driving people away from the once-hot Florida market. Recent surveys indicate that these rapidly escalating rates are a primary factor guiding buyer decisions in the area.

Surviving and prospering within the Florida marketplace is growing increasingly complicated and difficult. The rapid changes in the area have created a need for experts who are capable of carefully evaluating the nature of the market.Florida Real Estate Watch, for instance, is keeping a close eye on the situation, uncovering remaining opportunities and steering would-be investors away from potentially dangerous decisions.

Florida’s boom may be headed for bust, but the current decline in values does not necessary spell doom for all potential investors. Smart decision making guided by critical study of the marketplace does create chances for investment success even in the declining market. Florida Real Estate watch is dedicated to providing the kind of analysis that can help anyone to get a better grip on the changing natures of Florida’s commercial and residential real estate sectors.

Florida is not the high-growth market it was only a few short years ago. Rapid over-investment, increasing insurance premiums, natural disasters, and scores of other variables are now driving prices down. If you are currently involved in the Florida market, or are looking for great opportunities within it, quality information from resources like Florida Real Estate Watch are invaluable.

Author: Lanard Perry

Many real estate agents spend a lot of time and money marketing new prospects, while completely overlooking the best ones they have; old ones. We all realize the importance of acquiring new clients, but how many of us truly grasp the importance of not only retaining old ones, but actually expanding on those relationships?

The cost of acquiring new customers is escalating, no matter the industry; real estate, mortgage financing, land development, etc. On the other hand, marketing to past customers is less expensive and is at least as profitable.

Consider this; the average home owner is likely to purchase and/or sell 4-5 houses in their life time. So, if you sell them one property why not establish them as life time customers and assist in the buying and selling of the others. For the most part each time they buy or sell they step up in price range and affordability, excepting of course perhaps their last and final transaction - a retirement home.

So, why are former clients so overlooked? Personally, it was because I was driven to close on the next deal and knew that it would be years before a closed client would be ready to sell. However, my rational was very short sighted!

Typically, closed clients are happy with you and your services, so there is a greater chance that they will come back to you for future transactions - if you give them reasons to. Also, they are usually eager to refer colleagues, relatives, co-workers, and friends to you. There’s almost no end to the number of referrals a satisfied customer will give.

So, a mind shift to building long term relationships with “closed” buyers/sellers is in order. Instead of abandoning clients after a sale continue nurturing the relationships by maintaining routine and ongoing contact with them, which will help you to protect them from your competitors. Remember, if you’re not taking care of them somebody else is.

Keeping in contact and maintaining relationships with ?closed clients” is really kind of easy. You could call just to say ?hi” every other month and drop them something in the mail in the off months. It could be as simple as a post card, an anniversary card celebrating the date of their closing on their house, a letter recognizing the graduation of their son from high school, or daughter moving on to the first grade.

It doesn’t have to be expensive, just personal!

Safeguard your relationships with past clients by continuing to nurture relations with them. When you continue to show them love and how much you appreciate them they’ll continue to show you the same.

Have you had the unpleasant experience yet of a past client transacting a real estate deal with another agent? I have and it hurts! I felt abandoned and betrayed - yep, it was that personal. However, in truth it was I who had abandoned them. That’s when I smartened up and made the mind shift to building long term relationships with my “closed” and existing clients.

So, the moral of this story is take care of your clients by letting them know how important they are and they’ll continue showing how much they care about you, too; all the way to the bank..again and again and again!

Author: Mark Walters

One of today’s most profitable real estate investing tactics is using a combination of leases and options. Here’s how it works:

You are an investor who buys and sells rental homes for profit. There are many ways to negotiate the purchase of a home. Of course, you can always make a purchase offer that includes your cash down payment coupled with a new mortgage loan.

Even with low down payments few investors have enough cash to do more than one or two deals.

No, it just not practical to tie up cash in each deal of you plan on buying 8 or 10 investment properties. These days many investors find a motivated seller who will listen to a more creative offer. The investor explains why it is in the seller’s best interest to lease the home to the investor with an option to buy in some set period of time. Often the term of the purchase option will be from 1 to 5 years.

At some point the investor will want to sell a property to get to the cash profit. One of the ways to sell a home for top dollar is to sell it on a lease with option to purchase. Often the investor can offer a buyer with weak credit the opportunity to buy a home when no one else will.

Because the buyer has a low credit rating the investor is entitled to a little more profit for taking the risk. This enables the investor to price the home 10% or 15% above market value and get a monthly payment 10% or 15% above normal.

The buyer is happy. They are able to own a home and begin building equity. The investor is happy. He makes a greater profit and the tenant/buyer treats the home as if they own it… as they can within a few months.

Often the trick is to find a buyer who is worthy of such a deal. Eureka! There is now a service, LeasePurchaseLeads found on the internet, that has list of tenant/buyers that are motivated, ready to move, already have a down payment, understand how a lease purchase works, and are serious about moving in?

To narrow it down even further, the tenant/buyers on the LeasePurchaseLeads list tell you exactly what kind of house they need, and where it needs to be. The investor then looks the list over and selects the ones with the highest down payment, and/or the ones that are ready to move right now looking for a home like the investor’s. There’s no fee to join the service and no fee to look over the list of potential lease option buyers. The investor only pays a nominal fee to get the name and phone number of anyone on the list that seems to be an ideal buyer.

Author: Paige Martin

There are many common mistakes that real estate investors seem to make over and over again. Being able to identify the mistakes is important when trying to determine how to avoid them.
Below are some of the most common mistakes, and ideas on how investors can steer clear of them.

The first mistake that investors often make is not having a marketing strategy. Although they may place advertising signs throughout neighborhoods and along roads, the advertising is not going to work if the people who will see them are not interested or, if they are in inconspicuous places where they will not even be noticed.

This can be avoided by first planning the best spot to place these signs, based on where they will have maximum exposure.

A testing system then needs to be put in place to determine how effective the advertising is and reviewing the test results to determine if the signs are doing the job the investor needs them to. Once investors have tested the marketing strategies, they will be able to see what works the best.

Once that has been determined, there is no reason to change just for the sake of change. It’s extremely important to continue to use the marketing strategy that works best for them.

If it’s thought that another strategy would work better, it needs to be carefully planned out, tested, and those test results reviewed. It may be unwise to change strategies too much, as this all will cost more money.

Another mistake is simply spending too much. If a strategy is not within the investor’s budget, then another less expensive strategy must be determined. Overspending will only cost the investor in the long run and they soon will not be able to focus on their initial investment because they are facing financial problems.

It’s important to remember that other investors are trying to remain competitive. For this reason, investors need to determine what type of marketing strategy will make them more competitive and a greater force to deal with. Investors should think outside of the box on this one and not just try the marketing strategies that they see others using.

While these strategies are likely to work, they don’t help the investor remain competitive.

It’s also just as important to remain tenacious. Just because some strategies have stopped working, or parts of them worked while others didn’t, doesn’t mean that the whole thing is completely useless. Investors should review the good and the bad of what they have already done. Something is likely to come from this that will be a big help when coming up with another marketing strategy.

Author: Kelly Thacker

When you decide to buy or sell a house, you may have questions regarding legal issues. Sometimes it’s a good idea to have an attorney present for the signing of certain documents. Sometimes you may just need someone like an attorney look over everything and make sure that there aren’t any legalities that are being overlooked.

You may get advice from a lot a people during the home buying or selling process. Mortgage brokers, realtors and employees of the title company might all let you know what you need to do next. But, keep in mind that none of these people are actually qualified to give you legal advice. Only an attorney is qualified to give legal advice. One piece of advice you can get from your broker or realtor is an attorney referral. You should look for an attorney in your area that specializes in real estate law. If you’re lucky, you can find an attorney who is also a real estate broker or agent. People like this generally keep up with the changing laws and systems that are in place to ensure that the real estate sale is fair on both sides.

When you get your list of attorneys, call each one. Ask any questions that you might have and gauge who you like based on how they answer your questions. They probably won’t specifically give you answers, but they’ll be able to tell you what they can do for you. Ask how much each charges hourly. Then, explain your situation and what all you need done. Get an estimate of how long all of this will take to get an idea of the cost. Some will charge one flat fee to do everything that you need regarding the buying or selling of the property.

So, what are some problems that you might run into as a buyer or seller? There are a lot of legal documents to sign during the negotiation phase of buying or selling a property. When you’re selling, you usually will sign an agreement with the realtor and the mortgage broker. Sometimes they will use a standardized form that doesn’t take into account any special circumstances. They may have it set up so that they get paid regardless of what happens in the process. If you take your property off of the market or decide to change companies, you could end up still paying the original broker or agent. You could get stuck paying them more than one commission or paying it when the property doesn’t sell.

The bottom line is that a lot can go wrong for you when buying or selling and it’s best to have legal representation when dealing with these problems that can pop up. You’ll need advice along the way, so it’s probably best to make that advice professional advice. The Salt Lake City Court Reporters at Thacker + Co bring you this information to protect you in the home buying or selling process.

Author: Samantha Bonsu

Your financial status and its proper maintenance are very important to lead a normal life. In today’ fast pace materialistic world, it has become difficult for people to take up both these aspects in synchronization. To purchase a residential property or control the assets, appropriate financial preparation is considered to be the vital factor.

You might be willing to buy some property which just made you go crazy. Lack of adequate finance would make you frustrated and disappointing. The perfect solution for such a problem would be bridging the gaps between your requirement and availability of funds.

Bridging loan fill the financial gap with cash if any issue arises in relation to buying or selling of the property or any real estate deal. These loans are available from banks and financial institutions and have a large presence in the UK financial market. To get relief from all complex loan procedures and queues, you can even apply for these loans online where things are done comfortably with few clicks. The loan amount may be used to buy semi commercial, commercial or residential property and always real estate specific.

Quick bridging loans are approved and advanced by the lender quickly. In a deal when there is a time gap in the purchase, the property which you have purchased is to be placed as security and is thus known as security based loan. The amount advanced as loan depends on the equity value of the property. As the real estate industry of the UK is booming up these days, placing security with higher amount might sound to be pretty advantageous for you in obtaining greater amounts to complete two successive successful real estate deals. These loans help in grabbing the best deals for the right property which you wished for. The repayment time frame of these loans is pretty lower than the other ones as these are quick loans and are meant to be repaid early. Repayment time period ranges from few months time to a maximum of one year.