Here’s a ‘Secret’ (and Free) Way to Get Your Home’s Value

Writen by Lawrence D. Elliott

Special Announcement: The Internet has become an integral part of the homebuying process.

In fact, over 70% of all homebuyers use the Internet to search for their home. Of course, we all knew that, right? It’s been all over television, the newspapers, and, of course, the Internet.

Well, here’s a little known “secret” I’d like to share with you. As easy as it is to find home listings when searching for a new home, it is just as easy to get information on the value of your current homefor FREE! That’s rightF R E E!

Yes, there are some sites that charge for general sales information. But how accurate could this information be if it is just general value information for your town. Each neighborhood has its own characteristic, its own flavor. More importantly, each neighborhood also has its own market value, too. One neighborhood, for whatever reason, could vary in value greatly than a neighborhood adjacent to it. So it is very important to get specific property information about your particular home in your particular neighborhood.

How do you do that? Easy! You have a professional real estate agent run a market analysis of your home and email you a copy. Any professional real estate agent would jump at the chance to have the opportunity to create a dialogue with a future homeseller. And any homeowner should be excited about getting such information in a non threatening way. Think about it. You get a value range of your home at your convenience without having a real estate agent breathing down your neck or shoving a contract under your nose. This is especially useful if you just want to keep tabs on your home’s value or you’re just thinking of refinancing. Why go through stress unnecessarily. As a real estate professional, I wouldn’t want you to go through that and I’ll bet there are probably others who think the same way as I do.

But do me a favor for sharing this “secret” with you. When this professional shows you the respect of sharing this information about your home’s value with you, show him or her the same consideration by placing him or her on your short list of agents when you do consider selling your home. Or when you consider buying a property. Heck, whenever anyone in your sphere of influence thinks of doing the same thing, repay him or her for the respect shown. It’s only fair, wouldn’t you agree?

Lawrence D. Elliott has been a Realtor

Home Selling Smells Using Your "Scents" of Smell to Help Sell Your Home

Writen by Frank Calderon

You’ve followed all the steps your real estate agent or FSBO company gave you to get your house ready for the market. You painted the exterior of your home. You mowed the lawn. You painted the inside of your home and tidied up a bit as well.

Now your home has great curb appeal, but there are at least five more things you can do to increase the appeal of your home to prospective buyers. They all involve a sense we rarely consider when buying or selling a home: smell.

1. Bad smelling basement: Nothing smells quite like a musty basement. Make yours smell less musty by opening doors and windows to ventilate it (using fans can help), removing any mildewy carpet padding and, if all else fails, running a dehumidifier in the basement for several days before a buyer visits.

2. Funky smelling Fido and Fifi: Rid your home of pet odors. Wash your pet’s bedding and bathe him or her if possible. Clean and wash out your cat’s litter box, refilling it with fresh litter -and make sure to hide it when home buyers are in your house. Use an enzyme based cleaner to remove pet odors and stains from the carpet.

3. “Re scent” your refrigerator: Throw out any old, rotten food first. Next, remove all the food from your refrigerator and unplug it. Take two tablespoons of baking soda and mix them in a quart of warm water. Use this solution to wipe down the interior of the refrigerator, then rinse it and leave the door open to let the refrigerator dry and air out. If it still smells bad, try a solution of one cup vinegar to one gallon of water instead of baking soda and water, and repeat the steps above.

4. Garbage in, garbage out: If the garbage disposal smells bad, make sure it’s turned off first then check immediately underneath the rubber flaps in your sink. Sometimes, bits of garbage can get trapped under those flaps and stink up the joint. Next, take half a lemon and some baking soda and run them through the disposal. Ahhhh, lemony fresh!

5. Nothing says loving like something from the oven: Here’s an old real estate agent trick. Shortly before prospective buyers visit your home, make sure to bake an apple pie or some cookies or brownies. If you’re not much of a cook, no problem; just use a frozen pie or the pre mixed cookie dough they sell in the refrigerated section of many grocery stores. The point is to make your home smell really, really nice when the buyers come. Score some “brownie” points by offering them some of whatever it is you baked.

Selling your home doesn’t have to stink. Just follow the simple pointers listed above and your house will come out smelling like roses.

By Frank Calderon. Copyright © 2006 curioZities, LLC. All rights reserved.

Frank is the Founder and Manager of curioZities, LLC, an Internet marketing company. Find Frank’s “Fast Five” real estate tips at http://www.flarealestatepixelads.com.

Glen Rose Real Estate Market Growing Thanks to Demand for Exurban Subdivisions

Writen by Casey Coke

Although most widely known as the Dinosaur Capitol of Texas and for its travel and tourism appeal, Glen Rose, Texas is quickly gaining a reputation as a highly sought after city to live in. As recently as 2004, Glen Rose was voted as America’s Dream Town, an honor bestowed upon the city that best exemplifies small town values, civic pride and embraces its heritage. As a result of the town’s recent exposure and its proximity to the Dallas/ Fort Worth Metroplex, families and retirees are flocking to this picturesque small town located 50 miles southwest of Fort Worth and snatching up real estate at a rapid pace.

A recent story from the Journal of the Real Estate Center of Texas A&M noted that the demand of exurban housing projects, which are housing projects in rural areas that have convenient access to major urban areas as well as attractive terrain, are on the rise. Glen Rose is a city that is reaping the benefits of this growing real estate trend.

Marilyn Phillips of Sunrise Properties states, “Many times as a realtor it is my job to sell someone on the town or community. I am fortunate in that respect. Glen Rose easily sells itself. When you add excellent schools, wonderful people, proximity to the metroplex and quality of life to the great location, you see why people love it here and want to live here.”

The Real Estate Center of Texas A&M (recenter.tamu.edu) also notes that the groups leading this charge to the exurban areas are retirees, second homebuyers and the largest group nonlocal, suburban working families. Developers of the exurban communities report that this group is generally seeking a lifestyle change. They are disenchanted with the suburbs, which they feel are too dense and “cookie cutter”, with congested roads, dangerous schools and too complex quality of life. They want a peaceful rural life in a country chic setting.

Hank Jones from Quad J Realty adds, “The real estate market in Glen Rose is definitely on the rise, especially among families coming here from the big city. Aside from the fact that Glen Rose is the gateway to the Texas hill country and we have these great rolling hills and clean, clear rivers, families are moving here for the fantastic school system and the incredibly low crime rate.” Mr. Jones goes on to state, “Our retirement population has also been on the increase. We are seeing the retirees coming to Glen Rose because of the Squaw Valley Golf Course, which is rated as one of the top 10 public courses in Texas and because of our new medical facility, which has some of the finest medical technology available.”

Its not only realtors who are enjoying the rise in the areas popularity, but builders are also experiencing heavy workloads trying to keep up with the real estate demands.

Jim Gartrell, owner of Jim Gartrell Builders, says he has seen consistent, steady growth over the past few years in terms of new homes built. One trend he has noticed is that people are buying several acres of land at a time, but are not doing anything with it.

“With the Glen Rose real estate selling so quickly, a lot of people are buying land now for use later in life for things like retirement or to pass along to children” states Mr. Gartrell. One such example is a developing subdivision just outside of town called Cheyenne Hills Estates where tracts of multiple acreage are being bought up quickly.

Another appeal to people moving to Glen Rose is the style of homes that are being built. Mr. Gartrell refers to them as “hill country” style homes. These homes are characterized by rock facades, wrap around limestone porches and metal roofs. An excellent example of this style is on one of the local hotels. The Dinosaur Valley Inn and Suites (www.dinosaurvalleyinn.com), which was featured in Southern Living magazine, was built by Jim Gartrell builders and features all of the classic elements of the “hill country” style home, but on a larger scale, and lends a down home charm to the facility and provides an excellent example of the style of homes in Glen Rose. For visitors interested in seeing this hotel, it is located directly adjacent to the new expo center.

For an area of its size, Glen Rose and the rest of Somervell County stand tall in the great state of Texas. There are really no other towns of similar size that can compare to the amenities, attractions, entertainment and relative location that Glen Rose boasts. For those reasons and many more it is clear why real estate in Glen Rose continues to be a hot commodity.

For more real estate information contact Marilyn Phillips at www.sunriseproperties.net or contact Hank Jones at www.c21quadj.com.

For builder information contact Jim Gartrell Builders at 254 897 4063.

To learn more about Glen Rose, Texas visit www.glenrosearea.com.

Casey Coke is a writer for Glenrosearea.com, a travel and tourism website for Glen Rose, TX and the surrounding communities.

How Can Real Estate Investors Profit From The Internet?

Writen by Mark Walters

The Internet is a powerful marketing tool, but just how can a real estate investor make the best use of Web pages?

We’ve spent some time experimenting with Web sites and we’ve found a couple of ways that they can be useful.

First.. we just don’t believe you can effectively use Web sites to find motivated sellers. It least you can’t find them consistently. How many motivated home sellers do a Google search for “fast home buyer”?

We have two Web sites. Web site #1 serves two purposes…

First it acts a brochure. It explains that we buy and sell property and cash flows of all kinds. It reveals the names of the principal players in our company. It gives our address, phone numbers and email addresses.

We place the URL for this Web site on all our promotional material… letter head, business cards, flyers, newspaper ads, etc. It does not produce home sellers, but it does help to establish our credibility with sellers we find through other means. They can check the Web site and learn we are real people with a real business.

The second task that Web site #1 performs is to present the homes we have for sale and for rent. We create a page for each with well written copy that contains the property’s address.. and nice photos of the house, yard, nearby parks, shopping areas and schools.

When a potential buyer or seller contacts us we can refer them to those pages. This saves hours of time answering questions about location, price, number of bedrooms, etc.

What about Web site #2? We use this page to help recruit “bird dogs”. We feel that an important part of every investor’s marketing program should be an ongoing effort to find people who will search out motivated home sellers for us.

Where ever possible in our marketing material we include this line… “We will pay you CASH to find home sellers!” Then we will include the URL of our “bird dog” recruiting site. We do the same with inexpensive ads in penny saver types of publications.

You will find an example of our bird dog Web page here: http://lease option sub2.com/reward.htm

We don’t spend much time on these sites after they are up and running. The only pages that change on a regular basis our are homes for sale and rent pages. They take just a few minutes to add and delete.

Any work on Web pages that takes more than a few minutes is taking you away from more important marketing tasks. Keep it simple and keep moving toward profit producing projects.

About The Author: Mark Walters is a real estate investor and author with Web pages at: http://www.lease option sub2.com and http://www.CashFlowInstitute.com

Purchasing International Real Estate

Writen by Andrew Larder

Interested in investing somewhere other than your back yard?

Management companies have made it as easy to have a revenue property across the world as it is to have it across the street. You don’t want to be collecting rents and plunging the toilets no matter WHERE it is!

Different laws in different countries means some research is definitely in order. Some countries don’t allow you to own the land, you have to lease it. Check on title insurance to make SURE you really own it.

And just as people have bought swamp land in the United States, you need to actually VISIT your property look at it, make sure that it is in a good area, and looks to be a good investment.

Pictures can be VERY deceiving, and if your lot is next to the city dump, for example it’ll be hard to make a profit on it! Put at least as much effort into buying a $200,000 piece of real estate as you would into buying a $10,000 used car. You’d definitely want to see it, inspect it closely, go for a spin around the block and see how it performs on the highway. Okay, that’s tough to do with a piece of land, but take a walk around, get in an inspector, ask the neighbours what they think.

Probably the most important aspect of buying a property in another country is the managment company. If it is rented out, and rents rise, over time, the property will pay for itself, and pay off the mortage. In other words, with rising rents, you basically get revenue properties for free, over time. The renters pay your mortgage.

BUT…..

If you have tenant troubles, people moving in and out and big costs for re renting, repair and renovation on an ongoing basis, let alone outright destruction you may never see that happy day when the mortgage is paid off and some appreciation has occurred. The management company is either really good, concerned about your investment, or it is careless. Over time, THIS is the most crucial part of your investment, and should be VERY closely looked at. Talking to other clients is a quick way to get a read on their performance, and you should ask for these types of references.

Any real estate investment needs to be held on a long term basis to allow rising rents and rising property values to almost automatically make you money. A short term hold goes against these trends, especially when you factor in realtor fees, and development company profits if it is new construction. Make sure that it will truly be a “hands off” investment, and hopefully it will yield some headache free profits!

Andrew Larder International Real Estate Investing, Investments

To receive free info on no or low money down real estate investing, send a blank email to: monopolyinvestments@getresponse.com

Property Investment Strategies

Writen by Don Suter

If stocks and shares have been too much of a roller coaster ride over recent years or you are simply looking to diversify your investment capital, you may want to consider the following property investment strategies.

Buy to let

The term ‘buy to let’ first came about during the mid 1990s and describes the practice of purchasing property to rent out to tenants.

Over recent years, buy to let has become very popular and with many people priced out of the housing market, there seems to be plenty of demand for rented accommodation.

When buying to let, ensure that you pick properties with rental appeal and that the rent you charge each month will cover the costs of the mortgage and management fees.

Property development

This strategy ranges from renovating run down homes to purchasing land and building completely new houses.

Usually the developer will be able to spot some unrealised potential in the property and immediately after purchase begin making the changes to release that potential and increase the value.

Speculating

Put simply the speculator will buy the property cheap and go on to sell it at a higher price to produce a profit.

There are many ways for this to be done, including buying off plan at discounted prices or predicting where the next property hotspot is going to be.

Speculators can also increase the value of their property by obtaining planning permission to build on the land, before selling it to developers.

Property speculation is often a medium to long term activity, but a short term version, often known as ‘flipping’ exists, where the property is immediately sold again shortly before or after purchase.

An example of flipping would be a property investor purchasing a house at auction and then putting it straight back on the auction the following week with the intention of selling at a higher price.

Degrees of risk

All of these strategies carry varying degrees of risk, but can also provide a good return on investment if properly managed. As always, investors are advised to seek professional advice before entering into any transaction.

Don Suter is Managing Editor of the UK Property Portal (http://www.ukpropertyportal.co.uk), an online directory for UK property sales, rental, surveyors, mortgages, conveyancing, property insurance, removals, news, investment and development.

For more information and advice, search our property investment pages

Is the Buy to Let Market Slowing Down?

Writen by Richard Mulligan

With house prices to rental income ratios deteriorating, suggesting declining attractiveness of residential properties as investment vehicles, according to an article in Intellectual Property magazine.

Investor activity plays an important role in the property market, especially once price increases start to accelerate and even more so when prices start to fall. Says the Standard Bank: “Generally, investors are more likely than home owners to sell their property when they expect (or see) a fall in those prices. The simultaneous sell off by investors to escape or limit capital losses aggravates the decline in property prices.

A large presence of investors therefore gives the property market more momentum and fuels the trend in house prices in either direction.

The ever present danger in the investment market – residential and commercial – is lack of occupancy. This coupled with downward pressure on rental is beginning to squeeze the residential market – especially in areas where speculation became almost frenzied, such as the Western Cape. This applies particularly to the flat market, other than the Cape Town CBD units and in suburbs around a hub, such as Century City. Interestingly, developers continue to build residential property and investment buyers are still plentiful. This could change however if there is an upward move in the interest rate as investors would be first to sell off.

Richard Mulligan Evolvepro Property is an online Property Marketing Company in South Africa.

Cook County’s Class 9 Can Mean Lower Property Taxes, But Is It Right For You?

Writen by Rozilyn Bryant

Apartment buildings with more than six units in Cook County are generally designated as Class 3 properties, and they’re assessed at 26% of market value (as estimated by the Cook County Assessor).

But Class 9 properties are assessed at a lower 16% assessment level for a period of ten years. And that’s means significantly lower property taxes for owners of buildings designated Class 9.

For example, an seven unit worth $300,000 (by the Assessor’s measure) would normally have an annual tax bill of somewhere in the neighborhood of $12,500. Under Class 9, a building with similar value would owe around $7,700 in property taxesan annual savings of 38%.

Sounds like a no brainer, right?

Not so fast. Just like any other government incentive program, there are strings attached to qualifying. Read on…

Get Ready to Rehab

First, Class 9 is only for new construction or older properties about to undergo major rehabilitation. Rehab costs must amount to at least $6.00 per square foot in 2005 (goes up to $7.00/sf in 2006 and $8.00/sf in 2007). So, for a 10,000 square foot apartment building, you’d have to spend at least $60,000 to qualify. And you must apply before you start the work.

The good news is that most projects make a building eligible, including electrical, plumbing, roofing, and windows.

Get Ready for Paperwork

First and foremost, Class 9 is an affordable housing incentive, designed to encourage building owners to keep rents affordable to seniors, low income renters and working families. Depending on who you normally rent to, you may already have the tenant demographics needed to satisfy Class 9’s requirements. But, under the program, you must designate 35% of units as Class 9 units…

…And document tenant income for those units, showing that the household earns no more than 80% of the area’s median income.

Maximum rents for each unit type are set by the county, and in 2005 are:

Studio/Efficiency $745
1 BR $804
2 BR $965
3BR $1,116
4BR $1,251
Get Ready for Commitment

Not only must you commit to documenting tenants’ income every year, it’s important to know that the Class 9 designation runs with the building for ten years. So, if you plan to sell any time within that timeframe, give some thought to whether the affordable housing restriction will be attractive to investors looking at your property and area.

If an investor later buys your property and needs to get rid of Class 9, he’ll be required to repay all the tax savings from previous three years. Chances are, he’ll know about this requirement at the time of sale and look for a discount in price to cover that penalty.

Class 9 is a great cost reduction tool for multifamily owners citywide, just make sure it fits your investment objectives today and tomorrow.

© 2005 Rozilyn Bryant, All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Apartment Profits eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include complete attribution, including a live web site link. Please also notify me by email where the material will appear. The attribution should read:

“By Roz Bryant, Agent4Investors.com and KELLER WILLIAMS Realty. Please visit Roz’s web site at http://www.agent4investors.com for additional real estate articles and resources for Chicago apartment building investors.” (Make sure the link is live if placed in an eZine or in a web site.)

Home Buying Checklist Paint and Stucco

Writen by Raynor James

Buying a home is a big investment. You should use a checklist when sizing up potential homes. In this article, we cover a home buying checklist for paint and stucco.

Paint and Stucco

The exterior of a home typically makes the biggest impression when you first view a potential buying opportunity. Many homebuyers, however, often make the mistake of looking at color schemes as the principal issue. In truth, a close review of the exterior of the prospective home can tell you a lot about the quality of the structure.

A person selling a home is not stupid. Before putting a home on the market, they are going to take steps to spiff it out to raise buyer interest and the rate you are willing to pay. There is nothing devious about such conduct. It is natural to want to put your best foot forward and a person selling a home isn’t going to act differently. This is why you want to take a close look at the exterior paint and stucco on a home.

1. The first thing to look for is peeling or flaking of paint on the exterior walls. If you see this in an obvious place on a wall, run for the hills because the house needs a total repaint. Typically, you are not going to find such obvious problems. Instead, you need to poke around behind bushes, up under roof overhangs and in nooks and crannies. If you find problems of this sort, it tends to mean the paint job on the home was not applied correctly. Once these problems start occurring, you can count on them getting worse over time.

2. The second thing to look for is stains around perforations in the paint. For instance, look for an area where bolts or nails penetrate a painted surface. If you see rust around the hole, you may be seeing an indication of poor maintenance. Even worse, you may be seeing an indication of a water drainage problem. Investigate such occurrences very carefully.

3. With stucco homes, you are typically going to find some cracking do to earth movement and temperature changes. As long as these areas are relatively small, you shouldn’t have problems patching them for a nominal price. The bigger problem, however, is if you find stains or soft spots on the bottom section of a stucco wall. This can mean there are problems with the drainage screen behind the stucco wall and water isn’t getting out. If water isn’t getting out, the stucco will continue to degrade and you may have a mold problem at some point. Both situations can be very expensive to fix.

When checking out perspective home buying opportunities, the exterior of the home should be looked at very closely. In this case, the merits of the home all come down to the details.

Raynor James is with the FSBO site http://www.fsboamerica.org FSBO homes for sale by owner. Visit our home buying page http://www.fsboamerica.org/buyer.cfm to view and buy homes, houses, condos, land and real estate.