Vital Facts to Know When Buying Real Estate

If you are considering buying real estate, you will learn that there is a lot that goes into the overall process. After all, it will probably be the most expensive purchase of your life. As exciting as it is to start looking for a new home, it can be stressful and overwhelming.

You will find that there are many unexpected costs and details you need to consider prior to contacting a real estate agent. It is important you are aware of every little aspect and facet involved with purchasing a home before you take the step toward buying real estate.

Obviously you want to get the most value possible with the money you spend. Luckily, with the way the economy is today you can buy real estate for an incredible price. It is important you are aware of every detail possible in regards to the homes you look at.

Make sure you have a thorough home inspection conducted to help reveal any hidden flaws and problems the home may have. Many times there will be some problems you would have never noticed until after purchasing. This is precisely why a home inspection is essential.

The next thing to do when buying real estate is compare the mortgage terms and interest rates that are offered by various mortgage lenders. The smallest difference in interest rates can add up to thousands of dollars over the length of your mortgage. A pre-approval from the lender can give you the confidence needed when shopping for a new home as well as the added leverage when bargaining with the seller.

From there, you will want to consider using a buyer agent. Using a buyer agent is a great way to protect your interests when shopping for a home. They will be responsible for helping you get the best deal possible on the home of your choice. There are numerous features that can adversely affect the resale value of the home, so be aware of this. Just make sure to educate yourself on the home buying process as much as possible to protect your investment.

Buying real estate is a complicated process that you do not want to mess up with. It is going to be the most expensive purchase you make in your life. Therefore, make sure you are well educated and understand the entire process. Take the facts and tips in this article into consideration as you work towards purchasing a home.

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Source by Peter Vekselman

Lakeside Properties for Sale Can Mean Income for The Buyer

More and more people are ditching life in the city and purchasing lakeside properties for sale. They want to enjoy beautiful views, find some privacy, and lead a more relaxing life. Sometimes these dreams can be realized on the heels of understanding that income can be earned from a lakefront purchase.

Many people would jump at the opportunity for some peace, quiet, and tranquility. The mere chance of replacing the wave sound machine with real waves can bring a true level of calm. When you find lakeside properties for sale, pick your perfect spot, buy it, and turn it into money.

Waterfront Properties Retain Their Value

Besides having fun and leading a more relaxing lifestyle, you can expect your lakeside property to retain its value much better than its counterpart in the city. These properties are limited in number and are usually very high in demand. Economics 101 says that limited supply plus high demand equals great value. That value can also be passed down to family members for generations, so, you can consider it an investment in your future.

Rent Your Property

In addition to a future investment, lakeside properties for sale can also generate income shortly after purchase. Vacationers love to rent lakeside homes! In fact, there are websites dedicated to listing waterfront homes for rent. Those sites often offer the homeowner options to list the property for rent by the month or by the week.

Many lakeside properties for sale will also have a pier or boat dock. This saves the owner money because they won’t have to pay slip or docking fees at a marina. The pier or boat dock also presents another way to make income: you can rent out the dock or pier for someone’s celebration.

Protect Yourself While Making Money

The general rule of thumb when renting out any property is that the renter will not treat it the same way you would. Since it is your property, be as selective as you want about the people you allow to use it. The first thing to do is make sure you have a competitively high rental rate. Don’t be afraid to ask for a deposit. Renters will be more likely to take care of your place if they have extra money on the line. You should also take some time and list out any restrictions you’d like to put into place, such as no smoking or pets. You can even limit the number of people allowed to stay overnight. Finally, just in case, do not leave anything of value to you in the house when you’re renting it out.

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Source by Alfred Ardis

Top Rated Schools In Shady Hollow Austin – Baranoff Elementary School

Baranoff Elementary School, home of the Baranoff Buffaloes, is one of the top-rated schools in the Shady Hollow Austin neighborhood. Built in 1998, this young facility has dazzled both school administrators and parents alike. „My daughter just started kindergarten this year at Baranoff,“ enthuses one parent, „and she has learned so much. She’s already reading second grade level books.“

To no one’s surprise, the Texas Education Agency also has glowing things to report – the 2008-2009 „school report card“ for Baranoff includes Gold Performance Acknowledgment commendations for student performance in reading, writing, mathematics and science. TAKS scores were also impressive, with 97% of Baranoff students passing in math and writing, and 98% passing in reading/ELA. The school enjoys a student-to-full-time-teacher ratio of nearly 17 students-per-teacher, which almost certainly has had some bearing on the school’s success. Baranoff Elementary also benefits from close partnerships with local industry leaders like 3M and AMD, as well as a Peer Assistance League partnership with Bowie High School.

However, academics isn’t the totality of a Shady Hollow school experience. „Helping others and our sense of community is a strong value here at Baranoff,“ says PTA president Theresa Keannini. To that end, Baranoff students gathered 425 coats in the 2009 Coats for Kids drive, and have raised money for sister school Blazier Elementary’s library.

The school is named for Dr. Timy Baranoff. Dr. Baranoff has been teaching in the Austin area since 1963. Her service to the education of children in central Texas has been recognized with the Sallie Beth Moore Award, the L.D. Haskew Award, and the Outstanding Elementary Teachers of America Award, among others. She remains involved as the president of the Austin Retired Teachers Association. „Timy is a very child-focused individual,“ says Debra Sansom, Baranoff Elementary’s Principal. „Her entire life has been dedicated to young people and their education.“

Just like its founder, Baranoff Elementary isn’t ready to rest on its laurels. Among its continuing initiatives to improve its services to Shady Hollow, the school has recently completed an eight-classroom addition, and is working to implement hands-on science education at all grade levels and to expand extended-day activities such as choir and volleyball. It seems only fitting, considering the poem Dr. Baranoff wrote to share her feelings when she heard she was being honored by having a school named after her:

I sat still for a moment and thought what that meant

To receive such an honor was indeed a special event

It was amazing, incredible, my heart gave a leap,

I couldn’t breathe for a moment, then I thought,

‚there’d be promises to keep’…

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Source by Philip Myers

Realty Vs Real Estate Vs Real Property

Realty and personal property terms have often been confused as to what they exactly mean. Here we will clear that right up for you. We will look at the terms personal property, realty, land, real estate, and lastly real property.

Let’s begin with personal property. Personal property also known as chattel is everything that is not real property. Example couches, TVs things of this nature. Emblements pronounced (M-blee-ments) are things like crops, apples, oranges, and berries. Emblements are also personal property. So when you go to sell your house, flip, or wholesale deal, you sell or transfer ownership by a bill of sale with personal property.

Realty.

Realty is the broad definition for land, real estate, and real property.

Land

Land is everything mother nature gave to us like whats below the ground, above the ground and the airspace. Also called subsurface (underground), surface (the dirt) and airspace. So when you buy land that’s what you get, keep in mind our government owns a lot of our air space.

Real Estate

Real estate is defined as land plus its man made improvements added to it. You know things like fences, houses, and driveways. So when you buy real estate this is what you can expect to be getting.

Real property

Real property is land, real estate, and what’s call the bundle of rights. The bundle of rights consist of five rights, the right to possess, control, enjoy, exclude, and lastly dispose. So basically you can possess, take control, enjoy, exclude others, and then dispose of your real property as you wish as long as you do not break state and federal laws.

Lastly there are two other types of property we should mention.

Fixture

Fixture is personal property which has been attached realty and by that now is considered real property. So you would ask yourself upon selling to determine value „did you attach it to make it permanent?“ The exceptions to this rule are the garage door opener and door key, these are not considered fixtures.

Trade Fixtures

Trade fixtures are those fixtures installed by say a commercial tenant or can be the property of the commercial tenant.

I hope this clears up some misconceptions about personal property, realty, land and real estate and now fixtures and trade fixtures!

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Source by Bill Guerra

How I Learned to Sell My House Fast!

I had been trying to sell my house for over two long years before I discovered how to sell my house in 7 days or less. I had a house in another state in which I no longer lived. In addition to the house I lived in, I was paying a first and second mortgage, utilities, taxes and outrageous rates for vacancy insurance month after month while my house sat empty and unsold. The house was bleeding my bank account to death, especially when the real estate and credit market started to go downhill.

Before I moved, I tried to sell my house myself „For Sale by Owner“ (FSBO) with no luck. I had no idea how to effectively market my house to generate buyer interest, how to get them financed, how to complete the purchase and sale paperwork and the like. After I failed to sell my house myself, I listed the house with 4 different Realtors for six months each. They told me the that my house was beautiful, that they could sell my house fast and get top dollar. They promised me that they would market my house in the paper, magazines, on the MLS and do multiple open houses and more. In reality, they barely lifted a finger. They listed my house on the MLS, put a sign in the yard and forgot about my house. They did no open houses as promised, advertised in no magazines and never showed the house. I lost two years worth of mortgage payments, taxes and utilities that I will never recover.

Perhaps you’ve found yourself in a similar situation. Perhaps you are making two house payments, trying to sell an ugly house, in foreclosure, bankruptcy, going through a messy divorce, dealing with the death of a loved one, lost your job, had an extended illness or just can’t afford to make your house payments anymore. Perhaps you too have tried to sell your house on your own or through a Realtor with no luck. Regardless of your reasons for wanting to sell your house fast, there is a better way to sell without trying to sell your house yourself or listing through a Realtor. You can sell your house in 7 days or less and here’s how…

I was searching the Internet one day looking for yet another Realtor to list and sell my house when I came across a local company that claimed to buy houses in 7 days or less. Perhaps you’ve seen some of those local „We Buy Houses“ people or companies in your neighborhood. I called the home buyer and he said that they were indeed a local, professional home buying company that buys houses in any area, condition or price range, in 7 days or less, for investment purposes. He said they could pay me all cash, take over my mortgage payments and close quickly if needed. He said that if my house qualified, they could buy my house fast allowing me to sell my house in 7 days or less!

We made an appointment for him to come out and inspect my home within the next 48 hours. He loved my house and said it was exactly the type of home that he and several of his customers were looking for. He made me 2 different offers to purchase my home on the spot. One was an all cash offer to buy my house below current market value. This offer would have netted me about the same amount I would have made had I listed and sold through a Realtor. The second offer was to give me some cash now, take over my mortgage payments and cash me out of my mortgage and remaining equity later when he was able to resell my house to a new buyer. This offer would give me a higher sales price, some cash now, immediate debt relief from my mortgage payments and the rest of my cash later. If I had not been trying to sell my home for two years, I would have taken the 2nd offer. However, because I had been trying to sell my home for so long, I took the cash offer and netted the same amount I would have likely made if I had sold through a Realtor. The home buyer handled all the paperwork and we closed later that week with a local real estate attorney. My house was bought and sold in 7 days or less! Man, I wish I had met these guys two years ago!

If you too have an unwanted house you need to sell fast for any reason whatsoever, I recommend you contact one or more local, professional home buyers in your area before you list your house with a real estate agent or try to sell „For Sale by Owner“. You owe it to yourself to see what these folks have to offer before you lock yourself into a six month listing agreement with a real estate agent and end up waiting two years and thousands and thousands of dollars later to sell your home for the same amount you would have likely netted to begin with.

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Source by D. Griffin

Tips On How To Sell Your House Fast For Top Dollar

It’s the dream of every person looking to sell a house to sell it as soon as possible and at a high price. Unfortunately this is not the case. In some cases it can take you up to a year before you get a prospective buyer. While its tough selling a house, it doesn’t mean that you can’t sell yours fast and at a high price. Here are tips that will help you do it:

Prepare your house for sale

There is no buyer that will buy a mediocre house. You need to ensure that your house in good condition. One of the things that you should do is keep the house spotlessly clean. Give all areas of the house a thorough cleaning. For a better job, hire a cleaning company to help you out. When cleaning, pay attention to smells.

If you are still living in the house, don’t cook bacon during the day that you are showing it. This is to prevent it from smelling like a fast food restaurant. Also remember to paint the walls and get rid of your personal effects.

In addition to giving attention to the inside of the house also consider the outside. An easy way of giving life to the outside of the house is mowing the lawn. Also plant or place flowers at strategic areas of the house.

Sell your house with a realtor

Once the house is in good condition and don’t want to go the hard way of advertising the house, work with a realtor. When finding a realtor, choose one that has been in the industry for long as he/she understands the ins and outs of the business. He/she also might know people that might be interested in buying the house.

In addition to the professional helping you sell the house fast, he/she will also guide you on the areas that you should fix, clean or remove. This is to make the house more attractive for selling.

According to studies, most realtors sell houses on an average of 6 months. This calls for you to brace yourself to be in the market for at least six months. Also be ready to pay the realtor a 6% service charge.

Sell to a real estate investor

There are many real estate investors in the market that buy houses, renovate them and later sell them. Most of the investors will visit your house and analyze it in order to find its value. They will also identify the areas that need to be repaired/ renovated. Investors are good to sell to if you are in urgent need of money. When working investors be cautious as some of them might try to rip you off. To sell the house at top dollar, repair the house by yourself.

Conclusion

These are tips on how to sell your house fast and at a high cost. Regardless of the professional that you work with, ensure that he/she is experienced and reputable.

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Source by Idd Aziz

House Selling Tips – Discover 3 Creative Ways to Sell Your Property in Today’s Market

In today’s real estate market you need to have a system in order to sell your houses fast. Below you will find 3 ways that we use to sell our properties fast in today’s market.

1. Multiple Listing Service: Commonly referred to as the MLS. There are a few ways to get property listed on the MLS. List the property with a Realtor or you can list it yourself on the MLS by using a flat fee MLS listing company. Offer to pay at least a 5% commission when using a Realtor and on the flat fee MLS it will cost you about $500 up front for the listing and then offer 2.5-3% to the Realtor that brings you the buyer

2. FSBO: You can use this method at the same time as #1 when you choose the flat fee MLS service. Install a sign on the front lawn the day you close and then post the property on as many websites as possible. Do not use the info tube or provide any info, just a number for them to call.

3. Build a Buyers List: This is the best thing you can do because he who has the list has the gold. Whenever you get a call or an email about your property, capture the buyer’s info before you provide them any info. Find out what they are looking for and keep track of all of the information in a database or spreadsheet. Next time you have a property to see all you need to do is go to your buyers list and send them the details and watch the phone ring of the hook.

There are many techniques to find buyers and sell houses quickly. The key will be to build a buyers list so you will be able to use one method so you won’t need any other.

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Source by Craig Picard

Tax Credits For Home Improvements

Tax credits for home improvements are an incentive to make your home more energy efficient. It is our responsibility as consumers to improve the quality of our environment. Energy-efficient products are one way for us to make a conscious decision to do our part. The perk is that credits are available for these home improvements.

What is a tax credit?

A tax credit is a direct reduction in tax liability (not dependent on the tax payer’s tax bracket). It is a „dollar for dollar“ reduction on taxes owed.

What improvements qualify for a tax credit?

Credits available at 30% of the cost, up to $1,500 total. These credits only apply to existing homes, not new construction.

  • Windows and Doors
  • Insulation
  • Roofs
  • HVAC
  • Water Heaters
  • Biomass Stoves

Credits are available at 30% of cost, with no limit, through 2016. These credits apply for both existing homes and new construction.

  • Geothermal Heat Pumps
  • Solar Water Heaters
  • Solar Panels
  • Small Wind Energy Systems

Credits available at 30% of the cost, up to $500 per.5 kW of power capacity, through 2016. These credits apply for both existing homes and new construction, excluding vacation homes.

  • Fuel Cells

How to know if you’re eligible for a tax credit?

A general rule of thumb is that if you don’t pay any taxes, you are not eligible for a credit. It is not dependent upon if you’re getting a refund or not. The total amount of income tax that you are responsible for paying is what determines your eligibility. You can not get more in credits than you are responsible for paying in federal taxes.

A more energy-efficient home means lower utility bills, improved air-quality, and more money in your pocket. This also improves the resale value of your home. All of these benefits plus the credit from the IRS makes becoming more energy-efficient more attractive than ever.

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Source by Meka Williams

Top 7 Tips on How to Hire a Builder

Are you looking for a builder for your new house? If so, you can use the following 7 tips to choose and work with the right contractor. Read on.

Get Recommendations

You can discuss your needs with your friends and family. Besides, you can contact the National Association of the Remodeling Industry to get a list of good contractors in your area. It’s also a good idea to consult a good building inspector.

Conduct Interviews

Once you have got the list, you can make calls to each of the contractors and ask them relevant questions. You can ask them about the projects they took, the financial references, the subcontractors they work with and so on.

Meet in person

Based on the interviews you conducted over phone, you can choose a few contractors. You can then meet them for further discussions about the project. Good contractors will answer your questions until you are satisfied. Generally, it’s not a good idea to hire a professional with a track record of a lot of disputes. You can contact your local BBB to make sure the one you have selected is reliable.

Meet the former clients

You can contact the former clients of the contractor to know how their building project went. It will be great if they get ready to show you the finished building. However, you shouldn’t depend on the results alone. What you should do is visit the current site and check how the contractor is working on the project. Is he using safe methods? Are the workers careful enough? This will give you a pretty good idea about the reliability of the contractor you are going to hire.

Ask for Bids

Once you have shortlisted a few good candidates, you should look forward to the project. Qualified contractors need blueprints as well as a clear idea of what the homeowner wants from the project. In addition, they need to know how much the homeowner is willing to spend. You can ask for bids to make sure you hire the best yet the least expensive contractor.

Deciding Factors

Your goal is not to hire the lowest bidder. The lowest bidder may cut corners or he may be desperate for work. In a strong economy, this is not a good sign. The most important thing that you should keep in mind when hiring a contractor is to make sure he will stay in touch with you throughout the project. It’s better to spend a bit more and hire someone who will be easy to work with.

Put it in Writing

You should draw a contract that will show the details of the project. Make sure everything is in writing. Making verbal promises is not a sign of professionalism. Therefore, you should write down everything before signing the contract with the contractor.

So, these are a few tips that can help you hire the best builder for your project. By hiring the right builder, you can get the project done in a timely fashion while saving a good deal of money.

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Makler Heidelberg


Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

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Source by Satvik Mittal