Finance Tips

In real estate, the term rehabbing mainly refers to the process of buying and renovating a property before selling it for profit. Most real estate investors prefer houses that require minimum repairs to help them reduce their expenses. There are also some who buy fixer upper homes that are located in the best part of a neighborhood because selling these properties once they are rehabbed are relatively easier.

The business of fixing and flipping properties requires a considerable amount of cash on hand because of the repairs or the rehabilitation of a house. If you don’t have ready money, a good way to obtain financing aside from seeking the assistance of traditional lenders is through hard money loans. Hard money loans usually provide coverage for the repair cost of a property, which is being offered as collateral.

When choosing investment properties, you might want to consider buying houses from motivated home sellers because you can save a lot of money. These people are in a hurry to get rid of the property due to various reasons that may include, divorce, relocation, or foreclosure. Because of this, they don’t usually ask for a higher selling price. As long as you can get the property off their hands the soonest possible time, they would be willing to accept your offer.

Before starting the rehabbing process, find out the property’s repair cost. If you don’t know how to do it, you can ask professional contractors or appraisers to check out the house. Doing a walk through on the property will also give you an idea on how much it would take you to get it back on shape. Check the roof for wood rot or termite damage, as well as the house’s overall structure for cracks on the walls.

Once you got the estimates, make sure that you have secured the necessary permits to repair the property. Some code enforcement agents drop by unannounced and if they catch you tearing down the house without the necessary papers, it can spell disaster for your rehabbing project. But if you are prepared for such a scenario, you can proceed with your fix and flip project without the fuss. Renovating the property on your own can help you save a lot of money. However, if you’re not a full-time rehabber, it could take some time before you finish doing the repairs on the property. In addition, if the repairs are not at par with the local building code, you’re bound to face a lot of problems in the future. So if you don’t have experience with handyman jobs, you better hire contractors to do the renovations.

Meanwhile, if you want to know the dos and don’ts of rehabbing, log on to REIWired.com. The website features quality articles and videos on real estate investing as well as fixing and flipping properties.

If you are contemplating Buying a House and are just about to start searching for your dream home then a crucial piece of advise for you. Get in touch with your mortgage expert. But why do you need him at this stage when you have not even started the search for the house let alone negotiated a price or know how much you may need to borrow?

What can a mortgage expert do for you at such an early stage? What benefit will it accrue you? A mortgage expert can pre-qualify you. When a mortgage professional pre-qualifies you, you can determine how much monthly mortgage payment you can afford to pay. A mortgage company will also tell how much amount will they loan you. A mortgage professional will take in to account your income and debts, your employment/business and other details such as residence details, the funds available with you for down payment of the house and reserves needed. A competent mortgage professional will keep it short, simple with minimum of hassle and paperwork.

Once you qualified by the mortgage professional, you will receive Pre-Qualification Letter (your real estate agent might know it a “pre-qual”), which states that the mortgage professional is assisting you to find the best loan to meet your requirements and that they are confident you’ll qualify for a loan for a certain amount.

When you do find a home suitable to your needs and you decide to make an offer, then being pre-qualified will help you in two ways. Firstly, you will know beforehand how much you can offer the seller. Yes, your Real Estate Agent will help you in deciding the best offer but being pre-qual will give you the confidence to know that you can complete the deal.

Secondly, from the point of view of the home seller, you being pre-qualified means that you are more trust worthy and more likely to buy the house. They get confidence that you will qualify for the mortgage to finance the amount you quoted for the home. Thus they are much sure that you are not wasting his/her time. This will make your position to negotiate much better. A mortgage expert can pre-qualify you. When a mortgage professional pre-qualifies you, you can determine how much monthly mortgage payment you can afford to pay. A mortgage company will also tell how much amount will they loan you. A mortgage professional will take in to account your income and debts, your employment/business and other details such as residence details, the funds available with you for down payment of the house and reserves needed. A competent mortgage professional will keep it short, simple with minimum of hassle and paperwork. to find the best loan to meet your requirements and that they are confident you’ll qualify for a loan for a certain amount.

To know how much mortgage you can afford you can use calculators available on many sites. But also make sure to meet a mortgage professional for two reasons. Firstly, they will suggest the best mortgage program to suit your needs and secondly, to get a Pre-Qualification letter!

About the Author:

Did you know that 80% of 62 year olds still have mortgage payments and that’s the single biggest reason why most people are unable to retire because they’re still managing that large mortgage debt. What if I could show that a biweekly mortgage program is one of the surest ways to ensure that you’re able to retire your mortgage when you want to retire. You see, by starting a biweekly payment plan on your mortgage today, you can literally change the course of your financial future and your ability to retire. I’m about to turn 40 and I discovered that I would be just shy of seventy years old when I paid my mortgage off and that is, if I stay in my current house and never refinance again or move. That was a dramatic thing for me to realize that it would be several years past the age that I wanted to retire if I can’t even retire sooner and I would’ve still been making payments on my mortgage. You know, I tried my own do-it-yourself program for eight years, shamefully, I have to admit to you that it didn’t work. I just wasn’t consistent enough with my plan. Imagine having a third party manage your program for you and yes, your money is completely safe and fully insured, but the program goes on and on, out of sight, out of mind just like your 401k.

Every other week, they withdraw half of your mortgage payment, make sure that your monthly payments are made directly to your lender in a timely fashion and apply the extra payments to your principal, eliminating five to seven or more years off of your mortgage. We can even show you how adding just a few extra dollars per month can knock up to ten years off of your mortgage. I’ve got to ask you, would that help? When considering what my Social Security check would be, even if Social Security is around at my age, my mortgage payment would take quite a bit of that money and utilities, groceries, there wouldn’t be much left. No money for medical or prescriptions, car repairs, home maintenance or any other normal expenses that might come up. This was so disturbing to me that I had to take immediate action and started by finding a third party biweekly program for myself. Don’t be in the position that so many Americans are in. Make a positive change today and enroll in your own automatic third party biweekly program! To get more information on biweekly mortgages including articles, more free videos, a free mortgage calculator, even a free biweekly guide or to learn how to start your biweekly mortgage program today, visit biweeklymortgagetips.com.