How to Easily Rebuild Your Credit After a Short Sale

Paying off your mortgage and eliminating PMI

Short sales continue to increase despite the seeming rebound in housing markets across America. According to RealtyTrac, short sales and foreclosures comprised of 16.2% of U.S. home sales in 2013. This was up from 2012, when 14.5% of home sales were short sales and foreclosures. In a short sale, the mortgage lender agrees to let a homeowner accept an offer for their home that’s less than the amount owed on the loan. The bank takes all the proceeds, but the seller walks away with the remaining debt forgiven. Choosing to go that route will put a serious dent in your credit score, but it’s not a fiscal death sentence. You can rebuild your credit and your finances after a short … Read more

Top 5 Tips for Buying Investment Property

Buying investment property

Buying investment property is stressful.  Buying investment property typically means taking your personal tastes out of the decision. But, paying close attention to details will make the home pleasing to future tenants. There are so many things to consider when buying an investment property, that it is a good idea to learn as much as you can beforehand from real estate investment experts like Than Merrill. However, here are some basic tips for buying investment property. Tips for Buying Investment Property Get Pre-Approved Unlike some personal home loans, investment property mortgages generally require at least a 20% down payment.  Make sure the properties you intend to buy are something that you can afford.  You should attempt to get pre-approved for a mortgage before … Read more

Affordable Homeownership: How To Get Help To Buy a Property

Using a mortgage calculatorThere are more would-be first-time house buyers than ever before, who think that they will find it almost impossible to get on the housing ladder without a bit of help to get them started with affordable homeownership.

Many first-time buyers either have to make use of some funding from the bank of Mum and Dad if it is available, towards the deposit, or they turn to one of the homebuy schemes that have been set up to help people achieve their dream of owning their own home.

Home ownership schemes

There are currently four specific home ownership schemes that are being backed by the government for property purchase, with different schemes operating in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Here is a look at the schemes available and how you might be eligible to apply in order to assist you in buying your home in England, if can’t afford to do so without extra financial help.

Help to Buy With Affordable Homeownership

The Help to Buy program, or scheme, is probably the most accessible option in terms of eligibility, as the equity loans offered are available to not just first-time buyers but home movers as well.

The scheme is designed to help people buy newly built homes with a purchase price of up to £600,000 as long as it is intended to be your only property and you don’t sub-let it after purchase.

The government-backed equity loan is designed to bridge the affordability gap by offering you as much as 20% of the purchase price in the form of an equity loan, which is secured against the property. You will be expected to be able to put in a minimum of 5% deposit and then qualify for a mortgage of up to 75% to complete the purchase.

This scheme is understandably heavily subscribed when funds are made available, as you won’t be hit with any loan fees on the 20% portion from the government, not until the 6th year of ownership. You will be expected to pay a 1.75% fee on the value of the loan as a fee in the sixth year and this will increase each year thereafter, in line with index-linked inflation plus 1%.

You will have to buy your home from an approved Help to Buy builder and the loan is repayable when you sell your home or after 25 years have elapsed, which is the normal mortgage term.

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The Danger Of Buying A Home In A New Neighborhood

The Danger Of Buying A Home In A New Neighborhood

New Home Under ConstructionBuying a home in a new subdivision can be exciting. You’re often the first person to live in your home, and it likely will have many of the latest features and amenities. But there’s a danger too — one I know only too well.

In 2009, my wife and I bought a new home in a new neighborhood. Today, with the developer still building more houses in the subdivision, we’re finding that we can’t easily sell it — at least, not without losing $20,000 or more in equity.

We’ve learned the hard way that it’s incredibly tough to compete with the developer who built your house, especially when the firm is still building more models nearby.

Here are a few things that you should consider before you make such a purchase.

Are Homes Are Still Being Built?

In my neighborhood, the same builder who sold to us is developing all 80 of the remaining available lots. So why would anyone purchase my home when he or she could buy a brand new one? What do I have to offer that the builder does not? Two new homes for sale have identical floor plans to mine.

This means I’ll have to lower my price considerably to attract potential buyers. Beyond that, I’ll likely have to pay closing costs, upgrade amenities, offer a home warranty, or agree to some combination of these things to entice a buyer to purchase a 5-year-old home instead of a new one.

I could try to lure buyers with upgrades like granite countertops or incredible landscaping, but there is also a danger in having the most expensive house in the neighborhood. It’s often impossible to recoup your costs for those types of upgrades in today’s real estate market. I’d have to take a loss on most of them. So, even if I sold the home for close the price I bought it for, I’d still be losing money.

Do You Even Have the Right to Sell?

You may be shocked to learn that, even though you own it, you might not have the legal right to sell your home in a new subdivision for several years. Many homebuilders are adding clauses to contracts that force you to wait — similar to an employer’s non-compete clause

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Why I Don’t Mind Losing Money As A Landlord

Landlord hands keys to tenantI have a confession to make: I lose money on my rental property every month. But I’m OK with that. I’ve got a long-term plan. Or I’m still delusional and hoping for a turnaround in the housing market. Either way, I stubbornly refuse to lose $30,000 in home equity by selling. I’d rather pay $300 a month out of my pocket in the hopes of hanging on to what little equity I have left.

It’s a Renters Market Out There

Much like a home buyer, a renter has a lot of purchasing power. It’s a pure case of supply and demand if there ever was one.

There are simply more homes on the market for rent in many parts of the country than there are renters. Renters have pricing power to force homeowners to lower the price of rent they pay each month, and as a landlord this causes me to personally lose about $300 a month.

But I’m fine with losing $300 a month. In fact, I’m actually happy about it. Let me tell you why you should be, too, if you’re ever in the same situation.

My Tenants’ Rent Doesn’t Cover My Mortgage

Like many accidental landlords, I found myself stuck with a house a few years ago that I couldn’t sell. Or, if I really wanted to sell it, I would’ve had to at a steep markdown from what I’d bought it for just six years ago during the housing market boom.

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Five Regulations Landlords Need To Know About Renting To Tenants

Regulations Landlords Need To KnowIn the midst of the UK’s housing crisis, it’s difficult to be a tenant. That’s widely acknowledged. It can also be difficult to be a landlord in this climate though. Pressure is building on all sides and now, more than ever. It’s vital to know your legal duties and rights as a landlord.

Though many landlords are crystal clear on their duties according to the tenancy agreements they have drawn up, relatively few know what is supposed to be in every tenancy agreement, and what is generally required of them by law. Clarity on these matters should allow you to protect yourself more effectively with safeguards such as landlord insurance.

Moving In

First things first: the deposit you take from your tenants when they sign your tenancy agreement must be secured in one of the three government-approved Tenancy Deposit Protection (TDP) schemes.

Landlords are also required to supply their tenants with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) when they move into a property. This will give the building an energy-efficiency rating from A down to G, based on the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) for energy-efficiency (which is a score out of 100).

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