Nobel Finance Sydney – Money Matters Newsfeed

By Derek Carter

REHABBING: How to Start

To start you need to find discounted property to fix up, please check out articles on wholesaling or buying.

When buying distressed property to rehab and then to resell for a profit you better have your numbers right. Here is what you need to know:

1. What is the area value of similar homes in great condition?
2. Do a market analysis, which a realtor can help you with.
3. What will the property appraise for after the repairs?
4. When calculating do not take your best guess on this!

Some of the things you need to consider when rehabbing and reselling homes.

1. The size of the home
2. How many bedrooms
3. How many baths
4. The layout of the house and property
5. Stay away from bad neighborhoods
6. Only go after areas with a high owner occupant ratio, stay away from rental areas
7. Be careful of no garage
8. How does the property drainage look
9. Does the home have central air
10. How high are the property taxes
11. What are the schools like
12. What does the kitchen look like is it modern or old

You can sell in any market just make sure you have the best house on the block.

Get everything ready.

Contractors

1. Line up contractors to do your rehab projects.
2. Interview them and get references.
3. Have them sign a contractor agreement before the project starts.
4. Have penalties if they are late on finishing the project.
5. Over estimate repairs and make sure you negotiate price with contractors.
6. Ask around at the REIA Club, who are the best contractors to use.

Set Up Shop

1. Get a phone line for business or use VOIP phone (Internet phone).
2. Set up LLC (Check out our legal section)
3. Get a fax
4. Get a good fax, copier and printer.
5. Signs to sell and buy homes (Bandit).
6. Website to add legitimacy.

Financing

1. Find hard moneylenders.
2. Look for private lenders to help with purchase and rehab.
3. Can use banks but not recommended.

Education

1. Make sure you know what you are doing.
2. Study rehab courses and keep studying.
3. See if someone in your area can help you by giving advice, or visit our forum for help.
4. Keep coming back to our website to learn and ask questions.

Posted in Uncategorized | | No Comments »

 by Thane Rutledge
It doesn’t matter why your credit report score is low. Foreclosure, bankruptcy, numerous credit tradelines, or what have you, you must improve your score in order to enjoy the benefits of having good credit. This is self-evident to all — including thieves. Due to the recent rash of foreclosures, many will have that terrible entry on their credit report for years, around seven years actually.

How about bankruptcies? Ten years it will remain on your credit report. Such desperation causes some to think they can employ creative ways to right the ship of their credit score. Be careful. This article will show you some of the things to watch out for and some things to avoid.

Be assured that while you may have bad credit, there is a way to repair your credit legally.

Actually, rebuild would be a better term I suppose but there is some element of repair to it. The best thing to do would be to hire a lawyer who knows the nuances of credit laws. The problem, though, is that lawyers are very expensive. You should do everything in your power to correct your credit without hiring a lawyer. That should be a last resort (believe me, I know this from experience). Yes, t will take a lot of effort but you can repair your credit yourself. So, now, here are some excellent real-world tips on how to repair your own credit.

1. Become familiar with the Fair Credit Reporting Act. I don’t remember the exact percentage but literally about 1 in 6 credit reports have an error on them. This error can dramatically in some cases adversely affect your credit. When you get your credit report, look it over for errors. It can also help you avoid future problems.

2. Get copies of your credit report from each of the three major credit reporting bureaus. Any credit report will have the scores of all of them usually. (Believe it or not, you can get a free credit report.) Go over it carefully making sure everything is correct. If anything seems to be incorrect, get a statement regarding anything you think is reported in error. Gather all proof you can as to why it is an error. Documentation beats conversation. You have to prove to the credit agencies that you are telling the truth. If you can do that, they will eliminate the mistakes.

3. Don’t buy into the “create a new credit file” scam. This is illegal and will land you in more trouble than you want. Creating a new credit file is credit fraud. Some people will try to sell this idea as a way to get money from desperate people looking for a way out.

4. Be especially consistent in repaying any money borrowed from banks with car and mortgage loans. Basically, any organization that submits reports to a credit agency you need to pay on a timely basis. This is the most important step. Don’t be late on anything. Pay everything you own on time and your credit score will improve.

5. If you can, pay all you credit card debt every month. Don’t pay any interest. Use your card as cash and don’t allow the card to get any interest accumulating. I’ve done this and it works great even though it seems counter productive.

6. Dispute any bad reports you disagree with in writing to the credit bureau on plain paper. They call it typically (at least the ones I dealt with “dispute resolution”. Include any notarized and official documents of proof that the item reported is erroneous. For many items, send separate letters of dispute. Treat them on a case-by-case basis. Doing it en masse is ill advised. Be advised that it is a good idea to avoid sending dispute letters during a high volume time of year, like as November through January. It usually takes longer to process your dispute during that time.

In time, you will be able to get a low limit credit card, which should be your immediate goal or a small consumer loan or even a car loan. If you show renewed credit worthiness, you will then be able to afford significant loans like a home loan or a business loan with good customer interest rates.

Conclusion
Credit can be rebuilt. I once had a credit score of 532 and I was on the verge of having six homes go into foreclosure at one time. I followed the advice in this article and within a year and a half, my middle score was 722. If you’re willing to diligently work at it, you can repair your credit yourself rather than let the the credit agencies determine you’re worthy of credit again after a number of years passing.
About the Author
Would you like a free online credit report? You can get one by visiting http://www.freecreditreportinfo.info a popular credit report site that provides free tips and resources including information on credit scores, credit reports, credit repair and resolving credit

Posted in General | | No Comments »

By Raynor James

When buying, you need a strategy to find a home that is both a good place to live and a solid investment. Location, location, location is one rule, but there are others.

One of the obvious keys to buying a home that will be a good investment is the location. You are looking for a neighborhood with good schools, low crime and so on. That being said, what type of home do you look for when you find the neighborhood in question? The answer is the cheapest home on the block so long as it is not a disaster.

Why buy the cheapest property? It all has to do with valuations. Every neighborhood has a valuation range. The range extends from the cheapest home in the area to the most expensive. When you buy a home, it is vital to understand that it will be hard to raise the value of that home much beyond the value of the most expensive home in the neighborhood.

Assume you like a neighborhood with homes ranging from $350,000 to $450,000 in price. You go ahead and buy a home for $400,000. You come into some serious money and do $500,000 in improvements [gym, pool, 2nd floor, theatre, etc.]. Is your home now worth $900,000? Nope. It is probably going to appraise for $500,000 or so. Simply put, you have spent more than the neighborhood will support.

Taking this example further, you can see why buying the cheapest house on the block makes sense. It gives you room to improve the home and gain the equity appreciation. If you buy a beat up home for $350,000, just cleaning it up may increase the value to $400,000. A few substantive improvements can punch the value up from their. The point is you have room to move on the price.

Is there an occasion when buying the cheapest home does not make sense? Of course. The situation typically involves a home with a major defect. If the foundation is crumbling, run away! You are going to spend so much money fixing it, you will never see a buck of profit.

Once you find the neighborhood of your choice, establish the value range for the properties. Find the cheapest home on the block that has no major problems and buy, buy, buy.

Posted in Buying property, Real Estate | | No Comments »

By Austen Lansing

This is the eternal question of home buying. “Is this really the right home for me?” Well, there are a few ways that you can go about finding this out before you purchase, but the real test will be in time. There is little that can be more stressful than purchasing a new home, getting packed and moved and settling in. This is why you need to be as confidant in your new home as possible and this is really only achieved by some careful work and research before hand. Of course, this is somewhat more complicated if you are moving a long distance but it is possible with a bit of help from your real estate agent.

One of the major things that you will want to know is what kind of time its going to take to get around your new area. If you already have work lined up for when you arrive then it will be a huge help to know how long it will take you to get to and from there on a daily basis. If you can, make the drive a few times on different days. If there is a lot of commuting happening in your area then traffic could be an issue. It is horrifying to move into a new home only to discover that there is a 2 hour commute to work through heavy traffic every day.

Another big asset to a home and something that will help it be a home to you for many years to come is the amount of space it has to accommodate the needs of your future and the future growth of a family (if that is so planned). How well is this home going to cope with your changing needs? I know that finding a home such as this, that will be as perfect for you in 10 years as it is now can be a difficult thing to do. This is the best reason why careful networking with a professional real estate agent is necessary to do the legwork and research and make sure that the home will suit you down the road. Buying real estate is a huge move in anyone’s life. Whether purchasing your first home or your fifth home it amounts to a huge purchase that has life-changing potential. Be sure that the home you choose will be right for your life and your needs.

Posted in Real Estate | | No Comments »

By Steven Gillman

If you are buying your first home, there are people who will help you get into all types of trouble. Well, mostly it is one type of trouble: financial. Here are some examples.

Watch Out For Real Estate Agents

You might think that real estate agents would love first-time home buyers, since they can influence them and make a sale more easily. In reality, though, many people are very hesitant to make a decision when they buy their first home. It will be the single biggest purchase they have made in their lives, after all, so they want to take their time and see a lot of houses. Meanwhile, the agent just wants a sale.

Don’t be pushed to make a fast decision. It may be true that a particular house is “not going to last long,” or it may just be something an agent says. Either way, their are other homes, and you need time to get a feel for what is available and at what prices. This education is crucial, and comes primarily from looking at a lot of homes.

The agent is not necessarily looking out for your best interest, by the way. Unless you hired him to represent you, he works for the seller and is even obligated to pass on any relevant comments you make, like “we can go higher on the offer if necessary.” Keep quiet, and remember that the agent is a sales person, whose primary concern is to sell something.

Watch Out For Mortgage Lenders

When you are buying you first home, you are also buying your first mortgage loan. Lenders will be so helpful. For example, they will help you afford a loan that is too large by offering you a variable-rate loan with a low teaser rate. Of course they won’t help the hundreds of thousands of families that are now facing foreclosure because those payments went up when the teaser rate period was over.

Variable rate, interest only, and even reverse-amortization loans (where you owe more each year) have all been “helpfully” pushed on first-time buyers who are trying to buy more than they can afford. You are told that buying a home is the best thing you can do. Sometimes this is true, but it never is if you can’t hold onto that home. If you really can’t afford a home, a smaller home with a smaller mortgage loan is better – and if you can’t afford that, renting is actually the best thing you can do.

Look at the worst-case scenario when considering a loan. For example, if you are considering a variable rate loan, ask what the payment will be if interest rates go up 5% years later. Will you be able to comfortably afford that? The banker may helpfully point out that the rate is capped at a 2% rise per year, but that just means the day of reckoning is postponed a little. In three years you could be paying almost $6,000 more per year on that $200,000 loan.

Watch Out For Family And Friends

The best intentions of friends and family can get you into trouble. When you are buying your first home you will get advice. Sometimes it will be good advice. Other times it will be a friend trying to get you to move to his neighborhood – the one you can’t afford. Family too can push you to buy before you are ready, or spend too much. They don’t always know what is best for you, so do your own thinking, buy what YOU need, and buy a home you can afford.

Posted in Buying property, Early 20's tips, Real Estate | | No Comments »