Author: Anibal Group LLC RealtyNetWorth.com

Portfolio Real Estate Brokerage Officer - For Your Bigger Picture

DIY Buyers….Due diligence

December 12, 2012

Due diligence is the name of the game when buying a home online. Craigslist & eBay … all chances to be scammed.

Advice boils down to research.

  • Research the house,
  • find out who has the title,
  • confirm the square footage and lot measurements,
  • find out if that lot can be built on or subdivided.
  • The estimated value of the property could be out of date. Find out if there are any development plans for the neighborhood.
  • Are there code violations, back taxes, demolition orders?
  • Does the seller really own the house?  <<< This is a good one for renters, yes, many folks are now renting from someone repping a vacant house they don’t own !

Secrets of House Flippers

December 5, 2012

To help pay for my way thru college, I had to learn to invest in property in my junior year. Here’s an article with some merits based on my years of rehab/reuse/renting out.

…. According to RealtyTrac.com, an online marketplace of foreclosed properties, investors flipped close to 100,000 homes in the first half of the year, making almost $30,000 per flip, on average.

  1. Assemble a team of experts.
  2. Look for potential.
  3. Do the math.
  4. Design for buyers, not yourself.

Related link: How We Made A Million Dollars Recycling Great Old Houses [Sam Weir, Mary Weir]

Real Estate May Be The Buying Opportunity of the Decade

November 14, 2012
INVESTMENTS ROI ~ COMPARE PROPERTIES

After you read the below article I posted in 2012, jump on forward to this:

Investing: then and now

March 29, 2018

 

… so said Time mag back in July 2011. Click here to check their logic.

I wouldn’t have called out the buyers quite so quick, but now I’m bullish on buying. Why now ? Here’s a couple Detroit area articles showing recent price movements.

BTW, nationally, the big increases are right now happening in the areas that took the biggest hits….no surprise in that, to wit: Miami, Detroit, Arizona, LasVegas…etc.

 

Tax break for struggling homeowners set to expire

November 8, 2012

“People trying to do short sales are freaked out about it,” said Elizabeth Weintraub, a real estate agent in Sacramento, Calif. “They’re telling me they’ll do whatever it takes to close by the end of the year.”

….. If the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 does not get extended by Congress by the end of the year, homeowners will have to start paying income taxes on the portion of their mortgage that is forgiven in a foreclosure, short sale or principal reduction.   more

Lender started foreclosure … What should I do?

October 26, 2012

Q. My lender has started foreclosure proceedings. What should I do?

A. Immediately contact an attorney and/or a MSHDA approved foreclosure prevention counselor in your county. Click on the following link for information on foreclosure prevention counselors. http://www.mshda.info/counseling_search/. Many Michigan counties also have lawyer referral services that can assist you in finding an attorney. The Save the Dream toll-free number is 866-946-7432. Operated by the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA), the hotline directs homeowners to a homeownership counselor in their county who specializes in foreclosure prevention.

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For more specifics and some general counsel on “short sales”, auctions, time tables, tax consequences (there’s a big one), etc, give me a call asap.

Two Simultaneous Principal Residence Exemptions

October 26, 2012

Homeowners who are selling their homes, but moved into another home elsewhere in the State, get to have two Imageprincipal resident exemptions. …the St of MI Act provides that an owner may retain an exemption for up to 3 tax years on property previously exempt as principal residence if that property:

• is not occupied;
• is for sale;
• is not leased; and
• is not used for any business or commercial purpose

Big penalty for not rescinding when the old home is sold.

We complete this form free for clients that have retained us under buy/sell brokerage, minimal fee for others.

DIY’s for profit ( but not necessarily fun )

October 22, 2012

Four piles ! – that’s the bottom line.

  • Toss it.
  • Donate it.
  • Sell it.
  • Keep, organize and store it.

  1. Wash or paint the walls and trim. Wash light switches. Please make windows spotless. No dust anywhere. Any closet, wall space, furniture inclusions in a given room & the garage or basement areas should be no more than 60% occupied – otherwise they look like the home lacks sufficient space for ‘stuff’.
  2. Those new fixtures you’ll install need bright bulbs! Windows/ shades open all the way.
  3. If you have hanging wires, your post-accepted offer inspector can cost you dearly. Don’t let those unstapled wires in the basement or garage beg for concessions – or worse – make the buyer walk.
  4. Trim back the bushes and make the house look bigger! Bright colored flowers on the porch. Water, fertilize and trim the lawn impeccably.
  5. Spend on bright, clean, new items including house plants to add $’s to the sale, get quicker responses, and bonus, you get to those bold wall hangings & new area rugs with you!
    • >> Please! Look at the decor in ‘on-markets’ and recently sold comps. If you are all ‘brass’ trimmed & they are brushed nickel, eBay or Home Depot are your best friend to swap knobs/ handles/ & lighting fixtures – inside and out. You’ll have only yourself to blame if you leave thousands behind because you didn’t spent hundreds to increase appeal.

If a seller wants to get the same price the neighbors got for their property, then I have expectations for them too !

Read the entire list with a caveat, e.g., I’d put kitchen bath rehab higher on the list, but if yours in no more than 5 years old and you clean clean clean, then its off the list. You get the idea.

 

Above is the jest of today’s suggested reading.

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Moving up: Whats that big dream house cost in time and money ?

October 12, 2012

There are some good articles and checklists on why owning a home, moving, or large home vs a smaller one is more expensive. Based on many factors I typically discuss w/ a buyer/seller up front, I agree on most points – based on planned usage, time you plan to stay there and many other factors.

Up front I give a buyer/seller a questionnaire to help them sort thru variables as well as help me understand how to better service them as a brokerage customer/client &/or how to screen other professionals if retained for a referral situation.

For as many costs of more time and money, with some pre-planning you might come out ahead with a larger home or a larger yard. Whats the time savings of a soccer space in the back yard over a regular trip to the park. How about a vegetable garden, in-law apartment, in-home office/studio for your business, renting storage space in the pole barn, Christmas tree stock, pumpkins the kids will sell, hardwoods for the woodstove,  closing off outer/ northern rooms in winter to buffer the main rooms for easier heating ? There are tax savings & income possibilities if done right.

But I do prefer one start with the downside of reality in case one never uses the beneficial aspects.

Better than “house hunters”

October 10, 2012

Before I rehabbed my first investment property back in my college days, I read and Anibal-Group-LLCs-RealtyNetWorth-Handyman-Short-Sale-old-housereread 2 books by the investing couple Sam and Mary Weir, e.g.: How We Made A Million Dollars Recycling Great Old Houses.    I remember taking a trip east to look up these addresses and see if it was all real – it was !

The books are a bit dated, but the ideas in them are not – still one of the best quick easy but realistic reads for the just starting out investor I can think of. Clients that retain me I actually give them a free copy of this upon request via Facebook.

Fast forward to the HGTV days. I’m not a TV watcher, but these guys seem to be the modern rough equivalent primer for the wannabe/current investor.  Here’s the quip and link:

” Property Brothers.” features people who buy a fixer-upper and renovate it into their dream home with the help of twins Jonathan (the contractor) and Drew (the real estate agent) Scott. 

decent article

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Hidden Problems in Older Properties

October 1, 2012

When I first started investing in homes, This Old House was popular, oil was going to run out, and Mother Earth News was all the rage. How I Made a Million Dollar Recycling AnibalGroupLLC_RealtyNetWorth_tax-savings-with-buy-sell-brokerageGreat Old Homes was my favorite book, so much so I actually took a trip the east coast to drive by most of the homes in the book ! I was going to find an old house “with charm”, rehab it, and make my fortune.

Since that time I’ve owned quite a few properties, built some, rehabbed some. I typically urge buyers to favor homes built after WWII – similarly I greatly urge couples NOT to build new…. this is another blog post.

In my “historic properties” I found 6 layers of roof on one, mice and skunks in the crawl space in another, flooding basements you wouldn’t believe – but lots of “charm”.

These older ( pre 1940 ish ) homes take an extra layer of investigating – if you want to call out an inspector, these are prime targets.

DIY’s ? Take a flashlight, foldup ladder, level, tape measure, outlet tester, binoculars, power screwdriver, camera ( for memory jog ), photograph the electical panel(s)/ furnace/ waterheater/ and any other mechanicals to forward to a specialist should you want a second opinion. I have checklists AND a few insights to offer.

more

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“I’ll just Short Sell it ;-) “

September 25, 2012

Oh yeah ? Not so fast.

I hear it over and over – “lets bandwagon, let the bank have it, let it go, walk away”…after all, Mr Fix It is in the white house and America cares for the little guy, not those ding nab fat rich bankers !

Try on a dose of reality:

To short sell, you’ll need to prove hardship, and then wait for the income tax bill and higher insurance rates while you ponder getting sued for the short fall and remaining fall out of bad credit for 7 years.

..do NOT constitute hardship:

  1. Bad purchase decisions.
  2. Unhappy with the neighbors.
  3. Buying another home.
  4. Pregnancy.
  5. Moving into an apartment.

Examples of hardship are:

  1. Unemployment
  2. Divorce
  3. Medical emergency / sudden illness
  4. Bankruptcy
  5. Death

A decent article for the cold shower awaiting.

ps, consider buying something that makes sense in the first place – questions ? Call us.

income property: a late-in-life retirement plan

September 18, 2012

“Income property can be an important bridge to retirement for those without quite enough to retire in the traditional sense,” says J. Camarda, a real estate investor, Certified Financial Planner, and Chief Investment Officer of Jacksonville, Fla.-based Camarda Wealth Advisors. Because real estate is such an inefficient market, it’s possible to find awesome bargains with a very high return on investment, Camarda says. And if you can manage the property yourself, you can collect more income.

Well, speaking from 2 generations of experience, I must agree. Dad helped put us through college with his investment properties that we would work on in the summer. When I got to college, I didn’t have enough funds to pay for the final year tuition, room and board. So I found a small house, cleaned it up over summer with a bathroom/kitchen gutting, and let 2 roommates pay 100% of my room cost. I held that for 10 years after graduation making a monthly income and having a nice equity build paycheck at the eventual sale. What did I do with the funds ?…bought local rentals for a new income stream closer to home. 30 yrs and some 50+ tenants later I can recommend this strategy if you have a mentor you can call on from time to time. ( ps, we’re available ! )

Feature article link

additional resources:

http://www.hgtv.com/income-property/show/index.html

 

For Sale By Owner com Founder used an agent

August 21, 2012

Today I learned something not so surprising.  CEO of ForSalebyOwner.com, Colby Sambrotto sold his home using a Realtor! said the article title.Anibal-Group-LLC-RealtyNetWorth-Marketing-Open-House-Signs_3_In-Yard_Open_ForSale_Website-2

He’d used his FSBO site for 6 months, then listed the property and sold it in weeks, …. for thousands more than he’d been asking no less. Why  is this NOT surprising to me? I’ve been in the business 30 yrs as a 2nd generation multi-state broker and even I know the value of not representing property yourself, Yes, I too have listed more than 1 property with other offices. Why ? I practice what I preach, that’s why.

With face to face buyer/seller situations I see many opportunities for immediate loss of strategy.

The buyers may think:

  • ‘Well, you’re not paying an agent so I’d like to save that cost’ (you get nothing extra for all your work).
  • They ask a question, seller answers, they move in and have a problem and say “well you said such and such and now I have this problem. (extra pain, no financial gain).
  • Or buyer is old, seller is young – buyer thinks, ‘we’ll offer much less since we should be in a better negotiating position due to our age’.
  • Or seller is old, buyer is young – buyer thinks, ‘we’re young and craftier then seller, we’ll make sure we get the anibal-group-llc-realty-net-worth-all-over-usa-seal-beach-california.pngbetter deal’.
  • Or seller is _____ and buyer is ______, the list goes on what personality and etc things can get in the way.
  • Forget the possibility for sellers violating disclosure requirements, HUD Fair Housing parameters, silent fraud, implied warranties,….

So what about me, a buyer, going it alone and buying from a FSBO ? Been there done that didn’t go well. Did it once and never again. If an agent isn’t there to talk sense into a seller on my behalf re: price/ repairs/ etc etc, it ends up a waste of my time. Unrealistic sellers that don’t have a plan of attack may even say YES to my fair price, but then I have to do all the work from then on with little to no help or cooperation from them. So I have to earn my discount running things about, setting up appraisals, closings, inspections, and no lockbox makes for a really (not) fun time getting back in the property after acceptance of offer.

I’m not surprised the FSBO chief used an agent, after all, I – a broker – prefer not to rep my own properties !

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5 things needed to make an offer

August 20, 2012

Its not the same as going to a garage sale – here, you want more than just the “garage” !

Yes you need qualification to buy, but as a buyer, you also want a mapped out strategy and the tools in hand to execute it. When we submit an offer, well typically be ready to defend & “sell” our buyers as best as possible with specific goals and strategy in mind.

  • Proof of ability to purchase: bank statement or lender letter
  • Our valuation packet – how we arrived at our buyers offer, support documents and calculations, why this is the sellers best expectation from a legitimate purchaser offering an amount a legitimate appraiser will confirm.
  • Fully signed by all buyers and witnessed offer packet, with full set of disclosures signed buy all buyers.
  • Strategy. This is were we are ready to act in a pre-discussed/ predetermined way. Will the seller ignore your offer ? counter ? accept ? or simply move on to other waiting offers. What you’d like to ultimately accomplish affects how we approach “the negotiating table”. Here’s were you’ll want someone who can speak knowledgeably on your behalf in matters involving timing, valuation, construction techniques relative to possible inspection results.

zzzz For real estate, a giant spring clearance sale

March 26, 2011

DO NOT SHUT OFF YOUR COMPUTER !!

YOU WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY REDIRECTED IN 15 SECONDS.

IF YOU SHUT DOWN YOUR COMPUTER YOU COULD DAMAGE OR DESTROY YOUR HARD DRIVE AND ALL ITS CONTENTS!

Despite record affordability of homes, buyers are still spooked and staying on the sidelines

..Existing home sales plunged nearly 10 percent in February to their lowest level in nine years. It was the largest drop since July. Forty percent of those sales were on distressed properties. And new home sales are on track to come in at just 250,000 this year, the fewest since the Kennedy administration, when there were 120 million fewer people in the United States….

Nationwide, forecasters expect house prices to drop at least 5 percent more this year.

 

..A recent study by Capital Economics found that 60 percent of sales are to foreigners and investors, most of them paying cash. In fact, in international real estate circles, the U.S. is viewed as the “new emerging market,”………..