Business
Creative Financing: Tips and Tricks of the Trade
If you happen to live in Australia, especially if you live in Victoria, you have probably seen an explosion of investment activity in your area. You may even live on the other side of the world and have still heard people talking about all of the property investment opportunities available in the area. No matter where you live, now is the time to get in on this market.
To make the most of these investment opportunities, you’ll need to be able to invest in many different properties. You might already know some ways to secure financing for this, at least on a smaller scale. However, if you can use several different creative financing techniques, you could increase the size of your portfolio; going from just a few properties to dozens - and creative financing is the way to do this.
Creative Financing
In order to get in on this market, you’re going to need to know a few important things. To really make the most of your opportunities on the Australian property market, you’ll have to learn about some of these creative financing techniques. I’ll go into a few of them in this article. You would be best off getting the advice of an independent financial advisor as well to ensure that you are getting some expert advice and personalised service.
To be a success in property investment, you’re going to need to employ creative financing techniques. Creative financing denotes non-traditional funding sources, in this case for real estate investments.
Creative financing can help you to buy properties even when you do not have (or are unwilling to use) your own capital to do so. One way of financing your investments is to leverage other people’s money to make your purchases.
Creative Financing Techniques Examples:
Simultaneous Closing: This gives the seller financing without having to actually take out a mortgage. At the time of closing, the title is handed over to the new buyer and at the same time, the mortgage is sold to a note investor as a cash sale.
Subject-To: This transaction is a creative finance technique in which a buyer is able to take the title of the property without procuring a note themselves. This involves the seller of the property leaving their existing financing in place then the buyer does not need to pay transaction costs or loan fees of any kind. This entire process is similar to assuming a loan. However, it occurs without the consent of the original lending institution and thereby violates the terms of the loan.
Many other creative financing techniques exist - land trusts, 1031 exchanges, retirement accounts, seller seconds, credit partners, private mortgages, hard money loans and more!
An independent financial advisor can assist you with their expert investment advice. These professionals can assist in many ways:
They can asses your borrowing capacity.
An advisor has the insight into the lenders guidelines.
They will have ideas to determine which lender will view your request favourably.
They can save you much time by doing the necessary research for you.
They will investigate the available options and help you to find the best course of action.
Provide a range of products and resources you may not be aware of.
Organise the loan process for you.
Look after your best interests and help you to avoid lending pitfalls.
Looks after you before and after the loan process.
Personalised service.
They can show you techniques which will save you thousands in the long run.
An independent financial advisor can grant you access to many options which lenders would happily keep you in the dark about. The creative financing techniques they can assist you with can quickly expand your property investment portfolio.
If you are serious about cashing in on the Australian property investment boom, you will need to learn about all of your financing options, consult with a financial advisor and look into creative financing techniques to ensure the healthy growth of your investment portfolio - just imagine going from owning a mere two properties to more than twenty in just a few years!
Sell Your Home Fast When Facing Foreclosure
If you are currently in foreclosure, strongly think about selling your property. The object is to pay off all debt and expenses, walk away without a foreclosure or bankruptcy on your credit history and perhaps put a little money in your pocket to start over.
Your lender may agree to accept the sale as total satisfaction of your mortgage even if the proceeds of the sale are less than the amount that you actually owe. This is called a Short Sale.
In order to quickly sell your home, you must:
- Put a value on your home - Figure out your bottom-line sale price - Locate home buyers
Listing With A Realtor
The conventional method of locating home buyers is to contact a Real Estate Agent and ask them to list your home. If you contact an agent, they will come out to evaluate your house and more than likely ask that you sign a document that allows them to represent you when speaking to prospective home buyers. Remember, DO NOT LET ANYONE PRESSURE YOU INTO SIGNING ANYTHING.
After evaluating your property, the agent will run a market analysis to identify the price homes with similar square footage, number of bedrooms/bathrooms, and features have sold for within one mile of your neighborhood in the last six to twelve months. The agent will then suggest a list price that you can either accept or reject. Once your property is listed in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), it will be available to all agents (thus potential home buyers) in your area.
Disadvantages
Although the realtor handles all of the details, they do not do it for free. Agents usually charge between three percent and six percent of the final negotiated sales price. The seller (that’s you) customarily pays for fees associated with both the buyer’s and seller’s realtor (which usually totals six percent). If you have requested a Short Sale from your lender; the lender may agree to pay the closing costs.
Advantages
The number one advantage to listing your home with an realtor is that you may be able to obtain full price for your house. Again, this is time dependent, so if you have a lot of time, you can request more money. The exposure that the MLS obtains is also a huge advantage.
Selling To An Investor
An alternative to listing your house with an agent is to locate an investor who is willing to buy your house. This is the best option if you must sell the property quickly, because they are often able to make cash buys. Therefore, the loan processing time is eliminated. Investors can also utilize creative solutions so that you can sell your house with no out-of-pocket expenses, thus you can walk away without any financial obligations.
Disadvantages
The disadvantage of working with investors is that they buy houses in order to make money by making repairs and reselling the house or renting it out. In order to make money, they must obtain the house at a discounted price (usually 10-30 percent below market value). That means that you will not walk away with all of your equity.
Advantages
The advantage to working with an investor is that they can move very quickly. Plus, you will not have to make repairs, make back payments, pay foreclosure attorneys, pay a reinstatement fee, or pay late fees. You walk away with a portion of your equity in order to start over, no foreclosure or bankruptcy on your credit, and hopefully, less stress.
Real Estate Professionals…Get top dollar and all cash at closing. Investors…flip short sales or REOs using our private investor funds!
What to Look For In a Good Property Manager?
If you own property, and that property happens to be in Brisbane, Australia, you need to ensure that you look carefully at hiring an expert to manage the property on your behalf.
Don’t let the reason you bought the property in the first place slip your mind. You made the purchase as an investment, not for a project to give you permanent earache. By finding yourself a good property manager, you can feel confident that all will run according to plan. It’s just not feasible for you to keep your eyes on everything at the same time and this is where it pays to have an expert managing your property for you giving you the peace of mind you deserve.
When you start looking for a property manager there will, no doubt, be many people up for the job. However, your main task is discovering the right person to manage your property, especially after you have heard all the horror story experiences of other people in your position. It will suddenly become clear how important the role of taking care of your properties really is.
Whether you own a small handful of properties or a dozen, you’ll find that getting the right property manager can mean the difference between a property being healthy and prosperous or becoming a stone around your neck.
One of the most important skills of a good property manager is excellent communications. The person you choose will be the one who represents you with your tenants and, of course, you will want this to be done in a fair manner. Bearing this in mind, your property manager should always be more than willing to talk to either you or your tenants in order to sort out problems before they escalate into disasters. These are just some of the reasons that someone accomplished in communications is essential for the job.
The ideal property manager will also have an eye for detail. They will be dealing with receipts and records and at a moments notice need to be able to inform you of everything that is going on as far as your properties are concerned.
In your search for a property manager, it is worth remembering that you will require someone who is fully conversant with Queensland’s rental laws, as these are known to be particularly complex. If the person you choose can easily interpret such rules, it will be very handy for you indeed.
An expert debater and solution finding person is what you are looking for so you can be confident that few problems will arise, and in cases where they do, the situation will be handled efficiently and professionally, immediately preventing the state of affairs from spiraling out of control.
Don’t make the huge mistake made by many. Remember to look for and find the right property manager who will be capable of taking care of any problems concerning your properties swiftly and easily.
Free Marketing Tips to Help Make Money Online
Making money online in a home based business can be both a lot of fun and very profitable. Before you get started you’ll want to have some ideas of how you are going to market your new business. These are some basic ideas of how to market using some no cost and low cost methods.
There are several free places where you can advertise online. Simply Google “free classified online ads” and you’ll find at least two dozen sites. This is a great place to start, just abide by each site’s rules.
Personal contact marketing costs very little and can be very rewarding. As you go through your day simply listen to what others are saying. When you hear someone complaining about their hours at work or the long commute give them a business card and tell them that you might have something for them. Wait for them to contact you, don’t ever chase people. If you see them at a later time you might want to follow up, but don’t chase them.
Flyers are a very low cost method as well. A “flyer” is the size of a business card and has a very simple message. “This card could be worth $$$$$$$$$ in the next year, to find out more visit www.yourwebsite.com”. Busy malls and office complexes are the best place to distribute flyers, place them between the window and rubber on the driver’s side door, right above the door handle so they’ll be sure to see it when the get in.
“Bandit” signs are also very inexpensive and can be an effective method to use. These are plastic corrugated signs which are on metal “H” stands. Again a simple message like “CEO Income from home visit www.yourwebsite.com” Place these signs at busy intersections where there is likely to be some traffic backup so that passersby will have time to notice them.
Newspapers offer a low cost method of advertising when you consider the number of people you will reach. Choose a demographic which you feel comfortable with. You’ll want to keep the circulation below 200,000 for the best value price-wise.
You might decide to use magazine advertising. This is relatively low cost and can be very powerful. Keep in mind that a lot of people don’t throw magazines away for a long time so they have a longer time for people to see your ad and respond.
I wish you the best in your marketing, and hope these tips are helpful to you. Look for more ideas in future articles. Again, all the best and much success!
SuccessNet Summit - Burlington, Vermont
There’s a lot of talk these days about a lagging economy and so forth, if you buy into that type of thing. And whether we’re in a recession or not doesn’t really matter.
As small business owners and entrepreneurs, we can all agree on the fact that being in business for yourself is not a cake walk. If it were, everyone would be doing it.
And as you probably know, more businesses fail than succeed, and that’s true in good times and tough times.
As independent business owners and entrepreneurs, we’re optimist by nature, or at least you should be. But even I can sense a bit of fear in the market and in the business owners I talk with. Many are quite frankly scared and they’re not sure what to do.
But the fact is this… Great wealth is created in good times AND bad.
If you arm yourself with the right attitude, learn the best strategies and employ the right tactics, you can be one of the businesses that thrives in the months and years ahead.
That’s why Michael Angier and Allyn Cutts decided to hold the World’s first “SuccessNet Summit”.
The “SuccessNet Summit” will be held in Burlington, Vermont on September 6 - 7, 2008.
The creation and naming of the event was absolutely brilliant, if you think about…”Success Net(work) Summit”
If you do a quick Webster dictionary lookup of the three words, here’s what you’ll find:
Success: 1. outcome, result 2. degree or measure of succeeding a favorable or desired outcome; the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence
Net(work): 1. a interconnected group or association of persons (as friends or professional colleagues)
Summit: 1. top, apex, the highest point, peak 2. the topmost level attainable [the summit of human fame] 3. the highest-level of officials or experts in a given field.
Again, that’s brilliant, exactly what a business conference should be.
Michael and Allyn have lined up a first class group of presenters, all of them leaders in their fields. Allyn has said that the “SuccessNet Summit” will be all about the participants. Every speaker has agreed to basically spill-their-guts and give their all and be able to help all the participants with their business or business ideas.
So, if you’d like to inject some fresh perspective and new insights into your business, your’re invited to attend the “SuccessNet Summit”.
This summit is designed to help you break through to a whole new level of profitability.
Discover how to take your business to higher levels of success with less stress, greater confidence and better systems.
Look, despite market and economic conditions, there are companies thriving and enjoying unprecedented levels of growth today. And the largest transfers of wealth often occur while the majority of people are focused on the wrong issues.
Smart business owners and entrepreneurs are quietly becoming incredibly rich, in a quicker and simpler fashion than they could have ever imagined.
We invite you to attend the World’s first “SuccessNet Summit” in Burlington, VT over the weekend of September 6 - 7, 2008.
