HUD Homebuyer's Seminar in Hixson, TN

Here are the Ws:

When: Thursday, June 30th, 2011.
Where: Northgate Title Escrow - Conveniently located behind the Post Office beside Northgate Mall.
What: HUD Homebuyer's Seminar Who: Anyone interested in buying a home as a residence or an investment. Hopefully YOU!
What Time: 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM or until all your questions are answered.
Why: Because buying a home in the current economy should be an informed decision - Arm yourself for success.


The focus of this session will be "How to Buy a HUD Home in Tennessee." HUD homes are listed properties that are owned by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, a Federal agency. These homes can be purchased by either Owner Occupants or by Investors. You will learn all about HUD Homes and why they can be such a great value to you as your next home or as an investment property.

This Seminar is completely FREE

At the Seminar:

...You can talk with representatives of Northgate Title Escrow to answer any questions you have about Title Insurance, closing costs, the closing process, etc.
...You can talk with representatives of Community Mortgage about your financing questions, loan applications, underwriting process, and what is currently happening in the mortgage world.
...You can talk with representatives of Old Republic Home Protection about any home warranty questions you have.
...And you can talk with me about the current real estate market, agency questions, and the home search and buying process.

This is your opportunity to get a lot of valuable information quickly from the real estate industry professionals that are in the market everyday. We will also have some fun with light refreshments and some door prizes from our sponsors.

You can register on-line at my company website: www.UpwardRealty.com, or you can register by email at Info@UpwardRealty.com, or you can call my office at 423-847-8001 and ask to be registered.

Again, there is no charge or obligation created by attending this seminar.

Chattanooga Foreclosures

If you have an interest in buying foreclosures in the Chattanooga, Tennessee or surrounding areas, I have a service for you. Each week my company prepares a list of the foreclosures available in the City of Chattanooga, the surrounding counties of Southeast Tennessee, and Northwest Georgia. The list is designed to be sent to local investers by e-mail.

If you would like to receive this list, please send an e-mail to foreclosures@UpwardRealty.com and include your e-mail address and your first name. We will send you an e-mail that will include the current list with information about each property for sale, including the address, some home features, and the asking price. You can then check out the ones that are of interest to you. Once you narrow the list to the homes you might want to buy, contact me for a private viewing.

As you prepare to take advantage of the deals currently available in our local market, you need to line up your funds or needed financing. Some of these properties will require repairs ranging from minor cosmetic fixes up to major structural needs. Unless you are a contractor or at least experienced in home repairs, you should also line up contractors in advance who can assist you with your property evaluations.

These houses also make great investments as your personal home and often are eligible for FHA/VA loans or first time home buyer programs. FHA even has a loan program that allows you to borrow repair money for homes that are not quite perfect. Ask you lender about FHA 203K financing. Don't be discouraged by the news reports, there is mortgage money available in the market right now!

The market has a more than ample supply of distressed properties right now, so there are some bargains to be had. Just start by getting the list at foreclosures@UpwardRealty.com.

You can also search the current HUD Homes listings here.

© 2008 UpwardRealty.com

2007 a Boom Year for Real Estate?

You have read what I have to say about the current real estate market. Want to know what other "real estate experts" are saying?

Many people are listening to the news media and thinking they are getting "expert" advice. Friends and neighbors, that ain't necessarily so. Most of your network financial gurus are stock market guys. They want you to put your money with them in the stock market and not in real estate. They have been sulking over the last few years because people were buying real estate with the money their stock brokers used to "invest" for them. (But seriously, they deserved to lose you after they sold you all those .com stocks and messed up your 401k plans.)

Click on the link below and see what a real "real estate expert" has to say. While you are there, you can read other stories about the current real estate market, but don't forget to come back to my blog when you are done with this research project.

http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20071126_buyinghomes.htm

You are welcome to leave your own real estate comments by clicking on the link below.

Enough With the Gloom and Doom!

Do news reporters truly enjoy delivering only bad news? If you have listened to either the local or national news outlets recently, you probably think buying or owning a home is the worst thing you can consider. Regardless of the facts, the press is continuously telling us how the bottom is just falling out of our economy and buying a home now is just stupid.

Well, that ain't so! Most of the so called "experts" are not real estate experts. I have watched investment shows while four experts discuss which stocks they think are right to buy. All four have their favorites and each gives good reasons why the other three experts are really idiots. Then after 10 minutes of this, the moderator will ask them about real estate. All four will give the same response - it is a bad time to buy, prices will continue to drop, it is just bad-bad-bad! This is the only thing these "experts" have agreed on the whole time they have been on the program. However, when they were introduced, there was nothing said about them having any real estate experience - they all work for business magazines, websites, or stock brokerages. They all have an agenda - get your money out of real estate and into the stock they sell.

However, everyone keeps telling us it is a "buyer's market". Doesn't that mean it is a GOOD time to buy? Actually it does! Right now, because of the relentless bad press on real estate, prices have dropped. They have not dropped by double-digit amounts as the press whould lead to you think, but in most markets prices today are 3-5% below the level of a year ago. However, prices have actually gone up in some areas this year. Also, most home owners are not in a "have to" sell situation, so they will not make drastic price cuts, even with the "I'm going to steal a house" mentality many buyers now have.

If you are buying, expect to get a fair price, but not to steal a house. Sellers will just wait you out. Right now, you can buy a house at a reasonable price, but if you wait another year, you may be paying 8-10% or more to buy that same house. That's OK, the sellers are willing to wait.

How about interest rates on mortgages. The press has not been telling you that rates are really low. You can find 30 year fixed rate mortgages at around 6%, give or take a quarter. For 15 year terms, fixed rates are below 6%. Folks, those are LOW rates! Does anyone remember the early 80's - back then 15-18% was common and people went nuts when the rates dropped to the 11-13% range.

Regardless of what the press says, the economy is good right now. Interest rates are low, unemployment figures are low, the economic reports show the economy growing, and if not for rising gas prices we would say the economy is booming.

It is a good time to buy real estate, before the prices and interest rates begin to go back up. And you know they will.

http://www.upwardrealty.com/

Copyright 2007

What is this leverage stuff?

Are you looking to become a real estate investor? If so, you have possibly heard the term "leverage" used by someone already in the biz. The concept of leverage is what makes real estate a different kind of investment than stocks, bonds, or mutual funds. Using leverage is like supersizing your available investment funds.

Lets use a simple example to make the leverage concept a little clearer. Say you have $25,000 that you want to invest. If you buy stocks (without consideration of broker fees), you can buy $25,000 worth of the stock. If the stock you like sells for $25 per share, you can buy 1000 shares. If after one year the stock value increases 20%, your stock would be worth $30,000. You made $5000, not too bad - a savings account won't do that for you. The larger gain comes from taking a risk, since the stocks carried no FDIC insurance like the savings account.

Now, about that leverage available to the real estate investment. This concept is based on using what we refer to as OPM (other people's money). If you want to put that same $25,000 into a piece of real estate (not considering closing costs), with the right property, you can get a 75% loan and that means your $25,000 will buy a property valued at $100,000. So, you now have a property valued at $100,000, but you have only put $25,000 into the deal. That is leverage.

Of course you can get into a discussion about making the payments on the $75,000 loan, but that is why tenants were created. There are some other factors that also sweeten the real estate deal, such as depreciation and cash flow. And your $100,000 property only needs a 5% increase in value to recover the 20% return you would have made on the stock.

Both stocks and real estate can go down in value. A decrease in value is far more common in the stock market then in the real estate market and while a particular stock can lose 100% of its value - real estate almost never is worth $0.00.

The Chattanooga area is a great place to invest in real estate. The prices are more moderate than many big cities and it is a great place to live. Here is a great site to learn more: www.ChooseChattanooga.com.

Copyright 2007

It is 'Buy and Hold' Time!

Cable TV is loaded with "Flip This House", "Flip That House", "Property Ladder", etc. The theme to all of these shows is buy it, fix it up, and resell it for a big profit. Like you, I am an avid fan and often a critic of what the "stars" are doing.

The key to making this work is buying the property far enough below market value to allow the repairs, carrying costs, and re-selling expenses to be paid and still leave a profit. Good flippers invest wisely, but too many would be flippers pay too much for the property. If they proceed to spend too much on the repair phase, or take too long, the profit part of the formula can disappear like a vapor. The "take too long" part has become more prevalent with a lot of flippers in the current slow sales market.

If you are considering real estate investing, proceed with caution, but do proceed. We are in absolutely one of the best buyer's market that has existed in many many years. Now is an excellent time to acquire real property at the lowest prices we have seen in a long time. BE WARNED, reselling that property at a profit is not so easy at present.

That brings us to an investment method many of today's millionaires used to build their fortune. We call this Buy and Hold. In this scenario, the current low prices allow you to buy property at the lower prices we now have due to the recent market corrections. You likely will have to do repairs, some minor, some extensive. But you should still have a solid investment; you just need to hold on to it for a little while.

Once you have the property, a good tenant will be around to make your mortgage payments until the market rebounds and prices rise again. With so many people not buying at present, they become tenants since they must still live somewhere. Since the market correction began (somewhere in 2006 or early 2007 - depending on which expert you consult) there have been millions of people creating new households, graduating from high school or college, leaving their parents home, and starting new jobs. All these life changes create housing needs. We know they have not been buying, so they must be renters.

So, to summarize keep these points in mind:
Prices are still low, mortgage rates are low, and there are still mortgage funds available. If you have good credit, you CAN get a mortgage at a very good rate.

Many people have lost their homes to foreclosure or are offering houses at bargains to avoid foreclosure, so bargains are out there. Like always, you must do your homework.

The usual large number of buyers are not buying, so they are still renting. This means you should have tenants who need housing. When they finally get off the sidelines in a year or so, market values (and interest rates) will probably be rising again and you may have a ready buyer.

So, find a good Realtor with investment experience and go find some bargains. Take a look at my September 4 blog entry:

Searching for a REALTOR®... Homebuyer's list.

In the Chattanooga, Tennessee market, my team and I will help you. Check out UpwardRealty.com
Copyright 2007