Sunday, January 20, 2008

The Role of the Realtor: What You May Not Know.

When going to buy or sell a home, your first step should be finding an honest and hard-working realtor. You can find a real estate agent by keeping an eye out for advertisements, calling your local real estate broker, or through the internet. Some popular real estate brokers are Century 21, Remax, Keller Williams, and Coldwell Banker, just to name a few.

The role of a real estate agent is to represent your best interests in a real estate transaction. They work off of a commission, normally 6% of the sales price of the home. In most cases, that commission is split equally between the realtor representing the buyer and the realtor representing the seller. For a person buying a home, the service of the real estate agent is free, because commission is paid by the seller. The buyer, however, is responsible for most of the closing costs. The closing costs will be explained to you by your realtor and will be on the documents you sign when you go to the title company. Closing costs can also be negotiated on during the contract process.

The real estate agent, through their broker, has access to all of the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) listed homes in your area of interest. If you are a home buyer, the realtor can provide you with information about homes for sale that meet your criteria. They will then bring you to these homes and let you inside to see them. If you are selling a home, the realtor will list your home in the MLS, post a "For Sale" sign in your yard, and hold open houses to attract buyers. Be wary of discount realtors that offer to list your home for a lower commission. Studies show that, in most cases, your home will stay on the market longer and you end up selling it for a lower price than what you intended.

A real estate transaction is a complicated process that involves many steps and is best done with the help of a trained, licensed professional. A realtor can save you the headache of dealing with the other party in the sale, getting together the contract, and submitting all the documents to the title company. So when you are ready to buy or sell a house, contact the local real estate agent.

Real Estate: The Ins And Outs Of Becoming A Real Estate Agent

Getting into the real estate business can be one of the most rewarding, yet tiresome occupations out there. Whether the rewards outweigh the downfalls of the position really does depend on the person looking into the career. If you are a family-oriented person or someone who likes to spend a lot of time to themselves or enjoying the more leisurely things in life and you are really not looking to give these things up (at least for a while), real estate may not be the right gig for you.

Generally, getting settled into the real estate business can take up to six months, or even a year! Of course, a year does sound like an extremely long time to get into an occupation, but if you think about it and take into consideration all of the steps that are involved, that time frame is fairly reasonable. All real estate agents start out in pre-licensing schools. Pre licensing schools are basically classes that teach prospective real estate agents the ins and outs of the business itself. In such classes, laws, dos and don’ts of the business, basic rules, and sales tips are all discussed in detail. Pre licensing real estate classes can take up to three whole months to complete, and successful completion of the classes should lead to a successful passing of the real estate examination. Passing the real estate exam is nothing like the SAT however; it takes long hours of studying minute little details as well as broad, more general real estate information to successfully complete the course and pass the exam the first time. And passing the exam on the first time is always the goal!

After completing the required pre licensing courses and passing the real estate licensing exam, there is the actual time frame that it takes to get into business to consider. Of course, you are going to have to decide if you want to go into business for yourself or go to work for a real estate company, such as RE/MAX or Century 21. Do take into consideration that it might not be the smartest idea in the world to immediately go into business for yourself, and there are several reasons for this. The first is that when you are just becoming licensed and getting into the real estate business, you don't know if you want to do this for sure or not. Sure, you think you do and that was why you decided to spend all of your money on time on classes and exams, but the reason real estate agencies are always hiring is because the turnover rate in that line of work is extremely high. Like most other sales jobs--the real estate business is NOT for everyone, and do you really want to find out that you hate your line of work after you have signed a 12-month lease on an office space and hired a secretary? I didn't think so.

The best advice is to start out at one of your local agencies, and if you are good and you enjoy what you do work up from there. Have fun, and if you devote yourself to the business and you are good at it, your efforts will most definitely pay off.

Real Estate Training Guide - How To Become A Successful Real Estate Agen

Real estate training is essential for the people who want to become a successful real estate broker. It helps them to learn all about real estate business. Real estate business requires some time, some basic knowledge of the business and skill to perform all transactions. Real estate business will be one of the good carriers for a hard working person. Real estate training suggests them all the ways to achieve their goals.

License is the basic requirement to become a real estate agent. Even it is an essential thing to conduct real estate business. Real estate Internet is the best option to join real estate business. Some states provide online training courses that will help you to complete pre-license requirements. Before joining real estate business people should satisfy some pre-license requirements. They should; be of at least 19 years, be managed a proctored exam, have high school diploma or some equivalent to it, pass a state exam, have completed a least approved course.

Generally real estate training gives some guidelines to understand some real estate basics. They can easily learn about ownership transfer, real estate law and math with the help of real estate training. They are taught how to deal to with real estate transactions during their course. Real estate training enables them to understand the tips and tricks of the real estate contracts. People who want to join some state approved courses should have initial license.

Anyone can be a successful real estate agent after completing real estate training. They can run a successful business only if they have great professional habits, good salesmanship and the enthusiasm to learn more about real estate. Real estate business requires great working skill.
People can learn about real estate business with some related books. They can also join some online courses that provide information via Internet. Nowadays several people are making money in real estate business. Real estate brokers should be kind, knowledgeable, efficient as well as trustworthy. They should know the skill how to attract more customers. They can also take some suggestion from the experienced real estate agents.

Real estate business may be wonderful business but only thing that it requires –real estate training.

Licensed Brokers Dominates Real Estate Investment

.Anyone can be rich in real estate. That is why many individuals are engaging themselves in such type of investment.

Investing in real estate does not necessarily mean that you must be an investment banker or a hotshot executive. You just need to be dedicated to your goal and commit to it.
Real estate can lead you to great wealth. It is not just another get-rich-quick system. You need to learn its most vital principles, and then wisely put them to practice in the real world.

So are you ready to be a real estate broker?

Role of a Real Estate Broker

Their role is to find sellers for those who want to purchase properties and finding buyers for those trying to sell properties. They assist sellers in marketing their property and selling it for the highest possible price under the best terms. They also assist buyers by helping them purchase property for the best possible price under the best terms.

Real Estate Licensees and Realtors

There are two levels of real estate professionals licensed by the individual states:

1. If you are licensed to become a real estate agent, you will have a real estate sales person license from the state where you will practice. To have such license, you must pass some specific coursework and then pass a state exam on real estate sales.

2. After getting experience in real estate sales, you may decide to have a real estate broker license. More coursework and a broker's state exam on real estate must be passed.
Upon getting a broker's license, you may continue to work for another broker to become in charge of your own brokerage and be able to hire other salesperson licensees.

Becoming a Real Estate Broker

In order for you to succeed in real estate investment, you might consider getting your real estate license and later on, your broker's license.

Having it is not as difficult as you might imagine. Each state have its own set of regulations, but the process is much similar to different states.

The benefits you can get if you have a real estate broker's license can be classified into four categories.

? Commissions that can be earned

? Having an access to Multiple Listing Service (MLS) can help you locate properties easily and quickly. You can also use the data obtained from the MLS for your market analysis of the property.

? You can gain more control of the transaction. Once you are a licensed broker, you will not rely on the services of a third party to search for properties, execute documents, or generally guide the transaction.

? Properties can now be listed for sale under your control. If the time comes for you to dispose a property, you would not need to rely on another person to list it on the MLS. It will also gain you commission savings as well.

Obtaining a broker's license will give you the advantage in real estate investment. The effort in obtaining such a license will be rewarded with the very first transaction in which you earn a commission.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Real Estate 101: Understanding A Transitional Real Estate Market

People always say that real estate is a great investment because the value of homes is always going up. To some extent, there’s truth in that. But it’s also a fact that the real estate market fluctuates. Sometimes it’s a buyer’s market and sometimes it’s a seller’s market. And there are actually other times when the real estate market is in transition. A transitional real estate market poses certain issues for people who are buying and selling homes and you should be aware of them. This is especially true for anyone involved in real estate right now because the real estate market in many areas is either in transition or could be in transition shortly.

A transitional real estate market happens during the interim between a buyer’s market and a seller’s market. There’s this funny period of time in which the market isn’t particularly good for either party. In a way, this gives each party some leverage in the real estate transaction. And yet it also puts them on solid ground. If you are buying or selling a home in a transitional real estate market, there are some things that you can do to help give you a leg up in the interaction.

Here are some tips for buying or selling a home in a transitional real estate market:

1) You should know whether it’s going from a buyer’s market to a seller’s market or the reverse. Being aware of this helps you to position yourself and sell yourself appropriately. For example, if you are a buyer and real estate is transitioning to a buyer’s market, you can point out to the seller that he’s going to have a harder time selling in two months and therefore should make the sale to you at a good price. Likewise, if you realize that it’s a transitional real estate market that will soon be in your favor, you might make the decision to hold off on the transaction all together.
2) Understand “fair market value”. When you are buying or selling a home during a buyer’s market or seller’s market, the value of the home is based significantly on the supply and demand issue. When you are buying or selling a home in the transitional real estate market, the home’s sale price will be based more closely on the fair market value of the home. You should learn this concept inside and out and work with appraisers in your area to determine the FMV of the home you’re buying or selling.

3) Be aware that terms are more solid in a transitional real estate market. There’s going to be less negotiating during this time so you shouldn’t make false offers on either end hoping to manipulate the other party. Be more direct in your dealings during a transitional period.

4) Work with a professional who understands the transitional market. You’ll want realtors (and lenders if you’re buying) who understand the transitional real estate market which means that you’ll need to look for people who have been in the industry for a long time.

It’s possible to get a good deal on either buying or selling a home during the transitional real estate market period. But to do that, you need to know what a good deal is and you need to be able to position yourself in the interaction based on that knowledge. Working with professionals who know the transitional real estate market is a good start to getting that good deal."

Basics of Real Estate Law

Real estate is such a broad topic. This topic covers almost the whole world and every individual has concerns regarding this.

Like any other things in this world, certain laws govern real estate, the so called real estate law. Nevertheless, to fully understand what real estate law is, it is necessary to define real estate.

What is real estate?

Real estate is a legal term that includes land along with anything permanently affixed to the land such as buildings, fences and things attached to the buildings, such as plumbing, heating, and light fixtures. The properties not affixed are regarded as personal property.
Just like real estate, the real estate law is such a broad topic as well. If you are going to discuss it in a very simple way, real estate law is only the law, rules, regulation and other legal matters that governed real estate.

Real estate law entails things like owning real property, the typical restrictions imposed on owning real property, the common forms of property ownership and many others. As said earlier, it is very broad.

In this article, real estate will be discussed through the basics of real estate law. The basics of real estate law include understanding real property, the ownership, the restrictions, and the forms of property ownership. The basics discuss the topic regarding ownership of real estate.
Understanding its basics, you will definitely have the right thought about real estate law.
One of the basics of real estate law is real property. What is real property? Real property is simply the real estate. The real property is used interchangeably with real estate.

However, for technical purposes, some people prefer to distinguish real estate, referring to the land and fixtures themselves, from the real property, referring to ownership rights over real estate.

Real estate also entails about owning real property. What is owning real property about? Owning real property allows you the right to do with the land as you please aside from those subject to restrictions imposed by real estate law.

Owning a real property means you can do anything with it such as use it; give it away; sell or transfer it; use it for a collateral for loan; bequeath it to intended beneficiaries or let it sit where it is without doing anything to it. In other words, owning real property is having total rights on a land and no one can ever question you for it is yours.

In owning a real estate, some typical restrictions are being imposed by law. There are countless laws that restrict what you can do with the real property. It may be federal, state, county and local laws. The enforcement of these laws resides with the various agencies.
The most common restrictions imposed by government are zoning. It is an environmental hazard, public easement, right of way.

If there are restrictions imposed, there are also forms of property ownership. These are joint tenancy; tenancy in the entirety; sole ownership; tenants in common and community property.
In joint tenancy, two or more people own the property at the same time in equal shares. In tenancy in the entirety, some estates have especial form of joint tenancy when the joints are husband and wife- with each owning one half.

In sole ownership, the property is owned entirely by one person. Two or more persons own common tenants' property at the same time. Meanwhile, community property is only recognized in the estates. It is a special form of joint tenancy between husband and wife, each owning one-half of their properties. Upon death, the decedent's interest passes in a manner similar to tenants in common.

The basics of real estate are the best information needed in order to understand real estate law. With this basics information, although real estate is very broad, you have the capabilities of understanding it into its deeper sense.

Choosing the Right Real Estate Agent

Buying or selling your house is one of the most important financial decisions you will have to make. It is very important that you think it through first before deciding.
You can either buy or sell the house yourself or you can hire a real estate agent to do the work for you.

What is a Real Estate Agent?

Real estate agents are salespersons. They are licensed people who work to negotiate and manage real estate sales.

Choose a Good Real Estate Agent.

People usually use real estate agents to sell their house instead of buying one. You basically do not need a real estate agent when you are buying a house but they can be helpful if you are interested in looking for a specific kind of house. A good real estate agent can spend a lot of time in the field to look for a house that you specified.

Before hiring a real estate agent, keep in mind that there are good real estate agents that are willing to work with you and there are the bad real estate agents that are only interested in your money.

You should also interview real estate agents in person to get the feel if you are comfortable with them or not. Personal interviews can determine if they are serious about the business or just in it for the money.

Try to get recommendations first from family and friends, and then locate their recommendations to set up your interview. You can also look for real estate agents in the internet.

Good real estate agents are committed people who try their best to get you the best deal possible. They should advise you about the real estate laws and tell you about the neighborhood the house you are buying is located. They will usually include details like schools, parks, malls, church and more essential for people's everyday lives.
Here are examples of bad real estate agents:

? A bad real estate agent would get easily irritated if you rejected the first house they present to you. It would look like they are only interested to get the commissions than giving you more criteria for a house.

? Another example of it is that bad real estate agents are the ones who require a fee before they even start to show you the houses. This fee is used to guarantee themselves that the buyer is will only buy a house through them.

Here are examples of good real estate agents:

? A good real estate are often patient when you reject a house after the other. This would mean professionalism and can mean that they want you to have the best deal possible.

? Another way to determine if you hired a good real estate agent to sell your house is that they make the house look presentable as possible. They do what they can to sell the house as soon as possible and looks everywhere for prospective buyers.

To choose real estate agents, ask people about the agent's reputation. They should have a lot of success in selling houses with the best deal possible. Keep in mind that good real estate agents have many houses listed. Bad ones may only have only few houses listed. Look in your local home classified magazines about the listing of houses.

Do not rush in to hire real estate agents. Take your time and you will find excellent real estate agents to work for you more efficiently. Remember that buying or selling a house is one of the biggest and important decisions you will ever make.

Getting Into The Real Estate Market

You have probably heard that getting into the real estate business is a great way to make money. Thousands of people have turned to the real estate game in order to make money. And a lot of these people have turned themselves into self made millionaires. Wouldn't you like to be next in line? The good thing is that making money in this industry is more than possible. If you know how to get started, and make the right decisions, you can make tons of money.
Before you get too involved in the real estate business you need to ask yourself what you want to do. There are many ways to make money with real estate, and you will need to plan your route early on.

Real estate investing can be done in two ways. First off, you can buy a property, fix it up, and then resell it for a profit. This is a great way to make money if you know how to manage what you are doing. Also, you can buy a property and then rent it out. The advantage to do this is that you will have a monthly income coming in from each property that you own. If you have enough real estate making you money each month you will never have to work again, and the only thing you will have to do is make sure each property is kept up to part.

Unfortunately, getting started is not quite as easy as it may sound. Sure, all you need to do is buy a property, but after that things can get a bit tricky.

After you have a piece of real estate in your name the real fun starts. You will need to get it up to par, and then make a decision on what you want to do with it. Either way, the property will have to be in good enough shape to sell or rent out. For this reason you will probably have to do some repairs. Are you handy enough to make these repairs on your own? If so, you can save yourself a lot of money. But if you are not, you will have to hire somebody to help you out. This is not a problem, but it can cut into your overall profits.

Getting into the real estate business is one of the best ways to make money in today's market. Many people have turned to this industry as a full-time job. And a lot of these people have made millions of dollars. If you want to be next, jump into the real estate business today. You never know what could happen.

3 Areas That A Real Estate Investor Should Be Aware Of When Choosing A Commercial Real Estate Investment

Commercial Real Estate Projects are largely similar to residential real estate except that they can be many times larger in terms of scale and may require large amounts of financing. This article covers three areas that one should be aware off when contemplating purchasing commercial real estate.

Zoning Problems

Real estate investment has a lot to do with zoning of the land and if the zoning changes while you are rebuilding the property, you might have to incur a larger than expected cost to convert the use of the property. There was this large scale residential project that was re-zoned to commercial use. As a result of the re-zoning, the developer had to spend a lot of time renovating the inside of the property so as to convert its use from a residential property to a commercial office type of setup. Thus, it’s best to do your due diligence and hire a proper real estate attorney to do a check on the property for you to find out if there is impending re-zoning as it can affect your real estate investment.

Fundamental Utility Problems

The worst problem a real estate investor can face is learning about the piping and electrical problems of the property he jut bought. Thus, spending some time learning about the age of the building and when the electrical and plumbing system was last repaired is critical when looking at a potential building to acquire. The reason is that electrical and plumbing problems mean that you might have to hack through the walls and ceilings so as to replace old metal pipes that are corroding and faulty electrical circuits. This means in effect that you have to do massive renovation on the property and unless you are tearing the building down from scratch and rebuilding it, such repairs may not be worth your while at all.

Choice of tenants

Most real estate investors purchase real estate to establish cash flow and leverage their investments. Spending some time looking at the tenant mix of a commercial building can determine whether you are buying a profitable property or not. Some bankers will lend you money in proportion to the credit of your largest tenant so you would want to find a property with credit worthy tenants or source for credit worthy tenants to take over the lease. So if you have a choice of choosing and replacing some tenants when their lease is up take some trouble to analyze the tenant mix and see if there is anything you can do to improve it.

In conclusion, we have highlighted three areas that a real estate investor should take note off when purchasing a commercial property. Spending some time to scout around the building and looking at the business directory of the building can help you figure out the tenant mix and learning if there are potential piping and electrical problems. But remember to hire an attorney to help you with the zoning issues.

Wealthy Real Estate Investors Use A Process Known As “flipping Properties” To Quickly Make A Real Killing In The Real Estate Market

Wealthy real estate investors use a process known as “flipping properties” to quickly make a real killing in the real estate market. The process is simple. Flipping properties simply means buying a piece of real estate under contract and then reselling it at a markup within days or months of the initial purchase. In most cases, investors resell these properties to investors rather than homebuyers.

This type of investing offers many benefits for the smart investor:
* It allows for big savings. Since the property passes through hands quickly, the savvy investor will spend less money on managing the property.

* It allows for big profits. Flipping properties is very lucrative because it allows the investor to instantly mark up a property price and enjoy thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars in profits on a single deal. Investors in the know even maximize their profits by purchasing homes that are priced below market value and then reselling for full market value. As you can imagine, the profit potential here is virtually unlimited, since you can buy cut-price properties at tax sales and directly from cash-strapped homeowners and resell at a huge profit.

* It leads to fast cash. Many would-be investors are wary of the real estate market, because they assume that selling, buying, and managing properties takes months and years. Flipping properties allows you to see cash up front – in just a few days on desirable real estate.

* It helps others. Most investors are interested in the bottom line, but flipping properties is actually a very good way to help out others. Investors who are successful at this help other investors by uncovering the valuable properties that can make others money. That’s why the markup makes sense – by flipping properties, you are providing a great finding service for others. In some cases, investors are also able to help out homeowners in financial distress, by helping them to get cash for their homes.

Smart investors are already making incredible profits by making use of this simple investment secret. However, the uninitiated do need to be wary. Profits are not assured. To be a successful investor, you need to be able to spot deals and uncover the homes that will actually sell fast.