Archive for November, 2009
Companies And Individuals: Options When Selling Your Home
If you are thinking about selling your home there are more options open to you than you think! Whether youre moving away for a change in climate or your new job needs you onsite within three weeks your house needs to get sold. While buying a house is a rather straightforward process youll find that selling one can be extremely stressful. Make sure that you look at all of the options available to you before you decide how to go about it!
One of the most traditional ways to sell your house is to contact a real estate agent and provide them with a commission when the house is sold. More and more though people are taking FSBO seminars and realizing that they can just as easily keep their money and sell their homes themselves. As you get ready to do this however you may be wondering about the companies and individuals that specialize in buying homes and whether they will be interested in yours.
The first thing to think about is that the companies that are interested in buying your home are not interested in living there themselves. These companies are interested in real estate investing. They are looking at your property as an investment in that they are looking towards the future when they can resell your house at a profit. Like anyone else they will looking to buy your house for the lowest possible amount of money but there are a few things working in your favor.
First the companies that are interest in buying your home are less concerned with the shape of the house than almost any other buyer. When you are dealing with individuals who will be moving their families in you can expect to do a certain amount of repairs before they will consider buying. While these can be comparatively inexpensive there is a good chance that it will cost you a large amount of time and money. A company looking to purchase your home for an investment will be much more likely to take your home asis. What this means is that you wont have to bother with extensive repairs; the real estate investment company will be happy to take over the repairs themselves.
Another thing to keep in mind is that a real estate investment company can make a decision extremely quickly. It is not uncommon to have an offer within a week after the viewing. Once again this is due to the fact that the company does not have to worry about the same thing that a personal buyer would. A company devoted to buy and selling properties will have capital on hand and often will be able to pay in cash and very quickly at that! A single real estate investor can work even faster; if there is only one individual involved you will find that as he or she has all of the decision making responsibilities you will be able to receive an offer even faster.
There are many situations where you may wish to take advantage of the offers made by real estate investors. Most commonly the people using real estate investors are in a situation where time is of the essence. If your job forces you to relocate for example you may need to get rid of your old house quickly and purchase a new one. In a situation like that you want to be sure that you do not end up supporting two houses while waiting for your old one to sell. Similarly if you have recently gone through a divorce and both parties own the house this can make things very difficult. Often one of your best options in that case is to sell the house for quick cash and then divide money. People who have inherited houses that they do not intend to live in are another group of people who often take advantage of the benefits offered by real estate investors; a real estate investor can get the house out of your hands before you need to start making repairs or paying exorbitant property taxes on it!
When you are looking to sell your house make sure that you explore all of your options. While selling it on your own or going through a real estate agent is possible take a look at the advantages offered by selling quickly and painlessly to a real estate investor!
About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;If youd like more information about a knowledgeable investor that works for a company that buys homes please visit your companies that buy homes specialists at
http://www.IbuyHouses.biz
Commercial Mortgage Refinance Why
Why perform a commercial mortgage refinance? Out of necessity of course. Most borrowers want to pull equity out of their property or face a ballooning loan that forces them to investigate options spend thousands on third party reports and put in many hours into the process.
Options
As borrowers begin the process of researching they are often pleasantly surprised by the additional loan programs that have become available in the last 5 years. 30 year fixed loan programs no cost no 3rd party report costs commercial refinance programs non SBA 90 financing etc replace the traditional 5 year balloon/20 year amortizations programs that have been the main stream for years.
Commercial cash out refinances are a common option that many borrowers elect. Whether the borrower wants to simply pay themselves back for the third party fees or max out the allowable cash out proceeds by the lender the choice is often left to the borrower. Depending on the amortization period and existing rate the borrower can often pull cash out and still have a similar monthly payment.
By increasing the loan amortization schedule to 30 years from the more typical 20 years the borrower often enjoys a cash flow increase of 20 or more. For highly leverage investment properties or cash flow tight businesses this can have a tremendous impact on their bottom line. For example on a 1000000 loan with a 7 interest rate the difference in payment on a 20 year vs. a 30 year schedule would be 13191 per year.
Lowering ones interest rate is an obvious desire and benefit of refinancing a commercial mortgage. This can result in saving hundreds of thousands of dollars over the life of a loan. However when a borrower faces a ballooning loan or adjusting rate this is not always the case. The overall market dictates most of the borrowers rate options and its up to the borrower to find the best loan program for them.
Third Party Reports Costs
The costs to perform a commercial mortgage refinance are high. Appraisals normally run between 2000 5000; title is often between 800 2000; environmental reports are around 2000 phase one; lender processing fees cost app. 1000.
Its to the borrowers benefit to do a simple break even analysis to compare these costs to multiple lenders and to their existing bank if they are offering to reset the loan. Often the borrower finds that the third party costs are lower with their existing bank but the overall costs are less with another capital source than is competing hard to win the borrower over.
Time Line
First of all the process to close a commercial mortgage refinance is universally underestimated by banks lenders and brokers. Your typical loan takes 75 90 days to close not 45 days. In addition theres a common communication error that frustrates all involved. For industry insiders they argue correctly that the loan process does not begin until a commitment letter is signed and fees for third party reports are paid. From the borrowers perspective the process normally begins when they make a mental decision to go with a particular bank whether or not the bank has received all the information they need to make a first round lending decision. This communication error results in a further time lag that often creates frustration for the borrower and everyone else involved as tension can become high.
Waiting on the completion of the third party reports appraisal environmental engineering title take a large portion of the time to underwrite and close a commercial mortgage refinance. It is not uncommon for an appraisal to take 8 weeks to complete. In addition many traditional funding sources will wait for one report to be completed before they will order the next; rather than doing all of the 3rd party reports simultaneously.
Borrowers can also add a tremendous amount of time to the process as well. Waiting on the completion of missing documentation example uncompleted tax returns is a common issue. Furthermore if the borrower becomes annoyed with seemingly unimportant requested documentation and puts off completing the results is just additional time added onto the process as lenders rarely back down from requested information.
About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Commercial Mortgage Refinance or
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Closing Costs And Other Fees Associated With Purchasing A Home
We all agree purchasing a home will be for most of us the largest purchase you will make in our life. You have found your future home arranged for financing and are now waiting for the closing date. But to many peoples surprise there are other monies that will need to be disbursed before or on the closing date.
Some of the upfront costs you should plan on paying when purchasing a home include appraisals inspections earnest money lenders fees title company fees and attorney fees. It is vital that you plan for these fees speak to your real estate professional or your lender who will be able to outline and estimate all of these costs for you. The total cost of these various expenses and fees can run into the thousands and even the tens of thousands of dollars. It pays to be prepared.
You must also be careful of the 100 mortgages or nomoney down loans. A nomoney down loan does not mean that there arent any costs associated with the loan. In reality these types of loans allow the buyer to borrow 100 of the purchase price of the home however the buyer is still responsible for the numerous other costs mentioned above.
You should also keep in mind that you will have to pay a portion if not all of that years property taxes. Typically property taxes are called on and required to be paid in full as the home closes. A buyer upon closing the home will be called to pay his/her share of the annual bill as it is prorated. You may want to enquire about the property taxes of a specific house or neighborhood before signing the purchasing contract. Some neighborhoods are taxed more heavily than others.
There is however a way of avoiding having to pay some or all of closing costs. As a borrower you do have the right to ask a seller concession to cover your closing costs and prepaid items. This makes it so you do not have to come up with any money at all for closing costs.
A seller concession is worked into the purchase agreement and the seller will end up paying for some or all of the closing costs. The seller concession is either a flat fee or a percentage of the loan amount. This is a fairly common practice particularly in depressed real estate markets.
As for prepaid items they generally consist of prepaid interest and escrows. Many people run into difficulty reading and understanding the multiple costs that are involved with purchasing a home. Because of this do not take any chances and talk to a loan consultant or mortgage broker. This will help clarify your financial obligations.
Purchasing a home is an exciting adventure. Dont let your fear of the unknown spoil this joyous event. Being prepared and well informed will avoid you being shellshocked when the time comes to paying the bills. The more informed you are the better prepared you will be for the many upfront costs associated with buying a home.
About the writer: Mira Novosel is a Re/Max real estate agent in Mississauga Ontario. Contact Mira and her team of professionals to search for homes for sale in Mississauga and for real estate market news and information.