Archive for January, 2010
Your Standard Lease Agreement And The Vital Details It Must Have
Preparing your standard lease agreement requires that you know all the important parts of a legal agreement. Your lease agreement will be not valid and ironclad unless you learn to understand every necessary ingredient.
Define the Sections of Your Rental Agreement
You should start drafting your standard lease agreement by first defining the sections that you will need. This includes the names of the people entering into the agreement their signatures and your lease terms.
In a rental agreement you also need to include information about rent payments defaulting on payment deposits use of the rental property responsibilities and any other guidelines for the renting of your property.
Not only do you need to have all the important sections in your standard lease agreement but you need to be sure that each section contains the required details.
What Your Should Include in Every Section
The names of the parties involved in the agreement will include anyone living at the rental property who are over the age of 18 years old. It should also include your name and names of any coowner if applicable. It is important to include all the relevant parties because these are the people who will be held legally responsible for your rental property.
The lease term should also be stated clearly. Make sure you specifically state the start and ending dates for the lease.
You need to handle the payment on rent thoroughly. You have to state how much the rent is when it is due and give specifics about what will happen if it is late. Be specific and make sure that you state what constitutes a late payment.
If you are asking a deposit from your tenants you must state how much the deposit was and the terms for return of the deposit. By law in most areas you are required to return that to the renter at the end of the lease term with some exceptions.
If you plan on charging fines fees or other charges you will also have to put it down in writing. Be sure to state what are the exact charges you will impose.
You also need a section that spells out responsibilities for repairs lawn care and other maintenance. Once again make sure that you are specific. You should state what you will take care of and what you are not responsible for.
Wrapping Up Your Standard Lease Agreement
Remember to grant yourself access to your rental property so that you can collect rent and make repairs as needed.
You should impose restrictions on the intended and proper use of your rental property so that you can protect yourself from nasty tenants who will abuse your rental home or harass the neighbours. This clause will be invaluable in case you will ever to evict anyone.
Preparing a standard lease agreement takes time but it is always worth the effort. Once your rental agreement is signed it will be a legally binding contract that both you and the tenants must follow. If you are unsure it’s always a good idea that you get a landlord tenant lawyer to look at it to make that it is valid and ironclad.
Teo Zhenjie has been showing landlords how to manage their tenants and rental property effectively on Propertydo http://www.propertydo.com/ To learn more important tips on standard lease agreement visit his website today for stepbystep real estate guides free resources and forms.
About the writer: Teo Zhenjie has been showing landlords how to manage their tenants and rental properties effectively on Propertydo.com http://www.propertydo.com/ Visit his website today for stepbystep real estate guides free resources and forms.
Your Lender Does Not Want Your Home
With the amount of homes facing foreclosure it is true that your lender does not want your home. In fact mortgage lenders are also victims I this crisis believe it or not. Your problem has become their problem!
With 8 homes in every 1000 currently in foreclosure and many many more on their way banks are in no hurry to take your home. They will run themselves out of business if they were to take back the homes of all their high risk mortgages.
Most lenders are willing and eager to find a way to keep you in your home. The key is to act sooner rather than later so that you have as many options available to you as possible. Dont let fear keep you from contacting your lender to see if there is a workout plan available to you.
Here is another mistake that too many homeowners make. They may have been contacted by their lenders collection department telling them that their lender will no longer accept payments as their home is heading into foreclosure.
While other options short of paying all back payments may be negotiated the biggest mistake people make at this time involves allocation of what little cash they do have. Your mortgage company says they do not want your money they no longer accept your payments since youre in foreclosure; but the second mortgage company credit card companies and others call everyday demanding money.
So homeowners make the mistake of sending in money to these credit card companies and others. After all if there are ten people calling and demanding money making nine happy means fewer calls for you and fewer headaches in the short run.
In the long run this is a critical mistake. At some point you will need some money to save your home.
Many options exist to stop a foreclosure; but they all require at least one months mortgage payment. So start saving some money for your lender.
After all if you stop making your credit card payments they give you a bad entry on your credit report. If you cant work out a loan program with your lender they will take your home!!
About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Many homeowners facing foreclosure simply don’t know what to do. You can learn exactly what your options are and what to do next. Take a minute and check this site out Its absolutely free.
Wheres The Money? Whats Next For Real Estate Investors
Investors who have previously been able to qualify for 100 purchase financing to acquire investment properties are now facing much different conditions in the investor loan market place. Programs for investor loans have literally evaporated under the pressure of the subprime mortgage debacle. Many investors who formerly depended on subprime mortgage programs and ARM loans are now seeking hard money loans for real estate purchases and rehabs. Demand for hard money loan programs nationwide has steadily increased. Real estate investors are discovering that hard money lenders are funding both residential and commercial investments.
According to Wikipedia: A hard money loan is a species of real estate loan collateralized against the quicksale value of the property for which the loan is made. Most lenders fund in the first lien position meaning that in the event of a default they are the first creditor to receive remuneration. Occasionally a lender will subordinate to another first lien position loan; this loan is known as a mezzanine or second lien. Hard money lenders structure loans based on a percentage of the quicksale value of the subject property. This is called the loantovalue or LTV ratio and typically hovers between 6070 of the market value of the property. For the purpose of determining an LTV the word “value” is defined as “today’s purchase price.” This is the amount a lender could reasonably expect to realize from the sale of the property in the event that the loan defaults and the property must be sold in a one to fourmonth timeframe. This value differs from a market value appraisal which assumes an armslength transaction in which neither buyer nor seller is acting under duress.
Chairman Ben S. Bernanke who testified Before the Committee on Financial Services U.S. House of Representatives on September 20 2007 regarding subprime mortgage lending and mitigating foreclosures stated “Markets do tend to selfcorrect. In response to the serious financial losses incurred by investors the market for subprime mortgages has adjusted sharply. Investors are demanding that originators employ tighter underwriting standards and some large lenders are pulling back from the use of brokers. The reassessment and resulting increase in the attention to loan quality should help prevent a recurrence of the recent subprime problems. Nevertheless many homeowners who took out mortgages in recent years are in financial distress.”
Tighter underwriting standards for investors mean that fewer investors will qualify for loans without substantial down payments generally in the 20 to 30 range. These strict underwriting requirements for real estate investors will also lead investors to pursue more creative real estate funding options such as seller financing carryback and hard money funding for purchase or rehab “fix and flip”. While the markets are correcting real estate investors are already gravitating to programs where they can obtain readily available funding to purchase investment property.
Many hard money lenders are willing to loan up to 100 of the purchase on a property given the fact that the property LTV is approximately 70 or lower. These lenders are also willing to loan money for “rehabbing” the property and even structuring the loan so no monthly payments are required for 3 to 6 months. These features make hard money loans very attractive to the investor especially during times when property inventory is increasing and properties can be purchased at substantial values. At the present time rates for hard money are in the 10 to 16 range and hard money lenders are charging “points” typically 13 more than a traditional loan which would amount to 36 points on the average hard money loan. Commercial hard money loans range from 4 to 10 points. Investor credit may or may not factor into a hard money loan due to the fact that the funding is based on the “hard” asset value of the property collateralizing the loan.
About the writer: Gary Zaccaria is a Sr. Financial Consultant with OpmCredit.com on the topic of Hard Money Loan options for real estate investing. He has marketed real estate investment training programs for Trump University Dolf De Roos Robert Allen and AD Kessler.