• ISBN13: 9780470499269
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Product Description
A fully revised, new edition of one of the bestselling real estate investing guides of all time

Through its five previous editions, Investing in Real Estate has shown investors how to intelligently build wealth with their investments in houses, condominiums, and small apartment buildings. Unlike many titles in this genre, Investing in Real Estate steers clear of the hyped-up “no cash, no credit, no problem” promises. Instead, it provides sound, real-w… More >>

Investing in Real Estate

You can receive money from your realtor if you search for homes on your own and let the Realtor Rebate help you with the closing. Most real estate buyers believe that the legwork done in searching the homes makes you eligible for the cash back. You need to ask for the home rebate back by talking to your realtor. This will also help the realtor with understanding your needs in the home buying process. For example With the $8000 Home Buyer Tax Credit drawing to a close before January 31th, you may want to close on a home as soon as possible so that you can take advantage of the incentive period which will expire on January 31th, 2010.

If You life in Virginia and buy your housing by hiring a Virginia Realtor Rebates upon last of the interior. Enclose Designer Sincere land industry is a nifty warning, as it offers you to get 2/3rd of the broker’s commission at the term of signing which may turn to thousands of dollars. Galore companies supply rebates. You beggary to assure that you use a certified visitor. That way all the money is kept in escrow ensuring that you are not at danger of losing your location vendee refund erst you next on the domestic.

You requirement to adjudge the change posterior on your tax repetition. Any lenders enjoin that they authorise the interchange hinder. So you essential to blemish with your financing society whether they give authorise the exchange approve refund. Formerly your pledgee approves the currency rebates, you can succeed with your Virginia Real Estate agent regarding the currency hindmost package. When you impact with a exchange backrest accompany, you may necessary to examine with impoverishment to reason a lender who does so that you instrument recognize the groove for the legwork regarding searching the Virginia homes for selling that you deprivation to buy.

3. How long will it take to get a commercial loan?

Borrowers generally start the loan process by contacting their bank. Unfortunately, it is difficult to secure business loans from most banks. Besides, bank loans:

• Contain the most stringent requirements
• Impose the most loan covenants
• Take the longest time to secure the loan.

Bank loans go through several phases of review. First, they will look at your historical income statements, balance sheets and statements of cash flow. Then they will review 5 years of tax returns on the borrower and all owners who will guarantee the loan.

Generally it takes several weeks before the borrower can get a verbal or written commitment letter from a bank. Even after the loan commitment, the bank’s credit committee may veto the loan. The business will then have to start the process over with a new lender. If a firm has very good credit rating, a good relationship with its bank, a solid and confirmable history of earnings and profits, and is not in a hurry, a local bank will probably give them the lowest stated interest rate on the loan.

If you need to be pre-qualified quickly, you should shop for credit over the Internet or look at non-bank sources of funds first. Once you secure a commitment from a direct lender, then you may start a parallel process with your bank. Some direct non-bank lenders can give you a verbal commitment in a few days, but keep in mind that you are only searching for “commercial” loans-offers from Internet companies may often be for residential property, so you will need to screen your searches.

Keep in mind the parameters of the terms you will accept: Will you take a balloon loan? What about a covenant or condition on the loan?

If you know that your profit and loss statements are not provable and solid, or you do not have a high credit score, applying at banks is generally a waste of time. Instead, go directly to non-bank commercial lenders.

4. What kind of covenants and conditions are required?

Many borrowers are not aware that much more may be required than simply making regular monthly payments on time. Many loans ask you to provide quarterly or annual income statements, balance sheets and tax returns. Some loans will require covenants-promises that your business will meet certain tests in the future. They may require a certain positive cash flow, or a certain debt-to-cash-flow ratio, or other financial criteria. During a downturn in your industry or the economy, your business may face temporary cash flow or profit shortages.

If your business falls short of the terms and conditions contained in the loan covenants, your bank may deem that your loan has entered into default. Default triggers numerous penalties. It may require that you pay back the loan immediately. This can cause you to have to find another lender very quickly, or face foreclosure on the property.

Different lenders require different conditions, so ask the lender up front what conditions or covenants apply. Some non-bank loans charge a slightly higher interest rate but will waive all covenants and conditions except for timely repayment of the loan. If you feel that your business cash flow is uncertain, you might want to consider these non-bank loans first.

If your business does not have its financial statements certified regularly by one of the larger CPA firms, you may opt for a slightly higher interest rate loan. This may relax the reporting process or not require future covenants. Likewise, if losing your business or property to the bank is likely because of the financial test requirements, then find another lender. Ask any real estate developer who has managed to stay in the business for 20-30 years about the risks inherent with traditional bank commercial property loans; he will name many other developers who lost all their assets during lean times in the industry.

5. What kind of documentation will be required?

Traditional lenders require 3-5 years of financial statements, income tax returns, and other documentation. This may include:

• Leases
• Asset statements
• Original corporate documents
• Personal financial records of the business owners

Keep in mind that many small businesses do not have the level of income documentation some lenders require. If you ask ahead of time, it will save you numerous headaches from delays or rejected loan applications. The documentation required and the timelines for approval are related-the more information required, the slower the loan approval and funding process.

6. What if I want to sell the property?

If your business booms, you may want to repay the loan early or sell the property and move to a larger space. Commercial mortgages, unlike residential loans, usually have pre-payment penalties. However, some lenders will allow the purchaser of the property to assume the mortgage by taking over the seller’s payments. An assumable loan is an excellent selling point, because it provides built-in financing for the buyer.

If you have never borrowed money for your business before, you may be in for a surprise. Whether you want to borrow working capital to expand your business or leverage equity in a commercial real estate venture, you will soon find out the commercial loan process is very different from the more common home mortgage process. Commercial loans, unlike the vast majority of residential mortgages, are not ultimately backed by a governmental entity such as Fannie Mae. Consequently, most commercial lenders are risk-averse; they charge higher interests rate than on a comparable home loan. Some lenders go a step further, scrutinizing the borrower’s business as well as the commercial property that will serve as collateral for the loan. This means that the business borrower should have different expectations when applying for a loan against his commercial property than he would have for a loan secured by his or her primary residence.

Following is a list of questions the borrower should ask himself and the lender before applying for a commercial loan.

1. How am I going to meet the loan repayment terms?

Typically, bank loans require the borrower to repay his or her entire business loan much earlier than its stated due date. Banks do this by requiring most of their loans to include a balloon repayment. This means the borrower will pay interest and principal on his 30-year mortgage at the stated interest rate for the first few years (generally 3, 5 or 10 years) and then repay the entire balance in one balloon payment.

Many borrowers do not save enough in such a short time frame, so they must either re-qualify for their loan or refinance the loan at the end of the balloon term. If the business happens to have any cash-flow problems in the years immediately preceding the balloon term, the lender may require a higher interest rate, or the borrower may not qualify for a loan at all. If this happens, the borrower runs the risk of being turned down for financing altogether and the property may be in jeopardy of foreclosure.

A balloon loan has other risks as well. If the borrower’s business is in a “risky” industry at the time the balloon is due (think of the oil and gas bust in the 1980s or the telecom implosion of the 2000s), the lender may back out of all refinancing for the enterprise. Alternatively, a lender simply may decide its loan portfolio has too many loans in a given industry, so he will deny future refinancing within that trade.

Non-bank lenders generally offer less stringent credit requirements for commercial loans. Some non-bank lenders will make long-term commercial loans without requiring the early balloon repayment. These loans, which may carry a slightly higher interest rate, work like a typical home loan. They allow a steady repayment over twenty or thirty years. It is often worth paying a one- or two-point higher interest rate for a fixed-term loan in order to ensure the security of a long-term loan commitment.

2. How much can or should I borrow?

Most bank loans prohibit second mortgages, so the borrower should go into the loan process intending to borrow enough to meet current business needs, or enough to sufficiently leverage real estate investments. For a traditional acquisition loan in which the borrower is buying a new property, banks usually require a down payment of 20-25%. So for a $600,000 acquisition, the borrower will need to come up with $120,000-$150,000 for the down payment.

Some non-traditional loans will allow the borrower to make a smaller down payment, maximizing the loan-to-value (LTV) at 85-90%. Such loans are generally not bank loans, but are offered by direct commercial lenders or pools of commercial investors. If the customer wants to borrow the maximum amount possible, the interest rate on such loans may be a point or two higher than typical bank loans. Before deciding how much to borrow, potential borrowers should:

• Evaluate how much cash they are likely to need
• Analyze their ability to repay the loan as it is structured

Research has consistently shown that the number one reason behind the failures of most small businesses is the lack of adequate capital to meet cash-flow needs. Because of this it may actually be safer for a small business to leave a larger cushion against unforeseen events by borrowing more money at the slightly higher rate.

The amount of the loan requested has an effect on which commercial lenders will fund the loan. Small businesses borrowing less than $2,000,000 will visit a different pool of potential lenders than those seeking loans of over $5 million. Small business loans are generally made by direct commercial lenders (easily located by internet searches) or by small local banks. Larger loans are generally made by regional banks, and very large loans are made by mega-banks or Wall Street lenders.

Finding the perfect home is hard – I know I am looking just for a temporary home right now and I could not really imagine attempting to find a real home – a house that you are going to be in for a while.  If you are a first time home buyer, there are a ton of different perks out there for you right now.

First, you need to make sure that you take advantage of the first time homebuyer federal tax credit of $8,000.00, record low interest rates and finally, nationwide median home prices that are dropping to the lowest point in five years.  This really makes the entire deal of buying a home for the first time really enticing.

These are things that you certainly want to make sure that you look into whenever you are trying to get yourself a home for the very first time.

Buying a home after you have submitted and put in for bankruptcy is something that is difficult.  Your credit score is basically what you live by and when you have to file for bankruptcy, your credit score goes down, down, down and honestly, it can be very difficult for you to recover from that.  However, if you are looking for a way that you can so you can buy a new house – you need to do your research.

After you file for bankruptcy, there are many different things that you need to do to ensure that you can actually be trusted by lenders again.  The first is make sure that you pay all of your bills on time and do not ever miss a payment, as that is something that will go on your credit and will certainly lower your credit score right away.

Next, you are going to have to wait anywhere from a year to three or four years in order to purchase a new house and even then, you might not get approved – it all just depends.