Real Estate Unit

Archive for October, 2009

Even in very desirable areas, the recent changes in the real estate market have left both buyers and sellers a bit nervous. The adjustments that took place in 2007-also called the real estate crunch-represented an inevitable function of the markets. Real estate was overpriced, in plain terms, and it was unavoidable that prices would return to a level commensurate with the actual value of the property. In some very hard-hit markets, however, the effects of the recovery are already starting to be felt in the local home prices and sales figures.

Miami and Florida in general, were particularly affected by the real estate crunch. Homeowners saw their property values plummet and many individuals were unable to unload their houses when they had originally planned. The market, however, goes up and down and this situation was, and is, not at all static. The market is already showing signs of recovery, largely represented by an increase in home sales over the last year. Florida in general and Miami, in particular, showed impressive increases in sales while, at the same time, prices continued to drop, allowing many buyers to get in on the market at excellent prices.

Miami posted a 7.2% increase in home sales over the last year. This represents a significant increase in one of the hardest-hit areas of the nation. At the same time, Florida at large showed an increase in home sales of a whopping 45%. These increases were seen in several different metropolitan areas. The increase affected both condominium and single family houses. Mortgage rates area also at low points, which means that financing, the prices of homes and the sales figures for the existing inventory all point to it being a good time to enter the market as a buyer.

A large part of the real estate crash’s most devastating effects centered around the value of homes already owned. For buyers, the crash rather represented an opportunity. When prices climbed to the levels seen preceding the crash, it became impossible for many people to even get a house. But the market today is much more favorable for those who want to purchase a new home. This condition is called a “buyer’s market” by realtors and represents a market condition, not a tragedy. As the increasing sales figures in Miami show, the market recovers and it recovers rather quickly, even in hard-hit areas.

A monumental land survey is a type of land survey dealing specifically with the boundaries of the property. All monumental land surveys use physical monuments to mark the boundaries on the land itself. Commonly, the corners of the property are marked with a long iron rod driven vertically into the ground, though there are many other types of physical monuments which may be used.

These monuments are designed to be as permanent as possible, though land surveyors many decades ago used wooden posts or natural features which may be destroyed over time, making it difficult to re-trace their work today. Monuments in use today will have a cap on top of the iron rod identifying the surveyor who placed it.

This physical monument allows the easy finding of the boundaries and corners of the property when one is physically on the land, although the monumental land survey itself does have some limitations as far as the other information provided. For example, it usually is not concerned with any improvements on the property, such as fences or homes, and will not determine whether these were built to code or conform to zoning regulations.

Often, a monumental survey is undertaken in combination with other types of land surveys to show additional information about the property. For example, a monumental survey may be combined with a title survey, which will examine more than the boundaries in determining anything affecting ownership of the land in question.

In many cases, a monumental land survey may be undertaken when there is a dispute over the exact land boundaries. For example, if a fence has been built or is about to be built on the land, a monumental land survey can mark the exact corners and the boundary between the two properties so that the fence’s position with regards to the legal property boundary can be evaluated. The monumental land survey is also useful when in the planning stages of a construction project.

Before a land surveyor may place the monuments, there are many other steps to take, many of which are actually done away from the property in question. In fact, placing the monuments is near the end of the monumental land surveying process. First, the surveyor must clarify exactly where the boundary should be located by looking at the title and legal description of the property, among other information. Then, these boundaries must be measured on the land itself before they can be marked, and the surveyor will search for any preexisting corner monuments from previous surveys, evaluating their accuracy to determine whether the boundary was correctly placed by the previous surveyor. Finally, the new monuments are set into place.

Real estate investing can seem very complicated for beginners. However, because of the profitability that it continues to show today, many individuals are encouraged to try their luck in the industry. If you are a newbie, expect to find many unexpected barriers which you need to overcome in order to keep your business running. In this article, we will share with you a few basic starter tips to help beginners jump start kick off their real estate investing career.

• Learn – Read as many books as you can. Take to browse on useful materials as well as forums, which you will find online. Seminars, boot camps and webinars may be costly but are also very informative. Be active in online forums learn first-hand experience from fellow members.
• Find a teacher – If it is your first time, having a mentor or maybe an expert in your area take a look at your deals will be a good idea. They can help you avoid mistakes and if in case you find your home run deal, you may use this to build your credibility.
• Pick a particular strategy, which you want to master – Mastering several techniques will make it difficult for you to focus.
• Join REI Groups and Clubs – Expand your network by meeting many experienced people online. This is also a good venue to learn the basics of the business from highly experienced people.
• Partner – Partnering with an expert who has great experience will help you learn a lot. This will also help you avoid costly mistakes while teaching you realistic tips which you may apply in your future deals.
• Build a team – Make a competitive team. Aside from finding experts, it is also important that you align goals. Come up with effective systems, which can help you increase your chances of running a profitable business.
• Do not be in a hurry. If it is your first time, taking things one at a time will be helpful. Be sure that you keep you yourself in a good pace and that you keep yourself from taking unnecessary risks.
• Keep reserves – Be sure that you prepare something with you just in case unexpected problems arise.
• Be critical – Take time to examine your team, financing, reserves, strategy and partner systems. Analyze each and come up with solutions which will help you improve every aspect in your business.

Making sense of a real estate listing can be difficult. Strange acronyms, vague descriptions and an endless parade of real estate jargon can make some listings incredibly difficult to understand.

This article will help you make sense of a real estate listing.

Home Listing Acronyms
Reading a home listing can be like putting together a difficult jigsaw puzzle: it’s about understanding what each piece of the puzzle means and then fitting each piece together to paint a broader picture of the home.

Here’s a list of home listing acronyms that will help you make sense of what you’re reading:

aek, eik, eff kit: all-electric kitchen/ eat-in kitchen/efficiency kitchen
cath ceil: cathedral ceiling
cds or c-d-s: cul de sac
d/d: dishwasher and garbage disposal
fdr: formal dining room
f/f: fully furnished
hdw, hdwd, hwf: hardwood floors
osp: off-street parking
owc: owner will compromise
pl, sp or s/p: swimming pool
smart: light, heat, cooling, alarm, appliances electronically controlled
SPLT: split-level
wic: walk-in closet

Why Are Home Listings So Short and Confusing?
Most classified advertising is priced according to the ad’s length, which means shorter listings cost less money. Therefore, real estate agents use acronyms and symbols to reduce the length of their listing. For instance, placing an ad for a “2bd, A/C, bal, fdr, 2gar w/sp” is much cheaper than writing out “a 2-bedroom house with air conditioning, a nice balcony, formal dining area, a 2-car garage and a built-in swimming pool.”

Warning Signs
When you’re reading a home listing, look closely at phrases that may be trying to cover up a weakness. Always be wary of exclamation points and euphemisms. Keep in mind, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

“Fixer-upper” and “handyman’s dream” are obvious: the home is in need of serious repair. The home may be listed at a great price, but unless you’re a handyman who loves home construction, look elsewhere. This advice goes for “needs TLC” too.

If you’re trying to start a home staging business, you might be wondering how you are actually going to get paid. This is one of the important steps in setting up a business – determining whether you’ll take checks, cash and/or credit cards.

The ability to accept credit card payments is appealing to home stagers, especially since the amounts you’re getting paid are usually quite high. Setting up a merchant account, however, is very expensive. Not only do you have to pay a large sum to the bank just to apply for and then set up the account, you also have to pay a certain amount each month regardless of whether or not you have any transactions. In addition to paying these fixed fees when you do make a sale, they usually get to keep about 5% of it.

I don’t recommend you get your own merchant account, but I do suggest you set up a PayPal account for your business that will allow you to take credit card payments.

PayPal is essentially an online bank that allows you to accept and send payments and transfer funds to your regular business bank account. There are no fees to set it up and there are no monthly costs. If you have a client who also has a PayPal account, they can send money from their own account or they have the option to use their credit card instead. This is an easy and less costly solution then having your own merchant account.

Even if your client doesn’t have their own PayPal account, they can still pay you using a credit card through PayPal.

By the way, it doesn’t matter where you live since you can choose the currency you want to use when you set up your account. But beware of switching your PayPal balance between different currencies. Their rates are awful! This is not an issue if you’re doing all your business in one country.

Of course, PayPal will keep a percentage of your sales, but it’s roughly what you’d be paying for your own merchant account through the bank to accept credit card payments. In some cases PayPal takes an even smaller percentage of sales than your bank would with a normal merchant account. But because there are no set up or monthly fees to worry about, I feel it’s less costly to go this route.