Investing in the real estate business is one of the most complex, yet most rewarding business activities in the entire face of money-generating business groups in the world. The fact is, investing in real estate is a popular investment vehicle, particularly for the middle-upper class. More and more people who have started doing this activity said that they found it very rewarding even though running a rental property or fixing up a house requires a lot of work.

Investing in real estate is one of the most important financial decisions you will make in life that’s why you have to really think if this is a career you want and if you can handle it, because the truth is investing in real estate can be learned, but learning how to invest is not an easy procedure. There are many things that go into buying a house. First thing, you have to figure out what type of real estate investment you want to make before you even start looking for a house.

I did research on where the most common places to find investment properties and here’s the list of common sources of investment properties. It includes real estate agents, foreclosure sales, MLS or Multiple Listing Service and private sales. Once you found your potential investment property, you must investigate and verify its overall condition. If you are satisfied with the results, talk to the seller about the property sale price and the sale terms. If you both agreed on these, you can now ask for a contract of sale. Remember, once you had handed out the payment, you may not be able to refund it and this is what we called the serious point for investors like you. You are lucky if you are still in the contingency period because you can obtain a refund of earnest money deposits, but if this period is over during the time that you want to refund, this will result penalties for you to pay so plan ahead.

There are two ways to make money out of your investment properties. First is to have it rented out. Renting out the property will give you monthly income and that rent pays can eventually pay off the mortgage and it will be “all profit”. The second way is by appreciating the property’s value. For example, the home you bought for 40,000 can be sold double its original price after few years.

I think most of you will agree with me that your mortgage is by far the single largest commitment in your life. Over the life of your loan, you would have paid or will be paying tens and thousands in interest alone to the bank. As a general rule of thumb you will be paying twice the amount of your initial loan amount if you finish your Home Loan in 30 years.

Are you aware that you will only reduce 7% of the principal after 5 years in repaying your loan to the bank if you were to take a 30 year loan? At the 20th year you still pay less than half of your principal. It is time you take charge of your loan, and finish paying off your loan early to save tens and thousands in interest to the bank.

Gone are the days in the 60′s to the 90′s when home buyers were to take up Home Loans of let’s say for 30 years tenure, and they will pay the installment until the tenure ends. Today, there are many tools in the market place where borrowers can use to knock off the loan tenure. Banks today are also more flexible as compared to 10 years ago.

The sooner you pay off your home loan the sooner you are able to retire and be debt free. There are many strategies that you can apply to pay off your loan early, but not all of them may work for you. You must do your own research and carefully choose the one that best suits your needs.
Here are some ways that you might find useful:-

Making Extra Payment
If you want to see magic, get yourself a mortgage calculator (available free in the internet) and see what happens when you pay a little extra every month. You will save a substantial amount in interest and this will cause you to finish your home loan early. The more you pay towards the principal, the less interest you will have to pay and the faster you will finish your loan.

When you make an extra payment, make sure the extra is applied to principal reduction instead of paying for your installment for next month. Today with technology enhancement, you just need to go to the bank and make a request by signing a service request form available at the Banks counter. 10 years ago when I was with the Bank borrowers need to give 3 months notice before being allowed to make any extra payment. Before you make any extra payment read your Home Loan contract and make sure you will not be charged prepayment penalties.

Remember, “Even small monthly savings can add up to a huge sum”.

Bi-Weekly Payment
If you were to set up a bi-weekly payment for your home loan which means breaking your monthly installment into twice a month it will save you at least 4 years tenure if you were to take a 30 years loan.

So what is the catch, you may ask? If you were to pay half your regular installment every other week, instead of making a full payment you will have made 26 installments which is equivalent to 13 monthly installments in a year. Every year you will have paid an extra 1 month installment.

Refinance
With the reduction of interest rates as compared to few years back it will be worthwhile to refinance. Use a mortgage calculator to determine whether you will save a lot of interest if you refinance. Please take note that there are also other considerations such as penalties, legal fees and valuation fees that you will have to pay.

Alternatively, you can make a special request to your existing bank to reduce your current interest rate. When your interest rate reduces, you can opt to maintain your current installment and this in turn will reduce your repayment years.

Use Flexi Mortgage
Since the introduction of Flexi Mortgage (some countries called Money Merge Account) in Malaysia many years back there are many borrowers who took up this Home Loan package. The number of borrowers applying for this package is growing every day.

How this account works is that you can deposit any amount of money into the account without any need to give prior notice and as long as your money is in the account you save on the interest. Whenever you take out the money interest will be calculated. In Flexi Account, you are supposed to consolidate all you accounts into one account. I would say this type of facility is a combination of the Conventional Term Loan and Overdraft.

In flexi mortgage, interest is calculated on daily basis instead of monthly. You will still need to make your minimum installment payment every month but any extra payment goes towards the reduction of principal. When principal is reduced your loan tenure will also reduce.

One of the biggest downside on this flexi account is that it requires discipline, and also proper planning and good money management in order to reap the full benefits.

Base Lending Rate Adjustments
I once had a customer who came and happily told me that his bank make a mistake on his home loan installment. The Base Lending Rate (BLR) rose but his monthly installment still maintains.

What actually happens is that, when interest rate raises the banks computer system will automatically increase the number of payments and maintain the monthly installment.

When BLR rise you will have 2 choices. Either you maintain your monthly installment and increase your repayment years or increase your monthly installment and maintain your repayment years.

If you can afford to pay the extra installment go to the bank and request to increase the monthly installment. Normally banks will not send a letter to the borrowers and offer the 2 choices whenever BLR is adjusted.

Likewise, if BLR came down, opt to maintain the installment and reduce the repayment years.

EPF Withdrawal
Using your EPF Account II is one of the easiest and fastest ways to reduce your principal and to knock off your repayment years. This can be done on a yearly basis.

Always remember, with proper planning and some extra effort will save you huge sum of money and also will help you upon retirement.

Buying a Home and obtaining the right type of Home Loan from the Bank is always a challenging task. Why you may ask? I think everyone will agree with me if I were to say owning a Home is our single largest commitment in our lifetime. If you do not get proper financing done, it can cost you thousands or even tens of thousands in interest payment alone to the Bank.

For Investors, structuring the mortgage financing correctly will be even more critical as it can mean the difference between a profit or a loss. This can be the difference between creating a wealth generating property portfolio or never progressing beyond the first property investment.

Throughout my entire 14 years’ journey in mortgage financing, I have seen many property buyers who made wrong mortgage decisions which cost them huge sums of money. So how do you make sure that you will end up with the right type of property finance that will save you thousands in interest?

Here are the 10 biggest Home Loan Mistakes made by loan borrowers which I have gathered throughout my career in Mortgage Financing.

1. Understanding the Malaysian Mortgage Industry

For the past one year or so, we have seen many announcements being made by Bank Negara with regards to the changes in the mortgage financing climate. Many home buyers are still unaware and were caught off guard on the recent changes. Take for instance, recently when I sold one of my properties the buyer only knew that there is a 70% financing cap on third property after he paid the deposit and went to the bank to enquire about financing.

With the new announcement on 100% financing with properties costing between RM100,000 to RM400,000 do take extra precaution on the loan approval by the banks. It’s rather rigid with many requirements that needed to be met. My advised for those who are going for this type of loan is to go to the bank and check the loan approval requirements before committing on the purchase.

For home buyers or investors who are buying new properties, do take the extra trouble to check on the latest changes before committing on your purchase.

2. Going for the lowest Interest Rates

One of the hottest topics when it comes to buying a property will be “which bank is offering the lowest rate in town”. My philosophy, “The Lowest Interest Rate does not necessary save you the most Interest”. Why is that so?

What might be seen as a good deal can sometimes come with strings attached whereby it costs more in certain situations or the loan offers less flexibility. Always remember to read (no need to have the word “between” because you do not need to read between the lines) the fine prints in your loan Letter of Offer before signing on the dotted lines.

Be very clear about your objectives for getting the loan and do your homework before you go to the Bank for your financing needs. With the objectives set, go and search for a home loan that suits your specific needs and objectives, and enables you to save the most interest.

3. Understanding The Bank’s Loan Packages

There are hundreds of different innovative types of loan packages out in the market. Borrowers are often spoilt for choice because there are too many to choose from. Many borrowers do not do research on the loan packages and at the end of the day take packages that are not suitable for their specific needs and goals, costing them to lose large amounts of money in interest payments to the banks.

4. Pre-Qualifying Your Loan Approval

This is the most common mistake that many home buyers make. Many home buyers thought that they have no problem in getting their loans approved and often time ignorance can lead to losing tens of thousands paid as deposits. I have seen this happen many times.

The right approach is to go to the Bank before buying a property and check your credit standing. The loan officer can help to pre-qualify your loan. At least, when you pay the house deposit, you pay with confidence.

5. How Banks Determine Credit Approval?

Sometimes it will work towards your advantage if you know how the Banks approve a loan. Banks use, Debt to Income Ratio (DTI) to determine whether you qualify for the loan. For example, if your income is RM3,000 and your total debt is RM1,500 your DTI works like this:-

RM1,500/RM3,000 X 100% = 50% DTI

(Debt) / (Income)

Different Banks use different ratio to determine their credit approval. Normally, banks approve loans with DTI ratio of between 33% to 70%. The recent announcement by Bank Negara on using Nett instead of Gross income when it comes to loan approval will greatly affect the DTI ratio.

Please be mindful that debt also includes your other borrowing such as car loans, credit cards and personal loans.

6. Be a Guarantor for someone else’s Loan

According to Banking Info (by Bank Negara Malaysia), a guarantor will sign a legal contract which binds the guarantor to pay the debt of the borrower if the borrower is unable to service the loan.

Too often I have come across cases whereby the guarantor gets into trouble when the main borrower is unable to service the loan. I have even seen cases where the borrower ran away and cannot be found. In this situation the bank will go after the guarantor. The guarantor will only have 2 choices either to service the loan or face being sued for bankruptcy. When this happens, even people with good financial standing will find it difficult to obtain a loan. Be careful when you are asked to be a guarantor.

7. No Shopping Around

I had a customer some years ago who bought a 3 storey semi-D in Penang. At the time of purchase she went to the bank to get her home loan. The loan was approved by the bank with the condition that RM200,000 be placed as Fixed Deposit lien. She did not go to other banks to enquire and took up the offer. In 2009 during the economic downturn, her business took a dip and she needed the money to sustain her business but her bank was unable to release the lien. At the end she decided to sell her house at a loss and she also had to pay a penalty of 5% on her RM500,000 loan.

This situation can be avoided if she had gone to various banks and shopped around. Maybe she did not even have to put up the lien. Different banks have different approval criteria. One bank’s rejection can be another bank’s approval.

8. Failure to plan

Having a Home Loan is our single largest commitment. Many borrowers take on loans they cannot even afford after taking into account their income and expenses. It will be wise to do your own financial planning before committing yourself to any loans.

Failing to plan will also cause the borrowers to lose tens and thousands in interest. Remember, “Even small monthly savings can add to a big sum”. By making constant extra repayment to the home loan will enable the borrower to save a lot in interest and also to finish the loan much earlier than the original tenure.

9. Choosing a Mortgage Lender

I am very particular when it comes to choosing a mortgage officer who is going to process my loans. One of my criteria is that the mortgage officer must have at least 1 year’s experience. This is of upmost importance as their experience in recommending your loans will be paramount to determining your loan approval.

10. Should I buy Mortgage Reducing Term Assurance (MRTA)?

When it comes to buying Insurance a lot of borrowers try to avoid it. If you do not have a life insurance at least buy MRTA. MRTA will cover you in the event of death or permanent disablement. Even if you have life insurance you can still purchase MRTA for extra protection for you and your family. MRTA is much cheaper than the life policy but the coverage is limited.

I hope my article will help you to gain more knowledge of the mortgage industry in Malaysia and will assist you to prepare for your upcoming property purchase.

Mortgage loans are a type of loan meant to finance the purchase of a home, with a specified repayment period and interest rates. The home on which it is taken out often serves as the collateral, with interest and other costs running typically over 15 to 30 years. The lender may be a bank, financial company or private agency and they use the legal documents of the house in question to determine the interest rate.

There are various places to use as starting point when sourcing for this type of loan. There are lenders websites with this type of loans as their specialty, and you may also walk into a financial house that deals with mortgages and get needed information. You will be provided with information like the rate of interest charged which will enable an individual to compare with other lenders.

A form may be issued for the applicant to fill out. It may contain information like the purpose of the loan, estimate of home value, credit history, current monthly income, borrower contact details and the amount needed. This also prepares the applicants mind on what to expect.

There are various types of mortgage loans available for home buyers, but the popular ones are the fixed rate, adjustable rate and interest only mortgages. Listed below is what they are all about.

Fixed Rate Mortgage: This is suitable for people who are going to live in the home for a very long time. It has a fixed interest rate as the name suggests for the entire loan period. This means that interest here remains the same as long as the loan is on.

The interest payments are paid up-front, so that only a small amount of money is needed to clear the principal during the first few years of the loan term. One of the main benefits of this is that it offers the lowest monthly payment when compared to others.

Adjustable Rate Mortgage: This is most beneficial to people who always shift their homes and want low interest rate. Here, the interest is fixed for a certain number of years, and then it changes every year afterwards. After the initial fixed-interest period, the rate will adjust based on a predetermined agreement.

Interest Only Mortgage: It is structured like an adjustable mortgage, and it allows a buyer to pay only the interest for the first few years of the loan. The payment may be based on only the interest rate, so the principal is not paid down. Interest only is most beneficial to buyers who believe their income will increase in years to come.

There are various reasons why people choose to own a home, like they get to pay cheaper monthly fees with the prospect of finally becoming home owners. Another reason is to build equity which gives them the right to live in the home. They may also be trying to establish credit records, as on-time payments will help build a higher credit score.

There are many options available for mortgage loans but the important thing is to do accurate research. Be sure to understand the contract and make sure you are not missing out any vital information, as this may backfire. With an organized approach, an individual can sail through the loan application process and get the needed approval to make the dream of a new home, a reality.

There are many strategies that you can utilize to profit on foreclosures regardless of what stage the homeowner is at. Many investors leave money on the table simply because they are only familiar with one or two methods that they can profit on deals. This is where investing in your education can result in a significant increase in your bottom line.

The foreclosure process is a complicated process. However, the strategies that you can use to profit from foreclosures are relatively simple. The key is to know where the homeowner is at in the process and know what options are available to the homeowner.

Strategy 1 – Stop Foreclosure Services

This strategy works best for a homeowner who is in foreclosure, wants to keep the house and has the financial resources necessary to keep the house. A homeowner that falls in foreclosure in this scenario usually has done so because of a temporary situation that has now been rectified. For example, let’s say you have a homeowner that lost a job. As a result of the job lost, he or she got behind on payments and is now in foreclosure. Now let’s say that they got a new job and they can afford to make mortgage payments. However, what they cannot afford is having to make all of those back payments that are necessary to bring their loan current.

By offering stop foreclosure services, you can help the homeowner by negotiating with the bank to arrange a loan modification or forbearance plan. This is when the bank agrees to modify the terms of the loan to allow the homeowner to bring the loan current by restructuring it to be more affordable.

How do you make money? In return for negotiating with the bank, you charge the homeowner a fee for your services. Just keep in mind in many states, you cannot collect a fee for stop foreclosure services until after the services have been rendered and you have successfully negotiated an arrangement for the homeowner with the bank.

Strategy 2 – Preforeclosure Purchase

This strategy works best for a homeowner who is in foreclosure that doesn’t want to keep the house. However, there is plenty of equity available in the home that the homeowner can sell the house at a discount and still be able to pay off the loan in full.

In many cases, a homeowner in this scenario will go to a real estate agent and have the property listed. However, there are some scenarios in which you can still make a profit. For example, if the house is in poor condition, it is not going to sell for full market value. You can negotiate to purchase the house for significantly less than market value to justify the repairs that will need to be made to the home.

Strategy 3 – Short Sale

This strategy works best in a scenario in which the homeowner doesn’t want to keep the house. However, there is more money owed on the balance of the mortgage than the actual market value of the property. This is also known as being “upside down” on the loan.

In this case, you can utilize a strategy known as a short sale to profit on the property. With a short sale, you offer to purchase the house at a price that is less than what the loan is worth and more in line with the actual value of the property currently. Many banks are willing to lose money on the loan because it’s cheaper to get rid of the non-performing loan than it is to have to incur the expense of foreclosure.

Strategy 4 – Deed In Lieu Of Foreclosure

This is a strategy that many investors don’t know about. A deed in lieu of foreclosure is when the homeowner agrees to give the house back to the bank without the bank having to foreclose on the property. The bank takes ownership of the property and the homeowner moves out of the property.

While there aren’t a lot of benefits to the homeowner, it does bring closure to the process and allows the homeowner to be able to move on, instead of allowing the process to continue to drag out through a full foreclosure process.

What you may not realize is that many banks and lending institutions are willing to pay money to investors if they can assist the bank in getting the homeowner out of the property. It is not unheard of for a bank to pay an investor $1000 or more to get a homeowner to sign a deed in lieu of foreclosure and make sure that the property is turned back over to the bank.

Strategy 5 – Buy At Foreclosure Auction

The fifth strategy is to simply purchase the home at the foreclosure auction. This strategy is the one that you have to use if none of the other four strategies work. However, if you have the cash available to take advantage of this strategy, or if you have the investing partners or wholesale buyers that you can flip to, you can still make money off foreclosures at the auction. The key is to make sure you don’t get caught up in the action and bid too much on the property.

By understanding how to use all five of these investing strategies, you will be able to close more deals. This is because many deals that you may have had to pass on if you didn’t know one of the strategies above, you will now be able to go after and profit off the deal. Knowledge is power in this industry, so make sure you get the knowledge that you need to be successful.

There are a lot of things that you need to understand when it comes to the realty market, but a lot of people are not aware of these things, and this is the reason why they are having problems when investing. If you really want to be successful when investing in real estate, you need to be sure that you are familiar with the terms that are commonly used in it. In this article, we will not only be discussing the things that you need to know about the listed price, but also the importance of this term when buying your own property.

If you are already familiar with the realty market, you know that the listed price means nothing. It is simply placed there as an invitation for people to place their offers. For example, I have a property and would like to get offers from a lot of people; I can simply place $1 as its listed price, but of course, I would never sell a property for $1. It is only there to attract buyers and to be able to start a transaction. As a buyer, you are not required to place an offer close to the listed price. It is not even the price where you will be starting your offer.

The reason why a listed price is important is because this will give your buyers the idea of what they can expect from the property. If you are planning to sell your real estate property, you can place it listed for sale by estimating the total value of your property. You can seek for the help of a real estate agent or a realtor to have a rough estimate of its value. From here, you will be receiving offers, which could either be higher or lower than your listed price. Everything is fine from here, because you can reject all offers, even if it is higher than your listed price, for as long as the terms do not meet your requirements.

A listed price is very important in every transaction, but you can never use it to determine the amount that you will be receiving from your property. There are a lot of people who think that having their property listed for sale would mean that they are going to accept an offer that is better than what they have listed, but you still have the final call.

As I have mentioned in my example above, I can place a real estate property listed for sale for only $1, but I can close a deal worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. It all depends on how you are going to present your property, and whether or not the property will be tempting for buyers. Always remember that the real estate market is very open, and you don’t have to accept a deal if you think that it won’t be advantageous for you. Asking your real estate agent will also be beneficial, especially when trying to determine the value of your property.

Florida is one of the premier destinations for homeowners looking for high-end luxury property – for good reason. Florida’s moderate temperatures, year-round sunshine and desirable amenities make it great place to buy vacation homes or luxury real estate. Easy access to beaches and oceanfront property, along with a wide selection of communities and lifestyle options, make it an ideal spot for discerning individuals who want to enjoy all that The Sunshine State has to offer.

Shopping for Luxury Real Estate in Florida

When shopping real estate in this region, it comes down to a few basic criteria: amenities, type of community or lifestyle and price range. This area has a lot of golf communities, boating communities and gated communities; you can enjoy resort-style living, a country-club lifestyle, or an ultra-exclusive private setting – or something in between. Many of these communities feature high-end single family homes, villa-style homes and estate homes; often with golf course or water views. Narrowing down the type of community or amenities you’re seeking can help you find the home and lifestyle you want.

Premier Communities in Jupiter

If you’re looking for Jupiter luxury homes, you can enjoy some of the finest premier communities in this part of Florida, including:

• The Bear’s Club; an ultra-private community which features high-end amenities, and prices ranging from $2 million to $10 million.
• Jupiter Country Club; a community that offers country-club living with proximity to Jupiter’s active lifestyle, and features prices ranging from $450,000 to $2 million.

Premier Communities in Martin County

Martin County Florida real estate offers buyers a quaint, historic, small-town atmosphere and some excellent Florida luxury real estate. Premier Martin County communities include:

• Four Rivers; homes along the peaceful St. Lucie River, with lots of at least a half-acre in size, ocean access and luxury amenities and finishes, with prices ranging from $600,000 to over $3 million.
• Sailfish Point; an oceanfront paradise that is literally a secluded luxury island, with lavish amenities amidst a truly exceptional backdrop, with homes ranging from $400,000 to $10 million.

Premier Communities in Port St. Lucie

Port St. Lucie real estate is a great option for people looking for a relaxing, slower pace in their Florida luxury estates Consider:

• Ballantrae Golf and Yacht Club; featuring a 67-slip marina, a Jack Nicklaus championship golf course, a preserve area and riverfront property, with prices ranging from $200,000 to $2 million.
• Tesoro Preserve; a peaceful community elegantly situated amongst a nature preserve, with grand estate homes or lots where you can build your own dream home; prices ranging from $500,000 to $2 million.

Find the right community and match it to your lifestyle and property must-haves, and you’ll find just the right home for you here in sunny paradise.

Partner with Keller Williams to browse Florida luxury estates and find your dream home. The Luxury Estates Plus website makes it easy to view Jupiter luxury homes, and luxury real estate homes in this area of Florida. With a free MyLogin account, you can save your searches, save your favorite properties, or contact a Keller Williams Luxury Certified Agent to help you browse the homes you want.

There are some steps that you need to do n looking for the right house for you and your beloved. First, I call it being efficient, you need to browse about new homes if Florida, and decide which site that you trust. It is possible for you to trust one particular site merely for its presentation. However, it is fine. Next, if you have decided, you need to know the range of prices of Florida new homes to be compared to the region of your dream house. In this step, the thing you need to remember is that you have change to always compare the prices with the prices the other sites you do not trust. The third, if you really have a ‘house-crush, be sure to check further information about new homes Florida to the property agency. Somehow this is pretty necessary as you cannot be dependable to the advertisement.

Moreover, other things to be considered are the special offers and the green environment of the neighborhood. In special offers you may get discount or special gift, and you obviously need to consider the green environment to refresh you every day.

Actually, buying the most suitable Manufactured Homes Indiana affordably is not a difficult task because there are two simple tips that you can consider. The first simple tip to consider is to find a mobile home factory that has your desired mobile home. The existence of many mobile home factories enables you to browse the collections of many factories in which this gives you more options to choose. You can simply compare the specifications, designs, size, and materials of Mobile Homes Indiana to find one that best suits your needs. This should not become a problem because you because almost all mobile home factories have been available on internet. This means that you can make comparison online.

Then, the second simple step is to find a mobile home factory that can give you the best deal on the most suitable mobile home. You should compare the deal offered by several leading mobile home factories in order to find a factory that can give you the best deal on Mobile Homes in Indiana. If you are able to find the lowest deal, you will surely be able to save lots of money. Therefore, anytime you want to buy the most suitable mobile home affordably, you had better follow the above two simple steps.

There are so many moving companies that will provide you with this service, one of them are Movers.com where you can find moving companies around your area. Moving can be complicated and required you to have advance planning; therefore your moving can go smoothly. For you who live in Illinois you will need Illinois movers that will help you to make your moving lots easier. You will surely need moving companies when you are moving to another state or abroad. You need to carefully pack your belongings to avoid it having damage during the journey.

There are many Illinois moving companies that you can find in that site. If you are going to move to another country you can find Illinois international movers. You can also find moving companies that will help you moving to Illinois. Moving can be stressful and by having moving companies your work will be lots easier.