1 Year Same As Cash Scheme

So I wanted to give you a heads up on something that is a real issue with a lot of people. Have you ever heard of or participated in one of those “1 year Same as Cash deals?” I have a buddy who bought some furniture last year using that payment plan, but when the time came to pay up, he couldn’t quite swing it. No big deal right? You just start making payments and everything is ok. Well, not so fast. Not only did he have to start making payments at 22% interest, they tacked on all the back interest for the WHOLE year onto his account. So what should have ended up being a $2200 balance, actually cost him $2800. Ouch. Now I hear you saying “That would never happen to me,” but did you know that this happens 86% of the time? You heard me right, 86% of people can’t make their payment within 1 year and so they end up with a high interest rate and a really big balance. So here’s the deal. Unless you’ve got that money stashed away somewhere, or you put some money aside each month to pay for your purchase, the one year “same as cash” deal might not be such a good idea. Many times, flashing cash from the get go, will get you a better deal and save you a lot of money in the long run. In any case, if you find yourself tempted to go this route just be careful. First, be honest with yourself and your financial situation. Remember, 86% of people thought they could make that payment when the year was up, but they couldn’t. Second, try to negotiate a better deal by paying cash up front. A lot of companies are strapped right now and cash is king. Third, if you decide to take this route, mark you calendar at month eleven, and then make your payment then. It would be better to pay one month early than to accrue back interest and a larger balance.

I Can't Believe Google Can Do This

You know, I just love Google. They have so many tools and gadgets I could give you a tip every week for a year and still have more left over. This week I want to tell you about a little known tool that is gonna come in very handy for you. So sometimes you need to solve a math problem and you just don’t have a calculator handy and the one on your cell phone is way too complicated. Well if you open up Google, you can put math problems right in the search bar and it will give you the solution. It gives you the answers for very simple equations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, but it also gives the answer for very complicated math problems like calculus or trigonometry. How cool is that? For example, if you type 67 X 37 in the search bar and then hit the enter button, up pops the answer which is 2,479. This is really cool because you can use it anywhere you have access to a computer. And you don’t have to remember calculator website names.Isn’t that great? You know what makes Google such a valuable resource is that they seem to have an answer for everything on the internet. And that’s exactly what we want to be for you with all your housing needs. Whether you are buying or selling, if you have questions that need answers, no matter how simple or how complicated, give us a call. We have people on our team that do nothing but look in every nook and cranny to make sure you keep as much of your hard earned dollars in your pocket as possible.

What A Landlord Must Do To Evict A Tenant

A landlord may evict you for violating a provision of your lease, but must do so according to lawful procedures. For example, unless your lease provides otherwise, when you do not pay your full rent, the landlord must first make a clear demand on you for payment of the past-due rent. Then, if you do not pay the rent within ten days (or if you have violated your lease in some other way), the landlord may file a formal "summary ejectment" complaint against you in court describing why you should be ejected.
Many leases permit the landlord to shorten the ten day notice period or avoid it altogether by including a "forfeiture" clause. Such clauses provide that the lease terminates if you do not pay your rent within a specified number of days after it is due and may require no notice or less than ten days' notice before the landlord is permitted to begin the summary ejectment proceeding in court.
At the court hearing, you can, of course, raise defenses. If the magistrate rules in favor of the landlord, you can appeal the decision within ten days. However, you must pay the appropriate rent to the clerk of court while the appeal is pending. If you do not appeal in time, or if the landlord wins the appeal, he can enlist the services of the county sheriff to execute the judgment and evict you. At all times throughout the process, the landlord must use peaceable means to regain his property. "Self-help eviction," such as changing the locks, removing your possessions, or padlocking your door, is not permitted.

Letting Go to Enjoy Freedom

I just came across this little story and I must say that I can totally relate to it at times. In parts of South America, and other places in the world as well, people have a method for trapping monkeys that is so easy - it’s scary.
To make the trap, first they hollow out a gourd or a coconut leaving an opening just large enough for a monkey’s hand to go through. Next, they place peanuts inside the gourd, then attach a vine to the gourd and stake the other end of the vine to the ground somewhere out of sight.
The monkey smells the nuts inside the gourd and reaches in to grab it. However, the opening, which was just large enough for their hand to go in, is too small for his closed hand to go back through. No matter how much the monkey pulls, he cannot escape as long as he tries to hang on to his “prize.”
Meanwhile, the hunter who set the trap, comes along and captures the monkey, and all because the monkey wouldn’t let go of the prize. All he had to do was let go and he would be free, but he keeps hanging on.
So how many times have we found in our life that we are trying to hold onto something so hard and if we would just let go of it, we would have our freedom?
Anyways, I could kind of relate to this story in some of the areas of my life and so I wanted to share it with you. The moral of this story is – let go of the “peanuts” and enjoy some freedom.
Now the application for you today is, do you find yourself in the housing market trying to hold on to your so called “prize?”
Maybe you’re renting and you’re afraid to let go of that and go into home ownership. There has never been a better time to buy than right now.
Maybe you bought your house three years ago with 100% financing and because of the housing market crash, the value of your home is not what it was and your find yourself “stuck” so to speak with your hand in the gourd. We want you to know there are answers for those problems.
Give us a call or shoot us a quick email and let us share some options. Please don’t sit there with your hand in the gourd and let yourself get shot at. There are some answers and we want to help you.

Christmas Party Dusting Tip

So the holidays are here and I was doing a little cleaning to get ready for a party. Dusting is not on my list of favorite things to do, but it has to be done. So I did my dusting but noticed that after only three days, the house was dusty again and I was going to have to break out the ole dust rag again.
I did a little research on line and found that if you use these dryer sheets to do your dusting, there’s a chemical in them that helps save you from having to dust as often. Furniture has a static charge which attracts dust. But if you use the dryer sheets, they break the static charge so the dust won’t like your furniture anymore. How cool is that? And as an added bonus, your furniture and your house will smell nice!!
Now how about your credit? Does it need a little dusting off? Well I can help!! Give my office a call and let’s see what we can do to help you get into a home again, or get into a home for the first time! I work with a company that has had great success in helping my clients increase their credit score. There is virtually no category where we have not seen deletions. Judgements, liens, late payments, bankruptcies…you name it, we’ve seen it removed.
So if you think you can’t buy a house because of credit, think again. Whether you’re looking in the next month, 6 months or year, give my office a call or shoot me a quick email. Let us help you pick yourself up and dust yourself off and start all over again.

Top Questions To Ask When Interviewing A Realtor.

1. How Long Have You Been in the Business?
2. What is Your Average List-Price-to-Sales-Price Ratio?
3. What is Your Best Marketing Plan or Strategy for My Needs?
4. Will You Please Provide References?
5. What Are the Top Three Things That Separate You From Your Competition?
6. May I Review Documents Beforehand That I Will Be Asked to Sign?
7. How Will You Help Me Find Other Professionals?
8. How Much Do You Charge?
9. What Kind of Guarantee Do You Offer?
10. What Haven't I Asked You That I Need to Know?

Purchasing a Fixer Upper (203K Loan)

The 203(k) loan includes the following steps:

A potential homebuyer locates a fixer-upperand executes a sales contract after doing a feasibility analysis of the property with their real estate professional. The contract should state that the buyer is seeking a 203(k) loanand that the contract is contingent on loanapproval based on additional required repairs by the FHA or the lender.

The homebuyer then selects an FHA-approved 203(k) lender and arranges for a detailed proposal showing the scope of work to be done, including a detailed cost estimate on each repair or improvement of the project.

The appraisal is performed to determine the value of the property after renovation.

If the borrower passes the lender's credit-worthiness test, the loan closes for an amount that will cover the purchase or refinance cost of the property, the remodeling costs and the allowable closing costs. The amount of the loan will also include a contingency reserve of 10% to 20% of the total remodeling costs and is used to cover any extra work not included in the original proposal.

At closing, the seller of the property is paid off and the remaining funds are put in an escrow account to pay for the repairs and improvements during the rehabilitation period.

The mortgage payments and remodeling begin after the loan closes. The borrower can decide to have up to six mortgage payments (PITI) put into the cost of rehabilitation if the property is not going to be occupied during construction, but it cannot exceed the length of time it is estimated to complete the rehab.

Escrowed funds are released to the contractor during construction through a series of draw requests for completed work. To ensure completion of the job, 10% of each draw is held back; this money is paid after the lender determines their will be no liens on the property.