Kentucky Real Estate Agents

An REO is real estate owned by the bank, and many investors consider an REO property to be money just waiting to happen. An REO is different from a foreclosure property in that the bank has already tried to sell it at a foreclosure auction and has had no luck getting bids. Because the property was not bid on, the bank then became the owner of the property. Naturally, the bank does not want to keep the REO any longer than possible, and this makes it a great opportunity for an investor. Not every REO is a good deal, but when you look at an REO you’ll commonly find that there is a lot of money to be made.

So, is this a foreclosure?

Technically speaking, the home was foreclosed on because the owner of the home failed to make their scheduled payments. The bank set up and went through a public auction, but there was not any bids placed on the home, so the bank ended up owing the property. Yes, the home was foreclosed on, but it is well past the foreclosure process and the bank will be anxious to get rid of the property.

Advantages of REO vs. Foreclosed Property

When you are thinking of buying an REO you have to distinct advantages that a buyer does not have with a foreclosed property. The first is that you are able to buy on your schedule, as you do not have an auction date to work with and around. You can make an offer of the home any time; you don’t have to wait for bidding to begin. Another big advantage of an REO compared to a foreclosed property is that you can inspect it before you buy, when you cannot do this with the majority of foreclosed homes that you think about purchasing. Being able to inspect the property before you buy will let you know how big of a project you will be dealing with.

Best types of REO to purchase

You might not think the type of loan the home was purchased with the first time around matters but it does. You should attempt to purchase REO’s that had a conventional loan the first time around, as you will likely get much better deals with these than you will if you look at FHA and VA loans. The federal government backs FHA and VA loans, and the government can actually buy them back if they are so inclined. Homes that had conventional loans the first time are often purchased for just a fraction of their value, meaning that they can make an investor a lot more money.

Which REO’s you should not purchase

Just because the bank owns a property does not make it a good deal. In fact, when you see that a home or property is an REO you have to wonder exactly what IS wrong with it. The house was not bid on because no one saw the worth in it. Did the home just not have enough equity? Were their IRS liens against it? Was the property just too badly damaged? You need to ask these questions. If the bank cannot answer the questions then you need to be even more skeptical. Take advantage of your right to inspect the REO so that you can see with your own eyes what may or may not be wrong, hire professionals if necessary as well.

One must also be sure that if they are purchasing an REO to fix it up and sell it, that the property is located in a desirable part of town. If the home is not located in a desirable part of town, you should really think about how wise of an investment the property may be. Perhaps location is why the property was not bid on at auction. There are three big things to consider when dealing with any type of real estate and those are location, location, location. Never let a seemingly good deal let you lose sight of how important location is for any piece of real estate that you intend to sell.

Why the bank will sell an REO cheap

Basically, a bank is not set up to deal with real estate. Sure, they give loans to people, but really, they are not equipped to buy and sell real estate. Because banks are not accustomed to dealing with real estate, it often takes them awhile to get the ball rolling so that they can repair the property, and get an agent to sell the property. What this means is that while the bank attempts to get their business together they are losing money hand over fist and the federal government often penalizes them for each and every REO that they acquire.

Because the bank is loosing so much money on each REO, they are willing to sell it fast and cheap. In fact, banks commonly sell an REO property for around 30% of its value just to be done with it. Sure, they end up losing money on the deal, but they end up losing less if they sell cheap now than they would if they kept the property for another six months while they try to pull everything together so that they can sell the property.

The great thing about working with the bank with an REO is that you aren’t buying site unseen. Because you can walk through the house and make all the inspections that you want, you can deal with them in a way that will give you the best deal, and the bank will typically be happy with any serious offer because it will get the house off of their hand and they will stop losing money.

Generally REOs are a great investment as long as you know what you are getting into. The bank simply wants to get rid of these homes, and if you find the right property and are ready to make the serious investment, it can be a great way to get off and running in the real estate business.

First off, watch some late night infomercials on TV. And possibly order some real estate tapes from Carlton Sheets. This will provide you with a positive upbeat attitude and a sense of false confidence that is essential in order to go bankrupt. Believe that after listening to some tapes, you can compete with people that have done this 7 days a week for years.

Second. For your first investment, buy in a city you know little to nothing about and avoid using a buyers agent who does know the city. Go directly to the sellers agent. The best way to make a truly horrible decision is to avoid any outside advice. The best part of this is that avoiding a buyers agent usually doesn’t save you any money since the selling agent simply makes more when you deal with them directly.

Look for a discount or a distressed property over a good long term investment. Late night infomercials and Carlton Sheets talk a lot about this. Getting equity at the point of sale. One thing about distressed properties with desperate sellers is that they frequently are in crappy areas with low appreciation rates. Buying a property at under market rate in an area with low appreciation potential versus a property in a good area is the kind of short sighted thinking that will really help you reach the goal of bankruptcy and foreclosure.

When you talk to people including your realtor, try to spend time talking about all the crap you learned from your book or light night infomercial. The more you listen to other people, the more you might get different perspectives and the higher chance you might learn new things. This could really hurt your chances of going bankrupt so avoid listening to anyone. Remember you know everything even if you only got interested in real estate last week.

Be positive to the point of stupidity. Alot of investors I know always think about how their situation would be affected by a 10 or 20 percent drop in the market before making a purchase. You should avoid this kind of thinking. You need to be blinded by greed. You should only fantasize about how you are going to double your money.

When calculating your monthly cashflow, assume that you will have 100% occupancy all the time and no maintenance cost. While you are at assume that its going to rain money tomorrow.

Also, be stubborn when renting your properties. Decide upon a number say $900 a month and refuse to budge. Come up with some bizarre logic about how the property deserves $900 a month. Lose months of rent having the property sit vacant instead of going down $50 on the rent. Instead of responding to the market make statements like “Well the markets wrong then”.

As you move closer to foreclosure, don’t alter your spending habits. Don’t move into a smaller house or cut spending. Act like nothing is wrong.

Overextend, overextend, overextend. Are you approved to buy one house. Why not buy 5, heck why not 20. Instead of building up a portfolio of properties over time, gaining experience along the way, just buy alot of properties next Tuesday.

Alot of people are getting into the foreclosure game. Their is no reason you should be left behind. Throwing caution to the wind and filling your eyes with greed and you should find yourself walking down the golden path to foreclosure.

This is not a definitive guide to foreclosure. Alot of people end up in foreclosure due to many things unforeseen events like unpreventable family illness, divorce or job loss. This is simply a guide to what I call elective foreclosure.

The economic gateway to China – Hong Kong is one of the most popular destinations in the world, with a lively property market. With the increased awareness of property enhancement, improvement in market laws, and innovative requirements of people, property management now finds a prominent position in the Hong Kong property market.

Managing property in Hong Kong is a burgeoning industry, and is considered a core segment of facility management services. In other words, managing property is one of the prominent service industries in the city. Management of property in Hong Kong is simply the managing of property as well as providing services in connection with the property management, to owners, tenants, and other required people.

The prime goal of managing property is to maintain the value of a property by creating and preserving a comfortable as well as well-ordered living, working, and shopping. Managing property is sometimes confused with tenancy management, which is primarily the enforcement of the Housing Ordinance, tenancy agreements, and implementation of housing rules and regulations.

A large number of firms in Hong Kong, ranging from small business units and governmental departments to large business corporations, are now benefited from managing property. Property management is categorized into: management of residential property and management of commercial property. Managing residential property in Hong Kong includes managing residential spaces, from small houses to premium as well as luxury residential units.

Services offered in connection with managing residential property include:

- Concierge services

- Renovation and repair services

- Provision of management

- Maintenance Services

In commercial management of property, the services are mostly offered for large commercial areas, with more than seven million sq ft. Among the services offered in connection with this type of managing of property is:

- Maintenance of common areas and facilities

- Installation of drainage system

- Operation as well as coordination of plant and equipments

- Operation and maintenance of electrical and mechanical systems

- Services with regard to the maintenance of fire system

- Plumbing services

- Repair service

- Routine maintenance

In some instances, services in connection with management of commercial property are inclusive of

- Provision of effective security system

- Cleaning services

- Environmental and landscape services

- Hygiene and safety management

Apart from these, there are service providers offering excellent services for office and industrial sectors. Above all, some kind of service providers renders simple tenancy management services, aside from management of property.

The services in this category usually cover providing info on housing policies and procedures to required people, dealing with standard forms and notification letters, assisting people in filling tenancy related forms and applications, and arranging meeting for tenancy related purposes. Let it be any type of property management, the services also include quality maintenance of plumbing system, thereby ensuring the people of Hong Kong with a stable as well as reliable water supply system.

Managing property offers a host of benefits. One of the prime benefits is that it ensures meticulous care and maintenance of your residential as well as commercial places. Professional as well as personal assistance and useful advice on property maintenance are the other benefits of managing property in Hong Kong.

One of the most significant executants of property management in the city is Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) – a statutory body responsible for the implementation of majority of public housing programs in Hong Kong, which include rental housing system, housing for elderly people, and subsidized home ownership.

As one of the major housing developers in the property market, Hong Kong Housing Authority has introduced an innovative system ensuring excellence in the sector of public housing property management system. Recently, HA undertook a special management system, exclusively for managing property and tenancy system in Hong Kong, known as Public Rental Housing (PRH.) Under this system, HA contracts some of its property management services to property services companies, which in turn discharge a range of duties in connection with property management, like cleaning and maintenance services, repair services, and rent collection.

Apart from HA, executants of managing of property in Hong Kong also consist of a variety of private property management firms, foreign-based service providers, and participatory management organizations. HA has now organized an award for private firms that excel in services in connection with management of property, namely, Best Property Management Award. A specialty of service providers in Hong Kong is that majority of them have excellent knowledge and expertise on the mainland market. This in turn assures quality as well as reliable services to the people of Hong Kong.