Dallas Appraiser L.L.C. wants your help and commentary on our Real Estate Blog
Weighing in the Factors with Comparable Sales
by Dallas Appraiser L.L.C. on 06/25/14
Weighing in the Factors with Comparable Sales
keywords: #DFW, #Tarrant, #Johnson, #Dallas, #home_appraiser, #home_appraisal, #Property_appraiser, #home_value, #real_estate_appraisal, #Appraisal, #Appraiser, #Home_ownership,#equity, #REO, #foreclosure, #Comparables, #Comparable_Sales
Terms for investments are everywhere in real estate. You may hear lenders, agents and brokers talking the real estate jargon. If you are finding a way to be a part of the real estate world for any type of investment, you will want to become familiar with the different terms that are used in real estate. The first one to define is comparable sales.
Often times, comparable sales will be termed as comps. These will be the basis of your real estate investment and are important to know. If you are looking at a property, always ask what the comps are on the property. Your real estate agent, or you, will then look up a variety of factors to compare your property with the others around it. You can find these through various companies, the multiple listing service, (MLS), and even courthouses and newspapers.
Some of the comps that are included are the history of the property, the sales from the past, the sales of the other homes, the demographics of the area, and the different trends that have affected the sales. Anything that will affect the investment that you plan to make on the home is what you will need to look up when considering comps.
Why is it important to look up the comps. By doing this, you will know whether you are making the right investment or not. Technically, the value of the home should go up. At the same time, the value will need to be the same as the other homes. If you don't have a balance between the historical investments and the neighborhood investments, you could end up paying too much.
When looking at cash flow, you should always begin with the comparable sales. This will give you a good idea about what is happening with the real estate that you are interested in and whether it is worth your time and investment. Finding the comps is the beginning to moving over the threshold and into your new home.
What Type of Loan is That ?
by Dallas Appraiser L.L.C. on 06/25/14
What Type of Loan is That ?
keywords: #DFW, #Tarrant, #Johnson, #Dallas, #home_appraiser, #home_appraisal, #Property_appraiser, #home_value, #real_estate_appraisal, #Appraisal, #Appraiser, #Home_ownership,#equity, #REO, #foreclosure
Getting into real estate property is based off of the idea of money. Your exchange of money will give you exactly what you want for a home. Within each different type of loan that you decide to get will be different divisions on how you can pay off your home or office space. If you know the terms and types of loans that are available to you, it will be easier to move your furniture into the right place.
The first way that a loan will be divided is by the principal. This is the amount that you will pay that the home is worth in total. You will pay a percentage of this amount every month. The second type of charge for the loan is an interest rate. This will be a percentage that the lender you are working with will be able to keep because of their ability to loan you the money.
Within each type of loan you will be able to get, there will be a division in how you pay both of these off. It may mean that the interest rate or principle changes over a specific amount of time. From here, you can add escrow to your account, which will be like a savings account for your loan and won't go towards paying off the house until you need the extra money.
Within each type of these loans are different rules, regulations and ways to divide what you are going to be paying. Different limitations for timing and the amount of money that you are able to pay are added into the loans. If you want to make sure that you are getting the best deal, make sure that you understand how each part of the loan will work together.
The main consideration that you will need to keep with your loan is how you will be paying off your home and where your money will go. Each different part of the loan will be an investment that will show your ownership of the home later on. By determining your needs, individual situation and what you believe will work best; you will have the ability to find the best possible loan.
What Does A Real Estate Agent's Open House Have Anything To Do With Internet Marketing?
by Dallas Appraiser L.L.C. on 06/24/14
Title:
What Does A Real Estate Agent's Open House Have Anything To Do With Internet Marketing?
Word Count:
901
Summary:
Real estate marketing and virtual estate marketing have many things in common; the most and critical being a lead capture system. When a real estate agent holds an open house, his primary job is to capture all visitors' contact information. Similarly, in the virtual world a marketer's number one priority is have a system setup to capture prospect leads. This is arguably the first commandment of any successful business, online or offline.
keywords: #DFW, #Tarrant, #Johnson, #Dallas, #home_appraiser, #home_appraisal, #Property_appraiser, #home_value, #real_estate_appraisal, #Appraisal, #Appraiser, #Home_ownership,#equity, #REO, #foreclosure
Article Body:
Everything!
Most everyone is familiar with open houses held by real estate agents. If you live in a fairly urbanized area, canvassing your neighborhood on any weekend and chances are you will find at least one open house somewhere in your neighborhood.
What is the purpose of the open house? And did you ever wonder why some real estate agents always try to get your name and contact information when you attend their open house? Take this little quiz and see if you understand the purpose of the open house.
A real estate agent hold an open house to:
a) Have a party in the neighborhood.
b) Give out candies and cookies just to be friendly.
c) To socialize and get to know the neighbors.
d) To collect names and contact information of all visitors so he can follow up later on to sell them homes.
If you answered (d), you are absolutely correct. Most people who come to an open house do not buy on their first visit. Nevertheless, a good agent will collect all names and contact information of his visitors during an open house. The agent usually has some incentive for the exchange of these names and contact info. He might give away a homebuyer’s magazine, a magnetic calendar, or offering a free market analysis of a visitor’s home.
Why would the agent want to collect their names and phone numbers? Because he/she can follow up with these visitors down the road and try to sell them later on. He might have to keep in touch with his visitors over a period of time, but the end result is worth it. Statistically, some will end up buying or selling from the agent. The key to receiving big commission checks month after month is building a pipeline of prospects (database) by collecting all names and phone numbers of all the visitors who come to the open house.
In the virtual estate world there is no difference. Most people who come to your site the first time will not buy. A small number of people will buy on their first visit, but this is an exception, not the rule. Research shows that it takes an average of seven contacts before someone will buy a product or service. During this time it is all about building trust. It is true - people do business with those they trust. The first key to building trust is simply asking for your prospect’s name and email address.
So what is the best way to get surfers to give you their email addresses? Simple ñ set up an auto-responder account. An auto-responder captures a visitor’s name and email address and is usually managed by a third party server (you can also surf the net to find some auto-responder scripts that you can install and manage it yourself directly on to your site, but this is not recommended.)
Wanna make it enticing for your visitors to submit their email addresses? Give away something valuable such as a free report, ebook, or even a mini e-course that is relevant to the product or service you are trying to sell.
Like a good real estate agent does to his list of potential clients, you can follow up and start building trust with your visitors. A mini e-course is an excellent way to do this. You can set up your auto-responder to systematically send to your list periodically (i.e., one lesson every 3 days). Eventually, some will buy. If your free offer is compelling enough, it is not hard to get a 10% subscription conversion from your visitors. Let us say there are 100 visitors who come to your site every day, 10 will sign up in exchange for the freebies. At this rate in one year you will have a total of 3600 email addresses in your database. You can then market to your list any way you want. You can send an e-blast to all, or your preferred customers only with a special offer of a new product (a sequel?). You can also do any backend marketing that relates to the initial product. You can also do affiliate marketing by other internet marketers.
To look at the potential kind of money you can make, let us say that you send out an e-blast to your list announcing a new product and the product is worth $97, but because of the special promotion, it will be $57 for a limited time. Assuming that 4% will convert into buyers, 144 will buy (3600 x .04 = 144). This will net you $8208 (144 x 57 = 8208), not a bad salary for just i-broadcastingî to your list. Of course, this is not the end. You can make money again and again by offering other products, not necessary your own.
To recap, making money in the virtual world is not rocket science. A good internet marketer’s first and foremost important task is similar to that of a good real estate agent ñ capturing his or her visitors’ names and contact info. When all else fails, remember rule number one: ALWAYS have a tool to capture email addresses. In fact this is so important I am gonna have to make it a mantra for you. Please repeat after me:
I SHALL ALWAYS CAPTURE ALL MY VISITORS’ EMAIL ADDRESSES.
I SHALL ALWAYS CAPTURE ALL MY PROSPECTS’ EMAIL ADDRESSES.
I SHALL ALWAYS CAPTURE ALL MY REAL ESTATE EMAIL ADDRESSES.
Got it! Good.
Create a wonderful day!
Wealth Building - An Advantage of Home Ownership
by Dallas Appraiser L.L.C. on 06/24/14
Title:
Wealth Building - An Advantage of Home Ownership
Word Count:
310
Summary:
As you grow older, the issue of wealth building comes front and center. Wealth building simply refers to increasing the net value of your total assets. Wealth building over time is one of the advantages of home ownership.
keywords: #DFW, #Tarrant, #Johnson, #Dallas, #home_appraiser, #home_appraisal, #Property_appraiser, #home_value, #real_estate_appraisal, #Appraisal, #Appraiser, #Home_ownership,#equity, #REO, #foreclosure
Article Body:
As you grow older, the issue of wealth building comes front and center. Wealth building simply refers to increasing the net value of your total assets. Wealth building over time is one of the advantages of home ownership.
Building Equity
Owning a home can help you build wealth in two ways. First, you build equity by paying down your mortgage. A certain percentage of each mortgage payment goes towards a reduction in the total amount owed. Typically, payments in the first few years of the mortgage are primarily applied to interest on the loans. As time passes, however, more and more of each payment is applied to the outstanding loan amount. Before you know it, the $300,000 loan is down to $50,000 and you have gained $250,000 in wealth.
Appreciation is the second wealth building advantage to home ownership. Each year, the value of your home will increase or decrease slightly based on market prices. Over time, real estate has always appreciated in value. In the current market, homes in some parts of the country are appreciating at rates as high as fifteen to twenty percent! Appreciation is a very popular subject with homeowners.
Wealth Building Example
Let us look at a simple demonstration of how advantageous home ownership can be. Assume you buy a home in 2005 for $400,000 and, for the purpose of simply mathematics, pay no down. Over the next 10 years, your mortgage payments reduce the outstanding mortgage by $100,000 and the home increases in value to $600,000. The value of your home as a net asset has grown to $300,000 [$600,000 minus $300,000]! If you had rented during this period, you would have missed out on $300,000 in wealth. This simple example should show you the advantage of home ownership.
Historically, home ownership is one the best ways for families to build wealth. If you do not currently own a home, you should start looking for one.
Refinancing Real Estate Investments
by Dallas Appraiser L.L.C. on 06/23/14
Title:
Refinancing Real Estate Investments
Word Count:
418
Summary:
Refinancing real estate investments can make much more sense than selling them. This is especially true for rental houses and apartment buildings.
Keywords:
#DFW_Appraisals, #DFW_Appraiser, #DFW_Appraisal, #DFW, #Appraisal, #Home_Appraiser, #property_appraiser, #House_appraiser, #arlington, #Texas, #tarrant, #johnson, #mansfield, #Appraisers, #real_estate_research
Article Body:
Why should you consider refinancing real estate investments instead of selling them? Maybe you've owned a rental property for years, you've paid down the mortgage, the value is up, and you want to cash in on that equity. You will do better to refinance. Here's why.
There are two problems with selling. First, selling means paying a large capital gains tax. You can avoid this if you reinvest through a 1031 exchange, but then the point is that you want your money, right? Second, you'll be giving up your inflation-indexed retirement plan. A good rental property generates more income as rents go up.
Refinancing Real Estate Investments Is Better
If you refinance, you can get much of your gain out of the property, without paying a penny in taxes. You see, borrowing money is not a taxable event. Take your loan proceeds and spend them however you want, and still keep your rentals. Doesn't that sound better than losing a big chunk of your equity to taxes?
Now, let's look at an example. We'll suppose you have owned a small apartment building for several years. Let's say you bought it for $340,000, with a down payment of $80,000. Interest rates at the time were at 9.5%, giving you a payment of $2,106 monthly on the balance of $260,00 (30 year amortization).
The property is now worth $560,000, and you owe $220,000. Your cash flow is around $2000/month. Now, how do you get at some of that equity? If you sell, you will give up the income, AND pay a big part of the profit in taxes. What happens if you refinance?
If a bank will loan you 70% of the value, that would be $392,000. Pay off the first mortgage, and you are left with $172,000. You can spend it any way you want, and no taxes are due.
It gets even better, especially when interest rates are low. If the new interest rate is 6.5%, your new payment will be $2295. In other words, you get $172,000 to spend any way you want, and you still have over $1,800 cash flow each month, from an inflation-indexed retirement plan.
Here is an even better scenario: Spend $50,000 of the loan for high-return upgrades to the property, such as carports and a laundry room, and raise the rents. You could have $122,000 left over to spend any way you want, AND have higher cash flow than before! Isn't that sound better than selling your retirement plan? When you want that cash, consider refinancing real estate investments.
Real Estate Research By Talking
by Dallas Appraiser L.L.C. on 06/23/14
Title:
Real Estate Research By Talking
Word Count:
529
Summary:
Real estate research may start with looking at census figures and MLS listings, but don't forget to talk - to everyone.
Keywords:
#DFW_Appraisals, #DFW_Appraiser, #DFW_Appraisal, #DFW, #Appraisal, #Home_Appraiser, #property_appraiser, #House_appraiser, #arlington, #Texas, #tarrant, #johnson, #mansfield, #Appraisers, #real_estate_research
Article Body:
Real estate research might start with a look at the U.S. Census information about a town. It can include inspections of specific properties, too. There are many statical tools and information that can help, but don't forget one of the easiest and most useful research tools: talking. Let me explain with a true story.
My wife and I were on vacation, and stopped in Farmington, New Mexico for a few days. We were about to buy a house for a winter project. The plan was to fix it up and sell it in the spring for a profit.
Just prior to making an offer, we took a last walk-through. As the owner showed me around, my wife started to talk to the woman who was renting the home. She told Ana that half of the outlets in the home didn't work, as well as other useful information.
This got me thinking, and I went down to the basement for a second look at the wiring. Not only did the house likely need all new wiring, but I found a garden hose attached to a natural gas line. The owner shrugged and said, "You can just cut that off."
To this day, I don't know what that was about, but for these and other reasons, we didn't buy the house. It helps to talk to anyone you can when looking at a house or other real estate investment. Neighbors and renters are especially helpful.
Real Estate Research - Choosing a City
Talking to a lot of people isn't just useful for information on individual properties. It is also a great way to research a town. I once called the Chamber of Commerce of Deming, New Mexico. The chairman's casually commented that the city was using up the water faster than the aquifer was being replenished. They had no back-up plan. This was enough for us to cross Deming off our list.
If you want to know about a town, use the phone first. Find any excuse to call anyone from a real estate agent to a random resident. Ask about crime, whether the local government welcomes new businesses, what the climate is like. Have houses been sitting for sale for a long time, or do they go fast? What are the good and bad things about the town?
Before we moved to Tucson, Arizona, part of our real estate research was to call people in potential towns to see if they owned a snow shovel. If so, we crossed the town off the list. Two places can both get 45 inches of snow per year, but in some it stays all winter, and in others it melts before noon. The snow shovel question told us the truth behind the statistics.
Once you're in a town, a good local bar can be a great place to do your research. After a beer, patrons will tell you what big employers are about to move in or out of the town, how fast homes are selling, whether there are gangs, and much more. Talking to people is a good way to do real estate research, but verify what you hear. People do sometimes exaggerate.
Cut Utilities Bills By Auditing Your Home
by Dallas Appraiser L.L.C. on 06/21/14
Title:
Cut Utilities Bills By Auditing Your Home
Word Count:
394
Summary:
Most people are shocked these days when they open their utility bill. By auditing your home, you can turn a monstrous utility bill into a minor annoyance.
keywords: #DFW, #Tarrant, #Johnson, #Dallas, #home_appraiser, #home_appraisal, #Property_appraiser, #home_value, #real_estate_appraisal, #Appraisal, #Appraiser
Article Body:
Most people are shocked these days when they open their utility bill. By auditing your home, you can turn a monstrous utility bill into a minor annoyance.
Home Energy Audit
It happens every month. You pick up the mail and see an envelope from the utility company. Oh, the agony! Should I open it now and ruin the day or just wait. An energy audit can make the pain of getting your utility bill go away or at least become a dull ache.
Unlike a tax audit, you can conduct an energy audit by yourself. Simply walking through your home and paying close attention to energy issues can really pay off. Let ua take a look at some obvious problems that can save you a bundle.
The number one energy waster is a leak. Much like a leak in the tire of a care, even one leak from the interior to exterior of the home can raise your utility bill by as much as 30 percent. The most common area you will find such leaks are windows and doors.
Windows and doors are undisputedly the area where most air leaks occurs. The first issues is whether air is actually leaking out through the framing of windows or the area around the bottom of the door. You can typically tell this by feeling for a notable temperature difference in these areas. If is significantly cooler, you have a leak.
As people in cold climates know, having sealed windows is simply not enough to control heating costs in the winter. Most windows on homes are designed for year around use, which makes them huge energy wasters in the winter. Going with energy-efficient windows can make a huge difference in keeping the heat in and the cold out.
If you have walked through your home and have not found any significant problems with your windows and doors, you may still have one. To really give your home an efficiency test, you can hire contractors to perform a pressurization test. The test essentially raises the pressure in your home and looks for leaks.
Fixing any leaks you find will depend entirely upon the nature of the problem. Some fixes only require additional caulking or insulation while others are unique. Regardless, making your home more energy efficient will significantly cut your utility bill this year and for years to come.
Internal Collaborative Functional Operations In CRM
by Dallas Appraiser L.L.C. on 06/18/14
Internal Collaborative Functional Operations In CRM
Keywords:
#Bookkeeping, #Real_Estate_Consulting, #DFW, #Condo, #Appraisal, #REO, #Appraiser, #Home_Appraisal, #Home_Appraiser, #Burleson, #Fort_Worth, #Mansfield, #Arlington,
#Dallas, #Irving, #Euless, #Johnson, #Tarrant
The people who work on the back end of a business are
ultimately responsible for the way things work for a
company, especially in real estate.
Although, to a customer their work and duties are not
visible, they are the ultimate lifeline for CRM.
Many of these small real estate positions include
jobs or internal departments like information technology,
billing, contacting, planning, marketing, advertising
and more.
The Real Estate Information Technology department assists
with internal collaborations by ensuring the employees have
phone lines, computers to work on, and information
processes in place. When these are not occurring as
they should be then the employees are unable to do
their jobs.
A Real Estate Advertising department also works behind the scenes
for the customers to create an image for the company.
They also create discounts and coupons for the
customers. The advertising department is in charge of
grabbing the attention of the customer in a positive
way.
The workers in the field are responsible for
creating the customer’s services. This department is
usually noticed the least by the employer and the most
by the customer. The filed worker is the face of the
company.
Using accountability methods such as a primary, secondary,
and tertiary checks ensures good CRM by creating a quality
serves and using quality assurance methods to be sure
the customer’s rarely have a qualm.
There are many departments that work behind the scenes
to ensure the customers have an excellent experience
with a Real Estate company.
According to the strategy and theory of quality CRM,
the entire company and every department is responsible
for creating the experience.
Condos buying guide- How to invest in superior Condominiums
by Dallas Appraiser L.L.C. on 06/18/14
Title:
Condos buying guide- How to invest in superior Condominiums
Word Count:
505
Summary:
Condo or condominium is a housing option that looks like an apartment complex. Condo ownership lets the owner to own the condo only not the land. Condo owners have to pay monthly fee for maintaining common areas. Generally the association of property owners manages condominiums. Owners of condominium can do anything inside the their unit but not the outside.
Keywords:
#DFW, #Condo, #Appraisal, #REO, #Appraiser, #Home_Appraisal, #Home_Appraiser, #Burleson, #Fort_Worth, #Mansfield, #Arlington, #Dallas, #Irving, #Euless, #Johnson, #Tarrant
Article Body:
Condo or condominium is a housing option that looks like an apartment complex. Condo ownership lets the owner to own the condo only not the land. Condo owners have to pay monthly fee for maintaining common areas.
Generally the association of property owners manages condominiums. Owners of condominium can do anything inside the their unit but not the outside. You have to clear all related points that what you can do or not inside the condominium at the time of signing the contract. You should check that whether it satisfies your requirements or not.
Condominium buying is just like purchasing single-family homes. Condominium offers a joint ownership of real estate and partners can use common recreational areas. Condo buying is the cheaper option as compared to real estate market. It offers great living opportunity in United States. It is the great option for the people who travel a lot. Several owners of real property offer condos with kitchens and private bedroom that enables residents of condominium to cook their food. They can save money by cooking their meal own.
Condo buying offers ownership without maintenance harassment, repairs and security concerns. Condos are usually luxurious and cheap housing options and you can spend your holidays at beautiful locations. Before any type of purchase check parking spaces, bathrooms, fireplace, condos’ area, amenities such as pool, health club etc, area costs, and security arrangement.
Condos’ buying is an important financial investment. Before purchasing unique condominium answer yourself for some general questions like:
Which area of the city is best suitable to your lifestyle?
What type of condo do you want?
How much you can pay for it?
How do you make purchase of condominium?
You should research for the builders’ reputation on Internet or personally before any type of agreement. Read purchase and sale agreement carefully and check all terms and conditions that will apply on the transaction. Be sure about all details of condo homeowner association that includes costs of monthly maintenance fee. The decision of buying condo should be based on social, legal and financial understanding. You should check whether the property is right for you and your family for a long period. Important documents such as the declaration, operating budget, management agreement and regulatory agreement should be reviewed at the time of buying a condominium.
Condo buying is not the best option for all. People who do not want to share certain areas, like pool etc, with other condos owner should go for single home ownership instead of condominium. Sometimes total price of condo is lower than single-unit home. Condos’ residents should be aware of condominium settings. They can share their problems in monthly meeting with the association. It is compulsory to attend meetings and discussions. You should be active in community events while living in condominium.
You can talk to several professionals online to get all useful information about a particular area. They will provide significant information to make an easy condo buying. You should make your condos buying with complete understanding and awareness.
Construction Loans in Residential Real Estate
by Dallas Appraiser L.L.C. on 06/17/14
Title:
Construction Loans in Residential Real Estate
Word Count:
212
Summary:
You may own a vacant lot and wish that you could add value to it by building a house on it, but you just don't have the funds. Or maybe you do.
Keywords:
#DFW, #Appraisal, #Appraiser, #Home_Appraiser, #Appraisers, #Appraisals, #Home_Appraisal, #Mansfield, #Arlington, #Fort_Worth, #Dallas, #Tarrant, #Johnson, #county
Article Body:
Before you sell yourself short, talk to a mortgage company. Many lenders are more than happy to lend you money for a lucrative project, because it means profitable business for them too. Construction loans are the backbone of many mortgage company portfolios, and if you own a vacant lot that has market value, lenders will normally lend you money based on the collateral of the vacant lot. You get cash to build a new house, and after you sell the completed project you can pay back the loan and pocket the profits.
Other construction loans allow you to borrow money from the builder's own sources, in the same way that you might borrow money from an auto dealer to pay for the car you buy from them. Construction companies with their own mortgage sources may charge you higher interest rates, however, than conventional lenders.
Shop around for construction loans. More often than not, deciding on a builder and the best source of funds will take longer than it actually takes to build the house, but it is time well spent. A few interest rate points can make a difference of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of dollars. Talk to lots of lenders and builders
