North Carolina Homes

If you live in North Carolina or plan to settle there , then your choice for getting some real nice real estate is certainly going to be well in your favour when searching for your ideal home.

North Carolina boasts a treasure of history and much unique character in towns such as Raliegh, Durham and Greensboro.

A wide range of coastal and and mountain communities are able to offer single- family houses, condominiums and luxury properties. Just about everything depending on your requirements which fits in with an array of NC real estate references.

NEW JERSEY APARTMENTS & REAL ESTATE

New Jersey has much competition when it comes to real estate. Houses etc are nowadays much more affordable in neighboring states such as North Carolina and Georgia.

Under such pressure New Jersey does excell however in there availability of luxury apartments, with a flourishing and spectacular display of buildings. Superbly furnished and beautifully appointed apartments make these and ideal choice when travelling.

Real Estate - San Diego

San Diego is a coastal Southern California city located in the southwestern corner of the continental United States. It has a population in excess of 1,250,000.

Sales of real estate / condos and land is thriving more than ever before here,even though the trend seems to be more buyers than sellers. A real estate specialist however will be more than glad to search for that sometimes elusive offer.

Foreclosures USA

A foreclosure is when a borrower cannot repay a loan and the lender
seeks to sell the property. Procedures can vary from state to state concerning the legal processes involved.

The more smaller counties such as southern California have a smaller amount of forclosures compared to the northern Californian states.

Florida for example is a flourishing tourist hot spot and is rich in foreclosures especially Miami and Orlando.

Vacation Rental Homes Surveys

Recent surveys have suggested people who have evaluated vacation rental homes online have resulted in only a 60% conversion. Many people it seems have chosen to stay at a hotel or Bed & Breakfast because they could not find suitable acommodation.

What you may ask were the major factors in this survey.It could be a lack in network efficiency or central inventory search within the vacation rental market. Having said this, consumers do have a healthy appetite to stay in a vacation rental Vs a hotel. The need to efficiently increase occupancy rates is more to do with providing help in finding the right properties.

HOME INSPECTIONS

Home inspections can save you time and money. What may on first appearances be a good buy could turn out to be just the opposite as one doesn't and cannot always notice what defects there are on the initial visits.So it's always advisable to hire a professional home inspector.

If there are any concerns you wish to be drawn attention to then it is advisable to let them know before the inspection takes place.

Always contact a liscensed real estate agent or REALTOR at all times.It will surely pay you to do so!

Some Fact & Figures on Hawaii Real Estate


The majority of houses ,condos and apartments were buit in Hawaii after 1974.

Census data for Hawaii in the year 2000 show there were 460,542 housing units which represents 18.1% from 389,810 in 1990.

Home ownership rates are around 56.5%.

Currency rate is about 12.4% inclusive of seasonal lodging.

Average household size in Hawaii is 2.92 people.

Selling a Home Online

Nowadays, we can sell a home online and get a mortgage through the internet. Internet provides you with lot of information about the buying and selling home. You can get the infos and you can also put an advertisement (ads) online on the internet to get the best and fastest solution in selling your home.

About seventy percent of homebuyers nowadays, start to search and buy houses online through the internet. There are also loans and mortgages widely available. Internet provides you with lot of information about the buying and selling of homes. You can get the infos and you can also put an advertisement (ads) online on the internet to get the best and fastest solution in selling your home.

Uncovering the real estate for sale

Real estate investments are often termed as low risk investments that can potentially yield good returns. A lot of people think that real estate is an easy business where you don’t really need to do anything. However, the truth is that real estate business does need you to put in some effort (if you really want to make profits out of it). The most important thing is to be able to uncover the real estate for sale that will yield profits. So how do you go looking for real estate for sale?
Generally, a lot of people start looking for ‘real estate for sale’ through the internet. And why not, internet is after all the hub of all information. So, you could look for real estate for sale using the search engines on the internet. You could also specify your requirements in search criteria on the real estate sites in order to get very specific results on real estate for sale. You can even view images and video of some of the properties thus reducing the need for personal visits for viewing. So, this is surely a good option for finding real estate for sale.

Look for real estate for sale in the local newspapers. In fact, there are some newspapers that are dedicated to just that i.e. real estate for sale. You could even go ahead and put up a ‘wanted’ ad in these newspapers. Sometimes, looking up for real estate for sale in old newspapers (like 1-2 months old) can help you get a good deal (in case the property owner has not been able to sale the property and has become a bit more ‘motivated’ to sell it).
MLS i.e. multiple listing service is often termed as one the best ways to look for real estate for sale. These are published by the real estate boards. If you can lay your hands on a MLS book as soon as it is out, you can really expect to get good deals. The key is to act fast.
Open houses are another good way of getting the best out of time. You can get to see dozens of ‘real estate for sale’ properties in a very short period of time. And you never know when you might come across a property that is real gold.
Investor groups are yet another rich source of real estate for sale information.
Of course, how can we forget the real estate brokers? Real estate brokers are one the most popular (and sometimes most effective) information resource for real estate for sale. Not only do they provide information about ‘real estate for sale’ but also assist in getting the deal finalized and closed.
Besides that, you can also get very good deals through public auctions, bank foreclosures, FHA and VA foreclosures and distress sales.

Real estate appraisal – is that the real one?

Real estate appraisal or property valuation is the process of determining the value of the property on the basis of the highest and the best use of real property (which basically translates into determining the fair market value of the property). The person who performs this real estate appraisal exercise is called the real estate appraiser or property valuation surveyor. The value as determined by real estate appraisal is the fair market value. The real estate appraisal is done using various methods and the real estate appraisal values the property as different for difference purposes e.g. the real estate appraisal might assign 2 different values to the same property (Improved value and vacant value) and again the same/similar property might be assigned different values in a residential zone and a commercial zone. However, the value assigned as a result of real estate appraisal might not be the value that a real estate investor would consider when evaluating the property for investment. In fact, a real estate investor might completely ignore the value that comes out of real estate appraisal process.

A good real estate investor would evaluate the property on the basis of the developments going on in the region. So real estate appraisal as done by a real estate investor would come up with the value that the real estate investor can get out of the property by buying it at a low price and selling it at a much higher price (as in the present). Similarly, real estate investor could do his own real estate appraisal for the expected value of the property in, say 2 years time or in 5 years time. Again, a real estate investor might conduct his real estate appraisal based on what value he/she can create by investing some amount of money in the property i.e. a real estate investor might decide on buying a dirty/scary kind of property (which no one likes) and get some minor repairs, painting etc done in order to increase the value of the property (the value that the real estate investor would get by selling it in the market). So, here the meaning of real estate appraisal changes completely (and can be very different from the value that real estate appraiser would come out with if the real estate appraiser conducted a real estate appraisal exercise on the property).

A real estate investor will generally base his investment decision on this real estate appraisal that he does by himself (or gets done through someone). So, can we then term real estate appraisal as a really real ‘real estate appraisal’?

For information on buying and property investments overseas .....namely property in Estonia , Spain, Hungary etc - CLICK HERE!

Real estate management firms – making life easier


Real estate investment can happen for various reasons. You could invest in real estate because you need a house for yourself (that house of your dreams that you so badly want). You could use real estate as a means for supplementing your income either by buying at a lower price and selling at a higher price or by letting it out. Sometimes you might buy a property for the purpose of resale but might want to wait for a few years before you actually sell it. In such a case, again it would make sense to rent out the property and earn some money till you actually decide to sell it off.
Whatever the reason, letting out real estate demands real estate management and real estate management is not an easy job for everyone. In fact, a lot of people find it so much of a hassle that they prefer keeping their property vacant instead of letting it. Real estate management demands time, which you will rarely have. Real estate management is not just about finding tenants and collecting rent from them. Real estate management is also about ensuring that you do all the duties that a landlord/landlady is required to do. Real estate management is about verifying the credentials of the tenants before you actually let out your property to them. Real estate management is about ensuring that all the paper work is complete and correct i.e. the tenancy agreement etc are properly done. Real estate management also requires you to do repairs as and when required. Real estate management activities also include maintenance, painting, polishing etc of the house when the tenants move out and before the new tenants get in. So, really, real estate management is not that easy a job for someone who is in a full time job. However, there is a solution to this and that is hiring a real estate management firm to do all these activities on your behalf. Yes, this will mean that what you receive as an income by letting your property will be reduced (due to the commission/ fee charged by the real estate management firm). But that is just a small price for the convenience that a real estate management firm brings to you. However, it’s important that you choose the real estate management firm carefully. There are all kinds of real estate management firms out there (good and bad). You must check the references of the real estate management firm before you actually hire them for the job. A good real estate management firm will not only keep your property occupied at all times but will also ensure that you always receive the rent in time and without any hassle.

Construction Loans

Construction loans are most common when requiring finances to build a new home, although one seldom needs to own land in order to qualify.It is quite possible, depending on the lender, to finance the building,material, construction and land cost all at the same time.

Some handy tips on construction loans :

1 They are usually short term in length.
2 Good credit and regular income needed.
3 Name of contractor,plans and information on construction cost.
4 Title policy and legal survey of land.

Construction loans can be a very good investment for the long term.