Articles 

Top Five Tips for Buying a Foreclosed Home

Posted: Tuesday, February 26th, 2008
1 Comment

By Stacey L. Bradford, Associate Editor, SmartMoney.com RIGHT NOW, IT'S anyone's guess when the housing downturn will finally hit bottom. But if you're looking to buy a home now - and plan to stay in it for a while - there are plenty of bargains to be had on a foreclosed property. Banks are often willing to sell foreclosed homes for up to 20% below market value just to get these troubled properties off their books, says Rick Sharga, vice president of marketing for RealtyTrac, a web site that lists foreclosed properties. With foreclosures at an all-time high in the past year, ...

How the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act Changes Your Business

Posted: Monday, January 14th, 2008
No Comments Yet

On December 20th, Bush signed into law a measure that will change the tax effects for a homeowner in foreclosure. These are critical changes that may change your client's outlook on a deal (in fact...maybe you lost a deal last year because of this tax burden...it may not be too late to call that client back and revive the deal!) In a nutshell: If a homeowner who was in foreclosure worked out a short sale agreement with their lender, the amount of debt that the lender "wrote off" is considered as ordinary income to the seller. That means ...

Short Sale Update: Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 Passes House

Posted: Tuesday, November 13th, 2007
No Comments Yet

There’s been a lot of talk and rumors about this one, so I figured I’d clear up a few things…this bill addresses the fact that when homeowners who are in pre-foreclosure sell their property and it is a short sale situation with the lender (the sales price is lower than the mortgage balance) then the amount of debt that the lender agrees to “forgive” is taxable income. This bill would make that “income” non taxable under certain circumstances, the 2 notable ones being: the debt was for purchase or improvement to the property (NOT credit card consolidation, if I’m ...

MIDEAL Investments

Posted: Thursday, June 28th, 2007
No Comments Yet

For the last several years, there’s been a lot of talk about how it is a bad time to invest in real estate, but I feel that real estate is always a safe bet if you’re buying them right. There is an acronym that’s been around for many years about why real estate is the IDEAL investment, however in today’s market, I’ve adjusted it a little, I like to say that real estate is absolutely still the MIDEAL investment. The “M” stands for Motivated Sellers. Motivated sellers NEED to sell, not just WANT to sell. Somebody that really ...

Use it or Lose it!

Posted: Thursday, June 21st, 2007
No Comments Yet

It’s almost 1 a.m., I’m sitting in Steak & Shake in Lakeland waiting for AAA to come look at the truck. I’m half asleep already since my flight arrived 2 hours late to Tampa. I think it’s just a bad battery, but at 1a.m., how do I fix that? While I’m waiting, I have a Berry Berry Cobbler ala mode and ponder what got me here. When we have assets, be it belongings (like the truck), skills, or knowledge that don’t get used regularly, they tend to “break down” and leave us in a lurch when ...

Travel Savvy

Posted: Thursday, June 14th, 2007
No Comments Yet

Have you made the decision to further your education at an out of town seminar? I have been traveling to various seminars and events for many years now, and have realized that I am much happier when I have all of my supplies, necessities, and travel arrangements lined up ahead of time. Here are some of my tips to get you there and back without losing your sanity, luggage, money, or time. 1. Keep a separate file for each trip you have coming up. On the tab, write the date, city, and event name. This will look ...

What I’ve learned after surviving 3 (and counting!) hurricanes.

Posted: Thursday, June 7th, 2007
No Comments Yet

Wow! Am I glad that’s over. That’s the only thing that comes to mind off hand. I noticed both in the days leading up to the storms and in the days after, that trying times bring out the true character in people. Both Good: people helping to deliver plywood from Home Depot for those without trucks, and people with power bagging up ice for those without. AND Bad: my husband driving an hour for a generator that wasn’t what was promised on the phone, stabbings at a local lumberyard over a cart of ...

Why Hard Money is Actually Easy Money

Posted: Friday, June 1st, 2007
No Comments Yet

By Andrea “Andy” Tolbert Lately we have heard more and more new (and experienced) investors saying that they would never pay 10, 14, or even 18% to borrow money on deals when they can get loans from their bank or mortgage broker at 6-8%. Now being that we are mortgage brokers ourselves, we love the fact that you’d rather use us, and you probably assume that we would never use hard money since we have access to every loan program in the world, right? WRONG! We love hard money! In fact we have several private loans on ...

Did You Commit Mortgage Fraud and Didn’t Even Know It?

Posted: Thursday, May 24th, 2007
No Comments Yet

Quick Quiz: Which of the following could be mortgage fraud? A. “You’ll get a better interest rate if you say you’re going to live in it.” B. “Just get a friend to sign a lease for $900 to show more income.” C. “I’ll hold a forgivable second mortgage that we’ll rip up after closing.” D. “I’ll slip the appraiser a little extra if he brings it to $10k more.” E. “We’ll just give you a $2,000 check for carpet outside of closing.” Answer: ALL OF THEM!! Do any of these sound familiar to you? They probably do if you’ve been investing for a long time…like more than 2 months! Mortgage fraud is running ...

How to Quickly Pre-Qualify a Potential Buyer

Posted: Thursday, May 17th, 2007
No Comments Yet

By Andrea “Andy” Tolbert You’ve found the house and fixed it up. Now what? Without a buyer, you may be stuck paying huge carrying costs for months! So much for profit! So you start your marketing program (yard signs, classified ads, flyers, etc.) and the calls start coming in. Now what? Personally, I don’t want to sit around waiting for the phone to ring. And, when it does ring, I don’t want to waste a lot of time on “Dreamers” with no cash and even less credit. One or two trips across town ...

Go For The Goal!

Posted: Thursday, May 10th, 2007
No Comments Yet

By Andrea “Andy” Tolbert Goals are important because they give us something to aim for. They also give us a way to measure our progress. To be effective, your goals must be guided by something that really inspires you. If you have a vision of what your life will look like after you achieve your goals, you will be better prepared to overcome the setbacks and challenges that you will run into. These guidelines are intended to get you started on the road to success. Many studies have shown that the majority of very successful people have set goals and refer back ...