bank foreclosure

You've without doubt seen these or read them. Glossy adverts or four-color advances in periodicals and newspapers promising to show you every one of the juicy details about successful real-estate investing. And all you have to do to learn each one of these real property investing surface encounters chuck russo secrets is to pay a rather high sum for a one-or two-day seminar.




Often these types of slick real-estate investing workshops claim that you could make intelligent, profitable property investments with simply no money down (other than, of course, the hefty fee you pay for the seminar). Now, how attractive is in which? Make a make money from real estate investments you created using no funds. Possible? Not likely.




Successful investment requires cash flow. That's the type of almost any business or even investment, especially property investing. You put your money into something which you hope and plan is likely to make you more money.




Unfortunately not enough newbies to the world of property investing believe that it's the magical type of business exactly where standard company rules will not apply. Simply place, if you want to stay in property investing for greater than, say, a day or two, then you're going to have to create money to use and invest.




While it could be true that buying real-estate with absolutely no money down is simple, anyone who is even made a basic real estate investment (such as buying their particular home) is aware there's much more involved in property investing that will set you back money. For illustration, what about any essential repairs?




So, the number one rule people not used to real estate investing should remember is always to have accessible cash supplies. Before you choose to actually do any real estate investing, save some cash. Having just a little money within the bank once you begin real est investing surface encounters chuck russo can help you make more profitable real estate investments in rental properties, for example.




When real estate investing within rental qualities, you'll want in order to select only qualified tenants. If you've no income when property investing within rental properties, you may be pressured to take in a much less qualified tenant because you need somebody to pay you money to enable you to take treatment of fixes or attorney fees.




For almost any real estate investing, meaning local rental properties or perhaps properties you get to re-sell, having money reserved can allow you to ask for a higher price. You can ask for a higher price out of your investment because you surface encounters chuck russo won't feel financially strapped as you wait for an offer. You won't be backed into a corner and forced to accept just any offer because you desperately need the money.




Another downfall of several new to property investing will be, well, greed. Make any profit, yes, but don't become thus greedy that you simply ask for ridiculous local rental or second-hand rates on any of your real property investments.




Those new to real est investing need to see property investing as a business, NOT a hobby. Don't believe real est investing is going to make you abundant overnight. What business does?




It requires about half a year to decide if real-estate investing in for you. If you have decided in which, hey I enjoy this, then give yourself many years to actually start making money. It often takes at minimum five years to become truly successful in real-estate investing.




Persistence could be the key to be able to success in real-estate investing. If you've decided that real-estate investing is perfect for you, surface encounters chuck russo keep plugging away at it and the rewards will be greater than you imagined.

NEW YORK—The nation's top experts unanimously agreed Tuesday that the current struggles of the U.S. economy were no reason whatsoever to stop investing in print media, which they said was easily the safest and most profitable place to invest one's money.

Without exception, leading authorities across all relevant disciplines said that while traditional low-risk instruments such as CDs, bonds, and gold were still relatively secure investments, only the nation's beloved print media outlets could offer both the reliability and the potential for tremendous financial gain required for guaranteed peace of mind.

"Print media is far and away your best bet in this tough fiscal climate," said the nation's foremost economists. "Just put your money in and forget about it for 10 years, 20 years, 50 years, doesn't matter. No economic downturn on earth can touch it."

"There's no question about it," continued all economic experts. "If you're a nervous investor—and you should be in this climate—you should be pouring all your cash into your local broadsheet right this second."

One of millions of Americans who will always support print media no matter what new technology comes along.

Experts went on to tell reporters that not only is there no safer place to invest than print media, there's also no sector of the economy with more promise for growth. Urging investors to diversify their stock portfolio among national and regional newspapers as well as dailies and weeklies, they said print media will be a "bonanza" for shareholders, even as the economy as a whole flounders.

"Print media is a cash cow that will multiply an investment over and over," said the experts. "Other products fail, real estate bubbles burst, but print media is here to stay. The only retirement strategy anyone needs is as close as their local newsstand."

"People who invest in print media are going to see their holdings grow by leaps and bounds, and they'll probably ask themselves, 'How can this be real?'" continued the experts, every single one of whom described print media as "the closest thing there is to a money tree." "Well, trust us, it's real. You can expect to make a lot of money very quickly, and best of all, you'll do it by supporting a pillar of American society."

In explaining print media's remarkable appeal, the entire financial community said citizens rely, and will continue to rely, on printed newspapers to keep them not only informed about current events, but better prepared to function as the kind of knowledgeable citizens a robust democracy requires. Others pointed toward people's deep emotional attachment to print media and the loyalty readers have for the treasured publications as a financial guarantee. In addition, investors from every major financial firm strongly noted that newspapers are an integral part of the ongoing American story that is written each morning, chapter by chapter, on black-and-white newsprint by decent, hardworking men and women who live in the very communities their newspapers serve.

Not investing hundreds of millions of dollars in newspapers right this very second, they added, would simply be foolish.

"No matter how tough times get, people will never turn their back on their newspapers," said every media expert in the nation, adding that newspapers would likewise never, never, never take their readers for granted, because it is readers that the print media industry depends on, and the nation's newspapers and magazines have always, without fail, worked tirelessly to provide readers with the highest-quality product possible. "They wouldn't desert their trusted print media outlets like that. Besides, everyone knows that new media technologies come and go, and that newspapers are an indispensable part of our national identity that must be protected by all of us, and chiefly by shrewd investors or even ordinary business owners who take out a very reasonably priced quarter-page ad. Or something smaller. You'd be surprised how much mileage you can get out of even a tiny little classified."

"The weekly newspapers are, of course, the most vital," the nation's media experts added. "We'd really be lost without those."

Ashton Kutcher probably gets more pitches in Silicon Valley than Hollywood these days.

The movie actor and technology investor turned up the star power at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference this week in San Francisco, where start-up companies competed for his attention. Michael Arrington, fresh off his own Hollywood worthy drama, interviewed Kutcher on stage Tuesday.

Kutcher plays a tech investor in real life and in CBS' top-rated "Two and a Half Men" on TV. His character, Walden Schmidt, is an Internet billonaire who sold his company to Microsoft and now backs other entrepreneurs.

"There are some parallels to my actual life," Kutcher said.

On the show, Kutcher said he covered his character's laptop with stickers of his "dream portfolio" companies but CBS balked at giving exposure to companies that hadn't paid for the privilege.

Kutcher told Arrington that his investments were a "witch hunt" for the next big thing "that is so magic you can't understand how it works."

"I wonder what would happen if a pilgrim would have seen a computer back in Massachusetts 200 years ago. They would have killed the person as a witch because the computer would look like magic. That's the essence of being a good investor, they're on witch hunts," he said. "That's what I’m trying to do."

Kutcher is not your typical celebrity investor. He was a biochemical engineering major in college so he gets technology but, because he was a model at 19, he says it's nice to be appreciated for "something substantial."

On TV Kutcher is in the funny business. But in technology he's hunting for happiness. Kutcher says he picks technologies that have the greatest potential to create more love, friendship and connectivity in the world.

He has made 40 investments in companies such as AirBNB, Path and Skype but does not disclose many of them.

"I think sometimes for the early-stage companies that I've invested in, disclosing that I'm an investor can be detrimental to the story of the company," Kutcher said.

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-- Jessica Guynn

Photo: Hollywood actor and Silicon Valley investor Ashton Kutcher and TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington at TechCrunch Disrupt. Credit: Araya Diaz / Getty Images

foreclosure help

Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero said on Thursday that he would pull all state funds from those banks that do not cooperate with the state’s programs to help residents avoid foreclosure. The Detroit News reports:

If Virg Bernero is elected governor, Michigan will pull its money out of Wall Street banks that won’t work with the state’s businesses and residents, the Democratic nominee announced today.

“We’re not going to invest in Wall Street if they’re not going to invest in us,” Bernero told about a dozen citizens at a Lansing coffee shop. “We’re going to take our money out of Wall Street and create the ‘Main Street Bank.’

“This is the fight: Main Street vs. Wall Street — it’s not just a slogan. We’re going to get banks to work with people instead of taking their homes from them.”

Bernero is also proposing to open a state bank to lend money to businesses that can’t get credit in the usual markets. The mayor has long been active on the foreclosure issue. In April 2009 he intervened on behalf of a Lansing woman after a Michigan Messenger investigation revealed problems with her foreclosure and saved her home.

We all understand the impact the foreclosure crisis has had on homeowners. But the crisis has hurt communities, too. Foreclosed and vacant homes have a debilitating effect on neighborhoods and often lead to blight, neighborhood decay and reduced property values.

That’s why the Administration is announcing today another $1 billion to help communities struggling with foreclosures.  Already, HUD has provided $6 billion in two rounds of Neighborhood Stabilization Program funding.  These funds help communities buy and redevelop foreclosed and abandoned homes and residential properties – putting Americans back to work, creating more affordable rental housing and helping the neighborhoods that need it most. 

Today, the $4 billion first round of Neighborhood Stabilization funding is in communities, buying up and renovating homes, and creating jobs.  The $2 billion included as part of President Obama’s Recovery Act is making a difference as well.  This second round of funding differed from the first in that it was competitively awarded – to encourage innovative local partnerships, reward the best ideas for tackling the housing crisis and grow local economies in impactful ways.

You only need look at a city like Minneapolis to understand the impact Neighborhood Stabilization is having. With $5.6 million of Neighborhood Stabilization funds, Minneapolis was able to leverage an additional $30 million in resources from the Twin Cities Community Land Bank and the partnership of for-profit developers.  Already, they’ve bought up nearly 250 properties in targeted neighborhoods, which they are rehabilitating to green standards and selling to responsible homeowners through a local down payment program.

Now, in the most heavily foreclosure impacted neighborhoods in North Minneapolis, home prices are gaining and local experts believe private market recovery is underway. It was that success that led the Administration to award the city another $20 million in the second round of NSP.

And more help is on the way to communities across the country.  The additional $1 billion we announced today was included as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform legislation ,

Building on the first two rounds, we expect the Neighborhood Stabilization Program will impact nearly 100,000 properties in the nation’s hardest-hit markets.  Because this makes up 20 percent of vacant and abandoned homes over the last 18 months in NSP-targeted areas, addressing these properties will have ripple effects that could have a profound impact on our local, regional and national housing markets alike.

Still, the Obama Administration believes government can’t solve this problem alone.  As Minneapolis showed, stabilizing neighborhoods requires private investment and other partners to step up. 

Last week, I announced an important Neighborhood Stabilization innovation that helps make that possible called “First Look.” A historic partnership with the National Community Stabilization Trust and the nation’s leading financial institutions, First Look will gives every grantee an exclusive 12-14 day window to evaluate and bid on properties before others can do so.  First Look will cut the time it takes to sell these properties in half, which is particularly important given that vacant and abandoned homes are more than three times as destructive to home prices as homes that have only begun the foreclosure process.  It will also give grantees access to state of the art mapping and management tools, so they know what properties are available and who owns them. 

Communities struggling with foreclosures and budget cuts rarely have the time or funds to establish individual relationships with financial institutions and negotiate the best price one house at a time.  With the potent combination of Neighborhood Stabilization funds and First Look, they’ll have the resources and partners they need to buy target foreclosed homes strategically – and act quickly.

Obviously, these remain difficult times for every American.  Neighborhood Stabilization is only one tool in our toolbox. And it won’t help every block wracked by foreclosures. 

But with game-changing, market-oriented and cost-effective strategies like these—that bring more stakeholders to the table with a greater sense of shared responsibility—President Obama and I believe we can tackle tough challenges like foreclosures and blight.  We can put Americans back to work.  And we can help our communities recover. 

Shaun Donovan is Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

eric seiger

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foreclosure auctions

Realtors are not reporting the true sold prices on homes.  Here are 2 examples.  If a home is listed on the MLS and then sells at a auction like Hudson & Marshal or RealtyBid, you can see the sold price online or if you attend the live auctions, see the house sell at open outcry auction.  The next day the houses are reported sold on the MLS but always at full price.

The example below sold for $115,000 at Realtybid but is listed as sold for $159,500 on the MLS.

Also, homes are listed on the MLS and sold on the HUD site.  You can see the sold area on HUD and the Bid Stats.  The house listed below sold on the Hud site for $90,061 but again was listed as sold for full price on the MLS $113,400.

These are only 2 examples, I have seen over 100 and assume it is occurring everywhere.  I understand that foreclosures are not included in the sales stats from the Realtor Assoc. but the stats they use are taken from the sold prices listed on the MLS.  They are all false.

Simply said, this means that any pricing data coming off Multiple Listing Services is fatally flawed, and if this observation is verified, could potentially be a simplistic means to misrepresent the true home price by up to 40% higher.

As for the examples, here is property 1 as represented by the MLS: note the price of $159,500

And below is the actual final auction price on the exact same property taken from RealtyBid:

The MLS certainly pulled all the correct information on the property... all except for the price.

Another example: 5572 Goodhue Ave, Rockford IL 61109. The house was sold in auction for a purchase price of $90,061 as the below screenshot from the HUD auction indicates:

Yet the very same property was listed on foreclosure.com, and subsequently pulled by Zillow, as having a value of $113,400

These are merely two examples.

We have a simple question: which price is the NAR, Case-Shiler, and every other resi real estate index service pulling: the higher or the lower. For the ongoing credibility of the suddenly green shoot free recoveryless recovery, we at least hope it is the correct one. Which is why we ask readers to advise us of any comparable bifurcations between paid and listed price on properties they may be aware of.

Suddenly David Rosenberg's claim that no properties over $750,000 sold in the past month doesn't seem all that outlandish...

Need-to-know No. 1: The fine print associated with the type of auction you're attending. If you plan to score your bargain-basement unit at the foreclosure auction on the steps of the county courthouse, consult with a local real estate attorney and make sure you conduct an exhaustive title search before you make your bid. It's possible to purchase one of these properties and still have to contend with other liens still on the property, like second (or third) mortgages, back property taxes and Homeowners Association (HOA) dues unpaid by the former owner.



Under the law in nearly half of the states, when you buy a place at the foreclosure auction, the former owner has anywhere from six months to a year after the auction to "redeem" their rights to the property, meaning they have the legal right to buy it back from you.



If you're buying the property at an auction of REO properties (Real Estate Owned by the bank), make sure you read 100% of the terms and conditions of the auction. Many auctions will allow you to get a property inspection -- go figure -- so you should. They will also often allow you to use a mortgage to finance your purchase, which the courthouse foreclosure auctions do not.



However, most of these REO auctions do take a non-refundable cash deposit from the auction winner, and do add some sort of "buyer's premium" on top of the winning bid -- some as high as 5%. That extra cash can make it tougher to get positive cash flow out of the place.



Get clear on the fine print before you buy at any property auction.



Need-to-know No. 2: Your numbers. Many a wanna-be investor thinks, "Hey -- it's a $50,000 condo. If I get $1,000 in rent -- I'll be making cash hand-over-fist." And there ends their cash flow analysis. Seasoned investors know, though, that there are always more line items to the story. If you're thinking about investing in even the cheapest of cheap condos, you still need to create a written cash flow projection, or pro forma, to see how feasible it is that the investment will actually pay off.



If you plan to finance your investment with a mortgage, you must factor in the mortgage payment, mortgage insurance (if you put less than 20% down), and closing costs. And, even if you are able to buy a cheap condo with cash, you still need to take into account the costs of HOA dues, property taxes, landlord's insurance, any utilities landlords pay in your neck of the woods (like water and gas), a property manager and repairs.



You should also include an allowance for long-term maintenance, possible special assessments by the HOA and vacancies -- every landlord deals with occasional months where no rental payments come in. And you should definitely have a chat with your tax adviser about the deductions you should factor in, and the income tax you may incur on the rental income.



Then, offset that -- on paper -- by the average rents being received by other landlords in the complex or the area. If you're only making $3.75 per month in the projections, you might decide that other investments are more sensible.



Need-to-know No. 3: Whether the HOA and the complex are healthy. Sacramento, Calif., real estate agent Stacey Wilson thought she'd scored, big-time, when she invested in a two-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath condo for $40,000 in September of 2009, especially since the place had gone for $175,000 in 2007. After closing, though, it quickly dawned on Wilson that the complex and the HOA were both broke.



"Take a look around and see whether things are in working order," Wilson advises prospective condo investors. "When things are broken, find out how long they've been broken." Wilson's complex has two pools and a sauna, but "none of them works -- and they haven't worked in years."



Also, Wilson's unit is in an HOA riddled with a sky-high rate of delinquent dues, so it can't afford to repair the pools and sauna, nor does it have the cash to replace the wood shake roofs on all the buildings. "We only have a couple of years of roof life left, and now the hazard insurance company is threatening to drop our coverage, because they see the wood roof as a fire hazard," Wilson explains. "It's really important to read every page of the HOA disclosures you get during escrow, and make sure they're solvent. If the HOA is broke, it can create a domino effect of problems."



Need-to-know No. 4: The landlord-tenant laws and restrictions of your city or HOA. Many urban areas, in particular, have rent-control and eviction-control laws that limit your ability to raise the rent, or to evict a tenant without having a particularly strong reason for doing so -- sometimes even requiring landlords to pay tenants to move out.



And because the percentage of owner-occupied units impacts the ability of an HOA's members to resell and refinance their homes (many banks won't offer mortgages in complexes with fewer than 75% of the units being owner-occupied), many HOAs put a cap on how many units can be rented out. If you're planning to buy the condo as a rental property, it behooves you to know how feasible and how desirable it is to be a landlord in that complex and town before you buy.



Need-to-know No. 5: Where goes the neighborhood. Wilson's foray into dirt-cheap condo investing turned into a true adventure when circumstances led to her moving into the property she thought she'd never live in. Turned out, the nighttime goings-on in her new neighborhood were unlike anything she ever expected from her exclusively daytime experiences in the area. Before investing in a discount condo, Wilson advises, act like someone house hunting for their personal residence, and "go by the place at night and on the weekends. You'd be surprised at how different a place can be at night."



The fact that a condo is so inexpensive might actually be a signal that the neighborhood may not be one you want to spend much time in, even as a landlord. Wilson says, with 20/20 hindsight, "If it's really cheap, it's probably not in the best place."
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