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Renting to Own vs. Buying a Home

Renting to own a home has become more common today than ever. There are many reasons that people want to rent to own versus buy to own or just rent a home. Because the economy is so bad right now, banks have been lessening the approval rates to buy homes and financing has been harder to get. Restrictions on loans have been more and more than in the past and sometimes owning a home is just not an option depending on your financial circumstances. With a rent to own agreement with a homeowner, the buyer is going to pay rent as well as a specific amount of money that is going towards the purchase price for the owner. Most of the rent to own contracts will last anywhere from two to five years. 

One of the great advantages to renting to own a home is that the buyer has a lot more time to save the money for the down payment that the owner may require. As well, if there is a problem with the buyers’ credit report or history, this allows for time to get that resolved and turn around the credit report.Companies like Ownerwiz can help you qualify for a rent to own home. If your credit is not quite high enough, they can help get you back on track and then match you with a home in your price range.

 
Another great benefit of renting to own is that the buyer has time to get used to the living area before they actually buy. They can see if the like the neighborhood, the schools in the area and if that location is a good for them. To move in they don’t have to have a closing and signing of all the loan papers and documents required when you purchase a home. Usually the buy can move in immediately after paying one month’s payment and a deposit or fee. 

A negative to renting to own a home is that the buyer could lose their money that they invested should they fall behind on the payments to the owner. Most owners have an agreement that if the renter falls behind or decides they don’t want to purchase the home later on down the road, the buyer loses all the money he invested into the home as his down payment.

 
If you find that renting to own is something you are interested in, be sure to read more about Ownerwiz and the services they offer. You may find that renting to own is the best of both worlds.

Renting to Own

May 16, 2012 | Categories: Buying Property | Tags: , , , , | Comments Off

Uncovering beautiful beach real estate in Nicaragua

I’ve been living and working in Nicaragua since 2003. In that time I’ve traveled the length and breath of the country both for pleasure and to scout out real state opportunities for investors.  It’s a beautiful country. Still a little rough around the edges but with a domestic, welcoming vibe wherever you go.  The majority of investors looking at the country’s real estate opportunities are primarily interested in what is available on the Pacific coast of the country. In this article I highlight 3 purchasing destinations (or property hotspots if you like) that have caught my interest during my travels.

1) I’ll start with the most obvious.  Sun Juan del Sur on the southern part of Nicaragua’s Pacific coast is the countries primary beach real estate destination. The geography in this part of the country is stunning and not unlike Costa Rica’s famous northern province that’s just over the border to the south. Of course true beachfront opportunities exist although you’ll also find some stunning view view property as soon as you get into the ridge of hills that runs parallel to the ocean.  Just like this listing featured in the New York Times.  Lots of activities on offer here from surfing to whale watching.

2) Another favorite area of mind is the Tola  part of the Pacific Coast. This is a little further north than San Juan but shares its stunning landscapes and scenery. You’ll find long expansive beaches and some fantastic surf breaks. It’s a little bit less accessible than the San Juan area as some of the roads are still unpaved.  But if you can put up with a little bit of a bumpy ride it’s well worth scouting out this area.

3) An interesting new area of Nicaragua’s Pacific coast that is generating increasing investor interest is what is known as the Central Coast. One of the unique aspects of this part of the coast is its proximity to the capital city of Managua and the international airport. So while it takes typically over 2 hours to drive from the international Airport to someone else for all the total area, if you’ve got a property on the central coast you’ll be there in around an hour.

If you’re interested in purchasing pacific real estate I’d suggest visiting the country for at least two weeks, that you will easily be able to cover the three areas I have outlined above.  Of course there is more to see, but in all of my research, San Juan del Sur, the Tola Area and the Central Coast just have something special. 

Also read our article with tips for the property seller interested in Central America.

February 23, 2012 | Categories: Property Ownership | Tags: , | Comments Off

Where To Find A Mortgage Calculator with Taxes

Are you planning to buy a new house or improve your own home? Getting a loan will help you solve your problem. Getting a loan for purchasing expensive investments is a practical option. However, getting one is not easy these days. Many companies have multiple requirements and one of those is having a high credit score. A 580 credit score home loan may not be enough to qualify for a loan that you want. Having good credit makes it easy for one to invest in something using a loan. A low credit score can sometimes be denied and it is more difficult to get a loan. A safe credit score is approximately 680.

When purchasing something, it is best to be knowledgeable about the payments on your purchase. A helpful tool that will assist you with your computations is a mortgage calculator with taxes. This tool will help you compute for your monthly mortgages as well as the taxes included in your payment. This tool can be found online. Some say that it is reliable. However, some would still opt to get a professional mortgage counselor to do the computations.

Using a mortgage calculator is easy. Here are some ways to follow.

Find out what your principal is. The principal is the amount left after you have paid the down payment. Enter the amount in the first box of the calculator.

Decide on how many years you want your loan to be amortized. Usually it takes 30 years for a home loan. Some offer 40 to 50 years. However, if you are unsure, choose to have it for 30 years.

Enter the interest rate. Usually, interest rates are posted daily on several websites.

Fill in the other blanks provided. Once you are done, just click the calculate button and program will do the computation for you. Other information that you should fill in include the PMI, property insurance, property tax and the first payment date.

January 12, 2012 | Categories: Property Investment | Tags: , , , , | Comments Off

Make Passive Income with Rentals

If you’re looking for ways to make passive income to perhaps retire early, then rental properties could be your ticket. There are some good upsides to owning rental homes but there are also some down sides as well. One of the biggest benefits of having this type of investment is that you will make money as the value of the home goes up. Housing prices fluctuate but if you hold on to them long enough, it’s a safe bet that you’ll make money. Since you’ll have to pay another mortgage, having renters come in and taking care of that for you is where the passive income comes into play.

As for the negatives, being a landlord means that you’ll have to deal with things like fixing a broken sink or toilet. If the tenant is demanding, this can become a huge headache. One option you could use is to work with a property management company. They will take a percentage of the rent but will take care of pretty much everything so you don’t have to worry. They’ll even collect the rent for you. You’ll want to search or ask around for the right company since not all of them are good. Since the housing market is still in bad shape, now might be a good time to buy.

rent

December 22, 2011 | Categories: Rental Management | Comments Off

Investing in Foreclosures

There are a lot of properties on the market right now that are foreclosures. They are typically priced lower than comparable homes, but there is a perfectly valid reason for that: foreclosed houses are usually in worse shape than other houses that are put on the market. Maybe one of the biggest reasons has to do with the fact that people tend to vandalize the houses before they vacate them for the bank to repossess them.

What this means for the real estate investor is that he has to be ready to invest some money in the house for repairs and/or renovation. So even though you find the house at a price that is below market value, if you don’t compute those expenses before you make the purchase, you may find out that whatever equity you had (based on the good initial price) will quickly vanish because you have had to spend so much money to bring the house to the point where it can be sold.

So before you even start committing yourself to the process, you really have to do your homework. This means doing due diligence by reviewing comparable sales reports of homes in the area, obtaining home inspections to determine whether the house is worth buying, property appraisals to find out how much you can expect to get, and repair cost estimates (with the inspection as a starting point) to determine the true cost of buying any foreclosure property you’re considering as an investment.

It is crucial for foreclosure investors to educate themselves about every single phase of buying those properties that are often distressed. The fact that they almost always require that you spend additional money adds a new wrinkle to the process. The low initial price tag has attracted many newbie investors, who simply underestimate the price tag that comes with those houses.

Any type of property that has been repossessed by the bank will typically require some level of repair. Diving in without knowing what your total cost will be is a recipe for disaster.

December 18, 2011 | Categories: Property Investment | Tags: , , , | Comments Off

Tips For Property Sellers In Central America

It can be tough to sell property in Central America, especially if you are trying to do so from abroad.  The key is to understand that the local real estate markets do not work in the same way as they do in the US or Canada for example.  

One of the most important differences is a lack of a Multiple Listing Service.  So if you list your property with one agent, no-one else will know it’s for sale (unless you have a very enterprising real estate agent of course).   In Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Belize and Panama for example there is no central database of properties that all agents can access to find all real estate available on the market.  Most sellers get round this issue by listing their property with more than one real estate agent, giving each of them an “open listing.”  For more on this check out the information on the Nicaragua real estate market over at realestatreview.com

If you are selling your property from out of the country it’s vital that there is someone local available who can receive property viewings.  Make sure you give the contact details to all the real estate agents you are working with.  Ideally you should visit the property in person with each agent before you leave the country, but if this is not possible provide clear location details.  Giving out GPS co-ordinates is also a good idea if the property is more remote.  

If you feel that not enough marketing effort is being given to your property, don’t hesitate to put in some of the leg work for yourself.  By all means take some good photos and write up a killer property description and send this around to all local real estate “actors”.  Then follow up on a regular basis with them.  

It’s important to ensure that your property is featured prominently on all high traffic websites that deal with real estate in your local market.  So hassle the real estate agents until you have been sent a link to your property listing.  

Here’s more on managing your risk when buying or selling international real estate.

 

 

 

December 8, 2011 | Categories: Property Ownership | Tags: | Comments Off

How a commercial property consultant can help

Here are some of the things that a reliable commercial property consultant has to provide for you:

  1. A comprehensive, relevant database of the commercial properties for sale in your region;
  2. The commercial property consultant has to work with you to select, from those properties, the ones that suit your needs; in order to do so, he must be able to present you details about all the commercial properties.
  3. Maybe the most important mission of a commercial property consultant is to take you to see all the relevant properties and to give you detailed information about the advantages and disadvantages of each property.
  4. Also, one of the things a commercial property consultant will normally provide is a thorough analysis of the real estate market and of tendencies on that market, similar to stock market investing.
  5. The commercial property consultant will keep in touch with the owners of the properties you are interested in and he will negotiate a good deal for you.
  6. He will make sure that all the legal papers regarding the property you intend to buy are in good order and he will assist you through the entire transaction.
  7. A commercial property consultant has the ethical obligation to inform you about any kind of problems related to the property you intend to buy.
  8. A competent, reliable commercial property consultant is able to inform you if a certain property is over-priced, so you won’t end up paying more money than you should.

 As you well can see, a commercial property consultant is crucial for a successful transaction.

November 28, 2011 | Categories: Commercial Real Estate | Tags: , , , , | Comments Off