Coming from a humble little town called Tangkak in north Johor state of Malaysia, OngKL has chances to learn and work both in Johor Bahru and Singapore – a conurbation with 6.49 million still fast growing population – since year 1996. He is now having a chance to contribute back to the community by sharing what he sees, what he knows and what he learns in this wonderful place.
Archive for House
Feb
01
Simple Guide To Refinancing
Posted by: | CommentsBuying a house or a property on a mortgage was considered a headache in the earlier days as a result of of the insurmountable pressure it puts on the borrower to pay the interest and principal in the stipulated time. However things have changed a lot these days with the arrival of the concept of refinancing where individuals will modify their mortgages. Before you jump into any agreement of refinancing there are many things that you’ll have to understand concerning this concept. To tell you more, I’ve given a specific and a transparent idea on refinancing.
THE CONCEPT:
The concept behind refinancing is to help the debtors in the better way. And how does this idea help them? It is very simple. If you have an existing mortgage and if you are finding it terribly tough to pay the dues and the interests on time, then you’ll very well opt for refinancing. Whenever you refinance your existing mortgage, a replacement mortgage can be signed with newer interest rates and mortgage period. Therefore, if you like paying lower monthly installments than the present installment you are paying; then refinancing is the best choice (after all, the amount of mortgage can be increased significantly than the older mortgage).
ADVANTAGES:
The concept of refinancing not only applies to reducing your monthly installments, but conjointly to increase the installments, i.e. if your financial standing is quite good at present and prefers to shut the mortgage as early as possible; then this versatile refinancing concept will be used. The most important advantage with refinancing is paying lower interest rates. Yes, you would have signed a mortgage at a specific interest rate and paying the same amount throughout. But you pay the same amounts even when the interest rates go down in the market. Therefore, this concept helps all those to redeem all their precious money in line with the changing market. Refinancing will be very well done if the interest rates are below your existing mortgage.
POINTS:
Another important issue that every individual should be aware concerning refinancing is that the term referred to as “points”. Points are nothing but one percent of the whole mortgage of the property. Thus, whenever you choose refinancing the lender would demand you three points i.e. the percent of the mortgage fee as an upfront for signing the new mortgage. This upfront fee isn’t the least bit of a problem because some lenders do offer sure flexibility to the debtors by not demanding the upfront at all.
TYPES:
There are 2 types of refinancing i.e. the No-Closing Cost refinancing and Cash-Out refinancing. The No-Closing Cost refinancing is the conventional and the foremost widely followed concept where the debtors are asked to give upfront for his or her new agreement. The Cash-out refinancing is a very helpful choice for all those people who don’t have issues with the installments. In this sort, the lender can pay the borrower an increased sum as a loan i.e. if the mortgage of that specific property is $3000 then the lender will pay you $4000. The extra $1000 can be utilized according to your wish.
Another great article by Kanata Real Estate This and other unique content ‘real estate’ articles are available with free reprint rights.
Jan
29
Your Earnest Money and Contingencies
Posted by: | CommentsSeveral home buyers recognize that they need to have some cash to put down on a home but are not sure how it factors in to that equation. To help you perceive how it will be employed in your transaction, in all chance, I’ve answered some of the foremost commonly asked questions I have received from buyers.
Is it immediately cashed?
That really depends on the contract and also the directions it gives for the way your earnest money is to be handled. Ideally your real estate broker should cash your earnest money check immediately to make certain the interest of all parties is treated fairly. Some states permit a buyers broker to hold the check until the deal is accepted. This gives the buyers a few additional days to iron out the source of the earnest money if they do not have that taken cared of already.
What happens to it if I do not purchase a house?
This all depends on how so far along you are within the transaction. If all of the contingencies are satisfied and you decide you do not want to buy the house, then you ought to forfeit it. However, if you’re in the inspection stage or at any different point of contingency within the transaction and, for what ever reason, you choose not to buy the home, you ought to expect it to be released back to you.
Will my it go toward my down payment on my house?
You can have it go toward any fees in the transaction, as well as closing costs or a down payment on your principle. Normally it goes toward a partial payment of your buyers agent fees, if your broker holds your earnest money check, in most states. Currently, if the transaction falls apart, parts of that earnest money may go to the seller, the sellers broker or your real estate broker, and you may see none of it.
Is there any method I will get it back?
Yes, you’ll have it refunded to you at the closing. You can also opt to have it pay other specific or general fee in the transaction.
Can it be used to pay other fees?
Most sensible real estate brokers can collect your earnest money right up front and might even insist it is considered a “retainer” if you choose not to purchase a house after they spent a specified amount of their time with you. You’ll be asked to place down your earnest money before you even see a single home. This money is used for earnest money if you close on a home, but might even be used as a retainer fee for the broker or the real estate agent, if you select not to buy a home once getting some of their time. Either method, your earnest money serves its purpose of paying for your home purchase or paying for your real estate services.
Keep in mind that a number of these laws and laws that govern real estate transactions in general do modify state by state, thus make sure to seek advice from a real estate professional to determine specifically what happens in your state together with your earnest money.
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Jan
20
How Using Solar Energy Will Increase Your Homes Price
Posted by: | CommentsYou’ll think it isn’t relevant if you are new to the whole “going green” movement. However home value will increase when solar energy processes are half of the picture. This factors into selections that are created relating to the acquisition of a home from the consumers perspective. When you’re environmentally conscious and want to require action to assist yourself and the globe around you, take into account using solar energy. A home equipped with the ability to produce free or less costly electricity is a prized possession in the real estate world. If you have solar energy provided for the longer term home owners, they’re in a position to calculate the estimated savings and understand that your home is definitely value more to them.
The Proof Is In The Doing
Anything worth doing has an initial investment of your time, money or resources. Using solar power isn’t any exception. Simply keep telling yourself that the goal of free electricity is a short term project that reaps future benefits.
- You will save money on the monthly electrical bills.
- On a whole house solar system of about $20,000.00 it should 4-seven years to pay for it’s self. Then it’s home free for about 12-fifteen years.
- An older homes automatically gets brought into the 21st century with solar power on board. As a result of potential patrons will be able to pay cash on other enhancements that may have gone to heating water, creating living space comfortable and general electricity cost.
- You’ll get a so much higher price for your home as a result of of the solar energy efficiency.
- Banks and lending corporations are figuring in the value of a home with solar energy capability therefore the ability for buyers to finance could be expedited because of the additional instant equity.
- You’ll and ought to receive financial help from your state and definitely the federal government with tax credits and incentives. Check this thoroughly, there is additional money available than ever before.
- There aren’t any emissions and you will scale back your dependency on easy energy created through years of over use of electricity.
Assets and Equity Built Right In
When it comes time for you to sell out and move on to a completely different place and you are visiting list your current property on the market. You will quickly learn that you probably did a sensible factor by installing the solar unit. When you do decide that you want to sell your home, make positive that you make your Realtor alert to the savings that you have got received from the solar equipment installation. It typically helps to be in a position to show somebody a duplicate of your electrical bill before you converted to solar energy panels or units and then show them what you have been paying after they were installed. Over the lifetime of the home, the repairs on solar energy will be so much less than paying huge electric bills every month.
This can be how your home value increases using solar energy.
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Jan
07
Why real estate is a good investment?
Posted by: | CommentsSafe High Return Investments Plano
Of all possible investments that are within the reach of the average investor, none ofter the combination of outstanding benefits that are available to real estate investors. And, do you want to know something, banks and life insurance companies recognise this fact!
So they invest your money in real estate. While they pay you 1 to 3 percent for the use of your money, they are making 10 to 20 percent on it.
Why is real estate such a good investment? It offers the investor at least five different returns or ways of making money, on his investment.
Gross spendable income – cash flow
Investors also refer to this as “cash flow” or how much money that you can spend at the end of the month or year after all the operating expenses and mortgage payments have been made. We also call this as “gross” spendable because we have not taken income tax consequences into consideration at this point.
We always purchase properties that cash-flow. It takes time to find them, but it is well worth the effort. The simplest definition of positive cash flow is that you collect more revenue, usually in the form of rent, than it takes to pay for and operate the property.
A big advantage of real estate over other investments is that it can produce cash flow on a monthly basis. The cash generated by a real estate investment will always be a much larger percentage cash-on-cash return than any other investment.
The beauty of a cash-flowing real estate property is that it can help you become financially free. We discussed two real life examples of such real estate property in “How to know if a property investment is worth investing?”
Equity income
This is also referred to as equity buildup or principal reduction. Anyone who has had a mortgage on a home or car recognises that each time a payment is made, a certain portion of that payment is for the interest charged by the lender and the balance goes toward reducing the balance on the loan.
In a real estate investment, this equity income can be a sizeable amount. Although you cannot spend it each month, when the time comes to sell your property, you owe less on the mortgage, so you will receive more money at closing. It’s like putting money in the bank each month.
Making inflation work for you instead of against you – appreciation
Like inflation, you do not see it but it’s there. Only now, it’s working for you instead of against you. How does it work? Each year, because of inflation, your real estate is appreciating in value. Those of you who own a home, for example, would you sell it today at the same price you paid for it five or ten years ago?
We keep on having babies but God quit making land a long time ago. The supply is limited.
What does this mean in terms of existing land values? It means that existing land is becoming more and more valuable each year. It explains why investment real estate, whether in single family homes, apartment buildings, office buildings, shopping centres, ware houses and even vacant land, has become the most secure and profitable way to beat inflation. Existing land in most parts of the country, is appreciating at a rate greater than that of inflation.
How real estate stacks up against other investments – leverage
Leverage is an interesting thing about investing in real estate. It’s more than likely you have heard the term Other People’s Money, or OPM. The concept is simple and powerful.
The OPM concept is using money generated from someone or something other you in order to start a business or acquire an asset. While it is true that you can do this to an extent with stocks through buying on margin, the fact is that there is no investment where the application of this tool is more powerful than in real estate.
In real estate the leverage is based on the asset itself and you can get a bank to loan you the money up to 90 percent, and sometimes even 95 to 100 percent, of the total asset value. Why do banks do this?
Because they can repossess the physical asset itself should you default. Buying stocks on margin, however, allows you to borrow no more than 50 percent of the stock portfolio value. Just try to get bank to loan you the money for buying stocks – let alone your margin! Instead, you have to buy through a brokerage – at a high interest rate. In other words, when you buy stocks on margin, you are taking the risk. But when you take out a loan to buy real estate, the bank is assuming the risk. – Ken McElroy in “The Advance Guide to Real Estate Investing”
You can see the power of leveraging demonstrated by real life cases in our article “Why you want to take up a loan for your real estate investment?” No other form of investing allows an investor the opportunity to control so much with a small amount of his own cash.
We further discussed in “How to finance your real estate investment for maximum return?” the ways to structure a mortgage loan in order to get the maximum return from your cash investment in real estate.
An investment that allows you to control
A unique advantage to real estate is that you can control it. In other types of investments, you give your money to a financial advisor and they place it for you in a company’s stock, a bond, or a mutual fund. What happens after that is completely out of your control. You have no ability to make operating decision for the company you have invested in; you are at the mercy of its managers.
Similarly, you have no control over financial markets when you purchase bonds or futures. You make a calculated guess, and then you sit back and watch. With these types of investments, the only control you have is choosing whether to buy or to sell.
Real estate is different. You purchase a tangible asset and you manage it. While there are still external market conditions that affect your investment, the difference is that you have the ability to manipulate the operations of your investment to respond to those conditions. Instead of being reactive (buying or selling), you are being proactive.
For example, if you are a landlord, you have the ability to manipulate rents based on changing market conditions in order to maximise income. This doesn’t always mean raising rents. The goal is to maximise income. Since it is a dynamic process, that might mean lowering rent or offering an incentive. A property’s occupancy comes into place here.
If you have the highest rents in a market, chances are potential tenants will rent from a direct competitor. Then all your high rents become lost potential income. The dynamic of real estate require you to keep occupancy, as well as rents, high.
You have the power in real estate to control the operational performance of your asset more than any other investment.
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