How to Use the Internet to Help Your Apartment or House Hunting

So you are looking for an apartment to rent or a house to purchase. One of the most important steps is researching the neighborhood to decide if you really like to live in that area. The best way to do this is driving around that area to see if you really like that neighborhood. You should pay attention to traffic, available stores, available transportation, noise level etc. Also, you should try visiting the neighborhood during different times of the day.

Do you know you can get help from the Internet for your apartment or house hunting?

You can view interactive maps on the Internet. The best tools I've seen so far are Google Maps (maps.google.com) and MSN Virtual Earth (virtualearth.msn.com). With these online tools, you type in the address of the place you are interested in and a map centered at that address will show up. You can zoom in, zoom out and drag around the map to see what other streets are close and how close this place is to the highway, etc.

You can view satellite images on the Internet. This new service is available at Google Maps and MSN Virtual Earth. After you type in an address, you can choose to view a satellite image of that place. Just like maps, you can zoom to different levels and move around using your mouse. This might give you a more direct feeling on what this neighborhood look like than looking at the map alone.

You can find out what business/services are available around a place on the Internet. With Google Maps, MSN Virtual Earth and Yahoo! Maps (maps.yahoo.com), after you get a map or satellite image of an address, you can do a local search in that neighborhood. For example, you can search for "Pizza" and all nearby pizza restaurants will show up on the map. This way you can get a feeling if it'd be convenient for dining, shopping or entertainment in that area.

You can get driving directions on the Internet. Google Maps, Yahoo! Maps and other online map sites provide driving direction services. You type in the starting and destination addresses and they will show you a detailed driving direction with map, total mileage and estimated driving time. This way you can estimate how easy would be for you to drive to other places (such as to work or school) from that neighborhood.

Although this Internet tools are pretty cool, it's still important to go check out the neighborhood in person by yourself. Happy hunting!

About The Author
Brian Walker is a freelance writer who has written many self-help articles. Check out more apartment living guide at 101ApartmentForRent.com (www.101apartmentforrent.com) and mortgage guide at Mortgage4House.com (www.mortgage4house.com)

Home Loans for Credit Challenged Borrowers

Just because you have negative items on your credit report doesn't mean you can't obtain a home mortgage loan. There are options for you. Bad credit is not the end of the world. It's true that getting a bad credit mortgage loan is not always the easiest or fastest mortgage loan out there, but you can still buy your own home even with bad credit.

Bad credit shouldn't stop you from getting a home loan. There are credit repair options. Most mortgage brokers will do everything they can to get your credit in good shape for your home loan. They work with you on finding the mortgage loan option that's right for you. You can get a home loan, even if you've had a bankruptcy or a foreclosure.

There are several bad credit mortgage loan options available for the credit challenged and even people with no credit at all, such as:

Sub-Prime Mortgage Home Loans
Stated Income Mortgages
No Money Down Home Loans
Jumbo Loans
Adjustable Rate Mortgages

Step One: Know Your True Credit Score

Perhaps you've already been turned down for a mortgage because of a negative credit report or having no credit at all. Perhaps you've filed for bankruptcy. Whatever the case may be—You know your credit is bad.

But do you know how bad?

Are you sure your credit report is accurate? Eighty percent of credit reports have mistakes. At Mortgage-Loan-Advantage.com we help you find out if your credit is really as bad as you think it is. Here's what we can help you do:

Get a copy of your credit report.
Verify the items listed on your credit report.
Take steps to repair any errors on your credit report.
Take steps to remove errors on your credit report.
Monitor your credit regularly.

Step Two: Consider Your Options

You really have two options, once you know what your credit score is. You can contact a bad credit mortgage lender and accept that for a while you must pay a higher interest rate than you would if your credit was perfect.

Or you can wait and try to fix your credit and bring up your credit score before you buy a home.

If your credit history is not that bad, you might want to take some time to bring up your score. To improve your credit score:

Pay off as much debt as you can.
Pay your bills regularly and on time.
Don't apply for too much credit.

If you absolutely must get into a home now, or it looks like it would take too long to bring up your credit score significantly, contact a bad credit mortgage lender. Be prepared to pay a higher interest rate and more "points"—which are a percentage of the loan.

Step Three: Prepare Yourself with the Facts

Before you approach a bad credit mortgage lender, prepare.

Assess your financial situation. Do you have the income to add a mortgage to your debt load? Have you made as many lifestyle changes as possible to reduce your debt? Have you done all you can to bring up your credit score?

If the adverse credit items on your credit report occurred because of some reasons beyond your control, for instance, illness, job layoff, marital problems or other temporary setbacks, you must provide a written explanation of your circumstances to the bad mortgage loan officer. This can be provided with the loan application or at some other point in the loan process. If you have had sufficient time to regain financial stability since the problems occurred and to demonstrate prompt payment, the lender may offer some consideration on the rates.

About The Author
Horace Hawkins is the President of Mortgage-Loan-Advantage.com and HoraceHawkins.com. As a mortgage loan broker, Horace serves the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex with superior home mortgage loan services.

Home Improvement – Don’t Exceed Comps In Your Area

For most homeowners, the pride of ownership includes a consistent home improvement effort. While this makes sense, be careful you don't improve the property so much that you can't recover the costs when it is sold.

Home Improvement

You've picked up a heck of a deal on a home in a nice neighborhood. The purchase price was $200,000 and you put twenty five percent down [$50,000]. The comparable homes, "comps", in the neighborhood appraised for $300,000. Yes, your home is a bit run down, but that's why they have Home Depot and weekends! You'll just fix the ugly ducking up and pocket a quick $100,000 in equity when all your projects are done. What a country!

This situation definitely has potential. The value of the home is so low when compared to the comps that a relatively quick equity grab certainly looks possible if the home can be fixed up. Off to Home Depot we go...

Let's do an evaluation of our ugly ducking. Put another way, what needs to be done to get it on par with the other ducks in the neighborhood? Okay, we need new doors, new windows and landscaping in a very big way. The drive way looks like a toxic dump sat on it and we aren't even going to get into the peeling, ugly paint on the home. Pricing everything, deciding to use homeowner labor as much as possible and so on, we find it is going to run roughly $50,000 to makeover our ugly duckling. It's going to be a lot of work, but that's what weekends are for. We should still come out with a $50,000 gain and $100,000 in total equity considering our $50,000 down payment.

Budgets and Temptation

The problem with the above scenario is it is very hard to stick to a budget. If you've owned a home, you're already familiar with this problem. If you are buying a home for the first time, watch out!

With homeownership, the structure you own quickly evolves into "my home." Once this occurs, you tend to view the quality of your home as a statement to the world and you want to show the world your best. Instead of buying moderately priced cabinets for the kitchen, you buy custom pieces that would make Bill Gates envious. Counter tops soon become marble counter tops. Refinishing the driveway evolves into putting in an entirely new one with brick inlays. And so it goes.

You are no longer trying to bring your home up to the standard of the neighborhood homes. You are trying to turn the home into a swan and swans are expensive. After making all your improvements, you are distressed to find the total cost being $90,000 instead of $50,000. For all your hard work and effort, you've realized only a $10,000 gain in equity.

In Closing

Make sure you objectively budget improvements and stick to those budgets. While there is something to be said for making a home glow, make sure it makes financial sense.

About The Author
Raynor James is with http://www.fsboamerica.org - providing FSBO homes for sale by owner. Visit our "sell my home?" page at http://www.fsboamerica.org/seller.cfm to list and sell your home for free for one month. Visit http://www.fsboamerica.org/buyer.cfm to see homes for sale by owner.

Residential Investing with a Lease/Purchase

One of the most efficient ways to invest in residential real estate is to do a lease/purchase. The reason a lease/purchase is so effective, is because it provides a win-win situation for both the seller/landlord and the buyer/tenant. For the owner, it provides a potential buyer and a tenant that will be willing to take care of the home. For the buyer, it provides the right to purchase the home for a fixed price, and time to save money and improve their credit. Here's how it works.

The owner and the buyer enter into a contract whereby the potential buyer agrees to lease the home for a set amount of time. At the end of the lease, the buyer then has the option of buying the home for the price agreed upon in the contract. In order to secure that price, the buyer pays an option fee up front. If the buyer chooses to buy the home at the end of the lease, he can apply the option fee and any other money saved toward the down payment. If the they choose not to purchase the home, the owner keeps the option fee.

For the owner, the lease/purchase offers several different ways to make money from the home:

- the goal is to buy the home for 10-20% below market value

- the monthly rent you collect will exceed your mortgage payment

- you can right off mortgage interest and other expenses on your taxes.

- you pay down the principle on your mortgage and build equity in the house

- the price of the home will appreciate

- if the potential buyer decides not to buy, you keep the option fee

This is just a basic outline of how a lease/purchase works and the opportunities it presents. It is still a real estate investment strategy that is unknown by many and discussed by too few. For more detailed information, a recommended read is "Buy Low, Rent Smart, Sell High" by Scott Frank and Andy Heller.

To apply this investment strategy in a growing real estate market, visit http://www.buyandsellnorthtexas.com.

About The Author
Michael A. Stazko is a real estate assistant and founder of http://www.buyandsellnorthtexas.com a website that provides realtor, mortgage, new home, and real estate investing information for North Texas.
Mike@buyandsellnorthtexas.com

Alternatives to Foreclosure

Buying a house is a big investment. It really puts a dent on your financial resources. Of course, the expenses do not end with the down payment. You still have to contend with the monthly payments for the mortgage. This is a financial situation that you will have to live with for years until you have fully paid off your loan.

But what happens if you get behind in your mortgage payments? A delay in payment can have very serious consequences for your mortgage situation. If the delinquency in payments has become too severe then your home could be in danger of foreclosure. A foreclosure means that your property will be repossessed by the lending institution that gave you your mortgage.

Fortunately, even if you have defaulted on your payments, it does not necessarily mean that your property will be foreclosed. There are various alternatives to a foreclosure that you can take. Some of these are:

Paying the delinquency. Generally, all lending institutions are required to accept all the payments that were delinquent and reinstate the loan. The delinquent payments that you have to pay may also include some legal fees especially if you are already in the foreclosure stage. There are also lending institutions that require certified funds in order to reinstate the loan.

Forbearance and Repayment. One of the most common ways of resolving a delinquent mortgage is to work out a plan with your lending institution where in you get to pay a part of your delinquency every month on top of your regular monthly payments. If you are in a situation where you are not able to meet the monthly mortgage payments, your lender can elect to extend the forbearance by suspending payments for a certain period of time up until you can start a repayment schedule.

Payment Assistance. Some state and local governments and also private charitable organizations have instituted programs that help people with delinquencies pay all or part of their mortgage obligation for a certain period of time.

Reamortization. In a reamortization, the delinquent mortgage amount is added to the loan balance as a way of bringing the mortgage payments up to date. This move increases not only the total loan amount but also the monthly payments. Of course, the increase in payment will not be as large if the life of the loan is also extended.

Private sale. A private sale of the property affected by the delinquency can also be done as it will allow you to meet your obligations as well as get any equity that may have accumulated. In private sales it is usual that the amount is greater than the stated amount owed on the loan.

Most of these alternatives presume that you will be able to pay your mortgage payments at some point. But there is also a particular foreclosure alternative called a loss mitigation program. The federal government as well as the mortgage industry established this type of program as a way of stopping foreclosures. Under this program you are given options that will not only assist you in keeping your home even if you do not have the financial capability to pay for the mortgage payments. With these types of programs, it becomes so much easier to address the problem of foreclosures.

About The Author
Mark Emmons is the alternatives to foreclosure expert of http://www.quicksavemyhome.com and has more information at that site.

Home Equity Loan: What You Should Know

Many people are talking about a home equity loan, at work, weekends and even at the dinner table. Why is it the flavor of the month and what should you know about a home equity loan to ensure you stay out of strife if you decide to enter this realm.

Owning your home is a valuable asset for anyone in a lifetime. If you agree to a home equity loan, you are in fact putting this great asset at risk. Home equity loans are appealing due to the low interest rates and (in some cases) the tax deductibility of interest, but they also represent a risky business.

It sometimes has to be faced, if things don't work out. Consider a significant expense and not to having the necessary cash to cover it. Examples of such expenses are medical bills, major house repairs or a child's college education. A home equity loan could be the solution to your financial problems, at least for a short term. By using the equity you've built in your home over time you can borrow a significant amount of money. You have to repay the amount borrowed plus a (usually) low interest over a fixed period of time. If you fail to do this, you may lose your house.

Usually, in order to pay off the entire loan until the fixed time, you are required to make equal monthly payments. The lenders are obliged to disclose all important facts of their home equity plan, all terms and costs, such as the APR, different charges, and payment terms. After you have received this information, lenders do not normally charge any other fee that has not been specified in the plan. When you take on a home equity loan, you have normally had a few days from the day the account was opened to cancel it.

There are some basic although important things you should consider when you're considering a home equity loan, in order to avoid a life changing mistake sometimes.

Firstly, if you have money problems, you must consider other options too, before using the equity in your home. Talk to your creditors or contact a budget counseling organization. A plan that would consolidate or reduce your payments might be enough to get you out-of-trouble. Also ask the opinion of someone other than the lender offering the home equity loan. someone you trust and who is reasonably knowledgeable.

If you decide a home equity loan is what you want, you should research the offers of several lenders, including banks or a credit union.

There are many lenders who make use of abusive lending practices and you must be aware of these practices if you want to minimize your risks. Here are some scenarios of such practices.

• Equity stripping. You have built up equity in your home but you don't have much income coming each month and you need money. A lender encourages you to make a home equity loan, even if you explain that your income is not enough to keep up with it. Of course, the lender doesn't care if you are not able to pay, he has nothing to lose, on the contrary, he wins a lot. If you are not cerebral enough to get a realistic view of things and let yourself be easily persuaded you will probably lose your home.

• The balloon payment. You've already made a home equity loan and, fail to pay the mortgages and you're very close to losing your home. Another lender offers to save you by refinancing and lowering your monthly payment. You have to be very attentive regarding the loan terms. The reason why the payments are lower may be that he asks you to repay only the interest rate each month. At the end of the term, you may find you still have to pay the entire amount that you borrowed. This sum is called a balloon payment.

• The home improvement loan. A contractor offers to remodel your kitchen, or install a new roof at a low price. You explain you can't afford this, but he offers to arrange finance through a lender he knows. You agree and he begins work. At some point, you are being asked to sign a lot of papers without having enough time to read them and you sign them. Later, you realize you've signed a home equity loan, and even one with aberrant terms and interest rates.

By using the equity in your home, you can benefit by receiving a significant fixed amount of money, repayable over a fixed period, available for any kind of use and at a low interest rate. You may also be allowed to deduct the interest, under the tax law. At a first glance, the home equity loan sounds appealing. But, on the other hand, if you fail to repay, for one reason or another, you may lose your home. Bottom line is that a home equity loan is a good thing if managed and used carefully. If you are considering a home equity loan, you should carefully balance costs vs. benefits, before charging ahead.

About The Author
Bill Darken - There's a good student loan area along with more relevant general loans assistance such as home, car, and consolidation loans. There are highly informative eye opening articles and up-to-date loans news as well, see it here at home equity loan or if the previous link is not working, you can paste this link in your browser - http://loans-only.com.

The Home Warranty Doctor Is In!

Would you go to your real estate agent for advice on the stock market? Probably not. While your real estate agent does help you with a different kind of investment – your home – that doesn't make them automatically qualified to give you advice on the latest IPO from Wall Street.

When you want good information you go to the authority. You go to the expert on the topic! Want investment information? See an investment specialist. Got a cough and fever? See a doctor. Want to buy a car? Go to the dealership.

But when you're looking around at many choices, which is the right one to choose? Which one, among your many choices, is the authority on the information you want?

In the home warranty industry it's hard to tell. You type in "home warranty" in a search engine and several companies come up. Who do you choose? Which one will tell you the information you need to make good decisions... and which ones will try to sell you something you don't need?

Here are a few ways to help you discover which home warranty company is the authority on the home warranty industry. Search for home warranty websites and compare them. What do you notice?

Many home warranty companies try to "straddle the fence" and cater to their paying customers AND their service providers AND realtors all at the same time. When push comes to shove, how much of their time are they going to spend on you? (Hint: if only one-third of their website is spent on you there's a good chance that only one-third of their attention is focused on you). How can a home warranty provider be an authority in the industry when they're so busy trying to be all things to all people?

Most home warranty companies tell you what kind of policy you should have. They'll tell you that you need all your ceiling fans covered... even if you don't own any ceiling fans. And they'll make you pay for them. How can a home warranty provider be an authority in the industry when you're the expert on your home... but they're telling you what should be covered?!?

How many home warranty companies provide you with unbiased industry analysis in the form of reports, RSS feeds, and whitepapers to help guide you through the decision-making process? A site that does that is an authoritative site. Met Home Warranty provides homeowners, home buyers, and home sellers with more than just home warranties. Through their authoritative site they provide industry information with current technology, an innovative Design-A-Plan system that caters to your specific needs, and a downloadable PDF whitepaper to help you understand everything you need to know about a home warranty.

So for a new home, go to a real estate agent. For a home warranty, go the industry-leading authority: Met Home Warranty. The home warranty doctor is in!

About The Author
Aaron Hoos writes for Met Home Warranty. Met Home Warranty is an industry-leading authority on home warranties for home owners, home buyers, and home sellers. Their website, http://www.methomewarranty.com, provides information, resources, and a whitepaper.

For Whom Is Your Home Inspector Working?

The first thought in your mind may be that your home inspector is working for you. I hope that is the case. I have attended marketing training sessions where a well noted speaker talks about the definitions of a customer and a client. In their training the customer is, you may have guessed it, the real estate agent. The client is the person buying the home. What does this mean? I think there is a subtle conflict of interest in that the home inspector may be working for their next job and may not have your best interests in mind.

Another conflict of interest for home inspectors is payment at the close. I often have customers (in our case that is the person buying the home, not the agent) that ask if my inspection fee can be paid at the closing. I have to decline these arrangements and I offer other forms of payment like credit cards for example. In some cases the information that is revealed during a home inspection is enough for a transaction to not go through. If the home inspector is counting on the transaction to close in order to be paid, it puts into question the quality of information you receive. Information you depend on to make a qualified decision to go through with your home purchase.

Here is the best one yet. I was recently handed a brochure from a home inspection firm and the business card attached to it was the home inspector with the title of real estate agent. I don't think there is any question that there is a conflict of interest here.

I believe as a professional home inspector that loyalty is due to the person paying the bill, you the prospective home owner. In order to conduct an objective inspection and present the information in a non-biased manner the inspector needs to stay clear of subtle or outright conflicts of interest. The home inspector should subscribe to a professional code of ethics. My firm, Safe Family Home Inspection Services, adheres to the American Society of Home Inspectors Code of Ethics and we hand out a copy to the customer with every home inspection report. I also offer them to the customer before each inspection along with the Standards of Practice.

Number one in the ASHI Code of Ethics is:

"Inspectors shall avoid conflicts of interest or activities that compromise, or appear to compromise, professional independence, objectivity, or inspection integrity."

To prevent a possible conflict of interest I also advise that the only industries in which the inspector participates are home inspection related. Your home inspector should only inspect homes or provide environmental testing like radon, mold, or asbestos testing. The inspector should not participate in remediation or mitigation services for environmental problems. I also am not sure you can get an objective opinion about your furnace if the home inspector sells new furnaces.

Make sure your home inspector knows who the customer is; make sure it is you.

About The Author
Charles Skoning is a graduate of Northern Illinois University with a Bachelor's of Science in Engineering Technology. For the last fifteen years he has been involved in the inspection of medical imaging equipment and real estate. As an owner of multiple residences and a commercial building he specializes in identifying safety issues hoping to prevent accidental injury at home. Charles is licensed and practices in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa. As a licensed radon measurement specialist he also provides radon testing for real estate transactions. Charles attended one of the nation's largest home inspection schools and is certified by the American Home Inspection Training Institute. Charles is also the founder of Safe Family Home Inspection Services, LLC and operates from three locations: Madison, WI, Dundee, IL and the Quad Cities, IL and IA. If you would like to contact Charles feel free to email him at: Charles@Skoning.com or visit his website at: http://www.safe-family-home-inspection.com
Charles@Skoning.com