Lease Option

A lease option (or lease purchase) is a type of contract used in residential real estate. The contract is typically between two parties: the tenant (also called the lessee), who will occupy a house or apartment, and the landlord (lessor), who owns the property.
During the term of the lease option, the tenant pays rent to the landlord, and in exchange is permitted to occupy the property. At the end of the contract, the tenant has the option to purchase the property outright; the tenant would typically obtain the money to do this using a mortgage. In exchange for this option, the tenant pays extra money to the landlord, in excess of usual market rent.
Excess rent may also be applied towards the eventual purchase of the property, or towards the down payment for a mortgage. In that case, the lease option works as an automatic savings plan for the tenant.
Lease options are often used by tenants with a poor or limited credit history, who would not qualify for a typical mortgage. The lease option may carry less risk for the landlord than a mortgage would for the lender. In the event of non-payment, it may be possible to remove the tenants through eviction, which is likely to be cheaper than foreclosure on a mortgaged property. The lease option may also require less money up front, while a mortgage might require a substantial down payment from the tenant.
If the tenant does not exercise the option to purchase the property at the end of the lease, then the money that the tenant paid for this option was wasted. This might occur if the tenant no longer wishes to purchase the property, or if the tenant wishes to purchase the property but is unable to obtain the financing required to do so. Some forms of lease option have been criticized as predatory, if a lease option is sold to a tenant who cannot realistically expect to ever exercise the option.

Rent To Own

Rent to own (RTO) is a means of acquiring ownership over time without taking on debt. RTO companies rent items, most typically furniture, appliances and electronics, with the condition that the item will be owned by the renter if the term of rent is completed. Since rent to own stores do not require a credit check or down payment, they are popular with sub-prime-credit consumers; those with damaged or no credit history. RTO is also popular with corporate travelers on temporary assignment as there is no long term commitment involved; An item can be rented and returned at any time without penalty.
RTO is a lease, as opposed to a credit sale, so no interest is charged.
Industry-wide, 75% of all RTO transactions are weekly; the consumer agrees to pay a weekly amount for leasing property. The remaining 25% of agreements are biweekly and monthly. RTO agreements are generally written for a 12, 18, or 24 month term. If the consumer rents the merchandise for the full term, ownership is acquired. Most RTO transactions include an early buyout clause that allows the consumer to purchase the merchandise at any time during the term for 50% of the remaining rental payments.
A consumer may return a rental item at any time without penalty. Most companies have a lifetime reinstatement clause, allowing the consumer to re-rent a returned item (or similar item) and receive full credit for all previous rental payments made.

Subject To

Subject-to is a way of purchasing property when there is an existing lien (i.e., Mortgage, Deed of Trust). It is defined as: "Taking title to property with a lien but not agreeing to be personally responsible for the lien. If the holder who forecloses the lien can take the property but may not collect any money from the owner who took 'subject-to'".
References: 1. www.stopforeclosure.com/glossary.htm 2. marcelpolderman.com/reterms.htm

Buying Houses

Houses For Sale! Why People wait to buy a home? Not enough down payment money, No perfect credit, No money for closing, Hate red tape. But I want my own home!Open up your mind and know that all things are possible. We are investors our business is to buy fix and sell houses as soon as possible. It is in our best interest to get you in the house that you want and close as soon as possible. If you are a client that has credit issues that can be resolved in the next six months to a year and you would like to buy a house today, we will be willing to lease option a house to you that you want to buy, until you are qualified to close. Home Owner Ship is no longer a dream, it's a matter of action, here at RealVestors.com!
Look, Houses For Sale! Get your credit report and fill out the "Qualify Me" application and submit it for approval. Contact the contact person at the house that you are interested in with your pre- approval letter and you will be in your very own house in a matter of weeks.

Fixing Houses

Get 3-4 quick estimates on your next Home Repair, Rehab or Construction Project. It's simple, it's fast and it's free! Our automated system will contact up to 4 of the same trade service company at once..... We help you save time and money. You choose the company that offers you the best deal!

Selling Houses

Sell My House Without Realtor. We buy houses. The condition of the house or your situation? "It doesn't matter". Submit information About your house to us. We will reply with an offer in 24 hours. If we decide not to buy then get rid of it quickly without having to pay a commission, be a winner just do the following:

Finance

Finance is a field that studies and addresses the ways in which individuals, businesses, and organizations raise, allocate, and use monetary resources over time, taking into account the risks entailed in their projects. The term finance may thus incorporate any of the following:
The study of money and other assets;
The management and control of those assets;
Profiling and managing project risks;
The science of managing money;
As a verb, "to finance" is to provide funds for business or for an individual's large purchases (car, home, etc.). For invstor loans visit: http://www.realvestors.com/qualifyme.php

Insurance

Insurance, in law and economics, is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for a premium. Insurer, in economics, is the company that sells the insurance. Insurance rate is a factor used to determine the amount, called the premium, to be charged for a certain amount of insurance coverage. Risk management, the practice of appraising and controlling risk, has evolved as a discrete field of study and practice.

Flipping Houses

Flipping is a term, used primarily in the United States, which refers to the practice of buying an asset and quickly reselling ("flipping") it for profit.
Though flipping can apply to any asset, the term is often applied to the practice of buying real estate at below market value, making needed repairs and improvements to the property, and reselling it for a higher price (generally near market value), thus making a profit. The term is also used to apply real estate purchases where no improvements were made; a buyer simply takes advantage of market fluctuations, or knowledge that land prices will soon increase, to make a profit.

Hard Equity Loans

A hard money loan is a specific type of financing in which a borrower receives funds based on the value of a specific parcel of real estate. Hard money loans are typically issued at much higher interest rates than conventional commercial or residential property loans and are almost never issued by a commercial bank or other deposit institution. Hard money is similar to a bridge loan which usually has similar criteria for lending as well as cost to the borrowers. The primary difference is that a bridge loan often refers to a commercial property or investment property that may be in transition and not yet qualifying for traditional financing. Whereas hard money often refers to not only an asset-based loan with a high interest rate, but can signify a distressed financial situation such as arrears on the existing mortgage or bankruptcy and foreclosure proceedings are occurring.

Real Estat Investing

Real estate investing involves the purchase of real estate for profit. Profits are accumulated slowly by renting out properties in a cashflow method, or are generally improved and resold for a capital gain. In addition, real estate investors may wholesale properties as a means to make profits

Asset Protection

An asset-protection trust is a term which covers a wide spectrum of legal structures. Any form of trust which provides for funds to be held on a discretionary basis falls within the category. Such trusts are set up in an attempt to avoid or mitigate the effects of taxation, divorce and bankruptcy on the beneficiary. Such trusts are therefore frequently proscribed or limited in their effects by governments and the courts.
Whether such a trust is a Spendthrift trust on the U.S. model, a Protective trust on the Commonwealth model or another form of discretionary trust, it is more likely to be subject to challenge under the common law doctrine of sham or under specific statutory provisions if any person setting up the trust (or their spouse and their spouse in turn as in a reciprocal trust):
can benefit under its provisions;
is the person under risk financially;
benefits (whether permitted or not) from the trust; or
if the person setting up the trust is at risk financially, if bankruptcy or divorce occurs soon after the establishment of the trust.

Books

The United States housing bubble is the economic bubble in many parts of the U.S. housing market that has existed since roughly 2001, especially in populous areas such as California, Florida, New York, the suburbs of Chicago and Detroit in the midwest, the BosWash megalopolis, and the southwest markets. It reached its peak in 2005–2006, and has been deflating and accelerating since. Greatly increased foreclosure rates in 2006–2007 by U.S. homeowners unable to pay their mortgages caused a crisis in the subprime, Alt-A, CDO, CDX, mortgage, credit, hedge fund, and foreign bank markets.[2] A real estate bubble is a type of economic bubble that occurs periodically in local or global real estate markets. The housing bubble in the U.S. was caused by historically low interest rates, poor lending standards, and a mania for purchasing houses.[2] This bubble is related to the stock market or dot-com bubble of the 1990s.
A housing bubble is characterized by rapid increases in the valuations of real property such as housing until unsustainable levels are reached relative to incomes, price-to-rent ratios, and other economic indicators of affordability. This in turn is followed by decreases in home prices that can result in many owners holding negative equity, a mortgage debt higher than the value of the property.
Bubbles may be definitively identified only in hindsight, after a market correction,[4] which began for the U.S. housing market in 2005–2006.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11] In the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis in 2007, which was caused by a large number of home owners unable to pay the mortgage as their home values declined, Freddie Mac CEO Richard Syron concluded, "We had a bubble,"[12] and concurred with Yale economist Robert Shiller's warning that home prices appear overvalued and that the correction could last years with trillions of dollars of home value being lost.[12] Problems for home owners with good credit surfaced in mid-2007, causing the U.S.'s largest mortgage lender Countrywide Financial to warn that a recovery in the housing sector is not expected to occur at least until 2009 because home prices are falling “almost like never before, with the exception of the Great Depression.”[13] The impact of booming home valuations on the U.S. economy since the 2001–2002 recession was an important factor in the recovery because a large component of consumer spending came from the related refinancing boom, which simultaneously allowed people to reduce their monthly mortgage payments with lower interest rates and withdraw equity from their homes as values increased.[14] The collapse of the U.S. Housing Bubble has a direct impact not only on home valuations, but the nation's mortgage markets, home builders, home supply retail outlets, Wall Street hedge funds held by large institutional investors, and foreign banks, increasing the risk of a nationwide

Seminars

Robert Toru Kiyosaki (born April 8, 1947) is an investor, businessman, self-help author and motivational speaker. Kiyosaki is best known for his Rich Dad, Poor Dad series of motivational books and other material. He has written 18 books which combined have sold over 26 million copies [1]. Although beginning as a self-publisher, he was subsequently published by Warner Books, a division of Hachette Book Group USA, currently his new books appear under the Rich Dad Press imprint. Three of his books, Rich Dad Poor Dad, Rich Dad's CASHFLOW Quadrant, and Rich Dad's Guide to Investing, have been on the top 10 best-seller lists simultaneously on The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and the New York Times. The book Rich Kid Smart Kid was published in 2001, with the intent to help parents teach their children financial concepts. He has created three "Cashflow" board and software games for adults and children and has a series of "Rich Dad" audio cassettes and disks. He also publishes a monthly newsletter.

Foreclosure

Foreclosure is the legal proceeding in which a bank or other secured creditor sells or repossesses a parcel of real property (immovable property) due to the owner's failure to comply with an agreement between the lender and borrower called a "mortgage" or "deed of trust". Commonly, the violation of the mortgage is a default in payment of a promissory note, secured by a lien on the property. When the process is complete, it is typically said that "the lender has foreclosed its mortgage or lien."In attempting to identify bubbles before they burst, economists have developed a number of financial ratios and economic indicators that can be used to evaluate whether homes in a given area are fairly valued. By comparing current levels to previous levels that have proven unsustainable in the past (i.e. led to or at least accompanied crashes), one can make an educated guess as to whether a given real estate market is experiencing a bubble.
Indicators describe two interwoven aspects of housing bubble: a valuation component and a debt (or leverage) component. The valuation component measures how expensive houses are relative to what most people can afford, and the debt component measures how indebted households become in buying them for home or profit (and also how much exposure the banks accumulate by lending for them).
A basic summary of the progress of housing indicators for U.S. cities is provided by Business Week [5]
See also: real estate economics.

Short Sale

Short sale is the phrase that came into common usage in the late 1990's as lenders began to authorize the sale of properties that they had loans on but not yet foreclosed on at a discount. The lender agrees to accept an amount that is less than the existing loan amount due on the house.

Land Trust

Land Trust is both the most useful and the least known legal device used by real estate investors. Those who discover the benefits of land trust start using them for all of their properties. Very few investors know how or why they work so well.

A land trust is an agreement whereby one party (the trustee) agrees to hold ownership of a piece of real property for the benefit of another party (the beneficiary). Land trusts are used by nonprofit organizations to hold conservation easements, by corporations and investment groups to compile large tracts of land, and by individuals to keep their real estate ownership private, avoid probate and provide several other benefits.
A community or conservation land trust is an organization established to hold land and to administer use of the land according to the charter of the organization. A land trust is a useful way to manage complex divisions of the Bundle of Rights that people can own in real estate, and can be used to manage something as large and complex as a multi-state REIT, or as common and small as a single-family home.
Corporations sometimes set up land trusts when they want to compile large tracts of land without arousing suspicion or alerting people to their plans (which would cause the asking price to rise). For example, the land for Walt Disney World near Orlando Florida was put together by using many land trusts to buy smaller tracts of land.
Individuals use land trusts mainly for privacy and to avoid probate. No one knows what one's bank balance or stock investments are, yet anyone with an internet connection can look up a person's real estate holdings. A person who has an auto accident or a doctor who accidentally injures a patient is a much better target for a lawsuit if he or she owns real estate investments. So some investors buy their properties in land trusts so their name does not appear in the public records. The land trust also allows the property to immediately pass to their heirs at the moment of death, rather than go through a long probate process.
Some of the other advantages of land trusts for individuals are:
Sales price of the property can be kept off the public records
Property taxes are lower if the purchase price is kept private
Judgments or liens (such as IRS liens) against an individual's name are not a lien against their land trust property
Partners can more easily continue a project if one dies or is divorced
Interests can be transferred quickly without recording a deed
Managing a rental property is easier when the trustee can be blamed
Negotiating a purchase or sale can be easier when the trustee can be blamed
Liability on financing can be limited to the assets of the trust
Investment trust companies hold property for investment purposes and non-citizens who want long-term access to land in Mexico often enter real-estate trust agreements, called fideicomiso, with Mexican citizens, but land trust more often refers to a community scale organization. Community land trusts are established to provide low- and middle-income families access to affordable housing while conservation trusts protect environmentally, historically or culturally valuable places. Land trusts are also in place to protect farmland and ranchland. Despite the use of the term "trust," many if not most land trusts are not technically trusts, but rather non-profit organizations that hold simple title to land and/or other property and manage it in a manner consistent with their non-profit mission.

1031 Exchange

A 1031 Exchange, also known as a Like Kind Exchange, is a way of structuring a sale of certain kinds of property so that the seller’s profit or gain is not currently taxed. Instead, the property that is sold is replaced with another “like kind” property. If the transaction is properly structured, the seller’s profit or gain is deferred to a future date.
Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. § 1031, provides:
"No gain or loss shall be recognized on the exchange of property held for productive use in a trade or business or for investment if such property is exchanged solely for property of like kind which is to be held either for productive use in a trade or business or for investment."
The sale of the relinquished property and the acquisition of the replacement property do not have to be simultaneous. A non-simultaneous exchange is sometimes called a Starker Tax Deferred Exchange (named for an investor who challenged and won a case against the IRS). See Starker v. United States, 602 F.2d 1341, 79-2 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) paragr. 9541, 44 A.F.T.R.2d 79-5525 (9th Cir. 1979).[1] For a non-simultaneous exchange, the taxpayer must use a Qualified Intermediary, follow guidelines of the Internal Revenue Service, and use the proceeds of the sale to buy more qualifying, like-kind, investment or business property. The replacement property must be “identified” within 45 days after the sale of the old property and the acquisition of the replacement property must be completed within 180 days of the sale of the old property.
Section 1031 is most often used in connection with sales of real property. Some exchanges of personal property can qualify under Section 1031. Exchanges of shares of corporate stock in different companies will not qualify. Also not qualifying are exchanges of partnership interests in different partnerships and exchanges of livestock of different sexes. However, as of 2002 IRS ruling (see Tenants_in_common_1031_exchange), Tenants in Common (TIC) exchanges are allowed. For real property exchanges under Section 1031, any property that is considered "real property" under the law of the state where the property is located will be considered "like-kind" so long as both the old and the new property are held by the owner for investment, or for active use in a trade or business, or for the production of income.
In order to obtain full benefit, the replacement property must be of equal or greater value, and all of the proceeds from the relinquished property must be used to acquire the replacement property. The taxpayer cannot receive the proceeds of the sale of the old property; doing so will disqualify the exchange for the portion of the sale proceeds that the taxpayer received. For this reason, exchanges (particularly non-simultaneous changes) are typically structured so that the taxpayer's interest in the relinquished property is assigned to a Qualified Intermediary prior to the close of the sale. In this way, the taxpayer does not have access to or control over the funds when the sale of the old property closes.
At the close of the relinquished property sale, the proceeds are sent by the closing agent (typically a title company, escrow company, or closing attorney) to the Qualified Intermediary, who holds the funds until such time as the transaction for the acquisition of the replacement property is ready to close. Then the proceeds from the sale of the relinquished property are deposited by the Qualified Intermediary to purchase the replacement property. After the acquisition of the replacement property closes, the Qualifying Intermediary delivers the property to the taxpayer, all without the taxpayer ever having "constructive receipt" of the funds.
The prevailing idea behind the 1031 Exchange is that since the taxpayer is merely exchanging one property for another property(ies) of “like-kind” there is nothing received by the taxpayer that can be used to pay taxes. In addition, the taxpayer has a continuity of investment by replacing the old property. All gain is still locked up in the exchanged property and so no gain or loss is "recognized" or claimed for income tax purposes.