Saturday, December 29, 2007

Online Backgammon

Gammon-fortune.com is a great website for backgammon players because on this site you can play backgammon with the latest info on online backgammon like latest events as well as tournaments on that. This site is in 6 languages, I think language is not a problem now while playing backgammon online. So check this site for this exciting game!

Wholesaling Real Estate - Low Risk Investing

Wholesaling real estate can be a great way to get into real estate investing without much cash. It is also very low-risk when done right. But contrary to what many real estate gurus say, you can't necessarily do it anywhere. It will work best where there are investors ready to take the properties from you. This generally means it works best in larger towns and cities.

To understand this, let's look at what wholesaling real estate means. As you might guess, it essentially is buying cheap to sell for a profit to another investor. This other investor is the one who will then retail the property to the final buyer.

Now, if you were to actually buy a house or other real estate and close on it, you would have transactions costs. There would be more transaction costs when you sell to the next investor. Then there would be more transaction costs when he sold the property to the final buyer. As you can imagine, these costs would mean that you have to buy really cheap to leave room for a profit for you and the next investor.

For example, suppose you find a seller who really wants to sell fast, and has a house worth $200,000. By the time you close, hold the property for some time, and sell, you might pay as much as $6,000 in various costs. The other investor may want to use a real estate broker to sell, so his costs might total $12,000 or more. If you wanted to make $5,000 for your efforts, and the other investor wanted to make $10,000, you would have to get the house for $167,000 (subtract all the costs and profit from the eventually sales price of $200,000).

Of course, you won't be able to close many deals like this. The seller can probably sell fast enough just by dropping the price to $185,000, so why sell to you for less? As you can imagine, this isn't how real estate wholesaling is typically done.

First of all, you won't typically close on a property. Instead, you will sell the contract to the next investor, and so avoid all the costs associated with your buying and selling the property. Secondly, wholesaling real estate works best with fixer-uppers. Sellers cannot easily sell these on there own without doing the necessary repairs, so they are willing to sell cheap to get rid of their problem. With these two things in mind, lets look at a more realistic example.

Example of Wholesaling Real Estate

Let's start at the beginning. You look at the market, do some research and decide that you may be able to wholesale properties where you are. You join the local real estate investor's club and get to know some people. In particular, you get the names and phone numbers of at least several investors who can make a decision quickly and want to buy fixer-uppers. You should also make a note as to the type of properties each is interested in plus how much profit they expect to make on a project.

Now you go out to look for properties. Eventually you find a motivated seller who is asking $190,000 for a dirty house with problems. You compare it to others in the area and determine that it will be worth about $235,000 when it is cleaned and fixed up. It needs about $15,000 worth of work. Other costs, including a low-cost real estate broker, will run about $15,000, based on a holding time of about four months before it is sold and closed.

You want to make $5,000 for your time, and your most likely investor wants around $20,000 profit in a deal. Subtracting these and the costs, you arrive at $180,000 ($235,000 - $15,000 - $15,000 - $5,000 - $20,000 = $180,000). This is the most you can offer. You start with an offer of $173,000 and eventually the seller agrees to $177,000.

In the contract, after your name as the buyer, you put the words "or assigns" or something similar (ask a real estate lawyer for the language that is used where you are). This gives you the right to assign the contract to another investor, who will take your place and actually close the deal. Explain to the seller that this is so you can bring a partner in to be sure that the deal closes (in other words, make this a good point rather than a problem).

You also put in the contract a financing contingency with specific terms. This could be something like "This offer subject to buyer obtaining a fixed-rate 30-year mortgage loan at 7.5% annual interest or less." Alternately, you can have a clause that requires the approval of your "partner" or some other way to cancel the contract if it won't work for you. You might also want to ask an attorney how to write a clause that makes your deposit "liquidated damages," meaning that is all the seller gets if you have to back out for any reason. With the proper clauses in the offer, all you risk is your time, and perhaps the $500 good faith deposit.

Now you call your investor who will take your place, complete the repairs and retail the property. For $7,000 you assign the contract to him (however, he may not be willing to pay until the deal closes). If all goes well, he might sell the renovated property for $240,000 and make a profit of $25,000. Good for him - the more he makes, the more likely it is that you can wholesale real estate to him in the future. Your $7,000 profit requires very little investment or risk, however, so you are happy with the result as well.

Wholesaling real estate is about speed as much as anything. You may have only a few days or a week to find an investor once you have a signed contract, and the investor needs a property that sells fast to avoid holding costs. To make this work, then, you'll want a list of investors ready before you start looking for properties. You should also focus on the houses that are selling fastest - probably those that are near the median price for the area.

Friday, December 28, 2007

Poker Calculator from Magicholdem.com

For playing the best poker and get more poker odds I recommends you to check the awesome site of magichholdem.com where you can find poker calculator as well as holdem calculator, with the help of these aforesaid calculators you can check your skills in the game because these calculators are basically software which check your game while playing poker!

Winter Wonderland: Spruce-up Curb Appeal with Winter Landscaping

There is a trend toward home buyers who are attracted to year-round, outdoor visual flair. Whether you are staging your home for potential buyers, or yearning a garden that blooms forth in the winter, there are several colorful ideas for creating a winter paradise in your own backyard.

Consider that although different in tone and hue from electric summer bloomers, there are plants that will bring great color accents to your winter garden.

Witch Hazel is a shrub that has a late autumn to winter bloom. Yellow, gold, orange or red flowers arrive in the winter months. These flowers look like mini firecrackers .What a way to bring in the festive season!

The Dogwood Arctic Fire is a new species. This smaller dogwood shrub is great for smaller gardens and residential landscapes. The long, bold red stems of this dwarf plant make for a wonderful show in the wintertime and the stems are stunning in seasonal arrangements and wreaths.

The Burning Bush is another one with great scarlet red color. The deep dark red leaves almost glow and the corky wings on the twigs hold winter snow, creating a beautiful outline of the branch's structure.

Japanese pieris is an evergreen shrub that produces lily -of-the-valley like flowers. Bunches of the flowers hang in clusters, like bells ringing in the festive season. The flowers bloom red, white or pink and look gorgeous against the shrub's bright green leaves.

Heathers are great sturdy shrubs. Heathers bloom in white, pink, purple and deep reds and offer myriad choices for stellar color combinations.

Winter jasmine is a rambling, trainable shrub that blooms lovely yellow jasmine blossoms in late autumn through winter.

Speaking of trainable plants, consider creating a unique winter space with hard scape design elements. Rustically designed arbors, gazebos and stone walls add an alluring design element to any winter landscape. You can then train your jasmine or other trainable shrubs to weave around them. This will add an interesting dynamic in terms of color and height variance. Tall, ornamental grasses also work well to soften up and blend your design elements.

Remember that in order to create the perfect winter garden you should start putting your dream into action in the spring and summer months. With some foresight, the right combination of winter plants and a few design elements, everyone will want to walk through your winter wonderland!

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Boat Donations from BoatAngel.com

Many people like me give donations to some charities, public services, and also to some poor peoples directly. But I know this is the most comfortable work which provides spiritually comfort to anyone who gives donations with true heart this effort of helping poor provides honor in the society also. Mainly people give donations in the type of money but many people don’t like money donations because giving money to poor people makes them lazy and also discouraging to work vice versa.

So relating to that today I got an great website who is a charity organization called boatangel.com which accepts boat donations for helping poor peoples. I think this is a great effort from boat angel because those who have unused old boat give for donation for good work and I think helping others is a world greatest work. This Charity Boat Donations you can made online also by going to their website easily. This organization from these funds can also make some Christian animated movies and distributed their Free DVD’s worldwide. So came in big number for helping others with the help of boat angel because helping others is a great task of the world and this activity provides you the real peace of mind, with lots of spiritual comfort so donate actively! who knows your donations can change they life of any poor person!

Real Estate Investing Guide

Everyone is looking for the best and profitable form of investment. And that means high returns and low risk. A lot of people focus on the stock market but as we all know, stock market is quite volatile these days. Real estate investment is still the better option to go.

But before you become a real estate investor, there are terms and strategies that you need to be familiar of. There are two main types of properties available in the market, residential and business.

Residential properties can either be single family or multi-family type. Multi-family units are like condominiums or town houses. Single-family units are independent and have an own backyard.

Business real estate properties can be office buildings or manufacturing sites. Visibly, the main differences between residential and business real estate properties are the finances involved and as well as the rules and guidelines in obtaining the property.

Investing in a residential property is the simpler choice. Before you decide on your first residential property, it is important to conduct a research on the following areas:

a) Market value Research for comparative rates of neighboring properties is important, as this will give you a lead on how much the property is worth.

b) Location Proximity to schools, supermarkets or train stations are some of the considerations that potential buyers look into.

c) Neighborhood Safety and the type of neighborhood are also critical in every investment.

There are three main residential investment types. First is to buy a property, live in the property and do some fixes along the way. You can then sell the property once the market is ripe.

Second type is what is called “flipping properties”. This type is a good way to maximize the profits of your investment. Flipping properties involves finding a property that is under priced at the current market rate. Examples are the abandoned houses or neglected homes that are sold at usually lower price. Once you get the paper work done, you can start doing the renovations and after that re-sell to the market at a much higher price. In some cases, the buyers hold on the property for only several months and after that sell back to the market. This is an easier way to get a faster return of investment but you should be careful also in choosing the property. Depending on your budget, choose the property that needs only light fixes and not major renovations that will incur even higher costs than buying other market value properties.

The third type of residential investment is rental properties. This means you will be a landlord renting out houses or rooms to the tenants. This is also a good form of investment but do note that as the property owner, you need to take care of the maintenance costs of the property.

If you think there is much work that needs to be done in finding the right property, you can always hire real estate agents to help you. Just make sure you communicate your requirements well and your considerations to the agent.

Most importantly at the end of the deal, make sure you have the title or deeds and other necessary documentations involved in the property.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Teen Chat

Teen chat is an exciting free chat service where you can chat your loved ones. Here you can also chat via phone to your local friends 24 hrs on there chat lines. This site I liked more because they are completely different in services to other related website in this race the other feature of this site I like that you can create new friends from all over the world via there social network and also you can able here to do dating online in simple words I can say these website offers all these thing under one website.

Real Estate Investing Course

There are many types of courses available to learn real estate investment. There are home study courses, online courses and books that you can purchase to study real estate investment. The choices can be very overwhelming so it is very important for you to know how to choose the right course for you.

Try searching in the Internet and you can easily find hundreds of courses and e-books. Most will talk about why it is good for you, why it's the best form of investment available. But they are not really teaching you the strategies.

Here is the list of the important points that you should learn in the course and these can guide you in choosing the right course.

1) Understand the "flipping property" process. This system is one of the most recommended techniques in real estate investment. This involves buying an under-priced property, doing some fixes and sell at market value within a short period of time. Sounds easy but there are a lot more to learn on this system. You need to understand how to choose the property, what to do with it, when to sell, etc.

2) There are many vacant and abandoned houses which you can make profit. But you need to know how to find the owners and how to search for such houses.

3) You also need to learn how to determine the value of the property. You need to assess the cost involved in the renovation or repairs. Some investors employ the help of professional agents to help them calculate the value of the property. This can be costly so it will be better if you yourself know how to assess a property.

4) Another important thing you need to learn is how to sell to potential buyers. There are strategies on how to make your presentation appealing to the buyers. For example, Investors and insurance agents invest some amount of their earnings on training courses on how to improve the marketing and presentation to influence more buyers. How you present your offer is very important in closing a deal.

5) Next, you have to learn what you need to put on your sales page. Do you know that investors pay thousands of dollars to copywriters just to create one powerful sales pitch? This is because the sales page is the backbone of your business. This will help you gain a list of potential buyers.

6) You also need to learn how to determine the purchase price of a property.

It will also be better if the course is available in CD's so that you can repeat the lessons as many times you want.

Make sure that the course that you will choose can at least answer the questions listed above. There are online courses offering question and answer sessions. This is good as you can have a more interactive learning.

Enjoy the learning process and make sure to put it into use.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

How To Invest In Out-of-State Real Estate

The process of investing in out-of-state real estate is not any different than investing in real estate in your own community. You have two choices. You can do it on your own or you can work with a professional and reputable real estate company.

To an extent, investing in out-of-state properties has developed a negative stigma because investors have had bad experiences. Sometimes the problems arise because an investor "jumped" into a situation based on poor information provided by a friend, family member or business associate. Other times a bad situation is created by individuals or companies who are promoting themselves as "experts" in out-of-state real estate investing. Frankly, many out-of-state real estate companies don't have any idea what they are recommending, have never been to the area they are recommending you invest in, and don't care what you buy. They are simply looking for a way to get a pay check.

Before you invest, ask these questions:

1) Are they licensed and do they carry the proper insurance?

2) Is working with investors to purchase out-of-state properties the only focus of their business or is it something they do part time?

3) If they are a mortgage company, do they only recommend that you invest in areas/states where they are licensed to write loans? If so, what does that tell you?

4) What type of research do they conduct? Do they travel to every location they recommend? What demographic studies have they done? What reports have they read? Do they subscribe to any real estate investment newsletters they could recommend you read?

5) What services to they provide? Do they provide referrals for brokers, property managers and mortgage companies? Do they provide an escrow coordinator throughout the escrow process?

6) Are they recommending you become a speculator or an investor? (Speculator: get rich quick, big promises, take a chance. Investor: long term, buy & hold to create wealth)

7) What areas are they recommending you invest in? We can't stress this enough. Are they doing what is easiest for them or best for you? Ask them for verification for everything you're told (rental comps, sales comps, cash flow analysis, current appreciation rates - not last year's appreciation rates, projections and demographics).

8) What types of properties are they recommending you buy? Are they matching your goals, tolerance level and financial abilities with properties that will help you achieve your goals? Or are they just selling you anything so they can make money? DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE!

9) How long have they been in business of out-of-state real estate investing?

10) How many rental properties do they own and where?

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Online Backgammon

If you are looking for playing backgammon tournaments online I say mistergammon.com is right website for you because they can provide the information on backgammon events and you are been able to play backgammon online on their website.

I like this website because they are in 6 languages so language is not a barrier now for online backgammon players.

On there website you can download backgammon software which are very good for backgammon players because this software is very near by to the reality of backgammon game.

How To Fill Out An 'Offer To Purchase' Real Estate Form

Before you can buy the house of your dreams, there's one very important document that you need to make and submit to a home seller. It is the offer to purchase real estate or purchase offer which usually serves as the sales contract between the buyer and the seller. Without this and the signature of both parties involved, the transaction cannot be considered legal.

A standard purchase offer form may be used in all states in the U.S. However, you can always make your own offer containing the special conditions appropriate to your needs. You just need to include all the required details to push through with the deal. It is truly essential that you fully understand the contents of a purchase offer before filling it out and submitting it to the home seller.

In making your offer to purchase the property, be sure to consider several vital factors like your financial capability, the condition of the home you want to buy and the prevailing market status. Your financial resources play an important role in determining how much down payment you can provide, what type of financing you will use and your ability to shoulder the closing costs.

Below are some of the basic information that you need to provide in a real estate purchase offer form.

Full names of the buyer and the seller. Of course, this has to be identified to make the agreement enforceable.

Address and legal description of the property. The price you are willing to pay for the house.

Terms of payment and the down payment amount. This specifies how you will finance the purchase of the property if it's through a mortgage loan or other options. It would also benefit the seller if you provide information as to your pre-approval or pre-qualification for a real estate mortgage loan. The amount and form of your earnest money deposit. This serves as a proof that you are serious in purchasing the property. It can either in be in the form of a check payable to a third party who is responsible for placing the amount in a trust account until the completion of the sale. The deposit can be credited in full towards the purchase price.

Expected date of transferring title and possession of the property.

Responsibilities of the seller in terms of a clear title transfer and deed type.

Information as to which personal properties are included in the sale. Time frame for acceptance of your offer. This stipulates the amount of time you are giving the seller to accept your purchase offer after which it will expire.

Provisions for a final home inspection before closing. Requirements that may be specific to your state or location are also included in the form. Special clauses or what are known as contingencies that need to be met to close the transaction are written above the signature block. These serve as protection for the buyer should problems arise along the way. Some of these contingencies include terms on who will pay the closing costs, the date the owner of the property should move out, the date of transferring title and possession, financing terms as well as home inspection.

As always, never fail to do your research to be able to achieve a smooth and successful transaction process.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Backgammon Tournaments

Many of us play backgammon because this is the world most popular game and everyone wants to play it anytime and relating to playing backgammon online is also a new trend in the gaming world many of us are now the geek player of backgammon and taking part in their backgammon tournaments online for checking their ability and hardcore ness in it. gammon-world.com I like this website very much because this also provide a playing junction to those person who never play backgammon and take active part in this game online and makes himself champion with the help of this site!

Real Estate - Choosing a Lender

Choosing a Lender

Choosing a lender is a very important part of the process of re-financing a home. Understanding the different re-financing options and knowing how each of these options work is very important but none of this matters at all if the homeowner is unable to find a lender who is willing to offer them the rates and terms they are seeking. Choosing a lender can be a long and difficult process but there are some ways to make it easier. One simple way to make it easier is to ask for advice from friends or family members who recently re-financed. Additionally, homeowners can do their own research to determine which lenders are able to offer them the best rate. Finally the homeowner should determine whether or not the finances should be the governing factor in choosing a lender. Surprisingly enough, in most cases it is not.

Ask for Advice from Friends and Family Members

Friends and family members who recently refinanced can be a homeowner’s most valuable resource in the process of selecting a lender. These friends and family members are so valuable because they will most likely be willing to offer you a quite candid opinion of the lender they used. This opinion may be either positive or negative but in either case it is useful to the homeowner. If the opinion is negative the homeowner can remove this lender from their list of lenders to consider. Conversely if the lender comes highly recommended, the homeowner may consider this lender more carefully.

Comparison Shop

Homeowners who want to know which lender is offering them the best interest rate and financial terms should do a great deal of comparison shopping. The homeowner may even consider requesting quotes from each and every lender. This should make it perfectly clear which lenders are willing to offer the homeowner more favorable rates. When comparing these quotes all of the factors should be considered to ensure the quotes are being compared fairly. For example each quote should be broken down to determine the monthly savings, total savings, etc. All of this statistical data will make it much easier for the homeowner to make a wise decision when the time comes.

Consider More than Finances

Finally, while interest rates, loan terms and other financial matters are all certainly important none of these are more important than being treated fairly by the lender. For this reason, the homeowner should carefully consider all of their lenders and should determine whether or not they feel as though the lender is responsive to his needs. For example, a lender who does not return calls in a timely fashion or answer questions truthfully and accurately may not be the ideal lender for a homeowner even if he is the lender who is offering the most favorable rates.

Additionally, homeowners should trust their instincts regarding their trust in the lender. Some lenders simply do not appear to know what they are talking about. Homeowners might be inclined to avoid these individuals because they may end up doing more harm than good during the re-financing process. Conversely some homeowners may be immediately impressed by the honesty and intelligence of another lender. In most cases, the homeowner would likely choose the second lender as long as the rates offered by each lender were comparable.