For everyone that rents out a home, the worst nightmare can be to have a tenant that doesn not pay the rent. There are basic steps that can be taken to evict a non-paying tenant but these steps can be changed according to the tenant, state law, and the particular situation. These steps must be followed closely and should be double checked with your state laws to ensure that you don’t lose the case in court.

The first step to evicting a non-paying tenant is to try to contact the tenant. If you can find the reasons for the non-payment and can fix them, you can avoid eviction all together.

If you cannot contact the tenant, you can lock the tenant out of the home. As this will not ensure payment, this can force them to meet with you. If after locking them out of the home, you cannot reach them, leave a note. This note should give a 3 day deadline of payment and should warn the tenant that non-payment in the 3 days will result in an eviction notice.

After these 3 days, if the tenant has not replied, post an eviction notice. Every stat has different laws as to the amount of time the tenant is allowed to vacate the premises but most states allow anywhere from a week to a month of time.

If the tenant refuses to leave, you can contact a lawyer and set up a case. Be sure to keep all documentation presented to the non-paying tenant, lease agreements, and anything else you may feel will help with winning the case.

Lately, a lot is being said about real estate auctions. Buyers are finding this option attractive mostly because of pricing, especially in times of economic distress when everybody is looking for bargains. However, there are several risks associated with buying properties this way.

First, some auctioneers do not give the buyers access to the property for sale, which makes accessing the real price difficult. Auctions are also conducted at a different place from the actual site, making it hard for the buyer to inspect the property or even the area where it is located. Most times this is dangerous, since the exact fair price is impossible to determine without a proper inspection. There could be issues with the neighborhood (like crime or lack of services) or structural problems with the property itself.
Another disadvantage of auctions is the climbing price due to competitive bidding. This can result in a lot of wasted time if the buyer looks up every issue concerning a property but then is not able to buy it. Also, various legal problems with the titles and/or deeds can carry troubles in the future.

But by far the biggest hazard concerns the authenticity of the auction. Government and bank auctions are safe since all the legal issues have been addressed prior to the auction starting. In this sense, it is crucial to determine if the auction is being held by an authorized party who has after-sale services to assist the buyer with possible issues that may arise after acquiring the property. Some agencies, after collecting their fees, do not offer any kind of assistance when there are legal complications at the time of transferring the titles, when the sale is canceled or when the transaction encounters problems.

Thus, even though a buyer can get great deals when purchasing properties through auctions, it is imperative that he approaches the matter with caution and makes sure he avoids the common pitfalls these sales can carry.

Looking around your home, you might see a hundred different areas and aspects that could be repaired, upgraded or improved upon. Everything from the light fixtures and towel racks could be changed out, and from paint colors to appliances could be updated. So where do you begin?

To determine the spaces where you will find the biggest bang for your buck when it comes to simpler repairs and upgrades, look to the areas that potential buyers will see or notice first. This of course begins with the exterior of your home. Your curb appeal can be greatly enhanced with the simplest of changes. A fresh coat of paint on the front door, new flowers or fresh mulch in the flowerbeds, and patched cracks in the driveway are quick and easy ways to liven up your outside areas.

But what about indoors? Your greatest repair or upgrade potential will most likely lie in your kitchen and bathroom areas. It is in these spaces where you can make a huge impact with minor adjustments. Such items as new knobs on cabinets and drawers, a fresh coat of paint on walls or cabinets, or new fixtures, towel racks, and similar accessories can make these areas shine.

Adding simple accessories or upgrades like these can make a huge impact on the overall enhancement of an area, while keeping the work and expense to a minimum. Even the simplest adjustment, such as brighter light bulbs or new outlet covers, can make an area seem fresher and more alive.

The short sale is a situation that occurs close to the early stages of a foreclosure. A lender allows the homeowner to sell the property for less than the amount of the outstanding principal on the mortgage.

Biggest Benefit is Time-Sensitive

The lender will accept proceeds of the transaction and may forgive the remainder of debt. Sounds so easy and uncomplicated – and sometimes it is. To achieve maximum benefit from a short sale, you need to have the following information at the tips of your fingers:

1) Know the current value of your home. Never rely on old information.
2) Make a list of all liens against your property. Concentrate on anything that needs resolution before you can produce a clean title at the closing.
3) Analyze the costs you will incur if you sell the house yourself against the costs of using a real estate broker.
4) When you add all liens, loans and costs and subtract them from the expected sale proceeds of the house, the result should be a negative number. This is the reason for calling this a short sale.
5) Keep communication lines open between you and your lender. Talk to your loss mitigation officer frequently. This person needs to understand your situation.
6) Be open to solutions that your lender may offer you. You may qualify for a loan modification or refinance – unless time is short and you really need to sell.
7) Never drag your feet. Timelines are important and your clock is ticking.

Best Benefit: Clean Slate

A buyer is not part of negotiations with the seller’s lender. Upon closing, the buyer moves in and the seller moves on.

Lenders usually report this transaction as “paid” to credit bureaus. Some might add “settled for less than owed.” It sounds negative, yet it is better than reporting a foreclosure. That could follow you around for up to ten years.

As the name suggests, a Quit Claim Deed is a contractual document that is most commonly used to relinquish or “quit” a claim to the deed of a piece of real property. By signing a quit claim deed an individual or “grantor” is releasing any claim on the property in question passing the claim on to the “grantee.” This document can also be used to transfer property between family members or clarify title questions. One important note is that a Quit Claim Deed does not in any way validate that an individual has claim on a property to begin with so it should not be used as guarantee that a title for a piece of property is free and clear.

Some of the most common situations that Quit Claim Deeds are used is during divorce or when married couples sell property that was purchased by one or the other prior to being married. In divorce cases, quit claims are used to separate the assets with one of the parties releasing claim on certain items to the other party so there is not an issue over financial interests when the time to sell comes. In the other situation, if an individual solely owns a piece of property and subsequently gets married, when the couple proceeds with selling the property, as a precaution the grantee will often have the new spouse sign a quit claim to waive their right to the property.

While it is not a clear title guarantee, a quit claim deed is an effective way to remove specific interests when purchasing property.

A short sale is the sale of an asset, in this case, your home, for less than the remaining loan balance.

Qualifying for a short sale is limited to individuals who have suffered long term hardships and are now unable to maintain their loan and to those individuals who must sell to avoid a default loss. You must start by contacting the Loss Mitigation Department of the lender who holds your loan. Since there are legal and tax issues when engaging in a short sale; it would be wise to consult a tax attorney. They will represent you in regards to the additional tax ramifications you may encounter by doing a short sale.

Using a short sale as a way of selling your home may give you some control over the timing of the sale and the time it will take for you to move from your home.

five steps for a short sale:

1. Contact the Loss Mitigation Department of your lender; they will assign a mitigation specialist to your file. They must approve you to go any farther.

2. Consult or hire a tax attorney.

3. Get a signed purchase agreement between you and the buyer of your home. The new buyer must be able to qualify for a new loan. Use an experienced realtor who has knowledge of short sale requirements.

4. Have a HUD-1 Settlement Statement prepared (This will be estimated).

5. Be ready to provide Lien Release letters from other mortgages and any liens against the property.

6. You must prepare a Hardship Letter for submission, detailing the reasons you could not pay your mortgage and got behind and what long term hardship has caused you not to be able to continue to pay on your loan in the future.

We have all seen housing prices drop the past few years, as home owners watch as their net worth falls as the price of their homes plummet in value. As the credit markets slowly begin to thaw, and as banks and other lending institutions implement new policies on home loans, how will the credit crisis continue to impact the real estate market?

Fundamentally, the real estate market is affected by the same supply and demand economics that affect the sale of every commodity in the United States, whether it is cereal or cars. The 1990’s witnessed a great increase in the number of home owners in the United States as credit was relatively easy to get, some say too easy, for prospective homeowners to obtain a mortgage and buy a house. This lead to increased demand for houses, and the median home prices soared. Homebuilders also started building more homes as demand skyrocketed.

However, now there is excess capacity on the housing market as many people defaulted on their mortgages and typically it is taking longer and longer for a home to sell, and when it does sell it is at a much lower price than it would have sold at in prior years.

The reason is that demand for homes has evaporated. This partially due to the fact that banks and financial institutions are very reluctant to give home loans to potential buyers who may have good credit and good jobs. This is mostly because there is a fear that the economy will worsen, and that a person who takes out a mortgage today, may be in foreclosure in a couple years. For this reason lending institutions have become more conservative about whom they give a mortgage too.

Because fewer people can obtain mortgages, even when they can find a relatively cheap house, the number of people actually looking to buy houses has decreased. This decreased demand has lead to house prices that have plummeted as people looking to sell their homes must compete for a smaller market of sellers. Only when the credit crisis improves, probably months after the recession has improved and companies start hiring again, will housing prices start to inch up slowly.

Flipping a house will be successful in any kind of market. It follows a process that is not linked to any particular time period or economic condition. The success in buying a home, fixing it and reselling comes from finding the value in the home and creating value in a home. This is done by purchasing a home that is selling below the market value and making the improvements needed that will increase the selling price over the cost. Finding and creating value will work whether a market is good or bad. If the flipping of a house is done correctly there are many ways that it can be successful even in a struggling economy.

When the economy is tight, many home owners are facing foreclosure and want to get themselves out of the bad situation. They may be willing to give up their home for a lower price. For flippers in a weak economy, the key is to get a home at a lower price and also sell it at a lower price to someone else. There are times when a home worth $200,000 can be bought for $100,000 and flipped for $120.000 with very little improvements made to it.

Homeowners who are lat risk of losing their home are motivated and will to sell their home for a lower price to get out of a mortgage that they cannot afford. It is important to remember that flipping houses can still be successful if done correctly in a weak economy.