Month: September 2012

“I’ll just Short Sell it ;-) “

September 25, 2012

Oh yeah ? Not so fast.

I hear it over and over – “lets bandwagon, let the bank have it, let it go, walk away”…after all, Mr Fix It is in the white house and America cares for the little guy, not those ding nab fat rich bankers !

Try on a dose of reality:

To short sell, you’ll need to prove hardship, and then wait for the income tax bill and higher insurance rates while you ponder getting sued for the short fall and remaining fall out of bad credit for 7 years.

..do NOT constitute hardship:

  1. Bad purchase decisions.
  2. Unhappy with the neighbors.
  3. Buying another home.
  4. Pregnancy.
  5. Moving into an apartment.

Examples of hardship are:

  1. Unemployment
  2. Divorce
  3. Medical emergency / sudden illness
  4. Bankruptcy
  5. Death

A decent article for the cold shower awaiting.

ps, consider buying something that makes sense in the first place – questions ? Call us.

income property: a late-in-life retirement plan

September 18, 2012

“Income property can be an important bridge to retirement for those without quite enough to retire in the traditional sense,” says J. Camarda, a real estate investor, Certified Financial Planner, and Chief Investment Officer of Jacksonville, Fla.-based Camarda Wealth Advisors. Because real estate is such an inefficient market, it’s possible to find awesome bargains with a very high return on investment, Camarda says. And if you can manage the property yourself, you can collect more income.

Well, speaking from 2 generations of experience, I must agree. Dad helped put us through college with his investment properties that we would work on in the summer. When I got to college, I didn’t have enough funds to pay for the final year tuition, room and board. So I found a small house, cleaned it up over summer with a bathroom/kitchen gutting, and let 2 roommates pay 100% of my room cost. I held that for 10 years after graduation making a monthly income and having a nice equity build paycheck at the eventual sale. What did I do with the funds ?…bought local rentals for a new income stream closer to home. 30 yrs and some 50+ tenants later I can recommend this strategy if you have a mentor you can call on from time to time. ( ps, we’re available ! )

Feature article link

additional resources:

http://www.hgtv.com/income-property/show/index.html