U.S. Commercial Real Estate

The United States of America is one of the largest countries in the whole world. It is made up of 50 states, which are semi-independent. There are a number of large cities in the U.S., including Washington D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, to name a few.

There are numerous tourist attractions in the United States. These include The Statue of Liberty, The Grand Canyon, and Yosemite National Park, to name a few. There are also a wide variety of events occurring at different locations in the country all throughout the year, which attract numerous people worldwide. Some of the major events in the country include the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Labor Day, to name a few. Watching and playing sports are also much loved pastimes in the country. The U.S. has professional teams for most sports, including basketball, baseball, football, soccer and hockey.

The United States is home to one of the largest commercial real estate industries in the whole world. In the late 1980s up to the early 1990s, the real estate industry in the United States experienced a major collapse. Since then, various efforts have been made to re-build the industry to its present competitive state. The tax code was amended, and real estate investment trusts , or REITs, became public. Large private investors also became interested in the commercial real estate industry. Also, after the technology bubble popped in the 1990s, more and more people became interested in owning real property, and subsequently, investing in the commercial real estate industry.

The commercial real estate industry in the United States is stimulated by the country's economy, which is of a capitalist mixed type. The United States contributes approximately 20 percent of the gross products in the world. It is one of the largest importers and exporters of goods, and is one of the biggest industrial powers in the world.

Commercial real estate in the United States is now considered as a new asset class. In the past several years, the real estate industry has been flourishing, and has become more appealing than even the U.S. stock market. Currently, the values of office spaces and retail properties are still on the rise, while long-term interest rates remain at affordable levels. Several cities in the country have experienced the real estate boom, including New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Chicago. These characteristics make real estate a very attractive industry for investors to get into.

Although the recent subprime mortgage crisis has begun to affect even the commercial real estate industry, as seen in the decreasing prices of stocks of various mortgage companies, different analysts are still optimistic regarding the future of commercial real estate in the country. Various commercial real estate deals, involving hotels and business offices, are still getting finalized.

Moreover, a recent bill favoring the commercial real estate industry has recently been re-authorized by the U.S. Congress. The bill, known as the terrorism risk insurance program, provides adequate real estate coverage for different forms of terrorist attacks, such as nuclear, chemical, biologic or radiologic. This form of security is essential in the commercial real estate industry in the United States.

With all of these factors in play, the U.S. commercial real estate industry will surely continue growing in the years to come.

From Goarticles.com

Credit Repair For Motivated Real Estate Sellers And Buyers

Credit repair is especially important for those who have poor credit and want to sell or buy a house quickly. This may be for any number of reasons: a distress situation, a means to make relatively quick capital, or a opportunity.

Usually, motivated real estate sellers or buyers need to work with a lending institution to borrow capital. This is where having a good credit profile comes into play.

In dealing with real estate generally, having good credit has its benefits. The lower interest rates provided to those with good credit make deals more profitable. Good credit can also open doors to new and different, but altogether extremely profitable, opportunities.

There are various ways to repair credit, depending on the type of damage that has been done. Damage to credit can come in the form of recent bankruptcy, late payments, or a high debt to income ratio. Credit damage can seem an ominous and impossible challenge for you the consumer, but it is equally as foreboding and risky to the lender.

There is hope for credit repair.

In the case of a recent bankruptcy, it can be extremely difficult to secure financing - or to get any credit at all for that matter. Time is the only healer that can make a bankruptcy fade away, but in the mean time, it is essential to maintain a clean credit profile. Build your credit as though starting from scratch, and this coupled with time will alleviate the deep scar of bankruptcy.

Late payments and/or a high debt to income ratio are a little easier to resolve. Both of these problems have relatively simple solutions. For late payments, it is absolutely imperative that you begin making payments on time and continue to do so. The stigma of a late payment profile will be gone from your credit report in about ninety days as your positive actions are reported to the credit bureaus and published on your credit report.

With a high debt to income ratio, reducing or eliminating as much debt as possible is the key. Cut unnecessary expenditures and pay off any debts that can be dealt with quickly.

Credit repair can be a long and drawn out process with the rewards coming in many forms. Financial rewards come in the form of lower lenders mortgage rates, as well as more favorable interest rates on [credit cards. The money saved on interest payments can be quite substantial over the long term of your loan.

Peace of mind is another reward for repairing your credit and should not be dismissed. It can be a huge relief to have a clean credit slate and the reduced stress can improve your life considerably.

As you improve and repair your credit, you may be tempted to use it. Resist this temptation with the thought of a promising credit future and you will be on your way to having clean credit and ultimately entering the real estate market with confidence.

From Goarticles.com

Tips For Closing the For Sale By Owner Deal

Once the buyer signs the sales contract, you might feel the urge to relax. Don't sit back and kick your feet up just yet. Your work is not complete just yet. The buyer can still back out of the deal if certain things go wrong in these last steps of the for sale by owner process. Buyers tend to get cold feet at this point. They see other for sale by owner homes they like for a lower price. You have to take steps to make sure the buyer doesnt back out of the deal.

After the for sale by owner sales contract has been signed, the buyers lender will have an appraisal done to ensure that the borrower isnt asking for more money than your home is actually worth. The lender will not provide a loan if the home is appraised for less than the sale price. You can avoid this by having your own appraisal done when you are setting your price in the for sale by owner process. Alternatively, you can make sure that your price is comparable to that of similar homes sold in your neighborhood.

The lender might have your for sale by owner land surveyed to establish the property boundaries. In most cases, this doesnt present a problem. If your [for sale by owner property has not been surveyed in the last 50 years, has recently been subdivided between other people, or has a boundary that changes like a creek, then you should pay attention during this part of the process.

The buyer might have his own inspections done as allowed by the sales contract. These inspections are done at the buyers expense and include termite, roof, and general inspection. Be available during the inspection. Ask questions about anything you do not understand. If you so choose, you can have your own inspection completed. It could prove helpful if you need to dispute a report, but is not necessary. Your primary concern should be to fix problems and keep the buyer from backing out of the for sale by owner contract.

You should notify your lender that you will be paying off the balance of your mortgage and ask for a statement of your balance. Collect appliance instruction books and warranty information to give to the buyer. Finally, when you know the closing date, you should notify service providers like electricity, water, cable, and trash of your final billing date.

The for sale by owner closing date will be about 30 to 45 days from the date the sales contract is signed. Depending on your state, your real estate attorney might handle the closing. Alternatively, the lenders attorney might handle it and your attorney will act as your representative.

At the for sale by owner closing, the settlement statement is reviewed. This statement details the money received. This includes: the lenders check for the mortgage amount, buyers down payment, and the buyers earnest money deposit. The settlement statement also includes money that must be paid out: balance on the sellers current mortgage, real estate agent fees (if applicable), and closing costs. Finally, the statement will detail the amount you get to keep.

The title to the house is then transferred to the buyer and the process is complete. Your hard work has paid off.

From Goarticles.com

Buy Investment Property Without Seeing It

Why would you buy investment property without seeing it? It's a numbers game. Whether or not you see the property before you make an offer isn't nearly as important as making sure the numbers make sense.

A man in California used to just send out offers on a hundred MLS listings at a time, offering 25% less than the asking price on each one. Occasionally a few sellers would accept his offers. He never had to look at the homes beforehand. Including an "inspection and approval" clause in the offer meant he could always back out of the deal later when he saw the house. Meanwhile, he efficiently found the truly motivated sellers.

This true story demonstrates that with a good clause or two in the contract, you don't have to worry about making an offer before you see a property. It's true when you buy investment property or your next home. When it isn't everything the seller says it is, you can reject the deal with little or no loss. So why wouldn't you want to look at the property?

Buy Investment Property By Numbers

The main reason you might skip looking at a property before making an offer is time. This is certainly true if the property is far away. If you don't get a price that makes sense, why spend your time traveling to look at real estate investments? A price and terms that make sense - this is what is important. Of course you'll probably want to look at the actual property eventually, but looking at the numbers is how you invest.

Investors value income property according to current cash flow (or should if they want safe and viable investments), so start by verifying income. Get the actual income figures for the past 12 months. Always consider the potential income if rents are raised, vending machines are added, etc., but base your offer on the current income.

Verify all expenses with investment properties. If any expenses listed by the seller seem unusually low, they most likely are. Just substitute your own best guess in place of any suspicious numbers.

After you determine the net operating income, apply the appropriate capitalization rate to arrive at the value. If you're not sure how to do this, get help. However, you really should understand the principle of how to figure a cap rate. This is a numbers game you're playing.

Calculate loan payments (talk to your banker), and see how much cash flow you'll have. Then you can figure your cash-on-cash return based on how much of your own money you put into the deal. Just divide the cash flow by your investment.

When the numbers work, you can safely make an offer. Inspections will tell you if there are problems that will affect the cash flow. You can always renegotiate if there are such problems (assuming you made your approval of all inspections a contingency of the offer). Of course, you can even go take a look now that you are truly ready to buy that investment property.

From Isnare.com