Guide For Investing in Foreclosures
By Pauline Go

Many investors will tell you that investing in foreclosures is a good way to make money in real estate. While this can be true, it is not certain that you will make money. Nonetheless, if done correctly, you can make a tidy profit in the end.

Due to the slump in the housing market and the recession, many foreclosures are taking place. While it is horrible experience to go through, foreclosures are great opportunities for real estate investors.

Given the sheer number ...

What options do you have when it is obvious that you will lose the house to foreclosure? The choice you choose can significantly affect your future. Many times the homeowner does not adequately research what options they have or understand the consequences of the option on their future life as ruled by their credit.

Making the Best Credit Choices When in Foreclosure
By Kathleen Couch

The following is a ezine article that gives good common sense advise on which short sales to deal with.

How to Separate a Good Short Sale Opportunity From the Rest
By Bob Massey

Not every troubled mortgage makes for a good Short Sale opportunity. There are things Investors must look for with regards to the homeowner, the house and the Lender to determine if a Short Sale is appropriate. Here are a few key factors.

The Home Owner:

Is the homeowner cooperative? It is much easier to get a homeowner who is eager to sell and willing to do anything to get out of a bad situation to actually fill out the Short Sale paperwork.

Watch out for homeowners who are full of pent up rage or are depressed. They might damage the property on their way out the door.

They must have a legitimate hardship. Most people don't stop paying the mortgage unless there is a genuine emergency. Job loss, divorce, health issues, market changes, and diminished retirement income are common hardships that Lenders accept. The homeowner must have exhausted every other option before deciding on a Short Sale in order for the Lender to seriously consider their case.

The House:

There is a balancing act between a property that has repairable problems that will help discount the price and serious issues that make the house a risk for any buyer. The property must have both sufficient curb appeal and low enough repair costs to convince an end-buyer to sign on the dotted line.

Look for properties in need of mostly cosmetic TLC and you'll have a property that can be discounted with the bank, but will look like an attractive bargain for an end-buyer with relatively little work. Typical cosmetic repairs that should cost $1000 or less include carpet and floor cleaning, cleaning counters and cupboards, and painting the inside walls, the front of the house and the front door.

With luxury homes and in particularly competitive markets, a home stager may be a good investment. Stagers bring in rental furniture and accessories to give the home a lived-in look with designer appeal. Staged homes tend to sell faster and at a higher price.

In markets where the prices have not dropped as much, ugly houses make great Short Sale opportunities because the Lenders will not want to spend all the time and money it takes getting a truly ugly house to sell. In more competitive markets, however, it might be harder to sell an ugly house if there is a huge inventory of pretty houses that are already at affordable prices.

The Lender:

Although more and more Lenders are favoring Short Sales to lengthy and expensive foreclosure proceedings, this is not universally the case. With subprime mortgages that have been sliced and diced into packages owned by many investors it may be tough for the loan servicing agent to find all parties necessary to get approval for a Short Sale. Large second mortgages usually make for excellent Short Sale prospects.

Conditions change rapidly in the banking industry, so a Lender who has been stubborn about doing Short Sales one month may be more agreeable the next. Lenders may be more willing to approve a Short Sale if the market for REOs is saturated and prospects are better with a Short Sale. It's all about the expected return for the mortgage company. Your job is to arm yourself or your negotiator with every bit of information you have to convince the bank that a Short Sale is their best option.

There are tons of ways to make money in real estate, but all of them are useless unless you have a steady flow of motivated sellers and qualified buyers coming into your business. When you have a solid pipeline of prospects, you pick and choose the best of the best and finally take control of your financial future. Find out the most effective ways to get your real estate investing business roaring and turn it into an absolute cash engine. Sign up right now to get a FREE copy of Bob Massey's new book Cash Infusion Now: 11 Marketing Secrets to Massive Deal Flow in 2010. Go to http://www.REWealthCoach.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bob_Massey
http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Separate-a-Good-Short-Sale-Opportunity-From-the-Rest&id=3449576