Looking to Find Land For Sale Near Me in Santa Clarita ?
Are considering investing in real estate in Santa Clarita ? If you do, you must learn all you can about the market before spending a dime. Should you fail to do so, you could lose what you are investing. Read through this piece to make the right steps forward.
Do not be afraid to spend money on marketing. It is easy to just focus on the numbers and get fixated on how much marketing is costing you. However, it is important to think of the marketing as an investment in and of itself. If done the right way, it will only benefit you in the end.
Inspections cost money. However, if there are problems with the property that cannot be seen by the naked eye, you are likely to spend much more money in the long run. Therefore, think of an inspection like an investment and always have one done prior to purchasing a property. It may not uncover anything, but there is always the chance that there is something seriously wrong with a home.
Try not to overextend yourself. Don’t get overeager. Start small and work your way up. Don’t just assume that you can spend a great deal and make that money back. That’s an easy way to back yourself into a corner. Wait until your smaller investments can fund some of your more ambitious ones.
The rent you are getting from properties should cover their mortgage. Doing this will set you off on the right foot. You don’t want to end up having to dip into your own pocket to pay any part of the mortgage.
Think about adding business properties to your investment goals. Business locations can turn into long-term rentals, which makes them profitable and safe. Think about a business complex or small strip mall, which will give you several different opportunities when it comes to investments.
Do a little research into the city government for any properties you are considering investing in. The city should have a website. There you will find pertinent details that can influence real estate prices in the near future. Growing cities are usually great investments in Santa Clarita.
If you want to buy a lot of properties and hold them, be sure to choose a specific area to invest in. You will save time and money on maintenance and travel this way. You will also increase your expertise in the local market.
Look for properties that will be in demand. Really stop and think about what most people will be looking for. Try to find moderately priced properties on quiet streets. Looks for homes with garages and two or three bedrooms. It’s always important to consider what the average person is going to be searching for in a home.
Get your funding in check prior to scouting homes. You are wasting time if you don’t know where the finances will come from. In fact, the delay after you’ve found the perfect home can be the difference between you getting the home and not! The best properties will always have a line of interested investors.
Any tenant you’re thinking of renting to must be screened thoroughly. Too often an irresponsible or unreliable tenant can do expensive damage or are perpetually behind with their rent. Before taking in anyone, get their references if you can, and conduct a complete credit and background check on them. When you exercise due diligence, you will have reliable tenants.
Do not allow your emotions to get in the way while you are negotiating. This is an investment purchase, not a home you plan on living in later. Keep your emotions in check so that you do not overpay and end up with less profit potential. If you heed the advice given here, it gives you a much better chance to be successful.
Have a business account, and stick to using it. If you invest too much of your personal money in a property, you could lose money. This might leave you short on funds to pay your bills or take care of personal needs. Treat this like a business so you don’t risk losing it all.
Your rental contract should include the requirement of a security deposit. This protects your interests if your tenant leaves your property in an uninhabitable state when he moves out. The contract gives you the right to keep the security deposit in order to hire a cleaning service or a repair service to fix the problems.
Learn as much as you can before making your first investment in Santa Clarita. There are a ton of books available on real estate investing. Plus there are many online (and offline) communities out there where real estate investors share their best practices. The more you learn, the better chance that you won’t make any critical errors.
Do not sign any contracts to buy a piece of land before you do your research carefully to confirm the ownership of the land. Hire your own surveyor to identify the property lines clearly. This prevents misrepresentation of the piece of property for sale, and it mitigates any future problems.
Don’t be taken in by slick talkers who boast that they made millions in real estate and that they can teach anyone to do it. The success stories always get more attention than the failures so don’t pin your hopes on being the next success story. There are no get rich quick methods that are sure things.
Have an extra exit strategy or two. When it comes time to sell, you might find it takes longer than you would like. By having a back up plan or two, you can keep yourself financially safe so you are able to move forward in your investment property career.
Real estate investing is a huge responsibility. Though you should make investments when you are younger, it is important that you are stable, as well. Get to know others in the community while you work on your savings account.
Real estate investing offers many opportunities, but you have to be aware of the risks to avoid losing your money. You can be pretty sure that your real estate investments in Santa Clarita are smart ones when you use the ideas within this article. Keep it in mind for the future.
Commercial Real Estate - Big Profits
First to obtain your Real Estate license you will need to do a 63 hours pre licensing course. Many online educational sites offer this and can be done in the comfort of your home. If you are more of an In class person, your local community college might offer the course. When taken in actual class, the course may take 4 to 6 weeks due to their scheduling. Online classes you can do at your own pace. So if you want, you may do the entire course in one week.
Below are some requirements for the state of Florida to obtain your Real Estate License
General Requirements:
Must be 18 Years of age, have a high school diploma or GED to get your Real Estate License.
Educational Requirements:
Complete the 63 Hour pre licensing course and pass.
Exam and Application Requirements:
· Submit a completed real estate license application, submit your finger prints and pay any fees associated.
· Pass the Florida Real Estate Sales Associate state exam with at least a score of 75 points out of 100 points or pass the Florida Real Estate Law exam with a score of 30 points out of 40 points.
· Activate your license with a Real Estate Broker using the DBPR proper forms or may be activated online by your broker.
These are the basic steps needed to obtain your Real Estate license in Florida. How to get your Real Estate license sounds easy and to some extent, it is. However, the exam and amount of studying shall not be taken lightly. I would recommend searching online a bit more before you decide on a Real Estate license. If you want to make a career change, this is definitely a great one.
So How Do You Actually Start In Real Estate and What Does It Offer?
Firstly of course once you have obtained your License, activate it with a broker. This is where you have to decide what path you want in Real Estate. Different companies offer different options, splits, fees, training and so on. Let take for example:
Property Management: It is best to search for local property management companies. There are also national property management companies which you can join. Once you join them, through out your time in this field, you'll gain knowledge and experience on all legal aspects of property management. There are a lot of them, from how to evict a tenant to how to post the notices on their door and within what time frames. Property management involves a lot of work and at the same time is rewarding. Many agents lean towards this field due to the steady stream of monthly income. Others don't want to deal with the tenant headaches. Example, if you manage 150 units and average a 10% call rate, that would be 15 different issues to deal with during that month. These may be from A/C units not working, to plumbing issues; tenants locked out of their homes and need access, to tenants disturbing other neighbors. One the bright side that means 135 units won't cause any issues. On average, the management companies charge around 10% of the monthly rent to owners (all Companies and State are different), in return, you as on agent might get a percentage of that. Since all companies offer different payments, let's just average a monthly income for the company. Let's say 150 Units rented for $1000 each monthly that would be 10% of $1000 which is $100 X 150 units 'equals' $15K monthly income. Now you see the steady income I mentioned above.
Luxury Real Estate: This also a very nice niche once you obtain your license. There are pros and cons as there is with Property Management. When speaking about Luxury Real Estate we are speaking about homes from 1M and up. The obvious benefit to this is the amount of money you earn on each transaction. Example, 1M sale at 3% commission gets you 30K income, now subtract your splits with your broker, let says 80/20 split, agent would receive $24k commission, do that 4 times a year and you are at 96K. Not bad at all for going to a pre licensing 65 hour course. Let's point out the cons. It's not as easy as it sounds or as seen on TV. This market is more of a referral based market. You can definitely do it without referral, but at some point, you need to have those buyers or sellers in your sphere. The cost to reach this price range is very costly upfront. We are talking about a marketing campaign in the range of 4k to 5k a month at least in advertising within those areas. After a few months of the campaign you might receive a few calls from sellers or buyers. There is a lot more to it than just mailing, it needs to be done the proper way. Thus a large investment is needed to start right of the bat in that price range.
Real Estate Agent: The two previous paths don't appear to everyone, I would say 90% of agents go with the traditional Real Estate Agent path. This path in a sense leads to the two previous ones as well. As you are in the field, you'll be learning from other agents, property managers and so on. Why so many agents go with the traditional Real Estate Agent is due to its training and perhaps quicker income earning. If you put in the work, you can earning income in as little as 30 days, while property management and Luxury Real Estate does take its time for the business to start coming in. The cons of this path is the amount of training, start up and hard work you will need to put upfront due to inexperience and mistakes you will make before have a steady and stable income (whatever stable means to you). Agents usually earn 3% of whatever the sale amount of the home is. Example, 200K home, commission would be 6K, let's take the same split as before 80/20, agent receives $4,800 X 1 a month X 12, agent would earn $57,600 yearly. Not bad at all. Do keep in mind that some, the majority or most Real Estate companies do charge a transaction fee, desk if, yearly fee and so on.
Real Estate Development - When is the Right Time to Get Started in Property Development?
Although serious supply-demand imbalances have continued to plague real estate markets into the 2000s in many areas, the mobility of capital in current sophisticated financial markets is encouraging to real estate developers. The loss of tax-shelter markets drained a significant amount of capital from real estate and, in the short run, had a devastating effect on segments of the industry. However, most experts agree that many of those driven from real estate development and the real estate finance business were unprepared and ill-suited as investors. In the long run, a return to real estate development that is grounded in the basics of economics, real demand, and real profits will benefit the industry.
Syndicated ownership of real estate was introduced in the early 2000s. Because many early investors were hurt by collapsed markets or by tax-law changes, the concept of syndication is currently being applied to more economically sound cash flow-return real estate. This return to sound economic practices will help ensure the continued growth of syndication. Real estate investment trusts (REITs), which suffered heavily in the real estate recession of the mid-1980s, have recently reappeared as an efficient vehicle for public ownership of real estate. REITs can own and operate real estate efficiently and raise equity for its purchase. The shares are more easily traded than are shares of other syndication partnerships. Thus, the REIT is likely to provide a good vehicle to satisfy the public’s desire to own real estate.
A final review of the factors that led to the problems of the 2000s is essential to understanding the opportunities that will arise in the 2000s. Real estate cycles are fundamental forces in the industry. The oversupply that exists in most product types tends to constrain development of new products, but it creates opportunities for the commercial banker.
The decade of the 2000s witnessed a boom cycle in real estate. The natural flow of the real estate cycle wherein demand exceeded supply prevailed during the 1980s and early 2000s. At that time office vacancy rates in most major markets were below 5 percent. Faced with real demand for office space and other types of income property, the development community simultaneously experienced an explosion of available capital. During the early years of the Reagan administration, deregulation of financial institutions increased the supply availability of funds, and thrifts added their funds to an already growing cadre of lenders. At the same time, the Economic Recovery and Tax Act of 1981 (ERTA) gave investors increased tax “write-off” through accelerated depreciation, reduced capital gains taxes to 20 percent, and allowed other income to be sheltered with real estate “losses.” In short, more equity and debt funding was available for real estate investment than ever before.
Even after tax reform eliminated many tax incentives in 1986 and the subsequent loss of some equity funds for real estate, two factors maintained real estate development. The trend in the 2000s was toward the development of the significant, or “trophy,” real estate projects. Office buildings in excess of one million square feet and hotels costing hundreds of millions of dollars became popular. Conceived and begun before the passage of tax reform, these huge projects were completed in the late 1990s. The second factor was the continued availability of funding for construction and development. Even with the debacle in Texas, lenders in New England continued to fund new projects. After the collapse in New England and the continued downward spiral in Texas, lenders in the mid-Atlantic region continued to lend for new construction. After regulation allowed out-of-state banking consolidations, the mergers and acquisitions of commercial banks created pressure in targeted regions. These growth surges contributed to the continuation of large-scale commercial mortgage lenders [http://www.cemlending.com] going beyond the time when an examination of the real estate cycle would have suggested a slowdown. The capital explosion of the 2000s for real estate is a capital implosion for the 2000s. The thrift industry no longer has funds available for commercial real estate. The major life insurance company lenders are struggling with mounting real estate. In related losses, while most commercial banks attempt to reduce their real estate exposure after two years of building loss reserves and taking write-downs and charge-offs. Therefore the excessive allocation of debt available in the 2000s is unlikely to create oversupply in the 2000s.
No new tax legislation that will affect real estate investment is predicted, and, for the most part, foreign investors have their own problems or opportunities outside of the United States. Therefore excessive equity capital is not expected to fuel recovery real estate excessively.
Looking back at the real estate cycle wave, it seems safe to suggest that the supply of new development will not occur in the 2000s unless warranted by real demand. Already in some markets the demand for apartments has exceeded supply and new construction has begun at a reasonable pace.
Opportunities for existing real estate that has been written to current value de-capitalized to produce current acceptable return will benefit from increased demand and restricted new supply. New development that is warranted by measurable, existing product demand can be financed with a reasonable equity contribution by the borrower. The lack of ruinous competition from lenders too eager to make real estate loans will allow reasonable loan structuring. Financing the purchase of de-capitalized existing real estate for new owners can be an excellent source of real estate loans for commercial banks.
As real estate is stabilized by a balance of demand and supply, the speed and strength of the recovery will be determined by economic factors and their effect on demand in the 2000s. Banks with the capacity and willingness to take on new real estate loans should experience some of the safest and most productive lending done in the last quarter century. Remembering the lessons of the past and returning to the basics of good real estate and good real estate lending will be the key to real estate banking in the future.
Real Estate Agent Santa Clarita
