Matt's Blog

Owner Financing

Matt Malouf (Prudential California Realty) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:44:10 -0500

Matt Malouf | Prudential California Realty | 562-443-7042

24781 Court Street, San Bernardino, CA

Great starter home for the right family, affordable in a nice quiet are of the city close to lots of recreational areas.

3BR/2BA Single Family House

offered at $145,000

Year Built	1950
Sq Footage	1,152
Bedrooms	3
Bathrooms	2 full, 0 partial
Floors	1
Parking	1 Car garage
Lot Size	7,280 sqft
HOA/Maint	$0 per month

DESCRIPTION

2 houses on a lot in a great starter neighborhood.

see additional photos below

PROPERTY FEATURES

- Central heat

COMMUNITY FEATURES

- Garage parking

OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES

- Owner will carry

- Owner will finance

- No banks required

- Affordable

- Family Neighborhood

- Bad Credit ok

ADDITIONAL PHOTOS

Photo 1	Photo 2
Photo 3

Contact info:

Matt Malouf

Prudential California Realty

562-443-7042

For sale by agent/broker

Equal Opportunity Housing

Posted: Oct 29, 2009, 12:06pm PDT

Do You Want to Make a referral?? Money inside.

Matt Malouf (Prudential California Realty) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:52:15 -0500

new rss feed

Matt Malouf (Prudential California Realty) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:34:20 -0500

Subscribe to RSS headline updates from:
Powered by FeedBurner

Matt Interviews Wholesaler...

Matt Malouf (Prudential California Realty) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:42:32 -0500

So I’m pretty excited as I had the chance to grab my friend and fellow Trojan Ginger Macias for a few minutes and talk to her about her real estate investing business. It has been very frustrating to read the bad press real estate investors have been getting lately, about how we are all out to take your property etc etc. Are there a few bad apples out there? Of course there are as with any industry. I have had the pleasure to meet so many great people in the REI world and the common thread I see through 99% of them is that they sincerely want to make a difference in this world and have their work mean something to someone special and leave a lasting positive impact on the community.
This has always been my own personal goal, since real estate is often someone’s largest monthly outlay (whether it is their home or an investment) if we can help make a difference in someone’s largest outlay the smaller items can then start to fall in place a little easier (the concept of the slight edge and falling dominoes).
Well I feel honored and blessed to have talked with Ginger recently and she actually let me record it so we that we can share this info with you. Please let me know your comments both good and needing improvement. You can probably tell I am rather new to the interviewing but feel these people need to get their knowledge and experiences out there to share with as many as possible.
If you have any suggestions on topics, questions etc please let me know, I will pass them along and incorporate them into my upcoming interviews. Got a suggestion or idea, let me know. This is about you the home buyer and investor…..soak it up and enjoy!!

Matt Interviews Ginger

Wow, made it to Amazon!

Matt Malouf (Prudential California Realty) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:19:42 -0500

Focus on Investments You Can Control

Matt Malouf (Prudential California Realty) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:07:02 -0500

Control is probably the most important part of wealth-building. There are lessons all over right now about what happens when you don't control your investments. The Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme, the stock market and the failing of some 529 college savings plans are a couple of recent examples of what can happen when you give up control.

Let's start out with my definition of control:

Investing Control: The ability to directly influence or impact the future value and net income of the investment.

Investing control is important for any type of investment you consider.

For the stock market, this means controlling a majority of a company's shares. Now, this is extremely difficult for average people, like you and me. This is why we should invest a smaller portion of our money into the stock market. The SEC even has rules in place to prevent the common guy from owning or controlling more than a set percentage of the outstanding shares anyway.

However, you could invest and obtain control of smaller, non-public companies through joint venture agreements and the like. By having control, you can directly impact the growth, income and expenses of the business, hence your return of investment.

For real estate, the best investors want active control over their properties. Active control can be obtained in partnerships and individual investments alike. Most people would rather be passive real estate investors. The tiny few who grow wealthy prefer to be active investors.

The majority of families focus their investments into assets they do not control. This is why they struggle to accumulate "real" wealth. This is also why many people will not have enough money accumulated when they retire.

In fact, it boggles my mind that most people prefer not to be in control of their investments. They would much rather have an mutual fund planner, stockbroker or someone else control their money. "Done for you" wealth is not available. You are going to have to do much of it yourself. You do it by controlling assets.

It is perfectly fine to invest a small portion of your money into investments you do not control. But I would be very careful investing large sums of your money into uncontrollable investments. I have investments in assets that I do not control. However, these investments now represent a small portion of my net worth. I have control over the assets in where most of my money is invested.
These same assets also represent the largest portion of my net worth.

If you study wealthy people, you'll quickly see that they do the exact opposite of everyone else. They desire, fight for and cherish control. Everyone else desires, cherishes and pays big money to have no control. Notice the difference.

I remember reading a biography on billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian. In every single investment Kerkorian made, he fought for control. When he didn't have control over an investment, he quickly divested himself of the investment. Same goes for Wayne Huzienga, who built three separate billion-dollar companies (Waste Management, Blockbuster and Republic Industries).

Experience has shown me that most people prefer passive investments because they are easier. Passive investments allow the investor to invest without having to take any responsibility. Passive investments do not require the investor to be decisive. Passive investments do not require the investor get his hands dirty.

Control requires that you take responsibility for your investments. Control requires you to be active. Control requires that you pay attention. Control requires that you be decisive. Control requires you to roll up your sleeves and get dirty every once in awhile. Some believe control is risky. I believe lack of control is risky.

Once you have control of your investment, you should work hard to increase its value. You increase value by increasing its income.

One of the most valuable wealth-building skills you can have in life is the ability to increase the net income of your investments. With this skill, you can literally write your own ticket.

For example, Kerkorian purchased enough stock to control MGM Studios in the late 1960s. By the early 1970s, he had built the MGM Grand hotel in Las Vegas. This hotel and casino dramatically impacted the value of MGM's stock. Guess what happened to Kirk's wealth? Within three years, his wealth was in excess of $100 million.

This is how powerful control can be. Could Kerkorian have created $100 million if he wasn't in control? No.

You must strive for control over your investments. Control is critical for true wealth. Don't be lazy. Take the time to educate yourself so that you can ask better questions. Don't copy the masses and happily turn over control to your hard earned money.

Focus on Investments You Can Control

Matt Malouf (Prudential California Realty) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:06:14 -0500

Featured Content on Realtor.com

Matt Malouf (Prudential California Realty) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:27:17 -0500

Check out today's featured content on Realtor.com blogs

http://www.realtor.com/blogs/2009/08/06/the-impact-of-foreclosures-on-renters/

New Listing in Moreno Valley, a Must See

Matt Malouf (Prudential California Realty) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:44:11 -0500

1,000 Ways to Make 1,000 Bucks

Matt Malouf (Prudential California Realty) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:16:12 -0500

As a young boy, Warren Buffett read a book titled 1,000 Ways to Make $1,000. Warren quickly calculated that these ideas would bring him a million dollars. I loved the title of this book. So I went searching on the internet and I found an updated version of the book at http://tinyurl.com/knrsqt for $19. One of the free bonuses that comes with the new version is the original book that Warren Buffett read many years ago. Amazing!

Here are a few of the ideas presented in the new version of the book:

1. Become a Used Car Broker: Couldn’t you help people sell their used cars and charge them 5% to 10% of the selling price? One of the best ways to sell a used car is by listing it in Craigslist. You could advertise their car for free and pocket 5% to 10% of the sales price. You could probably sell one car a week creating a few thousand dollars a month of extra income. This was idea # 9 in the book.

2. Offer a Data Retrieval Service: Apparently you can download free software from the internet that allows you to retrieve lost or deleted items from your computer. Run an advertisement in the Yellow Pages and on Craigslist and help people retrieve lost data for a fee. I think you might be surprised at how much you could make with this new service. This was idea number #14.

3. Become a Consultant to Local Contractors: You could teach electricians, plumbers, painters how to offer warranties to their customers. The contractor could offer this warranty to their customers as an “up-sell” and dramatically increase their income. A lot of people by warranties, but never use them. You can create the warranty contracts, certificates and sales literature for the contractor to use and charge them $1,000. This could then become a turn-key service you offer to contractors in different industries. This was idea #42.

4. Start a Pressure Washing Business for Home Owners. You can buy a top of the line pressure washer for about $1,000. You can then charge $300 to pressure wash someone’s home and/or deck. Your initial investment would be recovered after the 4th job. Advertise this new business for free on Craigslist. Once the pressure washer is paid for, you don’t have any overhead! This was idea #118,

5. Help Local Businesses Market to Local Residents Via Email: Offer a $1,000 shopping spree at your local grocery store. To register for the $1,000 spree, customers will have to give their email address and sign up for your local email newsletter. The email list could then become very profitable by allowing other businesses to advertise their specials and discounts. Depending on the size of your email list, you could make several thousand dollars a month. You would obviously have to select a winner and pay the $1,000 for the shopping spree. In essence, you’re buying a list of local residents email addresses for $1,000. This was idea #121.

6. Create a Newsletter That Helps Small Businesses Motivate their Employees: It’s a constant challenge for small businesses to keep their employees motivated and excited. You can produce motivational monthly newsletter for them to use with their employees. This newsletter could obviously be sold to other small businesses giving you the opportunity to leverage one monthly newsletter into thousands of dollars of monthly income. You could then offer these same small businesses a special monthly newsletter for their customers, too! Before you know it, you’ll have a small publishing empire! This was idea #124 and #140.

I’ve only included a handful of ideas from the book for you. There are 1,000 ideas in the book. Some are off the wall, but many are very good. At a minimum, these ideas will help you see opportunities that you might not have considered. It did for me.

If you’re looking to generate some extra income these days, I would suggest grab the 1,000 Ways to Make $1,000 Dollars book. The website for this book is http://tinyurl.com/knrsqt

Foreclosures- The Impact on Renters

Matt Malouf (Prudential California Realty) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:37:26 -0500

Much attention is placed on homeowners facing foreclosure. Yes, this attention is well deserved, but it appears as if many media and news organizations have forgotten about the impact foreclosure has on renters.

If you are a renter living in a property that is facing or is in the middle of foreclosure proceedings, you may not know what to do or where to turn. For you, it may seem like you are at the end of your rope.

When facing foreclosure, many renters will simply just cut their losses and relocate. This may mean having to move without recouping a security deposit. Unfortunately, there are some renters, possibly you, who cannot up and afford to relocate, especially without getting your security deposit back.

When renting a new apartment

, most landlords require a security deposit and if you weren't prepared to move, you may not have the money.

There is another serious issue that renters forced to relocated are facing. Foreclosures are on the rise. What does this mean? It means that an unprecedented number of homeowners have no place to live.

This often turns them into renters. Unfortunately, this lessens the availability and rental choices for renters, like yourself. It may mean that you have to pay more in rent or move to another city or town.

As previously stated, many renters decide to throw in the towel and relocate. If you are unable to do so, you may want to wait and see what happens. Of course, during this time you should take steps to protect yourself.

Save enough money to cover your moving expenses, including a new security deposit. You will be prepared in the event that you are legally evicted from the property.

You should, however, know that eviction from a property in foreclosure is not something happens overnight. You usually have a few days or even a few weeks to make alternative living arrangements.

Before making a decision, all renters are urged to look at the property in question. Are you renting a unit from an apartment complex or a multi-family home? If you are, you may be able to stay.

Investors at foreclosure auctions often purchase rental units. These investors want to see a return on their profit. The way to do this is to make sure their rental units are filled with quality, on time paying tenants.

With that said, if you are renting a single-family home, you may want to prepare to relocate. Unlike with rental properties, single-family homes are often purchased in foreclosure auctions by those looking to live inside.

Despite the fact that some new rental property owners may be willing to work with you and let you continue to rent, there is no guarantee that the property will sell. When low bids are received at a foreclosure auction, the original lender often steps up to the plate and buys the home.

In this case, the home is no longer considered a foreclosure, but a REO (real estate owned) property. Unfortunately, this doesn't always workout well for renters. With REO properties, lenders, who are also known as investors, may start the eviction process right away. Many cannot or do not want to become property managers, even just for a month or two.

As previously stated, foreclosures can occasionally come as a surprise to renters. Your landlord will receive multiple warnings and notices, but they are not required by law to share them with you.

Renters usually become aware of foreclosure proceedings when notices are placed on the building. At this point in time, you should contact the lender in question. See what your options are. Can you buy the property yourself? If you can prove that you have a stable income, the lender in question may be willing to work with you.

As a recap, foreclosures are having a significant and usually negative impact on renters. If you are a renter who lives in a property that is facing foreclosure or if you fear foreclosure is looming, you may want to start making preparations to ensure that you are well prepared for what is to come.

Buying a Foreclosure

Matt Malouf (Prudential California Realty) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:42:34 -0500

So Put yourself in the buyer's shoes for a moment, so you will have to take off your agent's hat and think....if I wanted to buy a foreclosure what 5 essential questions would I want answers to?

Where would I go to find these answers?

How do I know the info is realiable?

Any suggestions out there on this? It will greatly assist me with a new client.....

Bank Delay on Short Sale

Matt Malouf (Prudential California Realty) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:51:38 -0500

So what would you do when your client's bank does not get the loan docs prepared by the short sale expiration date? The loss mitigator is already a little ticked off but the delay should not be longer than 2-3 days after the expected closing date but Bank of America has lagged on getting their work done to complete the file. Any suggestions?

Find It, Bind It and Assign It!

Matt Malouf (Prudential California Realty) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 13:50:21 -0500

Profit in Real Estate Without Cash, Credit or Risk!

Looking to get started in real estate investing but don't know where to start? Don't have enough cash or credit to purchase an investment property? Afraid to take on payment risk? Too confused on lease options, pre-foreclosures, buying "subject to" or short sales? Yeah, so was I. But then I discovered a way to make money in real estate in a SAFE way, and now I can share this information with you.

HOW TO MAKE $5000 OR MORE PER DEAL BY FINDING, BINDING AND ASSIGNING UGLY PROPERTIES WITHOUT CASH, CREDIT OR RISK

Are you interested in making money in real estate, if you answered, "YES", then read on. And if you answered "no" then read on anyways. You may have heard all about buying properties, fixing them up (rehabbing) and reselling them. While that is a great way to make money, it does take a combination of cash, credit and risk. I am going to show you how to make realistic profits without any of the risks.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY "FIND IT, BIND IT, AND ASSIGN IT"?

Using our program, you will learn how to find properties that are in need of rehab work, then make an offer on the property that guarantees another investor the profits that he can make after he rehabs the house and resells it. You will then learn how to find these investors, lock up the deal and assign them the contract you negotiated with the homeowner. You get your assignment fee of around $5000 to $15,000, guaranteed before the closing. You will also learn how to use an option to purchase the property and assign the option to an investor for an assignment fee, which you get right away, whether or not the investor buys the property!

WHY IS THIS A BETTER WAY TO MAKE MONEY THAN ANY OTHER REAL ESTATE METHOD?

There are several ways to make money in real estate investing, from buying and holding rental properties, to buying and renting properties on a short-term lease-option, to buying deals subject to an existing mortgage, to doing a short-sell on a non-performing mortgage, to buying and rehabbing properties. While these are all great ways to generate cash flow or build wealth, they all take some degree of risk, plus cash or credit and a lot of time. I share with you in my Wholesale Training Camp I will teach you what the typical real estate "guru" won't. Using the "Find It, Bind It and Assign It" approach, you have the following benefits:

No Need for Excessive Cash or Credit: You are not taking title to a house and thus have no need for cash or credit. All you need is $10 for an Earnest Money Deposit, or perhaps $100 for a purchase option, and some nominal amounts for business cards, classified ads and mailings.

No Repair Headaches: You will not be involved in the rehab of the home, thus you do not have to worry about monitoring your contractor, dealing with cost overruns or getting permits and inspections done.

No Holding Costs: You will have no payments to make, no property taxes to pay and no insurance to obtain.

Ready Market of Sellers and Buyers: Using the techniques in this package, you will learn about several creative ways to find motivated sellers and eager buyers who will purchase your contract or option from you. Plus, I tell you why these buyers will pay you to find a property for them!

If you would like to learn more, please call us at 562-443-7042.

No pressure sales, just information. Give us a call now! 562-443-7042

DON'T FORGET THE NEXT FREE MONTHLY CLUB MEETING. Norco, CA Wed. March 11 and Downey, CA Thurs. March 12 Must call and RSVP for location and seating, thanks!

"HOW TO BUILD A REAL ESTATE CASH MACHINE"

Find It, Bind It and Assign It!

Matt Malouf (Prudential California Realty) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:46:36 -0500

Profit in Real Estate Without Cash, Credit or Risk!

HOW TO MAKE $5000 OR MORE PER DEAL BY FINDING, BINDING AND ASSIGNING UGLY PROPERTIES WITHOUT CASH, CREDIT OR RISK

WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY "FIND IT, BIND IT, AND ASSIGN IT"?

WHY IS THIS A BETTER WAY TO MAKE MONEY THAN ANY OTHER REAL ESTATE METHOD?

No Holding Costs: You will have no payments to make, no property taxes to pay and no insurance to obtain.

Fast Profits: You can make your first $7000 in less than 45 days.

YOU WILL LEARN EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO GET STARTED NOW! NO EXPENSIVE ADD-ONS LATER.

I want you to get started making offers on properties the first day after my Wholesale Training Camp. In my reality-based course, you will learn everything you need to do just that.

If you would like to learn more, please call us at 562-443-7042.

No pressure sales, just information. Give us a call now! 562-443-7042

DON'T FORGET THE NEXT FREE MONTHLY CLUB MEETING. Norco, CA Wed. March 11 and Downey, CA Thurs. March 12 Must call and RSVP for location and seating, thanks!

"HOW TO BUILD A REAL ESTATE CASH MACHINE"

Exclusive Cashflow Listing

Matt Malouf (Prudential California Realty) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:32:09 -0600

I have 2 exclusive cashflow listings from a turnkey team that will add much needed cashflow to your portfolio

http://budurl.com/8922

and now the cashflow wealth builder...

http://budurl.com/sukz

Exclusive Listing for Investors Only

Matt Malouf (Prudential California Realty) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:26:35 -0600

Evidence of a bottom?

Matt Malouf (Prudential California Realty) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:21:11 -0600

Did you see the good news? Title insurance giants First American Corp. and Fidelity National Financial Inc. reported great news on the average number of title insurance orders per day. Fidelity saw orders leap from 5,000 orders per day in October and November to 14,200 title insurance orders per day in January. First American said that orders jumped from around 5,500 orders per day to 10,000 per day in January. Fidelity said that the second week in January was especially good with orders of about 16,000 per day.
How good is business for these two title insurance giants? Fidelity has already received permission to raise its rates by 10% in California and First American is right behind them asking for a 10% increase in the golden state. Fidelity Chairman William Foley told a conference call that the company has already revised its rates in 21 states with some being increased by as much as 20%.

Are increased orders per day from 5,000 to 14,200 or by 184% evidence of a bottom? Are increases in rates between 10% and 20% evidence of a bottom? Every investor has to decide for themselves, but it is great to get good news for a change.

Seller Financing

Matt Malouf (Prudential California Realty) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 09:38:10 -0600

Seller financing can refer to one of two things:

The seller can act as a bank and rather than receiving all or a portion of their equity at close, they can "lend" it to the buyer and receive a regular payment as agreed. They may receive no payments, interest only payments, principal only payments, or a combination. It could be an interest only loan, or an amortized loan. Additionally it could carry either a fixed rate interest payment or a variable rate. These will vary depending on the agreed upon terms of the contract between the buyer and the seller.
The seller can allow the buyer to "take over" the loan that he or she has in place. This can be done in two ways. The first way is called an "assumption", wherein the lender formally allows the buyer to assume the loan. This entails approval of the buyer's credit, and often a modification of existing loan terms. The other method is called a "subject to" where the lender is not contacted, and the buyer purchases the property "subject to" the existing financing. This can be financially risky in many ways, since many loans have acceleration clauses which permit the lender to call the loan due if the property is transferred. However, more often than not the lender will not exercise the "due on sale clause" if the payments are being made on the underlying mortgage(s). In the rare event that a lender does call the loan due then an investor could quickly sell the property or pay off the loan using any one of the various financing options available.

Tweet Your Business

Matt Malouf (Prudential California Realty) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 11:12:00 -0600

Looks like many of the posts relating to Twitter are about the "in" and "out" crowds.....those who use it actively and those who are still a llittle lost about it. I recently posted some great uses for Twitter in the Real Estate industry....it's been my experience that agents don't incorporate enough technology into their business to leverage their time properly. At it's basic level think of Twitter as a way to stay in front of your audience, especially the Gen X and Y crowds.......you can't sit and call them everyday to see how they are doing or what stage in the decision making cycle they are in but you can tweet about yourself and what you are up so you can start building that repoire with potential clients and partners.....I have about 5 twitter accounts and use them for a few different experiments and am having alot of fun doing it!

You can follow me at www.budurl.com/blditfast where I will also help you build your Twitter audience as well.

Last week I even sold a house using ONLY Twitter, no MLS listing and still sold it within a week....that just blew me away so I am working on my next deal and will Tweet it out on one of my accounts to see where it goes.....ask me about it...

Strategies to help you pay off debt

Matt Malouf (Prudential California Realty) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 10:50:48 -0600

Strategies to help you pay off debt

Always pay more than the minimum.

By only paying the minimum amount due each month, you are likely paying the credit card companies thousands of additional dollars in interest. Instead of only paying the 2 or 3 percent minimum outstanding balance, cut out some luxuries to pay off debt. Do you shop too much to keep up with the latest fashions? Go out for dinner and order drinks and dessert? Cut some of these luxuries out and apply the extra money to your debt repayments. To pay off debt takes time and dedication!

Focus your debt payments to pay off your debt

To quickly pay off debt you can focus all your repaying power onto the one or two credit accounts that carry the highest interest rates. Also, try and transfer as much debt as you can from higher interest carrying accounts to the lowest interest rate accounts. As you begin to pay off your debt, you will increasingly have more and more amounts of money to pay off the debt! This is because money that was previously spent on interest will now be sitting in your bank account paying you interest!

Empty your savings account

And use the money to pay off debt! Most bank accounts don't earn nearly the amount of interest as you are likely paying on your credit balances. Taking into account federal and state taxes and you would have to be earning a significant more amount of money than you probably are.

Borrow through your life insurance to eliminate debt

If you have life insurance that carries a cash value...borrow against the policy! Even though you are basically borrowing against yourself, it will most likely be at a much lower rate than you are paying on your outstanding debt balances. Pay off debt with insurance when you know you'll be able to replenish the account in the near future. Any money borrowed against the account and not repaid back will be deducted from the face value of the policy whenever you end up kicking the bucket.

Ask friends and family to help you pay off debt.

In a worst case scenario you can always look to friends and family for financial help. If you can convince them to lend you money to pay off debt, then you'll probably garner a favorable interest rate. The downside is that borrowing money is one of the fastest ways to cause family strife. Be very careful with this option and use it as a last resort. Certainly write up a written contract including the repayment schedule.

Consider a home equity loan

If you own your own home and have built up some equity, consider taking out an equity loan or line of credit to pay off debt. The interest on a home equity loan will probably be somewhere between 8% and 10%, but with the tax advantages, the effective interest will be somewhere closer to 5% to 7%. By applying the proceeds of the loan to you outstanding debt, you will be able to favor a much lower interest rate. The only thing to watch out for is you don't go rack up more credit card debt after you just paid off your balances. Then you will have lost some of the equity in your home and also have racked up additional debt! Now you are twice as worse off as when you started! Watch out!

Paying off your debt by borrowing from your 401k.

If you have a 401k it could be another great source of funds to pay off debt. Many 401k plans allow the participant to borrow either 50% of the accounts value, or $50,000, whichever is smaller. Interest rates are usually about one to two percent above prime, and thus much cheaper than that found on credit card accounts.

Negotiate with your creditors about your goals to become debt free

If all else fails and you're still feeling the squeeze of debt then consider informing your creditors of your financial situation. Let them know that you are considering filing for bankruptcy and that if they are unwilling to negotiate you will be forced to file for bankruptcy. To pay off debt you can ask for a lower repayment schedule, request a lower interest rate, and remember that they will do anything they can to at least get some of the money back.

If all else fails, consider bankruptcy.

When debt repayment is impossible consider filing for bankruptcy. The fact that you filed for bankruptcy will be apparent on your credit report for 10 years making it difficult to obtain credit during this period. There are two types of bankruptcy Chapter 7 and Chapter 13. Chapter 7 allows discharge of almost all your debts. The debts not discharged include alimony, child support, taxes, loans obtained through filing false financial statements, loans not listed in the bankruptcy petition, legal judgments against the petitioner, and student loans. Even though Ch 7 lets you get out of paying most of your creditors, you will likely lose much of the property you own to pay back your debts. But in general, you usually get to keep your car, tools of your trade, your home, and much of your personal property. Ch 13 is a bit different. It's called the wage-earner plan because if forces you to give up control of your finances to the bankruptcy court, but it allows you to keep your personal property. The court maps out a plan for you to pay back your creditors over of a three-to-five-year period, and is based on your financial resources at that time.

Commercial RE Investing

Matt Malouf (Prudential California Realty) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 10:34:48 -0600

Many people are concerned that now might not be a good time to invest commercial properties. However, consider these interesting facts:

Commercial properties have held their value despite the recent downturn in housing prices
Foreclosed homeowners are moving back to apartments and pushing vacancies down
Office and retail property owners who are worried about the economy are more willing to sell on creative terms Private lenders, tired of the stock market, are looking for other places to place their funds
In addition to it being an excellent time to invest in commercial properties, you'll find that commercial investing offers you four wonderful advantages:

Increased Cash Flow: If your rental home doesn't have a tenant, you won't have any income coming in. Unfortunately, you still have to pay all the expenses! If you own a twenty-unit apartment building, however, you still have the other eighteen units sending you payments even if two tenants leave.

The Manager Deals With It: Because you have multiple tenants all in one location, you can afford to hire full-time property managers for your properties. This means more free time and relaxation for you.

Predictable Cash Flow: Unlike the one-year leases common for homes, commercial tenants are usually locked into your lease for multiple years. In addition to paying the rent, they also pay for the taxes, insurance, and property upkeep.

Cash Flow & Property First, Borrower Second: When you buy a single family home, the lender looks at you and your credit first and the property second. With commercial properties, the lender looks first at the cash flow, then at the condition of the property, and lastly at the borrower's credit rating.
It is important to choose the type of commercial investing that best matches your particular needs and interests. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of the various types of commercial investments:
Apartment Building Investments: Apartments are great commercial real estate investments because they're easy to find, banks love to lend on them, and they're great cash flow generators. We recommend you invest in at least one apartment building before you consider investing in any of the other commercial asset types.

Retail Centers Investments: Retail centers (also called shopping centers or malls) are great commercial property asset types for certain investors. These properties are leased out on a long-term triple net lease basis where the tenants pay for all the expenses. What does this mean for you as a commercial real estate investor? Your rates of return won't go down over time as the taxes and expenses go up. As a matter of fact, as rents go up over time, your returns just keep getting better and better.

Office Building Investments & Warehouse Investments: This type of investing can't be beat for passive income generation. A triple net lease is used, which means the tenants pay for their rent and maintenance/repairs, property insurance, and real estate taxes. After the tenants pay for all of the expenses and you pay the mortgage, the rest goes into your pocket. You can even hire a property management company to find the tenants for you.

Hotel Investments & Resort Investments: This investment type is not for the beginning commercial real estate investor. However, experienced commercial real estate investors find this type of asset to be fun and highly profitable to own. It's highly recommended that, as an investor, you do not attempt to operate the investment property - just invest in the hotel or resort, then lease it to another company to operate it.

Land Development Investments: This is one of the most exciting types of commercial real estate investing. It can also be an area that will teach you some quick and painful lessons if you jump in without know what you're doing. If you take land that isn't yet fit for building through the development approval process, you can dramatically increase the value of the land and your profit. Starting small allows you to get comfortable with the land development process before tackling the more challenging investments requiring the investor to raise millions of dollars.

http://budurl.com/house2riches

http://budurl.com/mfghomep

Credit Facts/Fallacies

Matt Malouf (Prudential California Realty) — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 12:57:27 -0600

Fallacy #1: A poor score will haunt me forever.
Fact: Just the opposite is true. A score is a snapshot of your risk at a particular point in time. It changes as new information is added to your credit bureau files. Scores change gradually as you change the way you handle credit. For example, past credit problems impact your score less as time passes. Lenders request a current score when you submit a credit application, so they have the most recent information available. Therefore by taking the time to improve your score, you can qualify for more favorable interest rates.

Fallacy #2: My score determines whether or not I get credit.
Fact: Lenders use a number of facts to make credit decisions, including your FICO score. Lenders look at information such as the amount of debt you can reasonably handle given your income, your employment history, and your credit history. Based on their perception of this information, as well as their specific underwriting policies, lenders may extend credit to you although your score is low, or decline your request for credit although your score is high.

Fallacy #3: Credit scoring is unfair to minorities.
Fact: Scoring considers only credit-related information. Factors like gender, race, nationality and marital status are not included. In fact, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) prohibits lenders from considering this type of information when issuing credit. Independent research has been done to make sure that credit scoring is not unfair to minorities or people with little credit history. Scoring has proven to be an accurate and consistent measure of repayment for all people who have some credit history. In other words, at a given score, non-minority and minority applicants are equally likely to pay as agreed.

Fallacy #4: Credit scoring infringes on my privacy.
Fact: Credit scoring evaluates the same information lenders already look at - the credit bureau report, credit application and/or your bank file. A score is simply a numeric summary of that information. Lenders using scoring sometimes ask for less information - fewer questions on the application form, for example.

Fallacy #5: My score will drop if I apply for new credit.
Fact: If it does, it probably won't drop much. If you apply for several credit cards within a short period of time, multiple requests for your credit report information (called inquiries) will appear on your report. Looking for new credit can equate with higher risk, but most credit scores are not affected by multiple inquiries from auto or mortgage lenders within a short period of time. Typically, these are treated as a single inquiry and will have little impact on the credit score.

Fallacy #6: Paying off a collection will raise my FICO score.
Fact: Paying off a collection can actually reduce your score. Since the guideline for credit scoring software is the date of last activity, recent payment on a collection account has a negative impact on your score. The old derogatory item has become a current derogatory and will reduce your score. What is the best way to handle this? These items need to be negotiated with the creditor to be deleted, rather than reported as paid.

Do You Twitter???

Matt Malouf (Prudential California Realty) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:33:39 -0600

Just found this really cool program to turbocharge your twitter acct and have to share it....

http://budurl.com/blditfast

Basically it looks like a referral and get in line sort of system where you build a few people to follow on your twitter and then pay it forward so people can follow you and pay it forward again sort of thing, looks really cool so let's try it out and let me know how you like it......

Hey who knows how fun it could be,

tweet you on the other side!!

Refinancing

Matt Malouf (Prudential California Realty) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 12:32:04 -0600

Refinancing your home can be an excellent way to bring down your monthly mortgage payment, raise cash, or consolidate debts with high interest rates. However, you need to do your homework before deciding to refinance. One important factor is the difference between current interest rates and the rate of your original loan. You also need to take into account the amount of time it will take to recoup the costs of refinancing.

When should you refinance?
Some common reasons homeowners refinance include:

Lower monthly mortgage payments
Convert an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) to a fixed-rate mortgage
Raise funds for family expenses (i.e. college tuition)
Pay off high-interest loans
Home improvements

The old rule of thumb is that you should refinance your home if interest rates fall more than 2 points below your existing mortgage rate. That's because refinancing usually involves most of the same closing costs (loan origination fee, prepaid interest, etc.) as the original loan. For anything less than 2 percent, the savings on your monthly mortgage payment might not be significant enough to be worth your while.

Savings vs. time
For some homeowners, though, the 2 percent rule is not as important as the time needed to break even on the refinancing. For instance, if it costs $3,000 to refinance a house, and the monthly mortgage payment is lowered by $90, it would take almost 3 years for the savings to cover the costs of refinancing.

If all the information (survey, title search, etc.) for your old loan is still current, however, the lender may be willing to waive many of the fees. In addition, you may be able to roll the closing costs of a refinance loan into the new note. In other words, you don't avoid the closing costs, but instead pay them back over time along with the rest of the loan. If you consider this option, be sure to calculate the potential savings vs. the expense of paying off a higher principal balance.

Keep in mind that refinancing usually lengthens the time it takes to pay off your house. If you are 3 years into a 30-year mortgage and then refinance with a new 30-year loan, you'll end up making payments on the house for 33 years. Nevertheless, if the monthly savings are substantial enough, you still could end up paying much less over the long haul with the new loan.

Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs)
Timing can also be a factor in switching from an ARM to a fixed-rate loan. For example, rising interest rates might influence you to covert your ARM into a fixed-rate loan if you plan to stay in your house for several more years.

Conversely, you may plan to move in a year or two, and find a lender who is willing to offer you dramatic interest rate savings with an ARM. In this case (and as long as the closing costs are minimal), it might make sense to switch from a fixed-rate loan to an ARM.

Equity
Refinancing with a new loan doesn't mean you have to give up all the money you've paid towards your old mortgage. With each payment, you build up a certain amount of equity in a property--which is the amount you've paid on the principal balance of the loan.

For example, if you have a $100,000 loan at 8 percent, you would build about $2,800 worth of equity in the first 3 years. Thus, if you refinanced, the new loan would only amount to $97,200.

Raising cash with home equity loans... use caution
If you've built enough equity, you can refinance in order to take cash out of the property. Perhaps you need money to pay off your credit cards, add a new bathroom, or cover the costs of braces for a child. Regardless, lenders will typically allow you to borrow against the equity you've built in your house, plus appreciation (often up to 75 percent of the current appraised value). These types of loans are also called home equity loans.

Be cautious, however, of lenders offering 100 percent or 125 percent home equity loans--their rates are often markedly higher than traditional lenders. In addition, any amount you borrow that is above the market value of the house is NOT tax deductible. Check with your tax professional.

Talk to your lender
With all the different types of refinancing loans available today, you should take some time to shop around and speak with several lenders before making a decision. Be sure to discuss all the expenses and benefits, as well as what will be expected of you, in advance. The more you educate yourself, the better your chances of finding the right refinancing package.