Real Estate William Hopkins on 23 Apr 2008
7 Hard Money Loan Basics
Hard Money can be a fast way to fund everything from residential property, to industrial facilities to new home construction. I will not get into every aspect of hard money but I will offer you a general frame work that your imagination can grab a hold of.
First of all most hard money lenders will allow you to finance up to 65% of the value of the home. If the loan is for rehab purposes, they’ll use the “after-repaired value” of the house as the basis point. I have seen occasions that went as high as 75% but 65% is the norm.
These loans are very situational and very flexible so there is a lot of space if the deal makes sense. It could be a set back if you are new to the game but fortunately that can usually be offset with sufficient reserves and a good plan of action.
Let’s look at an investor rehab loan to visualize how the numbers work.
Let’s say you came across a out dated and run down old house in a good neighborhood where homes sell for $100,000. The seller takes you through the home and you determine that it needs around $12,000 in work. You have gotten pre-qualified for a rehab loan and know you are wondering what is the maximum you should pay for the property.
To keep it simple for starters, you want to take $100k x 65% - loan costs - repair costs/holding costs = Purchase price. Loan costs, for hard money loans, run from 8-13% of the total loan amount. They are not cheap but it’s less money than you’ll disburse to a partner! For now we will assume costs of 10% and holding costs of $2,000. Given those numbers, you probably shouldn’t pay more than $45,000 for the home. If you decide to pay more, that just means more money out of your pocket to get the deal done.
Here are a few quick tips you can utilize to maximize the likelihood of being approved for hard money loans, in general:
1. The more equity in the investment property after the loan, the better, 2. The higher your credit score, even better 3. The more credit history you have, the better! 4. The more liquid assets you can prove that you have personally or have guaranteed access to (lines of credit, partners, rich uncles. . .) the better 5. The more populated the area, the better 6. The faster the properties in the area sell, the better 7. The more solid the appraisal value, the better! Most hard money lenders like to use fire sale values as the basis point of the loan so don’t be shocked. This is definitely not the time to use stretched values.
All in all, this is a numbers game. Don’t get attached to a home if the numbers don’t make sense. Hard money lenders can be flexible but bring them a deal where the numbers don’t add up and it could cost you a relationship. Credit doesn’t always matter but it does help, tremendously, if you can show good credit history.
Home Tom Johnson on 23 Apr 2008
The Easy Vegetable Garden Method
It’s important to emphasize that you need to draw a plan of your vegetable garden first. When doing this, always leave space to get at your vegetables for harvesting and maintenance. You’ll also find that drawing your plan to scale will be a great help in allowing you to decide where your vegetables are to be planted. You will make excellent use of the space you have available by doing this.
Now you need to make some decisions about what you’d like to grow. Make a list of your choices while keeping in mind what’s readily available from your local plant nursery. Try to avoid any unusual vegetables, they can often be expensive, hard to get or hard to grow.
Now go back to your garden map and decide what plants go where. The importance of a good plan is to avoid any problems as your plants start to grow, so plan carefully. It’s also important to follow your plan closely.
While you’re still in the planning stage, study your vegetable choices to find out what each plant needs. Some prefer full sunlight, others will want part shade and then there are the ones that require full shade. Doing this will help you to decide on the positioning of your plants to give you the best possible harvest.
If you’re low on space, you can utilize the French cultivation method. This is an easy way to make the most out of the little space you have. Let’s say you wish to sow spinach and carrots. You’d take one packet of each and mix them together.
Then you’d make a 1/2 inch deep furrow in a row and sow the mixture of the two seeds into that furrow and cover. The spinach will grow quickly and open up the soil so the carrot seeds can germinate better.
In about four weeks you will be able to start harvesting your young spinach which in turn allows your carrots the space to grow. You’ll have a good crop of juicy carrots by the time your spinach harvest is finished.
Another illustration would be parsley or lettuce with radishes. This system can be used with lots of vegetables that mature at different times. Early varieties of radish sown with turnips and lettuce is often done in France.
The quickest growers are the radishes, which will be exhausted before the lettuce are mature enough to be harvested. Likewise the turnips will be ready to pull up by the time the lettuce are just about finished. Also, if your rows of plants are in an east-west pattern, you need to sow your tallest plants to the north side of these rows. This is to make sure that your shorter plants don’t get shaded by the taller ones.
This is to ensure that the taller plants don’t block the sunlight from reaching shorter plants. Corn is the tallest plant that is normally grown in vegetable gardens, so it should always be placed where it won’t block sunlight from other plants.
You can also creatively use larger plants to shade shorter plants that don’t do well in harsh sunlight. For example, you could grow delicate cool-weather spinach behind large, bushy beans or peas.
This could help you grow shade-loving vegetables in your garden, even if you don’t have any shady spots available. By being creative with placement, you might be able to grow vegetables you never thought you’d be able to grow in your location!
Finance Martin Tan on 23 Apr 2008
Credit Card Counseling: Pull in the Reins on Debt
Changes in the economy have left consumers unable to make the minimum payments on credit card debts. The inability to pay these debts forces consumers into a spiraling debt cycle that impacts their lifestyles. Avoid bankruptcy and foreclosure when debt becomes unmanageable by taking action to prevent the cycle from spiraling upward.
The escalated debts can be returned to a manageable level with the assistance of Credit card counseling services and nonprofit debt consolidation companies. These companies can help eliminate debts and rebuild credit ratings within a reasonable time.
Professional credit counselors will work with creditors to lower escalating payments, stop accruing fees and additional charges, eliminate harassing phone calls from collectors, reduce the debt by as much as 70 percent, and lower interest rates significantly. The services will bring overwhelming debts to a manageable level.
By making a single monthly payment to your credit card counseling company, the company will then in turn disperse regular payments to each of your creditors. You will receive a monthly statement from your debt consolidation company detailing what bills they have paid and when, and your monthly statements will still come from your creditors, allowing you to see that your debt is being reduced.
Credit card interest rates average between 22 and 39 percent. A minimum monthly payment can leave you paying that debt for 30 years or more. A credit card counseling or a nonprofit debt consolidation program, can reduce those ridiculous interest rates and eliminate the fees associated with the rates. Creditors are paid on time and your credit rating will improves with the consistency of payments.
It is important of course to do your research and read all of the fine print about any program before you commit to any debt consolidation company. Unscrupulous business practices are unfortunately a fact of life and you don’t want to send money to a company who doesn’t do what they promised.
Ask for a fee schedule up front. That way you will know exactly how much you are paying for this loan consolidation service before you pay anything. That will help you to decide if the credit card counseling company you’re talking to is the right one for your situation.
An agreement with a respected credit card counseling service or nonprofit debt consolidation company can lead to reducing and eliminating debt, improving credit scores, and decreasing stress. The debts did not grow overnight and will not disappear overnight. Regular monthly payments to your credit card counselor and establishing a consistent payment history improve your credit rating and will soon reflect your efforts. The spiral of debt will reverse and debts will return to the manageable levels you started with.
Home Ancelin Marshall on 23 Apr 2008
Vessel Sink Vanities for Bathroom Vanity Style
A vessel sink vanity essentially has a sink that appears to sit on top of a cabinet or piece of furniture. Information on the different types of vessel sinks and some installation are discussed in this article.
Vessel sinks that come in two major styles, the vessel sink vanities and the bathroom vessel sinks. Bathroom vanity cabinet sinks are also very popular. As previously stated, a they are basically a sink that simply sits on top of another surface. For example, a vessel sink can sit on top of your bathroom counter or it can be a stand alone sink. While there are some sinks that sit inside the bathroom counter top that are billed as vessel sinks, these are probably not what you are looking for.
If different is what you want vessel sink vanities allow you to achieve just that while adding a touch of your personality to your home’s design. Vessel sinks show your home’s personal style in a much more direct way than a simple sink that is a basic basin, just sitting there inside the bathroom counter.
You will find many vessel sink vanities to choose from. The fact is, there are as many vessel sinks to choose from as there are people’s personalities. Your choices are numerous, vessel sink vanity colors, designs and materials cover almost any designing idea you could conceive. The vessel sinks for the bathroom are sometimes just a basin that is made to sit on top of your existing countertop (which will have to be remodeled when you take out the old sink) and sometimes they are a freestanding bathroom cabinet sink.
Don’t over look proper installation. It is a sink by any name and like installing all sinks you want to do it properly. This is not always easy. If you plan to install a vessel sink yourself there are a few websites that are dedicated to this task, that have step-by-step instructions. However, it is advised that the instructions from the manufacturer be used for the installation of your vessel sink. There is more than just getting cabinets or a counter top then putting the sink on top. You also have pipes and plumbing that must be considered in making sure that your vessel sink is functional and not just pretty.
They have far more personality than the sinks that come already installed (in the event that you did not build your house yourself). Remember that if you plan to install vessel sinks yourself it is a good idea to learn some basic construction and plumbing skills first because installing vessel sinks is kind of a complicated process. Vessel sink vanities are a great personal touch to add to any home.
