Author Archives: Shawn Molem

9 Golden Rules of Mortgage Shopping

With the interest rates still being low, many people have started window shopping the real estate listings and thinking, “Is this the right time to finally buy a home”

Below is the list of 9 golden rules to be kept in mind while looking for a Home Mortgage:

1. Credit Check – Checking your credit is going to be your first move – Before you start shopping for your home, you have to be very clear about where you stand with the mortgage lenders and how you can improve your credit position. The higher is your credit score the better will be your chance to save throughout the life of your loan, hence it is important for you to be in a good position before you decide to own a house.
2. Fix a meeting with your loan broker – Now it’s your turn to meet with your loan broker, and discuss about the initial steps to your loan process. Remember that your Broker mortgage lender will be your go to source throughout the entire process.
3. Pull out your credit score – There is a lot of difference between your FICO score and your credit report. You’ll be required to know your score in order to make improvements, and track the level of your growth. There are endless ways to view and track your credit score process
4. Make you score strong – There are many options for you that can help you to quickly rise up your low credit score. Making an effort to your score matters a lot, especially if your scores is need the top or bottom of a credit score range.
5. First mortgage, then the house – Before looking for the house, it is important for you to shop for mortgage first. This can help you in not only finding the home of your dreams but also the way to find out how you can afford it
6. Get Pre-Qualified – Do not forget to get pre-qualified by your loan officer for the confirmation of a smooth transition when it’s your turn to find a home.
7. Here is your turn to shop for your home – Now you can start your search for the home of your dreams.
8. Do not leave any chance of failure while applying for credit – Requesting new credit before your home loan procedure is finished can result in a little dunk in your credit score short term, which could bring about an expanded credit rating. Hold up until you’re done to get that new car and you will save money
9. Be wise and wait to make big purchases – Do not rush to make any big purchase while you looking forward for a mortgage loan and hence buying furniture, appliances, a car or any large purchase outside your regular monthly expenses could badly affect it.

When Should You Use a Hard Money Lender?

A hard money lender is a non-bank loan specialist that lends on any “hard” benefit, and the name “hard” money loan is given to it. In any case when would it be advisable for you or your client to use a hard money lender? In spite of the fact that some hard cash loan specialists will give on jewelry, planes, automobiles and other hard holdings, hard money loans are most generally given against real estate assets. Property holders looking for a loan against their homes should not think of utilizing hard money loans as the loans are high cost and short-term.

The real estate investors with experience, most usually choose to utilize hard money lenders to finance their real estate purchases and refinances for speed. When it comes to real estate investing, there is considerably high competition for the properties of good values and great qualities. As the hard money lenders can fund such purchases similar to all cash purchase, these loans provide better advantages to the real estate investors over their competitors. The hard money loans are utilized by a lot of real estate rehabbers to purchase and repair the bothered and vacant properties that banks won’t lent on

And lastly, for business or commercial real estate investors taking any kind of construction or development contracts, the commercial hard money lenders are like banks. The only difference is that banks are not promptly financing these sorts of deals. Forget about bank financing if the property is not placed in a top level market or needs to be settled. Commercial hard money lenders, also known as bridge lenders, have sensibly evaluated commercial loans for those borrowers or properties who don’t meet all requirements for bank financing, whatever the reason.

4 Tips for Buying and Managing Rental Properties

1: Stay nearby

Never purchase financing properties out of your local area. Even the most knowledgeable real estate investors have experienced issues when investing outside of their safe places or local areas

2: When you purchase, don’t pay more

If you are paying the current market price, then you are probably paying too much. When you purchase below market, you are free to decide if you want to hold, flip, or wholesale.

3: Set aside rental installment capitals

As you must expect vacancies, preferably you should have three to six months of rental payment reserves. On the off chance that you need to dip into your reserves, renew them!

4: Set aside a slush reserve for repairs.

Since you will dependably have repairs, set aside five to seven percent of your gross month rents into your repair store.

The list is infinite, so do your homework before settling on the choice to purchase your first rental property.

New Development in CA Financed By Hard Money Lenders

Even with banks loosening up lending on residential properties, hard money lenders, also called “bridge” lenders, are funding the majority of new development loans. Bank loans for investment properties and new development projects are still very hard to come by. Some banks won’t even consider new development loans, whether residential or commercial, while other banks take a lot of time to underwrite these deals with no intention of ever lending on them. Although many developers were able to obtain bank financing prior to 2007, they now turn to hard money lenders to finance their development projects. Bridge financing, also called hard money or private money financing, is a source of non-bank loans. Bridge lenders have taken a leading role in financing new development projects since the real estate meltdown.

For example, low inventory of new construction office space in California has increased demand and has spurred developers in San Diego, California to start new construction projects. But it’s not the local banks that are financing these new commercial development projects. Instead, it’s bridge lenders or Hard Money lenders.

Hard Money Lenders Help Those With Bankruptcy and Foreclosure

Since the credit crunch of 2008 began, hard money lenders have stepped up to fill the void in the area of lending. For those who have had a bankruptcy or foreclosure on their credit in recent years, bank loans are simply not an option. These borrowers have had to obtain hard money and private money loans for badly needed credit to finance their business and investment activities. While there are some hard money lenders who will not lend to people with a bankruptcy or foreclosure on their credit, most private lenders are stepping up to provide these loans. In fact, some potential borrowers are shocked that a credit report is a requirement of a hard money loan. These are the people who remember the days when a hard money lender would lend 100% of the purchase price on an investment property, and in some cases would even provide the money for repairs. Unfortunately, most of the hard money lenders who made such loans are no longer in business.

Bank lending is still very tight and inflexible, and will likely remain so for many years to come. For those who have had major hits to their credit in the last several years, hard money loans are their saving grace. Without the availability of private, non-bank financing in recent years, the recovery of the real estate market may have been a much slower process. For those borrowers with bankruptcies and foreclosures on their credit, higher interest rates charged by hard money lenders is just the cost of continuing to do business