The game of golf has become an important sports industry and player competition is stiff. In the past, stories of kids out of nowhere rising to sudden fame and glory as PGA professionals were golfers’ favourites to hear, but the rising popularity of the game has made good golf instruction something every individual hopeful must have. While you can certainly learn the ins and outs of the golf game on your local course, the demand for skilled training and golf instruction has led colleges and academies to develop tailored golf programs for individuals.
Many people exhibit talent and a natural gift for golfing, so many people have flocked to golfing to attempt following in the footsteps of big names like Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh that getting the proper golf instruction is the only way to get ahead in the game. Sports professionals spend much of their lives analyzing how to maximize the potential of a swing or figuring out the effects weather conditions, club materials and turf slopes and hazards have on the overall golfing game, which means the sport has blossomed into a top quality industry involving many aspects. Being a good golfer is fine, but if you want to get ahead and try to break into the PGA possibilities of pro golfing, high standard golf instruction is a must.
What’s more, receiving specialized golf instruction can turn a favourite sport into a potential career in the future. Perhaps you have the abilities to make it to the big times and have your own name recognized by millions of people, your face popping up often on the sports news channel, but once you reach that goal you discover you don’t enjoy the heavy weight of fame, or an injury brings your PGA career to a grinding halt. A skilled, trained golfer can turn his abilities into a career in the golfing industry as a club pro, a personal coach or a complex manager. There are so many job opportunities in the field of golfing that it’s an excellent idea to cover all your bases by getting the best golf instruction you can.
Finding the training you need is easy. The golfing industry’s rising popularity has propelled educational programs into the forefront and the wide range of training you can receive from colleges and academies is one that’s well worth the investment. Reputable institutions use PGA professionals to instruct their students and give them the knowledge they need to have that perfect swing or know how to run a golf complex. The time involved in receiving solid golf instruction really isnt that much, running generally around two years of courses and studies. The training provided by educational facilities usually involves a strong blend of both practical and in the classroom instruction, both of which are required if you’re to get ahead of the game and not plateau as an average player.
The cost of receiving professional golf instruction that can lead to PGA fame or an important career down the line is a wise investment that will easily pay itself back many times over. High standard skills will make sure you’re prepared to face tough competition and a wide array of both players and professionals. Relatively speaking compared to other careers, the education requirements of intensive golf instruction, while being in depth and of top quality, don’t extend over years and require long term plans. The advantages of getting solid training, experience and know how can help you quickly break into a rising industry with far more than entry level employment. Within two years, your golf instruction will provide you with strong skills and certifications that make you a valuable asset to individual complexes and the golfing industry.
Everyone has a property investment story, and in Western Canada the stories often have a pretty strong Whistler element. Whistler has in the past offered spectacular payoffs for property investors. You could in 1980 have bought a prime waterfront property on the lake in Whistler for 10,000. Today the land alone would command 2m upwards, and other plots of land can sell for 3-4m. Add a house and you could be looking at up to 20m (the ludicrous – price being asked for The Couloir, a ski-in, ski-out location on Whistler Mountain). Prices have at least doubled in the last 5 years. Talk to realtors in Whistler and you will invariably be told that there is still considerable upside. Is there any mileage in buying in at these prices?
The quick answer is: probably not. Rental yields in Whistler are currently hovering around 1% net, with many people not even making enough to cover their taxes, let alone make a positive return. Add debt into the financing structure and you are looking at an asset which costs you significant money every month you own it. You are essentially speculating on either a continued decline towards 0% in the yield that other investors are willing to accept, or a dramatic turnaround in occupancy levels and rates to compensate. There is no reason to believe in either of these events.
The facts are that while the rest of the property market in British Columbia stagnated for years, Whistler grew like crazy, peaking at about the same time that the rest of the BC market bottomed out, circa 2002. The market is almost entirely divorced from the factors which drive prices in the rest of the province (interest rates, unemployment levels, wages, general optimism about the strength of the economy). Rather, the market is linked to demand for Whistler skiing from the international community which can afford the elevated prices that Whistler requires. And this demand has declined precipitously, made up for by demand from the local (Vancouver) market as well as the Seattle market. So while visitor numbers are up, the value to be extracted from these visitors by property owners is well down, since local visitors stay for less time and are way more price sensitive.
So the canny investor should continue to stay out of the market. Economic fundamentals suggest that this market will stagnate or decline for quite a few years to come. However, that is no reason to avoid visiting Whistler, which continues to offer fabulous skiing and excellent restaurants, as well as all its other attractions.
There is a plethora of reasons why a person conducts a background check. Lets take a look at some of the aims maintained by most companies, for instance. Well, most companies conduct a background check on their potential employees to see if they are perfect for the position and do not have existing criminal record. At first glance, the background checks do not exactly affect the persons performance, but these however will assure the employer that the persons they are hiring are dependable enough. In addition, the background checks could relate directly to the position of the person. For example, a tax consultant who is in debt and on the verge of bankruptcy is definitely a poor choice.
Some individuals also request for a background check to investigate their childs nanny or babysitter. Of course, you want to know if the person you are entering relationship with has no criminal records or can be trusted. After all, in todays highly complicated world where crimes and other felonies rule, the need for a background check is a matter worthy of consideration.
A background check is also useful especially if you want to know the past dealings of your business partner. If you have a friend or a coworker who is bragging about that college degree he/she has attained, or if you have got some strange neighbors, or if youve met someone new and think they may be the right one for you. You can absolutely find out the answers to these questions with a background check.
Your local real estate investment clubs or associations will educate you. It won’t be book education, but useful knowledge about your local real estate market. The people there are investors, many who have gotten wealthy investing right in your town. This means you’ll get meaningful and specific advice on what is working in your area, where to go for an inspector or property manager, and many other tips and based on real experience.
There are also the actual money-making opportunities that you’ll find. People there may need a partner with money, or a partner with time to find deals. Some have properties for sale and want to save the sales commission by selling to one of the members. Also, if you have a business that’s in any way related to real estate, you can make valuable contacts. Handyman or landscapers can often find business at our local real estate investment club meetings.
Real Estate Investment Clubs – An Example
The local association that my wife and I belong to is AZREIA, or “The Arizona Real Estate Investors Association.” I’ll tell you a little about it. If you don’t have a similar organization in your own town, this may give you ideas for what to include if you start one.
The association sponsors many educational events and seminars for reasonable fees, but the regular meetings are once each month, and included in the membership fee. It cost 195 per year for the two of us to join. As I write this, I am looking forward to tomorrow’s meeting, which will include a winner of the TV show “The Apprentice,” Kendra Todd, telling us how she made her first million in real estate.
Speakers are great, but I also like the regular events. Every meeting starts with “Open Networking,” for thirty minutes or so. It’s an opportunity to meet people, learn a little, and take down names and numbers. We each have a name tag that also tells everyone what our primary interests are, ranging from rental properties to fixer-uppers to wholesaling.
The monthly meeting then officially starts with “Structured Networking.” This involves filling out 3 x 5 cards with your name, occupation, real estate experience, and investments you are interested in. This information is systematically traded with randomly chosen others. It’s surprising how often profitable connections are made during this process.
The best part of the meeting is the “I have I want” event. Members (or even visitors) can stand up and announce what they have and what they want. The host writes their phone number on the overhead projector. It is sometimes something as mundane as a microwave an investor needs to get rid of, that someone doing a fixer-upper might need. Often, it is someone who has money but needs help finding good investments. I once announced that I was looking for a mobile home park to buy, and I received three calls within a week.
The meetings are not formal affairs. The millionaires in the room are as likely to have on jeans as a suit. Everyone shares a common purpose – to make money investing in real estate. In fact, even if you have no money to invest, yuo can do just fine. Just go find a great deal, and if the numbers truly work, you can probably find the money at these meetings. It is just one more great thing about real estate investment clubs.
Real Estate Investing 101 Understanding the Different Types of Lenders
The changes in financing options available for residential investment properties over the last 5 years are staggering. Lenders have relaxed the credit and income guidelines for qualification that formerly deterred many would-be investors from entering the real estate. In addition, the down payment requirement has been eliminated for borrowers who qualify. This article surveys the landscape for lenders offering residential investment financing products.
Types of Lenders:
The lender landscape can be broken into the following broad categories:
Conforming
Alt-A
Non-Conforming or Sub prime
Hard Money
Each of these offers loans for residential investment properties ( 1-4 unit properties).
Conforming
Conforming lenders are the A-Paper mortgage banks that cater to borrowers with excellent credit history and the ability to document income. Conforming banks offer loan products that can be considered plain vanilla in todays world of interest-only ARMs and low down payment loans. In terms of investor loans, conforming lenders offer full doc and stated loans up to a 90% LTV. A loan from a conforming lender with an LTV greater than 80% will incur private mortgage insurance, or PMI. (Learn more about PMI at: http:www.andersonlendinggroup.comfaq_a16.html ) Conforming lenders always require a minimum of a 620 credit score, and use a computerized underwriting process to determine approval. Besides credit score, other important factors for approval include: payment history for mortgage and revolving accounts over the last 24 months, debt-to-income ratio, employment history, amount of down payment, and the amount of liquid reserves.
Some examples of leading conforming lenders are Countrywide, Wachovia, Suntrust, and Flagstar. While these are national lenders, any local bank or savings and loan would fall into this category.
Alt-A
Alternative A credit lenders, or Alt-A, offer aggressive loan financing products catering to borrowers with credit scores from 660 and up. While these lenders offer programs to borrowers with scores down to 620, the aggressive programs are typically not available to borrowers below a 660 middle score. Alt-A banks have driven the creation of innovative loan products over the last few years.
These programs include the many interest-only products, the Option Arm loan, loans requiring as little as 5% and now no down payment, as well as standard fixed-rate and arm products. The big difference with these lenders is the relaxed debt-to-income ratios available, the reduced income documentations (stated income, no income no asset, and no doc), and the ability to add interest-only to most products. Alt-A lenders have popularized the use of 80-10 and 80-15 loans for investors to avoid PMI.
Some examples of leading Alt-A lenders are Aurora, GreenPoint, SunTrust, First Horizon, and IndyMac. Besides these, there are literally hundreds and hundreds of lenders that have emerged to fill certain niches.
Non-conforming Sub prime
Non-conforming or sub prime lenders fill a growing niche borrowers with past credit problems. These lenders offer fixed and adjustable loan programs for borrowers with bankruptcies, foreclosures, judgments, tax liens, charge-offs, and many other credit blemishes.
These lenders typically price their loans using a matrix that evaluates credit score in relation to loan-to-value. Sub prime lenders will offer financing to borrowers with as low as a 500 middle score, and even have programs that cater to borrowers with excellent 700+ scores. The sweet spot for most of these lenders is a 580 or better middle, as they will provide 100% financing for owner-occupied properties at that score. For investors using sub prime lenders begin to offer products for borrowers with a 550 credit score.
The important thing to understand about these loans is that they are priced much higher than a conforming or even Alt-A loan.
The most popular product with these lenders is a 2-year Arm, with the idea being the borrower will refinance or sell the property in 2 years. Also very common with these lenders is a mandatory 2 or 3 year pre-payment penalty.
Some examples of leading Sub prime lenders are LongBeach Mortgage(division of Washington Mutual), Fremont Investment and Loans, Meritage Mortgage (division of NetBank), and New Century Mortgage. Besides these, there are literally hundreds and hundreds of lenders that have emerged to fill certain various sub prime niches.
Hard Money
Hard money lenders serve a very simple purpose they allow the purchase of fixer-upper or rehab properties with no money down. These lenders offer programs that none of the
Hard money lenders are typically private individuals or small companies that make very high interest rate loans (between 12% and 18%) based on the after repaired value of a property. They will lend the money to both acquire and fix-up the property, up to a LTV of 65% or 70%. The loan term for most hard money lenders is 6-mos.
These lenders are a great, albeit expensive, way to purchase rehab properties. After doing the renovation, one can refinance out of the hard money loan with a conformingAlt-ASubprime long-term loan.
A good national hard money lender is InvestWell — learn more about them at: www.pleaseclose.comandersonlending .
Wide Range of Products
Some of the various products that are available today include:
100% investor loan 1 loan or 8020
Credit scores begin at 660 only available from Alt-A lenders
95% investor loan 1 loan or 8015
Credit scores begin at 600 available from Alt-A and Subprime lenders
90% investor loan 1 loan or 8010
Credit scores begin at 620 for Conforming and Alt-A lenders and 560 for Subprime lenders
80% investor loan
Credit scores begin at 620 for Conforming and Alt-A lenders and 560 for Subprime lenders
All of the above can be found in either a fixed or ARM, and can usually have an interest-only option added to help maximize cash-flow. While any loan with a LTV above 80% will typically incur PMI, you can avoid this unnecessary expense by piggy-backing a first and second mortgage together eg. 80% first and a 15% second.
The above is a real brief introduction to the residential mortgage landscape, and should help orient new investors to the available lenders and products available.
Author: Brian Anderson, Broker, Anderson Lending Group. You can contact Brian directly at: brian@andersonlendinggroup.com. Learn more about Anderson Lending Group and the wide variety of investor loans available by visiting: http:www.andersonlendinggroup.com . You can apply online and receive a pre-approval within hours.
If only I’d had the foresight to buy an investment property in Spain, the South of France, Tuscany or in Malta twenty years ago when property prices were so cheap because the desirability of the destination had yet to enjoy exposure…if only…
Many people believe that the world’s most beautiful locations are the countries in and around the Mediterranean Sea – think Spain, Malta, Turkey, Egypt, Sardinia, Italy, Morocco and Tunisia. All are nations synonymous with a fantastic climate, a wonderful quality of life, excellent cuisine, friendly and laid back people…naturally enough the Mediterranean countries are the most popular with those looking for a sun drenched holiday, a beautiful place to retire to or the perfect place to buy a property that will go up in value, be easy to rent and easy to resell. But many have already missed the affordability boat.
Properties on the most popular islands in the Mediterranean Sea and in the most desirable locations start from a quarter of a million pounds and go up to tens of millions. So the average property investor, second home seeker or retiree looking for an affordable place in the sun is going to be sadly disappointed then?
That is unless they discover the secret delights of Northern Cyprus
North Cyprus is the secret and undiscovered third of the island of Cyprus that has been left untouched, unspoiled and unsullied by the greed of the 1970s and 1980s, it has escaped the overdevelopment and mass tourism of the 1990s and it has emerged in the new Millennium as a gem in an otherwise saturated, over priced market.
Properties in Northern Cyprus start from just GBP 60,000 for a duplex apartment in a resort on a championship golf course! North Cyprus truly is the very last Mediterranean property investment hotspot and it will not remain undiscovered for long. While the government are committed to preserving the beauty and culture of the island and determined to prevent it being overdeveloped and sullied, the properties that are being built sympathetically are catching the eye of international property investors, retirees, second homers and those looking to afford to start a brand new and exciting life in the sun.
The number of visitors coming to Cyprus is increasing rapidly; large international developers are discussing many projects from seven star hotels and luxurious resorts to more golf courses, marinas and even a furthering of the higher education establishments that North Cyprus is already famous for. Demand for property for sale and rent is coming from the large student base but more importantly it is coming from retiring Europeans, young families and couples, holiday makers, those needing a second home and even corporate investors.
Northern Cyprus property will not remain so affordable for so long – firstly the demand for property for sale is outstripping current supply and builders cannot keep up with demand, secondly prices are already increasing and finance is being made available privately broadening the numbers of those who will be able to enter the market. As demand soars and supply remains steady and restricted by the government’s high standards, prices are rising and are going to keep on rising…making North Cyprus’s property market one of the hottest in the world.
Why mobile home rentals? Get past the prejudice and look at the numbers. In our town, for example, a two bedroom house costs 130,000 and rents for 800month. A 50,000 mobile home on real estate gets 500month. Cash-on-cash return on investment is obviously higher with mobile homes.
Don’t let the half-truth that mobiles depreciate in value keep you from investing in them. They lose value in a park, on a rented lot, but not on real estate. My first home was a mobile, bought for 19,000 and sold for 45,000 fourteen years later.
House rentals here usually have negative cash flow, while mobile home rentals have some cash flow. Still, investors prefer houses, believing they’ll build equity faster, but is that true? Only during times of fast appreciation.
Equity Building With Mobile Home Rentals
Buy a house for 120,00 with 20,000 down, and take out a 100,000, 6%, 30-year mortgage. You’ll have a payment of 599.60. Of the first payment, 500 will go to interest, and 99.60 to principal. You only built equity of 99.60. This ignores appreciation, but only for the moment.
Second scenario: Find a mobile home for sale on land, and borrow 30,000, at 8%, amortised over 10 years. Higher interest and a shorter term is normal with mobiles, but being done with payments in 10 years instead of 30 sn’t all bad. The payment will be 363.99. The first month, 200 will go to interest, and 163.99 to principal. You built more equity in this scenario.
Mobile home rentals on land might appreciate more slowly than the “regular” house, but faster loan pay-down usually covers this factor. Pay less per month, have positive instead of negative cash flow, and build more equity! Don’t expect your real estate agent to tell you this.
Mobile Homes – Cash Flow
In the example, you’d lose about 150month on the house, after the payment, taxes, insurance, repairs and other expenses. You’d have cash flow with the mobile home, and after ten years (when the loan is paid off), you’d have a lot of cash flow.
Mobiles are cheap to maintain. The furnace died in rental I owned, and I replaced it for 1,200, much less than a furnace for a larger home. For 200 you can have the roof tarred, instead of 5,000 to re-shingle a traditional roof. Windows, plumbing, doors – they’re all cheaper. Property taxes and insurance are less too (be sure you can get insurance, since some old mobiles may be uninsurable).
The Bottom Line
20,000 can buy two mobiles, with 10,000 down on each, or four with 5,000 down on each, instead of one negative-cash-flow house. The two investors in our town that own most of the mobile homes always have cash flow, and have built millions in equity. Others, following their prejudices, struggle to make money with their “nice” rental homes. So when you’re looking for a good investment, don’t forget those mobile home rentals.
Looking for a California Home Listings for vacation, simply as an investment?
You will find Central Coast Foreclosures properties that offer everything you could ever want in a home, from resort-style pools, to world-class golf courses, gourmet restaurants, upscale retailers, and personalized concierge services. And more have Paso Robles Foreclosures rental programs that will keep your home rented and generating revenue for you when you’re not there.
For all these reasons Central Coast Property Management is experiencing a growth spurt that has never been seen before and shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. Central Coast Foreclosures home in Central America offers: San Luis Obispo Real Estate A low cost of living, Great weather year-round, The chance to enjoy another culture, Real Estate Quality developments with outstanding amenities, Beautiful California Houses, An opportunity to buy California Rentals real estate at pre-construction prices, Optional California Houses rental programs to generate revenue, Profit potential when you sell. Additionally, financial institutions are more willing now to make California Home Loans on California Financing homes abroad than they were in the past. The process has been simplified as lenders have become increasingly transparent, global and linked.
Investing in real estate in California Foreclosures Central America has never been easier. By using the net, you can learn full information about properties overseas and the requirements for making a California Homes purchase.In Central Coast, Paso Robles, Atascadero, San Luis Obispo, and California you will find global cellular phone connections and easy Internet access, helping fend off feelings of isolation during time spent outside the U.S. Infrastructure in California Property Management Central America has been greatly improved in recent years. There are better roads and modern marinas, all enhancing access to new property California Foreclosures developments.
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