Selling Home

Smartmoney.com: Real Estate: Sell Your Home — Fast Thursday December 29, 2005 3:32 PM ET U.S. Markets close in: :28 Search (choose an option below) Quote Charting Earnings Ratings Competition Financials Profile Key Statistics Insiders Site Search News (Enter Symbol) advanced search SmartMoney Select My Portfolio Tools Maps Stocks Advanced Trading Funds ETFs Personal Finance Autos Career Journal College Planning Debt Management Health Care Insurance Life LTC Insurance Real Estate Retirement Tax Guide Economy & Bonds Small Business SmartMoney TV SmartMoney Magazine SmartMoney University Business Travel Technology SmartMoney Mobile Holiday Survival Guide Select Homepage Stock Screener Market Map 1000 Fund Screener Stock Compare Fund Map 1000 Fund Compare XStream Quotes More... Portfolio Tracker Watchlist Calendar Intraday Alerts News Alerts Sector Tracker ETF Center Map of the Market XStream Quotes Stock Screener Stock Compare Price Check Calculator More... 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The Market Now ForexTV Futures Life Stages CEO Interview Sturm Screen Mossberg Report Subscribe Give a gift Customer Service Media Kit Editorial Calendar Custom Publishing Investing 101 Taking Action Strategic Investing Quizzes More... Please enable javascript to properly view the menu. Site Map DJIA 10789.06 -7.20 Nasdaq 2219.66 -9.28 S&P 500 1255.08 -3.09 Rus 2000 679.31 -0.77 10 Yr Bd 4.36 -0.01 DJTA 4248.75 24.82 Wil 5000 12585.54 -25.30 S&P 400 743.20 -0.93 Nas 100 1655.52 -11.58 Sign up now for FREE SmartMoney.com Newsletters Enter your email address below Personal Finance : Real Estate : Selling : Sell Your Home — Fast Real Estate Sell Your Home — Fast By Stacey L. Bradford Click here for more stories by Stacey L. Bradford . In This Section A Seller's Checklist Choosing a Broker Wisely Selling Without a Broker Taxes When You Sell Your Home More... Related Content Ask SmartMoney Who Gets the Home? To Rent or to Buy? Advertisement 4.25% APY with hsbcdirect.com Online Savings. Earn 8X the national savings average and make money into big money. No minimums. No monthly fees. Member FDIC. Email This Story Print This Story Save This Story Send Us Your Comments Add this column to your News Alerts (New!) IF YOU'RE LOOKING TO sell your home in a matter of days rather than months, you might want to take some tips from 32-year-old Mona Ross Berman. To get her Washington, D.C., townhouse ready for sale in early 2004, the interior designer went through every room, sweating the details. She rearranged furniture, added sophisticated coffee-table books and strategically placed vases and throw pillows to create a cozy environment. She then organized every closet to showcase her ample storage space. Finally, she removed all personal items, including her wedding photos, so potential buyers wouldn't associate the house with someone else. "I think that if you can get a home to show well, it can get you [better results] than it really should," Berman says. Her strategy worked. Within four days of placing her property on the market, she had five offers in hand. Long gone are the days when you can simply throw some cookie dough into the oven and get an offer for your house. Thanks to the Internet, home buyers are more sophisticated and demanding than ever before. At a bare minimum, would-be sellers need to dispose of clutter and make any necessary repairs. But to really make a property stand out from the crowd and sell quickly, sellers might need to do the following. 1. Hire an Interior Designer A well-decorated home will sell faster and for more money than one that looks frumpy. That's why more and more sellers are hiring interior designers to do everything from rearrange furniture and paint walls a neutral color to rent artwork. This service, known as "staging," can cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars for a small job to several thousand dollars for high-end properties, says Patricia Dugan, a realtor with The Corcoran Group. Experts across the country agree that the investment is worthwhile for most properties. According to 2002 data from Coldwell Banker, staged homes in the San Francisco Bay area spent just 25.3 days on the market and sold at the asking price, while "non-staged" homes languished on the market for 48.2 days and sold for 2% below the asking price. This information is based on more than 3,000 homes sold between Jan. 1, 2002 and Oct. 31, 2002. 2. Hire an Organizer A lovely décor will get you only so far. To really get the buyers chomping at the bit, you need to highlight your home's storage space as well. That means everything should be clean and organized — closets, bathroom vanities, the garage and basement. It might sound trivial, but your home's sale really could rest on whether your linen closets can comfortably store your towels. If you identify more with Oscar Madison of "The Odd Couple" than with Felix Ungar, it might make sense to hire a professional organizer for $75 to $100 an hour. This is especially helpful for those who've lived in their homes for many years and don't know how to dig themselves out of the mess. Some organizers will even help run a yard sale that could end up paying for their services. If you're not sure how to find this type of service, ask your realtor. Most have a list of pros at their fingertips. 3. Hire a Photographer Up to 74% of home buyers start their search online, according to the National Association of Realtors. Indeed, the Web has become such an important marketing tool that all the realtors we spoke with encourage their clients to hire a professional photographer, which can cost as little as $100, for their online snapshots. Think of it this way: If someone doesn't like how your home looks on the Web, he or she won't bother to make an appointment to see the property in person. Is that a risk you're willing to take? While putting photographs online isn't exactly new, there are some emerging trends. Six years ago it was OK to have one outside shot of the house, says Tara Rogers, director of marketing for Real Living, a Columbus, Ohio-based real-estate firm. Now, some potential buyers want to see up to a 10-picture slideshow detailing multiple rooms before they commit to a walk-through, she says. Dare to post small, grainy pictures, and risk little foot traffic in your home. 4. Try Marketing Gimmicks Despite impressive national home-sale figures, some local markets are starting to soften. For example, homes in the western suburbs of Boston are starting to languish on the market for up to 90 days after previously selling in just 15 to 30, says Nelson Zide, co-owner of ERA Key Realty Services, a Framingham, Mass.-based real-estate brokerage. Zide recently started implementing marketing gimmicks to increase the number of potential buyers to walk through his clients' homes. "I haven't done this in 12 or 13 years," he says. What strategies does he use? Rather than slash the asking price, he might encourage condo owners, for example, to pay the maintenance fees for a full year, or ask home owners to provide buyers with a cash rebate that's marketed as a decorating allowance. Nine times out of 10, such gimmicks cost less than it would to drop the asking price enough to attract a buyer with a smaller budget, says Zide. It's just one more way to get a potential buyer excited about your home. 5. Hold Open Houses The benefits of an open house are debatable. Industry experts agree that they tend to benefit realtors more than home owners. (After all, it's a great way for realtors to get new clients.) But that doesn't mean that they can't work. The key is to hold them at various times of the day and week so that folks with busy schedules can squeeze in a viewing. Real Living's Rogers says her company's agents make sure to schedule open houses on Saturdays, as well as in the evenings so people can stop by after work. Another technique more people are implementing is to hold open houses at the time of day when their house shows the best. If you have a beautiful garden, show it off during the morning before the flowers start to wilt. If you have a stunning view of the sunset, make sure people get to see the late-afternoon light. In other words, if there's one thing that you love most about your home, be sure to share it with potential buyers. For more on selling your home, read our recent article . 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Land Loan

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Rental Property

Luxury Vail Vacation Home Rentals :: Vail Vacation Condo Rentals Vail Activities Make Sure To Ask About The Peak Properties Vail Cookbook! Exclusive Vacation Rentals Vail Colorado Rental Properties Planning a vacation? Colorado has a wide variety of both indoor and outdoor activities and Vail tops the list of vacation hot spots! With amazing skiing, hiking, biking, dining, shopping and sight-seeing Vail, Colorado offers real world charm in a relaxing atmosphere. Peak Properties proudly offers an impressive portfolio of Vail Valley vacation rentals. From well appointed condominiums , to luxurious private residences with prestigious addresses, Peak Properties is your home away from home. Our dedicated staff will work with you to ensure a memorable vacation experience. Whether you are planning a winter/spring ski trip or a visit during the beautiful summer months, Peak Properties is able to fulfill your lodging needs year round. Let us make your dream vacation a reality. Come experience all that Vail has to offer, from the legendary Back Bowls to award winning cuisine, boutiques, spas and art galleries, Vail has it all. We are delighted to have the opportunity to welcome you to Vail, Colorado as our guest, and we look forward to assisting you in planning the perfect Rocky Mountain vacation. Featuring a full concierge service, we are happy to accommodate your every request. Enjoy the very best that a Vail, Colorado vacation has to offer in one of our unique condo or home rentals . We have added property ratings to all of our properties. Each of our rental properties was inspected by the Vail Valley Chamber & Tourism Bureau and rated based on the Lodging Quality Assurance Program guidelines. Properties are given ratings based on the interior room quality. View an explanation of property ratings . Let Our Vail Condo or Vail Vacation Home complete your Colorado Vacation VAIL COLORADO PROPERTY MAP - LOW QUALITY VAIL MAP .PDF / HIGH QUALITY VAIL MAP .PDF Vail Homes | Vail Condos | Rental Rates Book Online | Concierge | | Contact Us Contact Us | Partners | Careers | Disclaimer | Privacy Policy © 2004 Peak Properties. All Rights Reserved. .

Texas Land Trusts Top

TPWD: News Release — Nov. 24, 2003/Texas Land Trusts Top 1-Million Mark in Acres Conserved Maincontent Local Navigation print friendly search Regulations Publications Outdoor Learning Kids Game Warden Grants Get Involved Shop FAQ Calendar Español Experience Texas Fishing & Boating State Parks & Destinations Hunting & Wildlife Land & Water Doing Business Home Land & Water Land Private Tltc News Articles Links: What's a Lone Star Land Steward? Preserving Texas's Cultural Heritage Turning Brownfields Green Private Landowners Wildlife/Agricultural Tax Exemption Nov. 24, 2003 Texas Land Trusts Top 1-Million Mark in Acres Conserved AUSTIN, Texas -- Private landowners working with Texas land trusts have now conserved more than 1,307,681 acres of land, according to new statistics from the Texas Land Trust Council. The new acreage total sets another record, an increase from last year’s record total of 995,122 acres, a figure roughly comparable to the size of the entire Texas State Parks system. There are 39 land trusts in Texas. Some are national organizations with active Texas chapters, such as The Nature Conservancy and the Trust for Public Land. But most are regional groups unique to Texas, such as the Katy Prairie Conservancy and the Valley Land Fund. “Land trusts have sometimes been behind-the-scenes players, working quietly but effectively to protect open space and wildlife habitat,” said Robert L. Cook, TPWD executive director. “But today the visibility and conservation role of land trusts in our state is growing. These organizations are increasingly important to private landowners who are looking for help to address our biggest threat to wildlife, which is loss of habitat.” According to the Natural Resource Conservation Service’s 1997 National Resources Inventory, Texas led the nation during the 1990s in converting rural prairies, forests and coastline into shopping centers and houses, farms and factories. Texas loses about 283 square miles of rural open space to development each year. Land trusts join ranchers and other landowners together to combat these threats, and they represent the fastest growing conservation movement today, according to Carolyn Vogel, who works with the Texas Land Trust Council at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. “With Texans searching for ways to address conservation at the local level, the number of land trusts has multiplied with 22 new land trusts established in Texas in the past 12 years,” she said. The Protected Lands Inventory Survey asked Texas land trust members about acres conserved in their operating area, conservation methods used, and conservation purposes such as providing wildlife habitat or protecting water quality. Lands conserved include cactus-studded deserts, mile-high mountains, sunny coasts and dense forests. “Today Texas has close to 21 million people,” said John Hamilton, Texas Land Trust Council board president. “In 25 years, the population is expected to grow by 50 percent to more than 30 million people. Our open spaces are under tremendous stress that is only going to multiply.” For a directory of Texas land trusts, plus information about tools such as conservation easements and links to other resources, see the Texas Land Trust Council Web pages ( http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/landwater/land/private/tltc/ ). TH 11/24/2003 Contact Us | Help | Accessibility | Media | Site Policies | Complaints | Intranet | State of Texas | TRAILS Search | TexasOnline | Compact with Texans Texas Parks and Wildlife Department , 4200 Smith School Road, Austin, TX 78744 Toll Free: (800) 792-1112, Austin: (512) 389-4800 Content of this site © Texas Parks and Wildlife Department unless otherwise noted. Last modified: October 12, 2005, 12:46 pm

foreclosure property There are

Is Foreclosure Investing for You? Online Catalog | Shopping Cart HOME | Foreclosure Investing | Short Sales | Articles | Financing | Commercial | Mobile Homes | Cash Flow | Legal | News Group CRE Online > Money-Making Ideas > Is Foreclosure Investing for You? Is Foreclosure Investing for You? by Ronald Starr If you are new to real estate investing and considering buying foreclosure properties, you need to be realistic about what you are facing. If you feel more sober about foreclosure investing after reading what I have written below, I will have accomplished my goal. Foreclosure investing is not a good investment approach for beginners. I recommend that you have at least a couple of years' experience with more traditional real estate investing first. The profits from foreclosure investing can be huge. That makes foreclosures attractive. There is an awful lot to know in order to avoid the problems that can occur. If you don't know what you are doing, one disastrous foreclosure investment can wipe out your capital and your enthusiasm for all real estate investing. Three ways to buy a foreclosure property There are three basic approaches to buying properties in foreclosure depending on the stage of the foreclosure process: buying pre-foreclosures, buying at the foreclosure auction, and buying from lender after the foreclosure sale. If you buy from the delinquent property owner before it goes to auction, you have bought a pre-foreclosure deal. Buying at the auction is self-explanatory. If nobody bids, the lender ends up with the property. Buying from the lender after the auction is called buying REOs (real estate owned) or Repos, (repossessions). Sometimes you will see them referred to as "corporation owned" or, my favored term, "lender owned." REOs are the least risky way to buy foreclosures You may have more risk than you would in a regular real estate transaction, but REOs are less risky than in buying at the auction. Since REOs are somewhat similar to a regular sale, they can be pretty safe. You might not get a seller's disclosure. In California, a lender who acquires a property through foreclosure does not have to offer a disclosure to you as a buyer. But, if there are problems after you buy the property, you might be able to sue the lender who sold you the property, or at least threaten to sue them, and they might make things right or pay part of the cost. There's a good chance they will still be around after the sale. The risks of buying pre-foreclosure real estate The next riskiest foreclosure purchase is the pre-foreclosure. If an owner of a pre-foreclosure disappears, you risk not getting anything from him after the sale. A pre-foreclosure seller might be desperate and lie to you about the condition of the property and the neighborhood. There might be liens on the property that the seller "forgot" to mention. The big utility bills become the buyer's responsibility if the pre-foreclosure investor failed to check them out. Ditto for unpaid property taxes. There may be another person on title who did not sign the deed, and so on. In California and, I believe, some other states, there are special laws related to dealing with and buying a property from a homeowner occupant who is in default on a loan. If the contracts and the sale are not done according to the law, the seller has the right to rescind the sale and could, long after the sale, sue to have the sale reversed. There are extreme penalties for violating the law. Remember, "Ignorance of the law is no excuse." You need to know the state law when you do pre-foreclosure investing. Can the seller can legally deed the property to you? What if the seller is already in bankruptcy? The deed is likely not valid unless it has gone through the bankruptcy court. You have to call the local bankruptcy court to check for a possible filing. And, of course, the seller could have filed bankruptcy in another bankruptcy court that you did not call. And, even if the seller does not file bankruptcy until after your purchase, you may have to deed the property back to the seller up to three years after you bought it. If selling the property made the seller destitute, and the seller sold for much below market value--which you hope he did so you could make a good profit--the bankruptcy trustee can require you to deed the property into the bankruptcy estate on the grounds that the sale was a "fraudulent transfer," wherein the seller deprived his creditors of an asset which could help pay the debts. At that point, you become a creditor of the bankruptcy estate. Is this really what you planned when you bought the "great pre-foreclosure deal"? A lot of pre-foreclosure buyers may forego some of the inspections because they are hurrying to buy before the foreclosure auction. Sometimes the buyers will give money to the owner, get a deed, and record the deed themselves in the land records office of the county. The pre-foreclosure buyer has to be very alert to a lot of possibilities and check them out. You must have superior knowledge of real estate investing before you start doing pre-foreclosure investing. But, if you sign a proper sales contract with the owner, get appropriate inspections, go through an escrow with a knowledgeable escrow agent, and look at the property yourself, you probably will not be at great risk. If you use the safeguards above, you are going to have less risk than in most foreclosure auction buys. The risk of buying at the foreclosure auction Buying at the auction is the riskiest foreclosure purchase. At the auction you have no real estate agent to lead you through the process. You have no escrow and no title report let alone title insurance. In most jurisdictions it is an all cash sale. In some states you may have a week to a month to come up with the full purchase price. If you do not raise the money, you lose your deposit. At the auction the people conducting the sale will announce that the successful bidder will receive NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. You have no assurance that there are not other liens or loans on the property. You do not have any inspections by contractors, roofers, pest inspectors, building inspections, water well, or septic system experts. You get no disclosure from the seller as to the condition of the building or what is happening in the neighborhood. Usually you cannot see the inside of the building; perhaps not even the back of the outside. You know nothing about the electrical system, the plumbing, the heating, or air conditioning. If you buy an occupied property, you have to do an eviction, which, in some states, can drag out for a while, preventing you from getting into the property quickly to prepare for resale. Sometimes the occupants, if they are former owners, will vandalize the properties before leaving or steal items, such as cabinets, doors, fixtures, lamps, etc. If you are buying to resell the property quickly for a profit, you had better know if your buyer can readily get title insurance when buying your foreclosed-upon property. When you get a very good deal at a foreclosure auction, you may find that the former owner files a lawsuit to attempt to overturn the sale. So be prepared to hire an attorney and fight for your profit. Experience and knowledge build your foundation Now do you begin to understand why I recommend that beginners not start investing in foreclosures? Start with simpler buying approaches and get some experience with properties, laws, ordinances, deeds, and loans, and so on to provide a foundation. Learn to do title searches as fast as the professionals. Get to know intimately the government offices that have property records and tax assessment rolls. Get to know the property values in an area where you invest. Learn about the problems with properties in different neighborhoods, such as bad soil, poor construction in certain subdivisions, problems with septic systems and wells, and soil contamination. When you have learned all that, start studying up on foreclosures. Study the foreclosure laws in your state. Study law books on the priority of liens, bidding at auctions, title insurance, and bankruptcy. When you fully understand foreclosures, start buying them. I am not trying to stop you from investing in foreclosures. They can be profitable for those who can practice it well. But, few beginners can do it well. I'm telling you to be realistic and get the background that will allow you to be successful in foreclosure investing. The field is rife with risk. You can easily lose your whole investment if you make a single mistake. Please believe me, even with all my years of real estate investing experience, it has happened to me. Good Investing, Ron Starr MORE INFORMATION More on this topic... Customers also bought...