Daily Real Estate Stories

The Back Bay is one of the most unique neighborhoods in the world. The apartments in the Back Bay offer a taste of Boston old & new. Basically, there are 2 choices when it comes to apartments in the Back Bay: brownstones & luxury buildings . The brownstones offer a taste to Old World Yankee Boston, and many of them are historic landmarks. They usually have high ceilings, crown moldings, fireplaces, bay windows, and are absolutely beautiful inside. The brownstones in the Back Bay were originally single-family residences for “Boston Brahmins” — who were considered the Boston Elite.

Now, these single families have been chopped up into condos & apartments, and many have been renovated to be ultra modern. Rental prices usually around $2,000 for a 1-bedroom, and $1300 for a studio; 2-bedroom brownstones in the Back Bay normally are around $2600 — however, many factors must be taken into consideration including views, height in the building, renovations, and many more factors. There are many beautiful streets in the Back Bay, and are set up in a grid system. The Back Bay actually used to be a swamp, but was developed with landfill in the 1800’s. The architecture in the Back Bay is different from a lot of the other neighborhoods in Boston, which date back to the 1600’s. Commonwealth Ave, Beacon Street, Newbury Street, Boylston Street, Huntington Ave, and Marlborough Street are 6 major streets in the Back Bay

The other option in the Back Bay is the modern luxury concierge building. Luxury units for sale are usually in the multi-millions. The 1 bed apt rentals in these buildings normally start around $2,000/mo. for a 1 bedroom, and can be high as $25,000/mo. for an apartment! These buildings normally feature a doorman, concierge, and indoor garage parking (which is rare in the Back Bay, since Boston was here long before cars were even imagined!). Some of the top luxury buildings in the Back Bay include the Colonnade Residences on Huntington Ave, the Avalon apartments in Copley Square, Exeter Towers apartments on Newbury Street, the Greenhouse apartments on Huntington Ave, the Church Park apartments across from Symphony Hall, and many more. For more information on apts for rent or condos for sale in the Back Bay, visit bostoncityproperties.com. Boston City Properties is one of Boston’s premier real estate brokerages, and is located in Copley Square, in the heart of the Back Bay of Downtown Boston.

For More information, visit: Back Bay Boston Apartments

Just when the prices of single-family homes have soared in Florida, the number of townhouses has multiplied throughout the state.

Usually defined as a cross between a condo and a single-family home, townhouses offer the best of both worlds, because they are detached units with private entrances, but do not have landscaping for the individual owner to take care of.

In the South Florida region, as the housing industry continues to rise up from the damage brought about by the condominium boom, townhouses have become the replacement material for high-rise development, note local housing market observers. The same thing also happened in the city of Aventura in the 1980s after an earlier condominium boom,as the area’s original developer built townhouses near the Turnberry Isle golf course during the downturn in the condo market.

The Rise In Townhouse Development A Reaction To High Land And Construction Costs

Looking at the rest of the state, townhouse development is viewed not so much as a reaction to the condo boom gone bust, but as a reaction to higher land and construction costs, which have attributed to to the skyrocketing of prices in single-family homes.

In the Tampa/St. Petersburg region the overall housing market has weakened, however the developments in the townhouse market have gone in the opposite direction according to market watchers. At the end of June 2005, the area had a 2.4-month supply of townhouses in the Tampa/St. Petersburg market, but as of June 30, 2006, there was only a 1.6 month supply because of the rising demand for these units.

Housing analysts noted that as of June 30, 2006, the area had 4,433 townhouse closings during the previous 12 months, as compared to just 1,363 closings as of June 30, 2003; 1,834 closings as of June 30, 2004; and 3,131 as of June 30, 2005. These days, more families than ever are moving into townhouses in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area, and though much lower-priced condo conversions appeal to the same market, developers here have converted 15,000 apartments into condos in the last several years.

South Florida Also Sees A Rise In Townhouse Development

The South Florida region has also seen a huge increase in the development of townhouses in the past couple of years because of a shortage of land, notes housing market watchers.

The total number of townhouse development as a percentage of total housing production has rapidly grown for the past five or six years in South Florida, while in the Treasure Coast, the increase in townhouse development has only been apparent in the last three years. According to a local housing developer who specializes in townhouses and single-family homes, two years ago their firm built 100 townhouses at the Wyndham Park development in West Palm Beach. Then, a year and a half ago, began the Sail Harbour development, which has 473 townhouses.

All of those units sold out, notes local market watchers. Meanwhile, condominium conversions of mostly garden-style apartments compete with new townhouses here, since they are offered in the same price range, which are sometimes quite cheaper than new townhouse units, analysts add, because before these were converted, the apartments rented for $800 to $1,200 a month.

http://miamirealestatetrends.com - Florida Real Estate

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In Part 1 of Real Estate Investment, Pre-Acquisition Phase, Information Gathering I have shown why this is one of the most difficult phases, with far reaching impact on the entire outcome of a Property Investment. Based on your Investment Philosophy, the Property Market Research and the findings from your information gathering you will make first adjustments in the ranking of your pre-selected property. This second part of the article series will help to further determine which property would be the right choice.

I will provide some sources of generally available information about properties and the area they are located, e.g. rent tables. They are used to determine if the property is at its prime rent level or even at risk of being over-rented in the current property market. Is there a possible upside on the income side or has the property been set up for a sale by incentivized renting to produce high rental income? Berlin is the local market with the highest relevance in Germany this article will focus on Berlin. In other regions and cities in Germany there is similar information available.

You will see [Tool] in the text. This indicates tools that will be provided in a more detailed e-book to be published early 2008.

Rent Information

Probably the most useful source of information on residential rents is the official rent table (“Mietspiegel“). For commercial rents the chamber of commerce will give guidelines but you have to keep in mind that the chamber of commerce is business minded which in this case will be their paying members, the tenants.

In this article I will focus on the residential property market as the more regulated sector. The rent table is important in two ways: It gives you a first indication of the rent level of your property compared to properties of the same age and standard in comparable areas. At the same time it marks the legal limits of rent raises in the near future. The rent table is re-issued every two years based on micro census and statistics and as a result of a political process involving tenants’ and owners’ representation. It constitutes part of the legal framework for rent raises and their limitations. It applies to existing contracts only. For new rentals you can ask whatever the market will accept.

An obvious publc source of information are “for rent” or “to let” ads. There are several online portals easily available. Keeping in mind that the rents quoted there are sometimes a wish list rather than reality it is important to look up at least 10 similar offers to develop an understanding for the market tendencies. These figures will most likely be higher than the rent table figures.

Why is this relevant to my purchase? The information gleaned from the analysis of the rent table and ads will let you determine the

• likelihood of improvements on the rental income (upside) or;
• risk of possible yield erosion if the rent is currently pushed to the limit or beyond.

The evaluation of upsides and risks will enable you to review your Key Investment Parameters [Tool] you have set at the beginning of the Information Gathering process (see Part 1 of this article).

Operational Cost Information In principle there are two basic types of rental contracts:

• All inclusive contracts with heating and ancillary cost included in the rent and fully born by the owner (Brutto-Warm-Mietvertrag)
• Net rent plus ancillary cost and heating advance payments with balance at the end of the year (Nettomiete mit Nebenkostenvorschüssen). For more information on translations and abbreviations common in the German property market also refer to German English Property Glossary.

There are variations with regard to the heating (coal heating, central heating per apartment etc.) which will need to be considered but are not relevant to the description of the general process at this point. For both contract types you need reliable information about the actual costs for the property. In the case of the inclusive contract it is obvious as you will have to cover the costs from the incoming rent. In the case of the net plus contract you might be forced to ask the tenants for high bulk payments if the advances are not calculated high enough. If your rent is already relatively high this might drive your tenants out and produce vacancy and renting costs at the beginning of the investment.

For cross reference on the operational cost you can again use the rent table which provides crude benchmarks for ancillary and heating cost. Also reference to experienced property managers or property consultants can give some idea about the appropriate cost level.

Next Steps The operational cost is one of the key areas for the Commercial Due Diligence for any property you want to take to the next phase. Another main topic is entries in the deeds register:

• Is the property located in an urban redevelopment area?
• Is it currently subsidized or was it in the past?
• Are the bank securities higher than the asking price?

The next part of this article series will provide a list of questions to be answered by the Commercial Due Diligence and how all the findings can be best used in negotiations and Smart Purchase Contracts.

The author is a Berliner and active in the German property market for more than 25 years. Experienced as project manager, developer and head of the German Business for a UK based property consultancy he now owns and operates Berlin Portfolio Ltd His international background and local expertise is an ideal combination for an international investor. For Property Search we recommend Properties in Berlin

Finding out that you are renting a house that is facing foreclosure can be deeply worrisome. And the worst part is that there are so many questions that you may never receive a response to from your landlord and have to begin researching on your own.

How far along is the process? Has the house already been sold at sheriff sale? Who is the current owner of the property? Which bank is the foreclosing lender? Can you get more time to move out? Or has the landlord been working on a solution?

But the most common question that tenants seem to have when they discover their apartment or rental house is in foreclosure is if they still have to pay rent or not. Of course, this is a serious question, but it is more important to know who should be paid, rather than if a payment should me made at all.

The short answer is that you are still required to pay rent since you are still living in the property and using the space you are leasing from the current owners. You have a contractual obligation to pay rent in exchange for the living space, and foreclosure does not change that until ownership is transferred through a public property auction.

If you are concerned about the foreclosure, then you have two options, both of which you should work on. First you can either move out as soon as possible to avoid potentially being evicted later on, or, second, you should talk to the landlord about what he is doing about the situation and any possible solutions to foreclosure.

Some landlords are able to stop the foreclosure process before the house is auctioned off, and then you would just be behind on rent if you stopped paying now and they saved the home. You would probably end up losing your deposit in that case, since nonpayment is one reason you had to put down the deposit in the first place, and you may open yourself up to lawsuits for back rent payments.

You can also move out of the house claiming constructive eviction, which means the conditions made it so unlivable that there was no other choice than to break the lease and leave. If the owner does not give you your deposit back, you can try to sue for it later on. You would just have to convince the small claims court that a pending foreclosure was a reason to move out prematurely.

A final aspect of the process to be aware of is after the sheriff sale, the bank may become the owner of the property and rent payments will need to be made either to a trustee or the lender’s attorneys. Most often, banks will attempt to evict anyone still living in the house after the auction, but if there is a chance to continue renting, it may be best to consider the circumstances.

But you do not just want to stop paying rent unless you have the correct information about the foreclosure proceedings, what the owner is doing about it, or a game plan for moving out and claiming constructive eviction. Otherwise, refusing to pay rent because of a pending foreclosure may have negative unintended consequences, depending on how the rest of the legal process plays out.

The ForeclosureFish website has been created to provide homeowners in danger of losing their houses with relevant and important foreclosure solutions and resources. The site describes various methods that may be used to save a home, such as defenses against predatory lending, how to discover lender misconduct, stopping a sheriff sale, and more. Visit the site to read more articles about how foreclosure works and how to recover after overcoming a financial hardship: http://www.foreclosurefish.com/

While this is a buyer’s market, home shoppers may prefer to rent or lease this year, even if they can afford to buy.

We are in one of the best buyer’s markets for real estate in recent memory, as the inventory of listed but unsold property swells and prices for homes plummet. Recent data from official reports compiled by the government and housing market trade groups confirms that we are in for more price declines and even happier hunting ground for home buyers.

• Statistics supporting that outlook include a 14 percent drop in home sales, the largest decline in 20 years, as recently reported by CNN.
• There is also an 11-month inventory of unsold listings on the market, which means that if no new “for sale” signs went up in yards across the USA, it could still take 11 months to sell off the houses that are currently on the market.
• Another way to view that data is to understand that in a typical balanced market - where the number of buyers and sellers is about the same and supply and demand is essentially equal - it takes about four weeks to sell as house.
• An 11-month inventory means that the time it takes to sell a house might be as high as 40 months, which is more than 10 times the norm for a healthy market.
• This year 25 psrcent of all home sales have been foreclosures, a remarkable statistic that means that one out of every four houses for sale these days is a foreclosure.

What all this means for buyers is that things are not getting better in the housing market, they are getting worse. Most economists and industry experts expect the decline to continue through at least the end of the year and perhaps well into 2009.

So if you are thinking of buying, patience and time are probably on your side. Instead of rushing out to buy, you may want to sit on the sidelines as a renter and wait for even cheaper prices, a greater selection of inventory, and more giveaways and incentives from homebuilders and desperate homeowners. Use the time wisely, however, to take full advantage of the market. Browse throughout the year, for instance, and stay informed of changes and trends that might substantially affect the direction of prices. If they start to go up you might need to step in and buy, but if they continue downward you will want to know what constitutes a true bargain in the newer low-priced environment.

More importantly, work on lining up your mortgage financing. Lenders have revoked many of their products and have gotten much more conservative about lending policies, so it is much easier to have your loan application rejected based on your income or credit score. Shore up your credit, sock away from savings for a bigger down payment, and begin to compare and contrast the various mortgage company terms, rates, and closing costs. By shopping carefully for not just the house but also the financing, you can save even more money when you finally convert from a renter to an owner.

They say that time is money. This year that may be especially true for buyers who take their time and make more money by doing so.

Rich Thomas writes for TenantForeclosure.com and CheckForForeclosure.com, a set of services that offers the opportunity to tenants and renters to get the notice that could make a difference when they become affected by landlord foreclosures.

If you’re an investor, hold onto your hat and get yourself ready to sell your beautiful newly rehabbed properties to a plethora of motivated buyers, the like of which have not been seen since 2005; and if you’re a buyer, take advantage while you can. Interest rates and prices are already low– this is the second layer of icing on the cake!

Here’s how it works:

Eligibility:

1) Cannot currently own a home or have purchased one in the last three years.

2) Must buy the home between April 9, 2008 and June 30, 2009 (even though this bill was just passed, buyers have a little less than a year to take advantage of this).

3) Can be used for any house, in any price, in any real estate market.

Overview:

1) $7,500 credit, or refund, on 2008, 2009 taxes (Yes! You can get up to a $7,500 additional refund next April!).

2) Must buy (close on) a house before next June 30 to claim a credit of up to 10% of the purchase price of the property up to a maximum of $7,500.

3) If your adjusted gross income exceeds $150,000 ($75,000 for singles), the credit maximum begins to phase down in increments.

Who Benefits:

1) Hundreds of thousands of buyers across the country.

2) Hundreds of thousands of sellers (including rehab investors).

Other requirements:

1) You cannot be a nonresident alien.

2) You cannot have financed the property using a state or local housing agency tax-exempt bond mortgage.

3) You must use the house as a principle residence.

4) Beneficiary must repay credit/refund (like an interest free loan over 15 years, for example– but, if you sell the house and can’t pay it back then there is no obligation.

Bottom line: The inventory of homes is available to more buyers and when they buy, the sellers, in turn, will also be buying a replacement home or investment.

This is a once in a life time opportunity for many buyers and a blessing for some sellers. As an investor you have to be very excited by this additional assistance you have in attracting more buyers while the real estate market is slow. But remember, this bill is going to shift the market more to that which benefits sellers, and for you rehabbers, that may affect the discounts you can get when buying.

For more home buying information contact Shawn Hutchison:
hutch@montgomerywholesaleproperty.com For great discount and wholesale investment properties, visit: http://www.MontgomeryWholesaleProperty.com and
http://www.AcmeInvestmentProperty.com

Choose whether your second home will make financial sense.

Whether or not you think yourself as an investor, you without a doubt want your second home purchase to be a financial move. Yet lots of second homeowners criticize that the house price are more than they’d imagined. You’ll would like to tally up your possible expenses, develop building up your money reserve, and, if you decide on renting out your property, conclude how much you will you expect from the rental income.

Choose where, and what kind of home you’ll purchase.

A home in a poorly chosen location will not serve anybody’s goals-an investor can’t sell and rent it, an vacationer won’t take pleasure of it, and future retiree might have to lift up and move again. You’ll have to rely on market research and your personal preferences. The kind of home you purchase is likewise important. The burden of owning single family home is diverse from those of owning the condominium, townhouse, or co-op.

Think about tax implications prior you take the plunge.

Taxes on the second home approach in all shapes and sizes. However, you can, with advance planning, can save thousands of dollars per year in taxes. For instance, sometimes purchasing a home over a town’s border can considerably trim your yearly property tax bill.

Come up with temporary cash and long-standing financing.

The majority of the people shell out for their home with the combination of down payment and loan for their remaining amount. More higher your down payment, lower will be the loan, and therefore more house you can afford. To come up with the down payment cash you might need to get innovative. Most buyers will need to acquire a home loan in order to help them with the remaining finances. Number of mortgage alternatives accessible today can make anybody’s head spin. And a few of them might entice you into very risky actions, like paying only the interest that you owe for some months or years, just to be walloped with the large, lump sum compensation towards the end of the loan period. Though, by reviewing different mortgage options and trial payment lists, and factoring in your personal short- and long-term goals, you can choose a mortgage kind that suits you.

Take steps to look after your second home savings

Whether you are buying the second home as pure investment, for weekend getaway, or for the place to get pleasure from your retirement, it is an investment in spite of everything. Protecting your savings starts prior you buy and continue afterwards. For instance, you’ll desire to get a correct home check before purchasing the property, in order to deal with the repair issues up front as well as get little sense of what repairs might be alarming. You might want to purchase the title insurance in case of the problems like past claims on the property surface when the purchase is done. Taking these defensive steps will not only look after your home, but also your peace of mind.

Giuseppe Urso
Vacation Rentals trip in a click.

In some real estate markets today, it is very expensive to buy a detached single family home. What’s more, many people do not want the responsibility and work associated with owning a home and surrounding land. A great solution to these problems in many cases is the purchase of a condominium. Condos allow people to be homeowners without many of the pricy drawbacks. There are several things to consider though before deciding whether a condo is the right choice for you.

First, take a look at the benefits of buying a condo. Condos are almost always more affordable than single family units. This is because you are essentially splitting a lot of the home-owning costs with your neighbors. Individually you own the space within your own walls, but collectively you own the exterior and common areas with all of the condominium residents.

Another benefit is that you never have to do another day of gardening or lawn-moving if you don’t want to. Your condominium association will take care of the maintenance of the grounds and any building-wide repairs. Being a condo owner typically means a whole lot less work in terms of home maintenance and upkeep.

Buying a condo also means cheaper insurance premiums, although you will have to pay two separate accounts. Generally, your condominium association will require you to pay some money on the group insurance policy that covers the overall structure and amenities of the complex. Your individual policy will be much more affordable, however, than a single-family homeowner’s would be. You will only have to insure the things and features within your own condominium housing in addition to getting liability insurance.

And as already mentioned, condos usually have several great common areas and amenities that you can take advantage of. These might include a pool, hot tub, tennis courts, a club house, and other recreational areas. Because of the fees you pay, you get full access to these features and they are maintained by the association.

There are some potential disadvantages to buying a condo instead of a single family home though. One such drawback is the fees for the condominium association. With a house, you can escape such extra charges if you don’t buy in a homeowners’ association area. The fee charged by condominiums generally increase over time to compensate for inflation, but they can be subject to dramatic jumps depending other factors.

You may also miss the privacy that comes from living in your own detached home. In a condo, your neighbors are only separated from you by a few walls. Sounds and sometimes even smells from nearby units can make their way into your place.

On the flip side, there are also lots of rules that you must abide by if you live in a condo. The association usually stipulates how loud you can be, what type of hours you can keep, what kind of pets you can have, and so forth. Condos definitely do not offer the same kind of personal freedom that a traditional house would.

Finally, a condo is often harder to sell than a single family home. Condos are much more susceptible to market fluctuations and in a slow market, the sales are usually even slower.

Obviously a condo purchase is not for every one, but it is the right choice for many. Be sure to really hammer out your own preferences before making the decision to go with a condo.

Purchase of a condo is different from buying a single family home. Asheville NC real estate helps you decide better by considering all factors before purchase. To find an experienced estate agent in your area, visit Preferred Real Estate Center online at http://www.preferredrealestatecenter.com

The term “real estate short sale” is being bandied about more and more as of late. Read the newspapers, or turn on the TV and the odds are high that you will come across stories about declining real estate market conditions and the increasing willingness of banks and other financial institutions to consider real estate short sales as an alternative to foreclosure.

In all parts of the country, real estate prices are down and the time it takes to sell properties has risen dramatically. It is no exaggeration to say that some regions are experiencing a virtual market meltdown (the Detroit market is one good example). Declining real estate markets are the primary reason for the rise in short sale real estate opportunities.

So, what is a real estate short sale? A real estate short sale is when a bank agrees to allow a property to be sold for less than the amount owed on it. There are two conditions that must be met before a bank is likely to approve a real estate short sale:

1. Market values are such that the property’s sale price cannot cover the outstanding mortgage balance(s).
2. The owners find themselves unable to continue to make mortgage payments on the property.

As an example, suppose a property was purchased five years ago for $217,000 with an adjustable rate mortgage. Let’s say that two years after purchasing the property the owners took out an additional $10,000 second mortgage, which means that today the owners owe $227,000 on the property (note that in five years the amount that the mortgages would have been paid down is negligible).

Further assume that the property is in a part of the country where market values have fallen to $215,000 for comparable properties, and that the adjustable mortgage interest rate has recently increased from 7% to 11%. Finally, add the fact that one of the owners has just lost her job and the makings of a real estate short sale situation become apparent.

Rather than go through the expense and time delays that a foreclosure proceeding would require, the bank may decide that allowing a short sale makes more sense in the long run — better to have a known amount of money now and the property off of the bank’s books than an unknown amount of money at some distant point in the future. Of course there are numerous complications to the process that can arise, such as when multiple owners and/or multiple lenders cannot agree to the terms and conditions of a sale, but in a nut-shell that is the gist of a real estate short sale.

While a real estate short sale is an unfortunate and unpleasant experience for an owner forced to go through the process, it’s not the end of the world and it’s better than having a foreclosure on one’s credit report. On the other side of the coin, a real estate short sale can often represent an excellent buying opportunity for the savvy real estate investor.

John A. Michailidis, Esq. is an attorney, real estate broker, investor, small business consultant, and author of the WealthLoop Series book, “Beginner’s Guide to Building Wealth Buying Houses” Learn more about foreclosures and real estate short sales at http://www.WealthLoop.com

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The Greek real estate market is currently one of the most exciting in the Mediterranean region because it offers real estate investors the chance to build an entire and well diversified property portfolio within one country.

The wealth of opportunities available in Greece for the international property investor really became known after the Athens Olympics in 2004. The promotion of Athens and mainland Greece to the wider world not only promoted the appeal of the country for investors, it resulted in a massive influx of tourists particularly to the mainland throughout 2004 and 2005.

Now add these growing tourism numbers to the large volume of visitors who annually holiday on the Greek islands and the total level of interest in this Mediterranean country has surged which has created more demand for rental and resale accommodation.

In terms of the immediate opportunities available to real estate investors they include commercial and retail investment property in the main cities of Greece - the majority of demand and the highest yielding assets are available in Athens - tourism accommodation to let out along the Greek coastline and in every resort on every Greek island, retirement and second home demand in the main Greek resorts and of course residential accommodation to rent across Greece particularly in the main employment hotspots. And for those who seek emerging market opportunities there’s the Peloponnese region of Greece where property investment is just beginning to return attractive dividends.

Another underlying factor supporting the appeal of Greece currently is the fact that large swathes of the real estate sector are highly competitively priced — especially when you compare the country to another Mediterranean favourite, namely Spain — this means that an investor can get far more for their money in Greece than elsewhere on the Med and are therefore potentially buying into a market with healthy room for growth.

As there are very few restrictions placed on the foreign freehold ownership of property in Greece and the property buying process is very straightforward, more and more investors looking for portfolio diversification opportunities are examining the wealth of opportunity in Greece currently and therefore Greece is emerging as the Mediterranean choice for real estate investors in 2006.

Rhiannon Williamson writes about real estate investment around the world and has just published information about the property buying process in Greece on her site http://www.AmberLamb.com