Visa Changes Should Help Chinese Buy US Property

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Investment in US real estate from overseas buyers could increase dramatically next year due to changes to the reciprocal US/China visa agreement. Students can be issued with five year multiple entry visas, while business travelers and tourists can be issued with ten year multiple entry visas.

These changes took effect earlier this month, and should make it easier for Chinese who wish to invest in US property. Often Chinese parents will purchase a home for children studying abroad, and the five year visa will also help students on a four year degree course.  Chinese investors who are currently undecided about purchasing US property should find these new changes encouraging.

According to the article in RisMedia, these changes could bring about a 15% increase in Chinese investment next year. Data from the NAR 2013 Profile of International Home Buying Activity shows the fastest-growing source of International clients has been from China and Canada. Real estate purchases by Chinese buyers have accounted for 12% of international transactions, and many of these are paid for in cash. Apparently Chinese buyers tend to look for property in the highest average price range and will pay cash around 70% of the time. Buyers have an average budget of $3 million and the median property purchase price is $425,000. This is much higher than the US median of $199,500. Popular areas for real estate investment by Chinese purchasers include Houston, Detroit, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and New York City.

Experts also point out that these recent changes to visas provide an opportunity for real estate agents as international buyers tend to greatly appreciate the knowledge and assistance conveyed by real estate agents. It’s not always necessary to be fluent in the overseas buyer’s native language. Home sellers may also prefer to find a real estate agent who markets their listings in China, as this is the fastest growing group of overseas buyers and could mean a quicker or better transaction for the seller. Real estate agents are also being advised to make international marketing part of their weekly business plan.

It’s thought that the extension of the student visa could have more impact on the US housing market than the changes to the business traveler and tourist visas, as a considerable number of Chinese students are educated in American schools. Even though every Chinese investor is in a slightly different situation, most will have an underlying belief in the US real estate market.

Minimizing Real Estate Investing Risk

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There are many real estate investing business models. Deciding on the one that is right for you determines the level risk you are willing to take with your investment money. Most investors decide between becoming a landlord or rehabbing and flipping middle-income houses. What few people consider is owner financing lower income houses. There’s more money to be made and lower risk with this real estate investing model.

Valuing Owner Financed Houses

Here’s where the big difference begins with owner-financed houses. The selling value of the house is NOT determined by comparables or assessed vale or an appraisal. The sales value of an owner financed home is closely associated with the dominate rents of the neighborhood. What’s important is that you find the right neighborhood to invest in. These are working class neighborhoods where people mostly live paycheck to paycheck but some manage to save a little for emergencies or towards a down payment on a house. These people might have $4,000 in the bank.

Let’s say it’s a typical family with two parents and two children and the parents are in their early 30s. They are renting a two or three bedroom apartment that is costing them $1,050 each month. They have noisy neighbors above them and below them and they have to fight for a decent parking spot when they come home from work every evening. They have the good old American dream of buying a home with a yard, a garage, and a white picket fence. However, in today’s real estate marketplace, these people can’t qualify for a traditional mortgage. Maybe they have a few blemishes on their credit score or more likely they don’t have the 20% to 25% down payment that the banks are requiring. The fact is these peopl

e don’t value the purchase cost of a home according to the appraised value nor comparable sales in the neighborhood. They value the purchase cost compared to what they are getting for their rent money. When you owner finance, you don’t need an appraisal nor do you have to show comparables. All you need is to come to an agreement on the sales price. When you can put these people in their own home for the same cost or less than they are paying in rent, most will jump at the chance.

How a Decent Deal Plays Out Financially

In most cities (especially mid-west cities and towns), there is an abundance of low cost houses that are ideal for owner financing to lower middle class and lower working class homebuyers. How a deal might work is you find a distressed seller needing to close a sale very fast. These are typically all cash sales. You need to have your financing in place before making the offer so that you can close in three days. Your financing is often a private lending source that you have built a relationship with and doesn’t require an appraisal. Today’s market is full of these private lenders.

The reason you don’t need an appraisal is because you’re going to buy the house for less than $25,000 and sell it for $45,000. You need to borrow the $25,000 but it’s secured by the $45,000 note and brings in an interest rate of between 8% and 10%. Why would a buyer pay $45,000 for a house you just bought for $25,000 and pay a high interest rate? It’s all about the cost to rent. Rent is costing the buyer $1,050 each month but buying the house with a whit picket fence is going to cost him or her about $500 per month. That’s based on a $4,000 (9%) down payment, a $41,000 mortgage at 10% and includes the cost of homeowners insurance and property taxes on a 20-year loan. Once you understand the numbers, it becomes clear this is a very lucrative way of investing in real estate. It’s a win-win-win for you as an investor, for the buyer, and for the private lender.

As the investor, you place yourself between the buyer and the lender. You pocket the $4,000 down payment for an instant payday and take 2% of the interest to leave 8% for the lender. Put 10 or 15 of these deals together and you have a passive income stream for the next 20 years without the headaches that come with being a landlord. Once you build up your own capital, you can buy and sell houses without first finding a lender. After you sell the house, you collect the monthly mortgage payment. After the loan is seasoned six months or a year, you can sell these notes on the secondary market (without discounting it) for a payday in the $20,000 range. It takes a different investing mindset but this is a huge opportunity in today’s market.

Solid Guide When It Comes To Interior Design For Rented House

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Are you looking to brighten up a dull room and searching for interior design tips? One great way to help you liven up a room is by painting and giving it a whole new look. The following article will give some helpful information on ways you can go about adding color through paint to help turn a dull room into one that pops. If you have children, you should take them into consideration before planning your interior-design project. For example, you will probably want to stay away from furniture pieces that have extremely sharp corners, as your children can easily harm themselves on them. It would be a waste if you were to purchase's pieces that end up breaking or causing harm to your children. Set a budget for your interior-design project before you start any work. Costs for home-improvement projects can quickly spiral out of control if you don't set a spending limit. While you can be a little flexible, you shouldn't spend more than you can afford. Having a budget can help you be more creative as well. Anyone who is designing a room in their house would be wise to incorporate hang art on the walls. Artwork does a great job of making your room look complete. Just make sure you choose a piece or two that meshes with the current decor of the room you are designing. You will get the right effect by hanging artwork at eye level. Hanging a piece of art too high or too low throws the balance of your room and can even make the room look smaller and more disorganized. Now that you read the article from above, it is very simple to turn an ordinary room into a room that dazzles by adding some color through painting. Stick to the tips presented in this article to help give you some solutions to turning that boring room into a room that nice and relaxing.

Great Resource When It Comes To Interior Design For Rented House

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The economy is starting to pick up more and more, so a lot more people are becoming interested in designing the interior of their homes. If you want to help your home look good, and help the economy get back on its feat then invest time and money into fixing the interior of your home.

Start with a fresh coat of paint. Paint is inexpensive and can make a big change to a room in just a few hours. Go to your local home store and get swatches. Then, come home and imagine what each swatch would look like, and how it would blend with the furniture and other rooms in your home. Choose one and see how different your room looks!

Make creative use of pillows and rugs. These are inexpensive and can change the attitude of a room very quickly. Play with different textures, colors, and prints to see what suits you best. The best thing about pillows and rugs is that you can move them to another room when you want a different look.

Look for innovative ways to add storage and organization to your home. You can use decorative baskets to organize papers and things that tend to invade every room of the house. It is difficult to relax in a home that is disorderly. A well-organized home will give you a sense of peace when you relax after a hard day.

With all that you learned you can help your home look beautiful. Go ahead and see if you have a natural feel for what it's like to design the interior of a home. Remember you do not have to do it all at once, you can work little by little as the year goes on and make a significant change to your home as time progresses.

Earning Wealth in Real Estate

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The real estate market is frequently at the center of national economic news. Mostly it’s about whether or not homeowner values are increasing or decreasing but there is plenty written about real estate investing. When it comes to taking the step up from personal residence investing to more diversified real estate investing, it can be a frightening proposition for many. It can also be more responsibility than many people want to take on. Before any beginner invests in real estate, he or she needs to first understand the many options available. Especially the low risk options without direct ownership responsibilities.

Low Risk, No Ownership Real Estate Investing

Earn wealth in real estate without owning anything. This is something many beginning (and experienced) investors don’t understand how to accomplish. There are multiple ways you can create wealth in real estate without the hassles of ownership. A few ways of building wealth in real estate include:

• Lease options
• Assigning contracts
• Government tax liens
• Buying deeply discounted mortgages

The goal here is controlling valuable contracts without the liabilities and hassles of ownership. No plugged toilets in the middle of the night or broken hot water tanks on Christmas Day.

Think Low Risk Wealth in Real Estate Producing wealth in real estate is much lower risk when you control the paperwork without out right owning it. A lease option can be walked away from for very little cost if the deal falls through. Assigning contracts is a form of wholesaling. You put the house under contract with the provision that you can walk away if you don’t find an end buyer. If you don’t execute the contract, you never have ownership of the property.

Tax liens pay a high interest rate if the owner redeems the home. Or you may become the owner for dimes on the dollar if the owner fails to bring the property taxes or other government lien current. Private investors buying mortgages has recently become a popular way of earning wealth in real estate. You finance someone else’s real estate purchase with the property as security for the loan. You don’t have any of the hassles of a landlord. The buyer is fully responsible for the property while you collect interest on the loan of 12% or more.

Earn Wealth in Real Estate by Investing Other People’s Money

Another great strategy to wealth in real estate is using other people’s money to control properties. In this scenario, you are more likely to become a landlord and have more hassles but for that trouble, you eventually own the real estate, creating long term wealth in real estate.

Despite the drop in home prices during the past recession, historically real estate prices have always gone up. When you factor in government subsidies, expense deductions, and cash flow, real estate is one of the fastest roads to wealth. There are many investors out there that will loan you the money to buy property. You put your credit rating at risk but their money, not yours. You’ll pay interest for the loan but over time, you take full ownership of the property.