Report Author: William Bronchick
Eighty million lawsuits are filed every year, an average of 152 per minute. The chances are greater that you will be sued than be in the hospital in the next year. The United States has 70% of the world’s lawyers, and almost fifty-thousand new law school graduates are entering the profession each year! More lawyers means more competition for clients and that leads to new and creative theories of liability.
Here are some more interesting lawsuit facts:
- Contingency fees by trial lawyers exceed $10 billion annually.
- In personal injury litigation alone, over $96 billion is spent or lost each year in America to deliver $41 billion in compensation to injured parties and their attorneys.
- In a personal injury lawsuit, the average cost to defend yourself in a non-automotive case is about $7,500
(Source: Orange County Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse – www.occala.org)
Lawsuits are an everyday threat to your financial well-being. Imagine a thug sticking a .357 magnum up to your throat and demanding you turn over your wallet, credit cards, jewelry, and keys to your luxury car. How do you feel? Scared out of your mind? Vulnerable? Violated? You will feel exactly the same way (and maybe worse) when you are hit by a lawsuit and you know you haven’t done anything wrong! I will teach you the skills you need protect yourself from being a target for the “bloodsuckers” and “ambulance chasers.” With impenetrable walls of protection around you, lawyers and greedy plaintiffs won’t be able to touch you or your assets!
Download Report PDF Here: Wealth Protection by William Bronchick
Report Author: Judon Fambrough (Texas A&M Real Estate Center)
A nagging question in the back of every landlord’s mind, especially in the case of long-term leases, concerns potential liability for improvements made to property by tenants.
For example, if hunters drill a water well on a deer lease to supply water to the cabin or if commercial tenants install an elevator to make upper levels of a building more accessible to customers, what happens when the lease expires? If the tenant leaves unpaid debt on the improvements, is the landlord liable?
Improvements made with the landlord’s knowledge and consent, but at the tenant’s expense, cannot be grounds for increasing rent because the tenant owns the improvements. The consent must be definite and certain. Tenants may re- move the improvements when the lease terminates, assuming it can be done without damaging the property. Improvements made without the landlord’s knowledge and consent cannot be removed when the lease terminates and create no personal liability for the landlord. But is the land subject to a valid mechanics lien for the unpaid debt? Only three Texas appellate cases have addressed the issue.
Download This Report PDF: Tenant Made Improvements
Report Author: Darius Barazandeh
Almost every state and territory, in the United States, has a process that is used to collect delinquent property taxes and place reliable taxpayers back on the tax role. This process occurs at the last juncture of the tax collection process and it allows ordinary individuals to purchase the rights of local governments in tax delinquent property. The process can be separated between two general types of systems: ‘tax lien systems’ and ‘tax deed systems’. The tax lien and tax deed processes may be distinguished by the ‘bundle of rights’ sold to the purchaser. In states using a tax deed system, if the taxes are not paid, county governments will sell full ownership and possession rights to the investor. Currently 17 states authorize the sale of ownership rights to tax delinquent property through a tax deed sale or assignment deed. Conversely, in so-called ‘tax lien’ states county governments sell only their right to the tax lien or tax claim on the real property. A total of 18 states have authorized sales of the counties’ tax lien position to the public.
Tax Deed Processes
In a tax deed state the county will sell all of its rights to the property at a public foreclosure auction or through a later assignment process. The sale will generally occur 3 to 5 years after the first tax payment becomes delinquent. Property is sold for the back tax amount plus any fees, interest charges, and court costs. Since property taxes are a small percentage of market value, investors can acquire full property rights at a fraction of the market price. The purchaser will generally obtain full ownership rights or at least all rights held by the county. In these states, the purchaser generally has the customary rights of a landowner, namely to possess and/or occupy the property.
Download This Free Report: Tax Lien Investing by Darius Barazandeh
Report Author: Dan Auito
Eduction is your key to wealth in real estate. Here are some tips on getting started:
- Read and Listen to recommended books and pod-casts
- Attend a first time home buyers class or paid local college courses (i.e., appraisal).
- Attend local investors’ and apartment owners’ association meetings in your area.
- Participate in online investment forums, chat groups, and bulletin boards.
- Read local and national news; pay attention to articles, events, and the classifieds.
- Pay attention to recommendations, Don’t allow yourself to be mislead!
Download This Free Report: Getting Started in Real Estate by Dan Auito
Just a short ten years ago, few people had ever heard of the term ‘hard money’ – and today, especially with the current ‘credit crunch’, you can’t actively invest in real estate without it.
What does the term ‘Hard Money’ first bring to your mind? Does the term itself give you somewhat of an uncomfortable feeling and perhaps remind you of doing business with ‘Jimmy the Shark?’ If you’re not familiar with this type of niche private financing and you’re like most people, you are probably conjuring up pictures of a dingy smoke-filled room in the back of a meat packing plant furnished only with a table stacked with piles of money warily guarded by an unsavory-looking fellow with a craggy face, scarred knuckles, and a thick accent who goes by the unlikely name of ‘Tiny’ or ‘Little Nicky’. Although hardly anyone can blame you for this assumption, it is totally incorrect. The fact is that ‘Hard Money’ loans are nothing like that at all!
Hard money is the secret that almost all successful investors know and use – at least until they make enough money to become self-funding with regards to their own property purchases. Successfully using hard money is what, quite literally separates the financially successful investors from the many ‘would be’ real estate moguls.
Download This eBook by Kelly Troy: Hard Money in Easy Terms by Kelly Troy
Great Compassion is all too often only perceived of as such during times of great supplication. Absent the supplicant’s destitution, the most sincere magnanimity is too often regarded as no more than cunning opportunism.” — Author
In the pre-foreclosure arena, a tried and true way of doing business is that of buying properties from owners in foreclosure prior to the auction sale date. However, in order that you understand the process from beginning to end, and so that you can make your own choices, let’s take a look at how the process works.
When you read or hear the phrase “working” or “dealing” in foreclosures, be aware that those who use these terms are more than likely referring to going down to the court house steps on the first Tuesday of the month (the foreclosure auction day in most jurisdictions) and buying properties for all cash or buying those that have been foreclosed upon and taken in as “Real Estate Owned (“REO’s)”1 by lenders. At these auctions, one can often find some real bargains through buying from the lender (paying off the defaulted mortgage). However, the downside for many of us is that these properties must be bought with immediately negotiable funds: typically all cash, a cashier’s check or (in some cases) a certified bank draft. Another drawback is that people really have to know well what they are doing before they start mixing it up with the seasoned pros.
Download This Free eBook: Picking Up PreForeclosures by Bill Gatten
If you’re like most people, you’ve often heard about the importance of maintaining your ‘credit file’, but most people, although they can repeat this mantra, don’t really have any true understanding of what that actually means.
Unfortunately, due to the extreme financial illiteracy so common in the United States, many home-buyers (and consumers) wonder how their credit report will affect their ability to get a job or qualify for a mortgage, new car, or any other type of loan and countless rumors abound about the poor unfortunate soul who received, and never paid for, a simple $5.00 parking ticket and then couldn’t qualify for a loan later on because of it. These types of urban legends are both untrue and damaging.
The fact remains that consumer credit is one of the most widely used, yet misunderstood, areas of an individual’s personal financial life. Everyone in the free world uses ‘credit’ to one degree or another to buy a car, apply for credit cards, lease an apartment, and, yes, dare I say it – even buy a home or property. It is unfortunate that so much emphasis is put on an individual’s credit history but that so little time and effort goes into educating people about their credit and just exactly how to use it.
Download The Free eBook by Kelly Troy: How Your Credit Score is Calculated by Kelly Troy
“Where do I find ‘deals’ ”?
I bet I have heard this question asked, in the same way, a million times.
Throughout my years as a real estate investor and during all of my various training and mentoring events, this question, above all others, is the one that I am asked by almost every new student or investor that I meet. Everyone that I meet wants to know how to find a ‘deal’ and make their fortune right out of the box by investing in some sort of real estate as if magic happens simply by responding to a sales ad or random FSBO sign.
My daily response: “You don’t find deals. You create them.”
Download The Free eBook by Kelly Troy: Deals are Made, Not Found by Kelly Troy
Welcome to the frustrating and often confusing world of mortgage financing and property investments. As you are no doubt well aware, mortgages and various other types of loans can be very confusing and the information that you get is, more often than not, vague, contradictory, and difficult to understand and digest with any real usefulness. The purpose of the manual is to explain, in down-to Earth laymen’s terms, two basic things that everyone buying a property (personal residence or investment) should know:
(a) what a mortgage loan truly is and how you, as the consumer, lose money on every transaction; and
(b) the rules, laws, and personal whims of the parties involved that making getting a mortgage loan so tedious and difficult.
Download This Free eBook by Kelly Troy: What EVERY Investor Should Know About Mortgage Loans by Kelly Troy
What is a Credit Score?
A credit score is a number which is assigned to you, generated by the credit bureaus by reviewing your past credit history. It helps the lenders in determining whether you have the financial strength to return the money within the given time period. In a nut shell it is like a synopsis of your credit worthiness.
Credit score is the most important aspect that determines your financial future. Carrying a good credit score is an asset and can assure you of a secured financial future. On the other hand a bad credit score will result in higher cost when you need to borrow money. “There isn’t much anyone can do for those who will not do something for themselves.” The same is applicable for credit scores. Your prime aim is to maintain a good credit score and lead a financially planned life.
