Investing In Real EstateAt any given time I'm always working with a handful of investors, most of whom have experience and who have very specific criteria for me to work with. In most cases these clients are looking to exchange a lump sum of money for a rental income cash-flow. Because of that, I've put together: A Beginners Guide to Investing in Real Estate for those buyers in the Durham, Hillsborough, Carrboro, Chapel Hill market.

In the past 6 months; I've been inundated with would be investor buyers; most of whom are discouraged by the almost non-existent interest their money is earning sitting in a bank, and many expressing concerns about the stock market. As I tell them, “Trust me; I understand exactly where you're coming from.”

What I know that most of them don't is…

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Durham NeighborhoodsHow to Find The Perfect Neighborhood

You're out looking to buy a home in an area you're not truly familiar with. How can you know whether it's a good match for what you are ideally looking for? There’s an art to knowing if a neighborhood is a great one, and it goes far beyond tree-lined streets or summer block parties.

Let’s assume you stumble upon what appears to be your ideal neighborhood in. It’s close to the things that matter to you and it’s filled with the things you love. Fantastic. But even if it seems to tick all your boxes, there are 7 important things you really need to do before allowing yourself to fall head over heels with any particular location:

1. Get A Bird's Eye View

Type the address in Google Maps. Then zoom out. And zoom…

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Seller Pays Closing Costs One of the most common terms I see negotiated in contracts for a home in Durham today is for the seller to contribute money to the Buyer to cover all, or part of the Buyer’s Closing Costs. Seller paid closing costs can, with certain limits, be paid by the seller to the buyer without any problems…if you know the rules. Ignorance of the Underwriting Guidelines for the program and Bank that the Buyer is applying for a mortgage from, can turn a seller contribution of closing costs into a real problem!

 

It can be the difference between getting a loan – or getting denied! Yikes!

Seller contribution is really just another way of saying a part or all of the closing costs are paid by the seller. For example, a contract could read that the seller will…

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HOA PlaygroundsSome homes in Durham and Chapel Hill are in Communities that have Home Owner Associations, and those dues could be charged on a monthly, annual or quarterly basis – depending on the Association and the Amenities that Community has.

Makes sense – especially if you are moving to an area that has a playground, a large entryway or Swimming Pool. Townhouse Communities and Condos generally have Association costs that cover part or all of the exterior maintenance of your home or landscaping around your property. But, there’s more to Home Owner’s Associations than just paying dues for maintenance.

Dues generally pay for the association insurance policies, landscaping services by a professional landscaper, management of the association by a professional…

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First there was Zillow and their Zestimate, now we have Trulia offering their own online free estimate and I won't be surprised if before long before Realtor.com starts offering the same.

The public sees these “valuations” and many get confused and occasionally angry at these valuations failing to understand that this purported “data” is about as worthwhile as the answers you get from a childhood toy of mine (that's still being sold today) the Magic 8 Ball. For those of you who don't remember this toy it's a plastic 8 Ball with a small window in it. Inside it's filled with a liquid (I suppose it's water) and there's a die with pre-printed answers on it. You ask the 8 Ball a question, give it a shake and then look in the window for your answer. It's…

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Yesterday was my first “day off “ meaning I was able to work from home and limit it to a few hours and only visit one property, since returning home from a vacation with my wife. As many of you can no doubt relate to, when you return to work after being away, it's piled up high waiting for you.

This isn't meant as a complaint, without the work I couldn't afford the vacations, and I came home to two closings, several new listings and several new buyers. Nonetheless I enjoyed having time yesterday to work outside enjoying some great Fall weather while cleaning up our gardens, pruning back some of the landscaping and helping my wife get our Fall garden planted.

Front Yard Farms is currently producing eggplant, peppers, and basil (Making and putting up…

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Just recently my wife and I spent some time in Europe, visiting old friends from Durham now stationed in Paris and then on to Turin, Italy to visit with another Durham resident who was visiting her mother there, before heading out on our own to spend some time driving through much of Northern Italy as we visited Cremona, Florence, Sienna, and finally Rome before heading home.

Comparing International Homes Prices To Durham's

Given my penchant for real estate as well as an innate curiosity/nosiness, I couldn’t help but look at and consider real estate prices in a variety of towns and cities we stopped in along the way. Doing so I was reminded of just how relative real estate values and prices are and how overall the values here in North Carolina…

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This morning I received an email from another Realtor asking me what I knew about the upcoming 2013; 3.8% Federal sales tax on real estate sales. My guess is that they or one of their clients received either an email or mail flier warning of dire consequences to homeowners who might be selling their home in the future.

I've seen this a version email and honestly found it insulting to my intelligence as well as poorly written, false in it's assertions and essentially more of the usual Tea Party/ Republican sponsored nonsense designed to frighten people in advance of the upcoming election. I believe that that everyone is entitled to vote from whomever they wish, whether I agree with them or no. That's part of living in a democracy, however I'm not in…

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Vegetable garden harvest, Durham 2012It's been an absolutely crazy year so far in terms of real estate here in the Durham, Chapel Hill/Carrboro and surrounding areas. In fact I started this on July 1 and here I am on the July 19 hoping I can get this finished and posted before heading out on afternoon appointments. After a quick update on our home gardening efforts.

If you read my Blog occasionally you already know that my wife and I love gardening and have been actively growing much of our own organic produce for the past couple of years in raised beds in our front yard which I've taken to referring to as Front Yard Farms. Here's a picture of what we harvested yesterday and honestly we gather up about this much every couple of days. Through careful staggering of plantings and the good…

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The Durham Herald Sun reported yesterday that builder D.R. Horton has notified the NC Attorney Generals office that they are going to return the mineral rights to some (but not all) homeowners who purchased a home from them for failing to properly disclose that they had retained and sold these rights to their own energy exploration company. D.R. Horton Returns Mineral Rights to Some Homeowners.

While this is a step in the right direction in my opinion it's not nearly enough. Regardless of the fact that they feel they did properly disclose this to most home buyers the simple fact is that they simply should never have even done this to begin with.

This is simply another example of business run amok. D.R. Horton is a home builder. Over the years they…

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