If you are facing foreclosure you are not alone. You are devastated; you are feeling helpless, and you don’t know where to turn.

Foreclosure hurts! You can’t eat, you can’t sleep, you have trouble functioning!

The phone rings constantly, and you don’t even have to look at your caller ID to see that it’s your mortgage company…AGAIN! They are relentless! They interrupt your dinner, your family time, and your sleep!

Hundreds of thousands of people are facing foreclosure or are in various stages of foreclosure today. Many are stuck in a mortgage they can no longer afford to pay due to the resetting of the ARM or Adjustable Rate Mortgage. Refinancing is difficult or impossible because of financial hardship and declining real estate values. You cannot be approved to refinance if you owe more than the home is worth in today’s market.

Being in this tough situation is overwhelming, to say the least. Wouldn’t it be nice to just be in your own home, having dinner with your family or just relaxing, without the phone calls from your lender?

You do have options and help is available no matter where you are in the foreclosure process. If you feel that you have exhausted all other options; if you feel that you should cut your losses and walk away from this debt and start over, you should consider a short sale.

A short sale is where your lender is willing to let you list the home and accept an offer of less than what is owed on the mortgage. Lenders have departments or asset managers who represent their interest in the investment. They may order an appraisal of the house or have a local licensed realtor do a BPO (Brokers Price Opinion), which indicates the current market value of the home.

A homeowner in foreclosure can hire a short sale negotiator to work on their behalf. The negotiator will do their own BPO and submit a package to the lender consisting of a hardship letter, financial statement, W-2’s, pay stubs and other documents supporting financial hardship and the declining market value of the house.

A good short sale negotiator provides a great service to the distressed homeowner and the lender. They help the homeowner by helping them satisfy their lender with a short payoff. In addition, they will ask that the lender provide the homeowner with a document of full satisfaction so they do not come after them for the deficiency. A short sale prevents the foreclosure from proceeding and becoming a part of your credit report, resulting in damage that takes many years to repair.

The lender benefits by cutting their losses and taking what they can get now, rather than incurring the additional legal and financial expenses of foreclosure, while market values continue to plummet. If they wait out the redemption period, which varies from state to state, and evict the homeowners, fix the home to make it marketable, by the time the property sells, chances are good that it will be worth even less and their loss will be greater.

A short sale is an option when you feel that there is no reason to or no possibility of keeping your home. When you sell it on a short sale, you do not expect to get any of the closing proceeds. You do get the benefit of satisfying your mortgage debt and preventing further damage to your credit report. You also get to put a stop to the relentless phone calls and intimidating letters from your lender, not to mention all the letters you may be getting from attorneys or foreclosure consultants offering their services.

By: Eileen Gill

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Buy-to-let property insurance, some times also known as residential property owners insurance, is needed if you own houses and/or flats to tenants – either on a short-term or long-term basis. Ordinarily you can buy cheap buy-to-let property insurance in the event that you rent five or less properties in the UK than is the case if you rent more than five properties, as in the case of the former you are seen as a small time landlord with a small business, whereas in the latter you are seen as a full blown property-owning company.

Whether you plan to rent five or less properties, or five or more properties, is, however, a side issue, as in both cases you’ll need to ensure that you have at least the minimum level of required insurance in order to protect yourself. Consequently, the number of properties you own will have a bearing only insofar as the insurance premiums are concerned. That said, if you are looking to become a property owner with a letting business, then you need to ensure that you have the following minimum provisions in your insurance policy:

Fire

Insuring against any fire on the property

Natural Disaster (also known as tempest insurance)

Insuring against natural disasters that may occur, such as a storm where the winds tear off your roof or guttering

Theft

Which is especially important if you are renting out fully furnished properties. In the event that you are renting out unfurnished premises, you may wish to have a discussion with your tenants about whether or not they should have home contents insurance

Public Liability Insurance

This should be a must as it will protect you against any claims your tenants or any third parties (such as their guests) may have for injuries they suffer while on your property

Lost Earnings

There may well be times when your property remains empty; say, for example, while you look for new tenants. If you are relying on the rental income from your tenants to repay the money you borrowed to purchase the property, you need to ensure you have lost earnings insurance to compensate you during this period

Employee Liability Insurance

If you have employees who will visit the property for you to repair any damage, etc. or to collect the rental payments, then you need to make sure that you have employee liability insurance in case they get injured while carrying out their assigned task

Legal Expenses Insurance

As a property owner you may find the need from time to time to retain the services of a lawyer; for example, if your tenants refuse to pay their rent or move out of the property at a specified agreed time – when you may need to get an eviction notice. As legal expenses in the UK can be expensive, you should consider insuring against this risk by having in place a provision of legal expenses in your insurance policy.

Although the above are basically the bare minimums you need in your buy-to-let property insurance policy, you can also tailor these types of insurance policies to meet your particular needs, so make sure that you talk through your circumstances with your insurance provider, especially if you anticipate expanding the business in the near future.

By: Joseph Kenny

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London stands as one of the three ‘command centres’ for the world economy (others being New York and Tokyo) and is itself the fifth largest city economy on the planet. The London metropolitan area generated an estimated GBP230 billion in 2005. Even in the face of the present economic recession commercial property in London is a highly desirable piece of real estate.

The appeal of commercial property in London is generated by government policies such as low taxes, particularly for foreigners, a business friendly environment, good transport infrastructure, and a deregulated economy with little intervention by the government. These factors combine to give a lot of freedom and incentive to any company, corporation, or motivated entrepreneur. London’s strong ties to the U.S. economy and its pivotal position within the E.U. mean many businesses can receive dividends from both sides of the Atlantic.

London’s position economically, geographically and culturally cannot be over-stated. As a financial centre London has more overseas banks then any other city, whilst more money is invested in London then the next ten largest European cities combined. On the cultural side it boasts the most diverse ethnic populous of any city in the world: over 300 languages spoken and more than 50 non-indigenous communities which have a population of more than 10,000. Both of these combine to reinforce the fact that London is at the hub of international trade. For example in 2005 London handled 31% of global currency transactions, equating to a staggering daily turn over of US$753 billion. Commercial property in the city is undeniably well positioned to take advantage of the gradual liberalisation of the global market place.

For businesses that operate in London it is essential that they have a base of operations or a head-quarters in the city itself. The price of owning property is exponentially high in comparison to the profits of many businesses, so the opportunity offered by letting agencies is ideal. When looking for commercial property it is vital to make the most of the internet, as it provides the widest array of choice at the smallest expenditure of effort. When considering which letting agency to approach, one should look for evidence of good customer relations and a dedicated and reliable service.

Whether a business is in search of quick short-term gains in a thriving and industrious city, or after a solid base for the foundations of a long-term investment, London is indisputably a world-class choice. Commercial property is unlikely to be affected adversely in the face of a potential economic recession, relative to its European counter-parts, given the pivotal importance the metropolis holds for the global economy. As long as the British government maintains its liberal and non-interventionist policies, business will flourish London.

By: Darren Best

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In India, the economy is rising at a very fast pace. There has been a tremendous technological development all over the country and therefore more and more people are either buying or looking forward to buy property in India. In fact, this technological development is also attracting foreign investors to buy property in the country. India has thus become the primary choice of the real estate buyers of both India and abroad. The market of real estate in India has become popular among investors in Asia and is growing tremendously by each passing day.

The real estate listing available in India includes a wide range of residential, commercial or retail projects. The property can be bought, sold or can be used to let to others who want it for either residential or commercial purposes.

Since long Bangalore, Delhi, Pune and Hyderabad have been the hotspots of property but as the economy is progressing at a rapid scale many other areas have joined the hotspot league. For instance, Greater Noida, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Faridabad and Mohali are some of the other places which are successfully attracting many investors.

The real estate properties of these areas come equipped with all facilities of a modern lifestyle such as community houses, swimming pools, specially cultivated gardens and club houses.

With so many property options available, at times it becomes really difficult to decide upon the best location and also to find all relevant information about the place required for commercial or residential purposes.

Also, many times there is not much information available regarding what all other options can be availed for residential and commercial purposes. This lack of proper knowledge and available options often leads to wrong choices and thereby wrong investments.

In such cases when there is doubt and you find it difficult to make a choice confidently, it is wise to seek the help of the real estate professionals. The professionals or the real estate agents as they are called are experts in the property related matters and can guide you in making the right kind of investment.

The real estate agents can also assist you in selling, reselling and leasing of the property you own. Moreover, they also help in keeping a proper track of your investments through managing a portfolio for the purpose. They keep updating the portfolio from time to time to keep abreast with the times. One must hire a real estate agent in order to make the process of buying or selling property easier.

By: Amjad Islam Khan

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As we speak Residential Property, financial institutions, stock markets and bank’s interest rates are offering very poor returns & even poorer security for investors. Currently Commercial Property is offering the best returns to investors and also offering the most security for investors.

This is a general guide to Commercial Property in New Zealand for would be investors.

Firstly if you are looking to invest in Commercial Property it is important to identify what your investment goals are. These may range from short term capital gains by buying and selling to long term cash cow investment and even negative investments that are deliberate tax deductible. Once you have established what your goals are you can then determine the type of commercial property you should pursue.

The age old adages of high risk = high return and low risk = low return are simplistic ways to differentiate between the types of commercial property investments available. That being if you are looking for a long term investment with capital growth you will most likely look at low risk investments such as properties with banks, petrol stations and other similar solid tenants. However if you are looking for short term capital gains most buyers will look to either purchase a property at a sharp price for resale, add – value to a property for resale or acquire a vacant property with the intent to tenant it for resale as well as other capital gains vehicles.

Once you have identified what type of investment you wish to pursue the next step is to identify what areas you wish to invest in. I recommend that investors should predominantly invest in areas they are familiar with (so that they can readily view the property and are also able to readily assess the local market), however if investors have valuable and reliable investment advice to call upon then this rule need not apply. However be wary of individuals touting themselves as commercial property experts, whilst many may claim they are the majority without doubt are not.

Next is how you plan / strategise to purchase the property. If you are looking to secure any property at a sharp price never underestimate the power of an unconditional offer. An unconditional offer can be compared to flashing a briefcase of money in front of the vendor and more often than not tempts an owner into accepting a previously unacceptable price.

Once you have purchased a property it is important that you have a clear plan and goals that you wish to achieve. As Commercial Property is generally a business investment it is important to treat it as such, ie if the numbers stack up then a vendor should seriously consider selling and reinvesting that capital in another project. Never underestimate the value of making a smaller gain right now and reinvesting the money into another project.

A clear exit strategy is a central element for business decisions in general and no more so than in Commercial Property. Too often Commercial Property vendors think with their emotions rather than with their heads in their decision making. Commercial Property is a business investment and I cannot stress the importance of seriously considering offers if they stack up.

In summary Commercial Property is at present one of, if not the best investment vehicle available in New Zealand. My best advice for would be investors is to align yourself with an individual experienced / knowledgeable in Commercial Property. The value of having one trusted agent / broker or adviser will be immeasurable over the long term. Repeat business will also ensure that you also get offered the best properties first.

By: Benjamin Jones

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