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I’ve had a job for about a year now and i’m getting close to 4000 dollars. At first I thought i’d buy a car but what good would an old used car do a few years down the road, i’d just have to buy another one in a few years plus pay for all the repairs. So investment struck my mind. I’m only 16 though and have about 4000 dollars with a limited amount of income. This will be my first time investing and I’m not really sure how to do it and have some questions?
Can a 16 year old invest?
Do I have to invest through a broker? How does that work?
Is that enough money to invest in real estate? Is it possible to join in with other people investing in realestate?
Should I wait to invest because of the bad economy?

I know there’s also mutual funds but that doesn’t really appeal to me.

Best bet would be shop around for a CD (Certificate of Deposit). Stocks are risky at the moment, and are for more long term investments. Real estate is also shaky and for $4000 you really wouldn’t be able to do too much. You can get a CD at any local bank, they usually hold your money for 6 months to a year and can tell you exactly how much money you will earn for letting them hang onto your money for that year. If you want to learn more just click the link I have.

The two biggest concerns are whether you are adequately capitalized to start a business and whether you have the necessary discipline to save money when times are good so that you can stay in business when the real estate market slows down, as it inevitably will. Real estate is a very cyclical business.

When you are just starting out, you likely will have more expenses than income for the first 6-12 months. So, you need to be financially prepared to pay for advertisements, business cards, networking, driving around, etc. Even if you get a sale in the first few months, it takes 30-60 days to get your commission paid (at closing).

Right now, the housing market is in a down cycle. But if you have enough money to stick it out, and you’re genuinely interested in the work, you can turn these circumstances to your advantage. During a down market, the agents with staying power are the ones who benefit once the market makes a comeback.

Once that happens, it is very important that you stash some extra money away for the times when the market cycles down again.

Good luck!

This is in California I need quick answers

The standard is 3% to each agent, so a total of 6%. You see 5 a lot too, but if you go too low the selling agents won’t show the house.

that the price is 15,000

keep in mind, these are not foreclosed homes
they are not rented homes
and they are from california

http://realestate.yahoo.com/search/California/Pacific_Palisades/homes-for-sale?typeBak=realestate&p=Pacific+Palisades%2C+CA&type=classified&priceLow=0&priceHigh=50000&bedroomLow=&bathroomLow=&search=Search#m=b%3D1%26p%3DPacific%2520Palisades%252C%2520CA%26type%3Dclassified%26radius%3D%26lat%3D34.047045%26lon%3D-118.526514%26datelisted%3D%26priceLow%3D0%26priceHigh%3D50000%26bedroomLow%3D%26searchName%3D%26bathroomLow%3D%26sqLow%3D0%26sqHigh%3DUnlimited%26proptype%3Dall%26nhood%3Dall%26n%3D10%26view%3Dlist%26sortBy%3Dprice%25201

could it just mean they are renting out a room in the house fur such an amount of time?

Those are all rentals, that is 15k a month to rent the house, not buy it or rent a room, you get the whole house.

Not sure if that was the best way to phrase this question but ill explain: The house in interest is a REO property. Originally, we offfered on the house, it was accepted, we signed our portion of the addendums, and when we were waiting for the bank to sign their addendums the listing expired so apparently our offer was void. Then, we contacted the new listing realestate company, and made an offer, while we were waiting on the addendums to come back they called us and said that they did not want to do our fha 203k loan, and would drop the price by 10k if we did not. So we did what we could, and found a new route and the house would not be shown to any other interested parties. Then we get a call that the bank has recieved some cash offers during this time from people who never even got into the house. Since the cash offers were less but close to ours, they want to know our highest and best offer. What should i do? Is this even legal? Does it violate any fair housing laws or anything of that nature?
any help would be great!
Thanks

Yes, of course this is legal.

I do not know where you got the idea that property can’t be shown, but until there is a signed sales contract they are free to show and sell it to whoever they wish.

can a realestate agent find someone to qualify and assume my mortgage loan or do i have to find someone to do that myself? Do realestate agents even do that?

Im Alabama, an agent can not do that, but should lead you to the person who can. If you are working with a realtor who only wants to deal with selling your home and not at least guide you to the proper people, DROP them and fine a new realtor.

Need a good Realtor?
If In Alabama – e-mail me
If not in Alabama – I can still recommend an experienced Realtor from your area that will give you OUTSTANDING service! I work with a network of Realtors across North America.

http://www.pauld-kw.com

http://www.bhammls.com/dziedzic

To resale or rent a timeshare is a hard task, the basic rule is not to pay money up-front, don’t be another victim of a scam.

Unfortunately over 50% of people that really need to sell their timeshare falls for this resale scams where they charge money upfront and less than 10% of them use their only real option which is to post it or offer it trough free advertising options as much, and as many sites as they can (it is ok to pay a few dollars to post in a great place but no more that $20 to $30).

Timeshares do not have resale value and in most situations you would take a loss in what you paid for, as they resale for less than $2000 USD.

There are some free classified ads where you can start posting:

http://timeshareownerscommunity.com/

http://craigslist.com

http://ebay.com

http://recycler.com/

http://usfreeads.com/

http://www.inetgiant.com/

I’am trying to veiw pictures of realestate for sale by all realestate offices on line with out being bothered by agents in northern california chico north

if you only want just pictures, I would suggest getting a webfetcher programmed, but you are looking for listings. Agents are all not bad as long as you find the right one and you are clear about your request not to be bothered. if you start looking and find a home you like, it would be a lot better for you and your success at getting a home if you were building a relationship to a realtor. I would suggest getting an e-pro realtor and making sure they have access to client gateway or virtual office software. I’m a realtor in san diego. I set people up on an automated service that will get them links for exactly the kind of property they want in a personalized website. I check in with them and make sure they’re clear on things and answer questions for them once in a while. Some of the people on my service are just like you and I have them on the service and I only talked to them 3 or 4 times in the last 8 months. that’s the way they like it, that’s the way I will do it. The other good thing is that you will be able to see the homes if you like them and not have to talk with the listing agent(the agent that is selling the property). dealing directly with them to see a house can be very annoying. they will deffinitly try and sell you.

good luck,

amir

P.S. I can help find you some one in northern california if you like. just contact me and I will even tell them that you only want photos and you don’t want to be bothered unless you want to see a house etc.

My house appriased at 110,000 2 years ago, since then we h ave completly gutted and renovated the following, master bedroom, bathroom, living room, and dining room. We have installed a secondary heating system. We have also added a 24 x 32 garage and a pool. along with replacing most of the electrical and plumbing. The best guess of what we have sunk in is between 40,000 and 50,000 just for materials. Our new appraial done last week only came in at 125,000. Can anyone explain to be how it is possible that I am not even able to recoup have of what we have put into the house. It doesnt seem to make any sense that putting that much money into improvements only yields a 15,000 increase in property value. That wont even touch what we have in the garagee alone. Should I order a second appraisal (the comps were on the other side of town) or have house values fallen that bad? The neighbors smaller house and smaller garage but similiar size lot is listed right now at 130,000.
So are you guys saying that a completly renovated 3br 2 bath house would have the same appraisal value as a non renovated 3br 2 bath?

Oh and I mentioned the neighbors house because they mentioned it to me telling me its hurting my value.

So adding a garage does not increase property value?

I am coming in late, after your additional comments.

Garages do not add $ value, although they do make selling easier.

The pool is a liability and decreases the value, as you lost land use and they are costly to operate. The pool is the reason your house is lower then your neighbors house.

You renovated the wrong things. The bathroom is good, but the kitchen would have been better then the bedrooms and the dining room. Unless you completely changed the flooring there isn’t that much to do to bedrooms.

Also, house prices were inflated 2 years ago, they have dropped to a more realistic amount in many areas of the country. I am in CA and they are 25% less then 2 years ago.

I live in Los Angeles and I am considering purchasing realestate in texas. I am trying to generate positive cash flow. I am looking for 1 stop place where broker can help me purchase and help me with property management. Since I live in LA it has to be someone extremely responsible and knowledgeble. If you had positive experience in this area please let me know who I should contact

You’re too late. Too many investors have already bought, driving sale prices up and driving rental prices down.

In San Antonio, there are new, never been lived in houses, sitting vacant since July because they’re not renting. Also, when they do rent it will not be for a positive cash flow.

The average sale price in San Antonio is about $165K. A house in that price range, bought with a 5% down payment and 6% interest will have a mortgage (with escrows for tax and insurance) of about $1,600. That house will then be able to rent for about $975 to $1,150.

My broker is a full time property manager and this past summer was getting calls from SO many California investors who had just bought houses that they wanted him to rent for them. Their hearts were broken when he told them the facts of how much they could rent for.