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18 Easy Steps to Buy a Bargain House

What is a "distressed" property? What is "bargain" real estate?

A distressed property is one with a distressed seller. Job loss or transfer, divorce, death, pending foreclosure, and lack of money cause sellers to sell fast for less. Discovering the seller's problem and finding a solution is the key to buying a bargain property. A distressed property may also be a "doghouse," a dump, or a fixer. Owners of "doghouses" are not always distressed sellers.

1. Get good advice from successful investors. Ask friends and real estate agents for referrals to investors.

2. Create your personal "Investment Journal," like Doghouse to Dollars Workbook: Turn Yucks into Bucks Investor's Guide.

3. Define investment goals: Do you want to buy a home to live in, to fix and sell, or to hold for your future?

4. Get credit reports & scores. Create a file for each credit reporting agency. Take care of any credit issues.

5. Read Real Estate investing books and articles. Attend workshops and seminars. Avoid out of date infomercials on TV.

6. Get good advice from lenders. Choose a lender with great service, good closing record, and fair costs. Arrange financing.

7. Define your target locations: Is your desired property near home or job, vacation or second home?

8. Learn your target market. Study real estate newspaper sections. Pick up homes for sale flyers. Watch sales and note prices, amenities, and conditions. Follow HUD sales in your area.

9. Interview Real Estate agents and learn from them. Do not sign any agreements with agents limiting your search for bargain property. (These contracts make you pay the agent a commission even if you purchase by owner.)

10. Use agents who know local market customs and guarantee to make many offers for you.

11. Find a good escrow officer for buying "for sale by owners."

12. Study home remodeling, design magazines and books. Learn the costs of materials, supplies, and trades. Visit home improvement warehouses. Note costs of building materials.

13. Be ready to know a bargain property when you see it.

14. Make many offers. Bid on HUD repos.

15. Buy only bargain property. Get great terms or concessions from seller.

16. Plan house transformation during escrow. This speeds your work time -- saving you money in holding expenses.

17. Monitor real estate escrow closing. Do not jeopardize your financing by charging up credit cards or making unnecessary purchases.

18. Celebrate buying your "doghouse" with an open house!

Professor Jeanette Fisher, author of Doghouse to Dollhouse for Dollars, Joy to the Home, and other books teaches Real Estate Investing and Design Psychology. For more articles, tips, reports, newsletters, and sales flyer template, see http://www.doghousetodollhousefordollars.com/pages/5/index.htm

MORE RESOURCES:

Hypo Real Estate Gets EU20 Billion Guarantee From Rescue Fund - Bloomberg

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/0i-0fd=Rurl=http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/nov/21/lawyer-shortage-exposes-papua-new-guinea-to-suits/cid=1272970285ei=nMEnSbJkgcj0BLnL1Acusg=AFQjCNG46mXciMRhFlAnDVAiwANFZnWGcwimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=sFePmluJNTwJimgurl=media.washingtontimes.com/media/img/photos/2008/11/20/AUTO_001_r329x151.JPG%3Fe315d4515574cec417b1845392ba687dd98c17ce width=80 height=37 alt= border=1brfont size=-2Washington Times/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/0-0fd=Rurl=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news%3Fpid%3D20601100%26sid%3Da_tWZcQXw0Pw%26refer%3Dgermanycid=1272970285ei=nMEnSbJkgcj0BLnL1Acusg=AFQjCNGcpLyr0ArwR6FACP3iOM94j9QRtAHypo bReal Estate/b Gets EU20 Billion Guarantee From Rescue Fund/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fBloombergnbsp;-/font nobr15 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-121 (Bloomberg) -- Hypo bReal Estate/b Holding AG, the German property lender bailed out by the German government and financial institutions last month, b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/0-1fd=Rurl=http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iUnm1V9WJblKt9BR2u9troModrrwD94JFGBG0cid=1272970285ei=nMEnSbJkgcj0BLnL1Acusg=AFQjCNGT5z9EdJaKsASPLNpoP5Ij2-dGnAHypo bReal Estate/b to receive euro20 billion loan/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrThe Associated Press/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/0-2fd=Rurl=http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/8057611cid=1272970285ei=nMEnSbJkgcj0BLnL1Acusg=AFQjCNHQ8FdPeZo5GW--WtAxgbu47XrN1g1-Hypo Real gets 20 bln euros in govt guarantees/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrguardian.co.uk/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/0-3fd=Rurl=http://www.ad-hoc-news.de/DGAP-Adhoc-DEPFA-Deutsche-Pfandbriefbank-AG-SoFFin--/de/Unternehmensnachrichten/19883103cid=1272970285ei=nMEnSbJkgcj0BLnL1Acusg=AFQjCNEkwb3GLWKb7Oo5FjNJg24tWSlNzgDGAP-Adhoc: DEPFA Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG: SoFFin grants EUR 20 b.../b/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrAd-Hoc-News (Pressemitteilung)/nobr/font/fontbrfont class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1272970285hl=ennobrall 115 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Target rejects Pershing#39;s proposals on real estate structure - MarketWatch

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NAR, REAL ESTATE CHANNEL Create Online News Partnership - MarketWatch

Web sites offer real estate agent rankings - The Associated Press

Real-estate investment firm fights to stay afloat - Arizona Republic

Pure Industrial Real Estate Trust announces November distribution - FOXBusiness

Citigroup says commercial real estate bigger issue now for banks - Reuters

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Real estate recovery not seen until 2011 - Seattle Post Intelligencer

Real estate group backs sick leave law challenge - Bizjournals.com

Real estate trophies on hold - Bizjournals.com

Real-Estate - Google News

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