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Five Keys To
Successful Negotiation
Whether you're a buyer or a seller you want to succeed in the realty marketplace. That's natural and reasonable, but what are the steps you need to triumph?
Negotiation is a complex matter and all transactions are unique. Both sides -- buyer and seller -- want to feel that the outcome favors them, or at least represents a fair balance of interests. In the usual case there is a bit of bluff, some give-and-take, and neither party gets everything they want.
So how do you develop a strong
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bargaining position, one which will help you get the most from a transaction? Experience shows there are five basic keys which will determine who wins at the negotiating table.
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Buying Houses Just One
Way To Invest In Real Estate
Everyone generally understands that as a real estate investor, the concept is to let someone else's rent payments pay for your mortgage and to hopefully come out with a positive cash flow at the end of the month.
There are plenty of ways to get started in real estate investing. Here are some one-line descriptions of how to do it including the pros and cons of each alternative.
Foreclosure
How it works: Purchase the property at a courthouse auction -- hopefully for less than it's worth. Fix it up, sell it or rent it out.
Pros: This is a common sense approach to getting started in real estate investing. If you can get the property for a wholesale price and then rent it out for more than your mortgage, you're on your way to building wealth one month at a time.
Cons: You get into the property and find out it has major problems costing a lot more than you'll ever recover. Ever heard of concrete being flushed down the drain (usually out of spite from the former owner)? It means having to remove all the
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Tackle The Important
Jobs In That First Year
If you look at the bank accounts of most first-time buyers the day after settlement, you are likely to find very little in it.
Yet more than half of first-time buyers -- especially in older areas of the country -- choose older, generally less-expensive houses. Even those who gravitate to newer houses, townhouses especially, tend to defer some of the bells and whistles for financial reasons.
Still, it doesn't cost all that much to make some changes that personalize a house for the new homeowner.
Painting is the most popular improvement by first-timers. Of course, that can be motivated more by taste than by necessity. A lot of buyers, first-time or otherwise, may buy a house despite the color of the walls, then head to the store as soon as the papers are signed.
Many first-timers depend heavily on books and the vast supply of how-to television shows for their information. Yet books tend to be too complicated for most, and the TV shows make it look much easier than it really is.
The TV shows especially are designed to sell home-improvement products. Some of these products may look nice, and even may be something a homeowner might want to consider down the road.
But, other than painting, the first year or so someone spends in a house is the time to tackle the problems the home inspector has pointed out and the ones
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Want A Winter Windfall?
You've unloaded all your boxes and furniture into your new home, and you're eager to unpack and get comfy. Wait. Unless you made sure the house was ready for colder weather before you bought it, take the time to do it now. Tending to a little inside and outside home maintenance can make the coming cold months much more enjoyable -- and it can save you money.
Like most Americans, you'll probably pay an average of $1,300 a year on energy bills. According to the Department of Energy, nearly 50 percent of that is for heating and cooling your home. Here are just a few ways you can lower your bills:
Change the lighting. This fall the government's Energy Star program is encouraging every American to replace the five lighting fixtures they use most with Energy Star-qualified lighting. You can save more than $60 every year in energy costs. Also replace old incandescent light bulbs with compact
Daily News and Advice
Read about the events shaping the Real Estate market today, find current interest rates, or browse the extensive library of advice and how-to articles written by some of the top experts in Real Estate. Updated each weekday.
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