The Sellers Even Took The Light Bulbs!

After being in residential real estate over ten years, you think you have heard or seen it all. Late this last winter I was at a party and some new first-time homeowners shared with me their recent experience at a final walk-through before closing. They met their real estate agent at the property filled with excitement for their last look before they took legal ownership and possession. The buyer thought the house looked strangely dark when they drove up. It was dark, very dark! The sellers had taken every light bulb inside and out. They reasoned since they weren't attached that they could take them along with the rest of their personal property. While this isn't typical, you should know the difference between personal property and a fixture.

-Personal property. Defined as items that are easily removed and not permanently attached to property. Rugs, draperies, furniture, mirrors hung as pictures, fireplace tools, draperies, patio furniture and outdoor play equipment, appliances and window air conditioners are typical personal property.

-Fixture. Personal property that has permanently been added to real estate. Built-in bookcases, closet organizers, light fixtures (but not their light bulbs!), automatic garage door openers are some examples of fixtures. Heating ,cooling, plumbing systems are fixtures too, but don't readily fall into a gray zone.

-Bill of sale. All personal property included with the sale of a property is transferred from the seller to the buyer through a bill of sale. Make sure you deliver or receive one for all personal property conveyed at closing or escrow.

-Exclusion. Items that are fixtures that the seller wants to take at closing are exclusions. All exclusions showed be listed in a contract to purchase. List excluded items on listing sheets and call attention to excluded items during home showings with the use of signs on or near excluded items.

-Buyers should develop early on a checklist of all contractual inclusions to verify that have been left by sellers at final walk-through.

-Disclose to buyers that some items in your home are leased such as your security system or cable box.

Mark Nash is the author of Fundamentals of Marketing for the Real Estate Professional, Starting & Succeeding in Real Estate, Reaching Out: The Financial Power of Niche Marketing, and 1001 Tips for Buying and Selling a Home. Mark is a contributing writer for: Realtor (R) Magazine Online, Broker Agent News, Real Estate Executive Magazine, Principal Broker, and Realty Times. His tried and true real estate tips has been featured on Business Week, CBS The Early Show, CNN, HGTVpro.com, The New York Times, and USA Today. Purchase his books at http://www.1001RealEstateTips.com .

How to Find a Los Angeles Low Commission Real Estate Agent

Have you recently decided to sell your home? If you have sold a home before, you are likely to know the expenses associated with doing so. If you have never sold a home before then you are about to find out. That is unless you make the decision to obtain the services of a low commission real estate agent. Los Angeles residents have reported success with using their services and you could to.

If you are unfamiliar with real estate agents, you may be wondering exactly what a low commission real estate agent is. In the Los Angeles area, a large number of real estate agents retain their fees from a percentage of a home?s sale. This percentage is often referred to as commission. The commission obtained by local real estate agents is likely to vary.

If you were to contact a number of local real estate agents you would find that some charge a commission as high as five or six percent. Does this sound like a large percentage to you? If it does, you are right. Those individuals cannot be classified as low commission real estate agents. An agent charging one or even two perfect can be classified as a low commission real estate agent. Los Angeles residents, to save money on the sale of their home, are encouraged to find these agents.

Searching for a low commission real estate agent is similar to searching for a traditional real estate agent. You can use a local Los Angeles phone book to find a number of local real estate agents. It is important to note that phone books are limited on the amount of information they provide. If you are interested in determining whether or not a real estate agent can be considered a low commission agent, you will have to contact that agent directly.

In addition to using a local Los Angeles phone book, you can also use the internet to find a low commission real estate agent. Los Angeles residents, including yourself, can use online business directories or online real estate resources. Each of these resources are likely to point you in the direction of a low commission real estate agent. Los Angeles residents can also perform a standard internet search. That search is also likely to produce the same type of results.

Many low commission realtors offer services that are similar to full priced real estate agents. To determine the difference in services, you are encouraged to speak directly with a low commission real estate agent. Los Angeles homeowners have been profiting from the sale of their home with discounted agents and so can you.

Brad Horn is a writer for 1 percent realtor where you can find a great resource for information regarding a Los Angeles Low Commission Real Estate Agent

How To Get A Guaranteed Agricultural Loan

Farmers who want to improve their farm outputs will often need to upgrade their facilities and buy new farm machineries. For the past few years, cost of farm equipments and machineries have increased so much that there are many farmers who could not afford to buy new farm equipment and machineries using the existing operational funds of the farm. Although there are many farmers who have properties and assets, which could serve as collateral for bank loans, there are many farmers who do not have the necessary collateral to get the loan in order to buy new equipment and machineries.

For farmers who do not have the necessary collateral to guarantee their loans with the bank, but have enough cash flow to pay off loan amortizations, there are government guaranteed loan programs that can help. They can qualify for these programs, in order to get enough funds for their farm equipments and machinery upgrading.

Getting a government guaranteed agricultural loan is not difficult. There are many banks and lending institutions, which are affiliated with this program where you can inquire about the loan programs available. Affiliated banks and lending institutions facilitate the processing and the release of the loan for qualified applicants. You do not have to worry about the processing of the guarantee of the loan since the bank or the lending institutional will usually take care of those things. Depending on the guaranteed agricultural program that you are qualifying for, the government could guarantee up to 95% of the loan you take out to acquire a farm or to fund for farm operations. This can include the purchase of machinery and equipment, building of farm sheds, acquiring stock, and other farm related activities specified under the specific program that you qualify for.

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Bulgarian Market Slows But Prospects Good

New research from a leading British property investment firm suggests that property price increases in Bulgaria have slowed. The report by UK-based Assetz shows annual price rises dropped from a nationwide average of 36% in 2005 to 17.8% for the same period this year. The company partly attributed this to an over-supply of new properties in the most popular areas, such as the mountain resort of Bansko and Sunny Beach on the Black Sea coast, which have experienced an unprecedented building boom. Indeed, property consultants Colliers International report an amazing 152% jump in the number of new properties available in Bansko since June 2005, with 22,500 units in various stages of development in the coastal resorts.

Despite the slowing of price increases, and the end of dramatic over-night returns, investors continue to view Bulgarian property as a good long-term investment due to the country?s forthcoming entry into the EU and its growing popularity as a tourist destination. Investor confidence in the market was illustrated by the entry of several large international players, with Deutsche Bank recently announcing investments of ?65 million in two residential projects in Sofia, while the US-based real estate franchise Century 21 unveiled plans to open up to 70 offices in the country over the next two years.

Stuart Law, managing director of Assetz comments: Bulgaria is facing a period of readjustment after huge initial foreign investment. While longer-term investors are still set to benefit over the next five to ten years, as low cost property continues to attract holiday home buyers, there are no longer instant returns.

Dominic Whiting is a journalist and publisher of the Buying in Property Guides. www.buyinginguides.info

Great Reasons to Invest in a Property in Turkey

There are many great reasons to consider purchasing a property in Turkey for both fun and profit; here are a few great reasons why any serious property investor should not miss this superb opportunity.

Over the past 5 years Turkey's popularity with holidaymakers from across Europe has been increasing rapidly year on year.

This has lead as in all other holiday destinations to an equally rapid growth in ownership of property by non-Turkish nationals from many European countries but significantly from the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Many of Turkey's out dated airports have recently been fully re-furbished with new terminal buildings becoming the norm.

Large amounts of capital have been invested by the Turkish Government on the improvement of infrastructure including new motorways to enable shorter travel times to the main holiday resorts.

Many new Golf courses have been built to attract a higher end consumer and others are currently under development.

The cost of property in Turkey whilst still very good value for money when considered against property in the already built up markets of Spain, France, U.S.A and Portugal has risen in many areas by up to 100% over the past 3 years.

Property is still available from below ?20,000 for a one-bedroom apartment in Altinkum or Didim and the potential rental yields could prove very attractive to the serious property investor looking to diversify their portfolio.

The climate in Turkey is amazing, the people are friendly and helpful and Turkey is quickly becoming the destination of choice for an ever-increasing number of holidaymakers looking for a cheaper alternative to Spain or Portugal for their summer holidays.

In certain locations it is possible for some months to go skiing in the morning and after a spot of light lunch swim in the warm ocean by afternoon.

There are an increasing number of budget airlines starting to fly into Turkey's airports and they are extending the length of the season to allow for those who have holiday homes.

For further information and a wide range of properties in Turkey's most popular locations please visit www.onestopturkishpropertyshop.com

Offer To Purchase Clauses You Need

An offer to purchase is a legally binding document, not just a casual negotiating tool. The moment the seller of the real estate signs your offer, you are obligated to live up to its exact language. Since you can write the offer how you want to, why not include the clauses that smart buyers use to protect themselves? You can also use language that will save you money.

The Offer To Purchase - Important Clauses

Inspection contingency clauses. You want something like this in every offer to purchase: Offer is contingent upon a home inspection and buyer's approval of the results; inspection to be done at buyer's expense within ten days. You can ask the real estate agent for help with the specific wording. This clause gives you the right to have an inspection done. If anything negative is found, you could refuse to approve of the results, and so get your deposit back. Alternately, you could renegotiate a lower price.

Earnest money clause. Real estate agents will tell you that a certain amount is necessary for a deposit, but the decision is yours. A small earnest money deposit may be taken seriously, if you include a clause like this: $100 earnest money deposit, to be increased to $2,000 upon acceptance of this offer. Or you can have it increased when all contingencies are met. The reason? Suppose there's an argument about you backing out because the inspector found foundation damage. You won't have your money tied up while this is being resolved.

Right to assign clause. This one is primarily for investors. Suppose your partner isn't there to sign the offer, or you want to flip the deal to another investor, or you may need to involve a partner for purposes of funding the deal. You need a clause in the offer to purchase that covers this. Including the words and/or assigns after your name on the offer is usually sufficient, but ask the real estate agent what the local custom or language is. This allows you to add another buyer or assign the whole contract to another.

Closing cost clauses. You can specify that the seller pays for the closing fee, the title insurance, the recording fees, and even the points on your loan. For many sellers the price is the most important thing, and they don't care too about the details. What if they don't want to pay the costs? You at least gave yourself some negotiating points. Now get something for dropping each of the costs you included. This could include a reduced interest rate if the seller is financing part of your purchase.

Basic financing contingency clause. If the loan doesn't come through, and you can't buy the home, you'll lose your deposit, unless you have something like this in the agreement: Subject to buyer obtaining a firm commitment for suitable financing within ten days. Actually, the language should usually specify what suitable means in terms of interest rate and such.

Spousal approval clause. This clause can be as simple as Subject to a walk through inspection and approval of home by buyer's wife (or husband or partner - state their name) within two days. If your wife says no to the deal within two days, you can back out and get your deposit back. For the seller to agree to this one you need to keep the time frame as short as you can.

Some of the above clauses are normal and acceptable to all, while others are likely to annoy the real estate agent. That's okay. The seller has the right to say no to your offer in any case, and you have the right to use these clauses to protect yourself in your offer to purchase.

Copyright Steve Gillman. Visit his website for: 1. A photo of a beautiful house he and his wife bought for $17,500. 2. A free book on how to save thousands buying your next home. 3. A free real estate investing course. Visit www.HousesUnderFiftyThousand.com

Finding the Ideal Property to Rent

The mere thought of having to find a property to rent, whether this is your first go at it or you?ve become an experienced pro, can leave an undesirable taste in your mouth. Why? It almost always seems that every apartment that you?ve looked at (or will be looking at, if you?re new to this) seems to come up a bit short of what you really want (at least, among those in your price range). But not to worry, as with a bit of planning, you?ll be surprised at how smoothly and successfully your efforts can go!

Firstly, you need to decide upon the type of property you want to rent. Perhaps a one-bedroom flat will suit your needs nicely, or maybe a two-bedroom country house is more to your liking. Make a list, prioritize, and be open to suggestions, change and compromise; likewise, be aware of those features you aren?t willing to sacrifice at any cost.

Secondly, check online to browse the available flats and houses. To make your life easier, there are a few quality websites that aggregate listings, as they exist solely for this purpose. Again, make a list and prioritize; be open to suggestions, change and compromise. For example, maybe you really don?t need that second bedroom in order to keep the superb view of the city within your price range. Or maybe gas central heating is more important to you than living close to the train.

Thirdly, when you find a property that you?re interested in, be sure to research the building, the general area, and the landlord. A quick web search for the landlord?s or management company?s name will often tell you whether the tenants are treated well. If the property of interest is one in a larger development, you can always take a leisurely stroll during the day and ask quick, simple questions of any tenants you might see.

Likewise, you can get information on the neighborhood?s crime rate with a web search or by asking a knowledgeable realtor or someone who lives there. Alternatively, you can take a stroll through during the evening and observe the neighborhood for its typical social behaviors.

Above all, be mindful of your priorities, and do your homework! With so many resources available (both offline and online), there?s no excuse to get into a lease that will leave you unsatisfied.

Carolyn Jameson recommends that you visit www.rentright.co.uk for more information on property to rent in the UK.