I just received a handy little article from Steve Friedman, one of the mortgage brokers I’ve used. Here’s some info I thought my fellow San Francisco Bay Area Real Estate Rehab and Investors may appreciate.

On February 17, President Barack Obama signed into law a $787 billion economic stimulus plan. That package includes many provisions that may directly benefit you:

New Housing. First-time homebuyers are eligible for an $8,000 tax credit, which does not have to be repaid unless you sell your home within three years. The credit is available for purchases between January 1, 2009, and before December 1, 2009. The credit phases out for individuals with AGI of $75,000 to $95,000 and married couples with AGI of $150,000 to $170,000.

Green Homes. New tax credits are now available for green home improvements on a principal residence starting January 1, 2009, through December 31, 2010. The credit covers 30% of qualifying upgrade costs, or a maximum amount of $1,500. Qualifying modifications must meet a certain efficiency level to be eligible for the credit. For record keeping, experts advise that you retain all receipts.

Steve’s always sending me timely info, saving me from information overload. Visit his site or contact him at:

Mortgage Planner
Prospect Mortgage Company
5825 Glenridge Dr.,Bld. 4,Suite 106
Atlanta, GA 30328
Office: (678) 244-5416
Cell: (404) 803-1300
steve.friedman@prospectmtg.com

Ouch.

Well, this property has now been vacant for two months. I wound up having to have the tenant evicted after failing to pay back in September. Times are tough and they’ve hit pretty hard, I may have to let this one go which ofcourse will tank my credit. Viranni did cover the eviction expenses and recommended a property manager, but I’m afraid I can only float this one for another month or so before having to let it slip away.

But I’m not about to go gentle into that good night. I’ve got Silas Frazier in charge of marketing this and my other properties. Today I fly into ATL personally to do whatever I can. Wish me luck.

Plus we’re having a grandieous Thanksgiving. Always good to get the family back together, get the spirits up atleast.

Okay expensive lesson learned today. My PCL Options (.pcljj) sky-rocketed from yesterdays purchase at 2.20 to close at 5.7. I placed a stop order to close at 5.5, and a limit sell of 6.5, selling off two thirds of the purchase. The option won’t come due for about thirty days and I expected and still expect the timber reit’s stock price will continue to climb, so I figured cash if it rises sharply and protect myself with the stop order at 5.5 and hold a third no matter what for expected monthly gains.

However opening price to day was 2.65, which triggered my sale. Ouch. Team Bush/Paulson, tauting economic stability, threw a curve ball by agreeing to purchase all illiquid assets held by the financial companies. Serious? We’ll help the economy by purchasing things that are worthless with your tax dollar? I suspect that was why the sudden decrease from closing price of PCL at 56 to current flat line at 51. Taking the price of my options with it. But its all an illusion. Financial stocks C, GS, MS, SNV are up today 24% to 18%.

Lessons learned. Capitalize when you can. Put a limit order when the value has doubled, as soon as you buy the stock. (One triggers other?) As for security? Stop limit orders should end at close of day.

Clearly I’m still learning things. Just as I see a philosophy, it gets turned. Yesterday they announced no fed rate cut, and my silver and commodities increased, contrary to what should have happened. Today they announce a huge spending of the American Tax dollar, which should push up silver, yet it only increased .5 points (5%).

So okay the US financials market is in turmoil. I’ve got my eye on a few things, and am trying to figure how to profit. For that I need to journal my wins, losses, and reasonings.

Feds announced yesterday that they will not be cutting the rates, which should restore some faith to the dollar. But that will take some time, silver and gold on the other hand increased 14 and 11 percent today while the rest of the market dropped. Makes sense, with all the news has stirred fears, making some cling to commodities. Though long term, should strengthen the dollar. How long a term is that? Twenty years?

In two days the options market will be active as all September options will expire then. That should mean there will be some movement. Can’t say I’ll know exactly up or down, but I’ll place some calls when the market opens, in my favorite timber reit, PCL. Also taking calls on DBA, a commodities futures fund.

The dow is down to 10,609, a small 4% from yesterday, well off from monday mornings open at 11,121. Sunday night you’ll recall a bailout deal fell apart for Lehman Brothers, creating panic and the downward spiral. Would have been great to see that coming.

Oddly the money gains I made this month were early in the month, calls on CitiGroup, and Puts in BUCY and EXM all of which had seen big hype over the past few months. Lost money on Puts in AIG placed on monday, and Puts in Joyg (trying to replicate my wins on BUCY.) Also lost on EQUINIX Puts, which had appeared to be dropping. It continued to, but unless there is a 4point drop between now and end tomorrow, the puts will be worthless. I cashed out when it lost over half the value.

Whew. Okay so I finally got the refinance loan done on my homevestors rehab deal.
I am sad to report though that after taxes and insurance, this property will have a negative cashflow of about $140/mo. So it’s in my interest to liquidate this one as soon as possible and see exactly how much of that $30k in equity is real. 

All in all, it has been a simple, relatively stress free transaction.
$  500 down
$2,700 loan payments
$  693 refi closing costs

$3,893 –   Total Costs
$122,500 –   Outstanding Loan
 

THIS DEAL IS BACK ON THE MARKET!

Join the mailing list at sanjoserehabdeals.com to be notified as soon as the next property becomes available.

$4,753 per month income (includes a 2% vacancy)

$3,310 per month expenses (includes PITI plus repair savings)

$1,443 monthly income

Get your fourth of this with a Downpayment = $26,235 = ROI 16.5%

The Deal.

A cash-flowing four-unit residential in the Bay Area. Anyone who invests in property in the California Bay Area is no doubt aware that positive cash flowing, investment property, priced below $500,000 is in a word, rare.

Contact.

Interested parties should not hesitate to contact Eric at 510-289-8906.

I just checked, there is another quad with a 3bdroom right down the street renting for $1600/mo.

Happy Day. I just got the first checks on the Bixler Project yesterday! Thank you Virani. Always good to get a cash flow positive property for $500 out of pocket. Thats roughly a 72% return on investment… I am quite the numbers geek… gotta go with your strengths right?

Anyhow, Bixler the ongoing Investment Property Rehab Deal through Raheel Virani and Homevestors, has had some movement. Money is good. As of the 15th of June, I have a tenant buyer for the Atlanta Property. The refinance loan is not done yet. That has been a bit of an undertaking due to the current housing market conditions. There just haven’t been that many “true” house sales to comp against. I imagine a lot of other rehab deals have found this to be true? I’m sure thats the case here in Oakland as foreclosures especially in investment property are increasing in number.

In other news, I’ve been dealing with a lot of rehab… no not yet here in Oakland, but building a stronger site. The average reader won’t notice, but its been in a marketing effort so that there will be a few more of you, so thats good. For fun, go ahead and click on a Google Adsense down there on the left, it’ll make you feel good. Promise.

2500% ROI??

20k passively into 13.4 Million in 26yrs? Get outta here.

What if you knew that home values, in a particular area were expected to increase 22%?

As a smart investor, you’d leverage yourself to get your name on as many properties in that area as soon as possible.

And if you knew that home values were expected to take a dive where you like to invest, you might decide to cash in your property, or at least be wise enough scrutinize any new properties purchases.

Its called market timing. Buy low, sell high. If you’re familiar with the term technical analysis, you’re probably into stock trading. Stocks can be volatile. Invest twenty thousand dollars in stocks today and next thursday, it could be higher, it could be lower. Successful traders read stock charts, look at the industry sector in general, compare moving averages and act accordingly. Historically you just couldn’t easily do that with home prices. You can’t go to google finances and plug in your zip code and quickly see what home prices will do. And since you can’t do that, you can’t compare other markets to find out what the better investment is.

But now you can. I’ll let you see who has developed this tool and how you can get access to charts like the following.

If you’re not a registered member of Stanhope Investments please take the time to register, it gives me a stronger negotiating leverage. After that, check out this innovative tool.

Hey eric… will have lease signed by this weekend… they will be moving in
at the end of the month…

Raheel Virani
HomeVestors – Virani Properties, Inc
E-Mail: Raheel.Virani@Homevestors.com
“HomeVestors, America’s #1 Home Buyer”

Suddenly life is looking sweet again. Just need to hear the details.