What Makes Real Estate an Ideal OFW Investment?

Every year, we see millions of OFWs, or overseas Filipino workers, leave the country in favor of others to financially support their loved ones. Their ability to spend is therefore evident, due to the fact that they are able to remit billions of dollars into the country. Even if most of their earnings go to food, shelter, education and other basic needs, they still want to be able to increase whatever savings they have left, so one option that they ought to consider is real estate. These are only some of the factors that make investing in houses for sale, or other properties, a smart business move for OFWs who can afford it.

Wide real estate selection

Philippine real estate news has recently revealed that the country is experiencing an oversupply of real estate properties. This may be bad news for people who are selling, this is great for buyers such as OFWs because this means that there is a greater chance that they will find what they are looking for with such a vast selection.

Rental income

If OFWs decide to buy a house that they can rent out, they can start earning money on their investment right away. Because more people are choosing to live in houses for rent, it won’t be difficult to find a tenant for your property will be easy, granted that the house is in a great location.

Less risk involved, compared to stock investment

Stock investments do offer people a good chance of earning money fairly quickly, but because stock values can rise and fall very fast, it’s also just as easy to lose your money this way. Properties like a house for sale, on the other hand, are a safer choice because their value won’t fall overnight, which will give OFWs peace of mind.

Real estate is concrete (literally and figuratively)

There are people who are afraid to put their money in something that they can’t see, like stocks. They feel that their money might not be safe if they put it into something that they can’t see or touch. A house and lot for sale, on the other hand, is tangible, so buyers would feel a lot more confident investing in it.

Rate of increase

When you buy a property in a location where market conditions of real estate are consistently positive, you are pretty much guaranteed value appreciation of your property. What this means is that OFWs can sell their properties in the future and take home a nice sum in return.

To OFWs who are hoping to see their savings grow, a real estate property investment is a great starting point. If you need more money to buy a property, you can avail of housing loans from the government, banks and lending companies, all of which offer loans that are tailored for OWFs. First-time buyers would also benefit from hiring a great real estate agent and by doing research. 

Consider These Before Making a Real Estate Investment

From then until now, people have been referring to real estate as a great way to invest one’s money. Although it may be true ideally, even if you have crunched the numbers, there are even more things that you need to take into account. Don’t finalize an investment in Philippine Real Estate until you have mulled over these factors.

Finances
How much do you have saved for a property purchase? Will securing a housing loan be easy or difficult, considering your credit score? If you know how fast you can get a loan and how much cash you are keeping right now, you can easily tell if you can afford to make this investment today and what type of property would be more financially rewarding for you. In addition, you need to ponder the security of your job, and how much you are getting paid. You also need to be prepared to pay for any other costs in the future, such as the house’s mortgage; real estate investment is, after all, a long-term commitment.

Location, location, location

It is necessary to always keep this age-old mantra in mind, especially since it has various implications. For one thing, a house for sale located in one place may not be offered for the same price as a house in a different location, since real estate is greatly localized. Another thing is that a prime location should be considered if you are buying a property to rent out. Aside from helping you decide for how much to lease it out, its location will say if renters would like to move in: the closer it is to essential places like schools, banks, hospitals and restaurants, the bigger the chance that it will appeal to people.

The property’s condition

Figure out if a new property will benefit you more than an older one, and vice versa. Keep in mind that you may need to make a lot of repairing or renovating to get an older property ready for you or a tenant to move into. With a new house, there’s not a lot of fixing needed, but you might feel obligated to put off the renovations you want to do, since the brand-new house came with a hefty price tag.

Legal matters

Much legality is involved when the real estate business is concerned. You don’t have to give law a thorough study to buy a house, but you do need to have the real estate law basics down pat. For example, do you know the taxes that are involved in owning a property? What does an expat need to go through in order to legally own a Philippine property? In case you want to rent out the property you will be purchasing, do you know the rules about evicting and accepting renters?

Remember that you are the person who will determine your readiness to make an investment in real estate. You might end up with buyer’s remorse if you go through with purchasing a property while you are still having second thoughts. If you really think you are prepared enough for it, collect a lot of information and talk to real estate professionals before going through with it.

Phrases to Avoid When Posting Your Properties Online

When people put up their Houses for Sale, they make sure that they go to all lengths to ensure that their houses are seen in the best light. If you haven’t received an offer after staging your house and publicizing it in social media sites, you might want to have another look at your listing. While choosing your words can be the key to promoting your house, being careless about your description can also send the wrong message to your potential buyers. Have a look at these words and phrases and see if your house’s listing contains any of them.

“Finest” or “most incredible” home. Although the owner is using these terms just to lure people, it would be easy for buyers to assume that the owner is just saying these because it’s their house. Another thing is that it would be difficult for the seller to see that buyers who do come to see the house will not feel the same way, and may even become disappointed.

“Best price for a large house”. You can’t fool anyone if you try to sell a 4-bedroom home for a too-good-to-be-true price tag. Maybe you are just trying to make a quick sale by putting a price on your home that is below its market value, but all people will think is that there must be something wrong with the property if you’re trying to sell it at a loss.

“Newly refurbished by owner”. If you are not a very good craftsman, buyers might only worry that the refurbishing was done poorly, instead of marveling at your effort. If you really want to highlight this feature of the home, make sure that the refurbishing was done with the proper permits, and that they were done flawlessly.

“The way it is”. Selling a house exactly the way it is and telling people so will raise doubts as to the physical condition of the property. Even if it’s OK to be honest about the trouble spots the house may have, hearing the phrase “the way it is” leads people to think of the worst case scenario.

(Picture here). Exactly. People might think you are trying to hide something about your house if you have only one picture of it in your listing, or none at all. Plus, using just the words “crown molding” or “lovely patio” to describe the features of the house wouldn’t have the same effect that having accompanying pictures would.

Promoting your house to attract buyers is fine; just be sure that you don’t oversell it. If you can get people to have a look at your house, you might have a hard time explaining why your listing described a property that was different from what they are looking at at that moment.

How to Practice Green Living at Home

In this day and age, people are starting to look at green living as a necessity, not just an option. For years now, environmental experts have been trying to convince us to live naturally in order to avoid the day when we no longer have resources to spare. Here are some examples of measures you can practice in order to start green living in your house.

All over the house

Choose fluorescent light over light bulbs to light your home; they emit less heat while giving off the same amount of light. In addition, make use of sunlight in the day, and turn the lights off if no one’s using them. Instead of cranking up the air conditioning in the summer and putting the heater on full blast in the winter, dress accordingly to keep yourself comfortable. Choose appliances with long lives to ensure that they will last for years and not need repeated repairs and replacements.

In the kitchen

Whenever you cook for the family, make sure that you only prepare enough so no food is wasted. If you have a home garden, you can make compost out of fruit peelings and other trimmings. When you cook with a big pot you tend to leave it uncovered, the pot takes a long time to heat and uses a lot of gas, so make sure that you choose just the right size of pot and keep the lid on. Always keep your garbage segregated, and make regular trips to the recycling center to deliver your paper waste and plastic bottles. Speaking of plastic bottles, if some of them come from you purchasing bottled water all the time, you might want to connect a water purifier to your faucet so you can drink clean tap water instead.

In the bathroom

You can save water every day by skipping the hot bath and taking a short shower. You can also lessen water consumption by getting rid of your regular toilet and installing a low-flow one. Toilet and faucet leaks can result to gallons of waste water daily, so make sure to have them fixed as soon as you discover them

In the laundry room

Don’t use a washing machine filled to capacity with water to do only a few items of clothing; wait until you have an entire load to do this. Also, a front loading machine uses less water than a top loading one, so the former is the more practical choice. If you can, try not to use hot water for washing clothes all the time; water heating requires the use of energy.

In the garden

Use your garden hose sparingly; soak your garden using a watering can, clean your vehicle with a bucket of soapy water. It would also help if you plant some trees in your garden; they can keep the environment much cooler, and can also produce oxygen.

Other efforts

You can reduce your carbon footprint by opting to walk or riding a bike to go somewhere close, instead of taking the bus or driving your car. Taking reusable bags with you when you are out shopping can help you avoid using plastic bags, which contribute to waste. You can also lessen your use of paper in many ways; you can read news online and watch the news on TV instead of getting a newspaper, and you can also avoid printouts and written notes by sending emails instead.

Keep Burglars out by NOT Doing These at Home

Home invaders these days are becoming sneakier about their choice of houses to break into, and when to do so. Before, locking the doors and windows of your home was sufficient, but crooks are now paying close attention to what you don’t do as well. Read through this list and see if you are inadvertently attracting thieves rather than warding them off.

• When you unload newly bought television sets, laptops and other expensive gadgets and electronics right outside your house, you are giving robbers a screening of the pricey things you own. Wait until you have parked in the garage and closed the door before you take them out of the car. In addition, nothing screams “pricey valuables inside” like a stack of boxes and packages piled up next to the garbage can, so make sure that you ruin them and toss the inside the can.

• To a burglar, a good indication that no one is home is a pile of brochures, newspapers and mail. If you are planning to leave for over a day, you can prevent this by asking a neighbor you trust to collect mail and newspapers that get to your mailbox or door.

• It’s nice to crack open a window in order to let in the occasional breeze, but if it slips your mind, then it might also let in the occasional robber. Be sure to close up any window that you open.

• Home alarm systems are not really obstacles to anyone; you can ask the guy whose alarm keypad was installed near his glass door. If glass is part of the design of your front door, be sure to tell the alarm company to place the keypad somewhere that people can’t just look in on you typing in your code.

• Whenever you take to Twitter or Facebook and post messages like “Enjoying the Boracay sun!” or “Only three days before Hong Kong vacation!”, burglars can interpret them as “Please come in; no one’s home!” You should wait until after you come home before announcing details like these to your friends.

• If you make a habit out of leaving a room with the curtains wide open, you are inviting robbers to do some window shopping to see what they might want to take. Don’t entice them to do so; if you need to go to another room for even a minute, be sure to close your curtains.

Bear in mind that taking a look at all the different ways your home can fall victim to intruders and then taking the necessary steps to stop them is the best protection. Robbers might be getting more cunning, but you can always stay ahead by being smarter yourself.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Investing in Foreclosed Properties

A foreclosed property is one that has been taken by a lender, usually a bank, and is being sold when the owner can no longer pay for the loan he or she obtained for it. Most of the time, auctions are held to offer foreclosed houses for sale, and in these events, people who recognize the benefits of these properties do buy them. Still, it has to be said that there are also a lot of drawbacks to buying these houses. Take a look at these pros and cons and see if you would be happy investing in a foreclosed property.

PROS

The biggest selling point of a foreclosure is that it is sold for a low price. These homes are great bargains due to the fact that most of them are fixer-uppers. In addition, if you are looking ate pre-foreclosure properties, you may have a bargaining advantage since owners feel the need to sell right away. With REOs, or real estate by owner, you won’t be dealing with back taxes and liens, and the property’s title is clear.

If you enjoy remodeling and redecorating your home, you can make a project out of fixing up a foreclosed property. Your project is sure to pay off big time in the future; after flipping the property, you can either rent it out or sell it.

CONS

On the other hand, there are disadvantages to buying foreclosures, too. For example, these properties can take away a lot of your time, money and effort because a lot of them are in terrible shape and need a lot of fixing. This means that whatever you save in buying a home will probably be spent on all the renovation and fixing you need to do. If your plan is to flip a foreclosure so you can sell it or rent it out, then you will have to spend more time and money hiring real estate professionals, inspectors and other experts that will clear the place of any danger.

REO sales can take quite a while because it involves added paperwork. In fact, it can take up to two months for a short sale transaction to be finalized. Also, a lender has to approve any pre-foreclosure property transaction where the mortgage is not included in the price.

So you see, there really are a lot of ups and downs regarding foreclosed properties, so you have to consider all of them carefully. To find out if buying a foreclosed house for sale will be a good move, don’t hesitate to tale to real estate experts, and make sure that you do a lot of research.