The various situations when a person needs to get the land lease form filled are quite high. In each situation you will require an attorney and you will find them of great help. The real estate attorneys are certainly quite knowledgeable. As far as the real estate attorneys are concerned they charge nominal fees. Like real estate agents you can also get the various real estate forms from the real estate attorneys. The real estate is the topmost field. Billions of dollars are spent daily in real estate by various tenants, investors and so on. You can earn too. The tenants are supposed to be the best way to make your property safe as well as decide whether what is going to be earning in the days when the property is free and you do not want to sell it. The real estate attorneys as well as the real estate agent work together. They certainly make sure that the tenants as well as the landlord are happy. Generally the tenant does not get the hold of the property without the interference of the real estate attorneys or the real estate agents. They are the one who have the contacts of the landlord. They certainly make sure that the tenant gets the property of their choice. The real estate attorney also enjoys some rights. These rights are certainly quite good one. They are the one who have to countersign the contract. Without their sign the contract will not be complete. The real estate agents are certainly the one who forms the bridge between the landlord as well as the tenant and the real estate attorneys. On most of the cases you cannot really meet the real estate attorneys directly. You will have to first contact the real estate agent and he will help you to get in touch with the attorneys. You should also make sure that the attorney approves your form. If he disapproves then you should certainly talk to your tenant once again. Actually the attorney is a check he will let you know that you are right or wrong. You can ask any attorney. They all will certainly guide you through the process of renting the property. The land lease form is certainly required.

James is a leader in writing about legal forms and agreements that may assist you when you are in the search of the right legal document. He writes many articles about forms ranging from, real estate forms, power of attorney forms, real estate forms, and most any legal form that you are searching for.

Real estate investment is one of best options for many investors
to create wealth while enjoying numerous tax benefits. A real
estate investment decision involves much more than choosing a
right location to buy your dream properties. Besides where to
buy, there’re questions of what and when to invest in real
estate.

When

Like economy and stock market, real estate often runs in cycles
of approximately 7-10 years. The value of real estate often goes
up for a few years, tops out, keeps flat or goes down for 2-3
years. The availability of low interest rate mortgage and
recovery of economy will eventually jump-start a new cycle of
real estate growth. Novice investors tend to invest at the top
of the market while wishing the market will go even higher to
reap a quick profit. Smart money, however, buys real estate at,
or near, the bottom of the market when most of investors are
reluctantly and don’t have the financial power to buy.

Beside the life cycle of real estate market, individual property
has its own life cycle. Properties can be purchased at pre
construction, as new home inventory or as owned properties.

What

Single family home has traditionally been the preferred option
of real estate investment for many individuals. Instead of
selling their first residential home and moving to a bigger
house, some home owners choose to keep their first home and rent
it out by using a property management company. The new trend in
real estate investment is to own hotel condos or vacation homes.
There’re many advantages of owning hotel condos or vacation
homes.

Where

Once your investment options are not limited to residential
properties, the location of property isn’t limited to the place
where you live. Hotel condos and vacation are, of course, often
located at well-known resorts, from Vail Colorado to Miami,
Florida.

Real estate investment is a complex decision making process.
Most investors will seek help from real estate professionals.
Nowadays, with the vast amount of information freely available
on the Internet, search engines are where people start doing
their own homework. For instance, typing “Miami Pre Construction” in Google, Yahoo or MSN search
engine, you’ll see a list of pages where you can locate the
information about buying Miami real estate
at pre construction price at Miami, Florida.

Copyright @2005, 4th Media Corporation

You have permission to publish this article electronically free
of charge, as long as the bylines and links in the body of the
article and the bylines are included.

By ignoring generous IRS guidelines when establishing depreciation schedules, over 90% of real estate investors are unintentionally overpaying federal income taxes. In addition they are paying federal income taxes earlier than necessary, typically years or decades earlier than necessary. Although these IRS guidelines are relatively new, they provide substantial benefits. Since this is a relatively new issue, many accountants have not integrated the new IRS depreciation guidelines into their practice. Savings for real estate investors are meaningful- exceeding $50,000 to $1,000,000 in the first year. Cost segregation converts income taxed at 35% (ordinary income) to income taxed at 15% (capital gains). Cost segregation also defers payment of income taxes, often for 5 to 10 years.

Effects of higher depreciation

Most real estate investors do not understand the benefits of increasing real estate depreciation. They often ask, “doesn’t increasing my depreciation just mean that I will be shifting taxes from now until when I sell the property?”

This is a popular misconception and the answer is a resounding “no”. There are two benefits of increasing depreciation:

1. Converting ordinary income into capital gains income

2. Deferring income until a gain on the sale of the property is realized.

The conversion of ordinary income into capital gains income has to do with the technical nature of the allocation of the gain on the sale. Many, if not most, accountants initially believe it is simply a timing issue. However, when the mechanics of recognizing gain on sale are discussed, accountants quickly realize increasing depreciation leads to paying taxes at the capital gains rate as opposed to the ordinary income rate.

Correcting a depreciation schedule makes a difference if you recently sold a property since the additional depreciation will be taxed at the capital gains rate instead of the ordinary income rate. For example, assume an investor sold a property in late 2005, does a cost segregation study, and increases depreciation by $100,000. The net result is the ordinary income taxes will be reduced by $35,000 ($100,000 x 35%) and the capital gains taxes will be increased by $15,000 ($100,000 x 15%). This nets the owner $20,000 in federal tax savings by simply correcting an error in the depreciation schedule after the property has already been sold.

When told it is possible to increase depreciation and reduce federal taxes, most real estate investors ask, “doesn’t my accountant take care of this for me?”

Our experience, after reviewing thousands of depreciation schedules for real estate, is that less than 5% of depreciation schedules have been properly established. Most real estate investors have a good relationship with their accountant and believe, as a matter of faith, that their accountant is doing everything possible to minimize their taxes. Unfortunately, many accountants have not focused time or attention on this issue for several reasons. Some accountants are aware of cost segregation as an option to increase depreciation and reduce federal taxes but believe it is very expensive (at least $10,000 per property) and is financially feasible only for large properties (typically over $10 million). Many of the providers started out either as big four firms or big four spin-offs who charged between $10,000 and $50,000 per property. Many of these providers were not interested in properties with a cost basis under $10 million and only did cost segregation for newly built properties. Other accountants have not focused on the topic.

Cost segregation clearly makes sense for properties with an improvement basis of at least $500,000. In many cases it makes sense for smaller properties. While accountants are becoming more and more active in reviewing options for depreciating real estate, in many cases the owner needs to take the lead role in proposing cost segregation as a mechanism to reduce and defer federal taxes.

Property owner involvement

Many property investors proudly take the stance that, “my federal tax return is too complicated; my accountant handles it.”

It is almost a rite of passage that a “serious” real estate investor is one whose tax return must be prepared by a third party because it has become too complicated for the investor to complete. Only about 2-5% of depreciation schedule in federal tax returns have short life property properly separated to minimize the owner’s federal taxes. While many parts of the federal tax return may be too complicated for an investor to understand and prepare, this area is simple: if you pay federal taxes and can use additional depreciation, you benefit from obtaining cost segregation studies. Most investors are not aware of cost segregation and do not understand the benefits it provides. Those who are familiar with cost segregation think it only makes sense for large properties (over $10 million). Regrettably, there is limited and inaccurate information regarding a material issue that could sharply reduce federal taxes for many real estate investors.

Proportion of short life property

The proportion of short life property typically ranges from 20% to 50% of the cost basis of the improvements. Items which typically effect whether it is at the low end of the range or the high end of the range include the age, condition, intensity of landscaping, amount of surface parking, and land value.

Catch-up

What is known in cost segregation jargon as “catch-up” is reporting depreciation that has been underreported in prior years since the property was purchased or built in the current year. A real estate investor can “catch-up” underreported depreciation by having his accountant file a form 3115 with the current tax return. The IRS has reported that filing a form 3115 is not a red flag for an audit. Some investors seem concerned this is too good to be true; however, when their accountant reviews the IRS rules and guidelines they quickly find out that you can indeed catch-up underreported depreciation by filing the form 3115.

Getting started

Ask yourself the following questions when deciding whether you can benefit from a cost segregation study:

1. Do you pay federal income taxes?

2. Do you own investment real estate?

3. Can you use additional depreciation?

Some owners are passive while others are active. If you are a passive real estate investor you may not be able to use additional depreciation. On the other hand, if you are an active investor or a real estate professional, which includes people in a wide variety of activities from real estate broker to mortgage broker to leasing agent, you are entitled to deduct additional depreciation.

If you have determined you can use additional depreciation and are paying federal taxes, call a cost segregation expert and request a preliminary analysis. There should be no fee for this initial consultation. The preliminary analysis will estimate the amount of 5, 7, and 15-year property, which can likely be identified and will also identify the catch-up depreciation. This analysis will not involve a site inspection and will not be precisely correct. However, it should be accurate enough to help you decide whether a cost segregation study is financially feasible.

Once you obtain the preliminary analysis, you should consult your accountant, since he/she will be completing and signing your tax return. In many cases, it makes sense for the accountant, the property owner, and the cost segregation advisor to meet and discuss the options and issues.

Assuming you decide a cost segregation study does make sense, you should further review whether the extra depreciation should be used in a prior year, which would involve filing amended tax returns, or whether to use it in the current year. To minimize federal income taxes, make obtaining a cost segregation study a routine part of future real estate investments.

Correctly calculating real estate depreciation is important because it substantially reduces federal taxes for real estate investors. The process of fine-tuning the depreciation schedule is called cost segregation. The adoption rate for cost segregation is under 5% because of limited knowledge by many owners and accountants. In addition, there are misconceptions regarding the cost of obtaining cost segregation studies and the smallest properties for which cost segregation studies are financially feasible. As awareness of the practice and affordable service providers increase among real estate investors and accountants, the adoption rate will increase dramatically.

Your real estate purchase is in most cases the biggest financial commitment you will make in your personal life. If this transaction is not conducted with knowledge and professionalism it can have negative ramifications throughout you and your family’s lives. With the growth of DIY real estate services many vendors are beginning to feel that the sale of their property is something that they can handle themselves and save a lot of money. Interestingly the amount of money you would save does vary a lot from province to province based on the average sale price of houses. In BC when the average price is around $450,000 you may pay in the range of $14000+, whereas here in PEI where the average home sells at $136,000 you may pay around $7,000. Regardless though of the cost of selling your home there are some good points to make for using a licensed real estate agent. Although this number varies there are usually around 300 licensed real estate agents working on PEI at any given time. This means that working as a network you really have 300 people who make real estate their life and their living working to sell your home. Through the MLS system, realtors have a networking and database system to ensure that your home will be seen and marketed to prospective purchasers who are seeking the type of property you have. Of course working with a licensed real estate agent benefits you either as buyer or seller. As a seller you have the greatest opportunity through Multiple Listings to find the buyer who is looking for what you have and to have the sales and marketing of your property handled by a professional who is trained, licensed and insured. As a buyer too you want to be represented in your purchase by someone who is trained, licensed and insured, has access to all the listings on PEI real estate and can assure you of professional service during your home-hunting experience, which can be a very trying and emotional time. Using a real estate agent you have a source of information that you can rely on. You agent can help you determine your buying power and put you in touch with mortgage professionals that will assist you in obtaining a mortgage. Most real estate agents work in certain areas that they know especially well and can help you with choices of neighborhood based on your needs and provide information on utilities, zoning, schools and other amenities Buying or selling your agent knows PEI real estate and can advise on market values, trends and housing market conditions. As well you can depend on your agent to help you through the negotiation process including purchase price, terms, financing, possession and the inclusion or otherwise of appliances, furnishings etc. You agent will assure that you are protected by recommending a home inspection and re-opening negotiations should there be found to be any major repairs required. Most importantly, buying or selling, in the unlikely event that there were mistakes made or even fraud perpetrated the PEIREA requires agents to maintain Errors & Omissions Insurance and you are protected. It seems that when you consider what the real estate agent and the real estate industry do to ensure that your real estate transaction goes smoothly that choosing a licensed real estate agent is the best way to proceed when handling the largest transaction of your personal life.

Vishal Dwivedi is a PEI”>http://www.buypeirealestate.com/”>PEI real estate consultant and he is vast experience in PEI real estate field. If you you want to know more about real estate visit here http://www.royallepagepei.com/

COMMUNITY INFORMATION

The community of Paradise Hills is situated in south San Diego County within the state of California. There are approximately 37,272 residents in this Zip code (92139) and 10,401 households. The median age of residents is 31.3.years.

TEMPERATURE

The temperature in Paradise Hills is relatively moderate. The warmest time of year occurs in August during which temperatures reach an average high of 72ฐF. The coldest time of year occurs in December with average temperatures falling to 57ฐ F.

HOME AND REAL ESTATE PRICES

The housing options in Paradise Hills include single-family homes and properties, condominiums, townhouses, and apartments. The price of housing is as follows:

ท One bedroom townhouse/condominium start in the mid $200,000s.
ท Two bedroom townhouse/condominium start in the high $200,000s.
ท Three bedroom townhouse/condominium start in the mid $300,000s.
ท Three bedroom single-family homes start in the high $300,000s.
ท Four bedroom single-family homes start in the mid $400,000s.

REAL ESTATE MARKET TRENDS
As with most products and services in the United States, price shifts in the real estate industry are subject to the forces of supply and demand. Whether it’s a buyers market or a seller’s market, it is useful to evaluate home sales data for the most recent month available (June 2006), compared against the same period in the previous year (June 2005).

The median price of single-family homes jumped from $484,500 in June 2005 to $507,500 in June 2006, which represents a 4.7% increase. Fewer homes sold in June 2006 (8 homes) than in June 2005 (16 homes). The average time to sell a home increased from 56 days in June 2005 to 76 days in June 2006.

The median price of condominiums and townhomes jumped from $342,500 in June 2005 to $387,500 in June 2006, which represents a 13.1% increase. More units sold in June 2006 (10 units) than in June 2005 (8 units). Units sold a little slower in June 2006 (56 days) than in June 2005 (55 days).

Homebuyers and home sellers should keep in mind that the data above is simply a snapshot in time. Therefore, the data must be evaluated over a longer duration to understand enduring market trends.

This is the beginning of a new era for real estate investing and consulting. I am very excited about the future of this business and want to share my knowledge. This article will tell you a little bit about my background as a real estate investor, and will provide information about how my company, Acquired Asset Solutions, Inc., can help you to prosper.

I came to this business in late 2003 after my longtime friend Dr. J.L. Hutchinson Jr. contacted me to tell me about his success in real estate investment. He was interested in sharing his knowledge with me and in telling me all about his business, Tricomm Worldwide. I agreed to visit his office to see how Tricomm worked, and after a couple of hours of him showing me real estate deal after real estate deal, I realized I was in the wrong business.

At the time, I worked in legal investigation. I had been in the field for the past nine years. The work was very time-consuming, and I was looking for a change. When Mr. Hutchinson explained how real estate investing can provide passive income, I was very intrigued! After mulling over the pros and cons of switching careers for a while, I finally made the decision and called Mr. Hutchinson to tell him that I wanted to learn more. He initially offered me an entry-level position in the Research and Development (R & D) department finding real estate opportunities.

This was a huge step for me, since I had no background in real estate. But to my surprise, I picked this new career up fairly quickly. In my first week at Tricomm, I was trained in spotting great real estate deals. I was also taught how to find real estate bargains and creative ways to find motivated sellers and learned the basics of calculating appreciation, cap rates and returns on investments.

I did my first three real estate transactions for $1 a property, securing three single-family homes in Cleveland, Ohio from a seller tired of getting violations from the city for high grass. When I saw photos of the properties, I was surprised by their good condition and saw the potential for either flipping or holding the properties. I ended up flipping the properties fairly quickly.

In this first deal, I also dealt with a bird dog (a type of beginner investor). This meant there were two beginners on my first transaction, but with Dr. Hutchinson’s help, we were successful. After six months, I was promoted to R&D coordinator and began developing deals found by the researchers in my department. I specialized in securing seller-financed opportunities.

In 2005, I was promoted to Real Estate consultant and became partner and vice president of the firm. After directly coaching more than fifty full-time real estate investors and participating in over 3,000 transactions, I left the company in 2007 to begin a new firm. This new company, Secured REO Services (SRS) was dedicated to Property Preservation and Asset Protection for default servicing companies and banks.

After much success and some failure with SRS, I decided to return to Real Estate Investment and began consulting real estate investors full time. This started with acquiring REO’s for SRS and developed into my consultancy and intermediary company, Acquired Asset Solutions, Inc.

At its core, Acquired helps investors around the country by offering consulting for both new and seasoned real estate investors wanting to create or expand their portfolios. The most direct way we do this is through our own Research and Development department, which specializes in finding real estate opportunities that most investors cannot find on their own.Our consulting services are another vital aid to investors. We have trained and experienced Real Estate Investment Consultants, or REIC’s, that guide and support investors through each deal and offer in-person and online training to their clients.

Many investors in the consulting program are looking to become full-time real estate investors and build their real estate holdings by creating real estate investment companies. We have six and twelve-month programs dedicated to helping investors achieve their goals.
For real estate investors with larger amounts of liquid assets, we have many real estate opportunities available that are below wholesale prices. Many investors also seek our assistance in acting as a seller’s intermediary—putting them in direct contact with traders and asset managers at banks divesting of REO packages. We have developed relationships with many banks—at last count, we were working with fifty compilers!

One of the first things that I advise new investors to do is to research the business to find out about such things as: the best markets, where to get hard money, real estate lending, and the real estate networks available on the worldwide web. New investors should also research companies like ours that can assist in researching and securing properties.

For the first time in years, investors have a chance to acquire long-term holds or short-term flips and make a lot of money doing so. In 2008, we were able to acquire eight properties with $6,000. Now for the same amount of money, I can secure properties at 18-20 cents on the dollar in the Midwest. Here in California, desirable properties are available at between 60-70 cents on the dollar—an outstanding bargain! We can facilitate these transactions for those seeking bulk REO packages.

Some companies claim to facilitate bulk REO packages by promoting unrealistic numbers such as 40-50 cents on the dollar—a figure that is pure fantasy! While it is possible that in the future, these prices may be real, today these companies are just wasting people’s time chasing bulk REO tapes that do not exist.

It is possible get involved at any level in the real estate business. We are very excited about where we are headed as an investment company and the opportunities out there for all real estate investors.

For those of us fortunate enough to be in this business or even those of us buying for the first time, prosperity is a realistic goal. I wrote this article not only to tell people about our company, but to wake up those people sleeping through this historic time and to push investors that are hanging on to their cash while hoping the market will collapse further. If you are short on cash, you can still buy…maybe not a bulk REO tape, but certainly a wholesale deal. These properties will require repair, but can be fixed up with a little money, flipped or kept as a long-term hold.

Please listen to our radio show, REI Reality check, to get facts and insight regarding this business. You will learn a lot from this realistic and simplified way of buying—you do not want to miss this show! Check it out at www.acqas.com/ATMblog. Also, visit our website for consulting services or real estate deals at: www.acqas.com.

Akiba Miniefee is a San Diego based real Estate Investment Consultant. Read Akiba Miniefee Profile

The world of real estate investing has quickly become one of the most exciting careers of the business world. A lot of people believe this due to the vast amount of money that you are able to generate from this career. However, even if you have had recent success with real estate investing it does not mean that somewhere down the line that you could not fail. One of the best ways that you can prevent yourself from failing is by knowing the mistakes that other real estate investors are making and then, teach yourself how to avoid them in your career. DealsWhen you are in the world of real estate investing you need to be sure that you have more than one deal going at any given time. If you choose to do just one deal at a time then you are opening yourself up for a variety of different problems. The main one being is that if that one deal should happen to fall through then you will quickly find yourself with nothing else that you are able to fall back on. As a result of you not having a backup it can create a big time lapse for you and you must remember that time is definitely money. Another big issue of doing only one deal at a time is that you most generally end up putting a lot more time into making the deals work that it will quickly not become a very good opportunity for you. Exit StrategyMost generally when you are purchasing a property for your real estate investing plan then you usually will have a pretty clear idea of what that property is going to be able to do for you but, what happens if that idea does not pan out? You should always be sure that you have 3 different exit strategies in place so that if one fails you will have others to fall back on. If you do not practice this step you are going to quickly find yourself with a lot of dead end deals and nowhere to go with them. EstimatesIf you under estimate the total cost of all repairs and other essential things that you will need to make the property sellable you stand to lose a lot of money. Most investors will double the estimated costs of all repairs so that if they do happen to go over budget on a particular aspect of the repairs they will have a small cushion to play with. All of these are big mistakes that a lot of real estate investors make. You need to learn how to avoid them to become successful in your own real estate investing career.

Denver Homes Luxury Denver Homes

Right now, because everyone can use the world wide web, it’s
child’s play to find all you look for in regards to california
real estate. Can you recall the time as you had to consult a
dictionary when you wanted to find something relevant to
california real estate? I bet I hit the nail on the head, right?
Right now there’s lots of news available since the World wide
web is growing with each hour. The only thing we need is a place
to begin.

So, when you are new to california real estate you would perhaps
begin your research with one of the well-known search engines
like Altavista. The end of the story? You are puzzled, because
the search engines listed millions of possible results on
california real estate. As a result it’s your job to come up
with the desired resources and leave the cheap sites behind. Did
you ever hear about “internet portals”? Typically they are a
valuable point to begin your analysis. People who have a good
education about california real estate come up with all the
information you ask for and most of the time it’s free!

Where would you want to go with your california real estate
issues? Internet groups or communities are a great method to get
california real estate-related material. If you would like to
get in touch with a california real estate specialist you can
write to a forum or join a california real estate group. Instead
of only researching “california real estate” on Google, Yahoo or
Ask Jeeves, you might start a research on “california real
estate forum” or “california real estate group”.

Another excellent way to come up with useful california real
estate ideas delivered by email is a so-called “electronic
magazine”. As with a newspaper, you have to subscribe to an
electronic magazine in the first place. An electronic magazine
is mostly a free service, but every now and then you have to pay
for it. If so, one can anticipate first class quality advice on
california real estate! If you become a guru about california
real estate by yourself, selling an ezine could be an excellent
method to generate extra revenue.

Info products are another idea for people with limited time to
research the Internet. If don’t mind spend some bucks and you
don’t feel like to research the Internet, go and obtain a report
or expert interview on CD or even DVD. Life can be uncomplicated
if you have sufficient money…

One of the most exciting features of recent online resources is
that you are able to swiftly and without any problems find
whatsoever you’re shopping for about california real estate. Now
it’s your turn to learn all things you need about california
real estate!

As a homeowner, you have an obligation to pay your property taxes. If you fail to do so, the tax authority can take action against you. This action usually comes in the form of a property tax sale. There are two sorts of property tax sales.

In a tax lien sale, the tax authority, usually the county, offers its right to the tax lien on the property for sale. The buyer of the lien may then exercise the lien in order to profit from it.

In a tax deed sale, the county offers full ownership of the property itself for sale.

When you bid on a tax lien sale, you are bidding on the tax debt. You are not going to come away from a tax lien sale owning a property. In fact, you will be paying off the owner’s tax debt in exchange for first lien position on the title. The homeowner now owes you ahead of mortgage lenders, deeds of trust or anyone with a claim against the property, with the exception of the state. These sales are held at public auction, with the highest bidder winning the tax lien. To verify this position, the buyer receives a tax lien certificate.

Now, when the delinquent homeowner pays off their tax lien debt to the buyer, the buyer can consider an interest penalty of from sixteen to twenty-four percent. This is where buying tax liens becomes quite profitable. If the tax lien debt is not paid back to buyer in full, plus interest, by a designated time, the buyer has the right to foreclose and acquire the property.

At a tax deed sale, you are purchasing the property itself. If you are the highest bidder, you win the property and the right to take possession without any mortgages, deeds of trust, liens, or any obligation whatsoever attached to the real estate property. Properties at such auctions are usually sold for taxes owed, plus any fees and court costs, etc. They are generally very good real estate deals to make.

In order to find out where and when tax lien and tax deed sales are taking place, it is probably best to contact the county government offices or check on their website.

Before you purchase a property, be sure to review it thoroughly. Visit the property before the sale and attempt to determine its value. You want to safeguard yourself against risk as much as is possible. You know what they say about buying a pig in a poke.

If you scratch the lucrative surface of property tax sales, you will find many attractive bargains. If you want to know a little amount secrets behind this attractive investment opportunity, here are some useful tips offered by Chintamani Abhyankar.

Chintamani Abhyankar, is a well known expert in the field of finance and taxation for last 25 years. He has written many books explaining inside secrets of the magic world of personal finance. His famous Tax eBook “Stop donating your money to IRS” which is now running in its second edition, provides intricate knowledge and valuable tips on personal finance and income tax.

Using the Internet as a tool for finding real estate for sale
and/or a real estate agent can be a rewarding technique or a
frustrating experience. There are hundreds of thousands of real
estate agents and brokers who have websites and often thousands
in the larger metro areas and many hundreds in the smaller
markets. The number of real estate related websites have grown
considerably over the past several years with the high volume of
real estate sales and new agents entering the business.

Agent Websites – Many real estate agents have their own
websites and their usefulness varies with the success and
experience of the agents and their webmasters. Most will display
the listings from the particular agent (if any) and sometimes
will also display other listings that may or may not be listings
of the agent. If no listings are displayed, the agent may be a
buyer’s agent or has no current listing active. The website may
also have a feature to search for active MLS (Multiple Listing
Service) listings. The search features can vary widely depending
on the website provider/builder. Some websites restrict use to
individuals who have registered with the agent and others permit
unlimited use without registration. Those agents requiring
registration typically use the information provided for
follow-up contact either via telephone, mail or email. Other
agent websites provide contact forms, chat lines and other means
for follow-up communications. The timeliness and quality of
responses can vary widely. The attrition rate for agents is
high, often over 80% during their first year so many websites
may be active but have been abandoned by their owners. Other
active agents are remiss in checking for messages and requests
go unanswered for days or weeks.

Broker Websites – Most real estate brokers
(international, national, regional and local) maintain websites.
They normally have property search features by area and often
will have individual real estate agent access information. Some
may limit the MLS information provided to the listings of the
given real estate broker, others will display any active MLS
listing within the given area, county, state or country.

Builder/Developer Websites – Most residential real estate
builders and developers maintain websites. These websites may be
specific to a sub-division being built or generic for the
regional and nationwide builders with access to specific
cities/states and the sub-divisions being developed. Usefulness
varies considerably with many providing detailed information on
house designs, available inventory, contact information and site
sales office hours.

Real Estate Related Referral Websites – There has been a
proliferation of real estate referral websites offering
individuals with agent referrals for a given area once they have
been provided details of your contact information, whether
interested in buying or selling and the specifics on the area
and home. Referral real estate websites typically have real
estate agents subscribers who pay fees for referrals. These fees
may be based on a per lead cost to the agent, a monthly fee to
the agent for a specific number of leads or a percentage of the
real estate commission paid if the lead culminates in a sale.
Typically the only criteria for an agent to utilize these
referral services is that the agent is legally licensed to do
business in their state.

Real Estate Listing Websites – There are a number of
national real estate websites providing limited listing
information and varying degrees of specificity in search
criteria. Some are more user friendly then others. Some have
real estate agent/broker fee paid subscription services to
highlight listings and or selected agents/brokers.

http://www.realtor.com – http://www.living.net -
http://realestate.yahoo.com

Search Engines – SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is an
obsession for most webmasters and real estate agents. Simply
stated, real estate agents, brokers, builders and referral
companies want to be in the first page or two of search results
so that the individual web surfer will be directed to their
website. These individuals and firms may be paying significant
fees to firms offering first or second page placement on a given
search engine. The major search engines such as Google, Yahoo,
MSN and hundreds of others use different algorithms to determine
how websites get ranked and their order of placement on the
results pages. To make it even more interesting/confusing, the
big search engines also offer websites owners various
sponsorship page positioning on a fee basis albeit they identify
the sites as such.

http://www.google.com – http://www.yahoo.com -
http://www.msn.com

Tips to Make Your Real Estate Search a Rewarding One!

1. Most major search engines have basic and advanced search
options and provide information and directions for using them.
Take five extra minutes and learn how to use the advanced
functions and you’ll be happy you did!

2. Learn as much as possible about the region, state, city and
neighborhood you are interested in to maximize your search
results.

3. Be specific in your search criteria. The more general and
generic the search, the less pertinent the results will be.

4. All search engines are not alike! Use more than one when
conducting a search, as the results will vary greatly.

Once you are seriously considering buying or selling residential
real estate direct your search to finding an experienced agent
that is responsive and has your best interests in mind. Then
have your real estate agent do the digging into the market to
present the listings and homes you will be most interested in.