AboutDick Dennis Expertise With more than 37 years as a real estate broker, I can solve most any problem presented. If I can`t, I do my research. Problems with mortgages, trust deeds, foreclosures, odd ways of conveying titles. Most any good Realtor can answer questions satisfactorily, but I answer questions that most cannot. Also, ask about my hard-copy newsletter.
Experience Problem solving since 1980
Organizations National Association of Realtors
Publications Publishes The Landed Gentry, guest writer in Who's Who in Creative Real Estate, First Tuesday, Financial Freedom and many newspapers
I never owned property before. I just have been using master card for over 15 years. I know I have good credit because I was never negligent on paying my bills or my monthly rent checks, and I never had any debt problems because I am a money saver. I do not know my credit score, for I never applied to purchase any house or property before. My present employer had to check my credit in order to grant me my clearance to work overseas, which I was qualified to receive. If I buy something, I will be first time property buyer. At this time I am working overseas. I do not know when I am going back to the states because it is up to the company that I work for, but I can have up to 2 weeks vacation time every year to visit.
I am financial security seeker, who likes to plan to build a solid financial future. When I return home , I will be going back to my mother's house. Before or after my arrival to the states, I will need to embark on something different to start moving forward and get settled. I will need to do something that can provide me with stable income, but I do not feel comfortable to buy property. My mother bought a ranch house 17 years ago for $144,000. She spent another $12,000 for remodeling and she was trying to sell this house for the past 8 years, but still there are no buyers even after reducing her original price to $120 thousand.
I want to end this quest peacefully by relocating and paying monthly rents for an apartment; however, if there is a project that can generate nice profit, I might consider doing one of the following ideas if it can guarantee a successful and stable monthly income profit:
Renting or buying a ranch house and finding some roommates who can help me with expenses, or getting a duplex home and living in first floor while putting other tenants upstairs, so I can receive monthly rent from them, or buying 2 unit house, or buying a property and putting it under section 8, or condo. I also like to invest in real estate and stock market, but I do not have any experience in all of these projects.
Do you recommend that I stay in apartment, or do one of the ideas above?
What is your suggested pricing, location, and condition?
Is there will be a big difference whether I start the project next year versus if I start it 2 or 3 or 5 years from now?
If I purchase my property anytime, do I will still be qualified for $ 8000 tax credit? What are the income restrictions for this plan?
Do you suggest any books to buy from Amazon.com?
Thanks for being a volunteer to help.
Answer You do not say how old you are, Sam. You do not say in what part of the US you would like to buy a house or income property. The answer to both of those questions is important if you have ideas of having tenants above or below you and expect to prepare for your retirement. I presume you are not married. That is also a factor in your decisions.
What you really need at this time is one or both of these: a real estate broker in whom you have explicit trust, someone who is more interested in helping you achieve your goals rather than enlarging his/her pocketbook --- and/or --- an estate planner, someone who has had a good record for many years, and doesn't have partiality to stocks over real estate.
As long as you are out of the US right now, you need to continue to save your money as you have been doing. Because you have no experience with stocks or real estate, you do not want to make a major step in either direction. More than anything else, you want to make your decisions ON YOUR OWN. Do not let a real estate broker or a stock or estate planner start making plans for you to help enlarge their pocketbooks. But when you find that person you absolutely trust (but then, many people absolutely trusted Bernard Madoff for many years before he was exposed and finally thrown into the clink for 150 years).
There are good real estate books to help you become informed: "Building Wealth One House at a Time," by John Schaub is an excellent one to start with. A good way to start and become familiar with the ways of real estate is: Any book that Schaub writes on real estate will help you toward your goals. But be aware that he recommends you do your own property managing, so you would need to be in the US, near where you want to own property even though you can hire a property manager to help you. I don't recommend it either. 38 years as a broker has allowed me to offer these kinds of suggestions and advice.
Another way to invest is to buy and sell mortgages. This can be very rewarding, Sam, as long as you know what you are doing and know real estate values. So, again, you need to be here to be able to inspect properties on which you are buying mortgages at discount. In this kind of economy, it is very important to make sure you do not overstep your knowledge. That is why I suggest you continue to save your money until you have learned some more fruitful ways of enlarging your estate. You should start reading. If you need to find out other real estate books to buy, you may contact me at dixiedee13@aol.com. I do wish you well.
