Santa Cruz real estate investors

Should You Get a 15-Year Mortgage on Your Santa Cruz Real Estate?

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 at 9:17am. 58 Views, 0 Comments.

There are a lot of financing options to help you buy Santa Cruz real estate, if you can meet the credit guidelines. 

Most lenders prefer to use 30-year mortgage loans.  With a longer loan term, the lender can collect more money in interest over the life of the loan.  For those who are credit-worthy, a 15-year mortgage term may be offered.  So, what is the difference between the two?  Here are a few guidelines:

What About a 30-Year Mortgage?

Thirty-year mortgages are becoming the normal term for Santa Cruz real estate loans.  The payments are usually more affordable and lenders are quick to recommend them.  Lenders are more likely to offer you a higher loan amount with a 30-year loan, but the trade off is usually a higher interest rate. 

What Are The Benefits…

National Foreclosure Trends and Santa Cruz Real Estate

Monday, December 14th, 2009 at 2:12pm. 81 Views, 0 Comments.

Everybody wants to know how the housing market is doing, especially if they own Santa Cruz real estate. I try to keep the newsy pieces to a minimum and spend most of my Internet space on helpful pointers, but a lot of readers have asked about the market. In response to high demand, here’s a peak at the current national foreclosure trends:

Foreclosure Trends

It’s a wonderful thing to own any kind of real estate (although I’m partial to Santa Cruz real estate, of course). Unfortunately, many people have lost their homes due to foreclosure since the housing crisis started; there have been over 7.8 million since 2007. California, Florida, Arizona, Nevada, Illinois and Michigan have been topping the count for foreclosures, adding up to 62% of the nation’s…

Renting Out Your Vacation Santa Cruz Real Estate

Saturday, November 21st, 2009 at 9:23am. 67 Views, 0 Comments.

If you have vacation Santa Cruz real estate, you may consider renting it out occasionally to cover some of the expenses. However, if you get something wrong, you can set off alarms with the IRS – something you definitely don’t want to do. So, if you’re thinking about renting out your Santa Cruz real estate, here are a few things you need to know:

1. If you don’t feel like claiming rental income on your taxes, you can’t rent the vacation home out for more than fourteen days in a year. Instead, you treat it as a personal residence and just deduct your mortgage interest and property taxes.

2. If you want to be able to deduct your rental expenses, you can rent the home for more than fourteen days. However, if you do, you then step into the world of being a…

Do Santa Cruz Foreclosures Make Good Rental Real Estate?

Saturday, November 7th, 2009 at 7:11am. 72 Views, 0 Comments.

Even, perhaps especially, in an economic downturn, people are trying to make a living in the real estate market. “Flipping” houses used to be a great way to make a little cash, but not now. Many are now looking at long-term cash prospects, such as renting property, and Santa Cruz foreclosures seem to be a good start. But are they? Let’s take a look.

Finding a good rental property isn’t easy. It’s not like shopping; you can’t go into a real estate store and grab the first house off the rack that looks good on you. It’s a process of investigating, gaining knowledge and being realistic. This is especially true when looking at Santa Cruz foreclosures.

Homeowners who suffered foreclosure were unable to pay the mortgage. We all know that.  What people usually…

4 Reasons Why Santa Cruz Homes for Sale Become Santa Cruz Homes for Rent

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 at 10:23am. 77 Views, 0 Comments.

Driving down the streets of the city, you’ll see a lot of Santa Cruz homes for sale.  What you’ll also see, however, are homes for rent.  What’s the difference?  Why did these people decide to rent out their home?  Why did that homeowner become a landlord?

There are a lot of reasons for renting out your home, rather than adding it to the list of Santa Cruz homes for sale:

1.  The competitive factor – The current housing market is great for homebuyers, but not so great for home sellers.  With so many homes to choose from, your property has to stand out from the rest to get sold.  Sometimes, it could take months, or even years, to sell your house.  During that time, renting can be a good way to make the house profitable.

2.  Belief that the area will grow –…

The Five Most Common Traits of Successful Santa Cruz Real Estate Investors

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009 at 9:18am. 271 Views, 0 Comments.

When it comes to success, it is often seen that those who have it share similar traits. These traits are usually shared by successful people in many different fields. The same is true of successful Santa Cruz real estate investors.

If you want to become a rich real estate investor, consider these traits that most successful people possess:

1) The ability to see possibilities rather than simple realities. The best Santa Cruz real estate investors can look at a rough piece of property, an abused home, or a vacant block of commercial buildings and see the potential within those places instead of the run-down, or empty parcels that actually exist. Being able to visualize the property as it could be, and conceptualize the project is vital to…