Discrimination Laws for Real Estate Investors
The laws that deal with discrimination in Real Estate date back to the years right after the American Civil War. These discrimination laws apply to Real Estate investors also.
The American Civil Rights Act of 1866 prohibited discrimination in the rental or sale of Real Estate based on race. This act was enacted in the aftermath of the American Civil War and was intended to provide protection to the recently freed slaves. Despite its good intentions, enforcement was difficult and sporadic at first. However, the precedent had been established in the United States that discrimination was not going to be tolerated in the Real Estate business.
The Civil Rights Act of 1968 and the Fair Housing Amendment Act of 1988 broaden the scope of the discrimination laws beyond just race. Now, color, religion, and National origin were included. The 1988 Amendment further added age, sex, and handicapped status to the mix.
It was the Fair Housing section of the 1968 act and the Fair Housing Amendment of 1988 that made the idea of Fair Housing a National concept that prevented and outlawed discrimination of any kind in the rental, purchase, or sale of Real Estate. The scope of the Fair Housing Laws included any type of discrimination. This included age, sex, religion, race, National origin, family status, or disability. The Equal Credit Opportunity Act extended the anti-discrimination laws to the area of loans and credit applications.
The discrimination laws for Real Estate apply to investors exactly as they apply to anyone else or any other situation. Investors are involved in both the buying and the selling of Real Estate. This means that the laws not only prevent them from discriminating against others, but they also protect them from being discriminated against. Unlike the early days of Civil Rights, the laws can be and are easily and often enforced.
It is important to leave behind any prejudice when you enter into the Real Estate Market. It does not matter if you are doing so as a buyer, seller, or investor. Perhaps, it is the investor that must be even more careful to avoid discrimination of any kind in his Real Estate dealings. This is more than an ethical or legal matter. It simply is not good business to risk the problems that result from discriminatory practices. The only discrimination that makes any sense to an investor is between those who can help them make money and those that can not.
Barry Waxler provides real estate IRA solutions through UFCAmerica.com.
The Importance Of Proper Pricing
What is the most important thing in relation to a sale of a home. Some people will say that it is the home being staged. Some will say that it is what the home offers or the location that it is in. Funny thing is that many people overlook the most important thing and that is that the home actually sells. Now, those other things I just mentioned are huge parts of the process of a home being sold but one thing that has not been mentioned yet is that one thing that will ensure that the home gets sold. Proper pricing. Ask any industry expert and they will likely say that pricing a home properly is one of the important aspects of a home sale. Improper pricing can easily leads to a home's stagnancy on the market which leads to many other problems down the road.
Have you ever taken notice of homes that seem to be on the market for months at a time with little to no action. If you are in the process of buying a home as well perhaps you have come across one that has been listed for quite some time. Perhaps there is nothing wrong with aside from the fact that it was overpriced when listed. However, when this happens, homes tend to acquire a bit of a stigma. Naturally, the homes that are priced in the lower to mid range in any neighborhood will be the homes that go first. High priced homes tend to be looked at a lot, but little action comes as people opt for the cheaper homes. As nice as it would be to place an emotional and historical value on your home, buyers simply will not see the point in paying for that.
When your realtor or agent performs the CMA on your home at the beginning of the sale process take that final number to heart. Think about it this way; the number your realtor came up with is the average price that buyers are paying for homes in your area. So pricing your home considerably higher will not result in sales. It will likely result in shows as people will want to see why it is priced higher than the rest of the area but sales is a different story. Pricing is a thing to be handled with great care and it will definitely determine how fast your home sells so take the time to make sure it is done right.
Steve Proski is a realtor who specializes in the purchase and sale of Scottsdale real estate For all your real estate needs in Scottsdale contact Steve or visit us on the web at http://www.az-homes4u.com
How to Become a Landlord
The idea of becoming a landlord is constantly pushed in the media as an easy way to make money. In this article we look at the mechanics of being a good landlord and ask whether it really does offer such a great money making opportunity.
The concept behind becoming a landlord is simple and familiar to millions - you get yourself a mortgage, purchase a property and then rent it out to tenants. The rental income covers the cost of the mortgage and the property rises in value, thus increasing the value of your investment.
It all sounds so straightforward - what could possibly go wrong?
If you are thinking about setting yourself up as some sort of property magnate then you need to consider how much money you can afford to put into the venture, what sort of risk you are prepared to take and how much time you will be able to spend looking after your investment.
Recent interest rate rises have left many landlords concerned about the viability of their property investments - it's important that you are not caught out.
The first matter to consider for any budding property entrepreneur is what your business plan is. You need to consider how much of a return you are looking to make and over what period of time.
The reason this is so important is because property prices and rental yields won't always increase. You need to think about how you would react in the face of falling property prices.
So it's important to consider your business plan in full. You also need to consider how you are going to go about finding tenants and manage the various aspects of the tenancy. There are a number of legal requirements that you'll need to be aware of - many landlords hire a letting agency to manage the lets on their behalf.
No matter what route you take, you need to make sure that you are aware of your legal requirements. This is vital for ensuring that you operate within the terms of the law and will also be extremely useful should you have any future disagreements with your tenants.
Don't forget that you'll also need to pay to maintain your property when you are renting it out. Not all tenants will treat the property particularly well, so make sure that you have enough money set aside in your budget to take into account the running costs.
There's also a decision to be taken on how maintenance will be carried out - are you intending to do all work yourself, or will you be needing to hire specialists.
All of these factors will influence the amount of time and money that you spend on your investment.
As you can see, becoming a landlord is not as simple as it may first seem. The key to success is to plan well from the outset. If you do so, there's no reason why you should not have a blossoming property portfolio.
Keith Barrett writes about Winchester estate agents, property and many other aspects of investments. This article may be used by any website publisher, though this resource box must always be included in full.
