Your home is one of our most important possessions. It behooves
us as homeowners to take care of our castles.

Whether you live in the tiniest of bungalows you built with your
own hands from cottage plans downloaded from the Internet, or you used luxury home plans to create a 36,000-square-foot behemoth castle built in the Hamptons, there are times when you’ll need to have something professionally inspected.

I’m writing to help you decide which of these tasks require a
professional inspection, and which don’t.

Pro inspectors are an absolute requirement when you’re purchasing a home that’s already built; the lender almost always requires an inspection.

Not only will you need a structural inspection, but if
you live in a house with a slab foundation, you’ll need a
foundation check too. These aren’t cases where you can grab your
ladders and go to work; you’ll need to hire a professional
inspector, and possibly an engineer.

These guys are a dime-a-dozen in terms of abundance, so choosing the right one may be difficult. The inspection itself may cost anywhere from $125-300. Once you’ve hired an inspector, be sure to listen to what he says; he’s a trained professional who will
examine every functional system in your house, and he knows what
he’s doing.

I can recall one particular occasion when I located a property
from my pre-foreclosure listings that seemed like a steal!

The financially distressed seller was in desperate need to get rid
of the property and was only asking for a fraction of the actual
market value. I made my offer and was really enthusiastic about
everything UNTIL the professional home inspection revealed some
serious structural issues that soured the deal and would ultimately
cost me more than I could’ve managed.

That is an example of when a professional’s expertise can be a life
saver! Many homeowners have gone ahead and purchased a house they’d invested time and money in, despite the inspector’s report of foundation problems or a substandard furnace; only to regret it later.

A home inspection may be required to satisfy your building permit
requirements after adding on that extra room. You may need an
inspection to ensure that the gas furnace isn’t so old that it has
copper tubing (a real no-no these days). Or maybe you just want to check the foundation or to see how your roof is faring?

If you’re like me, you have a desire to do things yourself. It
goes without saying that some circumstances simply demand
professional inspection. Your new storage shed plans may not
require it (unless you’re really fastidious), but your new house
plans will once everything’s up and ready.

However, there are some inspection jobs that, although you can hire a pro to do them, you can also handle yourself. While you may not be a professional inspector, you’ve probably got a smidgen of common sense and can tell when something’s wrong with a major structural element of your home.

Let’s say you want to check out how your roof’s doing. All
you need is a good ladder and good eyes. Your eyes are up to you,
but this writer recommends you purchase a Little Giant Ladder
system, if you don’t already have one.

You can also get a Little Giant Work Platform, a ladder attachment
that you can stand directly on rather than risk life and limb by
craning around while perched on a slender rung. As long as you weigh less than 300 pounds, you’re perfectly safe. At the risk of sounding like an ad for their products, Little Giants ladders are the best built, most versatile, and sturdiest ladders available.

Anyway: when you climb up to the roof, look for missing or deformed shingles, buckling, algal growth, blisters, or corroded flashing; all these can be signs of a failing roof. While you’re up there, take a look at your home’s soffit and fascia, the structure
enclosing the eaves.

In the best-case scenario your soffit-and-fascia structure should
be stuffed with insulation, but often it’s hollow — the perfect
space for squirrels and opossums to prowl around in. Because this
structure is often made of flimsy “hardboard,” it can be easy for
unwanted pests to chew or scratch their way into.

Similarly, you don’t need a professional to tell you when your
brickwork is sub par; you should be able to see the cracks, if
there are any, even from a distance. Small cracks in the mortar
between bricks are most common, and may indicate ordinary expansion and contraction of the construction materials. Larger cracks and cracks through bricks are more significant warning signs, often indicating foundation problems.

While it’s good to monitor things around your home by periodically
looking for problems, it’s important that you don’t hesitate to
contact a professional when your eyes tell you there is a potential
problem. You want a professional to look at everything and advise
you on what action to take before it’s too late.

To Your Success!

Aiden Win

Mr. Foreclosure
Canada’s Largest Database Goldmine Of Pre-Foreclosure Real Estate For Up To 50% Below Market!

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A friend of mine is a jit-kun-do martial artist, better known as
the fighting style pioneered by the legendary Bruce Lee. Whenever I would visit him, he would impress me by breaking wooden boards with his head…ouch!

I don’t plan to be breaking wooden boards with my head but one
thing I did learn from him is this…

He explained the main philosophy behind his “discipline” was to
understand any particular situation and to know the outcome that
you want BEFORE you enter it.

That got me thinking.

Because what’s true in kung fu fighting is also true in making
money in foreclosures. Your success is greatly affected by how well you know the (seller’s) situation.

Let me explain:

A student of mine was complaining to me after approaching a couple of sellers who blew him off. He basically just knocked on their doors and said, you’re so and so right? Wanna sell your house?

I got to give it to him for taking the step in the right direction,
but I explained to him how he could position himself a lot better
by solving the seller’s problems rather than just some random guy
who wants to make money from the seller.

I said, “You’re getting all detailed info on each foreclosure, you
know exactly what situation the seller is in, why don’t you use it?”

You probably heard it already…

INFORMATION IS POWER!

You see, the professional preforeclosure listings include all the
critical info you need to assess the seller’s problems.

You’ll find the following entries:

1. Full legal names of those involved in the foreclosure proceedings
- You can call them by their name and make a personal approach.

2. Address of property

- No more random searching and chasing after time wasters

3. Address of owner

- The owner may not live at the property

4. Legal description of the property

- Verify the accuracy of the property information.

5. Name of the lender

- By knowing which lender, you will know what terms the seller’s
currently have with their mortgages and then negotiate accordingly.

6. Name and contact information of lawyer representing the lender

- If you can’t contact the seller, you can contact the lawyer who
is handling the property.

7. Current amount owing

- You know the exact amount of equity left in the property, which
gives you a reference point when negotiating with the seller.

8. Date of Purchase

- You know when they purchased the property and therefore the
market prices at the time they purchased – another reference point when negotiating with the seller.

9. Original mortgage amount

- You get an idea of how much the owner put for down payment and how much equity is in the property.

10. Date mortgage went into default

-You know how desperate they are to sell.

11. Current interest rate

- How desirable the loan interest rate is.

12. Current payment amount

- How affordable the seller’s payments are.

13. Original mortgage date

- Indicates how long they have made payments the property.

14. Payment frequency

- How often they make payments on their mortgage.

15. Maturity date
- When the mortgage gets paid off.

With all these little bits of information, you can now piece
together a picture and gain a full understanding of the seller’s
situation. This allows you plan a solution/outcome that’s
beneficial to you and to the seller. By knowing exactly what you
want, you are already half way there!

So now, instead of being some person who wants to make a quick buck from the seller’s problems, you can position yourself as a “problem solver”. The seller will appreciate that you’ve taken the time to understand his/her situation.

And now you can work together to customize a solution!

How valuable is this information? It has allowed my members and I
to save and make millions in real estate.

To Your Success!

Aiden Win

Mr. Foreclosure

P.S. Get the best of deals available for Price, Terms, Urgency,
Information from our database goldmine of the latest pre-foreclosure listings

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I received this email from Aiden Win also known as Mr. Foreclosure, a very knowledgeable investor. As I receive them I will post them here so everyone can benefit from them.

Hi,

Here is a question I get asked a lot. “Now that I have the
Foreclosure lists, how do I contact the sellers?”

You can attempt contacting the sellers in several ways. One way is
to physically go to their address and knock on their door. This is
very direct, and may show that you are a serious investor. However, this is very time consuming. Also, if you don’t know the seller’s situation, you might be wasting your time. So unless the property is not far from where you live or work, I wouldn’t recommend this method.

Another method is to call them on the phone. You can see if the
seller’s phone number is listed in the telephone directories by
searching for it by address. This doesn’t take much time at all,
and with practice, may be very effective. It helps to have some
kind of phone script that you can start using and refine to suit
your own style.

More on this later.

If you cannot find the seller’s phone number, you can try calling
the lawyer who is handling the pre-foreclosure. Depending on the
law firm, the lawyer, the secretary answering the phone, and how
polite or how skilled you are, you may be able to get the seller’s
phone number from them. Sometimes they will give it to you,
sometimes they will not. If they don’t, you can usually leave your
number with them and ask them to forward it to the seller -
indicating that you are a very interested buyer.

A method that I personally use and have found to be extremely
effective is to send a letter or a series of letters to the seller.
This method is powerful because the seller will have something
tangible in their hands.

Usually, they will keep the letter, perhaps show it to their spouse, or leave it on their kitchen table – thus constantly reminding them
that there is a buyer for their house when the time is right…you.

With the right wording and approach in your letter, you will compel
the seller to call you. And sometimes they have already made up
their mind to sell to you because they have had the time to think
it over with their spouse. By being in the “top of their minds”,
you will have a tremendous advantage.

The bottom line is, you never know what the seller’s situation is.
But if you are persistent in your efforts, it’s only a matter of
time before you find a foreclosure that will make you a handsome
profit. With each foreclosure that you look at, you will improve
your skill in making a deal happen. And it doesn’t take more than 1
or 2 successful deals to be making a healthy income!

Over the years, I have used letters, phone scripts, and other tools
that I have refined to become very effective for contacting
sellers.

And get this, I didn’t have to chase anyone, I would have sellers call me constantly to sell me their homes because my letters worked so well.

They have worked for me, so I recommend them to you.

The Lazy Man’s Way To Generate Cash From Foreclosures That Will Make You Rich!

ForeclosuresTaxSales.com

Hans Anderson

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“Unless the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of
change, then usually, we won’t change”?

One thing that all successful people have in common is a burning
desire to achieve their goal. They want to succeed so much that it is virtually impossible for them to stay the same. So they push themselves to become successful and make no excuses.

Here are a few of my members who have done just that!

And my hat’s off to them for taking the initiative to make that
change for the better!

The truth is, they are no different from you or me, or anyone for
that matter. They just have a burning desire to succeed and took action. So I hope their stories will encourage you take action as well.

********************************************************************

“I did manage to sell the contract for a benefit to myself in excess of $7000 after taxes.”

I started with bcforecloseures after some experimentation and solo
activity in the real estate arena. I had no success in locating the
‘motivated’ sellers.

Starting in August of 2008 I got into the list and began a postcard
campaign (only 4 names to start with), on the second mail out (12
names) I got a couple of responses and one of them converted into a contract.

The seller was very happy to have someone working to resolve the
foreclosure situation; something that he was really not able to do
himself (see the attached image from the contract).

After a struggle with three different potential buyers, including
one that managed to anger nearly everyone including his own lawyer,notary and realtor; and a ‘time-out’ during the
Christmas/New Year’s holiday time I did manage to sell the contract for a benefit to myself in excess of $7000 after taxes.

Until starting to use the BC foreclosures database I was finding
zero leads. Now I have many, including one that has the potential
for 6 figures!

Thank you Aiden.

Regards,

David M. Malinski, British Columbia

********************************************************************

“Leaving my job to do this full-time!”

“At first, it seemed like I was going no where. I was trying to
contact the sellers on the list and I didn’t get any responses from
any of them. I tried for a 4 weeks and I was about to give up. Then Aiden told me to just stick with the program and keep going.

And I am so glad I did! Because about a week and half later, I
connected with one of the sellers!

We worked out a deal and I was so excited when I got my first check ($16,213.65!) and now I am in the process leaving my job to do this full-time!”

-Shirley Wielding, Alberta

********************************************************************

“$39,876.25 In 45 Days!”

“I sent letters out to pre-foreclosures on the list and one of the
sellers contacted me almost immediately. They had a family medical
situation which I was able to help them with.

Within 45 days, I renovated the property, did an open house (as you see in the video) and then sold the house for a $39,876.25 profit.

And all the while, the sellers were so glad that I had helped them
solve their problem.

I would recommend joining Foreclosure Insiders Club to anyone who
is serious about making a lot of money in real estate honestly and
ethically.”

-Trent

And there are more encouraging stories here:

To Your Success!

Aiden Win

Mr. Foreclosure

P.S. If other people’s success makes you uncomfortable, then good, keep associating with them to the point that you just can’t take it anymore and HAVE TO succeed along with them! Why not start by joining Foreclosure Insiders Club today…

Canada’s Largest Database Goldmine Of Pre-Foreclosure Real Estate For Up To 50% Below Market!

ForeclosuresTaxSales.com

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Prior to investing in real estate, I interned for a real estate appraiser. Everyday we would receive phone calls from angry homeowners who were unhappy with the amount that their property had appraised for. It didn’t take me very long to realize that most of these people, besides having an overstated value for their home, also had no concept of how a real estate appraisal works. In many cases, they were expecting the value to match their dollar to dollar upgrades or improvements to the home, not realizing that the neighborhood market value dictated most of the value.

I don’t want you to be one of those people! Now, I’m not saying that you will never encounter an appraiser totally undercutting the value of your home, but, if you call this appraiser’s office to dispute their value, I want you to come across as if you know what you’re talking about!

And this is why I’m writing today. To educate you a little on the process of a real estate appraisal. With single family homes, there are two methods used in a real estate appraisal. These are the replacement cost analysis and the market analysis that uses comparable sales. There is a third appraisal method, based on capitalization, but this is used for income properties, and I’m not going to get into that much today.

Are you interested in finding a cheap property to either live in, rent out or flip? Join Foreclosure
Insiders Club to access a list of distressed properties in your area that desperate owners, fearing bank foreclosure, could be selling at bargain!

When figuring value based on replacement cost the question is: What would it cost to buy this land and put this house on it? If the improved land would cost $40,000, and the house can be built for $150,000, the value indicated would be around $190,000 – if the house is almost new. If it has used up 10% of its useful life, you can deduct $15,000 for depreciation.

Figuring value based on replacement cost isn’t a very useful method. It’s difficult to say what land is worth in a city center where none is left for sale, for example. It’s often used as a secondary method, or for unique homes that can’t be compared easily with others. The best method of real estate appraisal for single family homes is a market analysis using comparable sales.

Basics Of Real Estate Appraisal

For an idea of what a home should sell for, you need to compare it to homes that have sold. Use the sales information for at least three similar homes in the same area that have sold within the last year, preferably within the last six months. This is available in the county records, or from a real estate agent with access to the MLS (multiple listing service).

Now, for the confusing part. Start with the selling price of each comparable. Adjust for differences from your subject home. If your house has a second bathroom, and the a comparable doesn’t, you ADD the value of the bathroom to the sales price of the comparable. If a comparable has a blacktop driveway, and the your home doesn’t, you SUBTRACT the value.

What you are doing is rectifying differences, to see what comparable homes would have sold for if they were like yours. If a comparable sold for $140,000, and a bathroom is worth $15,000 in your area (ask a real estate agent for help with these figures), add $15,000 for the bathroom it doesn’t have. Subtract $4,000 (or whatever it is worth) for the paved driveway it does have. You then have a comparable sales price of $151,000.

Do this with all differences between the subject home and each comparable. Once done, you average the comparable prices. For example, if the three comparables have adjusted sales prices of $151,000, 162,000, and 149,000, you add the three figures and divide by three. This indicates a value of $154,000.

All appraisal is an inexact science. If you find only comparables sold over a year ago, you have to estimate appreciation in the area. If one comparable sold with seller financing, you have to decide how this affected the price. For all of the flaws, however, this is the most accurate method of real estate appraisal for single family homes.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed learning more about how value is determined in a real estate appraisal. Just remember that market conditions play the principal role in your value. Not your marble or granite kitchen counter tops! Hopefully, if you’re ever in a position where you must dispute your value with an appraiser, what I’ve written today can serve as your guide to justify your argument.

To Your Success!

Aiden Win

Mr. Foreclosure

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Insiders Club

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