Plowman Properties Blog

Let me start by saying I can give great advice on this subject but I am not a property manager and to seek local advise from a licensed reputable property manager. I would also seek advice from your accountant/ attorney so they can show you the benefit of depreciation for tax savings and wealth building that is created by leasing out your home.

Call your attorney and a local reputable licensed property manager for the leasing contracts.

Market/ advertise the property on websites such as http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites and http://www.rentals.com/. Use these sites to determine your price per square foot for leases in the area. You want to make sure you are less than your competition (other homes of similar location and quality). Apartments are not good comps. Call around to property management companies in your zip code to find out what they are leasing their properties for. Be willing to do less than a 1 year lease term. Usually get at least 6 months but increase the cost per month once it converts to month to month. Give tenants an incentive to commit to a longer term.

To help qualify for your next home purchase with renting out your current home lenders, if possible, like to see a one year lease. Lenders will count 75% of the monthly lease amount as income for loan qualifications on your next home.

Once you find interested parties make sure they are financially qualified. Have them do a rental application. Charge the potential tenant for the application process. You will have to determine your risk level based on credit score. You will want to ask your banker to run their credit based on the application. Do a back ground check as well.

Once the tenant is qualified then do the lease agreement and collect the deposit. Check with a local property manager or attorney to figure the amount you should collect for a deposit. Your property manager or attorney should be able to provide the agreement forms.

Make sure you set the proper maintenance expectations. Mowing the lawn, pulling weeds, replacing light bulbs etc. Do a maintenance agreement. Have the conversation of whom and how the lawn will be taken care of. Most tenants will be ok with taking care of the lawn themselves. You never want to upset neighbors because the lawn looks bad.

Once you find a tenant and start a lease, purchase a Home Service Warranty. There are many to choose from. Some would recommend Old Republic: http://www.orhp.com/

For more information on leasing your existing home in order to purchase a new home please contact Ryan Plowman at 704-280-7217 or rplowman@carolina.rr.com

Simply research the builders back ground. Check with the BBB (Better Business Bureau), local Home Builders Association or the National Association of Home Builders and hire a qualified Realtor® like Ryan Plowman , who is an expert in the home building industry and how to research the builders back ground. Also, ask the builder to provide a list of past customers that had good experiences and bad experiences. For the customers that did not have the best experience find out if builder came back and took care of their problems after the fact. Find out what type of warranty program they carry. You will want to make sure the warranty is through a large insurance company with a great reputation. The minimum recommendations for warranties are a 10 year structural and a 2 year mechanical with a one year fit and finish. In addition, to the standard builder warranty find out what manufacture warranties come with the home. Also, get a list of what subcontractors the builder is using and make sure they are licensed, insured and bonded. Check with the local Home Builders Association and the BBB for the reputation of the subcontractors. Find out if the builder allows the customer to hire a 3^rd party home inspector to look out for their best interest during the building process. Majority of builders who permit their customers to hire a home inspector have nothing to hide and want to do the right thing and build the home the right way. Keep in mind building a home is not a perfect process, there will be mistakes and repairs that need to be done during the process. All in all by doing this research ahead of time will assure the future home owner that if a mistake happens they will have a piece of mind knowing the builder will come back to fix the problem.

By hiring Ryan Plowman as your buyer’s agent for your new build home purchase he will be able to guide you through the challenging process of figuring out what home inspector, financing product, and builder to choose.

Let me start by saying that your accountant, lender, banker or mortgage broker is going to be the best resource for what type of loan program best fits your financial goals. All builders are not created equal in regards to what type of financing you can choose for building a new home.

Some builders may want to carry the loan during the building process. This type of scenario is considered an end loan. An end loan is just that, the home owner does not start paying until the end of the building process once the closing takes place. With this product the builder typically collects a larger up front deposit for collateral as they are getting the loan and taking the financial risk to build the home. Typically, builder’s base pricing takes interest carry cost into consideration.

Some smaller semi custom/ custom/ design home builders will give you options on what type of loan the home owner can do during the building process. Typically, the smaller semi custom/ custom/ design builders will prefer the home owners to get a construction loan. With a construction loan the home owner closes on the property/ home site/ lot and building specifications with their lender prior to the start of construction. During the construction process the lender releases funds to the builder as each phase of constructions is complete. The home owner will then pay the interest of the portions of the loan being used throughout the construction process. With this type of loan the builder will typically give you a reduced price off the base price if they are factoring in interest carry cost into the base price. Construction loans benefit the customer in many ways. One, they get to take advantage of the tax deduction generated by the interest paid on the loan. Two, the home owner receives a reduction off the base price if the builder factors in interest carry cost. Three, the builder will require less upfront deposit as the closing takes place right away so your deposit is more protected by the bank. Four, the home owner officially owns the home site, plan and specifications so if anything happens to the builder the home owner/ home owner’s bank still owns the property and the lender can find a new builder to finish the project. By hiring Ryan Plowman as your buyer’s agent he will help you find the right lender for a constructions loan.

For more information on end loans vs. constructions loans please talk with a lender, banker, mortgage broker, accountant or financial advisor.

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It's difficult to make it through any day without a thought going through our heads. Whether it's a common misconception, a helpful tip, thoughts about the state of the market, ideas on getting the most out of a home, observations on the local area, or what have.

The key to blogging is... if you think about it in the car, or in the shower, or while you're on the phone, why aren't you blogging it? Within reason, of course, but that's where the best ideas come from. The trick is 5-minutes a day, speaking conversationally (not composing), and simply putting down your thoughts.

A blog grows slowly, in most cases, but building a readership is part authenticity, part relevance, partly being unique. You can't just paste in material from elsewhere on the web (besides that being very bad for search engine optimization). But consistency and originality are supremely important.

So, it boils down to having a 5-minute conversation with your blog each day (via e-mail or whatever you're comfortable using), and then pasting that into the blog. Don't try to make it perfect - instead make it real - welcome comments (but don't expect any for a while). And keep in mind that blogging is also a stress reducer.

That's it. Tips to live by in real estate blogs. Welcome. We're launching this one.