Real Estate Articles

Shared ownership was introduced to help with home ownership for low income people who wanted to purchase their own property but who cannot afford to buy a property outright.

The current economic conditions are having a major impact on the mortgage lending and house buying market. Banks and mortgage lenders have drastically cut back on their lending for property purchase or remortgages.

Shared home ownership could be the only way for some people to get on the property ladder. Because lenders are experiencing problems getting funds to lend for mortgages they are revising their mortgage rates and the criteria required to be acceptable for a loan.

The current situation has meant that people who previous would have got a 100% mortgage at a favourable rate are now being declined.

Shared ownership housing is a scheme that enables you to buy property jointly with a Housing Association, a housing society or a non-profit making housing company. The association will pay between 25 and 75 per cent of the property cost.

This part buy part rent scheme was developed to help those who could not afford to buy a home outright, and allows you to buy a share of the property and pay an affordable rent on the remaining share. There can be joint owners which enables several people get together to purchase a property. The share of the property you are buying is funded by a mortgage provided by a mortgage lender that provides loans for shared ownership.

The monthly payments are made up of mortgage payments to the mortgage lender for the mortgage taken out on the proportion of the property you own and also rent to the housing association for the remaining share of the property. There are ways that you can buy more of your share of the property, called staircasing at a later date.

The advantage of shared home ownership at this time is it could be a way for you to get on the housing ladder when you may not be able to under current economic conditions. Because you only have to raise a shared ownership mortgage for 50%-75% of the value of the property it is not such an income stretch as for a 100% mortgage and so more likely to be acceptable to the mortgage lender. If you have more income at a later date you can arrange to buy more and more of the property until you own 100%.

One thing to remember is that there will also be monthly rent to pay to the shared ownership housing association as well as the shared ownership mortgage which has to be taken into consideration when looking at affordability.

In the budget on the 12th March 2008 the chancellor of the exchequer announced changes to the stamp duty land tax applied to shared ownership properties. In the vast majority of cases buyers of shared housing properties will only pay have to pay stamp duty on the property when they aquire the final 20% share of the property unless they elect to pay the stamp duty upfront.

These new rules apply providing that the proportion of the property you are buying does not exceed the standard stamp duty threshold of £125,000 or £150,000 in a disadvantaged area. This change in the stamp duty tax rules for shared ownership means there is one less expense to find when buying the property perhaps leaving more of your savings to be used a deposit. You are advised to speak to your conveyancer before making any decisions about whether you elect to pay the stamp duty upfront or not.

The availability of shared ownership housing has always been a problem but there are more shared ownership properties becoming available but there are not shared ownership properties in every location so you may need to search around to find one.

If you enter in to a shared ownership housing agreement with a housing association and during your ownership the property value rises when you decided to sell you will receive the growth in value in proportion to your share. For example: if you own 50% of the property you will normally recieve 50% of any asset growth.

So if you are currently experiencing problems with getting on the housing ladder consider shared home ownership as a possible way ahead.

Nick Stephens has been advising clients on all aspects of credit management and repair for over 10 years and is a regular contributing author for his website and is an acknowledged expert in the field of credit report information. His many articles can be found on the internet at his website: http://www.creditreportadviser.co.uk

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If you are planning on using a property manager or management firm to take care of your real estate, you will need to make it legal - with a contract.

Most states require that property managers be registered real estate brokers, so that they can legally accept rent and take care of other monetary matters. Other states do not require this - but in all states there must be some sort of registration for property managers. Additionally, a contract for property management makes sure that the real estate owner is protected in case of any problems with their management company, as well as outlining what the property management company is and isn’t responsible for.

It is pretty easy to find forms that can be used for a contract online, or you can choose to hire a lawyer that is experienced in real estate law to handle the paperwork. Whichever way you choose to do it, a signature from you and your manager will be required to make sure that the document is legal and binding. A lawyer can also help you decide which clauses and specific statements to put in your document, making sure that you have the best coverage legally. If you choose to use a premade contract or write your own, it’s best to have a legal expert look it over before signing.

Most contracts detail that the property manager is responsible for collecting the rent from all of the tenants and forwarding that rent on to the property owner. Contracts may also state that the property manager is responsible for making decisions about the upkeep of the property, as well as taking care of any needed repairs or routine maintenance of the property and its grounds.

Additional clauses may provide for the amount of money or fees that the property manager or management company will be paid by the property or real estate owner. They can also state whether or not the management company will be responsible for eviction and other items pertaining to the legal issues surrounding tenants and rental property. These clauses will all be different depending on whether the type of property being managed is commercial or residential.

Having a document to reference when you need to is an important part of any business agreement. Finding the right contract for property manager can make sure that both parties know the exact things that are expected of them.

Aazdak Alisimo writes about property management companies for PropertyManagementServiceCompanies.com.

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If you own any sort of property, be it residential or business related, you will need someone to manage it. The question you are probably asking is how professional management can help you?

So, what is property management? It’s the managing, or handling, of real estate property by someone other than the owner. Most often, it is handled by a management firm, that might handle more than one client’s real estate properties. Other styles include hiring someone to live on site and take care of tenants’ requests, as a building superintendent or other building manager - but this style of management has fallen out of favor in recent years.

It goes without saying that quality is a big issue with this service. A good management firm will act as a go-between for the real estate owner and the tenants, handling any questions and complaints that the tenants might have so that the owner is not forced to deal directly with them. This kind of service can include doing many different things, from collecting rent to hiring groundskeepers and repair people. They can keep an eye on repairs that need to be done, and suggest improvements on the property to the real estate owner.

In most states, those offering this service must be certified and licensed, most commonly as real estate brokers. This is especially true if the property managers (or someone in the the management team) is helping to negotiate leases, or collect rent on behalf of the property’s owner. In other states (such as Connecticut), there may be no licenses required for these tasks. Most property managers are still required to register with the state they work in.

Property managers can also be essential in keeping an eye on your property - making sure that no one is vandalizing your real estate, and taking care of problem tenants as well. The actions that manger may have to take can include eviction, as well as involving the authorities, tasks that a real estate investor may not want to have to do. They can also be used as arbitrators between tenants, when disputes arise that are not severe enough to involve the police or other authorities.

When done well, property management is the answer to a lot of issues that real estate investors might face. The management team can do the hands on work while the investors reap the profits.

Aazdak Alisimo writes about property management companies for PropertyManagementServiceCompanies.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Aazdak_Alisimo