Financing Your Investment Properties

An investment property is a property (land, house, flat, apartment, building etc.) that you buy with the purpose of producing monetary returns. Financing your investment property can be a great way to earn some steady income. Many people buy homes with the aim of renting them and thereby bringing in a considerable amount of monthly income. Similarly, several real estate investors are there who pay for multiple properties, get them renovated and then sell them for a higher profit.

To start on the road to successful journey, there are three best ways to finance your investment on property. While you use them correctly, they can help you get a substantial amount of money from your property investments:

1. Self Financing:

It is much viable to make use of your own resources to buy the property. You will have to meet all the expenses yourself. Similarly, you will be liable for all profits and losses. Self finance is the easiest and reliable source of investing because this way you lower your accountability. This prevents you from going through lots of paperwork, adhering to the strict rules of financing companies and having to discuss your every move with your partner. You can do things liberally but it will be risky if you do not stay careful. However, by seeking advice from qualified experts, it is possible to use your resources properly and maximize the benefits.

2. Loan and Mortgages:

Normally banks, building societies and credit unions offer bank loans or mortgages as a way to finance your investment on property. Such institutions offer loan for a percentage of the purchase-price whereby keeping the property secured as guarantee for the loan. Depending on the interest rates fixed by the finance ministry or central bank, the loans or mortgages are held with either fixed interest rates or variable interest rates.

This way to finance a property investment really is the most established, safe and well-known. Not only you can make down payments but also meet other capital requirements. In addition, you can repay the bank from the amount you earn from rent or sales of properties.

3. Partnership:

Partnership with other investor is a great way to finance your investment on property.It is a win-win relationship for both parties whereby you divide the cost and share with other partners. Utilizing the assets of your helping hand will make your credit rating sky-rocket. Although you get restricted in decision-making process but there is less risk factor if you have the good business chemistry with your partner. Being able to master the art of partnership gives you the ability to finance as many property investments as you want.

Remember, a safe and reliable financing strategy affects your investment venture in the long run. Carefully consider all your options before you decide how to finance your property investments. Choose the right option that keeps your risks low, ensures a high rate of profit and works best for your interest.

Vacation Property Management - Web Tools Are Best

Every rental manager knows how difficult vacation property management is. It can become even more of a horror without modern tools. Imagine taking and organizing reservations and bookings over the phone and logging everything by hand. The good news is that you don't have to think of ever experiencing this nightmare.

These days, you can get your hands on rental software. These are outstanding pieces of modern technology that let you breeze through reservations, payments, information dissemination, fees and more in just a few minutes. You can install one in your website and click on or drag and drop items and color schemes to update information on your properties. With just one glance you and your customer will get vital information about the status of various properties.

Software for vacation property management can come in download or web-based form. There are excellent options for both types but you will be in an advantageous position if you pick a web-based tool.

One clear reason why web tools are best is because they are highly accessible any time anywhere. All you need is a stable internet connection and you can manage your properties from any place in the world. Even if you're off on a business conference or on a holiday trip, you can slot reservations, change minimum stay policies and serve up the freshest promos to your customers.

Accessibility is not the only thing you will enjoy. Web tools also take away the headache of managing the software package itself. Vacation property management tools that are based entirely on the internet don't drain your bandwidth because the software providers host the tools themselves. Hence, you don't need to pay for a bandwidth upgrade.

Also, developers of online tools take care of the costs and complexities of technical maintenance. What you will essentially be getting from a web tool is software as a service or (SAAS). You don't need to pay someone else to monitor and take care of software. You also don't need to worry about very expensive upgrades.

One last advantage to internet based tools is the ease of use. You don't have to go through hoops and loops to integrate or install a system. Many online tools are so simple to use that if you can follow basic instructions and click on a mouse, you'll have no trouble using them at all.

In general, it's easy to see why online software is better than its stand-alone counterpart. Of course, much depends on choosing vacation property management software that's top of the line. Go for a name that has stood the test of time and that enjoys a good reputation among its users. Take a look at some of the sites maintained by other managers and find out what they use. A good reputation product will most likely be used by many.

Condominium Property Management

A condominium is where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights associated with the individual ownership and controlled by the association of owners that jointly represent ownership of the whole piece.

Looking after a Condo suite is a full time job. From the moment you receive the keys to the day you sell the Condo, a good management company can make the difference between a profitable investment and a poor one.

Property Managers in Toronto will step in and perform, on the owner behalf, all the day-to-day tasks with regards to the condominium. These tasks include rent collection and bill payments. During the normal operation of a tenanted unit rent checks might return NSF, tenants might want to pay cash or use another banks to pay the rent dues. A local point of contact is needed. Bills need to be paid and constant contact must be kept with the billing agencies like the city, the condominium building management and the utility companies.

The local property manager is your tenant's point of contact for questions, requests and assistance. The professional property manager will be able to inspect the tenanted suites, supervise the tenants and buildings and keep an eye on the owner's interests.

When you get possession a tenant needs to be found. In Toronto, tenant screening needs to be done very carefully to avoid renting the property to an incompetent tenant.

Credit Check, Letter of Employment, references are one part of the screening and the experience of meeting hundreds of tenants is the other. Finding you a tenant quickly is important but doing it in a professional way is even more important to the success of your investment.

Three Qualities of Excellent Property Management

Whether you own a single executive office building or a string of apartment buildings, you want to make sure you are getting the best possible return on your investment at all times. Smart real estate investors use a property management service to handle the upkeep on their properties as well as keep them filled with quality tenants. Like anything else, not all property management companies are created equal. So here are three qualities to look for to make sure you're getting the most for your money.

• Focus on Occupancy: The bottom line is you need to make payments to the bank and simply cannot afford to have offices or rentals lie vacant for prolonged periods of time. An excellent team will employ various strategies and market your property on the right venues to ensure high occupancy rates. A service understands that quality is as important as quantity and will do everything possible to draw in desirable tenants.
• Impeccable Building and Grounds Maintenance: If you want tenants to become long-term tenants, the buildings and grounds on your property must be well-kept and made to look as attractive as possible year-round. The best property management teams contract only with quality and dependable services and repair providers so you can be sure that everything will be ship-shape at all times.
• Excellent Customer Service: You shouldn't have to worry about the daily ins and outs of operating your properties; after all, that's what you hire a management team for! Monthly financial statements, timely rent collections, annual reports and other customer service essentials are a must.

If your current management team is simply not cutting in with one or more of the above, it may be time to look for a new one. After all, your real estate investment is too important to leave to chance.

Background Checks for Property Managers

Property managers are entrusted by their employers to rent only to tenants who are the most likely to respect the owner's property and pay their rent on time. Their main job is to keep the rental property filled to capacity to earn maximum income for the owner. If you are a property manager, you need to know that the best way to do this is to require background checks on prospective tenants. Background checks can provide a great deal of information that you could not possibly know without one. An example of information that a background check can provide is; social security number check, date of birth check, evictions, liens and address verification. An applicant for rental property who is trying to prevent you from seeing their actual personal information may not even give you this basic information in its true form, but they may alter their information.

As a property manager, you may feel somewhat limited in making sure that those you rent to will make good tenants. Background checks can ease your mind, knowing that you have taken every possible step to ensure that you have rented to the most qualified tenants. With a background check, you can find out if the renter has any criminal record, as well as their rental and credit histories. Chances are that you may make a very wrong choice, if you were to rent to a sex offender or felon, yet if this information is discovered before the lease is signed, you then have a better gauge of this tenant. If you skip the background screening and this did happen, the consequences could become a nightmare for you as the property manager. The fallout of a bad tenant we all know. If you have hired a company to do a background check on all tenants, you are being more responsible, and have a stronger assurance that you have made a more informed decision

As a manager, the first thing that probably comes to mind is the extra expense that background screening will cost you. Many property managers and landlords charge an application fee to cover the cost of screening. The amount of the fee depends on how much information you need to gain. In the large scope of renting or leasing, the Fee for tenant checks is nominal. In my research you can find tenant checks for a very low investment. A background check will cost, however the cost will be less than 1% of the cost to evict a bad tenant.

If you are a property manager for commercial buildings, you can still hire a company to do a background check on the business that you might rent to. This is a commercial check, and is just as important as a check on individuals renting a one bedroom apartment. A commercial background check will let you know the credit standing of a small business so you can decide if it will be a risk to lease the property to them. You will be able to discover the company's number of employees, annual sales, and information about the business owners.

In conclusion, 15 years ago, Tenant checks or background checks were harder to come by and certainly more expensive than today. In 2010, the way to security is being secure from day one. Spend a little and save a fortune with proper types of information. For a few dollars, you can sleep better at night, and save yourself time and money by doing a simple background screen.

Discover Waterproofing Sealants That Work

Patching leaks in the facility is as easy as ABC when facility managers know the right type of sealant to use. Working closely with commercial building waterproofing contractors, the facility manager can choose the most superior sealing product that will satisfy the building's unique requirements. With many products out in the market, what are the choices?

Criteria in Choosing Waterproofing Sealants

The main criterion in choosing the sealant to use for commercial building waterproofing is suitability to the building's waterproofing needs. The commercial building waterproofing application should be a reconciliation of facility needs and product performance.

Another criterion for commercial building waterproofing that is often hard to ignore is cost. But facility managers should not at any instance sacrifice performance over cost, nor be influenced by cost considerations alone. If it is possible to find a balance between good performance and savings, this must be done. That is the reason why facility managers should work only with certified waterproofing contractors who can select the most appropriate sealant for the facility and use their years of experience and industry knowledge to work within the project budget.

Sealant Categories for All Types of Waterproofing Needs

Commercial building waterproofing sealants cut across three broad categories, and they are as follows:

1. Silicone-Based Sealants

These sealants are considered of the highest quality by industry standards. They are more versatile than other sealants because they deliver superior adhesive bonds to almost any surface type -- wood, glass, plastic, metal, fibrous surfaces, and even already-coated surfaces.

Silicon sealants evolved from nuclear and nanotechnology researches, as such they are stable and very resistant to extreme conditions such as fluctuating temperature and UV radiations. They are also used in marine waterproofing because they have stable chemical and electrical properties, and are often the sealant of choice in off-shore oil rigs that need high-performing fire retardant sealants.

Since these products use an expensive material -- silicone -- in their formulation, they are more expensive than other sealant products. However, that is more than made up for by high performance and a 20-year service life guarantee.

2. Urethane-Based Sealants

Urethane-based sealants offer a good compromise between cost and performance, and are often the preferred choice in more commercial building waterproofing projects.

Urethane sealants have decent useful life. They can last as long as 10 years with proper application. They also provide flexibility that is very useful in commercial building waterproofing projects that require sealing areas subjected to constant joint movements.

Since urethane-based products can be painted over, they are the preferred option for projects with aesthetic considerations. Thematic colors can be used for the building without hindering the performance of the underlying urethane sealants.

Urethane sealants are often used in waterproofing glass insulations, joint sealing, roofing membrane sealing, concrete and metal commercial building waterproofing, and even machinery coating.

3. Resin Modifiers

Developments in adhesion technology have synthesized polymers at their molecular level. The results are phenolic resins that are used to produce low-cost adhesives. Resin-based sealing formulations have excellent adhesion to many surface types. They can resist water intrusion and high temperature heat and flame. As part of a commercial building waterproofing solution, resin modifiers offer strength and reliability minus the expense.

Choosing the correct sealant suitable for a particular commercial building waterproofing project need not be a formidable task. Working with certified waterproofing contractors and gaining a basic knowledge of what's in the market today makes the task easy.

Professional Financial Management Uses

Many neighborhoods and property associations hire professional financial management services for many reasons. The main reason as to why this type of service is needed is to keep associations very organized, and to ensure budgets are kept up to date along with billing homeowners or anyone else needing to be billed. The uses of a financial management service are really endless, and many people do not realize how much work goes into running an association that handles many homeowners.

Organizing many different budgets for an association board is one of the main uses of this type of service. There are annual budgets, improvement budgets, and even budgets in place that keep in mind many years to come for the association. Up keeping something like a neighborhood can be very costly, so ensuring you are billing the proper amount is paramount in making sure everything is up kept and running smoothly. Another use of this service is that all bills are paid that the board approves of, which ensures that everything is according to procedure.

Billing homeowners and other members of an association needs to be highly organized and regulated to ensure all amounts are paid. People paying this money also want to see that their money is being put to good use and actually up keeping where they live, which is another use for a financial management service. After all of this money is paid and used, financial reports are needed to be presented to the board that runs the association, so that they can see everything is running correctly.

If some homeowners are not paying their annual or monthly association fees then this has to be documented. If it is not properly documented, then it is hard to enforce that these homeowners are paying on time, and paying in full. There is a lot of financials needs to an association, and it can easily get uncoordinated and unorganized without a professional service running everything.

Outside of typing up invoices, and keeping track of what has been paid and what hasn't, professional financial management can cut costs where it is needed, and use this extra money to improve on things inside the neighborhood or community. Budgets can even be made for improvements. The uses of the professionals are not only needed for an organized board that runs the association, but also desired for so that people save money in the long run, and to make sure everything is going how it should.