There is no doubting that the economy is in tough shape. During these hard economic times it is all but impossible to get good, easy financing for your real estate ventures. This is when hard money loans become the only option for many investors. It is surprising to me how often people ask me what [...]

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I thought this would be a timely definition as our markets explode. I have seen this term used in several leading newspapers that are covering the market and the Capital restrictions that are happening in the market. So what is a Risk-Based Capital Requirement? It is the amount of capital (read:Money) required of a federally [...]

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A measurement of investment returns based on the percentage relationship of annual cash income to the investment cost. The formula is Current yield = current income / investment cost Example: Abel purchases a parking lot for $10,000. It provides $5,000 of parking revenues each year. Property taxes and insurance total $3,500, leaving $1,500 of annual [...]

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The  loan-to-value (LTV) ratio expresses the amount of a first mortgage lien as a percentage of the total appraised value of real property. For instance, if a borrower wants $130,000 to purchase a house worth $150,000, the LTV ratio is $130,000/$150,000 or 87%. Loan to value is one of the key risk factors that lenders [...]

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When you are trying to figure out if a property makes sense financially and you are crunching the numbers, don’t forget about the property taxes. Even if you are going to have the property taxes accrues through your mortgage (which I do not recommend) it is important to figure out what the property taxes are [...]

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