Key Things to Consider When Buying Your First Home

By Alexandria P. Anderson

Once you have made your decision to buy a home and stop renting, you'll need a strategy to get started on your search. The secret in searching for the perfect home lies in your ability to identify exactly what you want out of a home.

Many first time home buyers feel overwhelmed and frustrated by the homebuying process simply because there are too many decisions to make. How do you decide on the best location? What if the home isn't in the best move-in condition? Can you afford to be so far away from work? Making sure you've asked yourself the right questions and creating a 'wishlist' for your ideal home will make the home buying process much easier, and also help you get over many of the challenges involved in finding that perfect home. Start creating your wishlist with the following essential questions and considerations in mind:

1. What amenities do you want your home to have? Do you want to have a swimming pool, a garden, or a fireplace? Be clear with what you want so you can skip houses that don't meet your criteria.

2. Be very particular about your location. Ilyce Glink, author of '100 Questions Every First Time Homebuyers Should ask' explains that location is one of the most critical issues when buying a home. You need to decide where to live in relation to your work, your family and friends, your kid's school, commercial areas, and places of worship. Your location determines your travel time each day. Ask yourself if the travel time is worth your home and location.

3. What is the ideal size? Do you need more than three bedrooms? Is your family growing? If you are going to need more space in the near future, you may need to buy a home with more space than you currently use. Project your home needs for at least the next three to five years so you select the right size.

4. Are you willing to spend on home renovations? Some homes might have the perfect size and the perfect location but are not in any condition to house your family. How much are you willing to spend in renovating the home? Being specific about this area will help you save time as you exclude some houses from your search.

5. Will safety and security be an issue for you? If you have small children or are living alone, safety and security may be a top priority. Ask yourself what you will need in order to feel safe in the new neighborhood so you can eliminate homes that don't meet the criteria.

By asking yourself specific questions about your preferences, goals and dreams, you'll be able to narrow down the vast field of choices and find the home that truly meets your needs. - 23218

About the Author:

Alexandria P. Anderson is a licensed Minnesota Realtor that uses the Minnetonka Listings to help her clients to find and purchase Minnetonka Realty and other Twin Cities properties.

Getting Started in Real Estate for the Penniless - Part One

By Dave Peniuk

Let me be brutally honest with you, if you're living above your means or even just right at your means, then you have zero chance of ever becoming rich. Investing in real estate, or anything else for that matter, won't save you from a lifetime of debt if you don't already know how to handle money.

I know... those guys on late night television introduced you to people who got out of debt and quit their jobs just 60 days after taking their real estate investing course. Let me tell you first hand that if those testimonials on t.v. are real, those people are the exception, not the rule.

Real estate investing is a solid way to make a lot of money. The best way is to set your goals and find properties that meet those goals (and then keep them for at least 5 years). If you look at the richest people in in Canada and in your city, at least 25% of them probably made their fortunes by investing in real estate. We believe that this estimate will hold true based on who we see on the list of Canada's richest people as well as the Power List for Vancouver.

However, if you're serious about real estate investing, there are ways with less risk, less money and less anxiety. Essentially, you have to know what you're doing, take some time, take some classes, read some books and talk to people. Once you know what you're doing, you can increase your investments to match your knowledge and equity.

We started out with $16,000. Thankfully my wife Julie was a saver. When she graduated from University and started working as a sales rep, she continued to live like a student. And, she put every extra penny she had into paying down her student loan. When that was paid off, she proceeded to save any extra money that she had. Her plan was to go back to school for her MBA so she wanted to have as much cash in the bank as possible to pay for school.

When I first met Julie, we had very different lifestyles. I was enjoying the money I was currently making. I went out a lot, drove a brand-new Volkswagen with financing, and had some credit card debt. I also had a piece of property that I owned with my mom. But when I met Julie she talked about retiring at 35. She spoke of it so clearly and had such a good plan, that I knew it could happen if I worked at it too.

It didn't happen overnight, but it only took a few months to change my situation. I quickly paid off my credit card debt and started putting a few hundred dollars away each month in savings. And then we started shopping for our first investment property.

Our first investment was a lot easier to do thanks to Julie's savings. But, you don't need money to buy your first property.

I'm sure you've heard of those no money down programs. I'm not saying it can be done; it can be, but no money down is one of the riskiest ways to buy property. There are only three low-risk ways to buy property, and 2 of them don't require that you have money saved:

1. Cashing out your savings, including stocks, retirement and GICs

2. Home equity

3. A partner with cash.

A partner with money to invest is essential if you have no money. However, a partner won't want to work with you if your own finances are in terrible shape. You have to fix your finances before any partner would be willing to work with you. When a partner sees that you have a lot of debt, he/she sees a person that can't be trusted with money- either your own or someone else's. You haven't proven yourself as a trustworthy partner, and investing with you would be too much of a risk.

But, if you come to me and say "Dave, I have found this property that I think is a great investment. I don't have any money because when I graduated from University two years ago, I had $30,000 in student loans. I only have $5,000 left to pay off, but I really want to get started real estate investing and I think this deal will be great," I will be more interested in working with you.

Did you notice the difference? In the first instance, the person is in debt with no plan, no experience, and no way to get out. In the second instance, the person is in debt, but has a plan - so you know their debt will be over soon and they will be not be depending on your money forever.

Before you can buy a single piece of property, you have to be able to control your own finances. This gives you control of your destiny. Living beneath your means is the only way to do that. If you're unsure about what you make versus what you spend, try this: for the next six months, keep track of every penny you spend. Once it's there in black and white you'll be able to see how you're living and where you can make changes.

Oh - I hear it already - "but, Dave, it's Christmas", or "it's Sally's birthday", or "we've been planning the trip to Disneyland for three years"! Well, if you've saved up for those things, great! Go for it! But, if you are going to go into debt for those things then you are a SPENDER, not a SAVER, and you're obviously not serious enough about growing your wealth and becoming a rich real estate investor. - 23218

About the Author:

Learn How to Retire with Real Estate with Dave's free Real Estate Investing Starter Tips Guide. Learn how to find money for real estate deals, create financial freedom, extra revenue and massive wealth with tips like: How to find quality investment properties, finding and keeping great tenants, and easy ways to make more money with real estate.

Ride the Gold Bull Market

By Mike Swanson

People all over the world are looking for new investments each day. A couple of years ago it would have been incredibly easy to find a true investment. Nowadays, no one is making any money and the stock market has gone over the edge. The best trade that you could look into right now is gold investing. Take a look and see what it is all about.

When you are looking into the world of gold investing, it may be good to have a guide. There are plenty of brokers out there that would love to give you what you need. Most brokers will not charge you anything until your investment actually makes money. If you do not know very much about gold, it may be a wise choice to get a broker.

If you are just browsing around, ensure that you look at the gold investing websites. There are hundreds of websites for gold and currency trading. This is going to be a great way to make a lot of money. The internet is fast and it involves everyone in the entire world.

The world of gold is a fast paced world. Once you are in, you need to make your money and get out. If you are looking for a long term investment, this is not going to be one. The great thing about gold is it is a very short investment. Once you make your money you are all done!

Invest with a level head. You want to ensure that you are financially stable enough to invest in gold. If you do not have a lot of extra money, do not spend what you have. When you have an extra couple of hundred, then look to investing.

Gold investing is a whole lot better than investing in the stock market right now. Take all of these tools along with you, when you feel you are ready to invest. Once you make your quick money, get out while the going is still good! - 23218

About the Author:

One good way to start our in gold investing is to subscribe to my free gold stocks newsletter.

Trading Secrets

By Ahmad Hassam

Trading is speculating. It is not investing. It is not the buy and hold strategy that was taught to you. Trading can be challenging. Trading is a risky business and requires active participation. Speculation is done in the hope of profiting from market fluctuations by taking a business risk. It also requires putting your money on the side of the trade on which you think the market is going to go up or down. Successful speculation requires predicting outcomes and analyzing different market situations.

Trading can also be the appreciation of the fact that you can be wrong 70 percent of the time and still be a successful trader if you apply the correct techniques for analyzing trades, managing your money and protecting your account.

Right now forex and gold markets are really hot while the stock market is down. Stock market was a great investment opportunity a few years back. Over time, opportunity keeps on shifting from one market to another. Gold prices are going up. Those investors who entered this trend in the gold market by investing at the right time if they are going to ride the trend till it lasts in the gold market will make a lot of money. At the moment almost everyone is investing in gold as a hedge against likely USD depreciation. Everyone includes countries like China, Russia, India, hedge funds, institutional investors like big corporation and big banks, and retail investors.

Last year in 2008, oil prices had reached almost $140 per barrel in a matter of few months. Many hedge funds had made a lot of money by investing in crude oil futures in the year 2008. Then the bubble burst and oil prices came tumbling down to almost close to $35 per barrel. This situation may continue for some months or some years but suddenly you will find that crude oil futures have become a great investment opportunity again. Right now oil prices are down due to the reduced demand in the global markets.

As the global economy recovers and demand for oil increases, oil prices will again go up in a few years time. Timing for entering the market and the timing for exiting the market is very important for a successful trade. In trading it is the timing that is of essence.

Investors and traders make the mistake of focusing only on one market. Many end up spending time on only one market. In reality all the markets are interlinked. Futures, options, forex, stocks, commodities, all markets are effected and in return effect other markets. If something happens in one market, you will find the repercussions in the other markets. Successful trading requires mastering a strategy that enables you to trade multiple markets and multiple time frames.

They do testing, development, put on a million indicators, go and trade live. They do everything they can while spending all kinds of time trying to figure out one market and one timeframe. But then what almost happens is that market starts to go sideways or the opportunity shifts to another market.

You really have to have the ability to be able to adopt the market conditions and not waste your time to really master one market which is critical. There were so many stocks just a few years ago that were incredible to trade that either dont exist anymore or would not trade successfully today.

Many gurus will teach you that you really need to learn the ins and outs of one market. They will tell you to focus only on one market and then stick with it. But the problem with that philosophy is that opportunity keeps on shifting from one market to another. Mastering different markets is counterintuitive. Always remember a good trader always follows where the money goes. In other words, follow where the opportunity goes. - 23218

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. He is interested in day trading stocks and currencies. Know The Trend Forex System. Learn Forex Trading!

Getting the Right Forex Trading Broker

By Jane MacRae

If you have been in the forex game, you will understand that a right forex trading broker can really be your life saver. Despite that there are so many brokers out there you can choose from, to find the right one is not always easy. Here are some tips to help you go about.

* Does The Broker Offers a Free Demo Account?

Many online forex brokers now offer free demo accounts to their new customers. You should not only take advantage of them but also make the most out of them.

A demo account not only introduces you to forex transaction (in case you are a newbie), but also lets you take a look at the trading platform used by that broker. You want an interface that is easy to learn and understand, and that you will be comfortable to use.

* Always Ask For References

A good broker will not mind giving you references. You need to be able to talk to other people who have used his services, and find out whether or not they are happy with their experiences.

If a broker refuses to give you references, you should probably screen him out.

* Check Out the Minimum Deposit Requirement to Open an Account

Almost all forex brokers ask for a minimum amount deposit when you open an account with them.

If the amount of minimum deposit asked by one broker is higher than what you are comfortable with, simply search for one that requires a lower minimum. There are options out there for every investor, no matter how much or how little they have to invest.

* Check the Broker's Credentials

Despite that there is no centralised, governing body to regulate the whole forex market over the world, the business practices of each forex broker is regulated by institutions in the countries where they are located.

A broker located in the US, for example, should be registered as a Futures Commission Merchant (or FCM) with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (or CFTC). They should also be registered with the National Futures Association (or NFA).

* Check Out the Service Charge

As a general rule, cheaper isn't always the best.

Brokers who seem to charge small fees than their competition might make up for the difference with hidden fees that you are not even aware you are being charged.

Before you formally establish business with a broker, ask about possible hidden fees, read the fine print, and learn as much about them as you can.

Finding a good forex trading broker is probably an experience for almost all players in the forex market. With the tips shown in this article, you have already known the most key things to look at. But, don't be afraid if you still make a mistake. Sometimes, we just grow out of try and error. - 23218

About the Author:

Click here for our review of a leading automated forex trading tool in the market, which will grant you an unfair advantage over your competitors. Also check out this related article about trading spot forex.