Most importantly, we answer the tough questions: What is the market like today? Is this a good time to buy a home to live in? What about to invest in? How do I know if I am overpaying, or if I am getting a good deal? If I have bad credit, can I still buy? How do I get a loan in this market and are interest rates going back up? How will that impact my purchase? We answer these questions and many more throughout this class.

We provide lots of resources so you can learn how to analyze the market yourself, what to look for and how to calculate risk. We also answer a fundamental question - are we in another real estate bubble? If so, how do we avoid being caught in the downturn? Insightful advice from two real estate professionals who are not pitching a particular agenda or trying to sell you a house.

Most importantly, the course focuses on how to use what we know from the past and invest in today's real estate market, whether to live in as a primary residence or as an investment property. The goal of this course is to help you determine if you want to invest in real estate today, how to secure funding, and avoid pitfalls.

We walk you through the current market, the types of homes you can invest in, the mortgage markets and how to secure financing, what to expect and be prepared to document for a loan, analyzing criteria for investments, managing your own investments, and whether REITs are a viable option. We walk through the pros and cons of owning versus renting, the tax benefits that may be helpful, and how to avoid the pitfalls in investing in the current post-bubble market. We advise as to the likelihood of securing lending if you are self employed or have bad credit and what to do if you had a short sale or foreclosure.

We help you learn the tools to analyze whether you are getting a good deal and how to negotiate your purchase.

​More Details about this course

The course objectives are:

• Look back at how policy shaped the run-up which caused the real estate bubble
• Analyze whether homeownership benefits are enough to outweigh the risks of investing in other options
• Compare statistics of the latest real estate crisis to the past and understand their implications for investing now
• Describe the current state of the real estate market
• Determine the types of homes or property that a person can invest in
• Weigh the pros and cons of managing your own investments
• Identify and describe Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and their usefulness in an investment strategy
• Assess credit worthiness in today's market
• Alternative forms of capital or fund sourcing for investments
• Understanding permissible debt in today's credit markets
• Understand the impact of credit score in today's markets
• Identify potential tax credits as a result of investing
• Identify how to invest with a low credit score
• Analyze the important question - are we in another bubble?
• Determine if you are getting a good deal
• Explore how to avoid pitfalls when investing
• Learn what to look for if you want to buy a home to live in
• Identify what it takes to invest in today's market

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