Duration : 0:2:45

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Expert: Richard Blake
Bio: Richard Blake is a licensed real estate agent that has closed more than 20 times the number of transactions per year than that of the average realtor for the last three years.
Filmmaker: Christopher Rokosz

Duration : 0:2:19

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Nathan discovers what he needs to do before he starts his search, and then some tools to help him narrow his search.

Duration : 0:4:6

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Duration : 0:1:19

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Duration : 0:7:55

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There are hundreds of options out there that are available to us, so whether you save money in buying a kitchen from IKEA, getting your brother’s mate to plaster your home or maybe your father has a green thumb and would love to help you with the landscaping, all these things will help lower the cost of your finished product. ASK HOMES say “If you can save then save!”

The biggest saving in working with ASK HOMES is in becoming an OWNER BUILDER. Although this may sound daunting, the process is actually very simple with a ‘correspondence course’ able to be completed in a single day.

By obtaining an OWNER BUILDER licence you’ll eliminate any builders profit or contingency that the builder would normally add on to their costs in case unforseen things happen. This super profit is better in your back pocket and can often see OWNER BUILDERS saving between 20% and 40% on the construction of their new home. Don’t worry, ASK HOMES will be there every step of the way if you need them, so you’ll always have the right advice when you need it. Many builders are simply middle men anyway, so at the very least you’ll save thousands just by taking the role as the organiser. You’re mobile phone is your best used tool. And because our homes are supplied as KIT HOMES, it means you’ll get a full set of kit home instructions.

Duration : 0:3:31

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Pt.3: This section discusses the psychology of Property Bear markets

Duration : 0:7:22

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Expert: Richard Blake
Bio: Richard Blake is a licensed real estate agent that has closed more than 20 times the number of transactions per year than that of the average realtor for the last three years.
Filmmaker: Christopher Rokosz

Duration : 0:1:43

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Duration : 0:5:11

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Part 3 (Excerpt)

$8,000 tax credit the government is paying you to buy a home with a very low down payment

We have back in the studio today Mr. Dan Havey. Dan and I have worked together in the mortgage industry for about 14 years and we are happy to have him back. He has seen a lot of changes in the market and thanks again for being here.

Michael, here is a question I wanted to ask you, there is so much misconception in the marketplace today as far as what is still available for financing. I think a lot of people have this idea that it is impossible to finance a loan or get a mortgage or that you have to be able to put 20% down or have a 720 FICO score. Can you let people know whats really going on out there?

Well you know a lot of things have gone away. There are a lot of those old loan programs that were fancy ways to sell money and finance real property and a lot of thats gone. The reality of it is, if a person has a minimal amount of money down, there is absolutely financing through the Federal Housing Administration with 3.5% down. You can buy up to about $358,000 with only 3.5% down. Now with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, we actually do have a few investors that will allow us to only put 5% down with those and that loan amount maximum is $417,000. So there is still plenty of financing for primary residences.

Now in regard to looking at investment properties believe it or not there are actually still some stated income loans out there, but the stated income loan is for a non owner occupied property, the interest rates are very high and you know what, if you can put 20 to 25% down and prove your income you are better off using conventional financing, it is absolutely still available.

Now if you are a first time home buyer living in an apartment and you are getting kind of tired of it, you are looking at low interest rates, you are looking at the property values have come down over 50%, FHA is generally going to be the direction that person is going to want to go, right?

Absolutely and you know Dan with the $8000 first time home buyer tax credit you know that is a check that the government sends you for up to 10% of the sales price of the home up to $80,000. Its capped at 10%, you are not going to get more than $8,000 back and you may get less if you buy for less than $80,000, but whats really interesting about this is you can, if you have already filed your 2008 tax return, you can file a 1040X and get that credit sooner. You dont have to wait until April 15th of 2010 to get your tax credit. You put the money down today, close on the mortgage, move in, file your 1040x, there is a form that is called the 5405 but thats not all that important, and you can have that money back in your pocket right away.

So I know that was part of the plan that came out today and just to make it a little bit clearer for peoplelets just take an example. Lets say you buy yourself a $150,000 house and you buy it as an FHA, it doesnt really matter how much money down or how you buy the house but if you buy a $150,000 house, you are going to get an automatic $8,000 tax credit that you can take off of the taxes that you owe the government. So lets take an example where you are a W-2d employee and you pretty much break even at the end of the year, you dont owe the government any money and they dont owe you any money the government will actually write you a check for $8,000 for that tax credit and if you buy it this year you can amend your tax return for 2008 and get a check from the government for $8,000.

And thats not including the other tax write offs that you get for writing off the taxes on the house writing off the interest on the house, so again with a $150,000 house with 6% interest roughly you are going to be looking at another $10,000 worth of write offs on top of that. Now that is a write off not a tax credit, like the other one so you are going to save whatever your tax rate is. So lets say your tax rate is 30%, that is another $3,000 in taxes saved. So if you buy a house this year you are going to put an extra $11,000 in your pocket.

So if you buy a $150,000 house and you have to put 3.5% down, Thats what? Lets just say roughly $5,000, you just made $6,000 and you get to own a house. ($11,000 tax savings minus $5,000 down payment) And your mortgage payment is more than likely less than or equal to what you are paying for rent and you own it.

Exactly and you get the benefits of having your own house…

Duration : 0:6:14

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