Living Beaverton - Your guide to everything Beaverton

Sunday I was holding a open house at one of our company's condo conversion projects and was thinking to myself, how can I get one of these units for myself as an investment property?

The first thing I must tell you is that it is one particular unit that I am wanting. The reason I want that particular unit is because it is next to the model unit. My plan is to live there for one year while selling the other condos then owner-finance my unit to a new buyer.

The only problem is the unit I want has a renter and the owner is saving those units for last. He wants the rents from those units to continue while he does the conversion of the vacant units. He is also not taking reservations on occupied units and I am not willing to wait for it to be vacated - I WANT IT TODAY!

I'm presenting my proposal this next week to the owner of the project. So, I will update everyone to how it is going or if it accepted.

So here is the proposal:

The first step is, approach the owner with my idea and see if this is something that he is even willing to consider.

Then the second step that I need to do is approach the renter to see if I can pay them $500 to move out early. If they are willing to do that, then I can go back to the seller and pay him a $500 down payment / earnest money deposit and set up a lease-option for the next 6 months, setting the price of the condo to today's market prices.

This now gives me the property at the price I want and it gives the seller the income he wanted from a renter and I have a home office 15 feet from the model home. No more driving 10 miles when I get a call from the office saying they have a buyer that would like to see the model home.

It should be a win-win for everyone involved, and like I said, I will be updating everyone next week to the outcome.

Todd Clark - broker
Kastings & Associates
(503)524-9494
Todd@IFoundYourNewHome.com
www.IFoundYourNewHome.com

The title may seem to be good to be true, but it isn't. You maybe able to buy a property at as low as 6.5%,
tomorrow, with as little down as $1,000 and no closing costs upfront.

How does this work? The Veterans Administration forecloses on homes and sells some of them with vendee
financing on a bidding process and requires no credit check. The highest bidder wins! They will even finance your closing costs for you.

The catch is a lot of these homes are in out of the way places. So, if you don't mind having your first investment property being a couple hours away, now, maybe your chance to become the next great investor.

For more information on owning a VA foreclosure home, please feel free to contact me anytime.

Todd Clark - broker
Kastings & Associates
(503)524-9494
Todd@IFoundYourNewHome.com
www.IFoundYourNewHome.com

Have you ever walked into a property and the first thing you see is a green shag carpet?

Well, there are a lot of homes still out there like this, and the reason they can't sell is because people lack vision and can't see past that thick shag carpet.

I see this in a lot of probate homes and this is why investors who buy these homes get such great deals. They can see past that, but pretend they can't and ask for discounts. The family, for some unknown reason, would rather discount the price of that home $10,000 than spend $2,500 for a new carpet.

Whether you're a first time home buyer or a seasoned investor, learning to look past the shag can save you thousands!

For more information on saving thousands buying outdated properties call or e-mail me anytime.

Todd Clark - broker
Kastings & Associates
(503)524-9494
Todd@IFoundYourNewHome.com
www.IFoundYourNewHome.com

I would like to say thank you to one young gentleman, who I never met. He was an organ donor.

This young gentleman unfortunately, had to die in a motorcycle accident. But thanks to his generosity, my father has been part of my life for 17 more years than he would have been if that young man didn't put a "D" on his driver's license.

Eighteen years ago my dad was a teacher and cut himself on something, and contracted hepatitis C, which killed
his liver. My best friend was dying! Then we got the news, in mid-December 1990 that they had found a donor. This has given me 17 more years with my best friend and hopefully many more.

So please take the one second that it takes to put a check mark by the "Yes, I want to be an organ donor" on your drivers license. You never know who you might save.

Todd Clark - broker
Kastings & Associates
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739
Todd@IFoundYourNewHome.com
http://www.ifoundyournewhome.com/

I have many investors who buy and sell properties through me and most of them know each other. How do they know each other? I introduced them and I let them teach each other and myself new ways of investing.

I've have also met some investors and when I ask them if they know any other investors that I might be able to help, they say, "I don't talk to other investors." When I find out why they are usually afraid that they may lose deals to other investors. I then explain to them the best investors realize that they actually get more deals talking to other investors.

The reason why you can actually get more deals and make more money is because there are times when you can't buy an investment property, since you are already tied up with 3 or 4 other deals. You then tie up the property and assign it to another investor and make a quick $5,000 for finding the property, and they will do the same when you are looking.

This is why I suggest you join an investors club. To find out more about my investors club and how it can help you reach new heights in your investing career, please feel free to e-mail me or call anytime.

Todd Clark - broker
Kastings & Associates
(503)524-9494
Todd@IFoundYourNewHome.com
http://www.ifoundyournewhome.com/

Unfortunately foreclosure is something that happens to people when bad things happen in their lives. Death, divorce, job loss and medical bills can get anyone behind on payments. That doesn't mean that you should try to hide your head in the sand and pretend it isn't happening.

If you think you are going to get behind on your payments, call your Realtor and ask them if they think you have any equity. If you do, call your mortgage broker immediately and they maybe able to do a no cost
refinance for you. This may lower your monthly payments or catch you up if the reason you started to fall behind was only a temporary situation.

Please do this before you are late with your first payment. If you wait until you are behind, it may already be too late. If you are not able to get a lower payment or you are not able to catch up, I maybe able to show you a way to sell your home with an owner contract. This way of selling your home gets you the money up front to catch you up on your payments and makes you a nice amount of extra money every month from the sale of your home.

For more information on owner contracts or other ways to help you avoid foreclosure, please feel free to contact me anytime.

Todd Clark - broker
Kastings & Associates
(503)524-9494
Todd@IFoundYourNewHome.com
www.IFoundYourNewHome.com

Whether you are thinking of remodeling for the purpose of making your home better for yourself, or are updating it to put it up for sale, you need to consider the cost. Hiring someone to do the remodel can cost you thousands of dollars and be a major intrusion to your home and family.

There are ways you can save thousands of dollars, by doing these remodels yourself and places like Home Depot and Lowes want to help you. Why do they want to do this? They are hoping you will choose to buy from them when you go to buy the products for the remodel.

For more information on both stores programs and classes on home improvement, please feel free to click on the store links below for further information.

Home Depot - Know How Program
Lowes - How-To Clinics

Also, before you start any major remodel on your home, make sure you get the proper permits. Good luck on your remodel and for more information on remodeling ideas to maximize your profits for the resale of your property, please feel free to contact me anytime.

Todd Clark - broker
Kastings & Associates
(503)524-9494
Todd@IFoundYourNewHome.com
www.IFoundYourNewHome.com

Do you need a certain amount of money out of your home, but it just isn't worth that yet? I have a solution for you that can be done in any market. It doesn't matter if it is a sellers or a buyers market! I can get you much more than the appraised value for your home, and it really doesn't take any extra work on your part, like doing a complete remodel would.

The way to do this, is for you the owner, to either offer a lease-option or owner-financing. This can increase the amount of money you get for your home from anywhere between $25,000 and $1,000,000.

If this sounds like something you might be interested in as a home owner, please feel free to contact me anytime.

Todd Clark - broker
Kastings & Associates
(503)524-9494
Todd@IFoundYourNewHome.com
www.IFoundYourNewHome.com

This is a picture my wife received from one of her friends who is always chatting with the troops over in Iraq and they sent her this picture. It reminds me that it isn't the big things in life that matter. This soldier has obiously something that he is very proud of!

We all have yards and neighbors that we complain about and I know what his yard looks like and who his neigbors are and I don't think I will be complain anymore, I have it pretty good!

Todd Clark - broker
Kastings & Associates
(503)524-9494
Todd@IFoundYourNewHome.com
www.IFoundYourNewHome.com

When I was 14, my family had a scary situation happen that could have turned out much worse than it actually did and for most it does. Let me tell you the story and I hope you learn from others, including my family.

It was a cold morning in November, and as usual, my dad had built a fire in the fireplace to heat the house prior to everyone heading off to school. We had built his house from the ground up and it had now been 7 years since we moved in. Through out those 7 years we had many fires, just like the one we had that morning. But, what we had never done during those summer months when we were not using the fireplace was hire someone to clean it.

Well, that morning when walking out to the school bus, my friends starting yelling to me that there were flames coming from our chimney. Yep, you guessed it we had a chimney fire. Lucky for us, before I had a chance to get the rest of my family out, a neighbor had already called the fire department. We all got out safe and the fire department put out the chimney fire, before any of the rest of the house was damaged. They told us to get it cleaned before we tried starting another fire or it could happen all over again.

For more home safety tips, feel free to call or e-mail me anytime.

Todd Clark - broker
Kastings & Associates
(503)524-9494
Todd@IFoundYourNewHome.com
www.IFoundYourNewHome.com