Housing and Real Estate

[straysweeper]

I'm writing this to ask anyone that has knowledge of government housing programs. Section 8, Hud, and the like. My sister is working to get out of a destructive relationship and has 3 kids in tow. Also, my mom is in living in a worn trailer, and is in need of repairs and or something else. She is on SSI and makes little money, so if anyone also knows of anyone who has made money while on SSI, I'd like to connect them.

On a more personal note, I also want to know more about real estate. Partially to try and take advantage of the pessimism and mostly to obtain my own house, while building to a point to aid others to do the same.

thank you all in advance.

[runningbird]

I don't know anything - except I learned about "single housing occupancies" from one of the posts here. That is a term for nonprofit cheap housing to get back on track. Have you searched for those in your area? Or searched for "affordable housing"?

[JackSkelton]

Hello,

I lived in Vegas for over 7 years and I have been tracking the real estate there for longer. There are many foreclosed on properties right now which I say to take advantage of right now. Couple reasons, one yes its pessimism that is out there and we go against the pessimists . Second its a total investment opportunity to leverage whatever money you can for a long term reward which is for sure going to return at some point.. it simply must. Lastly, mortgages (plus HOA's in some cases) are in most cases less than rentals!!! So by moving from a rental to owning you usually will be saving money and at the very least be breaking even but I would work toward saving money because this economy is allowing for some flexible negotiation. Look for a cheap property in Vegas and then offer then 10%-20% lower and go from there. Make sure you do some research on the areas before you sign anything. Also use those real estate agents out there so you can get into houses, they can give you free property listings for whatever you are looking for, and they are free. DO NOT sign any agreement with them because they may try to get you to commit to using them and then you owe them money and you may not like them and second I would say to ignore most of them. The ones that invest in property in Vegas are the ones you should be listening to otherwise you can disregard most of whatever they tell you. So one you get a property you can either live in it, split the rent with your sister because you can get a cheap big house, or put a renter in there that would cover the mortgage for sure and seeing as though there are lots of foreclosures there are renters in the market. I just rented out my condo about 5 months ago and I had about 20 people looking at it within the first 10 days. Im not exaggerating. I know some about section 8's but not enough to give advice just know what they are and why people own them. Use down payment assistant programs if you can find anything like that left and make sure your credit is good. If its not you will need a bigger down payment or if you can get someone with good credit to co-sign that will definitely help.

Disclaimer: Please don't bury yourself in a mortgage, you can get something cheap. I saw a condo selling for $50k.. your mortgage plus HOA's, etc would be about $500-$600 a month for a two bedroom 1,000 sq ft condo. AND please do not listen to real estate agents out there.. they are dieing for money.. People making $xx,xxx a month are now working at McDonalds they will do anything to take advantage of you BUT DO NOT BE SCARED just be smart and ask questions.

Best of luck!

Jack

[sk8joyful]

Learn how to buy land, and then learn how to build your own house, in an area with laxer building-regulations.