Cabarrus and Iredell projected to lead with double-digit jump in percentage of households.

Despite the economic downturn that has slowed home building locally and nationwide, Cabarrus and Iredell counties in North Carolina can expect solid housing growth over the next five years, a Bank of America official said.

Cabarrus is expected to lead a four-county region with a projected 18 percent increase in its number of households through 2013, said Ken Bernardo, a senior vice president with the bank. He is the bank’s Cabarrus County market president and a mortgage sales manager.

Iredell will have a healthy increase of slightly above 17percent, well ahead of projections for Rowan and Gaston, the two other counties for which Bernardo released projections at a gathering of about 100 members of the Lake Norman Home Builders Association last week.

Gaston County can expect a 6percent increase in its number of households and Rowan County a 4percent increase, Bernardo said. He didn’t say what his projections were based on. Efforts to reach him later were unsuccessful.

Bernardo told the homebuilders that Cabarrus and Gaston will lead the study area in projected housing purchases this year; he projects there will be 6,500 home purchases in Cabarrus, 4,800 in Gaston, 3,900 in Iredell and 2,200 in Rowan. He said 40percent of sales are projected to be in the $50,000-to- $100,000 price range.

Bernardo told the Observer the projections were good news for an area that’s no longer immune to the national housing slowdown.

Several homebuilders at the gathering said many in their profession are relying on remodeling projects to stay afloat.

Elliot Eisenberg, senior economist for the National Association of Home Builders in Washington, urged those attending to contact their congressional delegations to assist the industry.

Too much is at stake for local communities, he said, to forgo federal action.

Eisenberg, keynote speaker, said the new-home construction industry, taken as a whole, generates more jobs in the Charlotte region – 18,300 – than anything but Carolinas HealthCare System and the former Wachovia, now Wells Fargo.

“Had I done this report a couple of years ago, that number would have been double,” Eisenberg said of the new-construction jobs.

Source – Joe Marusak of charlotteobserver.com
jmarusak@charlotteobserver.com

Visit Venture Companies and Larry Thompson – North Carolina Real Estate and Mortgage Experts

8 Ways to Improve Your Credit

Credit scores, along with your overall income and debt, are a big factor in determining if you’ll qualify for a loan and what loan terms you’ll be able to qualify for.

1. Check for and correct errors in your credit report. Mistakes happen and you could be paying for someone else’s poor financial management.

2. Pay down credit card bills. If possible, pay off the entire balance every month. However, transferring credit card debt from one card to another could lower your score.

3. Don’t charge your credit cards to the maximum limit

4. Wait 12 months after credit difficulties to apply for a mortgage. You’re penalized less for problems after a year

5. Don’t purchase big-ticket items for your new home on credit cards until after the loan is approved. The amounts will add to your debt.

6. Don’t open new credit card accounts before applying for a mortgage. Having too much available credit can lower your score.

7. Shop for mortgage rates all at once. Too many credit applications can lower your score, but multiple inquiries from the same type of lender are counted as one inquiry if submitted over a short period of time.

8. Avoid finance companies. Even if you pay the loan on time, the interest is high and it will probably be considered a sign of poor credit management.

To obtain a complete copy of the publication, “knowing and understanding your credit” visit http://www.homebuyingguide.org

5 Factors That Decide Your Credit Score

Credit scores range between 200 and 800. Scores above 620 are considered desirable for obtaining a mortgage. These factors will affect your score.

1. Your payment history. Whether you paid credit card obligations on time.

2. How much you owe. Owing a great deal of money on numerous accounts can indicate that you are overextended.

3. The length of your credit history. In general, the longer the better.

4. How much new credit you have. New credit, either installment payments or new credit cards, are considered more risky, even if you pay promptly.

5. The types of credit you use. Generally, it’s desirable to have more than one type of credit – installment loans, credit cards and a mortgage, for example.

For more on evaluating and understanding your credit score, go to http://www.myfico.com

Click Here to Visit Venture Companies Today for ALL Your Real Estate needs – Servicing North Carolina

Hello again, and thank you for taking time and allowing me to share with you who we are at Venture Companies. Here is part 2 of this 4 part series on Who We Are and What We Do. If you missed part 1 (Venture Realty) please take some time to read it and understand everything we can offer you when Buying and Selling a home. Here is Part 2

1st Metropolitan Mortgage

We are a branch of 1st Metropolitan Mortgage and have access to every lender in the country. We are a wholesale broker, which allows us to get better pricing than any retail bank. We know the best loans available and pride ourselves with the ability to fit our clients into the loan that’s best for them. In some cases where you can not qualify now, we can coach you on what to do in order to qualify in 6 months.

We have a program that assures you will always get the best rate available. We manage your loans and if the rates do drop, we call you and drop your rate for you… and it is all FREE!!!! That is just part of the service we will provide for you.

We don’t believe in unnecessary fees or closing costs when they aren’t needed, so it is easy on you. We still make money on the loan, but more importantly you make a lot of money by not paying up front costs or any costs whatsoever. When the rates go down your rate goes right along with them.

Thank you again for your time, and keep looking for Parts 3 and 4 to follow shortly. Please don’t hesitate to contact us at Venture Companies or 1st Metropolitan Mortgage. (704) 597-3009

Investment properties seem to be hot topics these days. Every night you can tune into the latest infomercial showing you how to make millions with “No Money Down”. I have purchased these programs and studied the industry and I am here to tell you that it DOES work, but NOT the way they tell you to do it. As the Owner and Founder of Venture Investments, I believe that there is a right way and a wrong way to Invest. I show people the RIGHT way.

Here is my story on how I got started…

I invested in my first Investment Property in 1999 in Charlotte, NC. My goal was to pay for my child’s college education with one house. I was a finance major in college while working on my MBA. I became interested in Investments after speaking with a lady who had moved a home that was scheduled to be demolished because of a new road being built. She paid movers to move the home onto land that she bought nearby. After all was said and done, the home appraised for over $200k and she has less than $150k invested. I WAS HOOKED. I researched the process and bought my first Investment Property the next month. I had No Money, and had to use a bridge loan for a down payment. I bought the house for $65k and it immediately appraised for 98K. I then refinanced the home for $78k and took out $13k and pain my student loans off. I got a 15 year loan on the property at 7.5%. This is how the numbers worked:

Purchase price $65,000

Loan Amount $78,000

Appraised Value $98,000

Interest Rate $7.5%

Term 15 years

Payment $723/month

Taxes and Insurance $150/month (Total Payment $873/month)

Rental Rate 1998 rental rate $1000/month 2006 Rental Rate $1200/month

I sold this property last year for $111,000. If I would have kept it, it would have been paid for in 7 more years. That is how you pay for College with one property. I had no personal money invested and over a 15 year period, it is paid for. The house when sold should be worth enough to pay for college for one or maybe two children.

We are constantly asked how to Invest in the Real Estate. Here at Venture Investments, we give YOU the same opportunity to be able to buy like I do and help you through the process. Venture Investments is the only company that I know of in the Charlotte Area that offers a way to teach people how to buy Investment Properties with Safe and Proven methods.

To learn how you too can participate in what I know to be a Great Way to Pay for College, give us a call and ask to speak to one of our Investment Specialist. We will teach you everything you need to know and how to avoid the mistakes that I made along the way.

704-597-7187 or visit Venture Companies Website Here

Let me first begin by giving you a little background about myself. I graduated from Clemson University in 1994 with a degree in Finance and have an MBA from University of North Carolina at Charlotte. I served 9 years in the South Carolina National Guard as an Engineer Officer where I gained invaluable experience. I got my Real Estate license in 1999 and formed Thompson Realty along with my wife, Kim, who’s also a graduate of Clemson with an MBA in Accounting from UNCC. I began investing in properties in the Charlotte area and bought and sold so many properties, that my Mortgage Broker at that time wanted me to start doing my own Mortgages. After learning how to make the Real Estate and Mortgage businesses work together, I formed Venture Realty in 2003, where we combine the Real Estate, Mortgages and Attorneys all under the same roof.

In 2003, I became the #13 ranked Rookie Mortgage Broker in the nation.

By 2007 I was ranked #15 nationally on Loan Volume alone. I currently serve as 1 of 22 national members of RMG (Realty Mastermind Group), a group of Top Real Estate Experts in the U.S., who sell between 100 -500 homes a year. Our sole purpose is to share best practices and information on current markets strategies. I’ve also been the only agent in Charlotte, to be featured in the book “Billion Dollar Agents – Lessons Learned 2006”. To be featured in this book, you had to achieve or will achieve 1 Billion Dollars in sales in your career.

Today, under the global heading of Venture Companies, we’ve developed into a ONE STOP SOURCE for all your Real Estate needs. Our current 7,000 sq. ft. office houses Venture Realty, a full service Real Estate Firm, a branch of 1st Metropolitan Mortgage, a National Mortgage Company and Venture Investments, a company specializing in finding foreclosures and Real Estate Owned Properties. We also have a Property Management company that services the rental market and an in-house Attorney that closes all of our real estate transactions while providing legal consultation to our clients. By having all of these services under one roof, I feel it gives our clients the convenience and satisfaction of having all their needs met in one place – something nobody else can provide.

Thank you for your time and logging on to this site. I look forward to creating a place to share my experience and knowledge with those of you who want to gain knowledge and continuously learn about the changing Real Estate market. Keep watching for new additions.