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With the real estate market being like it is, sellers and agents are using every trick in the book to sell property. The few that are on the market seem to be moving steadily, but with many would-be movers staying put for now, or not able to get the credit, things are still in the doldrums. MLS or Multiple Listing Service inventory is tight, with fewer properties than usual available, and those that are aren’t selling at all, or very quickly.

The newest trick to sell homes is a step along from home staging, and it’s called “Occupied to sell.”  Home staging is an old trick where an interior designer or professional stager will present a home in the best possible light, using props, rented furniture and other accessories to make the house look like a home a buyer wants. It’s well known that vacant homes take longer to sell, and don’t fetch as much as a fully furnished, lived in one.

To solve this problem, enterprising people are offering a home staging, and occupation service to home sellers. The company will stage the home as required, then have one of their home managers “live” there while it’s being viewed or shown. The manager is responsible for keeping the home pristine and ready to show at any time.

This not only increases the security of a vacant property, but it also creates the illusion of a family home, rather than an empty lot. This allows the seller to achieve a more realistic price and hopefully a quicker sale. In return the seller pays a monthly fee to the company until the home is sold and a “success fee”  once it is. The fees are around a quarter of a percent, and the success fee around three quarters.

This service isn’t for everyone. Typically homes over the $400,000 mark are ripe for occupied staging, as they will see the most benefit. Even a couple of percent increase in price more than makes up for what the staging company would charge, and the home gets looked after while it’s not being lived in.

The selection of a home manager is important, but something that quite a few people seem interested in. Many people would like to live in a luxury home in a gated community, even for a couple of weeks. The catch being that they have to be fastidiously clean and have the house prepared for viewing at all times. Other than that, it’s a breeze.

In return for a small monthly fee, a seller can be happy in the knowledge that their home is occupied and ready to sell to the right buyer. The home has been staged to within an inch of its life and there are people there to paint the picture of the lifestyle that will achieve the highest price.

If you’re crazy, or addicted enough to still want to invest in real estate right now, there are a few things to help you on your way. We are going to discuss the best ways of bagging a bargain to get you on the ladder, or further up it even in a difficult market.

Finding real estate deals, especially somewhere like Naples, is an art form. It takes skill and practice, but almost anyone can do it with the right mentor, and application. Finding a motivated seller is the key here. The seller has to want to do a deal for you to be able to make any money, and finding one is all about research, advertising, marketing and who you know.

Finding the motivated seller is easier once you know what can motivate them to sell. The main reasons are emotional ones, those who get emotional about property fail to see things clearly, and fails to see the property clearly, which makes them ripe for doing deals. Such reasons can be divorce, time, bereavement, job relocation, financial problems or perceived property or neighborhood problems.

Those are just some of the motives behind a motivated seller and you will notice that none of them are insurmountable to the investor. A bad neighborhood might give you pause, but if other people live there already, you should be able to rent it out no problem.

The application of time and money can solve almost any real estate problem, you just have to bear that in mind when dealing with an emotionally motivated seller.

Finding available properties is all about getting your nose to the ground. Newspapers, websites and other traditional methods are well enough, but all investors use those. To get the edge, and the deal you have to do more.

Get in the car and drive around. Target desirable neighborhoods and see what’s around, choose one and stick with it for a while. Learn the areas, prices, types of families, job prospects and any other pertinent information. This is called farming, and the more you know about a particular area, the more aware you will become of potential deals in your farming area.

Look for vacant, ugly or properties needing renovation. If you find some, knock on the door, or the neighbors door and get information. Ask them if they want to sell, or who the landlord is. Neighbors don’t want to live next door to a wreck so they can be quite forthcoming.

Get the word out that you’re an investor looking for property. Visit open houses, meet people and hand out your card. Meet agents, other investors and generally make yourself known. Even if you don’t make contacts at an open house, you will get to know the style and layout of particular properties, and their worth, which is all good ground work.

It takes work and dedication to make it in real estate. It always has, but even more so now. It takes research, work, time and effort to get anywhere but if it’s for you there is no feeling like it when you pick up a bargain.

Thinking of purchasing a home among the breathtaking land sceneries and seascapes in Sanibel, Florida? While it is well known that real properties are priced slightly above average in Sanibel that does not mean it should stop you from acquiring property on the island. There are always bargains and deals to be found, so don’t discount the idea until you try it. Cheap Sanibel real estate is out there is just waiting to be snapped up by a canny investor or family.

You will most likely have to evaluate various styles of homes in Sanibel before deciding to make a purchase. Even before you start canvassing a property, it helps to take into consideration the kind of home you want what elements are essential to you. Buying a home on the island is about more than location after all.

Look at different advertisements posted in newspapers, browse online, visit real estate agents and ask around to score cheap Sanibel real estate while in the area. Searching for bargains involves negotiations, lowered expectations, and future value considerations. So if you have the extra cash, you may want to tap a few island realtors and ask for their opinion. Getting an expert opinion may save you a lot of money in the future.

Even if you are looking for a cheap property, the house must have good structure and a well-built facade. Forget about acquiring dilapidated houses and then refurbishing them up later as it will cost you much more than buying a newly constructed one. Consider the way the house looks like from across the street. Does the structure have any additions or extensions to it? Does it look sturdy or strong enough? Sanibel has a subtropical climate with the occasional drizzle. If you are from a state with frosty winters, you might be a bit surprised how much living here is done outside so you should also consider the outside space.

Take a walk around the neighborhood and see if the other properties are in good shape. If the surrounding houses look decrepit and rundown, it may be a sign of a questionable neighborhood. You don’t have to have a trained eye to spot the warning signs. Lots of people hanging around during the day, old cars in the gardens, litter and general mess can all be signs of a neighborhood down or on its way. There could be the cheapest homes around down these streets but would you want to live there? Would your tenants want to if you’re planning to invest?

Condos may be less pricey than residential homes, although the service charges can add to the cost. They often also offer a range of extra services and additional amenities like security or a gym. But these types of homes usually don’t appreciate in value as fast as residential homes do. A cheap Sanibel real estate is also a good investment should you decide to sell both land and structure for a steeper price in the future.

John Cannon has been financing big real estate loans for $25 billion-asset Capmark Finance Inc. of Horsham and its predecessors since 1985, and he’s never seen business this slow.

“There’s nothing being bought and sold,” Cannon told me by phone from the vast Virginia headquarters of government-controlled home lender Freddie Mac, one of the few outfits still pumping millions into buildings.

Capmark financed $1.5 billion in apartment deals during the first half of the year, down by half since early 2008. Almost all this year’s lending was refinancing loans, funded by Freddie and Fannie Mae, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“They’re the only viable lenders in U.S. commercial real estate right now,” and all they do is residential real estate, not offices or industry, Cannon said.

He’s seen slow markets before. The early 1990s, when the savings banks failed. But that “was a supply issue. You saw a lot of empty buildings. Now it’s a liquidity issue.” Banks aren’t lending.

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He’s hoping things have hit bottom. Fannie and Freddie tightened credit sharply last year. Lately, they aren’t requiring quite so many escrow payments, Cannon said hopefully. “Terms are getting looser. Spreads are coming down.”

It’s not that loan rates have fallen. It’s the spread between what money costs and what Fannie and Freddie charge that tells the story, according to Cannon:

Back in the mid-2000s, loans were approved at less than 1 percent above the benchmark 10-year Treasury rate. That zoomed to 3.5 to 4 percent above the benchmark during last fall’s credit crisis, after the Bush administration took control of Fannie and Freddie. Now it’s around 2 percent, Cannon says.

But banks still aren’t coming back into the market. It’s not just that they’re shy. There’s also “the disconnect between buyers’ and sellers’ expectations,” Cannon told me. “Guys bought a building five years ago for $10 million. They don’t want to sell for $8 million.”

NJ to PA

Archer Daniels Midland Co., Decatur, Ill., says it’s closing its Glassboro cocoa plant and ending jobs for 53 workers there. The work is moving to ADM’s new 500,000-square foot plant in Hazleton, says spokesman Roman Blahoski.

Bernanke or Summers?

Democrats in Congress and the Obama White House are plotting to remove Federal Reserve Chairman Benjamin Bernanke and replace him with Obama’s chief economic adviser, Larry Summers, at the end of his term next year, writes veteran bank analyst Richard X. Bove of Connecticut-based Rochdale Securities.

Summers is the brainy Main Line native, Harvard economist, and ex-Treasury Secretary who’s trying to re-regulate the financial institutions he helped deregulate under President Bill Clinton, setting the stage for the current mess.

Bernanke or Summers – what’s the difference? “Mr. Bernanke has demonstrated a willingness to act to defend both the economy and the financial system. Conversely, Mr. Summers has written the bulk of the proposals to regulate the financial industry,” which Bove says “would dramatically restrict fund flow to the economy” and kill the recovery like the government did when it tightened credit rules too soon in 1937. (But when’s the right time?)

Bove credits Bernanke, ex-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and FDIC chief Sheila Bair with “bold, innovative action” that salvaged the banks and prevented a full U.S. takeover. Bush and Obama at that time “did nothing.” Congress was “the proverbial deer in the headlights.”

Yet “the same people who were incapable of acting when there was a clear need for action will now make the decision as to whether the man who helped save the system should be removed.”

Bernanke is set to testify before the House banking committee next Tuesday. Expect Fed critics to ask how he’ll reverse the scary growth in the money supply without stalling the economy.

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