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Why Real Estate? What do Creative Real Estate Investors have to gain? How about early retirement? How about a shorter work week with more pay? How about loads of money in the bank? Sound good? This is the perfect atmosphere in which to get started.

I’d like to discuss a couple of things with you. Defaults are at an all time high. People are spending way beyond their means and this is not only on their homes, but with credit cards and other forms of debt as well. We have the bank as well as the home owners to thank for that.

Let’s take a step back and look at the root cause of all of this. Basically, banks would give money to anyone in almost any financial situation. In many cases, this was way beyond the means of most people. So, fastforward a few years and it only makes sense that the real estate market for all kinds of homes is suffering more foreclosures than ever.

We are also seeing more bankruptcies, along with more bank repossessions. There are more VA, HUD, FHA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and other government-insured loans defaulting than ever before in history. Can you say Short Sale?

The number of homes selling below market value is at an all time high. Because so many people are in a bind and can’t sell their homes when they need to, it’s a buyer’s market. That means we have Motivated Sellers. With so many options, it should be much easier to find a profitable deal.

We have all heard this saying – “in real estate you make your money when you buy and get paid when you sell.” You may put money in your pocket when you sell the property, but if you bought the property correctly, you have lots of money making options. But if you bought the property incorrectly, you may not have any options. So finding motivated sellers and properties below market value is the first goal while investing in real estate.

A key thing to point out about investing in real estate is that there are a multitude of people looking to buy homes, assuming you can tell the prospects from the suspects. Because of the financial crisis around the world, many of these would-be buyers are having a tough time getting money from banks. An investor can turn these lemons into lemonade with the right amount of innovation. With the know-how and some ingenuity, an investor can take the place of the bank and take a pretty penny for their time. Are you able to finance the transaction with the sellers money? Whos on your buyers list? Do you include only traditional buyers?

Now that seems crazy doesn’t it? If there are more properties than ever before and at better prices, and if there are more buyers, then why don’t the buyers just buy those properties? The reality is in most cases they don’t have the techniques that I told you about. So now that you know it can be done, it’s time to start investing!

A judgment, default judgment, and credit card judgment all mean the same thing.

You are legally responsible to pay back a debt. This has happened in a court of law.

The creditor has sued you and won their case. This gives the creditor legal grounds to have your wages garnished to pay back the debt.

This will cause you credit score to be negatively impacted, it is a very derogatory mark to have on your credit. Judgments can be sought after for any sort of unsecured debt, it is common for collection agencies to seek judgments.

This mark will remain on your credit file for 7 – 10 years. It depends upon what state the case was filled in and what the statutes of limitations are in that state. It is also common for lenders to seek a renewal judgment if the debt has not been repaid at the end of 7 or 10 years.

This makes it possible to never be able remove a judgment. However with some savvy credit repair attorneys and a little luck you may be able to remove a judgment without paying it.

I would first suggest creating a dispute letter. In this letter you identify the judgment listing and explain the reason it is not accurate and mail it to the credit bureaus.

The bureaus will then hold an investigation. They will try and verify the debt and the amount of the debt with the lender or collection agency.

If they can not verify the account is accurate then it must be removed from your credit report. It is common for investigations to result in a mark being deleted.

However a judgment is a very bad mark and these marks are more likely to be verified. This typically means you are going to just have to live with the negative mark.

However in some circumstances a judgment is simply wrong. The mark should be removed from your credit report.

This is the time when you should consider a credit attorney. They have an expert knowledge of credit laws and the ability to go to court if necessary to prove that the judgment is wrong and should be removed from your credit.

Credit attorneys do not have to be paid thousands of dollars. You can actually hire them at a reasonable rate. A very popular credit repair service Lexington Law has over 20 attorneys and can be hired for as little as $39 a month.

If you are currently repairing your credit report you understand how important your score is. How this number directly impacts your quality of life.

You will be judged by employers and lenders on this number. It can prevent you from being approved for credit and worse yet being hired for a job.

When you apply for new credit many lenders will look at nothing more than your credit score. They will not take into account any reason, no matter how legit, as to why you have a negative mark on your credit report.

There are two aspects you should focus your efforts on when repairing your credit score.

1. Deleting negative marks on your credit report.

Derogatory items will cause the most damage to your score. However these marks can be removed and removed before waiting the full 7 years.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act allows you to dispute any negative listing on your credit report. When you file a dispute you are telling the bureaus that this mark is inaccurate or invalid.

To file a dispute you must write a dispute letter and send it to the credit bureaus. In this letter you need to include the reason the listing is inaccurate such as; not my account, never paid late, item out of date. Then the bureaus will conduct an investigation into the negative listing.

If the mark is not verified by the lender the bureaus must remove it from your credit report. It has been discovered that many marks are removed once they are investigated, regardless of their accuracy.

2. Build positive credit

This is a more difficult task with a low credit score. This is because it is difficult to be approved for new lines of credit.

It will help tremendously if you can open an unsecured credit card. I realize the interest rate is going to make you sick but it needs to be done.

With this card you should try to keep the balance at around 10% of the credit limit. This will help your score because it shows you have available credit that is not being used; the bureaus call this your ratio of credit to debt.

By making your monthly payments on time it will also create a positive payment history on your report. If you can not create a positive payment history it will be almost impossible to add points to your credit score.

In sum you can repair your low credit score. It may make sense to wait and remove some of the derogatory items before you apply for new credit. However both these aspects need to be used to get to a 700 credit score.

A charge off can be removed by disputing the mark. This must be done directly with the credit bureaus.

A dispute is the consumers’ method to challenge the accuracy or validity of a negative mark. There are two methods to dispute a charge off.

1. Create a dispute letter

You can write a dispute letter yourself. In the letter you must include the reason why the negative mark is incorrect for example; never paid late, not my account, item is out of date.

Once your dispute letter is deemed valid the bureaus will conduct an investigation. They will contact the creator of the charge off (often a credit card company) and verify the amounts and that the account does exist.

2. Hire a professional credit repair firm

This method you simply identify what marks you want to dispute and then the company will do the rest. I suggest this method if you have multiple negative marks on your credit report.

Most firms have credit attorneys on their payroll. This can make all the difference when it comes to a negative mark being removed from your credit.

These attorneys have an expert understanding of the ever evolving credit laws. They will often be able to use case precedents to help remove a negative listing.

In addition credit repair firms are able to use advanced dispute techniques to remove stubborn negative marks. These techniques include; debt validation, escalated dispute information requests and creditor direct intervention.

A charge off that is not disputed will remain on your credit report for 7 years. It is often a result of an unsecured credit card that goes unpaid for 6 months.

The original creditor will charge off your account, this is done for tax purposes for the creditor. Your account will then be sold to a collection agency and they will be able to report your account negatively if they can not recover payment from you.

In addition this agency will be able to sell your account again; this can create a trail of negative marks on your credit report. Thus if you have a charge off you should give it immediate attention so it does not become multiple marks. The number of times your account is sold depends upon the size of the debt.

In sum, a charge off requires immediate attention so it does not become many negative marks on your credit report and ruin your score. This mark can be removed and before seven years expires.