James Branca - Fee Simple Ownership

James Branca began investing in real estate properties in 1988, three years after graduating from Hunter College in New York with a degree in Sociology. He has been in the real estate business ever since.

As he knows, fee simple ownership is about the most common type of ownership among buyers of residential properties. Since it is the most complete form of land ownership it is also known as fee simple absolute. Under this arrangement, a fee simple buyer is given ownership of a property in perpetuity. This includes the land, and any improvements that are made to it. Except in rare cases, no one can legally take the real estate from an owner with fee simple title. The fee simple owner has the legal right t own, use and dispose of the property however he or she wants to, including passing it on to others upon death.

A less common form of land ownership is known as leasehold. A leasehold interest is one that is created when a fee simple landowner enters into what’s called a ground lease with another person or entity. That person or entity, known as the lessee, gives compensation to the owner for the right to use the land. But the agreement differs from a fee simple interest in several important ways. First and most important, buyers of leasehold real estate don’t actually own the land; they only have a right to use it for an amount of time spelled out in their contract. Second, if the leasehold real estate is transferred to a new owner, the use of the land is limited to the remaining years of the original agreement.

James Branca has been involved in real estate investing and developing in the Hamptons since 1995.

Sources:
http://www.zillow.com/wikipages/Fee-Simple-vs-Leasehold-Ownership/
http://snip.ly/SRPP#http://ow.ly/TQJyw

James Branca - Making Smart Choices

James Branca is a 1985 honors graduate of Hunter College in New York, where he received a degree in Sociology.

Since 1988 he has been active in the real estate business. He started with projects in New York City in 1988 and was active in that market through 1995. Starting that year he began investing in real estate acquisitions in the Hamptons on Long Island, New York, in New York state.

To make real estate investments worth it, it’s important to do your homework and make smart choices. For most investors the goal is to earn wealth on the property based on the risk involved in making an investment in the first place. Any time you buy a property, it involves taking a portion of your liquid financial assets, like stocks, bonds and CDs, and investing it into an illiquid asset. While you ay have made a four to six percent return on your financial assets, a reasonable expectation with real estate is to earn a fair cash-on-cash rate of return. In order to achieve this you’ll need to pro forma your deals and purchase cash flow-positive properties that earn a decent return.

A real estate investment is, by definition, an extremely high risk. The development of real estate, land, private real estate funds, fixer-uppers and so on, are all a lot riskier than buying an established cash flow investment property. If you want to own real estate, it’s a good idea to take a fee simple title in your own name.

Since 1995, James Branca has completed more than two dozen home projects in the Hamptons.

Sources:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/zillow/2013/05/21/three-things-that-make-a-great-real-estate-investment/ 

http://www.zillow.com/wikipages/Fee-Simple-vs-Leasehold-Ownership/ 

James Branca - Understand The Market

James Branca is a professional real estate investor and developer and has been in the real estate business for nearly thirty years. He has worked primarily in the Hamptons on Long Island, New York, New York since 1995.

To be successful in the real estate development business, it is critical that you know the area you work in. Understanding the local market, housing patterns, schools and so forth is extremely helpful knowledge. With it you are able to recognize when and where there is a void in the market; you may even recognize one is coming before it arrives.

Hypothetically speaking, a real estate developer might notice a vacant piece of land and think that it is a good location for a development. He or she might think about trying to acquire the property. In such a situation, an early step would be to pay a visit to the local Planning and Building departments to find out how that interesting piece of property is zoned, and what that zoning allows.

Once you find out whether the property is going to fit your idea for developing it, find out exactly what is needed to proceed. You’ll want to know where the utilities are, and what might be required in the way of landscaping, access, and so on. There might be easements or other things that affect how the land can be developed.

Developing a property is definitely a balancing act that weighs the cost of the property against the cost of developing it to its full potential, and what sort of return you can project on the investment. James Branca has been engaged in this balancing act since 1988.

Sources:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/243847
http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/09/09/real-estate-development-2/

James Branca - General Contractors

James Branca is a real estate investor and developer who lives and works in the Hamptons on Long Island, New York. He been involved in many real estate projects during his nearly thirty years in the business, in many different capacities.

He has developed and renovated a number of properties in New York City, in some instances acting as a project’s general contractor. A general contractor is the person who oversees an entire building project. In many cases they are hired for home construction, although they also do remodels and home additions.

Home building projects are best described as venture between the homeowner and the general contractor. Homeowners usually make the big decisions – it’s going to be their home, after all, and they’re paying for it. The general contractor is there to make sure the homeowner’s vision is achieved through the best means possible.

By hiring a general contractor who build or renovate a home, you’re getting a professional who knows what needs to be done and is constantly checking the quality of work done by the subcontractors on the job. Building a house is a complicated and time-consuming process. A general contractor is going to be up to date with all of the relevant building codes, and know their variations in one jurisdiction to the next. He or she will also make sure the work of the subcontractors is going to pass inspection the first time.

James Branca has worked on dozens of real estate projects in the Hamptons since 1995, when he began to focus his endeavors there.

Sources:
http://www.improvenet.com/a/reasons-to-hire-a-general-contractor
http://enlightenme.com/general-contracting/