Archive for August, 2009

Real Estate Investing – Part Two

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

The investor who takes a long view of real estate investing is a professional investor.  There is no substitute for buying low and selling high but real estate investors know the quick turnover is difficult to accomplish and that every real estate transaction has built-in expenses that cut into that quick profit.  Like all forms of investment, your real estate plan will include a description of your risk tolerance and appetite.  Making money in real estate involves hard work and discipline.  There is no way around those components.

To help analyze each transaction and assure conformity to your overall investment plan, real estate investors build a reliable team of professionals.  Your real estate consulting team should include:

·    An agent
·    An appraiser
·    A home inspector
·    A closing attorney
·    A lender for purchases
·    A lender for sales
·    A maintenance expert
·    A general contractor

The general contractor should have a general knowledge in plumbing, electrical, heating and air-conditioning, roofing, painting and flooring systems.  The maintenance expert should be familiar with cleaning costs, lawn services and windows cleaning services.

This team of experts can help in many ways.  However, their biggest contributions will help protect the real estate investor from the greatest sin, which is overpaying for real estate.

The reason to build a team of professionals is to heed their advice.  Investors must understand the numbers behind the numbers, but they must also respect the input of their chosen professionals.  When the numbers do not add up, it is time to move on to the next opportunity.

The evaluation of these numbers is the moment of truth in every real estate transaction.  When the transaction does not fit, the professional investor walks away.  Follow your plan and the profits will be there.

Creative Deal Finding

Monday, August 17th, 2009


If you have been investing in the real estate market for any period of time, you may have noticed that nowadays investors need to utilize a wide array of marketing techniques to stomp out the competition.  This is true particularly in the booming pre-foreclosure and foreclosure markets, but is important no matter your market niche.  Not only must you be able to think a little differently to get your hand on the best deals, you must be able to strike when the iron is hot. 

 

One of the most successful, yet highly overlooked real estate marketing techniques is running commercial ads.  If you are a newbie real estate investor this is definitely not a technique for you, but for those with some experience and extra cash, TV commercials get the job done!  Here are just a few of the benefits:

 

  • Running a television commercial will reach a larger audience than any other available medium.  If you have the funds to spend, a television commercial will give you the most bang for your buck.
  • Another huge benefit to running a television ad is that it will make consumers more responsive to direct mail campaigns.  If your name is out there in front of them on television, chances are much greater that they will respond to a piece of mail with your name on it.  It builds a professional image, unlike the handmade signs you see on the side of the road that say “We Buy Houses.”
  • The last noticeable benefit is that it will save you more time than any other kind of marketing technique.  Once you have a winning ad, it gets repeated over and over.  Hence, you don’t have to waste time brainstorming, writing and sending mailers.  Unless of course, you want to combine the two mediums to increase your response rate.  

 

Purchasing After Foreclosure is not Impossible

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009


Here I was, a woman, having gone through foreclosure, and yet still having the firm belief that I could purchase another home (no one in my family believed in me).  Everyone told me to “forget it.” There was just no way I was going to be able to purchase another home. I would get comments like: “Don’t worry! You’re a woman, when you get married your husband can help you purchase another home.”

I didn’t want that! I didn’t want to live with the failure of never being able to buy my own home. It had nothing to do with whether I was a woman or not!  So, one day, as I was lamenting my situation I saw a comment on twitter about how it was possible to purchase a home again, even after going through a foreclosure.

The twitter comment redirected me to a Wiki, that went on to give me the basic steps which needed to be followed to be able to purchase a home again:

The Wiki went on to say that the first thing that needed to be done was to re-establish credit. I read all the way through it, and then continued to do research elsewhere, and that’s when I found Dean Graziosi , who confirmed a lot of what I was reading on blogs, wikis and on twitter.  From the weeks of research I did, I learned the following.

The First Year after Foreclosure is the Toughest. When the foreclosure has been discharged you can start reestablishing credit, but the first year after a foreclosure is the most difficult.  Your credit score will sit somewhere around 550 or lower, and with this score you could qualify for a home loan but you will qualify for the highest rate. If you wait a year then your score can increase to 600 and drop your mortgage rate by a point or two, and by the second year, if you play your card right you can have a good credit standing and get a normal mortgage loan.

So, I decided to wait a little over a year before I started home shopping again, but during that time I also worked on improving my credit score. I opened a new credit card account, and started paying everything on time. I started saving for that down payment, which also helped my credit score.

Then once I was ready, I first checked my credit report to make sure that everything was correct and accurate. I didn’t want to have to pay for other people’s mistakes!

Another great thing I learned from Dean Graziosi was how to plan out my house payments, and figure out what my mortgage payment was going to be even before “shopping for the home.” I learned about different types of mortgages, and what type I wanted, or needed, what type of home I could afford and what to look for in a home, what features were important and which weren’t.

Today, my family and friends have realized that a woman can do more for herself without having to depend on her spouse, and that it is in a woman’s best interest to be financially independent.