Monday, August 28, 2006

How To Make Money On No Equity Properties

by David Gass

As a real estate entrepreneur, you will often run against problems with no equity properties. This is because you will be buying property from homeowners who sell foreclosed property. This is the reason why most real estate investors do not buy no equity property. The only way to deal with it is to persuade the credit lending bank to take less than the amount owed to it.

Making Profits On No Equity Property Discussed below are some ways to make money on no equity properties.

1. Deal directly with the Homeowners. Until the time the court orders the foreclosure of the property, the banks are not the owners of the home. You need to deal directly with the homeowners to buy the property, and then buy the mortgage from the bank to transfer the ownership of the property to you.

2. After getting in touch with the homeowners, get them to sign a release of information form that will allow the bank to talk to you about the homeowners' mortgage.

3. Now you need to convince the bank to discount the mortgage. Once you can prove that the property is in bad shape and needs extensive repairs, and the owner is unable to repay the mortgage loan, the bank will probably agree to lower the amount. You may need to negotiate a little, but most banks do not want real estate on their hands. They just need some way to recover the money owed.

4. Once you have bought the property, you can sell it for a higher amount. The bank is relieved to have the real estate off its hands and get back some of the loan. You have made a profit and the buyers of the house will probably have some equity on it.

Why Homeowners Will Want To Sell To You A no equity property is a liability for the homeowners, especially if they are making a distressed sale. The options they have are limited. Paying off the mortgage is difficult. Renting out the property means spending money on maintenance and repairs. Foreclosure means a bad credit record. Short sale could invite a huge tax penalty.

If you make a reasonable offer to the homeowners, chances are that it will be accepted. Since what you pay will get them more money than what the options above could get, they will accept your terms. Then you will draw up a sale contract and discuss it with the bank.

With a little creativity and out of the box thinking, you can convert a no equity property into a money making proposition. So the next time you come across a no equity property, do not walk away from it. It may be your chance to make significant profits.
David Gass is President of Business Credit Services, Inc. His company publishes a free weekly e-newsletter on Small Business Consulting at their web site http://www.smallbusinessconsulting.com.
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Sunday, August 20, 2006

Know When to Hold 'Em: Struggling Real Estate Markets Create New Opportunities for Long Term Investors

by Kevin Ramsey

Know When to Hold 'Em: Struggling Real Estate Markets Create New Opportunities for Long Term Investors

I think we can make it official: the Real Estate Bubble has officially burst. Real estate data from several of the largest cities in America show home values steadying and, in some areas, beginning to decline. While this is bad news for the average homeowner, it's even worse news for professional real estate investors that buy and sell real estate for a living. "Property Flippers", as they are often called, purchase, renovate, and resell properties for a profit. They rely on rising and/or steady home values to maximize their return on investment, or ROI. While they have enjoyed rising values in most cities over the last 5 years, many are now faced with the reality that their current inventory may draw a significantly reduced asking price compared to what they anticipated selling their properties for when they purchased them. In Cleveland, OH, for example, the average home price has declined 3% over the last year. That may not seem like a significant decrease in value, unless you are the investor that purchased a $200,000 home counting on a modest 10% ROI (or $20,000), and now you are looking at making $14,000 for the same time and effort.

So is this a bad time to invest in real estate? This investor says no. It is a great time to invest of you keep a few things in mind:

Invest for the Long Term In a down market, good investors return to the investing principles of yesteryear. Simply put, invest for the long term. The idea of buying, fixing, and "flipping" property was made popular during the years following the depression. The idea of investing for long-term profits is as old as mankind itself. While buying and selling property provides the potential rush that can only be created by the prospect of "instant cash", I think it is safe to say that the Hilton's made a wise decision by hanging on to the Waldorf for a few years! Now is the time to buy low (there are plenty of property owners out there with adjustable rate mortgages who are just dying to sell; and the foreclosure rate is really showing signs of life these days as well!) and hold on to your property (ies). As rates go up and credit scores go down, more and more qualified, able-paying renters will be opting to rent rather than buy. They are ready, willing, and able to pay down your mortgage balances and keep your investment cash flowing until the real estate market recovers and it is time to sell.

A New Market Yields New Opportunities As I touched on in the previous paragraph, a down real estate market provides increased opportunities to purchase real estate from owner occupants at a discounted rate. Why is this important? The number one mistake inexperienced investors make is to exclusively search for properties that are being sold at a discount only because they need extensive repairs. Learned investors know to look for deals where real estate can be purchased at a discounted rate even though little to no repairs are needed. There is an old saying in real estate: Situations Make Deals. Over the last several years, many homeowners (I admit, I am guilty) have used interest-only or adjustable rate mortgages to purchase properties that were previously priced out of their price range. They are now are faced with either refinancing these properties or selling quickly to get out from under them as rates rise. Why does this matter to you? Properties purchased from owner occupants normally require significantly less work than properties purchased from banks or estate sales. You may be able to purchase a property and immediately rent it without spending additional money to fix it up. While you may pay a little more for this type of property than you would a foreclosure or estate property, you will make up for it by generating immediate cash flow and by realizing better long term appreciation, as these properties are often times located in stronger areas. Many investors look to make a deal with another investor who is forced to sell, which I suggest you avoid at all costs. Unless it is an unbelievable deal, buying properties from other investors is normally a bad idea. Investor-owned properties are managed and maintained in a way that will maximum cash flow. This normally means that the materials used in the renovation process (cabinets, flooring, roofing, furnaces, etc.) and the craftsmanship used to install these items will be second rate and will need to be replaced sooner. If you are investing in residential real estate, it will more than likely be cheaper in the long run to purchase properties from owner occupants.

Get By With a Little Help From Your Friend - Your Accountant! Every once in a while, we could all use a little help when the taxman cometh. A down real estate market creates opportunities to purchase properties at a discount (creating instant equity) and still depreciate them to help reduce your tax obligations. Simply put, if you are able to purchase a property and save $2000 a year on your taxes for 10 years, that is a $20,000 non-cash return on your investment. A non-cash return is just a good as a cash return because it increases the amount of cash in your pocket. Assuming the market recovers within those same ten years and you break even on the property itself by renting it out, you will be very happy with your investment. The combined benefits of tax savings, appreciation, and the equity created by paying your mortgage down with someone else's money for ten years will all work together to create a solid long term investment.

Let's Make a Deal A down real estate market often times signals a down economy. When homeowners have less cash to spend, it affects many other industries, especially the mortgage and home improvement industries. Lucky for us, investing in real estate requires a lot of help from both of these industries! When home sales and home improvements projects are down, mortgage brokers and contractors are looking for cash any way they can get it. This is a great time for the savvy investor to save money by shopping around for the best deals. Mortgage broker fees and construction labor costs represent a significant percentage of the costs incurred when buying and renovating investment properties. If you have cash and credit in a down market, you have a great amount of control over what you are charged for these services. Large home improvement stores are also forced to lower their prices on materials and goods to prevent their inventory from sitting on their shelves. A down market is a great time to save big, which will only increase your ROI when you are ready to sell a few years down the road.

In summary, a down real estate market does not mean that investing in real estate is a bad idea. It means that, like any business on earth, nothing stays the same forever. A changing real estate market just means it's time to change your approach and adopt new strategies. If you do this, you will be successful in any business.

Kevin Ramsey
Kevin Ramsey is the CEO of REV Holdings, LLC, publishers of Lienfax.Com. Lienfax.Com sells real estate related reports to consumers that are considering buying and/or selling a home. Lienfax.Com also provides instant contractor background checks, instant home value reports, and free detailed school reports on over 90,000 public and private schools across the U.S. Kevin has also bought and sold over 300 properties in and around Northeast Ohio over
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Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Personal Branding Techniques for Real Estate Agents and Brokers

By Dan R. Vella

A key principle of marketing is to find something unique about what you offer as the basis of your sales message. Even if what you offer is a commodity, there is always one thing unique in your business -- you.

A big error made by many Real Estate Agents and Brokers is to try to develop an institutional image like most big companies. People do not like to do business with institutions; they like to do business with people.

In advertising terms, branding is the "image" created in the minds of people when they see or hear a name, product or logo. Companies invest a lot of money in creating and maintaining their brand, but the Internet has sparked a new trend called "Personal Branding".

Personal branding isn't only important for promoting a product, business or political cause, but also for promoting yourself for advancement within your own organization. It involves developing your personal reputation.

Branding can be done to any product, or any person. Before undertaking an exercise in personal branding, however, consider your distinctive strengths and abilities and what they offer the market place. Traditionally personal branding was for sporting celebrities who gained enormous coverage and following through their sporting prowess. Movie stars have also had celebrity status and association since movies began.

A personal brand is about creating strong, favorable associations in the minds of people that you encounter. If you don’t actively do this, they will still make associations. Therefore, it may be better to be proactive and undertake the branding exercise for yourself, you cannot control what they think but can give them some information to assist with the associations.


WHY BRANDING OURSELVES?

- Places you in a leadership role
- Enhances prestige
- Attracts the right people and right opportunities
- Adds perceived value to what you are selling
- Earns recognition
- Associates you with a trend
- Increases your earning potential
- Differentiate yourself from the competition
- Position your focused message in the hearts and minds of your target customers
- Confers top of mind status
- Increases authority and credence of decisions


HOW DO WE BRAND OURSELVES?

Like any branding exercise, the key to personal branding is having a good product, one which you understand and pitch to the right market. The first step in personal branding is knowing who you are, find out what strengths your brand possesses and how these strengths can help you. Personal branding is not about presenting a façade to the public; a poor product will not stand up to market scrutiny. This is also a choice of brand elements, people you deal with, the look that you have, and how you conduct yourself. Once this has been done, determine what you are going to offer. As a product what do you do, what need does the product of you satisfy in the market. Next figure out the position you will take in the audience of your mind. What unique space do you wish to occupy and what unique associations do you want people to recall when they think of you?

Finally, once you have established the first three steps, manage your brand over its lifecycle. That is keep visible, be consistent and be yourself. According to Montoya, the well-known personal branding guru, the key to managing your personal brand is word-of-mouth (WOM), the most trusted form of communication.

How does one go about building a personal brand? Recognize your personal strengths and gifts! Think about how you best connect with people, consider what your target audience needs and wants, identify the value you deliver to meet those needs and wants, and communicate in a way that reaches your constituents in their hearts and minds and via the channels that work best for you

Functional associations are important such as timeliness, quality, dedication; as are emotional associations like inspiring, leadership, being an innovator.

The three C’s of personal branding are clarity, consistency and constancy.

Clarity deals with being honest about yourself and your strengths and promises of value attached to your personal brand and being clear in the way you communicate them. Often, for simplicity, you must focus on one or two aspects that are most vital and focus on communicating them. Think about the things you associate with prominent artists or mangers, and they are unlikely to be complicated.

Consistency is keeping things consistent for the customers. This does not mean staying stuck in the past, but just not undertaking drastic changes. Coca Cola have had a consistent message for 50 years; the message evolves continuously and is not stagnant but is consistent. Artists like Madonna change every three or four years, but there is a consistency to the change.

Constancy means being visible with your brand and maintaining an on-going level of awareness in the marketplace. Oprah Winfrey is visible constantly, and although most of people do not have the visibility or exposure of Oprah, they can still be visible in a smaller audience. There is no point trying to build a brand image quickly to coincide with a new exhibition or performance you may have coming up – brands take time to build in consumers minds.


A FREE PERSONAL BRANDING TOOLKIT FOR REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONALS

NetReal.net, a company noted for its template-based Real Estate Web design solutions, offers a Winter Holidays Gift for Real Estate Agents and Brokers – the Personal Branding Toolkit: http://www.netreal.net/personal_branding.php
The Personal Branding Toolkit contains the “Essential Marketing for Real Estate Professionals” ebook and 17 Real Estate Reports and the tools to personalize them with your name, contact info and photo.


NetReal’s editorial team put together the top 25 highest- rated Real Estate marketing articles of 2004, and created a must-have e-book - “Essential Marketing for Real Estate Professionals”. The ebook covers Marketing 101 , Network marketing, Personal Marketing, Customer acquisition and retention, Telemarketing & Direct Mailing, E-marketing.
You can personalize this e-book with your data and send it to your contacts, absolutely free of charge. This is a great way to offer a helpful gift to your colleagues and partners.
The “17 free Branded Reports” allow you to create your own branded Real Estate reports (for buyers, sellers, investors, movers) with your contact info and photo/logo and an exquisite design. Distribute them to your prospects or clients as e-docs or printed materials, or upload them on your website. Show your professionalism with these great tools to acquire new clients.

The Personal Branding Toolkit for Real Estate Professionals (http://www.netreal.net/personal_branding.php) is free for everyone.

Dan R. Vella is marketing editor for NetReal.net. NetReal.net (www.netreal.net) is a privately-owned company providing web-based and offline software solutions for real estate industry, focusing especially on the low-cost end, and empowering the real-estate agents through the use to Internet technologies with the most affordable costs. For more details: http://www.netreal.net
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Saturday, August 12, 2006

High Profit Real Estate Investing--make A Good Deal Every Time!

By Richard Odessey

Knowing what a Good Deal is – Is the Key to Success in Real Estate.

Knowing and being able to negotiate good real estate deals every time is the key to real estate investing success. What to look for, and how to calculate your profit, cashflow and risk exactly and then evaluate the deal is revealed. These techniques apply to all real estate investments including foreclosures, short sales, rehabs, flips, muliti-family, lease option and owner financing.

Dear Investor,

Take this little survey: The most important key to Real Estate Success is:

1. Finding Motivated Sellers
2. Funding Your Deals
3. Negotiating
4. Knowing a Good Deal when you see one.

Yes all of them are important. And if you answered #4 – you're right on the money. Why, because if your deal is a not good one, all your other skills and marketing and power will not make you money, and may even lead to disaster.

On the other hand, if you can unfailingly target good deals, you will always be successful and all the other skills and your marketing methods will serve to increase your success.

It's a lot easier to state the question than give the answer. Why?

SO... WHAT IS A GOOD DEAL?

It's a lot easier to state the question than give the answer. Why?
Because it depends on many factors like:

> Market value and purchase price
> Expenses, carrying costs, repairs
> Cashflow and profit
> Holding time
> Loan terms
> Risk factors
> And more . . .

And most importantly, it depends on the type of deal you're doing. For example, if you have a loan on a property that you intend to rent or sell on a lease option, the terms of the mortgage, future tax increases, and current area rents are critical to consider in insuring a positive cashflow. However, if you are planning to do a short rehab job, and sell or just flip to another investor, rental income is irrelevant as are future tax increases.

IT'S WHAT YOU DON'T THINK ABOUT THAT CAN GET YOU

The thing that trips up many investors, is that in our enthusiasm to do a deal that we've found, we don't take into consideration "hidden" costs.

For example, if you're doing a renovation and you've done your due diligence on contractor costs, have you also considered your carrying costs such as mortgage payments, utilities, etc. not only during the renovation, but also the time it will take to sell and close with a new buyer?

Or if you're using a realtor to sell the property, have you calculated the effect of a 6-7% commission and the closing costs the seller will pay on your bottom line. A 10% profit margin can shrink pretty quickly to zero under those circumstances.

READ THOSE LOAN TERMS CAREFULLY

Or have you taken into account, not just your loan to value ratio on the property, but your investment to value ratio (e.g., the total of all outstanding loan balances plus the additional funds you've put in from your own cash or borrowed from your home equity line or friends and family)?

And on the income side, have you calculated how long you should hold the property to receive a significant profit from the pay down of the mortgage. With a new 30 yr loan, you may have to wait 5-10yrs to get the same pay down you'd get after a few years from a 30yr loan that's been seasoned for 10 years.
And did you carefully read the note contracts to take account of adjustable rates and pre-payment penalties?

CHECKLISTS AREN'T ENOUGH

A number of courses and real estate gurus will give you checklists. That's helpful in not forgetting something, but it doesn't help you with the laborious and complex task of putting all the numbers together.

There's just something about working with the actual real numbers, that brings the reality of the deal into actual focus. Our hopes and wishes dissolve before the actual profit and loss calculations.

Moreover, the numbers can pinpoint the weaknesses in a deal, and point the way to a solution. No mere checklist can do that.

WHAT ABOUT RISK?

I think you'll also agree that a Good Deal, is not just High Profit, but also, most importantly Low Risk. Many a dream of a golden future has come crashing down because some little thing went wrong.

Many a would-be mogul, is now working at a 9 to 5 because their killer deal was wrecked by an unforseen glitch. This is what we mean by high risk.

The successful investors do deals with low risk. Deals that are so robust that even if almost everything went wrong they'd still come out with a profit.

BUILD IN A SAFETY MARGIN

For example, suppose you have a rental with a positive cashflow. Is your cashflow high enough or your option payment big enough, that even if you had to evict your tenant for non-payment and it took you 2 months to fill it with another cash-paying customer, you'd still come out ahead?

Or, is your investment to value so low that even if you had to offer your buyer a big discount for a quick sale, you'd still walk away from the closing table with a fat check?

In real estate things can and usually do go wrong. It's Normal. So, wouldn't you like all your deals to have these kinds of safety margins?

FIXING THE PROBLEMS WITH YOUR DEAL

Now, if you knew in advance that your risk was too high, or your cashflow was too low, or your profit over the life of the deal wasn't enough, you'd want to think of solutions.

This is what is meant by being a "transaction engineer". Find the solution, fix the problem, test it on the numbers, and then negotiate it into the deal.

And if you can't find a solution (but there always is one) or the seller won't accept it—NEXT!

A RISKY DEAL IS NEVER WORTH DOING!

I can tell you from real experience, a bad or risky deal is NEVER WORTH DOING—no matter how enticing the vision. The personal stress, heartache, and loss of confidence can be even more harmless than the potential financial loss. In the words of an ex-president's wife, if you are faced with doing a bad deal—Just say No!

WHAT'S THE ANSWER?

Some experienced investors have a feel for good deals, and can avoid trouble most of the time. Others only do a particular type of deal and use a rough "rule of thumb" to evaluate their risk and profit.

However, what's really needed is a "calculator" or computer program that will take in all the variables and

> Calculate the exact profit and cashflow for all kinds of deals.
> Measure and Evaluate the financial risk in the deal
> Use standard and safe criteria for what constitutes a good deal
> Suggests alternatives to fix what is wrong

A DEAL EVALUATION TOOL

We've taken tons of real estate courses and looked at all kinds of real estate software, and nothing has come close to what we as investors need. So we decided to create our own Deal Evaluation Tool.

Well after several months of testing and improvement, we now use it for all our deals—short sales, subject to, lease option, rehab, wholesaling, and even some commercial.

Since we can try out different "what-if" scenarios, it's kept us away from some real pitfalls, and helped us negotiate better profit margins. We wouldn't "leave home without it".

CONSTANTLY MEETING THE NEEDS OF INVESTORS

Well, some other investors wanted to try it, so we put it on our website. Much to our delight we now have a community of users and a users group that shares their insights about doing deals and creative ways to use the Deal Evaluation Tool.

Their suggestions, are leading to a rapid improvement of already incredibly useful tool. There is just nothing out there like it. We've also put a demo up for those investors who would like to get a feel for using it. And we hold classes for new users.

Knowing all the numbers, and having evaluated our risks with the Deal Evaluation Tool gives us more confidence in negotiating deals with sellers and more consistent high profit real estate deals.

And that's what we all want, isn't it.

Best of Success,

Richard Odessey

Richard & Michelle are experienced investors & founders of the premier site on the internet - http://www.InvestorWealth.com: training real estate investors to do high profit deals. Offering Free Teleseminars by the top real estate investors, how-to tools and kits and hands-on training with personal advice from experts from the comfort of your home
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Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Do You Know About The Most Popular Real Estate Scams?

by Jill Kane

Real estate scams are more and more popular, even though we can't see them yet. Compared to robbing a bank, stealing $200,000-worth property via a false deed or an identity theft is trivial - and remarkably safe for the thieves. Their imagination is remarkable and oftentimes we can't do much more than minimizing the damage they inflict. By becoming aware of the most common real estate scams, you may be able to protect yourself or someone you know.

False Deeds, Part 1 Most real estate frauds revolve around forged deeds. The most popular scam is using a false deed in order to get a loan secured against a property. The thief then vanishes with all the money, leaving the real owner in danger of foreclosure by the bank - oftentimes the danger is real if the owner doesn't react on the first warnings received from the bank.

False Deeds, Part 2 Another common real estate fraud is selling a property without the owner's consent. The uninhabited, recently inherited and otherwise unguarded property is the most probable target for such scams. The most inventive thieves are able to even sell the same property to several buyers at the same time. However, if they have sold it only to a single buyer, the fraud can go unnoticed for months or even a year. By that time, the "owner" is long gone, usually in another state, selling another home to someone else.

Real Deeds The false deeds are bad enough, as such scams usually hit at random and they often can be reversed after the deed is thoroughly checked. However, the problem begins when the fraud is performed using a real deed, one that was either stolen or simply taken from the owner. The sad thing is that such thieves often recruit from our family and closest friends, people we would never suspect of anything.

The most popular way is to get some kind of authorization (or truly, just a signature) from the owner in addition to a deed. This way the thief can do whatever they like without any real risk for being caught. This is an especially popular scam used against elderly people - a nurse or a family member either take a loan in the name of the elder or just force them into taking it.

Another, even more outrageous, real estate fraud is performed by unethical door-to-door loan sellers. Under the pretext of making home repairs, they force the seniors into signing some documents which are truly high-rate loan contracts secured against the property. As most seniors are unable to repay such debt, their homes are taken by the creditor (which was its goal from the beginning) and the elder is left homeless.

Defense Defending against such frauds is difficult. If the thieves use false deeds, it is possible to prove that you had nothing to do with the loan or purchase. However, if they use a real deed and/or have your authorization, this gets dicey. And taking effective legal actions is next to impossible if you sign the loan papers.

Here are some tips to help protect yourself from such scams: 1) never sign anything you haven't thoroughly read and if you are in doubt have your attorney review the documents before signing; 2) throw out any peddling loan lenders; 3) keep important documents, such as your deed, in a safe deposit box.
Jill Kane is a Webmaster and publisher of http://www.1st-Real-Estate.com
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Monday, August 07, 2006

Becoming A Battle Hardened Real Estate Veteran Without All The Scars

By: Chris Anderson, PhD

As part of a new web site that we just launched, www.GetPreconstructionDeals.com, I get repeated requests asking if a particular deal is good or not. While we can’t answer this for individual projects, we can certainly look at what HAS to get done by the investor to dramatically increase the odds of a successful transaction.

Step 1 is always to determine the fair market value(FMV). As a real estate investor, you can always buy properties at the FMV. My question is why would anybody want to do that? Through careful selection, you can always find properties that are priced below FMV, regardless if they are existing or if they are a preconstruction project. The best way to determine FMV is to work with someone already familiar with the area or determine yourself through local websites showing recent sales histories.

Step 2 is to then determine the market trend for the area for which there are two critical pieces: 1) is the average price increasing AND 2) is the volume of sales increasing. If both are moving in your favor, then you have the comfort of knowing that the right trend is in place to keep prices moving forward. In stock market investing, there is the saying that the trend is your friend and traders frequently observe price and volume data to confirm the trend. If a hotly priced real estate market shows signs of dropping in volume, be very careful.

Step 3 is to learn about supply, especially in the preconstruction marketplace. In some areas, there are very few projects on the books and in others, there are 15,000+ units expected to emerge within 1 zipcode, in 1 year. Same is true for investing in houses. In you are competing with a bunch of new houses that are coming on-line, then rapid price escalation may be limited. For most savvy investors, they like to see lots of demand with very little supply which is nothing more than common sense.

Step 4 is to make your OWN opinions of the macro conditions of the local and regional marketplace. So, for example, if you are a strong believer that real estate is overvalued in the target area, why would you ever consider investing? On the other hand, if you believe that market forces will continue to escalate in the market, then why would you not be actively looking? As an example, some people believe that the graying of America is just now starting to drive people to warm, more attractive climates. Even though property values are high in these areas right now, are we going to see 20+ years of additional migration to them? You have to decide for yourself because we won’t know the answer for another 20 years!

Step 5 is one of the most important risk management tools available to the investor in real estate. Each property has typically an inherent rate at which it can be rented, even if that is not your intent. By looking at rental rates, relative to the amount of principle, interest, taxes, and insurance (PITI) that you will have to pay, then you can understand the amount of cashflow that may be required to support the property. If your objective is to produce cashflow, then you need to be cashflow positive very quickly. If your objective is capital gains and the cashflow is negative, then you now understand what you may have to support on a monthly basis if things don’t work out.

Deferred maintenance then becomes our Step 6. For an existing property, how much maintenance has the previous owner neglected that you will need to catch up? Be careful here since this can be one of the major places to get nasty surprises.

And now I saved the best for last: Step 7 is to determine your own personal risk tolerance. Some new investors look at a deal and only see the positive. This is a huge mistake. EVERY REAL INVESTOR I KNOW HAS LOST MONEY IN A DEAL but they gladly will do more. Why? They understand their risk’s going in, they understand how to limit their downside, and the gains are much larger than the risks they are taking. If you were standing beside them and saw what they saw, you would gladly take the risk as well and rapidly ignore any small losses that you experience.

Hopefully this has given you a good start at learning how to analyze a potential opportunity. Obviously each of these steps requires additional work or training but they are what separate the new investor from the seasoned, battle tested veterans.

Chris Anderson is a leading authority on preconstruction real estate investing. Get his 4 day e-mail course and a 33 minute video free today! Visit http://www.GetPreconstructionProfits.com & http://www.GetPreconstructionDeals.com. In addition, Dr. Anderson is the on-line training coordinator at the Van Tharp Institute, a group that provides world class training for investors and traders.
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Friday, August 04, 2006

Selling A Home - The Perfect Solution For Fast Cash

by Wain Roy

Buying and selling a home often looks like a hard job for home owners, both emotionally and functionally. Although it's partly an overwhelming experience, it can be just as much frustrating at times. People living in a house for years get emotionally attached to it. There are good reasons when people sell the old home and buy a new one, like taking up a new job or getting a transfer. However, the reasons aren't always pleasant--people sell homes due to bankruptcy, divorce, foreclosures and more. Under various circumstances, people have realized that the best way to come out of financial problems is to sell a home and get fast cash.

With the growing real estate market, there is no shortage of potential buyers looking for homes. For first time home-sellers, the whole process of selling a home on their own will look somewhat complex. One of the most crucial worries, and perhaps even financially devastating, can be wasting precious time with those who really aren't serious about purchasing your home. In that case, selling a home can become a bigger ordeal than you ever imagined, possibly costing you more valuable time and money than you can afford.

Facing foreclosure or pre-foreclosure, payments behind on your mortgage, multiple mortgages on your property, etc are the primary situations which lead people to sell their homes quickly for fast cash. Sometimes, selling a house is the most perfect and apt solution. You can sell a home quicker provided you take the right approach.

Home owners always want to sell their homes at the best rate and according to the latest market prices. The only thing you need to sell a home fast is by taking assistance from the real estate professionals. Home buyers assistance ensures owners to be debt-free in just hours or days, and not in weeks or months that the traditional real estate transactions take. Experts always try to put fast cash in the home-sellers' pockets while freeing them off a debt-ridden home. Taking professional help guarantees home owners of managing properties at any condition, getting the best market price and ensuring a smooth-sailing of transaction for fast cash.

In today's fast-paced world, people generally lack the patience of going through the complexities of selling a home. Moreover, they are also eager to sell their homes quick, when they need fast cash. Although selling a home apparently looks simple, loads of patience and efforts go into it. Taking serious help from real estate pros always ensure quick selling.

Price and time are yet some other major factors while selling a home fast. In order to sell your home as quickly as you want, it is always better to quote the right price that will attract home buyers. Asking for too high a price or a wrong price will not help you in selling your home fast. You can definitely seek professional help while fixing the right price for it. Time also plays a big part in selling a home. If the real estate market is down and you are willing to sell it at a low rate, understanding the minimum loss you will suffer, then your home selling will be faster.

In a nutshell, the various important tips that an experienced real estate professional provides to sell a home quickly for fast cash are:

* Give some discount or sell at a moderate price that will pull in home buyers.
* Fix the interior loopholes of your home to make it saleable and attractive.
* Similarly, exterior shortcomings of your home should also be fixed. Curb appeal plays a vital role in selling a home or a house.
* Home owners should always remove clutter from their homes before selling.

Real estate professionals always assist the home owners with their specific needs to sell their houses as fast as possible and at the best possible price. Selling a house quickly for fast cash always requires expert assistance that will handle every paper work and make every arrangement from opening to closing a deal. Selling the real estate property to home buyers willing to pay fast cash for a house is always the best and right approach. Home buyers are always ready to pay cash, take over your payments or lease, and purchase your house immediately. Real estate experts, with their guidance and help, always guarantee the land-sellers a hassle-free house selling.

Wain Roy is an experienced search engine marketing professional, expert in various industries like web design, real estate, medical tourism, finance etc.
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Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Is Refinancing for Credit Repair a Good Idea?

by Guy Ray

Refinancing your home mortgage is an excellent start for credit repair. Although lenders are much stricter when you have poor credit, refinancing to help restore your credit is still very possible. It is important that you do your homework and approach the right lender. You will most likely need to find a sub prime lender. You can effortlessly find a sub prime lender on the Internet or by referral.

Even though sub prime lenders are significantly more lenient to borrowers that need credit repair because of a bad credit history, they use the same type of approval process as other lenders. This means that your debt-to-income ratio, work history and personal assets, are still factors taken into consideration when determining if you will be approved for a sub prime loan for credit repair. As long as you have strength in at least one of those factors, you have a chance of qualifying for the loan.

Sub prime lenders are the only lenders that will lend to high-risk borrowers dealing with credit repair. Due to their increased risk factor, these lenders charge higher interest rates and fees. However, even though you end up paying more for your refinance, the benefits of rebuilding your credit far outweigh the higher interest rates and payments.

Sub prime refinanced loans are merely temporary solutions. As long as you are timely with your mortgage payments and take further actions to repair your credit, you will qualify for a better loan within four years. In the meantime, try to work on other methods for credit repair.

If you are in need of some extra money during the process of your credit repair, you should consider refinancing the loan for more than what you currently owe on your mortgage. This way, you can get cash out from the equity for the credit repair you have in your home. If appropriate, you could pay off your higher rate credit cards, unresolved collections and outstanding liens. The money could lead to credit repair even sooner.

Realize that if you have poor credit, it is very possible to re-establish a good credit history for overall credit repair. You just need to learn from your mistakes and promptly pay every bill for good credit repair. Look into online bill payment systems. Most banks offer them for free, and you can set up unlimited automatic payments. That will ensure your payments go out in a timely fashion every month.

Guy Ray is the owner of all credit repair tips, the website with credit repair tips, resources and information.
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