investment: Lender Peeves...What Are YOURS? - 11/08/07 01:07 PM
Yesterday I wrote a blog post about my favorite lender. I didn't mention his name because I work with several different referral lenders who offer products and services that may suit the needs of a particular client better than another. In addition to that, let's just say it's wisdom not to keep "all of your eggs in one basket", right?
That being the case, I started thinking, (especially after this morning's phone conversation with one of the lenders that I make referrals to on occasion), What makes my LEAST favorite lender the least favorite? This is what I came up with:
 You can't … (3 comments)

investment: What Makes YOUR Favorite Lender Your Favorite Lender? - 11/07/07 02:54 PM
After almost 13 years in the Colorado Springs real estate market, I can safely say that a lender can be the life blood of a successful real estate transaction. Good lender, good transaction. Bad lender...you know. Anyway, I've been thinking, as I urged my favorite local lender to join Active Rain...what makes a great lender, from a real estate agent's perspective. What makes MY favorite lender the one I like to work with and feel confident referring my clients to? Here's what I have come up with. Of course, there's a lot more to it, but these basics come immediately to … (3 comments)

investment: How To ACTUALLY BECOME A First Time Investor - 11/07/07 02:19 PM
I know you've all seen the late night commercials that promise millions of dollars working part time in the distressed/foreclosure market. You can get all the "insider secrets" for just a couple hundred to a couple thousand of your own hard earned money. There are even "mentors" and "partners" available to invest with you on a great project. In all actuality, these people are getting YOU to scout out the best properties for THEM when they do, (rarely), come through.
 This is about what you can get beachfront for 50k
For years I have worked with seasoned and beginner investors in the Pikes … (2 comments)

investment: So What Programs ARE Availabe For Your Clients? - 11/05/07 12:10 PM
Last year it was a breeze to get financing for ALL of your qualified clients...AND it was easy to tell who was qualified with a few quick questions. This year...the line is WAY fuzzy and it seems we don't know what there is to offer our clients.
For example: Last year, if I had a client with a credit score of 750...it was a NO BRAINER...I could get that person into their investment property by referring them to a lender who could go stated with 10% down based upon nothing but good credit! If they were exemplary borrowers, they could even get … (2 comments)

investment: Caught With Your Flip Down? - 10/30/07 04:35 PM
 Upside-down on your flip right now? This is what I'm telling my clients to do...
It's a crazy, unpredictable cycle we're in. I saw it coming, so I slowed my flippers into "buy and hold" mode several months back, but some of them are caught in this nasty downturn "mid-flip", so what CAN we do? What HAVE we been doing and what WILL we do?
-Flippers who are capable of holding and renting should do so, rather than take a loss, if possible.
-For those flippers who have too much cash tied up or cannot afford holding, costs...cut your losses now and make it up … (1 comments)

investment: Attention All Beginning Investors... - 10/08/07 06:20 PM
Colorado Springs is a relatively small city, so we tend to get media-ized quickly in these parts. I am receiving numerous phone calls and e-mails from people in my church, social clubs, and client base who want to break into the investment market here.
The problem is that they have, (unfortunately), stayed up late at night watching shows about how you can get government foreclosures for $1 and how there are secrets to becoming millionaires in the foreclosure market that your local real estate professional won't tell you about. Why won't they tell you? Because they want it all for themselves, … (1 comments)

investment: Fixing and Holding, Investment in the Colorado Springs Market - 08/26/07 08:13 PM
Hi! It's me, the Flip Lady again. I am so sick of a the "bad real estate news" again this week.
If it's so bad, how come business is so good? While I don't think this is the ideal time to "flip", it's an excellent time to fix and hold property. If you've got the guts and the money, this is the time to invest. It's not just me saying so...just look around at what the rich are doing and you'll find out how they got that way and how they intend to STAY that way.
This week, my husband and I … (3 comments)

investment: Make This Market Work For You...Fix And HOLD In Colorado Springs - 08/10/07 02:11 PM
 Seeing a sign like this makes you say, "DUH", right? Well...just like you can be sure there's water on the road when it's raining, you can be sure that you can find a great deal in real estate when the market is leveling or declining! You could imagine another sign that says, "CAUTION: CHEAPER HOUSES DURING MARKET DECLINE"
You may or may not know that the real estate market increases and declines in fairly steady cyclical flows and on a regular basis. Having sold real estate in the Colorado Springs investment market for over 12 years, I can remember both times when people … (2 comments)

investment: What Does A Good Flip Look Like? - 07/09/07 05:59 PM
Hi Everyone! It's me, the Colorado Springs Fix and Flip lady again! I found some lovely examples of things I look for in good flips and wanted to share them with you! We love out of date, cosmetic fixers, even some mechanical problems once in a while. These are some fine examples of things that keep a house from selling at fair market value, but they sure are good news and easy to overcome for a seasoned investor that likes fix-n-flips.
GOOD FLIP PICS!!!
 Here's a lovely stinky pet stained carpet...$mell$ like money to a flipper!
 Faux painting gone bad in a child's room … (12 comments)

investment: Wrote An Offer From An Active Rain Lead Today!!! - 07/03/07 10:13 PM
Hi Everyone...just had to let you know that someone saw my name on an AR post and e-mailed me saying, "I understand you are the fix and flip lady in Colorado Springs. I got the em late at night so I was going to call him first thing in the morning, but before I could call him...he called me and he and his wife came into my office that day.
We put a flip under contract that week and dropped it today because of some hefty inspection issues that would cut profits and cause a lot of extra work. (Unlike the tv … (17 comments)

investment: Anyone Can Flip a House...NOT!!! - 07/01/07 07:21 PM
Well, with all of the recent hype and shows about flipping this house and flipping that house, I decided it would be nice to find out from my fellow real estate professionals, how you rate the "flip shows".
Some of the shows, I find to be very realistic in what to expect as far as condition, money and budgeting projects, unforseen expenses, holding costs, etc...
And some of them make it look like you pick up a paint brush and there is an entire crew of wanna be real estate investor apprentices waiting to work on your flip for nothing but the … (6 comments)

investment: Circumstances That Could Psychologically Impact or Stigmatize the Property??? - 07/01/07 05:39 PM

TOTALLY UNFAIR TO THE BUYER!!!
This is my "PET PEEVE" for sure! In Colorado...the Listing, Buyer Agency, and Transaction Brokerage contracts all have a clause in them under the section pertaining to "Brokerage Services and Duties", (Which you can see online at the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies), which states, among other things, that:
"Broker shall notdisclose the following information without the informed consent of the Seller...(5) Any facts or suspicions regarding circumstances that could psychologically impact or stigmatize the property."
(Bold, underline, and italics mine)
Here's my question:
How would YOU feel if you went to the closing table and spent a quarter million dollars … (9 comments)

investment: Flip Flops...Projects That Are Likely To Fail - 07/01/07 05:12 PM
   
Having worked with investors in the "flip house" market here in Colorado Springs, Co. BEFORE it was a trendy thing to do, I can tell you that there are some projects that are destined to fail from the word "go".
Of course, there will always be a need for affordable housing in the low to median income side of the market, so many investors camp here to be on the safe side. Not a bad idea, but as with everything else in life...little risk/little gain, big risk/big gain, (or loss as the case may be). The potential to make money … (4 comments)

investment: Eeyore Syndrome Affects Real Estate Sales - 06/26/07 09:40 PM
 
Today I had a short chat with one of my Jr. Agents. He's a great guy with a bright future ahead of him and a real talent for obtaining listings. That's how I see him anyway.
How he sees himself, however, is rather like the fictional stuffed donkey from Winnie The Pooh, "Eeyore". Eeyore never sees the bright side of anything and spends his days in the Thousand Acre Wood sighing and seeing his glass half empty...If someone says, "My, but it's a beautiful day!" Eeyore says, "Well, I don't know, it feels like rain to me."
My agent/friend sat at the … (2 comments)

investment: Colorado Springs Fix n Flip Market - 06/13/07 09:27 PM
Many of the people I work with are looking for great investment properties. The have heard of fixing and flipping and think, after watching a half hour show where a crew of no charge workers fix up an entire house for less than 2,000.00), that I should be able to find them a STEAL of a deal. You know...like the ones they feature on the seminars about tax sales and government auctions at two in the morning. Something, let's say, about 60k below market that they can low ball.
I always encourage my fix and flip people to look at several, if not … (0 comments)

investment: Buyer's Remorse - 06/03/07 06:57 PM
I have read some interesting posts on the subject of Buyer's Remorse and this is how I deal with the issue:
I come right out and tell all of my Buyers...usually when we are broaching the subject of writing an offer...that there is something they should know. There is a term called "Buyer's Remorse" which can encompass a wide variety of fears and situations that arise during the course of a "normal" real estate transaction.
I ask them if they are familiar with the term and they usually are not. If they are, they've "heard something about it...but aren't really sure what it … (21 comments)

investment: Rich Dad/Poor Dad Debate Over Asset vs Liability - 05/29/07 07:03 PM
I've been reading this book because I've heard so much positive feedback about it and I'm half way through.
Even the author says it's an undying debate as to weather your home is an asset or a liability. He sites the fact that in 1997, he knew some friends who were upside-down in their homes and that the market does not always increase. For the short term, I tend to agree, but in the long term I cannot.
Does anyone know of some property, (land, home, apartment, multi-unit or commercial), that is worth LESS than it was in 1965? I think we'd … (11 comments)

investment: Most Creatively Financed Deal - 05/15/07 11:16 PM
One more before bed...
What was your most creatively financed deal? I have a great one, but I want to be polite and allow others to share first.
Talk Soon....Lania
… (2 comments)

 

Lania DeMers, Broker Rocky Mountain Realty Co.

Colorado Springs, CO

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Rocky Mountain Realty Co.

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Cell Phone: (719) 232-5941

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