3 Tips for Purchasing Real Estate Investment Property in the Current Market - 10/29/09 06:20 PM
Foreclosures and REO’s are bringing many investors out of the woodwork - and some of the new investors who are novices are making many mistakes in selecting and purchasing of undervalued residential real estate.
RealtyTimes published an article that discusses a situation where a novice investor purchased a property and outsourced property management to a property manager. The property had lots of defects and improving the property to get it ready for rental proved expensive for this investor. The investor was blaming the property manager for the expenses.
Before becoming a Do-It-Yourself or absentee landlord, the 3 tips that investors should follow … (11 comments)

Property Management Lessons From a New Landlord - 10/29/09 06:16 PM
BusinessWeek editor Chris Palmeri got his first residential rental property in March and faced the usual challenges of property management. Many real estate investors, especially the ones who own properties far away from where they live - do the smart thing and hire a property manager so that they sleep well at night.
Chris, a new do-it-yourself landlord, was anxious to rent his property quickly, and skipped tenant screening. Once landlords are burnt by a tenant, they never skip tenant screening! Read 5 tips for tenant screening in today’s market to make sure that you do not make this error.  Luckily, … (7 comments)

Is Your City in Builder’s List of Bottom Real Estate Markets? - 10/16/09 01:41 PM
According to Builder magazine the real estate markets that have been hit the hardest will take the most time to recover. They did a study of all the real estate markets in USA to determine which ones are the weakest.  The real estate markets that appear on this list have had the most job losses, increasing foreclosures and falling home prices.
The real estate markets were ranked based on population trends and job growth, perennial drivers of housing demand. Builder magazine also examined the rate of home price declines. The other factors considered by the magazine included the rate of building … (2 comments)

Crap, I think we just offended the neighbors - 10/14/09 05:41 PM
Interesting situation!
Via Todd Clark (Broker) (503)524-9494 (Beaverton, Oregon Real Estate Expert) (Palazzo Realty Group):
I had a listing that had some neighbors that were nice neighbors, but their yard was somewhat of an eyesore. It really wasn't as much the yard as it was the house. It also needed some touch up and my seller was willing to help out.
You see, in today's world my seller and I figured the reason for not painting the house and doing the up keep on the yard was because of the lack of money. But, it turns out that they just didn't see … (1 comments)

Duplicate Content- Fact Vs Fiction! - 10/14/09 02:55 PM
Thanks for the explanation, excellent post!
Via Nestor & Katerina Gasset Realtors® Wellington Florida Luxury Homes (International Properties and Investments, Inc.):
Duplicate Content- Fact versus Fiction!
You have your Active Rain blog climbing the SERPS, then you start your Active Blog, outside Active Rain blog and then maybe you then send your posts to Facebook or you have a wordpress blog. Some of you then will take your posts that you have written and copy and paste them into your website. You are doing great, then suddenly- you read some blog or some comment in the blogosphere that you are posting Duplicate content … (2 comments)

Are You Engaging Your Readers? - 10/14/09 02:51 PM

Via Celeste "SALLY" Cheeseman HAWAII Relocations & Real Estate (Century 21 Liberty Homes):
There are many topics and thousands of posts that have been written about How to Blog, Why to Blog, When to Blog, Where to Blog and What to Blog.  And then you see a comment on someones post where the writer is complaining about others getting featured posts all the time. Obviously they aren't getting a post featured ...or even read......and they are wondering why?
We engage the reader with our ‘interesting' content and I can't be more straightforward than to say that if you want others to read … (0 comments)

Marketing Can Be Fun...But Numbers Are Everything - 10/14/09 02:48 PM

Via Larry Easto (Real Estate Marketing Link):
As much as I love writing about marketing, I am very aware that effective marketing is impossible without sound business planning.
Good Business Planning
Some of the factors that contribute to good business planning are:
knowing your numbers; knowing who your clients are; know who can assist you and what they can do for you; being aware of what you are doing; having a schedule to dedicate 60% of your time towards building new business by prospecting for new clients; being clear of your budget and time; knowing your peak performance time; and finally … (0 comments)

House Extends Tax Credit to Active Military for One More Year - 10/13/09 05:35 PM
Great news for our soldiers!
Via Nicole Lahti, Austin Texas Mortgage (Real Mortgage Partners):
Yesterday the House of Representatives unanimously voted to extend the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit to active military personnel, foreign service and intelligence officers.  HR 3590 extends the existing tax credit to this group until November 30th, 2010.  The bill now goes to the Senate, and is expected to pass with the same ease.
The bill was introduced by Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) because it was thought that military personel serving oversees this year did not have the same opportunity to take advantage of the tax credit.  If … (0 comments)

Is your city in Builder’s List of Top Real Estate Markets? - 10/13/09 05:20 PM
Builder magazine has just updated its list for the Top Real Estate Markets in USA.
Since the list was published in early 2009, the economy seems to be staggering to recover the federal government $8000 tax credit along with real estate investors have been picking up real estate properties at discounts.  Even though many economists are suggesting that the recession has ended, unemployment is running very high.
The magazine reports that right now no market is really healthy but some of the real estate markets are doing better than others. So the markets which are on the top of the list … (5 comments)

4 Tips To Attract Tenants In High Vacancy Market - 10/12/09 06:10 PM
Vacancy rates have mushroomed to a 23 year high, close to 8%. As inventory of vacant residential rental properties is increasing, rents are dropping. Even then, savvy do-it-yourself landlords and property managers are still able to attract high quality tenants and keep their residential rental properties occupied.
Are you able to attract high quality tenants or is one of your tenants leaving soon? Here are steps to take to have high quality tenant line up to rent from you making your experience as a landlord or a property manager enjoyable and profitable.
1.  Approach your property from the eyes of the … (3 comments)

Is Your Home Making You Sick? - 10/12/09 05:37 PM
The National Center for Healthy Housing released a study using Census Bureau data that states that 1 in 3 homes in metro areas have problems that could result in illness for the resident. Landlords, Property Managers, and residents can easily prevent some of these conditions that result in unhealthy homes.
Unhealthy homes have significant impact on residents. Americans spend more than 90% of their time indoors. It increases their chance of getting sick due to the health hazard that may exist in the property. For example, since 1980 asthma has tripled amongst children and the major factor driving this increase is … (3 comments)

Five Ways To Be Better Than You Are Now - 10/12/09 05:35 PM

Via Clint Miller (Real Estate Client Referrals, LLC (RECR)):
I recently read an article that really sparked my interest.  The article was simply a basic list of the ways that someone could re-invent themselves by investing time and effort into the one asset that all agents have - Themselves. 
The key principle to this article was the fact that, despite this uncertain market, there are people that appear to be striving to make their own abilities better and five ways to do so.  Below is the list that was in the article...and a good healthy dose of my own explanations as to … (2 comments)

3 No Cost Tips To Keep Property Crime-Free - 10/12/09 04:55 PM
Due to high unemployment and the worst recession since the great depression, crime numbers have picked up across the nation. Landlords and property managers have a higher probability of crime occuring on their residential rental property. Obviously, any crime including vandalism will result in a negative impact on the value of the property.
The good news is that landlords and property managers can take steps to prevent and even stop crime on their properties. Again an ounce of prevention is better than pound of cure which can protect landlords and property managers from expensive lawsuits.  The following tips can eliminate the … (11 comments)

 

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