Detroit Real Estate Investing

Has the Housing Market Bottom Passed?

Jared Pomranky ~ Detroit Foreclosures (Urban Detroit Wholesalers) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:02:30 -0600

I just saw a post from a Realtor quoting RealComp statistics in his post Four Positive Signs That the Real Estate Market is Recovering in Metro Detroit that the housing market has turned around in Metro-Detroit. Some of the points he quoted were:

All MLS October ‘09 sales at highest levels since 2004

Lowest on?market inventory levels in any month since January 2006 (42,785 in October 2009, 48,059 in January 2006)

NonForeclosure Sales Top Foreclosure Sales in Metro Detroit. For the month of October, the total nonforeclosure sales were 3,483 compared to 2,938 foreclosure sales….

…Months supply of inventory (MSI) has dropped by nearly 50% ? from 11.9 month supply last year to 6 month supply this year

I am an optimistic person and I know that the real estate market WILL turn around. This is great new, right? Well, any way you look at it, this is good news. Let’s just chose which points we look at to get that good news…

The first point above that you can look at for good news in the market are that October ‘09 sales are the highest they’ve been since 2004, which means there are buyers coming to the market. The second is that there were 3,483 non-foreclosure sales in October. The points about foreclosure inventory levels being low and foreclosure sales being low is an artificial statistic.

If you read my post in August about The False Real Estate Market Bottom in Detroit, you’ll remember that we are looking at a false bottom or an artificially inflated market. This all has to do with the foreclosure moratorium by mortgage companies and the State of Michigan. What this did is create a huge backlog of foreclosures that will be dumped on the market in the next couple of months.

In the post I predicted that the the foreclosure flood would hit Metro-Detroit in November of 2009 to January of 2010. It no longer looks like November will be that time but I feel confident on a January-February 2010 flood of foreclosures hitting the market (barring any government intervention, which would be a bad idea). Banks are not good at foreclosing on and getting REOs listed, which you’ve most likely seen working in real estate, and these foreclosures are no exception.

Per RealtyTrac, Michigan is still #7 in the nation for Foreclosure filings. Looking at the Wayne County information, which is what I used in my original analysis, foreclosure filings for August, September, and October of 2009 are the highest they’ve been this year. This all points to more foreclosures on the market.

Inventories are down but foreclosure filings are up. That points to future inventory growth and towards other intervention (the government), which created artificially low inventories.

Where’s the Opportunity?
I’m a strong believer in finding the opportunity and not spreading doom and gloom like the national media. What you need to know is exactly what’s going to happen when a flood of foreclosures comes on the market. There’s going to be increased inventories, decreased prices, and lower buyer confidence in the market. This is only going to be temporary because sales are still strong and the inventory will get eaten up but all of them at once is going to cause these activities to occur.

While the market and most people are reactive, we need to be proactive and see this for what it is. A temporary phenomena. Taking action when these foreclosures come on the market in buying the foreclosures and fixing them up to rent out or flip is going to put you in a very good position. There will be plenty of inventory to choose from and by the time you get your property stable and rented for awhile, the rest of the market will catch up. By that time inventories could well be on their way back down.

We have a window of opportunity coming up that you will never see in metro-Detroit real estate again. What are you going to do when presented with this opportunity; take ACTION and invest or kick yourself later for not doing so?

Be a Renegade,
Jared Pomranky
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First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit Extended

Jared Pomranky ~ Detroit Foreclosures (Urban Detroit Wholesalers) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:19:44 -0600

As reported by Drew's Mortgage New's on November 6th, the first time home buyer tax credit has been extended through April 30, 2010. While there are some basic changes, everything is close to the same as it was before with one major exception. Current homeowners can take advantage of the credit as long as they have lived in their house for 5 years. Here are the two different buyer groups that can utilize this credit, as explained by Drew Sygit:

First-Time Homebuyers (FTHBs): First-time homebuyers (defined as not owning a home in the last 3 years) are eligible for up to 10% of the purchase price or a maximum of $8,000.
Single taxpayers and married couples filing a joint return may qualify for the full tax credit amount.

Current Owners: The new tax credit program now gives those who already own a residence incentive to move to a new home. If they've owned a primary residence for 5 consecutive years out of the last 8, their eligible for up to a $6,500 tax credit.
Single taxpayers and married couples filing a joint return may qualify for the full tax credit amount.

Also make sure you view our updated Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) including our International Detroit Investing FAQ for our out of country investors.

Successfully Yours,
Jared Pomranky
Detroit Market Expert

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Positive Ideas from Detroit

Jared Pomranky ~ Detroit Foreclosures (Urban Detroit Wholesalers) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:15:10 -0600

If you missed the inaugural meeting of TEDxDetroit, you missed something big. It was a meeting of minds from Michigan that talked about positive change, innovation in business, and good things going on in our state. Know what was missing from the meeting? Negativity, doom and gloom or any talk about something not happening. We need more positive ideas and people from Detroit and Michigan!

Our state and city have been through some challenging times and I know it’s not always easy to see past that. Dwelling on negativity, however, will just perpetuate a down economy and bad things. Focusing on positive change and what we can do to make a difference in our city and state will create the positive change that we need. I’m not talking about just saying that we’re in the best economy ever and that everyone can be millionaires just by saying that they are, I’m talking about actually focusing on positive change that you can create.

What about Dawn White, co-founder and President of Accio Energy (a Michigan based company that has multiple patents for wind energy) and her invention of wind energy without the blades (i.e. not a traditional wind turbine with loud moving blades)

TEDxDetroit wasn’t only about business and entrepreneur speakers; it was also about local performances. My absolute favorite was this poem (and I wasn’t a fan of spoken poetry) written and performed by D Blair “Detroit, While I was away” (found on Positive Detroit)

As Ghandi so eloquently put it, “Be the change you want to see in the world”. Michigan needs positive ideas and positive people, is that you?

Be a Renegade,
Jared Pomranky

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Europeans Investing Heavily in Detroit Real Estate

Jared Pomranky ~ Detroit Foreclosures (Urban Detroit Wholesalers) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:13:02 -0600

Investors in Detroit have noticed for a couple of years European investors coming to the market for great bargains on investment real estate. It seems that 2009 is no exception as we have seen more European investors than ever purchasing cash flow investment properties. Whenever I tell someone this they invariably ask me why because many of them aren’t involved in real estate at all or they pretty much think that investing in real estate is the same here as everywhere.

Detroit real estate offers excellent bargains that are very difficult to find in the rest of the world. Our price points are very low (around $40,000 for purchase and rehab) and these properties still rent out for $850-$950 a month. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that’s good for cash flow. If you add into that the weak dollar, which gives European investors another discount when purchasing our properties with the conversion from Euros.

Most of the European investors we talk to are investing for the cash on cash return and for the long term prospects of the investment. Unlike many U.S. investors, they aren’t looking for the “get rich quick” investment and are willing to invest in a solid property for the long term. This is going back to the way real estate investing used to be and I think it’s a great model. With Detroit foreclosures you get the best of both worlds. Monthly cash flow for a good cash on cash return and purchasing at 50% of the actual value of the house, which means great long term (10 years) prospects for value.

While there are some exception, for the most part European investor are finding successful real estate investors from Detroit so they can leverage their experience on how to create successful investment properties. Real estate investing is different than it is in Europe and Detroit is different than the rest of the United States or even Michigan. There are specifics in Detroit properties to watch out for like water, taxes, neighborhoods, specific streets, City requirements, ordinances, and other items. Working with a reputable Detroit real estate company will ensure that you know how to navigate through these. A good place for foreign investors to get more information is at our Detroit Real Estate International Questions page.

Our experience has been that more and more investors are coming to Detroit as it’s a great return on investment that doesn’t require a million dollars of investment capital. We have sold properties and made successful investors of European investors from England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, France, and many other European countries. If you’re interested in investing check out our Detroit Real Estate site or leave a comment.

Jared Pomranky
Detroit Market Expert

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What You Must Know Before Investing In Detroit Foreclosures

Jared Pomranky ~ Detroit Foreclosures (Urban Detroit Wholesalers) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:41:10 -0500

Detroit has great price points, excellent cash flow, and a tremendous return on your investment if you know what you’re doing. Too many times I see investors rushing into Detroit real estate because of prices without any knowledge of what they’re doing. They don’t work with anyone that has knowledge of the area and they don’t have any good contacts. They just figure that the prices are so cheap, it has to work. Well, I’m here to tell you that this just isn’t true.

The $1,000 Detroit House
This is the single most frequent request I hear from investors. “I want to buy the $1,000 house that I heard on the news”. No you don’t and here’s why. Detroit has great prices but it has it’s limits. The $1,000 house is that price and still for sale for a reason. Here’s what I’ve seen with the $1,000 or for that matter the houses that are more than $1,000 but still cheaper than you usually see in Detroit:

They are in bad neighborhoods that are hard to rent, have very low rents, and have a high probability of vandalism and theft to the house.
They require so much rehab work you will end up spending as much as the other houses after fixing it up.
They usually have high taxes, back taxes or both.

I have seen people that invest in areas with some amount of success but for the most part I have seen them doing most of the work themselves, not fixing up the house to code, renting to anyone that walks by, knocking on the doors to collect rent, going to court often for evictions, and living close to the area. They may end up getting a good cash on cash return but they are spending a lot of time to get it.

The Great Looking House in a Bad Neighborhood
I see houses come across my desk every day that don’t need much work, have reasonable taxes, and have reasonable prices. That is until you look at the location. Location is key in Detroit! You can have the best house but if it’s not in a good neighborhood, you will not be successful. Bad neighborhoods will leave you with a house that isn’t rented and will quite possibly be broken into and vandalized. This happens very rarely in the good neighborhoods. See our report on Detroit Investment Secrets for more on good neighborhoods.

The Great Neighborhood and Great House with No Contacts
You must have great on the group contacts or be working with a company that has great contacts in order to be successful in Detroit real estate. Contacts like contractors, property managers, property security companies, mortgage brokers, insurance agents, and other critical contacts are a must. Make sure that anyone you’re working with has long standing relationships, documented processes, and a lot of experience working with everyone.

The Great House with High Taxes
Taxes vary greatly from house to house, in the same neighborhood or even on the same street in Detroit. If you’re not checking taxes or taking them into account, you’re gambling with your investment. Taxes are our biggest qualifying factor after location. Taxes and location make or break a deal.

At Urban Detroit Wholesalers we take into account these factors and more in providing great deals to you. Don’t just take our word for it as we post all of the due diligence that you need to know on each of our houses. View our Detroit Foreclosures to see contractor estimates, a rehab checklist, public records, appraisals, pictures, video walk throughs and everything else you need to know to make a buying decision.

If you’re new to investing in Detroit, I suggest reading our Detroit FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions). If you’re investing from out of the country, we have created many successful investors from a wide variety of countries. Our processes and contacts insure that you will be successful investing from abroad. Read our International Detroit Investing FAQ.

Successfully Yours,
Jared Pomranky

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Small Business Technology – Google Apps

Jared Pomranky ~ Detroit Foreclosures (Urban Detroit Wholesalers) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:27:21 -0500

Here you are on a real estate blog and you see a post about small business technology. If you’ve been investing in real estate for awhile, you’re anxious to see what I have to say. If you’re new, you might be wondering what I’m doing. When you’re starting out in real estate, and many experienced investors for that matter, you must treat your real estate investing like a business and not a hobby. To that point, I’ll dive right in.

Technology is critical for small businesses. You don’t want to go overboard with it and you don’t want to spend a lot of money. I’m going to show you a couple of products that are going to help in both of these areas. I might not get to everything in this blog so subscribe to our blog and check out the other suggestions coming soon.

Google Apps Standard Edition
I’ll admit that I’m a little late to the game on this but I was waiting for it to hit the critical mass. A year or more before and Google Apps was not something that would have worked for what we needed. What I’ve seen lately, especially with releases this year, is that Google has a focus on organizations and enterprise software. While you might not be a 2,000 employee shop, what it means is that Google is taking what they’ve learned from focusing on the individual to their enterprise software. That’s good for small and large businesses.

Google Apps Admin Panel
What you find signing up for Google Apps Standard Edition is that it’s free! You get to add up to 50 users to your organization through and administration panel. This is much more than we need but it’s nice to know we can still grow. The administration panel is a big differentiating factor from regular Gmail and Google Apps. As an administrator, I can actually manage the accounts and settings for each user.

Gmail
Alright, this isn’t your grandma’s Gmail. This is email hosting to replace Exchange hosting, which is exactly what my organization did. You get 7gb of storage for the Standard Edition and up to 25gb for the Premier Edition (cost of $50/user per year). 7gb of storage is much more than you’re going to find at any exchange hosting companies, especially for the price. I was a bit skeptical at first but I’m sold on everything now.

For a small business, the switch to Gmail should come with more options, not less. You can configure this to work with your domain so instead of CoolREICompany@gmail.com or “sent on behalf of jared@CoolREICompany.com” you can work just like you do in Exchange as jared@CoolREICompany.com.

Gmail is an amazing tool. They do provide tools for you to sync your calendar with Gmail so you can continue to use a desktop email product like Outlook or Thunderbird but after I got it all setup to sync, I ended up just using Gmail. Gmail is such a great interface with so many features (far too many to list here) that it’s all I use now. It’s easier to use and easier to manage a high email workload with their archiving feature, easy use of labels, and their grouping of emails in threads (this one is the space saver). If I have a single email sent out to multiple people that we then reply back and forth on it 10 times, it shows up as one email instead of 10 in my inbox. I can easily open it up to see everything else. This is a huge productivity builder!

Google Docs
This part of Google Apps replaces your Microsoft Word suite (Word and Excel) and puts it all online. You may wonder how these apps work online and I was definitely skeptical. Google delivers here with very stable apps that auto-save, which negates any Internet connection issues. This is definitely what you need for collaboration within or outside your company. Nothing else comes as close to making it easy to share and collaborate with others.

Some cool features include the ability to share any documents in a folder (new feature) with anyone or even make it public and the ability to make your spreadsheet easy to fill by your users. Do you make the spreadsheet easy to use by just sharing it? Well, I’m sure you know that spreadsheets aren’t always easy to fill by non-spreadsheet users. That’s why Google offers a very easy to create form that integrates with your spreadsheet automatically. You can literally have the form created with a website address for users to submit their answers to the spreadsheet easily in 10 minutes. This is great for an event sign-up or a questionnaire.

Google Calendar
This calendar does a great job of making it easy to use, some cool new features, and the look and feel of a calendar that everyone can instantly use. This is great for events as you can chose to have people share comments and see who else has accepted. In this one way they’ve done a better job than online invitation companies like eVite who have been doing just that for 10 years. Google calendar has all the options you need.

Google Contacts
Although this is still listed in Beta, it functions very well. You can upload your existing contacts, create groups, and this all integrates with your calendar, mail, and Google Talk.

Google Talk
When I was an IT/Business Consultant, I used chat all the time for quick questions/answers. Lately I tried using Skype but it was using up all the resources on my computer, which made it pretty unusable. I just recently installed Google Talk and I have to say, this is the best chat software I have used! It’s fast, uses almost no resources, and it’s intuitive. I can video chat, call people, send voice mails, and even send SMS messages. This all integrates with my Contacts so it already has all the information.

If it sounds like I’m a salesman for Google Apps, I’m not but I easily could be. What makes a great salesman is when they are selling something that they truly believe in and I truly believe in Google Apps as a solid product. They provide the most intuitive interfaces that I’ve ever worked with, the performance is great, and they provide everything I need for free. This is definitely a good base to build your real estate empire!

If you need any help, let me know.

Be a Renegade,
Jared Pomranky
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Have a Sense of Urgency With Your Investments

Jared Pomranky ~ Detroit Foreclosures (Urban Detroit Wholesalers) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:05:38 -0500

Do you have a sense of urgency with your investments or are you taking the lackadaisical approach that most people take with them? Well, I think I looked at my 401k last year and it was down. FAIL. If you haven’t been around, the days of not actively creating or seeking out new investments and methods is gone. Your 401k will NOT be all you need for retirement. Our last meeting had a great speaker and topic on the Infinite Banking Method. Does anyone think that Scott is sitting back and letting someone else manage his retirement? I think not.

Be active in your investments and take action on them right now. Be accountable to yourself. There are great investments everywhere right now and most people are just sitting on cash because they’re scared of losing it. Well, sitting on anything that’s not making at least 6% (conservative) right now is a losing proposition with inflation. Add into that your opportunity cost and you’re losing thousands of dollars each month on your money. You can’t afford to sit on your hands right now.

Where do I invest my money? Well, I did say a sense of urgency, not mass hysteria. Don’t just go plop your money down on the first investment that comes your way. Do your due diligence. Make sure you’re working with reputable company that has experience, can provide references, and has a clear path to returning your principal and interest. There are many conservative investments in real estate and other businesses right now that will leave you well protected with assets. There’s no need for speculation.

Talk to someone that is making money investing and find out what they’re doing. Do you need help? Jeremy, Jeanna, Drew, and myself are currently investing and making money. We will help you with getting started investing and will even partner on deals with you if that’s what it takes to get you going.

You now have no excuse. Create that sense of urgency with your investments and get started. I’m holding you responsible right now! Serious, post a comment and let me know what you’re doing today to make this happen.

Be a Renegade,
Jared Pomranky

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First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit Ending Soon

Jared Pomranky ~ Detroit Foreclosures (Urban Detroit Wholesalers) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:04:13 -0500

The article Behind FHA Strains, a Push to Lift Housing from the Wall Street Journal was first brought to my attention by The MAD Investor in this blog post.

Currently the deadline for a buyer to qualify for the first time home buyer credit (maximum of $8,000) is November 30th. This means that closing has to occur before December 1st with the title dated before that date. Anything later and the buyer is out of luck. There has been a lot of speculation that the first time home buyer program would be extended but this WSJ article brings to light quite a few things that tell us otherwise.

The issue comes not with the first time home buyer program but with FHA backed mortgages. The FHA guarantees loans with as little as 3.5% down and with falling prices in many areas, that leads to them insuring properties that are upside down on the mortgage. With FHA loans in default at a record 7.5%, that leaves the FHA with prospect of dwindling reserves and an increased liability for the future. The FHA has a government mandated minimum reserve and if it doesn’t have that reserve, drastic measures could be taken.

Officials worry that the resulting losses will help push the FHA’s reserves below the level required by Congress. The value of those reserves will be revealed in the agency’s annual review due Sept. 30. If they have fallen below the minimum, that could prompt a new round of questions about the role government should play in stabilizing the housing market.

With the prospects of the FHA falling below their minimum reserve amount and mounting pressure from lawmakers to not only have the FHA meet that reserve but decrease spending, it looks like the first time home buyer credit is an easy target for the chopping block. It’s the easiest and most likely as law makers will just have to do nothing with it (i.e. it would have to come up for a new vote to get extended).

What I think about the first time home buyer credit
Overall I feel that the government should not be giving money to people for specialized programs and that less government spending is better. At first this is how I felt with the first time home buyer program but a recent conversation has me thinking the tax payer isn’t getting such a bad deal with this program compared to the millions of other tax payer dollars that are spent each day.

The first time home buyer credit equals more house sales. Increased house sales means more jobs for local regions but that isn’t enough to make it worth while. Increased house sales in an area like Detroit means that there are more foreclosures that are going from vacant non-performing assets to fixed up, lived in houses with people that are paying property taxes and everything else that a person pays for owning a house. There are many dollars that are invested in local regions and governments with this program.

What this means to you is that you have a limited time to let your buyers take advantage of this tax credit. Whether you want to invest in a house and resell it our invest in our program. Our First Time Home Buyer Program helps the buyer utilize the tax credit to use as a down payment by reducing their principal owed. What this means is that you get more money up front on the program. It’s an excellent program to use in Detroit or anywhere in Michigan without the tax credit but it’s a no-brainer with it. Contact us for more information on it so we can get everything closed by November 30th!

Successfully Yours,
Jared Pomranky

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First Time Home Buyer Program & Tax Credit Information

Jared Pomranky ~ Detroit Foreclosures (Urban Detroit Wholesalers) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 08:44:20 -0500

We’re officially rolling out our first time home buyer program to our investors. I know. I know. Many of you have already been working with us on the first time home buyer program but this is the official roll-out!

In addition to our traditional program where you purchase the house from us and we manage the whole process, we are also making the program available to any property YOU own in Michigan! (ask us for details)

There are far too many details to put into this newsletter so I suggest you visit First Time Home Buyer Program & Tax Credit Information to view the details

What do you need to get started?
For our traditional program you will need a $45,000 investment and for our new program where you bring your own house, you just pay for licensing the program (rehabilitation of your property and rehab management are also available)

We have brought together the best brains in the business to not only give you the most profitable first time home buyer program but also the most secure and legal program. Visit First Time Home Buyer Program & Tax Credit Information for more information

Successfully Yours,
Jared Pomranky
Detroit Market Expert

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What will make an Impact on your Business Today?

Jared Pomranky ~ Detroit Foreclosures (Urban Detroit Wholesalers) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 08:42:24 -0500

What’s the one thing you can do for your business today that will have a huge impact on your business? I know, you’re busy. You’re working hard every day but are you focusing on what needs to be completed or are you just completing what comes your way? I could spend the whole day responding to e-mail and doing other low value activities that may add some value to my company but really don’t.

Identifying the high-value activities in your business and completing them is crucial to becoming very successful and moving your business on to the next level. So I ask you again, what is the one activity or project you could start or complete today that would have a huge impact on your business? This is probably a project or activity that you’ve been pushing off because you don’t ever seem to find the time or you always get interrupted with less value adding activities. This is the project that would hands down leave you with a better more well functioning business. You know what I’m talking about.

When looking at projects that are going to make the biggest impact on your business, look at the ones that are going to increase sales, increase your exposure, decrease expenses, decrease your time involved in the business or all four. Make it a point to tackle this project at the beginning of the day and don’t stop until it’s completed. Do you need to check e-mail or make phone calls? Setup two times to check your e-mail and voice mails at 11:00 and at 4:00. Outside of those times you don’t check them and you don’t surf the Internet. Focus.

I know that if you focus on high value projects for your company and don’t spend as much time on the fluff, you’re going to see dramatic results. It may not be easy at first but focus and be determined!

Successfully Yours,
Jared Pomranky

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Leverage Experience to Catapult Your Investments

Jared Pomranky ~ Detroit Foreclosures (Urban Detroit Wholesalers) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:14:49 -0500

If you were at our last meeting, you heard me talk about the upcoming flood of foreclosures in Metro-Detroit and the tremendous opportunity that is coming for investors. What have you done since that last meeting? Have you taken steps to invest and better your life or are you still on the sidelines? I know there are many people that have decided to move ahead because they’ve told me about the deals they’re doing or they’ve called me up to see what they should do.

Investing in real estate is easy for someone that’s been doing it for a long time but we tend to forget all of the real estate jargon, techniques, and contacts that took us years to build. As a beginner or an intermediate investor, it can still be daunting. I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be. You don’t have to be the lone wolf investor that figures everything out for yourself and doesn’t work with anyone else. Those investors exist but they are usually not as successful as they could be.

There are experienced investors that would be more than happy to help you learn the things you need to learn. Ask an investor if you can tag along while they look at a house or help them out with some other aspect of their business. You can help them out and they can teach you what they’re doing. Also, almost all investors eat food so why not invite them out for lunch? They have to eat and all you have to do is pay for their lunch to get a captive audience for your questions.

Talk to investors that are doing what you want to do and ask them how you could get into a deal with them. Do you need to bring money, a deal or sweat equity? Find out what they need and how you can get involved on their next deal. You can not only get a piece of the action on a deal, you can also learn how it’s all put together. Sounds like a good deal to me.

Basically I’m saying to talk to investors, network, and see how you can get involved. You can read all of the books and listen to all of the CDs on real estate and you’re still going to be behind someone that has the real world experience. If you can leverage that real world experience of someone that’s investing in the areas you want to invest in and doing the deals that you want to do, you have just sky-rocketed your real estate investing to the next level!

Be a Renegade,
Jared Pomranky
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The False Real Estate Market Bottom in Detroit

Jared Pomranky ~ Detroit Foreclosures (Urban Detroit Wholesalers) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:48:58 -0500

In Detroit real estate right now we’re seeing reduced inventories of foreclosed properties, increased bidding on the remaining foreclosure properties, and an increased price paid for these houses. That sounds like a turnaround to me, doesn’t it? We’ve hit bottom and we’re moving ahead. Expect housing prices to increase and for Detroit real estate to be getting better now. or… should we actually look at what might have caused this?

There are actually a couple of key events that happened in February 2009 and they both have to do with bad policy. In Detroit we had Sheriff Evans institute a foreclosure moratorium for Wayne County and we also had all of the large mortgage lenders including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac agree to suspend foreclosures. On the surface these seemed like very reasonable and humane acts. If you dig further, you’ll find that all it did was give false hope and will probably lead to a longer down market.

As Jeremy stated back in February when discussing the Foreclosure Moratorium in Wayne County,

I have a significant amount of experience with short sales and loan modifications and it has been my experience that most people are not capable of making any considerable payments towards their mortgage. Most people have had something catastrophic happen that stopped them from being able to pay their mortgage. There is no loan modification program in the world that fixes a lost job, divorce, or death in the family. Often their debt to income ratio is so poor that a foreclosure now is better than a loan modification that ends up in foreclosure in the near future.

Furthermore,

If we stop foreclosing on houses and we know that most of the loan modifications will be unsuccessful resulting in more foreclosures; we in essence dammed a river. When the moratorium is over, we will have a flood of foreclosures further wiping out property values and creating even more problems.

This is no longer speculation, it is fact. We have seen foreclosures go down and we have seen prices increase on these foreclosures. But wait. Look at the graph below from RealtyTrac. It shows foreclosure filings decreasing quite a bit until May of 2009. What happened in April to make foreclosure filings spike so high in May? Yes, both the national and local foreclosure moratoriums were lifted.

You might ask why we’re still seeing a decrease of foreclosure inventory and an increase in prices. In Michigan we have a 6 month right of redemption on houses. What that means is that once a mortgage company has foreclosed on a house, the lender has to wait 6 months before they can take ownership of the house, put it on their books, and get it listed with an REO agent. Given that it takes the lender a month to foreclose on the property after the filing, we’re looking at a minimum time of 7 months until they can get the property listed. In all reality, we’re probably looking more like 8-9 months for a bank in Michigan from foreclosure filing to being listed.

When lenders decided in April to lift the foreclosure moratorium and start foreclosing again, they had a huge back log of foreclosure filings that they had put on hold and every other property that had come along since then that needed to be foreclosed on. That’s when the time line started. Looking out 7-9 months from that date and we’re looking at November 2009 to January 2010 for the flood of foreclosures coming on the market. Right during the slowest time of year for real estate in Michigan.

What this is going to do is flood the market with an oversupply of foreclosure properties. Using simple supply and demand rules, if demand stays the same and supply increases, prices will fall. Is this all bad? Definitely not. It’s a necessary correction in the market from the false bottom that was created. It also brings a tremendous opportunity for those that are ready to take advantage of it. I have been buying houses in Detroit steadily this year and I will continue even though I’m buying less houses because of the prices right now. All that it’s going to mean for me and the investors that I work with is the opportunity to purchase more properties at excellent prices.

Of course there will be doom and gloom spread in the national media outlets about the fall in prices in Detroit and the average person will think the world is going to end but two things will remain the same. 1. Investors will still be identifying opportunity and making great money and 2. there will still be many retail sales (as there are today) that will help keep the non-foreclosure market from dipping too much. With Detroit rental markets and first time home buyer programs being stronger than ever, this is definitely the best time to start or to continue investing in Detroit real estate.

Successfully Yours,
Jared Pomranky
Detroit Real Estate Listings
Free report on Detroit investment properties

Pay It Forward

Jared Pomranky ~ Detroit Foreclosures (Urban Detroit Wholesalers) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:52:10 -0500

I’m sure you’ve heard from someone that you need to pay it forward. What does this really mean though and why am I talking about it in a real estate and business blog? Well paying it forward is a great philosophy for your personal life and relationships and it’s even better for your business relationships.

This isn’t hard to do but you don’t see it all the time because people get a little bit of “what’s in it for me”. The premise of paying it forward is to do something helpful for someone or an organization without requiring any action by the receiver like payment or a reciprocal action. This seems a bit unnatural to some in the business field because they feel like it’s wasting their time. Nothing could be further from the truth!

When you do something for someone else without requiring a reciprocal action, you’re paying it forward and the benefits will become apparent. Business colleagues and clients will see you in a different light and lo and behold, guess what happens? Someone will remember the good things you’ve done and it will come back to you. There’s a trick here though. Somehow this law of “paying it forward” knows whether you’ve asked to be paid back up front or not. If you have, your payback won’t be quite as big. If you’ve truly paid it forward, it’s going to come back to you in a big way.

Think about this the next time you’re talking to colleagues, someone new in your field or when someone really needs your help…

So you didn’t think that I would talk about paying it forward and not give you an opportunity to do so, do you? Of course not. We have a great opportunity to do just that on Saturday July 18th with a great non-profit Motor City Blight Busters.

Meeting Time: 9:00 AM, Saturday July 18th
Meeting Location: Motor City Blight Busters parking lot, 17405 Lahser, Detroit

What are we doing?: We will either be knocking down a house or cleaning up a neighborhood!

What do you need to bring?: Blight Busters needs tools! There are thousands of volunteers a year that help Blight Busters in their mission and to continue letting them be effective, we need to have each person bring one of the following:

Sharp axes
Sledge hammers
Brooms (heavy duty)
Or a check for $20 made out to Blight Busters.

This is going to be a great event so make sure you put it on your calendar now!

Be a renegade,
Jared Pomranky

Detroit Real Estate analysis Detroit foreclosure search
Free Report on Detroit real estate "how to"

Detroit Vacant Housing Supply and Demand

Jared Pomranky ~ Detroit Foreclosures (Urban Detroit Wholesalers) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:40:46 -0500

The biggest question I hear from people that are looking at Detroit for their real estate investments is the question about the oversupply of vacant houses. This then leads to the explanation of the basic principals of supply and demand that we all learned in Economics class. You remember, don’t you? The lower the supply of some item, the higher the demand will be and conversely the higher the supply of an item, the lower the demand. For example, Comerica Park where the Detroit Tigers play has a seating capacity of about 41,000. Demand is strong (especially on a Friday or Saturday night) so just think of what would happen to prices if they all of a sudden said they had to close half the seats and that only 20,000 seats were available. Given the law of supply and demand, we would see the prices go up, which brings me back to Detroit real estate.

Recent estimates have showed that there are 44,000 plus vacant houses in Detroit and these Detroit housing statistics show slightly higher (although notice the sharp decline in the past couple of months). That’s a lot of vacant houses. You may be asking with that many vacant houses, how can we ever hope to get the supply/demand ratio to a reasonable level and fill this supply. To answer that, we have to dig into the numbers.

In a recent conversation with Yianni Kopanakis of Motor City Blight Busters, we talked about the oversupply of houses. Yianni explained that fully half of the vacant houses in Detroit right now are beyond repair to both homeowner and investor alike. In other words, these houses are so far gone that no one wants them. I guess taking out 50% of the houses fixes part of the supply/demand issue. What about the other 50%?

For the other 50%, we need to look at who is buying and occupying these houses. We have either an investor that will purchase for rent or resale, a homeowner that will purchase retail (retail sales at decent prices are still occurring. Check out the Detroit Free Press list of sales for Detroit to see 10 of 24 homes sold for $75,000 or more week ending June 21st and 13 of 38 the week before), and renters. If you’ve been involved in real estate for very long, you quickly find that retail buyers (homeowners) and renters will just not accept a house that isn’t fixed up. In my experience and the experience of the non-profit Motor City Blight Busters, Yianni Kopanakis, and other real estate investors in Detroit that I have talked to, there are very few houses that we come across that need little to no work.

Where does this leave us now? We’re left with a lot of vacant houses that is comprised of mainly houses that need to be fixed up or torn down. Where does that leave the demand? If you’ve been investing in Detroit cash flow properties, you’ve noticed the increasing demand for quality rental properties. Our houses are getting rented faster for better prices because of the lack of supply of these quality rental houses. The same goes for first time home buyer houses.

This creates an incredible opportunity for the problem solving investor that wants to take the properties in the great areas that need some work and is willing to fix them up. The houses will rent well and through quality first time home buyer programs can even sell well. The demand for this limited supply is high. Also, through the City of Detroit demolition list and through non-profit organizations like Motor City Blight Busters, the properties that are beyond repair can be demolished and hauled away.

As with many answers and solutions to problems, it’s not always the surface answer that’s correct. Dig into the details and you’ll find the real answer.

Successfully Yours,
Jared Pomranky

Detroit foreclosure properties
Free Report on Detroit real estate "how to"

Seven Steps to Success? Really?

Jared Pomranky ~ Detroit Foreclosures (Urban Detroit Wholesalers) — Fri, 22 May 2009 09:14:27 -0500

“Vision is the spectacular that inspires us to carry out the mundane.” ~ Chris Widener

Seven Steps to Success. I have to tell you, the title didn’t really catch my attention. How many times have we heard of someone’s steps to success or something similar that has been steps that have worked for them but rarely work for other people? I came across Chris Widener’s steps to success and they immediately stood out to me as high quality because it’s not specific steps for achieving success in real estate or specific steps to achieving success in running a factory. It’s steps towards being successful in whatever you’re doing and I’ve noticed many of the steps I have taken and they have been explained to me by other successful people. Below are steps to being successful:

1. Dream it – This is the first part that many people don’t get past. Dreaming about what could be and where we would like to be is part of human nature. Don’t limit yourself on these thoughts or stop dreaming by introducing negative thoughts or by placing artificial limits. Make your dream big and give yourself something to work towards!

2. Believe it – While many of us will think that our dreams are beyond our capabilities, you need to believe that it will happen. We do this by making our dreams and goals beyond what we are currently doing but still within the realm of being possible. If you’re 90 years old with arthritis and your dream is to run a 2:30 in the marathon, you’re dream isn’t in the realm of being possible. If you’re someone with no college education and you’re dream is to build a $50 Million company, now we’re talking. While this may be beyond what we can do right now, this is a plausible dream. Believe it!

3. See it – Picture yourself being successful. “See” yourself reaching your final goal and “see” yourself taking the steps to be successful. This is not the time to think about everything that can go wrong. Focus on the end goal and know that you will be there. By seeing yourself reach your goal, your mind already decides that this is what’s going to happen and it just accepts that you will take the steps to get there.

4. Tell it – Tell everyone you meet and everyone you know about what you are doing and what your dream is. If you keep it inside and don’t tell anyone about it, it’s a good chance that it’s not going to happen. By speaking out loud about what you’re doing and what your dream is, your dream becomes possible. Also, you will build accountability partners in everyone you talk to. When you start to feel that you can let your dream go, you will have all of the people that you told it to that you would be letting down and you’ll have people asking you about how it’s progressing. They will help make sure your dream doesn’t die.

5. Plan it – Every dream must take the form of a plan. If you fail to plan the steps you’ll take and the milestones that you’ll reach on the way to achieving your dream, your dream just won’t happen. Without proper planning, there are too many variables that will keep you from achieving your dream. Break your dream down into small goals, steps, and milestones that you can reach on the way.

6. Work it – This is the step that many people try to skip but there’s just really no way to move ahead without taking massive amounts of organized ACTION. Without this, you will never move ahead. Many people get into analysis paralysis where they spend all their time talking about what they’re going to do or analyzing what could go wrong but never get out there and actually work the plan that they have put into place. It seems like a simple concept that you actually have to go out and do something but many people don’t want to put themselves out there to far or don’t want to miss their favorite TV show to take action. Be the one that takes ACTION!

7. Enjoy it – Oddly enough there are plenty of people that just become workaholics in their quest to fulfill their dream. Make sure that while you’re working towards your dream that you reward yourself for accomplishments along the way, that you reward yourself heavily when you’re living your dream, and that you take the time to enjoy it!

The above steps to success were paraphrased from an article by Chris Widener on the same subject.

Be a Renegade,
Jared Pomranky

Detroit Real Estate market Detroit investment properties
Free Report on Detroit foreclosure investing "how to"
Detroit foreclosure analysis

Take Action ON Your Business

Jared Pomranky ~ Detroit Foreclosures (Urban Detroit Wholesalers) — Wed, 06 May 2009 10:31:25 -0500

“The real leader has no need to lead– he is content to point the way.” ~Henry Miller

I like this quote because it speaks to the fact that leaders need to be doing much more pointing than the actual doing. Just like a business, if you’re spending all of your time working IN your business by DOING things, you can not be working ON your business and growing it. I found the following list in the article Seven Secrets of Inspiring Leaders by Carmine Gallo from Business Week Online. This is a list of how to be a better leader and is skewed towards an employee but it’s great advice for owners and for anyone looking to increase their effectiveness in communications and leadership:

Demonstrate enthusiasm - How do you expect employees and others to get excited about your business if you’re not demonstrating it to them constantly? Without a strong passion for what you’re doing, you will not get people that are committed to working with you and helping you succeed.

Articulate a compelling course of action - Many people falter at this point. We hear about people that have a goal of making $10,000 a month in passive income. This is a great goal but not very inspiring. How do you think that compares to a vision for your company that says you will turn around whole neighborhoods in Detroit through your rehabilitation of homes or the vision of Bill Gates when starting Microsoft of putting a computer on every desk in every home? Doesn’t this sound like something people can get behind?

Sell the benefit - You have to remember that it’s not about you or what you want. As my mentor states, W.I.I.F.T. What’s In It For Them? You need to be focused on what your employees or others are getting out of their interaction with you and constantly be focused on not only identifying what’s in it for them but telling them.

Tell more stories - This is an easy way to connect with an audience (big or small) and make yourself memorable. People may not remember the financial data that you’re spouting off but if you can tell a good heart felt story that connects your business, you will make yourself memorable.

Invite participation - Too many people in a leadership position don’t do this. When we get to a certain position, we may feel like we know what the best course of action is but there are many times that the people out there actually completing the task know better ways of doing it. Asking someone what they think should be done not only gets great ideas and creativity out in the open, it gives that person a vested interest in making sure it is successful. This is good advice for any relationship.

Reinforce an optimistic outlook - I believe this to be the most important aspect of a good leader. How can you expect others to be excited about what they’re doing and where they’re going if the person in charge doesn’t believe it will be successful. Optimism and actually believing that good things will happen makes good things happen more often.

Encourage potential - “Inspiring leaders praise people and invest in them emotionally.” By praising someone’s work and encouraging them to expand and increase their potential, you will be creating more effective and happier employees.

By being a better leader you can overcome and prosper from challenges in the current economy with all markets. This is the time to change and the time to innovate.

Be a Renegade,
Jared Pomranky

Detroit investment property analysis Detroit real estate
Free Report on Detroit foreclosure investing "how to"

Do you think about your target audience?

Jared Pomranky ~ Detroit Foreclosures (Urban Detroit Wholesalers) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:05:16 -0500

“I never perfected an invention that I did not think about in terms of the service it might give others… I find out what the world needs, then I proceed to invent.” ~Thomas Edison

As my mentor always says, W.I.I.F.T., What’s In It For Them. Is this a question you ask yourself every day, with every meeting, and every person you meet? Do you find yourself coming up with great ideas that people don’t want to use? Kind of like the inventor that comes up with a great idea but fails to see if anyone actually wants it? If you ask yourself in each negotiation, every meeting, and basically any personal interaction the WIIFT, you will find yourself with easy negotiations, easy interactions with others, and you will find yourself much more successful.

It’s imperative that you find out what the other person wants and to make sure that what you’re offering includes that to be successful in negotiations and making great connections. If you’re just always thinking about what a great deal this is going to be for you, you will have limited success.

With all of the opportunity that we have in Metro-Detroit Michigan right now, remember the WIIFT to maximize your success!

Be a renegade,
Jared Pomranky

WholesaleMi.com

RenegadeDetroit.com

DetroitInvestmentSecrets.com

DetroitHardMoneySecrets.com

DetroitCashFlowAnalysis.com

UrbanDetroitOnline.com

What does a GM bankruptcy mean for Detroit?

Jared Pomranky ~ Detroit Foreclosures (Urban Detroit Wholesalers) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 09:33:44 -0500

There are a lot of questions and uncertainty right now with a lot of people in Detroit because of a possible GM bankruptcy. What I find, however, is that most people have heard the doom and gloom scenarios and haven’t heard the real news. A GM bankruptcy is a real possibility and either way it’s going to mean quite a few job cuts in the area. It’s going to mean a smaller GM and less production from the company. It’s also going to mean lower labor costs, health care costs, and other legacy costs for GM. The government has made it clear that they don’t want GM to fail and are committed to reorganization of the company. What this means is a lean competitive company that is poised for growth in it’s core competencies.

GM will not be the same company that it is today but it will be around. We are not going to see the millions of job losses with a total collapse of the auto industry as the government has too much invested and does not want to see a further increase in unemployment. A reorganization will leave job losses and some temporary pain to the area but it’s like any cost cutting measures or job cuts in challenging times. The cuts and reorganization hurt when they’re made but they make the company stronger and will make the are stronger in the long term. That’s great for Detroit and even better for Detroit real estate.

Uncertainty means low prices for real estate and reorganization means a better economy in the long term and a better real estate market. Everything really comes down to uncertainty with GM. Will they file for chapter 11 bankruptcy or won’t they? How many jobs will they cut? What will happen to the UAW? What will happen to the bond holders? The sooner that we can get these questions answered, one way or another, the market will get better and the overall view of GM and our area will get better. Uncertainty is what kills the market perception.

Here is a post by Robert Salomon before the CEO of GM stepped down and their rhetoric about no bankruptcy at any cost changed. Even when GM was saying that bankruptcy was absolutely not an option, Mr. Salomon was talking about how it wouldn’t be bad for the company to go into chapter 11. Two of the best quotes from his blog are:

It’s no surprise that GM management is strongly advocating an out-of-court solution. After all, an out-of-court solution maximizes their chances of continued employment with GM.

Is it no wonder their thoughts on bankruptcy were so unbending until former CEO Rick Wagoner was ousted?

So, YES, GM could survive bankruptcy, and we needn’t be frightened by the prospects, …no matter how much GM tries to convince us that it would spell the apocalypse.

In the article U.S. Squeezes Auto Creditors on the WSJ they talk about the Government’s thoughts on a pre-packaged bankruptcy and on the UAW union and bond holders strong hesitation for a bankruptcy. This makes sense. In a bankruptcy, the UAW and bondholders will no longer have any bargaining power. They will just be told what they need to do or what they need to accept and it very well may mean an end to the UAW. Probably not what the UAW thinks as a “good idea”.

President Barack Obama’s auto task force, meantime, has made it “crystal clear” that its members think a managed, or “prepackaged,” bankruptcy is GM’s best option, but it is letting GM pursue the out-of-court option for now, said people familiar with the matter.

They also talk about bankruptcy plans to split GM into a “new” GM and an “old” GM. The new GM would have all of the good assets and brands and the old GM would have all of the bad brand names and all of the legacy costs like health care. I think this would split it into a company that can and will succeed (new GM) and a company that is allowed to fail (old GM).

On Politico Live I found an article Geithner appears open to GM bankruptcy that I believe sums up everything very well. The government is not going to let GM fail and is committed to making it succeed with or without bankruptcy.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on CBS’s “Face the Nation” seems open to the prospect of managed bankruptcy for GM, saying “There’s a range of options that could work.” Pushed, he stresses that even if the company does file, it will not disappear: “We want them to be part of our future.”

Successfully Yours,
Jared Pomranky
Detroit Market Expert

WholesaleMi.com

RenegadeDetroit.com

DetroitInvestmentSecrets.com

DetroitHardMoneySecrets.com

DetroitCashFlowAnalysis.com

UrbanDetroitOnline.com

Get Started in Real Estate Investing Now!

Jared Pomranky ~ Detroit Foreclosures (Urban Detroit Wholesalers) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:33:58 -0500

Just Getting Started

It wasn’t that long ago that I was baker at grocery store chain out west called Safeway. I was making $11.76 an hour and I worked every weekend and holiday. Also, bakers have to be at work early. Early is an understatement. Many days I had to be at work at 3am to make sure everything was ready for the morning rush. The pay was low, the hours were crazy and long, and I had very little control over my future.

I worked at Safeway for over 3 years and almost everyday was the same as before. Make donuts, fry donuts, decorate donuts, make bread, bake bread, and then clean up and go home. I had worked myself into a nice “safe” place where to show up to work required little thought and planning. Every day was essentially the same as the last.

The good thing about a job like that is it does give you quite a bit of time to think. I did a lot of thinking during those 3 years and a lot of talking. Of course I wanted a better life, more money, and more time to spend with friends and family which led me to what I believe most people want, security. I wanted to know that my future was bright and at some point in time I would be able to retire and never worry about where the money was going to come from.

I just couldn’t see how to get there. No clear path lay before me where I could achieve and realize all of my goals and dreams. Luckily for me my best friend Jason who had recently come back from a tour in Iraq (apparently when he wasn’t being shot at he was reading) and said I had to read a book that changed how he thought about everything. That book was “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki.

That was 3 ½ years ago and I still remember the excitement and energy I felt as I finished reading the book. I began to see the world in a new light with new opportunities and different choices. This world had always existed; I just didn’t know how to see it. Excitedly I began to share my new thoughts and visions with my friends, family, and coworkers and unfortunately the reactions I got were seldom positive and encouraging.

I spoke about financial freedom through buying real estate, making investments, and buying businesses and how I could have a new life where opportunity exists everywhere regardless of how much money I had or how much education I lacked. It was disheartening to me that few people that I was then associating myself with couldn’t see what I saw and refused to read some of the same books I was reading.

When I began to take action and steps towards achieving my new life I began to realize several truths that were shocking and sometimes painful. What most people think and do is wrong, all success and opportunity begins in your mind, doing something is better than doing nothing even if it doesn’t work out, and most importantly you may have to hear 1,000 “no’s” but all you really need is 1 yes.

My life today is unrecognizable from my life 3 ½ years ago because I followed the truths above. It didn’t happen overnight and most people told me I was crazy and stupid but every day I did something that I thought would take me to where I wanted to be. I made many mistakes (and still do!) and I have heard thousands of “no’s” and they have all led me to my new life.

For those of you, who are sitting by the side of the pool watching others have fun, jump in! If you have resources to realize some of your dreams and goals, take action! If you have no resources, create resources by saving and making partnerships with those who do! If you lack the required knowledge, start learning even if you have to go to the public library to do so! And most importantly, if your current circle of friends and family don’t see and or support your dreams and goals, find others who do!

Just get started!

Jeremy Burgess
The Detroit Market Expert

Detroit foreclosure properties
Free Report on Detroit real estate "how to"
Detroit Real Estate analysis

Social Networking for Real Estate

Jared Pomranky ~ Detroit Foreclosures (Urban Detroit Wholesalers) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:31:12 -0500

Have you embraced social networking yet? Do you know what social networking is?

Social Networking is “An association of people drawn together by family, work or hobby.” as defined by J.A. Barnes in the 1950’s (per PC Magazine) and although the Internet has given it a much greater spread, that definition still holds true.

While there are thousands upon thousands of social networking sites out there, the ones that will focus on have a very good application for business and real estate. These sites all excel further beyond other social networking site by their ease of use, reach in number of users, and application towards business and real estate. My top 3 networking sites for real estate investors and business are LinkedIn, ActiveRain, and Twitter. Facebook is a great runner up but I feel like the other three blow it out of the water for business application (not necessarily social application).

This is a must have for your online networking. LinkedIn is your online business card where people can find information about you. Searching for most people’s name on Google will yield their LinkedIn profile as one of the top five. That’s pretty powerful. It’s also a great place to fill out your specialties. Add in good keywords for the specialties, which will help users searching for you. Once you sign up for a LinkedIn account join the Renegade Detroit Investors LinkedIn Group. This will allow you to see other RDI attendees. You can also find out LinkedIn accounts below:

ActiveRain

This is a great site for real estate investors and real estate professionals. It’s split up by State, County, and City so you know the other people working in your city. You then get points for blog posts, comments, and other activity, which ranks you for the city. The ranking system is good to spur on activity and discussions but you don’t have to worry too much about it. I find many people searching for real estate or searching for someone in Detroit find my profile and contact me through this site. It’s also good to make contacts within the real estate community. Go now to Sign-up for ActiveRain then visit our profiles below and add us as associates.

Twitter

This is for after you have fully completed the above two. Twitter is a great social network but it takes time to build and some people might just not “get it”. It’s micro blogging (140 characters or less), which you use to tell people what you’re doing, reply to a post that they’ve made or tell them about a new blog post you made. You can chose to follow other people to get their updates and those people can chose to follow you. Do not go into twitter thinking you can just post marketing material each “tweet” or post and think that you will get a lot of people to follow you. You have to be genuine, engaging, and provide good information to people before you can start to market yourself. Go grab your name and Join Twitter. Make sure you follow us after you sign up.

If you have any questions, post them here and let’s discuss social networking. This should be a good post to get you started.

Be a renegade,
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Metro-Detroit Credit Panel on Tuesday April 7th in Royal Oak

Jared Pomranky ~ Detroit Foreclosures (Urban Detroit Wholesalers) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:07:24 -0500

Our Next Renegade Detroit Investors Meeting

Tuesday April 7th at 6:00 PM

Renegade Detroit Investors presents:
The first ever Metro-Detroit Credit Panel

I don't know if you've heard but credit can be a great asset to both your business and for real estate investing. Oh, you have heard? Good. We're on the same page. Now, who understands credit fully and wants to explain it to everyone? Okay, less virtual hands are raised.

Credit is a complicated mess of three credit bureaus, complex algorithms, mis-information, fly by night experts, and a lot of unknowns. Did I mention there's a lot of mis-information out there?

Renegade Detroit Investors has said, "Enough!". Tell me what I need to know. Tell me how to build or rebuild my credit. Tell me how to fix my credit and tell me what I need to watch out for.

It seems simple enough...

We have scoured Metro-Detroit for the best credit experts that aren't going to give you great content and not a bunch of fluff, they're going to tell you exactly how it is and not going to give you a bunch of maybes or shoulds. They're here to give you the cold hard facts on credit and we're doing it in a format where YOU get to ask the questions. Sound like a good event? Expect nothing less from RDI.

Our Credit Experts are:

Jeffrey Mulholland with First American Credit
Tim Thrift with United Credit Education Services
Maurice Scott with Credit 1, Inc
Carolyn Feldmen with Nationwide Credit Clearing

Each of these speakers has incredible resumes so I recommend not only coming to this credit panel but also checking out their websites. Everyone has the qualifications to make this one of the best meetings yet!

The cost for first time attendees is only $10 or $25 for everyone else. Annual memberships are available at a discount. Free food is always available at the meetings!

Jared Pomranky - Drew Sygit - Jeremy Burgess - Jeanna Kiehle
Renegade Detroit Investors

Meeting Location:
Peking House (second floor)
Just South of 11 Mile on the East side before the railroad tracks
215 S Washington St.
Royal Oak, MI 48067

Detroit Real Estate gets good Press on CNN

Jared Pomranky ~ Detroit Foreclosures (Urban Detroit Wholesalers) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 13:02:43 -0500

Our company has received some good press lately in the Detroit Free Press, the News, and now on CNN. They've all talked about Detroit real estate, the opportunity that's available, our company, and our work with the great non-profit Motor City Blight Busters.

Check them out and let me know what you think. Definitely good for Detroit and Michigan as a whole to get national attention and bring in even more outside investment!

Jared Pomranky
Urban Detroit Wholesalers
Download your Free Report on Detroit Investing

Why Buying Real Estate is Essential for the Future

Jared Pomranky ~ Detroit Foreclosures (Urban Detroit Wholesalers) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:16:22 -0600

I’ve been listening a lot to the new budget proposed by Obama and there is a lot that we should be concerned with. Let me first preface this by saying that I would like nothing more than for this to turn our economy around and for everything to work out as planned for our President. I just don’t agree with the socialist view of taking from the “rich” and giving to the poor. If you think the “rich” are just people that make more than you, think again. That classification keeps going lower and encompassing more and more people, Wealthy Lose out as Others Gain. There are also taxes that aren’t called taxes that will affect everyone, and a reduction of write-offs and tax raises for businesses. Regardless of your political views, taxes are increasing for YOU.

What does this mean for you? Well, taxes are increasing and it doesn’t look like there’s much we can do about that. What you need to do is plan for these increases by creating tax advantaged income and creating more write-offs. One of the best ways to do this is through the ownership of cash flow real estate that creates passive income and many write-offs including depreciation. I’m not one to just look at how you can reduce your taxes, however, and I’m sure your CPA can explain all of the tax advantages of real estate. Just know that there are many tax advantages to owning real estate.

What about the income? Well, tax write-offs aren’t great without income are they? Real estate generates great income from rents but that’s not where it ends. You get pay down on a mortgage and long-term appreciation. The great thing about real estate is that over time it always increases in value, especially when you’re buying at such a discounted rate in Detroit right now! When you add up all of the cash flow from rent and future appreciation, you have a better return than you can get anywhere. I know. It’s hard to believe that there can be a better return than you can get in the stock market right now but it’s true!

Real estate investing has gone back to its roots in rental real estate and that’s great for you. Rental real estate is a conservative investment that is proven to create wealth. Add to that the fact that you can buy at such low price points in Detroit right now and taking action right now and purchasing real estate becomes a must!

Successfully Yours,
Jared
Urban Detroit Wholesalers
Renegade Detroit Investors
Detroit Investment Secrets
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Urban Detroit Online

Sales Training Speaker in Royal Oak Tuesday March 3rd

Jared Pomranky ~ Detroit Foreclosures (Urban Detroit Wholesalers) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:45:52 -0600

Hold the Press! New Speaker Announced!

Renegade Detroit Investors presents:

Kirk Armstrong, Sales Training Expert!

Come out to see this blockbuster event that is sure to leave you with excellent sales tips and techniques for your business!

Kirk is a trainer, speaker and consultant with more than 15 years experience in the areas of sales, management, strategic planning, interpersonal communications, and team building. An outstanding record of growth and accomplishment in sales, consistently achieving record revenue and gross profit goals has followed him throughout his career. With extensive roles in sales, sales management, and as director and vice president of sales, he found great success in the electrical equipment, heating and back-up power industries.

Now an accomplished associate with Gerry Weinberg & Associates, he has been the recipient of numerous awards for his sales production, training and coaching. Known for his unique personal style and experience, he has the ability to help each of his clients to gain confidence, break out of their "comfort zone" and achieve results they never thought possible.

He lives with his wife and two children in Royal Oak, Michigan, where he may be found running every morning, (just ask to see his journal!) coaching children's sports or playing competitive softball.

The cost for first time attendees is only $10 or $25 for everyone else. Annual memberships are available at a discount. Free food is always available at the meetings!

Get more details and directions to to the Peking House in Royal Oak at http://www.RenegadeDetroit.com

Stay in touch with Renegade Detroit Investors at our Metro-Detroit Michigan Real Estate & Entrepreneur Group

Be a Renegade,

Jared Pomranky

Whose Recession is this?

Jared Pomranky ~ Detroit Foreclosures (Urban Detroit Wholesalers) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 11:21:38 -0600

It's not mine. I'm choosing not to participate in this recession and I suggest you do the same. Why? Well, the people that are participating in the recession are having a tough time. They're losing their jobs, unable to find other jobs, seeing their income drop, and are just all in all in a depressed mood. That doesn't sound like a good time!

I don't have a choice in this recession!
Everyone has a choice in what they do each day. There are those of us that thrive and are successful during down times and there are those that flounder and are depressed in down times. It all starts with your mindset and your outlook. I just met with Terry Bean of Magnetic University at one of his classes yesterday and he was talking about this exact subject. It's all about our subconscious mind and how we influence it with our conscious mind and visualization. Now I'm not the expert to be telling you all about that but the quick summary is that we all have a choice on our outlook.

A better outlook is great but how does equal more dollars in my pocket?
It's all about seeing the opportunity or seeing a problem. Those of us that choose to see the opportunity in challenging times are those of us that will do business and will buck the recession trend. I wrote a good blog about Seizing Opportunities in Times of "Crisis" yesterday that explains this well.

I'm with you so far but what are the opportunities?
Well, you've come to my site on real estate so I'm going to assume that you're interested in it. I see real estate as the biggest opportunity that someone can currently take advantage of. Prices have been pushed down so low because of a lack of credit, lack of demand because of our economy, and just general fear in everyone. When people are afraid they usually don't act. When investors push through the fear and take a conservative look at the numbers on real estate, the opportunity is hard to deny. This is a time of conservative investing and long term investing in real estate. Buying houses and renting them out is how true wealth was built and is built.

Where do I get the money to invest in real estate?
There are many places you can look for investment capital from private sources. One of the most exciting sources that we have been working with many investors on is investing in real estate from their 401k or IRA utilizing a Self-Directed IRA with Equity Trust Company. We help our clients get their funds moved over where they can use the capital for an investment in most anything, including real estate. Talk about rocket fuel for your IRA!

The biggest piece of advice that I can give you is to take action to take yourself out of this recession. Too many people button down the hatches and try to wait out a recession out of fear. What they don't realize is that real estate and business continue and that all of the great opportunities have passed them by.

Read more about Not Participating in this Recession

Successfully Yours,
Jared Pomranky
Detroit Market Expert
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