real estate investing: Is It True, "The Times They Are A Changin'" - 04/03/08 11:09 PM
Bob Dylan wasn't wrong back in the sixties and once again the "times are a changin".  Markets are in a turmoil and turmoil will create opportunity for the observant investor.  Your business plan needs to be both dynamic and flexible for you to maintain a success in this business climate.
We have concentrated on foreclosures and short sales for some time but are beginning to encounter some challanges in this market.  The proliferation of short sales has jammed up the short sale process with the servicers and lenders. Consequently the time it is taking to successfully consummate a short sale is growing.  The amount of … (0 comments)

real estate investing: What, They Turned Down My Offer? - 03/12/08 12:41 AM
Have you had perfectly reasonable offers declined by banks and lenders?  I sure have.
Richard Geller has written a blog post that is one of the most succinct I have seen about this subject.
I highly recommend that you check it out at http://www.mortgagereliefformula.com/03/11/can-you-really-sell-your-house-in-nine-days/trackback/
I hope you find it useful.
 
Yours in Success,
Dick Weiss
Subscribe to my Free Newsletter at http://www.whoisdickweiss.com 
(0 comments)

real estate investing: Where Did All My Business Go? - 03/11/08 07:26 AM
Chances are your real estate investment or brokerage business is not the same as it once was. The real estate business has always been a very cyclical business but it is really changing rapidly these days.
To succeed in today's business environment you need to be very flexible. A died in the wool conservative business person will probably find themselves floundering. This is a time for entrepreneurs to step up to the plate and hit home runs.
The mindset of a typical entrepreneur is geared to handle a rapidly changing business environment. They realize that the rules are not set in stone and … (0 comments)

real estate investing: Day Late A Dollar Short or What Do I Do Now That I Missed The Boom? - 03/05/08 09:20 PM
My last entry covered a bunch of information on how to use your IRA to participate in real estate investing. But, isn't the boom over. No one will invest in real estate in this market.
Well, guess what, the real boom is about to begin.  Our illustrious Forth Estate, the media, is still kicking the mortgage crisis, foreclosures, soaring gas prices, etc.  They are doing this because bad news sells papers.  People love to hear about other people that are in worse shape than they are.
I am starting to see some interesting movement in the real estate market here is South Florida.  … (5 comments)

real estate investing: Short Sales - 5 Ways To Play By The Rules - 02/19/08 10:49 AM
Who do you thing makes he rules when you are doing a short sale? The banks make the rules and you have to play by them. They write them and they can use them against you. But, do you know the rules?
What do you think is going on with the loss mitigator you are speaking with? What do you think is going through his mind?  “I am way too busy to deal with you. I don’t care if you are the President of the United States. If I here one more complaint from you, your file is going to the … (1 comments)

real estate investing: Foreclosure Investing - So, How Is Business? - 02/13/08 09:55 PM
I sure hope that it is booming. If it is not you need to sit back and take a good look at both your business and marketing plans.If you are involved in real estate investing, and I assume that you are, this is a perfect time to be an investor. With all the market turmoil and the general negativity being published by the media opportunities are everywhere.Your negotiating is being done for you. Your customers know things are bad because they have been told so by TV and print media. All you need to do is get in front of them … (3 comments)

real estate investing: Rescue Me Take Me In Your Arms...... - 02/12/08 01:06 PM
Talk about something being an oxymoron. The Feds have done it again and are proposing a a new rescue plan called “Project Lifeline”. Their plan is to let six of the biggest banks, Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Countrywide Financial Corp., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Washington Mutual Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. — all members of the so-called Hope Now Alliance over see the plan. Talk about letting the fox in the hen house. See this article
This bunch are the same people whose greed and over site brought on the mortgage crisis in the first place. … (3 comments)

real estate investing: Foreclosure Investing - Finding Your Sweet Spot - 02/09/08 11:14 PM
Foreclosure investing is a lot like tennis and golf in that tennis racquet's and golf clubs both have sweet spots and so does your real estate investing business.  Hitting the ball on the sweet spot maximizes your results.  Finding your sweet spot in real estate investing will help to maximize your profits.
To find your investing sweet spot you need to understand and monitor your local real estate market.  Even in the worst markets things are selling.  By carefully following sales you can determine the sweet spot for price, location and housing type.  It is critical to your business that you do … (5 comments)

real estate investing: The BPO - Your Key To A Successful Short Sale - 01/30/08 11:09 PM
As Paul Harvey would say, "and here is the rest of the story"
 
Most BPO agents will not reveal the value that was submitted to the lender but if you wait two to three days and contact the BPO agent to check if they need anything else, sometimes you can get a number. If you do you will be able to have a very clear idea of what sort of number you can negotiate with the lender. It is always worth a shot.
After about 4 days contact the lender and see if the figures have been submitted. This is crunch time!! … (1 comments)

real estate investing: Hello It's Me My Name Is.... - 01/28/08 08:52 PM
The BPO agent or appraiser has showed up and you were there to greet him. If the owner is going to be present during the BPO make sure that they keep a low profile and stay inconspicuous. You also need to coach your Seller that if the BPO agent contacts them directly to get access, the Seller should refer them to you and your office only will schedule the appointment.
You need to impress your seller about the importance of this appointment and its purpose. It is also imperative that you set the Sellers expectations with regard to the BPO. Be … (1 comments)

real estate investing: Where's The Money - 01/25/08 12:27 PM
This has been a really strange week.  My partner and I have been really busy and as a result I have neglected my blog.  For this I apologize.  We have been busy with some really good REO deals and the reason I am writing this post is to see if any of my readers out there may have some money they are interested in investing for a short term deal.
We have purchased a really great deal and our usual funder is currently out of cash and we are racing around looking for funds to close this deal by Feb 21st. 
It … (0 comments)

real estate investing: Hello, I Am Your Friendly BPO Agent And I Am Here To Help You. -- Maybe! - 01/23/08 07:51 PM
As I mentioned in the previous post, you should arrive about 15 minutes before the person who is going to do your BPO. There are several reasons for this. First, you don’t want to keep them waiting for you and you don't want them going through the property by themselves, particularly if the seller is at home. Secondly you want to observe them to determine the personality type you will be dealing with.
BPO agents basically come in three flavors. The first and rarest type is the really friendly BPO agent that will ask you where you need the price to … (9 comments)

real estate investing: Investing In Foreclosures - Short Sales -Influencing the BPO - 01/19/08 08:20 AM
Well enough of Chicken Little. I do love to digress from time to time.
Influencing the BPO is the single most important factor in getting your short sale accepted. As a professional real estate investor, you must meet the appraiser or broker at the property. You need to learn how to manage the appointment. Above all remember, the number that the appraiser submits will determine if your offer will be accepted.
You need to realize that the person evaluating the property may not know the reason for the evaluation. In fact many appraisers will assume that the property is being considered … (2 comments)

real estate investing: The Decline And Fall Of Practically Everybody...Except Foreclosure Investors (cont.) - 01/09/08 09:58 PM
In the last four to five years the mortgage industry has done a phenomenal job removing a huge percentage of the equity from the American housing market and converted it into three things.  Vast amounts of cash, a huge quantity of very poorly underwritten loans and an enormous number of relatively worthless homes with negative equity.
Here lies the gold. It is waiting for you to stake your claim and start to mine it.  These "worthless" homes that everyone is complaining, about represent an amazing opportunity for the well educated foreclosure investor. The owners can't wait to get rid of them. They … (0 comments)

real estate investing: Why BPO's Are Critical To Foreclosure Investors - 01/07/08 01:04 AM
BPO? what language is that.  Actually it stands for Broker Price Opinion and it is the key to foreclosure investors successfully completing a short sale.  Of all the pieces in the short sale puzzle, the BPO is one of the most critical to the foreclosure investor.  It will usually determine your success or failure in the negotiations. You can be the greatest at finding foreclosure and pre-foreclosure prospects.  You may put together the most beautiful short sale packages in the history of the planet.  However, if you do not fully understand the entire BPO process your chances for success are extremely … (3 comments)

real estate investing: Happy New Year - 2008 Things Are Changing In Foreclosure Investing - 12/30/07 10:47 PM
It is almost 2008 and it is time to really take a really good look at your foreclosure investng strategy for 2008.  I was reading an interesting email today from at realestateinvestor.com.  Colin, the administrator of the forum made some reall interesting points about the future of foreclosure investing in 2008.  His thoughts indicate that things are rapidly changing in the world of short sale investing. Title companies are getting tougher on underwriting short sale flips, see this Private Letter.
If you want to maintain the level of your foreclosure and short sale business in 2008 you will need to stay on the cutting edge of short sale … (2 comments)

real estate investing: Utlizing Short Sales in Pre-Foreclosure Investing - 12/23/07 12:50 PM
The longer I work in the foreclosure market the more I am astounded by the degree of success that the mortgage industry had in removing most of the equity form home in the U.S.  The amount of money that was injected into the economy though refinancing of existing mortgages and the generation of new highly leveraged mortgages is unbelievable.
As a result almost all prospects that you encounter in pre-foreclosure have little to no equity in their homes.  Therefore, the only way to create equity is through a short sale.  What was once a rarely used technique is not commonplace. 
In … (0 comments)

real estate investing: Becomining More Productive In Your Business - Simpleology 101 - 12/20/07 07:25 PM
For many years I have worked on many personal improvement programs and time management programs.  I have never found one that produced the results of Simpleology 101.  In the three weeks I have been doing the program there has been a remarkable improvment of my productivity.  Twice as much is getting done in half the time.
The program was put together by Mark Joyner, one of the Internet's true geniuses. What is even more remarkable is that Simpleology 101 is completely free. 
The course is 40 days long and requires that you do it every day.  If you want to take your … (3 comments)

real estate investing: Foreclousres Filings Up 93% - The Numbers Are In! - 12/16/07 12:22 AM
Finally the November foreclosure numbers are in and they make it clear that if you are going to invest in real estate over the next several years you better get really good at foreclosure investing and short sales.
According to foreclosures.com in the first 11 months of 2007 over 1,082,000 homes entered the foreclosrure prcocess nationwide.  This is an increase of 93% over the same period in 2006. They also said that over 526,000 ended up back in the hands of the banks.  That figure was up 41%
The fact that REO's were 52% less than the foreclosure filings indicates that more people … (0 comments)

real estate investing: Buying Forclosure Property - "Subject to" - 12/13/07 09:55 AM
My favorite method to purchase foreclosure property is "subject to" the underlying mortgage. This method works even better if you don't have to bring the loan current but are able to get the seller a forbearance agreement or better yet a loan modification from the lender.  If you do this it does require that the seller give you full cooperation to fill out the extesive paperwork necessary to do a forbearance and it also takes considerable time.
The real life scenario, as opposed to that of the real estate gurus and seminar junkies, means that the person in forclosure wait until about 5 days or less before the sale to call me and tell … (1 comments)

 

Richard Weiss

Port St Lucie, FL

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My thoughts and hints on foreclosure investing and using short sales to create equity


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