real estate: Tuesday's Tip #59: Uninterested Party
- 05/20/08 02:27 PM
As an real estate investor, you probably spending a lot of time looking at a lot of property. But, what about you out of state investors? And you international investors? How many times do you have the freedom to rush in and check out something you're buying?
The major problem here is that no one has the time to fly all over the place like this. If you have the money to show up every time you get a pending deal all the way across the nation or overseas, you're probably wasting your time.
We've talked a lot about … (1 comments)
real estate: Our Squidoo Lens for Cash Flow Real Estate Investing
- 05/19/08 10:06 AM
We've created a lens on Squidoo for Cash Flow Real Estate. I'm really impressed with what Seth Godin has put together to bring people and information together and thought this would be a great place to reach more people. We've linked some of our favorite blogs and sites there for you to get more information and education for maximizing your cash flow. Check out our Lens and leave us a message. We want to be as helpful as possible, so give us some feedback. … (1 comments)
real estate: Tuesday's Tip #58: The Cash Tree
- 05/13/08 02:15 PM
Values tumbled in the first quarter of 2008. The median price for a single family home dropped 7.7%. That's the largest drop in 29 years, according to Kathleen M. Howley of Bloomberg.com. If you have a $150k house, there's a good chance you just lost about $11k of equity in your home. While this freaks a lot of home-owners out, it should excite investors. Real estate investors know that prices are dropping. This means that opportunities for cash flow are abounding. While people are losing their jobs, being raped at the pump, and struggling to keep up with their bills, wise … (3 comments)
real estate: Tuesday’s Tip #55: How to Survive and Thrive
- 04/29/08 12:08 PM
We're in a very difficult economy right now. Investors have to take seriously how quickly things could change. You could lose a tenant and have a vacancy for six months before any tenant is ever interested in your place. How will you survive that many months of mortgage payments? What about the unexpected leak in the roof? How will you repair it? It's simple. Cash reserves. The important thing to understand is healthy reserves not only protect you from serious problems, but they also allow you incredible peace. They are absolutely necessary. As BawldGuy states, "A generous reserve account is not … (4 comments)
real estate: Tuesday’s Tip #54: Buying with Cash
- 04/15/08 10:19 AM
Foreclosure filings have jumped 57% from a year ago. The bubble has burst, and if you think this only affects us here in the US, you're wrong. It's has spread overseas. You can call me a pessimist, but the reality is staring us in the face. We're in a recession. And, if these articles and everything else that's happening are indicators of our situation, it's going to get worse before it's going to get better. There is no better time to buy. The hype is done. The boom is over. We've dropped and the opportunity is now. So, how do we … (0 comments)
real estate: Tuesday’s Tip #53: Specialists on Your Team
- 04/08/08 11:43 AM
Over the past year, I’ve talked quite a bit about the importance of putting together a solid team of advisors and workers in your investing. The right team will make or break your efforts to invest wisely. Given the nature of the current market, I encourage you to really get serious about this piece of your strategy. One of my recent posts about the bus tours provided some insight into this very thing and really forces an investor to look at the truth and be real about it. Who is really there to help you and who is there to make … (0 comments)
real estate: Tuesday's Tip #52: Persistent or Annoying?
- 04/01/08 08:08 AM
If you aren't where you want to be as an real estate investor, persistence is key. If you don't know what persistence is, I suggest you read what Seth Godin said of it: "Persistence isn't using the same tactics over and over. That's just annoying. Persistence is having the same goal over and over." I hope you have goals. But, I hope you have the smarts to go along with them as well. Tuesday's Tip: Don't be "annoying". Be persistent. … (0 comments)
real estate: Playing on Your Emotions
- 03/28/08 06:53 AM
I hate how so much of the real estate industry likes to play on your emotions as an investor. They create a sense of urgency when the market is going up and out of control to ensure you don't "miss out". All the while, "urgency" is inflating values. That sucks. But, they do it again by taking you on bus tours to view homes being lost in foreclosure so you feel a sense of urgency to "buy now" while you're surrounded by other buyers. Be smart about what you allow salesman to do to manipulate you. As an investor, you want … (6 comments)
real estate: Tuesday’s Tip #51: How to Buy in an Unstable Economy
- 03/25/08 08:41 AM
I just got off of the phone with Australian real estate investor and teacher, Nigel Kibel. He's a great guy and has some wonderful insight into international investing. It's been good to talk with him and get to know him better. We've actually become friends, and I'm thankful for the time chatting and learning. We were discussing the current market and economic situation across the world, but particularly here in the US. He was asking what we and our investors are finding the greatest amount of success with these days. He was concerned about the dynamic of a falling economy and … (0 comments)
real estate: Rising Home Sales?
- 03/24/08 12:40 PM
According to AP writer Martin Crutsinger in his article entitled "Home Sales Rose, Prices Fell in February":
"Sales of existing homes posted an unexpected increase in February... The National Association of Realtors said that sales of existing homes rose by 2.9 percent in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.03 million units. It was the biggest increase in a year." Great news, huh? Well, all except for the fact that in February, the median existing home sales price fell to $195,900. That makes the drop the "largest year-over-year drop on records that go back to 1999." Given our … (0 comments)
"You get recessions, you have stock market declines. If you don't understand that's going to happen, then you're not ready, you won't do well in the markets."
Peter understands this is reality. Do you? Just as there are ups and downs in the stock market, there are ups and downs in the real estate market. Welcome to reality! Greenspan explained yesterday why he thinks this is the worst situation the economy has been in since World War II. We're down and things don't look like they're going to get much … (2 comments)
real estate: Tuesday’s Tip #48: Keep Good Tenants
- 03/04/08 12:02 PM
I’ve been working closely with my property manager over the past several months. He’s been helping numerous investors across the country to turn their properties around and straighten out their cash flow. Why? Cash flow investors have been screwed by property managers in Indianapolis for years now. Rents have not been collected for the investors, nor were they paid out to them. Bills have been paid by investors for repairs done only to find out later that nothing was actually done. That’s why it’s been a huge relief to me to be dealing with someone that has some integrity. He’s done … (1 comments)
real estate: Existing Home Sales Dropping Rapidly: Time to Buy
- 02/25/08 06:29 AM
"'Expect sales and prices to keep falling,' said Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist for High Frequency Economics. 'There is no end in sight for the housing disaster'." (Check out the entire article over here at Yahoo Finance.) Believe whatever you like about the economy. Prices and sales continue to drop and now is the time to be buying investment properties. While financing can be difficult, it's not impossible and there are numerous ways out there to invest your retirement money into real estate. Don't miss the opportunity to buy when things are down just because you're nervous. Educate yourself and get … (1 comments)
real estate: Tuesday’s Tip #39: Think a Little
- 10/30/07 03:22 PM
I had a great talk with a successful investor today. He’s the kind of guy everyone respects, because he’s a hustler. His work ethic is never in question and his investments are returning as desired. He’s invested right, and it has paid off for him. What’s funny though is that, at first glance, some might say he’s arrogant and living the high life. What they don’t know is how hard he’s worked to get where he is today. He’s worked hard and many times too hard, and learned again and again to work smarter, not harder. He’s bought, sold, rented, succeeded and failed. … (5 comments)
real estate: Tuesday’s Tip #35: Property Insurance
- 10/02/07 03:28 PM
Insurance is one of those things investors don’t seem to think about very much. It’s easy to let an insurance agent set everything for you on your properties and to miss out on gaining the necessary knowledge in the meantime. That can be a big mistake. Most of us have heard stories of people who had no flood, tornado, or liability insurance. We’ve heard their nightmare stories and how they’ve lost those properties in foreclosure, because they didn’t have the money to repair or rebuild them. Some of the situations investors get themselves into are unavoidable, but many of these are easily … (2 comments)
real estate: Tuesday's Tip #34: Win-Win Real Estate Investing
- 09/25/07 04:17 PM
I've recently been doing some work with an investor who has negotiated tons of short sales over the years and who works with home-owners in pre-foreclosure. Having done some of the negotiations myself, I know how challenging they can be and so, I have a pretty deep respect for someone who is good at it. Of all of the things I've learned from our discussions and work, I've gained a much stronger appreciation for the importance of relationship building and win-win negotiations. It's not that I didn't want or work towards that myself, but being in an industry where greed seems … (4 comments)
real estate: Tuesday’s Tip #32: Creative Thinking
- 09/18/07 02:30 PM
While I’ve never read the book, I was sent a great little excerpt from Michael Michalko’s book, Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques. I thought this was a more appropriate time than ever to share this, given the nature of the current real estate market. We have more struggling sellers, harder lending restrictions, and a far less exciting real estate economy than we have had in years, and that requires different thinking. So, check out this great little piece from Michalko’s book and I’ll throw some stuff at you when he’s done: “Imagine a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage … (1 comments)
real estate: Foreclosures, Hookers, and Investing
- 09/12/07 01:15 PM
USA Today had a column in the paper today entitled ”Paying for a roof over your head- but not much else.” The article explains that “37% of U.S. home owners are spending 30% or more of their before-tax income on housing- the threshold of where the government says a home becomes uncomfortable- according to the 2006 Census data being released today.” For some, it’s far worse: “14% of homeowners with mortgages- more than 7 million households- shell out at least half of their gross monthly income to cover the cost of their home loan, property taxes, insurance, and utilities.” To that, … (4 comments)
real estate: Smart Investing
- 09/09/07 08:45 AM
Turn on the news at six or pick up Sunday’s paper. Read Drudge Report or any type of news format out there, and you’re likely to find one thing for sure: tons of bad news about our national real estate economy. People are actually surprised about the current status of the real estate market, where the “Miami Condo Boom” has now become the Miami Condo Bust and now the California Real Estate Inflation Party has become the California Foreclosure “Hangover”. As they say, “What goes up, must come down”. I can understand some of the general public being surprised and/or not … (3 comments)
real estate: Property Management
- 09/06/07 03:54 PM
I can’t tell you how often I hear nightmare stories from investors around the country about the major issues they’re experiencing with property managers. These poor investors put their trust, their credit, their properties, and their money in the hands of individuals they just simply can’t trust. This story is being told all over the country and, if you’re not careful, you’re likely to be just one more real estate investor telling it not long after your own purchases. Chris, of the Kansas City Real Estate Investing Blog, just wrote about his own property management problems where he’s been trying to … (4 comments)
As an real estate investor, you probably spending a lot of time looking at a lot of property. But, what about you out of state investors? And you international investors? How many times do you have the freedom to rush in and check out something you're buying?;)
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