Mortgage protection insurance is quickly becoming a great way to boost your real estate investment income. Could you use an extra $500-$1,000 a week part-time? It’s easy, cost effective and it allows you to help families even more while putting money in your pocket.
The investor who deals with “land contracts “and” lease to own deals could use the mortgage protection insurance as an extra tool in their real estate arsenal. By adding mortgage protection insurance to your services you are not only helping a family get into home ownership, but now they can stay there even if the main bread winner dies or becomes disabled.
You are protecting the entire family and the best part is, you’re getting paid for it.
Mortgage protection insurance should not be confused with PMI (Principal Mortgage Insurance). PMI is a certain type of insurance policy from a bank or mortgage company in which you pay a fixed premium for a certain number of years to cover the risk of foreclosure. Should something happen to you while the policy is in effect; the insurance pays the remaining mortgage. The loan typically lasts for the life of the mortgage. As you pay off the mortgage, the end benefits goes down, too. At the end of the policy, the benefit is zero.
The mortgage protection insurance I’m writing about offers a different option. Essentially you pay the premiums, and your family gets the money and the right to decide what to do with it. Also, this life insurance is portable. This means if you move in a few years, you won't have to replace your insurance. This can save you a great deal of money since insurance rates usually increase, as you get older. The best part of all is that if you don’t die or use any of the benefits, you get all your money back tax-free.
When I started investing in real estate, selling life insurance was the last thing on my mind, but that all changed. A representative of the National Agents Alliance introduced me to mortgage protection insurance last year and now the insurance side of my business is rivaling some of my real estate investments. It is possible to make five-to-seven thousand dollars a month in positive cash flow just with the insurance. No prospecting, no rehabbing and best of all no tenants.
The process is very simple and it won’t cost you thousands to begin. The most important thing required is your life insurance license. Don’t worry about passing the test, it’s easier than the realtor test and lots of the prep can be done online. There are differing laws in different states so you need to find out the precise requirements for your home state. You can get most of that information from your state’s department of insurance page.
To find out more about mortgage protection insurance and how you can earn extra money helping others check out BeltranGroup.com
Monday, July 09, 2007
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Why You Need To Start Investing In Commercial Real Estate TODAY... by Scott Scheel
Is The Pot At The End Of Your Rainbow Filled With Fool's Gold?
Why You Need To Start Investing In Commercial Real Estate TODAY...
People often ask me how I got started in commercial real estate, and I tell them that it was a conscious decision for me.
Most people who begin investing in real estate start off with single family residential properties because that is what they are most comfortable with. They tell themselves, "All I need to do is a couple of deals a month. I'll make myself five or ten thousand dollars, then at the end of a very few months most of my problems will be taken care of." They do not really understand everything that is involved in getting these properties going.
They think they are going to be making big money, but before long, oftentimes they end up with a lot of problems and a lot of headaches. They might have traded in their job for a perceived higher paying job, but find that it is really taking a toll on their lives.
If you belong to a real estate investment group, take a look around you. Look at the people who have done twenty-five to fifty houses or more. Are they living the life of their dreams? More importantly, are they living the life of your dreams? They may be better off than you are now, but is this really what you want to work towards?
I know so many people who have a large portfolio of properties but really haven't achieved the type of freedom, success, and wealth that they truly desire.
How can you change this?
In my opinion, the answer is commercial real estate.
When I decided to start investing in real estate, I stopped and took a look around. I realized that the people who were making the big money in real estate were the people who owned buildings not houses. People who owned the large apartment buildings, the large office buildings, the large warehouse and industrial space - those are the ones who really seemed to be living a lifestyle that I wanted.
They didn't have to be there tending to their properties; they had property managers who took care of that for them. Yet, they were the ones spending the checks, catching planes to exotic locations and destinations, and living the lifestyle that I desired so much.
After looking at this for quite a while, I decided that there must be a way of getting this done. They couldn't have been much smarter, have learned much more, or have had access to more resources then I could. Even though I didn't know how immediately, I knew I could figure out a way to do it.
I sat down and took the time to learn how to invest in commercial real estate, which is what I would recommend that you do. I studied and figured out exactly what it would take, and as I learned, commercial real estate became less and less of a mystery to me.
How can you start? First of all, let's talk about why you would want to do it.
What are the benefits of commercial real estate? First of all, one of the biggest benefits is that commercial real estate is valued differently. By "valued differently", I mean the amount of income that a property produces is directly proportionate to its worth. So if a property produces more income, then it is worth more. It has very little to do with "market comps".
Second, along the way you are going to get a far greater cash flow. Imagine if you were to buy a $200,000 home. That $200,000 home may rent for somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,500 per month. The underlying mortgage on that home may be somewhere between $1,000 and $1,400 per month. So you end up struggling to gain between $100 and $500 per month in positive cash flow. That's not a very high number for the amount of work you have to put in, and it certainly is not going to get you on the jet set.
Now, let's take a look at a similar investment from a commercial standpoint. That same $200,000 investment may end up yielding you an 8-unit apartment complex, based on $25,000 per unit to acquire the property.
Let's say each of those units were two bedrooms, which could rent in most areas of the United States anywhere between $400 and $600 per month. For simplicity's sake, let's use an average of $500 per month. At $500 per month times eight units, you're bringing in $4,000 per month - more than double the rent that you could expect to get from that same $200,000 single family home. Your underlying mortgage payment would be very similar to what you would expect on a residential property; for this example, let's use $1,400 per month.
Your cash flow on this 8-unit apartment building will be $2,600 per month ($4,000 per month income, minus $1,400 mortgage payment). Now that will make a difference in just about anyone's life.
Third, and most essentially, you're now spreading out the risk over eight tenants, as opposed to one. If your single-family home goes vacant, you're on the hook for the entire mortgage. Every penny of that mortgage, all of the maintenance, and everything that goes along with it is now your responsibility. If the house is vacant for two months, you'd better be planning on spending a minimum of $2,800 to cover that mortgage plus miscellaneous expenses including maintenance, utilities, taxes, and insurance. Potentially, you're looking at a very heavy negative cash flow.
On the commercial property, however, if one of your eight units goes vacant at $500 per unit, you're still bringing in $3,500. So you get slightly less positive cash flow but you're certainly not experiencing negative cash flow. Say three units go vacant - you're still covering your mortgage and experiencing positive cash flow.
The fourth reason you should be investing in commercial real estate is because of a concept called "forced appreciation". Forced appreciation means doing things with your property that will increase your income and decrease your expenses. Remember that the more income your commercial property brings in, the more it is worth.
As an example, let's go back to our 8-unit apartment building. Let's say we plan on improving the quality of each apartment unit by replacing the flooring, upgrading to nicer doorknobs and bathroom fixtures and lighting fixtures, perhaps even adding some ceiling fans - all relatively inexpensive fix-ups. As a result, we can now raise the rents by $50 per month per unit. That's $600 more income per year times 8 units, or $4,800 more per year total (which will also recapture all the costs of the fix-ups).
Next, let's decrease our expenses by $100 per month by passing on a portion of the utilities to the tenants, or by doing some competitive shopping for our lawn-care service and finding a company that does the same great job for less money per month. Times 12 months, we've just saved ourselves $1,200 per year.
Total increase in annual income is $6,000 ($4,800 plus $1,200). By increasing our income by $6,000 per year, we've increased the value of the property by $60,000 or more. That's the power of forced appreciation.
There are a lot of strategies that you can use to force appreciation and these are just some of the simplest. But needless to say when you're dealing with 8 units in one building, for instance in our small example, you've got an opportunity to improve many things that will help you justify the increased rents. Also, you'll be seeing yourself dealing with a better tenant mix. Higher quality properties tend to bring more stable tenants.
All of this leads us to the fifth reason why you should be investing in commercial real estate and that is the passive income. Passive income is the key to commercial real estate. The way that commercial properties are managed and the way they allow for a concentration of efforts lets you to put someone in place to manage those properties.
In the beginning, on the smaller 8-unit buildings, you'll probably need to manage them yourself. But as you climb your way up the ladder, and you start dealing with 20-units or above, you can then offer free rent on one of the units to someone in return for managing the rest of the units for you. As we discussed earlier, even with 8 units you can still make a monthly profit if a couple of the units are vacant, so giving away one unit is certainly a small price to pay in return for the freedom it gives you.
Now you've got an on-site building manager who handles all of the tenant problems, tenant issues, tenant improvements, cleaning, and trash removal - all in return for free rent in your two bedroom, $550-per-month unit. Usually these people have other jobs, so you're not their sole source of income. If your buildings are large enough to keep them busy full-time, however, you will probably have to pay them an hourly wage in addition to the free rent, but that will only be a small portion of your total monthly profits.
Meanwhile, all the checks come directly to you. You deposit them, you pay the bills, you keep the difference - and believe me, that difference can be substantial. Even on the small 8-unit buildings that we've talked about, it's easy to generate $2,000 to $3,000 dollars per month in positive cash flow, over and above your expenses. On larger, 20+ unit buildings, it's not difficult to create positive cash flows in excess of $5,000 to $10,000 per month if these properties are acquired properly. And since someone else is managing the properties for you, all this money flows to you passively, while you are spending time with your family, or traveling, or looking for exciting, new opportunities.
Obviously there are many more great reasons to invest in commercial real estate than these five that I've given you - in fact, I could easily list another thirty: cost recovery, how it's financed, management opportunities, scales of economy, and so on.
So, how do you get started?
Just as you would get started investing in residential real estate by getting your education first (either "the easy way", through books and courses and investor group meetings, or "the hard way", through the school of hard knocks), the place to get started with commercial real estate is by getting your education and learning the terminology. It's not that different from residential real estate, and it's not that difficult to understand.
Next, look around - see what's going on in your market place. Find several small apartment buildings for sale, get the financial information on them, and learn how they work - what they rent for, how full they are, how the utilities are split up, what the expenses are, and so on. Start doing some "practice" deals - go through the motions of buying the property with as much diligence as you would if you were buying a single-family home. Once you understand what the income is and what the expenses are, you can start to figure out how you would acquire that property.
The sooner you get this process going, the sooner I guarantee that you will be an apartment owner. Don't wait to get started - now is the time! This is the best commercial market in the last 50 years. Properties are available extremely inexpensively, and there are many distressed properties just waiting to be picked up with millions of dollars in equity in all of them. The bank rates right now for commercial property are extremely low. These factors combine to offer you an incredible opportunity. Do not let this market place pass you by, or you may very well regret it.
Can you imagine buying five 8-unit apartment buildings in the next 12 to 24 months? At the end of that time, you'd have 40 units, managed by someone else, and generating six figures of annual passive income. The exciting part is that apartment buildings are just the tip of the iceberg, and in my opinion, not even my favorite investments. I personally prefer office and retail space which have a much higher profit potential. Apartment buildings are nice but office space and retail space generate the really big money.
I can promise you that if you start following these simple strategies, you'll generate more than enough gold to fill up the pots for yourself as well as your family and loved ones. The sooner you get started, the sooner you'll see your first $1 Million check!
J. Scott Scheel has been investing in commercial real estate for over seven years. He has created profits and equities of over $14,000,000 in commercial property
investments in the last two years alone. Scott recently created a FREE course to show others how to start investing in commercial real estate with no cash, credit or experience.
To get your free copy of this course, please visit: http://www.EzReInvesting.com
Article Source: http://www.positivearticles.com
Why You Need To Start Investing In Commercial Real Estate TODAY...
People often ask me how I got started in commercial real estate, and I tell them that it was a conscious decision for me.
Most people who begin investing in real estate start off with single family residential properties because that is what they are most comfortable with. They tell themselves, "All I need to do is a couple of deals a month. I'll make myself five or ten thousand dollars, then at the end of a very few months most of my problems will be taken care of." They do not really understand everything that is involved in getting these properties going.
They think they are going to be making big money, but before long, oftentimes they end up with a lot of problems and a lot of headaches. They might have traded in their job for a perceived higher paying job, but find that it is really taking a toll on their lives.
If you belong to a real estate investment group, take a look around you. Look at the people who have done twenty-five to fifty houses or more. Are they living the life of their dreams? More importantly, are they living the life of your dreams? They may be better off than you are now, but is this really what you want to work towards?
I know so many people who have a large portfolio of properties but really haven't achieved the type of freedom, success, and wealth that they truly desire.
How can you change this?
In my opinion, the answer is commercial real estate.
When I decided to start investing in real estate, I stopped and took a look around. I realized that the people who were making the big money in real estate were the people who owned buildings not houses. People who owned the large apartment buildings, the large office buildings, the large warehouse and industrial space - those are the ones who really seemed to be living a lifestyle that I wanted.
They didn't have to be there tending to their properties; they had property managers who took care of that for them. Yet, they were the ones spending the checks, catching planes to exotic locations and destinations, and living the lifestyle that I desired so much.
After looking at this for quite a while, I decided that there must be a way of getting this done. They couldn't have been much smarter, have learned much more, or have had access to more resources then I could. Even though I didn't know how immediately, I knew I could figure out a way to do it.
I sat down and took the time to learn how to invest in commercial real estate, which is what I would recommend that you do. I studied and figured out exactly what it would take, and as I learned, commercial real estate became less and less of a mystery to me.
How can you start? First of all, let's talk about why you would want to do it.
What are the benefits of commercial real estate? First of all, one of the biggest benefits is that commercial real estate is valued differently. By "valued differently", I mean the amount of income that a property produces is directly proportionate to its worth. So if a property produces more income, then it is worth more. It has very little to do with "market comps".
Second, along the way you are going to get a far greater cash flow. Imagine if you were to buy a $200,000 home. That $200,000 home may rent for somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,500 per month. The underlying mortgage on that home may be somewhere between $1,000 and $1,400 per month. So you end up struggling to gain between $100 and $500 per month in positive cash flow. That's not a very high number for the amount of work you have to put in, and it certainly is not going to get you on the jet set.
Now, let's take a look at a similar investment from a commercial standpoint. That same $200,000 investment may end up yielding you an 8-unit apartment complex, based on $25,000 per unit to acquire the property.
Let's say each of those units were two bedrooms, which could rent in most areas of the United States anywhere between $400 and $600 per month. For simplicity's sake, let's use an average of $500 per month. At $500 per month times eight units, you're bringing in $4,000 per month - more than double the rent that you could expect to get from that same $200,000 single family home. Your underlying mortgage payment would be very similar to what you would expect on a residential property; for this example, let's use $1,400 per month.
Your cash flow on this 8-unit apartment building will be $2,600 per month ($4,000 per month income, minus $1,400 mortgage payment). Now that will make a difference in just about anyone's life.
Third, and most essentially, you're now spreading out the risk over eight tenants, as opposed to one. If your single-family home goes vacant, you're on the hook for the entire mortgage. Every penny of that mortgage, all of the maintenance, and everything that goes along with it is now your responsibility. If the house is vacant for two months, you'd better be planning on spending a minimum of $2,800 to cover that mortgage plus miscellaneous expenses including maintenance, utilities, taxes, and insurance. Potentially, you're looking at a very heavy negative cash flow.
On the commercial property, however, if one of your eight units goes vacant at $500 per unit, you're still bringing in $3,500. So you get slightly less positive cash flow but you're certainly not experiencing negative cash flow. Say three units go vacant - you're still covering your mortgage and experiencing positive cash flow.
The fourth reason you should be investing in commercial real estate is because of a concept called "forced appreciation". Forced appreciation means doing things with your property that will increase your income and decrease your expenses. Remember that the more income your commercial property brings in, the more it is worth.
As an example, let's go back to our 8-unit apartment building. Let's say we plan on improving the quality of each apartment unit by replacing the flooring, upgrading to nicer doorknobs and bathroom fixtures and lighting fixtures, perhaps even adding some ceiling fans - all relatively inexpensive fix-ups. As a result, we can now raise the rents by $50 per month per unit. That's $600 more income per year times 8 units, or $4,800 more per year total (which will also recapture all the costs of the fix-ups).
Next, let's decrease our expenses by $100 per month by passing on a portion of the utilities to the tenants, or by doing some competitive shopping for our lawn-care service and finding a company that does the same great job for less money per month. Times 12 months, we've just saved ourselves $1,200 per year.
Total increase in annual income is $6,000 ($4,800 plus $1,200). By increasing our income by $6,000 per year, we've increased the value of the property by $60,000 or more. That's the power of forced appreciation.
There are a lot of strategies that you can use to force appreciation and these are just some of the simplest. But needless to say when you're dealing with 8 units in one building, for instance in our small example, you've got an opportunity to improve many things that will help you justify the increased rents. Also, you'll be seeing yourself dealing with a better tenant mix. Higher quality properties tend to bring more stable tenants.
All of this leads us to the fifth reason why you should be investing in commercial real estate and that is the passive income. Passive income is the key to commercial real estate. The way that commercial properties are managed and the way they allow for a concentration of efforts lets you to put someone in place to manage those properties.
In the beginning, on the smaller 8-unit buildings, you'll probably need to manage them yourself. But as you climb your way up the ladder, and you start dealing with 20-units or above, you can then offer free rent on one of the units to someone in return for managing the rest of the units for you. As we discussed earlier, even with 8 units you can still make a monthly profit if a couple of the units are vacant, so giving away one unit is certainly a small price to pay in return for the freedom it gives you.
Now you've got an on-site building manager who handles all of the tenant problems, tenant issues, tenant improvements, cleaning, and trash removal - all in return for free rent in your two bedroom, $550-per-month unit. Usually these people have other jobs, so you're not their sole source of income. If your buildings are large enough to keep them busy full-time, however, you will probably have to pay them an hourly wage in addition to the free rent, but that will only be a small portion of your total monthly profits.
Meanwhile, all the checks come directly to you. You deposit them, you pay the bills, you keep the difference - and believe me, that difference can be substantial. Even on the small 8-unit buildings that we've talked about, it's easy to generate $2,000 to $3,000 dollars per month in positive cash flow, over and above your expenses. On larger, 20+ unit buildings, it's not difficult to create positive cash flows in excess of $5,000 to $10,000 per month if these properties are acquired properly. And since someone else is managing the properties for you, all this money flows to you passively, while you are spending time with your family, or traveling, or looking for exciting, new opportunities.
Obviously there are many more great reasons to invest in commercial real estate than these five that I've given you - in fact, I could easily list another thirty: cost recovery, how it's financed, management opportunities, scales of economy, and so on.
So, how do you get started?
Just as you would get started investing in residential real estate by getting your education first (either "the easy way", through books and courses and investor group meetings, or "the hard way", through the school of hard knocks), the place to get started with commercial real estate is by getting your education and learning the terminology. It's not that different from residential real estate, and it's not that difficult to understand.
Next, look around - see what's going on in your market place. Find several small apartment buildings for sale, get the financial information on them, and learn how they work - what they rent for, how full they are, how the utilities are split up, what the expenses are, and so on. Start doing some "practice" deals - go through the motions of buying the property with as much diligence as you would if you were buying a single-family home. Once you understand what the income is and what the expenses are, you can start to figure out how you would acquire that property.
The sooner you get this process going, the sooner I guarantee that you will be an apartment owner. Don't wait to get started - now is the time! This is the best commercial market in the last 50 years. Properties are available extremely inexpensively, and there are many distressed properties just waiting to be picked up with millions of dollars in equity in all of them. The bank rates right now for commercial property are extremely low. These factors combine to offer you an incredible opportunity. Do not let this market place pass you by, or you may very well regret it.
Can you imagine buying five 8-unit apartment buildings in the next 12 to 24 months? At the end of that time, you'd have 40 units, managed by someone else, and generating six figures of annual passive income. The exciting part is that apartment buildings are just the tip of the iceberg, and in my opinion, not even my favorite investments. I personally prefer office and retail space which have a much higher profit potential. Apartment buildings are nice but office space and retail space generate the really big money.
I can promise you that if you start following these simple strategies, you'll generate more than enough gold to fill up the pots for yourself as well as your family and loved ones. The sooner you get started, the sooner you'll see your first $1 Million check!
J. Scott Scheel has been investing in commercial real estate for over seven years. He has created profits and equities of over $14,000,000 in commercial property
investments in the last two years alone. Scott recently created a FREE course to show others how to start investing in commercial real estate with no cash, credit or experience.
To get your free copy of this course, please visit: http://www.EzReInvesting.com
Article Source: http://www.positivearticles.com
Commercial Property Loans By Darren Dunner
Commercial property loans are a type of commercial financing. Any property that falls between industrial and residential is known as a commercial property. A property other than a vacant land, a single family residence, a duplex, a triplex or a four-plex is considered as a commercial property. Commercial property is much hyped in metropolitan countries. The government sometimes even provides incentives to promote these areas.
If you are considering buying a property of four units or less, it is considered as a residential property. However a property of five units or more is considered as a commercial property. In simple words a multi-family project are considered to be commercial property loans, but not all commercial property loans are multi-family loans. Commercial property loans can be obtained at different variable interest rates as compared to residential loans.
If a property consists of a single apartment unit over a storefront then this kind of property is known as a mixed use property. A mixed use property is a commercial property and you would have to go to a commercial property lender to get a commercial property loan on such a property. If you are looking for a commercial loan lender we at I Loan resource can help you find a lender that best suits your requirements.
I Loan Resource use only the best lenders nation wide. We have pre-qualified these companies and set strict standards that they must educate you on your loan and not conceal any costs that you will insure. Apart from commercial property loan if you are looking to refinance your home, get a new home loan or just using your equity to consolidate your debt then I Loan Resource can help you find the right lender.
Fill out the loan type of your choice and a pre qualified lender will contact the same day. No costs & no membership needed. All you have to do is just fill our online form and find a lender for your service.
-------------------------------------------
Free Articles from www.ArticlesBase.com;
Darren Dunner writes for Iloanresource.com, offering the latest information on loans. Visit them today and find all the information you would like to know about different types of loans.
Visit Today, http://www.iloanresource.com
If you are considering buying a property of four units or less, it is considered as a residential property. However a property of five units or more is considered as a commercial property. In simple words a multi-family project are considered to be commercial property loans, but not all commercial property loans are multi-family loans. Commercial property loans can be obtained at different variable interest rates as compared to residential loans.
If a property consists of a single apartment unit over a storefront then this kind of property is known as a mixed use property. A mixed use property is a commercial property and you would have to go to a commercial property lender to get a commercial property loan on such a property. If you are looking for a commercial loan lender we at I Loan resource can help you find a lender that best suits your requirements.
I Loan Resource use only the best lenders nation wide. We have pre-qualified these companies and set strict standards that they must educate you on your loan and not conceal any costs that you will insure. Apart from commercial property loan if you are looking to refinance your home, get a new home loan or just using your equity to consolidate your debt then I Loan Resource can help you find the right lender.
Fill out the loan type of your choice and a pre qualified lender will contact the same day. No costs & no membership needed. All you have to do is just fill our online form and find a lender for your service.
-------------------------------------------
Free Articles from www.ArticlesBase.com;
Darren Dunner writes for Iloanresource.com, offering the latest information on loans. Visit them today and find all the information you would like to know about different types of loans.
Visit Today, http://www.iloanresource.com
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Selling a Fixer Upper: List of 3 Tips and Techniques By: Sarah Miller
If you have considered fixing up and selling property with the intent to sell instead of renting, then here are some invaluable tips that should fall on any ear hoping to make positive income on all properties they plan to sell.
1. The First Impression
Those that shop around for homes will give you about fifteen minutes for you to impress them. If you aren't able to bring a twinkle in their eyes during this period then you may have lost the fight.
You then should be able to make the best presentation a fifteen minute talk can give. Rehearse all the good things you know about the home. Enumerate first all pertinent information they may want to know about the home and the neighborhood.
Among the most important things to enumerate are the availabilities of the various basic utilities and amenities available in a home. Water supply and engineering, gas lines, structural design all have a place in your presentation.
Also help them experience how wonderful living in such a place would be. Walk them through a day where the house meets all their needs. You could also tell them about the neighborhood and advantages of the place.
If the area is near schools, malls, hospitals, and institutions, let them know. This is one of the most important considerations home seekers look for in a home. They don't want to be stuck with a pretty home that is so far out in the plains that travel becomes an inconvenience.
If travel will become a burden to them, then coming home will prove to be a bigger one too.
You should also be ready for pretty much any question a home owner can throw at you. Make sure you do your research and learn as much as possible about the house and its structure. This will give you leverage when taking about the home you are trying to sell.
Also it wouldn’t hurt if you treated the home as your own. You should carry the demeanor of one that is sorry to have to part with such a great property.
2. Choosing an Agent
For a fixer upper, choosing a good agent may prove to be one of the hardest and most exasperating tasks at hand. However tiring it may be, it is still necessary. Remember that a good real estate agent can make the property business smoother for you, especially if you are new to the field.
When looking for a real estate agent, ask them and yourself the following questions. How long have they been in this line of work and how many sales have they been able to generate per year. This is a good gauge of a real estate agent’s skill and aptitude.
Also, ask the agent any question you can think of regarding your fixer upper property. If they can answer adeptly and without batting an eyelash, then they have above average communication skills and knowledge of the field.
Communication skills are very important in a real estate agent. You should be able to trust your agent with your work without having to worry if you are both on the same page. Good communicators are also better sales facilitators and can make your job a lot easier – not to mention more profitable.
Also take a peek into their sales plans and the method they use to lure in sales. This will at least placate you with the thought that they know what they are doing.
3. Make the Fix Up Worth It
With a good agent and a good pitch talk, you will then have at least good property to show. You, by now, must have purchased a home with is only in need of cosmetic and external repair. If this is so, pour in the effort to make the home worth the money.
A good way to make a rough estimate is to look at other existing homes on the market similar to the one you are selling. Make sure, however, that you are able to make a profit by taking into consideration the house value, fixing fee, insurance, and other expenses you may have incurred while dealing with this house.
The above article was written by Sarah Miller on behalf of Home and Room Additions Contractors, an online homeowner resource and advice site on do-it-yourself home addition projects of all types.
Article Source: Content Edge | Article Directory
1. The First Impression
Those that shop around for homes will give you about fifteen minutes for you to impress them. If you aren't able to bring a twinkle in their eyes during this period then you may have lost the fight.
You then should be able to make the best presentation a fifteen minute talk can give. Rehearse all the good things you know about the home. Enumerate first all pertinent information they may want to know about the home and the neighborhood.
Among the most important things to enumerate are the availabilities of the various basic utilities and amenities available in a home. Water supply and engineering, gas lines, structural design all have a place in your presentation.
Also help them experience how wonderful living in such a place would be. Walk them through a day where the house meets all their needs. You could also tell them about the neighborhood and advantages of the place.
If the area is near schools, malls, hospitals, and institutions, let them know. This is one of the most important considerations home seekers look for in a home. They don't want to be stuck with a pretty home that is so far out in the plains that travel becomes an inconvenience.
If travel will become a burden to them, then coming home will prove to be a bigger one too.
You should also be ready for pretty much any question a home owner can throw at you. Make sure you do your research and learn as much as possible about the house and its structure. This will give you leverage when taking about the home you are trying to sell.
Also it wouldn’t hurt if you treated the home as your own. You should carry the demeanor of one that is sorry to have to part with such a great property.
2. Choosing an Agent
For a fixer upper, choosing a good agent may prove to be one of the hardest and most exasperating tasks at hand. However tiring it may be, it is still necessary. Remember that a good real estate agent can make the property business smoother for you, especially if you are new to the field.
When looking for a real estate agent, ask them and yourself the following questions. How long have they been in this line of work and how many sales have they been able to generate per year. This is a good gauge of a real estate agent’s skill and aptitude.
Also, ask the agent any question you can think of regarding your fixer upper property. If they can answer adeptly and without batting an eyelash, then they have above average communication skills and knowledge of the field.
Communication skills are very important in a real estate agent. You should be able to trust your agent with your work without having to worry if you are both on the same page. Good communicators are also better sales facilitators and can make your job a lot easier – not to mention more profitable.
Also take a peek into their sales plans and the method they use to lure in sales. This will at least placate you with the thought that they know what they are doing.
3. Make the Fix Up Worth It
With a good agent and a good pitch talk, you will then have at least good property to show. You, by now, must have purchased a home with is only in need of cosmetic and external repair. If this is so, pour in the effort to make the home worth the money.
A good way to make a rough estimate is to look at other existing homes on the market similar to the one you are selling. Make sure, however, that you are able to make a profit by taking into consideration the house value, fixing fee, insurance, and other expenses you may have incurred while dealing with this house.
The above article was written by Sarah Miller on behalf of Home and Room Additions Contractors, an online homeowner resource and advice site on do-it-yourself home addition projects of all types.
Article Source: Content Edge | Article Directory
Monday, October 02, 2006
How to Get Better Leads with Your Business Cards By Robb Beltran
A business card is your mini-billboard remember that. You may have a million dollars to spend on buying and rehabbing houses, but if nobody knows who you are or where you work or what you do it's all for nothing.
The easiest and cheapest way to generate leads are business cards. It's amazing how many so called investors and realtors have told me they don't have one. After years of hitting the pavement and spending money on expensive marketing tools and campaigns here are a few cheap marketing ideas that continually keep the phone and internet mailbox busy. You may laugh at some, but if they work for you, you can laugh yourself to the bank. I know I do.
It all begins with your business card.
Get some cards now! You need two kinds of cards. One of the cards will be for face to face meetings with clients, bankers attorneys etc...the other will be printed up for the sole purpose of mass distribution. Make sure you use both sides for both card examples. Once someone drops your card and it ends up face down it does you absolutely no good. Give someone a reason to pick it up.
The front should include your logo, company name, web address, phone number and fax. The back should include what you do, how you do it and why they should call you. Example: "We buy Houses Cash! We will have a cash offer in front of you in 48 hours or less. Stop foreclosure, save your credit." Make sure to include your phone number and web address again.
Face to face cards will be used for meetings with clients, bankers attorneys etc... These cards should be professionally made and brightly colored. Make sure to include your logo, company name, web address, phone number and fax.
The mass distribution one can be professionally made as well, but I can print 20 cards a page with my laser printer and run 100 out in a matter of miniutes that will get the same message across. Try to keep the colors the same and most of all the message. These cards you will litterally drop or place everywhere.
The number one location to leave your card and where I literally recieve the most calls from is the mens room at the courthouse. Laugh out loud, but every time you are there doing research or appearing at eviction court you should leave one on every urninal and inside every stall and bench. Think about who goes to court. Motivated sellers going through, probate, divorce, bancruptcy, landlords getting beat up in eviction court and so on. You may laugh, but it gets results.
The rest of these locations and tips should be obvious, but if they're not, get to it because you are missing an opportunity.
Before you hit it though make sure to get yourself some tacks. Sometimes there are areas that don't have any then you may be out of luck. ready?
Restaraunts- Everytime you eat out leave one at the table with your tip. Leave one in the fish bowl for a free meal and one at the cashiers podium. Remeber you're printing these for almost nothing and you never know who will pick it up. At fast food restaurants leave one above the trah bin inside or at the soft drink station.
Banks- Leave a card in the waiting area and the counter where you balance your check book.
POst Office- Leave a card on the counter where you fill out all the post office forms.
Offices: Lawyers, Doctors, dentists etc... Leave a card in the waiting area by the magazines. Give them something to want to read.
Bulletin Boards- Hit every gas and sip, grocery store and laundry mat in your town that has a bulletin board. Make it a weekly thing to check if it or they are still up.
If you want to buy houses for profit you have to buy from motivated sellers. The only way to capailize on this is by having motivated sellers calling you more often than you are calling them. Less work for more profit equals more marketing.
The easiest and cheapest way to generate leads are business cards. It's amazing how many so called investors and realtors have told me they don't have one. After years of hitting the pavement and spending money on expensive marketing tools and campaigns here are a few cheap marketing ideas that continually keep the phone and internet mailbox busy. You may laugh at some, but if they work for you, you can laugh yourself to the bank. I know I do.
It all begins with your business card.
Get some cards now! You need two kinds of cards. One of the cards will be for face to face meetings with clients, bankers attorneys etc...the other will be printed up for the sole purpose of mass distribution. Make sure you use both sides for both card examples. Once someone drops your card and it ends up face down it does you absolutely no good. Give someone a reason to pick it up.
The front should include your logo, company name, web address, phone number and fax. The back should include what you do, how you do it and why they should call you. Example: "We buy Houses Cash! We will have a cash offer in front of you in 48 hours or less. Stop foreclosure, save your credit." Make sure to include your phone number and web address again.
Face to face cards will be used for meetings with clients, bankers attorneys etc... These cards should be professionally made and brightly colored. Make sure to include your logo, company name, web address, phone number and fax.
The mass distribution one can be professionally made as well, but I can print 20 cards a page with my laser printer and run 100 out in a matter of miniutes that will get the same message across. Try to keep the colors the same and most of all the message. These cards you will litterally drop or place everywhere.
The number one location to leave your card and where I literally recieve the most calls from is the mens room at the courthouse. Laugh out loud, but every time you are there doing research or appearing at eviction court you should leave one on every urninal and inside every stall and bench. Think about who goes to court. Motivated sellers going through, probate, divorce, bancruptcy, landlords getting beat up in eviction court and so on. You may laugh, but it gets results.
The rest of these locations and tips should be obvious, but if they're not, get to it because you are missing an opportunity.
Before you hit it though make sure to get yourself some tacks. Sometimes there are areas that don't have any then you may be out of luck. ready?
Restaraunts- Everytime you eat out leave one at the table with your tip. Leave one in the fish bowl for a free meal and one at the cashiers podium. Remeber you're printing these for almost nothing and you never know who will pick it up. At fast food restaurants leave one above the trah bin inside or at the soft drink station.
Banks- Leave a card in the waiting area and the counter where you balance your check book.
POst Office- Leave a card on the counter where you fill out all the post office forms.
Offices: Lawyers, Doctors, dentists etc... Leave a card in the waiting area by the magazines. Give them something to want to read.
Bulletin Boards- Hit every gas and sip, grocery store and laundry mat in your town that has a bulletin board. Make it a weekly thing to check if it or they are still up.
If you want to buy houses for profit you have to buy from motivated sellers. The only way to capailize on this is by having motivated sellers calling you more often than you are calling them. Less work for more profit equals more marketing.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
How To Expose Your Listings to Investors Nationwide; For Free!
How to Find Private Money: Real Estate Info Network Teleseminar Series
If you have a great deal and want to make money as quick as possible, you have got to expose it to as many people as possible. We ‘re not talking regular homeowners although that would be nice too; we ‘re talking about investors.
Investors have money. Investors want to make more money and if they can make money by saving money than it’s a win—win across the board.
There are hundreds of real estate listing services and investor forums in which you can list your properties, but how many are free? How many cater to only the savvy and well-educated investor? The truth is not many.
The Real Estate Info Network is now offering investors, realtors and homeowners a one-stop shop to list and buy your properties quickly and easily. There are no memberships required or any gimmicks involved. All you have to do is head over to www.realestateinfonetwork.com and click our “Free Listings” tab on our homepage.
The Real Estate Info Network already provides a great place for investors to get together and share ideas so you will feel like stopping by anyway. While you are there don’t forget to sign up for our free “Stay Connected” newsletter. It only comes out weekly and is full of great investing, marketing and finance tips and also includes the latest seminar schedule to learn more about real estate investing and wealth building.
If you have a great deal and want to make money as quick as possible, you have got to expose it to as many people as possible. We ‘re not talking regular homeowners although that would be nice too; we ‘re talking about investors.
Investors have money. Investors want to make more money and if they can make money by saving money than it’s a win—win across the board.
There are hundreds of real estate listing services and investor forums in which you can list your properties, but how many are free? How many cater to only the savvy and well-educated investor? The truth is not many.
The Real Estate Info Network is now offering investors, realtors and homeowners a one-stop shop to list and buy your properties quickly and easily. There are no memberships required or any gimmicks involved. All you have to do is head over to www.realestateinfonetwork.com and click our “Free Listings” tab on our homepage.
The Real Estate Info Network already provides a great place for investors to get together and share ideas so you will feel like stopping by anyway. While you are there don’t forget to sign up for our free “Stay Connected” newsletter. It only comes out weekly and is full of great investing, marketing and finance tips and also includes the latest seminar schedule to learn more about real estate investing and wealth building.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
3 Good Reasons Why You Should use an Attorney for Your Real Estate Investing By Robb Beltran
Skimping on attorney fees could cost you more than you bargained for when investing in real estate. New real estate investors often save money on their rehabs by cutting corners, doing work themselves and trying not to spend any money to make money. When it comes to having a good real estate attorney though be prepared to spend away.
You have to ask yourselves what you are willing to pay for a piece of mind especially if you deal with tenants. A few good contracts written up by your attorney will easily be worth it after your first eviction or foreclosure.
You can find hundreds of template contracts and real estate forms on the Internet, but just how legal are they? Ask yourselves why they almost always recommend you have your own attorney look them over anyway.
There are hundreds of reasons to use a real estate attorney in your wealth building, but here are my three favorites:
Title opinions. In some states you are required to buy title insurance to guarantee the marketability of your property. In others it is recommended to get a title opinion. A title opinion is the opinion of an Attorney regarding the merchantability of title based upon the title examination and commonly is written to a lending institution who will rely on this title opinion for the validity and ranking of its mortgage. This process could get pretty complex especially when dealing with vacant, bank owned and estate property.
Tenant Forms. If you have rental units it is imperative that you have a real estate attorney look over your documents to make sure that the language is specific to your situation and state. Tenant law in Iowa may not be the same as tenant law in Nevada.
Trust me, if any wording is wrong in your 3-day notice or eviction paper work the magistrate or judge will spout out some state statute, your tenant will get to stay and you will have to start all over.
Leads. Attorneys can be a great source for leads. Motivated sellers often come from extenuating circumstances like divorces, bankruptcies and estates. If you have a good relationship with a real estate attorney perhaps you can help his clients out when they find themselves in situations like any of the above.
If you are new to real estate investing a real estate attorney should be on your team anyway, if you don’t have one yet be sure to find one fast. Your realtor or banker should be able to recommend a good one for you.
You have to ask yourselves what you are willing to pay for a piece of mind especially if you deal with tenants. A few good contracts written up by your attorney will easily be worth it after your first eviction or foreclosure.
You can find hundreds of template contracts and real estate forms on the Internet, but just how legal are they? Ask yourselves why they almost always recommend you have your own attorney look them over anyway.
There are hundreds of reasons to use a real estate attorney in your wealth building, but here are my three favorites:
Title opinions. In some states you are required to buy title insurance to guarantee the marketability of your property. In others it is recommended to get a title opinion. A title opinion is the opinion of an Attorney regarding the merchantability of title based upon the title examination and commonly is written to a lending institution who will rely on this title opinion for the validity and ranking of its mortgage. This process could get pretty complex especially when dealing with vacant, bank owned and estate property.
Tenant Forms. If you have rental units it is imperative that you have a real estate attorney look over your documents to make sure that the language is specific to your situation and state. Tenant law in Iowa may not be the same as tenant law in Nevada.
Trust me, if any wording is wrong in your 3-day notice or eviction paper work the magistrate or judge will spout out some state statute, your tenant will get to stay and you will have to start all over.
Leads. Attorneys can be a great source for leads. Motivated sellers often come from extenuating circumstances like divorces, bankruptcies and estates. If you have a good relationship with a real estate attorney perhaps you can help his clients out when they find themselves in situations like any of the above.
If you are new to real estate investing a real estate attorney should be on your team anyway, if you don’t have one yet be sure to find one fast. Your realtor or banker should be able to recommend a good one for you.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
5 Reasons Why You Should Join a Real Estate Investment Association or Club
By Robb Beltran
It doesn’t matter whether you are a seasoned real estate investor or a newbie, you can never learn too much about investing or wealth building. If you haven’t already you need to find your local association or club today. Here’s why:
1.Guidance. Real Estate Associations and Clubs can provide unlimited support and guidance. Members are interested in what your goals are because theirs are the same. They want to make money and build wealth through real investing.
2. Mentors. Find out who has been investing the longest or who has had the most success in the type of investing you are interested in and make contact with them. Learn from someone who is doing, not from someone who is reading or just talking about doing.
3. Deals. If you are seasoned or new, members are always looking to buy or sell something. They know how to help you with the financing and most of the times the deals are geared towards a fast sale.
4. Education. A good Real Estate Association or Club will fill your meeting time with important topics and offer ways to improve your education. Lots of Associations and Clubs also get discounts to national speakers and may even host one at a local meeting or event.
5. Networking. The members of Real Estate Associations and Clubs are often in the real estate business in one-way or another. So imagine being able to build your investment team all in one place. Members often include real estate attorneys, bankers, brokers, contractors and realtors.
You can find a great list of Real Estate Associations and Clubs at the Real Estate Info Network. www.realestateinfonetwork.com
If you can’t find one there you next best bet is to search the internet for real estate forums. These are also filled with likeminded people and often have topics changing every day.
In the words of Thomas Edison, “If there is a way to do it better... find it.”
It doesn’t matter whether you are a seasoned real estate investor or a newbie, you can never learn too much about investing or wealth building. If you haven’t already you need to find your local association or club today. Here’s why:
1.Guidance. Real Estate Associations and Clubs can provide unlimited support and guidance. Members are interested in what your goals are because theirs are the same. They want to make money and build wealth through real investing.
2. Mentors. Find out who has been investing the longest or who has had the most success in the type of investing you are interested in and make contact with them. Learn from someone who is doing, not from someone who is reading or just talking about doing.
3. Deals. If you are seasoned or new, members are always looking to buy or sell something. They know how to help you with the financing and most of the times the deals are geared towards a fast sale.
4. Education. A good Real Estate Association or Club will fill your meeting time with important topics and offer ways to improve your education. Lots of Associations and Clubs also get discounts to national speakers and may even host one at a local meeting or event.
5. Networking. The members of Real Estate Associations and Clubs are often in the real estate business in one-way or another. So imagine being able to build your investment team all in one place. Members often include real estate attorneys, bankers, brokers, contractors and realtors.
You can find a great list of Real Estate Associations and Clubs at the Real Estate Info Network. www.realestateinfonetwork.com
If you can’t find one there you next best bet is to search the internet for real estate forums. These are also filled with likeminded people and often have topics changing every day.
In the words of Thomas Edison, “If there is a way to do it better... find it.”
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