Real Estate Wealth Creators

1)      Relevant Hub of Industry Information: You learn real estate investing from investors of different levels of experience and capitalization. It’s easier to learn from someone who started out just like you and who have already achieved the investment goals you have set for yourself.

2)      Networking and Marketing: Aside from other investors, your local REIA attracts people who can provide you services in handling your investments such as lawyers, insurance agents, and bankers. All these people are also important sources of sales leads.  So when the floor is opened for members to speak, don’t hesitate to make a brief introduction and advertise the type of property you are looking for or selling.

3)      Attracts Leading Real Estate Experts as Speakers: It would be difficult to contact these people on your own. It is also difficult to keep updated with the changes and new issues in the industry. Your local REIA is organized to help you meet these challenges.

4)      Real Estate Education through Mentorship: Your local REIA is one of the best places to meet other investors you can develop a mentor relationship with. You will also meet different people throughout your membership who will coach you on specific aspects of real estate deals and help you stay motivated during difficult times.

5)      Leverage: Members in your local REIA will often notify you of investment opportunities in your area before they are publicly listed. The association also provides its members copies of research studies and reports of business opportunities.

The growth of your real estate investments is limited by the size, scope, and quality of your network and resources. Why do it alone when you can grow stronger by joining your local REIA? Maximize the educational, networking, and marketing opportunities of joining your local REIA to gain big returns in your real estate investment.

How can I get my investment property listed?

Work with a realtor to have the house listed on a Multiple Listing Service (MLS). Going through this route would involve a realtor commission of around 5%. However, realtors have the experience and network to sell your property fast.

If I want to cut my marketing cost and advertise my investment property on my own, what should I do?

Instead of going through a realtor for an MLS listing, you can directly go to a MLS company to have the property listed by paying a standard fee. In this posting, it’s up to you to fix a commission of around 3% for realtors who can close a sale.

Also don’t ignore cheap but effective real estate marketing strategies such as planting yard signs on the property, bandit signs, flyers and etc.

If you talk to any successful investor, on the thing they have in common is that they start marketing their properties the day they buy them especially when it comes to planting a yard sign in front of their property. To increase your chances of success you should do the same.

What can I do to seriously grow my sales and increase my profits on real estate investing?

If you want to achieve higher levels of success in real estate investing, you need to develop and continuously improve on your ’sales system and lead generation system.’ You can’t survive by starting from scratch all the time, you need to save all the vital buyer information you acquire through your sales and networking activities.

In summary, a critical part of real estate investing is learning how to cost-effectively sell investment properties and systematizing your sales systems.

You’re a real estate investor and not a speculator. You cannot take unnecessary risks and go to foreclosure auctions unprepared and without any sales plan. Below are top 5 actions taken by real estate investors to reduce their risk and make money in foreclosure auctions.

Action 1: Experience the Auction Process First without the Risk:

In the beginning, attend a couple of auctions only as an observer. You will get exposed to the emotional high and at times irrational bids during foreclosure auctions. This will  psychologically prepare you to be more cautious later on and avoid making impulsive and costly purchases.

Action 2: Figure the Total Payout to Assess Investment Value:

If it’s the second lender that is foreclosing, you are also responsible for paying off the first mortgage aside from liens and taxes on the property.

Action 3: Research the Property Title:

Notices of properties to be auctioned are published in newspapers. Search county records or internet foreclosure databases for problems with the title. Know how much it would cost in time and money to amend the title and sell the property. Factor that cost when setting your bidding limit in the auction.

Action 4: Prospect Quality Leads during Auctions:

A huge number of motivated buyers gather in foreclosure auctions. Hence, have several business cards printed. Introduce yourself before the auction starts and get busy networking when the auction is over. You may have listed properties that are similar to the properties that these buyers placed their bids on but did not get.

Action 5: Verify the Auction Schedule:

It is common for auctions to be called-off or deferred to another date. So prevent wasting your time in traveling to canceled auctions by telephoning the auctioneer half-a-day in advance to verify if it will push through.

In effectively managing their time, real estate investors are able to find and sell more properties.

Hence, in foreclosure auction a real estate investor needs to reduce his risk when buying properties; find opportunities to acquire high-quality sales leads; and protect his money and time. Foreclosure auctions offer large income opportunities for real estate investors who take the right actions.

Whether you are new to real estate or have been around for a while, the new buzz word in the real estate industry is REO. REO is an acronym for Real Estate Owned. REO’s are properties that are owned by the bank.

Go read our article http://ezinearticles.com/?Bank-Owned-Real-Estate—-Profiting-From-the-REO-Game&id=2000350 for the full article  and to discover 3 things you must know in order to have success with bank owned properties.

Making money in flipping houses means continuously learning how to be an effective investor. Reality shows on flipping houses aim more to entertain than to teach. So below are my responses to key questions about flipping houses, based on my real life experiences as an individual investor.

What are the biggest mistakes investors make in flipping real estate?

Even if you educate yourself with books and seminars, it is still easy to slide into making these mistakes: foregoing a professional inspection of the property; not handling the transaction as an investment; and over-remodeling the property instead of making repairs to make it comparable to other properties in the area.

Why do I need to hire a professional inspector? Can’t I just use a contractor to help me with the inspection?

Capabilities to identify major structural problems and make a complete determination of the issues affecting the house can only be derived from training and experience. That is why states license individuals who conduct property inspections.

When it comes to real estate properties and large investments don’t overestimate your knowledge. Moreover, you cannot outsource the work of property inspectors to contractors since they have different fields of expertise. Home inspection is not the area any sensible investor would choose to cut expenses.

In what ways do house flippers fail to handle the transaction as an investment?

They get personal and passionate about a property which causes them to overpay the seller and overprice the property to buyers. Hence, they will find it impossible to quickly turn-over the property, leading to increased expenses and missed investment opportunities.

What should be my guide in making improvements in a property I am going to flip?

To sell the house faster, make improvements which buyers are looking for based on feedback from realtors, your contacts in the local real estate investment club, and etc. Also, only do improvements at a quality that is a bit better than the standard in the area.

Last question: What is your advice to people who are thinking of investing in real estate by flipping houses?

Continuously check the way you handle your investment. Are there ways you can flip the house more quickly, further reduce your costs, and maximize opportunities? Every investor can find ways to improve a specific phase in the process of flipping houses from inspection, improvements, and sales.

Real estate investing is a game, and is a very profitable one. It can be competitive, fun, but it can also be quite stressful unless you go about it in the most productive way possible. So that brings about the question of how you’re doing in your real estate investing.

So how are you doing? Are you getting the best deals you can possibly get? Are you buying your properties at 50% to 65% of their fair market value?

So you’re not getting your properties at 50% to 65% of their fair market value. That seems to be one of the issues that real estate investors face because it is important to find the best deal in order to make the best profit with the sale. And how you’re going to do this is through the purchase of REO properties.

Focusing on REO properties, or real estate owned properties, is how you are going to relieve the headaches that you are facing. Because of the high competition within the real estate market, you are going to find that purchasing an REO is easier because there are not so many people going after it.

The fact that the competition is low is one of the ways in which you can get your hands on a property that will garner you a profit of 35% to 50%. Some real estate investors don’t even know what it is like to gain a 50% profit. Do you know what it is like to gain a 50% profit?

If you don’t know what it is like, that doesn’t mean that you won’t ever know what it is like. You just have to be proactive in your investing.

It isn’t enough to scope out foreclosures and go to auctions. REO properties take you ten steps closer to achieving your investment dreams and, fortunately, it is very possible for you to obtain these properties. You just have to know where to look and be aggressive in your search.

When it comes to REOs, you cannot be passive in any way. You have to contact the bank, you have to work with real estate brokers, and you need to make sure you can meet the purchase terms of the bank.

For instance, some banks will take only cash for their REOs. This is because they want a guarantee that the property will sell. They don’t want to get their hopes up, just as you would that they are going to sell that property to you. But some banks will also offer financing, but will raise the price of the home.

Since banks can gain lending power and more income through issuing loans, they may do this if you don’t have the cash lying around. But this does offer you the opportunity to ask for such things as deferred payments for 3 to 6 months so that you can sell the property and immediately pay off the loan.

There are contingencies that you can ask for, but you do want to keep them to a minimum to show that you are serious about this property.

Get out there get yourself an REO property.  You are missing out on the best real estate investing market in history.

This couldn’t be any easier.

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In case you have been living under a rock for the past 2 years, foreclosures are at historic numbers.  Many homeowners in foreclosure owe more on their mortgages than their property is worth.  When homeowners are in this situation most investors don’t see the opportunity to profit since there is no equity.  The wise investor looks at these situations as an opportunity to legally rob the bank.  They way they do it is by getting the bank to agree to take a lower mortgage payoff than what is owed by the homeowner (a short sale) thus creating the necessary equity to profit from a deal that other investors threw in the circular file.

The following are the 3 most common mistakes investors make when processing a short sale deal and how to avoid them:

1. Sending an incomplete package- When you contact the bank and speak to the loss mitigation representative, you will request a short sales package.  What you will receive is not a package but instead it will be a letter instructing you on what they need the package to consist of.  When you prepare your package do not leave anything out that they request.  If they ask for a paystub and the person is not currently employed, have them write a letter stating that so that the package will be complete.  The most important thing to make the package complete is to number the pages and include a table of contents.  The first thing the bank looks for is the net sheet or the HUD to see what they are getting so make doing business with you easy and put it in the table of contents.
2. Working with a unmotivated seller- Working with motivated seller is always preferred when buying properties but when it comes to short sales it is required.  Think about it.  The homeowner has no equity and is willing to walk away so why would they be motivated.  When you show them what you will be able to do for them in regards to giving them some money for personal property and helping to repair their credit they will become motivated.  You will need them to provide several important documents and statements so they must be willing to work with you to get some money and save their credit.  If they are not motivated the will become a bottleneck in the process and waste your time.
3. Failing to influence the BPO- The Brokers Price Opinion is the key to getting a short sale accepted and that is why you must influence it.  The best way to influence it is to request an interior appraisal from the bank.  When you meet the appraiser or BPO agent, make sure to have some recent sold comps that support your offer price.  Also point out any repairs that need to be made especially anything that is non- cosmetic and considered a major repair.  Before the appraiser leave ask them to give you an idea of the price they will tell the bank.  Now in most cases they will say that they can’t tell you but you want to do what it takes to get it out of them.  Build a relationship with the broker while you are there because chances are you will be seeing this person again at another property in the future.

The good news is that banks will short their loans.  The bad news is that they require a list of documents from the homeowner to do so.  You can look at it 2 ways you can either tell yourself it is too much work or you can put a system around the process and start making big profits from deals other investors are throwing in the trash.  It is up to you to decide if you want to be a participant or an active player in the largest foreclosure market in history.

You probably don’t have time to read this blog post but what I am about to share with you will take you minutes to read and will add hours to your day. Whenever I come up with a new idea or new technique, Don always says when will we have time to implement that? My standard response is we have plenty of time coming up. The funny thing is that even though he doesn’t think so, we really do and it is because of our time management and time blocking techniques that allow us to get the most out of every minute of every day. The time management ideas that I will introduce you to here are basic and it’s not that I am holding back, its just that these simple techniques work. They not only work for us but they work for the hundreds of coaching students that we have shared them with.

Plan your day at night- You need to spend 30 minutes before your work day ends and do nothing but plan out the next day. During this 30 minute period don’t take any phone calls, don’t look at your email, do nothing but plan. You should plan your day in 30 minute increments. Once you decide what you are going to do and when you are going to do it, gather all of the info that you will need to get the task done sooner. For example if you are going to call real estate brokers to follow up with them then have the list of people you are going to call including numbers so that you won’t waste your valuable time during the golden hours. If you are going somewhere, print out the directions. Better yet get a portable GPS. I got one 3 years ago and have not opened a map or printed directions since. How to decide what to do you ask? I have a to do list that is a mile long. I know that I will never get it all done so about 2 years ago I started to prioritize it. I put a $ next to each item on the list that will make me money or save me money. I do 3 of these every day. Be sure to break down the larger tasks into smaller tasks that take less time so that you can accomplish the task step by step rather than looking at a huge mountain that you can’t imagine conquering. It will take you at least 21 days to get used to time blocking. I was very resistant to change but knew that I had to do something to create the time I needed to better my life and get what I deserve.

Eliminate the distractions- Ever look up at the clock and can’t believe that the day is almost done and you wish that it had just started? I was there too. This happens because you allow it to happen. You can limit the distractions that are eating up your day by answering email 2 or 3 times a day instead of pressing the Send/Receive button every couple seconds or viewing every new email as soon as it pops in you box. You can hold all of your calls in the morning and return call only in the afternoon. Even if you limit the outside distractions you still have to deal with the biggest distraction of them all YOU. Those days that you don’t know where the hours went are mostly because of the decision you made during the day. Ideas and thoughts pop into your head throughout the day and you might be able to hit the snooze button on some of them but others keep coming back until you deal with them. In order to limit the distractions do the following: When a thought enters your mind, maybe it is something that you forgot to do for instance and you normally stop what you were doing and act on the alarm that was going off in your head. Instead of acting on the alarm right then, immediately go to your calendar that you planned out in 30 minute tie blocks and decide what you are supposed to be doing at that moment. If it is not in the plan, then you need to refocus on you plan and get back to the task at hand. The alarm is going to keep going off in your head until you take an action to stop it. There are two ways to stop the alarm from going off. The first way is to stop what you are doing and complete the task. The other way is to write down what it is that you want to do and review it during you 30 minute planning time. You see your mental alarm clock doesn’t care what the outcome of the task was, it only wants to make sure that you don’t forget to do it. I keep an excel spreadsheet open on my desk and will put the idea or thought from my head in the spreadsheet which I call a parking lot of thoughts and ideas and then I get right back to what I was doing. Using this technique you will become much more efficient with your time and will be able to accomplish more with less. It is the starts and stops that eat up the time in your day. You need to keep the momentum going in order to get the most out of every day.

I challenge you to create more time in your day by using time blocking and the thought parking lot. In a future post I will share some further time management strategies but this is the foundation that you can build on. Remember a successful habit is formed over the course of 21 days. Stick with it and remain consistent and you will have more time to do what you want before you know it.

Happy New Year to you. Can I still say that on the 23rd of January? Sorry for taking some time off between posts but Don and I have been super busy implementing our plans for ‘09 which is already shaping up to be our best year ever. We will make more money from real estate in 2009 than we have in the past 5 years combined.

Where did 5 years go already? Do you ever ask yourself that? Ever wonder where all the time in your day went or where the week went? Well you are not alone. Too many people let the distractions take control of their life. “Momentum Breakers”(MB’s) is what I call them. They happen every day to each of us but these momentum breakers don’t need to take control of your life. It is the smart person that controls the distractions. I love this time of the calendar year so much because in the first 6 months of the year there are less “Momentum Breakers”. THe first 6 months of the year is the best time to get your business ramped up so that it can carry you through the 2nd half of the year which is filled with “Momentum Breakers”(MB’s); summer vacation, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veteran’s Day, Election Day, THanksgiving, and then there is December which is just one big month long holiday and culminating with New Year’s Eve. Since you know that these MB’s exist, you need to do your best to control them.

Consistency is the key to everything. If you are consistent at doing anything you will see better results. Just like diet and exercise and learning something new or starting a business. In real estate it took me a few years to figure out that it was not the gross amount of marketing that we did that made us successful but instead is was the consistent effort. In our house flipping business it was keeping the marketing going even though we already had more deals than we could handle or in our apartment investing business it was calling brokers every 10-15 days to further the relationship so that we would get their next deal or in our real estate education business when I wrote 6 pages of the “Foreclosure Investing Riches” manual 6 days a week for a month in order to complete the manual for a deadline. It all comes back to consistency. If you make a commitment to be more consistent in your life each day you will become more productive in your life. You might be thinking that you are busy enough in life. There is a big difference between being busy and being productive. Being busy is keeping yourself doing something to pass the time at the job that you hate going to every day. Being productive is having a time blocked plan and sticking to that plan, not allowing the distractions to break your consistency in order to grow your business and get the things you want, the things you deserve.

Please join me in making this year of 2009 better than the past 5 combined by starting your day with clear defined goals and a time blocked plan to achieve those goals. During the next few blog posts we will be sharing with you the process we go through to stop the MB’s and remain consistent while we see more success each and every day. I challenge you to create time in your life so that you will be able to do what you want, when you want.