Whether you are BRAND NEW to local real estate investing or an expert in the game, it’s critical that you understand these 7 Simple Steps to real estate investing.

First things first…

• Real Estate is NOT a get rich quick scheme. However, if you learn the foundations and put them into practice, you will make more than enough money to realize any and all of your dreams and goals.

• The real estate bubble is not going to burst! The real estate market will, however, shift and the real estate market will change – just as it always has! What’s “hot” now may turn ice cold in the next 3 years (or perhaps even 3 months). But, there are ways to “bubble proof” your real estate investments. It’s actually quite simple.

Did you know that in the United States, in 1975, the median home price was $33,300? In 2005, the median home price was $195,000. Historically, the average home doubled every 7 years. If you do the math, it should be well over $200,000.

OK… Now, having said that… The real estate market WILL change and what is “working” today in real estate may not in the future… The rental market was strong a decade ago, but has been soft in recent years. We are getting ready for a turn once again.

Real Estate IS a cycle… and cycles have some degree of predictability. With predictability, you can grow your real estate business into a cash-producing, profit-pulling machine that runs itself WITH the changing real estate market trends. It is still possible to make money in real estate. In fact, now is just as good a time as any to get started in real estate investing.

But, you’ve got to make wise investments. Sure, you may make some SERIOUS cash in pre-construction, but what happens if (no, not if – when) the market shifts and there are suddenly 35 identical properties on the market for sale in the same building? How long can you afford to carry a negative cash flow on the property?

Or how about taking over property ‘subject to’? Sure, it’s a great strategy and lenders may be inclined to turn the other way and not exercise the “due on sale” clause as long as the interest rates are at rock bottom prices (You know, those sellers that you’re usually taking property subject to from usually don’t have the lowest interest rates, right?) If the interest rates spike to 10-11%, don’t you think lenders might be MUCH MORE inclined to exercise their option to make you pay off the 6.5% note?

What this means is simply that you must be experienced in the basics – the tried and true techniques, strategies and systems that have worked in the past, are STILL working and will work in the future. You’ve got to have all the tools in your bag so that you can go with the flow and not be affected when real estate markets begin to shift (which they are already in the process of doing, in case you’ve missed that memo!

Step #1 – Set your plan: Figure out what your long term real estate goals are (aka retirement and wealth building) and figure out what your short term needs are with regard to making money in real estate. Then, set up the proper entities and put the plan in place.

Step #2 – Determine what your target market will be: You cannot be all things to all real estate markets. If foreclosures appeal to you, start investing in the foreclosure market. If you want to be a landlord, look to out of state owners to focus your real estate marketing efforts.

Step #3 – Be consistent and persistent: Real Estate is not a get rich quick scheme. Real Estate is get wealthy over time and put some quick cash in your pocket today. You’ve got to follow your plan and stick with it to see real results in real estate. You’ve also got to continue to increase your education and your experience.

Step 4 – Don’t fall into the “Analysis Paralysis”: Learn to analyze the local real estate market quickly. Don’t get caught up overthinking. It’s quite simple actually: What’s the property worth? What does the property need for repairs? And how much can you get the property for? It all comes down to numbers!

Step 5 – Become a master of finance!: Real estate is the business of marketing and finance. You must learn about mortgages and interest rates and loan programs that are out there. You must know how to use finance to negotiate your deals and to sell your properties.

Step #6 – Become a skilled problem solver: The reason you will get real estate deals that others don’t, is because you are able to solve people’s problems. Anything goes on the real estate playing field. You’ve got to be ready!

Step #7 – You must continue your education: It is important that you are always investing in your education and learning new tactics, strategies and tips that will help you make more in real estate.

If you enjoyed this article, make sure to look up the other articles discussing The 7 Simple Steps To Making Money on Real Estate. The next article discusses Step #1 – set your plan in further detail!

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The Housing Market Today and Tomorrow

We all know that there are ups and down in all industries, the housing market has had its fair share of down times. Today is one of those down times, possibly one of the worst the hosing market has ever seen; especially when you take into consideration the shape of our down economy. All over the country we are seeing double-digit deflation, with California quite possibly being hit the hardest. California, over the past year has experienced the most deflating homes, with home pricing dropping well below where the market has ever seen them before.

Taking another look around the country we see that another area hit really hard is Miami, Florida, with a struggling mortgage market and their extremely high foreclosure rate leading to home values dropping to record lows; some are beginning to wonder if we will ever dig out of this hole. Over the last two years Miami has suffered, being one of the worst cities in this housing crisis. Also contributing to their woes was the condo boom just a few years ago, they are now spiraling downward into a massive bust of their real estate market.

It is easy to understand why states like California and Florida are early predictors of a housing market crash, with their exurbanite home prices, their local housing market can’t afford such prices in a down economy, hence why they are often times the first to struggle. But this current crisis hasn’t just hit big cities hard, it has had an overwhelming sweeping effect on the whole country, with some of the highest foreclosure rates we’ve even seen in the country.

Layoffs in many states across the country, some states seeing record highs of unemployment going into the double-digits, are another contributing factor to the down housing markets. With people not being able to pay their mortgage and having their homes foreclosed on, it isn’t possible for the housing market to do anything but fall.

With no end in sight, problems around the country are only expected to get worse. There will be a reset of millions of adjustable rate mortgages in the next few months, which will continue to worsen the problem at hand. It is logical to assume that as these rates reset we will see even more homeowners struggling to make their mortgage payments, once more leading to higher rates of foreclosure, or causing a lot of home owners to be forced into short sales, losing tons of money on their home investment. Homeowners don’t even have the option to refinance right now due to the bank’s money woes, with a lot of them folding as well.

So what can homeowners do to protect themselves? Start by curbing your expenditures, cut the fat, meaning cut out that which you do not need and instead set money aside now. You may have a stable job now, but in this economy even the most stable of positions is at risk. You want to sock away enough money to live off of for at least 6 months, it is taking longer and longer to find a suitable job, and often you will be forced to take a pay cut. The good news is that all things come to an end, so just like the great depression, we too will see the light of a new and vibrant economy and housing market.
Protecting Yourself Against Downturns in Your Local  Real Estate Market ….

to be continued….

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Today real estate marketing is in a great demand. It is becoming more and more popular to make investments in the real estate everywhere in the world. Actually the boom in the real estate market is caused by increasing population and increasing of purchasing power. The construction has overwhelmed the earth, today more and more patches of land are covered by multistoried commercial and residential buildings. Time is changing now and it influences the lifestyles of a lot of people.

Business is spread everywhere in the world and the flow of income grew incredibly with every successful business campaign. The augmented flow of income is now being invested into safe spheres of investments and if you want to make a long term investment, real estate is the best option in this case. The main reason why people

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You are in the process of trying to sell your house and have your marketing up and running. So, how do you convert callers into offers? Here is one method.

A Tip On How To Get Offers When Showing Your House

Once you have decided to sell your home, there are a couple of steps you have to take. The first is to get the home ready to show by doing repairs, landscaping and so on. Once you are ready to go, you have to start marketing the home. Assuming you have done all of this, the house is in good shape and you are competitively priced, you should start getting calls from potential buyers. These calls then turn into appointments and buyers come to see your home.

At this point, you probably expect that I will start writing about how to negotiate or accept offers. Wrong. The next step in the process is often one of frustration. The frustration arises from wishy washy buyers. They come and see the home, but leave without making an offer. They may come back a couple of times, but they simply never get around to doing the deed as they say. Simply put, this is because you have failed to address the issue of motivation.

Buyers need to be motivated to take action. The more motivated they are, the faster they will move. For instance, consider the holiday shopping season. Nobody, and I mean nobody, is out browsing in the malls. Why? The buyers are highly motivated to buy because there is a deadline and they probably have more than a few people to shop for. Simply put, they are highly motivated to do the deed.

Returning to our scenario above, what motivation do the buyers have to make an offer? Do they feel any pressure to do so? Unless there is something particular to their personal situation, the answer is that they do not. You must provide the motivation. Here is how.

One of the complaints of sellers is that they feel like they are constantly showing their homes to potential buyers without getting an offer. They may show the property three, four or even ten times a week. If this is your situation, you are doing it wrong.

The way to motivate buyers to make an offer on your home is to show it only once a week or two weeks if the market is slow. Set aside an hour or so on a particular day and make all the potential buyers come at the same time. By putting buyers together, you create the motivation that simply does not come with individual showings. In such situations, buyers are much less likely to be wishy washy. If they like the property, they inherently worry about one of the other buyers making an offer. You now have motivation and a perceived time limit.

If you have are getting interest in your property, but no offers, give this a try. You might be shocked how much of a difference it makes.

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Before the real estate market took a downward pitch a few years ago, one could say with almost utmost certainty that he would be able to sell his house very easily quite soon after it was up on the market. There were in fact quite a number of markets that were involved in selling and buying properties at great prices, much above the quoted price. With the low interest rates, buyers had the freedom to grab all properties within their price range, and investments in real estate were soaring at an all time high. Consequently, many investors were able to double the amount they invested quite easily within a short amount of time.

But the market was not destined to keep on with the very positive trend, and soon fell down drastically. Many believe that the local real estate market in 2008 would make the earlier couple of years look like a piece of cake for investors and speculators. Markets that were once very active in the buying and selling of property have now started restricting their business ventures and transactions, which makes homeowners and real estate investors alike contemplating the effects of not being able to sell their properties when they are in need of that extra buck.

If you feel you just have to sell out your property and cannot wait for the market to stabilize so that it offers you a reasonable price, you can try some alternative methods to try to sell out your property, like creative advertising and marketing techniques.

The first thing that you have to understand about the local market is that there are a lot of options available and you do not necessarily have to stick to one. A few years back, investors would decide impulsively to buy a property that looked good, and left out the rest, as choices were limited and good deals were snatched just as soon as they hit the market. This is not the case these days. There are many more properties available any time someone wants to make a purchase, the prices are very competitive, and buyers spend a lot of time speculating as they know that good deals are still open to other speculators, and they have sufficient time to decide.  This naturally means that you have to lure investors into buying only your property, and that too, the first time they see it.

How do you do that? During the last few years, before the local real estate market hit a decline, property owners did not use concessions. But nowadays, especially in areas where the number of properties on the market is high, sellers sometimes resort to using seller concessions. In simple terms, seller concessions are anything that a seller would try to use to lure the buyer into purchasing his property only; for example, a bit of furniture or carpet to go along with the house or a contribution towards repairs or extensions that the new owner needs.

Formerly, concessions of such a kind were not really offered except if sellers and buyers were negotiating the price or the conditions for purchasing. They are used these days to attract more prospective customers to inspect and speculate the property, and to incite their interest in the deal.

Sellers must realize that they do not hold the upper hand in the real estate market nowadays. It is the buyers who do, who have the power to negotiate prices and conditions. Sellers, on the other hand, must be flexible enough to accept any conditional offers that the buyers make. It is always a better strategy to be far sighted, and provide incentives to the prospective buyer right when he is considering buying the property –incentives in the form of seller concessions.

One way to provide concessions is to pay off mortgage point for the buyer – the amount of points on the mortgage equal to a percentage you take off the selling price of the property. Sometimes, using this method, you may be able to buy more points for a smaller amount of money than you would otherwise be able to. This option allows the buyers to meet a lower interest rate, and hence pay a smaller monthly investment – a sure opportunity no buyer could pass up just like that!

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Motivated sellers? My wife and I were trying to keep the renters happy, the rent coming in and the house repaired – while living 2100 miles away. You bet I was motivated. We just sold our house last month, and even got a good price, but I’ll tell you a secret. We would have sold the place for… well I don’t want to stress out the buyer if he reads this. Let’s just say we would have sold it for much less.

There’s your first clue on finding local real estate and a motivated seller. If his property isn’t where he is, he’s probably ready to deal. How do you get this information? By asking. Talk to the real estate agent, the neighbors, and anyone else who might know something useful. Here are some other things to watch for that may indicate a motivated seller.

1. Relocation. If you hear that the seller is relocating for work, ask when he will be moving. He may already be worrying about those double payments.

2. Divorce. Divorce or relationship problems create many motivated sellers. Often a house payment needed both parties, and will have to be sold quickly.

3. Financial problems. A failing business, too much debt or other financial problems often force a sale. Find out if the owner is behind on payments.

4. Tenant problems. It is easy to get tired of being a landlord. It is also common to want to get out at any reasonable price.

5. Probate. If the house is in probate, and the heirs are all waiting to get their inheritance, they may be more interested in a quick sale than a great price.

6. Up-sizing or down-sizing. Owners moving into a larger or a smaller home may already have one in mind and need to sell quickly.

More Clues For Finding A Motivated Seller

Another way to find motivated sellers is to pay attention to the wording of ads in the classifieds. Statements like, “Need to sell,” “Must sell,” and “Will look at all offers,” are good indicators. “Must have a good job,” in a rental ad may indicate a landlord that is tired of tenants and ready to sell. Some other methods:

1. Find neglected properties. If they aren’t maintaining the property, they may be short on cash, tired of it, or out of town – all good motivators.

2. Use property tax rolls. Go to the county records, which are open to the public in most places. What you are looking for is properties that list an owner with an address far away. You could have found us this way, and bought our place for less than we got.

3. Use timing. Just before school starts, people are motivated to get their house sold so they can get their kids enrolled in the new school where they are moving. If an apartment building has been sitting there for sale for the whole winter, the owner may be tired of the bills and ready to get it sold fast.

The bottom line is to use your eyes and ears and look for the clues. Talking to people helps a lot. However you find your motivated sellers, the next step is to motivate them even more, by giving them what they want. Start by negotiating for a fast, easy closing for them – and a good price for you. That, however, is a topic for another article.

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If you are a local real estate agent and are buying or selling a home, the chances are good you struggle with the meaning of descriptive real estate terms. Here are explanations and definitions for more terms.

“Shed Dormers”

These are often seen in Dutch colonial style houses and are flat roofed dormers. Sometimes these dormers are single windows, but often they are two or three windows side by side with one flat roof.

“Blind Dormer Window”

Sometimes builders construct fake dormer windows to add architectural interest to new houses. They are at attic level but can’t be seen from the attic because the roof of the house covers access to them.

“Oversize Garage”

Ads often say how many cars a garage will hold. Then they add the word “oversize” as in “oversize 2-car garage.” What is usually meant is that there is room for storage, or a work bench in addition to space for the cars. Occasionally it simply means you can open a car door wide enough to actually get out with both cars in the garage!

“Gourmet Kitchen”

This phrase is intended to convey the idea that a very good cook can happily work here. That may or may not be the case, but it does usually mean that the kitchen is fairly large and attractive.

“Great Room”

I’ve seen this used in two distinctly different ways. The first is to describe a living room, dining room, and kitchen in a very open floor plan. The area typically has a high ceiling. The second way I’ve seen it used is when what we’d normally call a family room has a high, often coffered, ceiling, a fireplace with a dramatically massive mantle, and perhaps an upstairs balcony overlooking it. I think this may stem from the idea of a “great hall” in old English houses.

If you can get the verbiage down, you’ll be way ahead in the real estate game. Look for future articles on this subject or visit our site to read more terms.

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As more and more of us look for better ways to secure our financial future than investing into stocks and shares or relying on our government to provide for us in our old age, so interest in purchasing property as an investment asset is increasing.

After all rarely do careful investments made into real estate lose a purchaser money, whereas all too often investments made into pensions companies or on the stock market fail to come to fruition – is it any wonder therefore that more people want to know how to build a profitable property portfolio?

Here are ten top tips that expert property investors abide by when looking for property that they can do up and resell or rent out for profit. If you want to learn the tricks of the trade then read on.

1) Speak to local real estate agents and do your own research, find out how much rent you think you can comfortably get from a given property type in a given location. With that figure confirmed and in mind never pay over 100 times more than the monthly rental figure for a property. I.e., if you’re sure a property will return you$700 a month do not pay more than  $70,000 for that property and you will then achieve a good rental yield.

2) Understand and harness the power of OPM – other people’s money! Never over commit your own personal wealth to a pure investment property, instead use loans, mortgages and credit facilities and put down the smallest deposit possible. Preserve your own wealth at all costs.

3) Don’t invest in future potential, invest in real potential. If an area is considered to be up and coming because in the future it will benefit from better infrastructure never bank on the investment being made,just know that if an area has already arrived and a particular property is already profitable, the future prospects for that property are already assured and make a far better bet than speculating to hopefully, maybe, potentially one day accumulate!

4) Don’t make it personal – an investment is a pure profit making enterprise therefore don’t get emotionally attached to any particular property, remain as objective as possible.

5) When letting property let it unfurnished because you will have enough to cope with getting the rent out of tenants and keeping on top of property upkeep without having to locate someone to fix a leaking washing machine or replace a broken crockery set.

6) Seriously reconsider plans to renovate and refurbish to sell on for profit. Unless you’re a builder and an interior designer and you have friends in the trade to help you and get you materials at cost you will end up paying more than you intend to pay and eating away at your profits. Yes money can be made from renovation property but it is far easier to make money from rental property!

7) Learn all you can from the wealth of brilliant books that have been published by property investors and real estate millionaires. You can bet your bottom dollar that all those who give seminars on making money from real estate are actually making their money from you attending their seminar – whereas if a successful property portfolio owner has committed their knowledge to print you cannot afford to overlook their wisdom.

Do hands on research – get out on the streets, visit a local real estate agent and estate agents, look at property prices, rental rates, the popularity of a given area and only when you are certain about a location and a property type should you make a commitment to buy real estate.

9) If you do your homework and keep revising your facts and figures you should be confident in your own decisions and not be swayed by others who might say your plans will never work. You have to have dreams and ambitions and visualize all your hopes and hard work coming to fruition. Keep your feet on the ground and don’t be swayed by the negativity and limitation of others.

10) Be financially pessimistic. Always underestimate your returns and overestimate your outgoings that way at best you’ll be spot on with your earnings and at best you’ll be rewarded for practical and careful budgeting.

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The ideal agent is not always the one with the most sales under his or her belt, or the most years on the job. The ideal agent is one who listens to you, is easy to get along with, and has the tools and skills to address your unique situation.

Every home buyer is different. Some have credit issues. Some are buying from out of state. Some need help selling their current home in addition to buying a new one. Just as buyers have different needs, real estate agents have different skills and specialties.

Here’s how to find the a Local Real Estate Agent who’s right for you:

1. Ask friends and family for agent referrals.
Nobody knows you as well as your friends and family do. So they’re often in the best position to recommend an agent who is well-suited for your needs. You can also trust a referral from friends or family more than one that comes from a stranger.

2. Talk to multiple Local Real Estate Agents
I once saw a statistic that 84% of home buyers choose the first real estate agent they contact. This means one of two things. Either most people are choosing wisely the first time, or they’re just rushing into things without shopping around. Probably a little of both.

You don’t have to exhaust yourself interviewing agent after agent, but at least talk with two or three to see who you’re most comfortable with (which leads to the next point).

3. Consider the vibe factor.
Professional expertise is an important criterion when choosing a real estate agent. But interpersonal skills are equally important. After all, you’ll be working with this person anywhere from 2 to 12 months, so it helps to get along with them. We all have unique personalities, and that’s the way it should be. But when working with someone professionally, if helps if their personality “meshes” well with your own.

4. Ask how they hunt.
When deciding on a real estate agent, ask how they search for homes. Some agents have their own preferred listings that they favor. But you want what’s best for you, not what’s best for your agent. You’re paying them, right? So make sure the agent is willing to search high and low to find the best home for you. That includes using the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) as well as their own personal network.

5. Read paperwork carefully.
This advice is heavily used for a reason. It’s critical that you examine all documents during the home buying process, and that includes your agent agreement. At some point during the relationship, your agent will probably ask you to sign an agent agreement. Basically, it just means that if the agent shows you a particular property, your purchase of the property should be credited to that agent. In most cases it’s a simple, standard document – just be sure to read it carefully and ask questions.

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