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If you're looking for a bargain investment don't miss our huge database of foreclosure properties which is overflowing with bank foreclosures right now, including the complete inventory of Wells Fargo foreclosures.
RT @reiconferences: Housing Affordability Highest in 18 Years http://bit.ly/6Jau2#
You have got to love modern technology. And the rate of development of this stuff is mind boggling.
You can now get live real estate data while you're out and about with the new Zillow iPhone App. See Zillow's estimates of home values, for-sale listings, home details, historical data, and more on 88+ million homes. That's 95% of the homes in the US.
This free app is also GPS-enabled which means the map and the respective house values update when you're on the move.
The other night Jeff Adams recorded a no-cost webinar (recording below), in which he showed us how to buy bank-owned houses for pennies on the dollar using none of your own money or credit.
With the rising number of foreclosures, banks are over run and desperate to unload homes, even pretty homes in nice neighborhoods. Its easy to see why this is a hot topic.
On this call Jeff revealed how, over the past 14 years, he has successfully profited from buying and selling bank-owned properties and continues to do so to this day.
Here are some of the topics Jeff covers:
Foreclosure buying systems for securing properties directly from lender and banks at rock bottom, almost unbelievable prices.
Business and marketing systems to grow the right way—fast. You won’t walk into the same traps most real estate investors make, because you’ll know what to look for and how to avoid them.
Negotiation systems and quickly mastering the art of communication and influence. Create win-win solutions for any scenario and quickly have other the side “see things your way.”
Selling systems that work in any market. Right now investors are shivering in their boots when it comes to the thought of selling today—that’s not you. Discover the same supercharged selling strategies Jeff uses to unload properties that work even in the worst markets in the country.
I found this video today and strongly recommend you sit through it. At 55 minutes it is long but I was so impressed with the common sense that Warren Buffett displays on this issue.
Like most of us, I have listened to many different opinions on the topic and in this interview Warren made more sense than anyone else I've heard discuss the crisis.
As expected from a professional investor of his stature he is not in a state of panic or even worry over the state of the economy even though he has never seen things this "bad" in his lifetime. Instead he is busy acquiring bargain investments in readiness for the next phase of growth. He continues to operate on the basis of:
"You want to be greedy when others are fearful and you want to be fearful when others are greedy."
He uses an analogy of the economy being a star athlete in need of emergency medical treatment which brings a lot of clarity to the issue. Not only about what needs doing but about the futility of playing the blame game. He is pragmatic, compassionate, decisive and easy to understand.
Just watch it!
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It can be quite a daunting task, when you’re starting out, to consider hiring accountants, lawyers and other professionals. Not only is the expense a concern but knowing who to consider and how to make a decision about who to utilize puts many people off. And it is for these reasons that many would-be investors try to do it all themselves.
However, you will find that the short term benefits of doing it all yourself will very quickly be dwarfed by the cost of lost opportunities, bad deals, and a simple lack of manpower turning just a few deals into a full-time job. So instead, let’s discuss some effective selection techniques and ways to minimize costs in the early days.
At this stage, don’t worry too much about how you will afford to have these professionals “on your team”. There are definitely going to be some costs in getting started but initially you will be calling on these people far less frequently than the phrase “on your team” might suggest.
Goal setting is a frequently overlooked step in real estate investing. This is very unfortunate because taking a few moments to complete this simple task effectively can have a huge impact on your long term results but also on how seriously you are treated by professionals. This is incredibly important to your short term success and your confidence as you will need to establish strong relationships with such people if you are to succeed.
The power of goal setting has been well documented and communicated so before you skip over this point because you’ve heard it all before I’d like you to consider how well you are doing it. I’m a firm believer that you don’t truly understand something until you are doing it.
If you are an avid goal setter you will want to read this to learn some specifics associated with real estate investing. If you are not a frequent goal setter please read on and consider that setting goals really is a powerful tool, does have some magic about it, and is critical to your investing success.
Here's a question that a reader posted the other day followed by my response. After reading their question, try to come up with your own thoughts before reading my response and determine how you would have handled this situation.
Dear Scott,
There is a property that I am really interested in. I would like to take action to put it under contract. This will be my first deal.
How do you go about purchasing Multiple Properties?
example: This is a 5 House Package ( 5 Houses can be purchased for $8K)If I buy them all,I can get a bonus of a $245,000 uptown condo for $204,000. These condos are still under construction and the option was bought for $10,000. The five house package buyer gets this $51,000 value equity pack for free! Also, this is a "wholesale/assignment" deal that requires all cash. I would be dealing with another investor.
When we become overwhelmed by uncertainty there are often two extreme behaviors which ensue:
at one end of the spectrum we have complete inaction
at the other end, is rash action without really knowing what we are doing, which we often call "jumping in"; or in the investing world, speculation.
In my previous post about risk reduction techniques we looked at various ideas to help reduce the risks that might be preventing you from taking action and doing your first deal. Following on from that, I thought we should address the other extreme since we want to find a happy median that allows measured but confident action.
While taking a leap of faith in some ways is admirable and often gets the desired result of creating momentum it can also mean financial suicide. One of my favorite sayings is "you cannot steer a parked car" so I would probably prefer to see people taking action rather than doing nothing but let's take a look at the differences between smart investing and just plain speculating.
The following are things you should do to ensure you don't find yourself in the dangerous territory of real estate speculation when making an effort to get started.
I've been polling my readers for a while now about how many deals you've done and not surprisingly the vast majority of you are yet to do your first real estate deal - which is no problem at all. We're going to fix that soon enough.
It is exactly these people I want to help most because I think the bulk of the information online is quite advanced and there are few resources aimed at helping you with that internal struggle with doubt, confusion, lack of confidence and of course risks.
To help you overcome these issues and start making offers, with confidence, I am trying to go back and put myself in the shoes of a beginner again by recalling the concerns and emotions that held me up when I was getting started.
Alright, here is part 4 of our six part video series with Donald Trump. Today's clip concludes the discussion on real estate investing from yesterday. Enjoy.
Part 4 Summary:
there's so much going on in Dubai it's hard to resist
the US better get smart or it will get left behind
there's great opportunities outside the US
China and India are probably the most exciting markets right now
real estate is largely a local business so make sure you have great partners when investing away from home
now is definitely the time to go out and pick up some residential properties at a big fat discount but you will probably want to rent them out and hold them for a while
it's easier to rent out in a down market
the worst of the real estate recession is close to being behind us
Feel free to leave a comment below. And we'll continue with part 5 tomorrow.
Today's excerpt of the Billionaire Inside is pretty short and unfortunately the audio drops out for a moment at one point. However it gives you an insight into Donald Trump's opinions about the state of the real estate market and what that means for investors. So here it is along with the summary below.
Part 3 Summary:
now is THE time to get into real estate
there is less interest in real estate now when there should be more than ever
it is not a time to sell though - so don't be thinking that it's a bad time because you can't find buyers
to get into commercial real estate learn from a good commercial firm
commercial is more of a people business - you need contacts
Okay, that's all for part 3 but we have three more parts of this program to review this week so stay tuned.
Here is part 2 of our 6-part video series with Donald Trump for this week. The summary is below and part 3 tomorrow is where he talks most about real estate so stay posted.
Part 2 Summary:
face-to-face is often the only way to do business
he has been lucky in building his brand but you still have to know what you're doing
education isn't a must but it gives you a big advantage
on luck he quoted golfer Gary Player: "The harder I work, the luckier I get."
keep great people around you and keep them motivated but stay smarter than them
Whether you love him or hate him it would be rather silly to imagine you can't learn a thing or two from Donald Trump about success and real estate. But, to be honest, I hadn't paid much attention to his information myself because I just didn't imagine there was much relevance for the average RE investor who invests in single family homes. However, I've started reading a book called "Trump Strategies for Real Estate: Billionaire Lessons for the Small Investor" by George Ross and have been surprised how much relevant information there is. And due to that fact, I went hunting for some videos of Donald sharing some tips for success.
Low and behold, I found a 6-part series on YouTube which is actually from a special episode of the Millionaire Inside that premiered in October 2007. The special was named the Billionaire Inside for obvious reasons and I thought I'd share each of the 6 parts with you over the coming week. Keep an eye out for the third part in particular where he talks about real estate, the credit crisis, and what that means for investors.
Soon after I wrote my post about 101 Real Estate Investing Resources a few weeks ago I found a few more sites that I need to share with you. There's actually more than 101 sites involved here but a few of them were already mentioned in my previous list so it's near enough to 101.
First up is this extensive list of real estate web 2.0 sites from 1000watt Consulting. I suggest you work your way through this lengthy list. There's some great community sites for networking and learning, as well as market research and property search tools among other things.
I also wanted to let you know about a great new blog for real estate investors, REItips.com by JP Moses. I find it very interesting that since the real estate bubble burst not only have we seen many amateur investors leave the market but we have also seen many real estate investing blogs and other websites fade away. JP has been active with FlippingHomes.com for some time now and is a very knowledgable, professional investor and the emergence of his blog at this time shows that he is not just some amateur riding a bull market. I expect this site to become a mainstay of the real estate investing space and have no hesitation in recommending you add it to your feed reader.
As a follow up to my previous post about whether now is a good time to invest, I just found this Rich Dad video on YouTube which is very helpful. I wish I had found this earlier in the year given it is about predictions for 2008 but it is still very pertinent to this discussion since the major trend at the start of the year is still very much in force - the housing and mortgage crisis.
The views expressed by Robert and his advisers should really provide some clarity for people who are trying to determine what action they should take given the current state of real estate markets.
Well, I hope that has shed some light on the current state of the markets and will help you make more confident decisions regarding your investing activities. Don't forget to submit your questions and comments below.
Here's a collection of posts from the blogosphere recently that look at the housing / mortgage crisis and whether it represents a good time to invest. I recognize that this crisis represents a lot of heartache and pain for many people and do not wish to make light of that, however as investors we must consider whether now is a good time to buy.
Will We Know When The Market Turns?
If you think that the market is going stay where it is you will have no trouble finding the data to support that prediction. What usually happens in any market, stock, bond, commodities, etc., is that the markets turn without very many …
California Housing: Buy One Home, Get One Free! Really!
Posted By:Diana Olick. If you buy one of Michael Crews Development’s luxury homes, priced at around $1.6m, you get a 2000 square-foot cityscape row-home worth $400000 for free. The luxury home is in San Pasqual Valley, the row-home in …
We've been talking about ways to reduce risk for beginners so you can muster enough courage to do that first deal. One of the best ways to mitigate risk in real estate is by doing a thorough financial evaluation as part of your due diligence.
But here's a great tip from our friends over at FlippingHomes.com. Using a Letter of Intent to make your offers is a great way to ease your nerves as a beginner and I strongly encourage you to start applying this idea if you are having trouble getting started. I used this approach myself when starting out and it certainly helped me. I remember being quite anxious signing a contract for the first time. So for those of you looking for a little more peace of mind, this might help.
So, there you have it. A quick and easy tip today but a very effective one for beginners.
This week we’ve put together a fairly comprehensive list of resources for you to check out. You can start using many of these immediately as they are free of charge. As for the others, you should weigh up whether you need them for the stage you are at with your business.
We have first-hand experience with many of these sites but not all of them so any feedback or reviews are welcome in the comments section below.
Training
With so many products on the market today I could probably have done a list of 101 training resources. However, in creating this list I was reminded that there are quite a few “pretenders” out there in the real estate investing world and have tried to keep this list concise with only reputable resources, some of which are free.
General
RichDad.com: Rich Dad Poor Dad is the book that woke me up to the fact that I needed to take greater responsibility for my financial future. A short time later I purchased my first investment property. Robert Kiyosaki still delivers fantastic information and is the obvious choice to kick start this list.
RealEstateInvestor.com: This is a community of real estate investors that has been building a lot of momentum recently. With an education center, networking and member blogs, there is plenty of great free information here.
REIAllstars.net is a new membership site that is building a portfolio of video training materials to help new investors fast track the learning process.
CREonline.com is the elder statesman of the real estate investing community online. It has been around since 1995 and as such has a rich offering of great articles.
REIclub.com hasn’t been around quite as long but is the other big site in terms of the volume of articles and free content that they offer at this time.
BiggerPockets.com is a community site which is constantly evolving. It currently has a popular blog, forums, articles, an analysis tool and many other useful resources.
CashFlowInstitute.com: Mark Walters offers a series of free videos about numerous real estate investing techniques. Well worth a look.
RealEstateInvestors.tv offers hundreds of real estate investment educational videos for less than $40 per month. They also have a 7-day free trial.
Rather than just give you my analysis spreadsheets, my objective with this article is to show you how to develop your own. It is critical that you learn how to do so if you are to succeed at real estate and I want to encourage you to begin "playing" with Excel as soon as possible. This will be far more beneficial to you than giving a cursory glance to someone else's work because it is easy enough to understand. Consider this a case of teaching you how to fish and feeding you for a lifetime rather than giving you a fish and feeding you for a day.
You see, chances are my spreadsheets would not even be suitable for you because I am likely using a different investment methodology. Even if we are both using a similar technique there could be small differences based on our respective financing or some other aspect that means it doesn't quite fit.
But more important than any of that is this:
I have found that the greatest benefit of developing your own analysis spreadsheet is that you become intimately familiar with the numbers. By the time you've developed it and used it a few times you understand the numbers inside out and upside down and have a thorough understanding of what numbers are most important and what effect certain adjustments will have.
When I think back to when I got started as a real estate investor and try to put myself in those shoes again I remember the things I was looking for at the time were very much about minimizing risk.
At the time, I desperately wanted a mentor to support me (or tell me exactly which deals to do). I'm sure many, many newbies would love to have a Robert Kiyosaki as a friend so he could just tell them which deals are good and which ones to stay away from. And I'm also sure I've heard Robert tell stories of problems he's had with friends that he's tried to help in this way. But back to the issue at hand.
Why is it that so many of us want a mentor-in-a-pocket above all else when we are starting out?
Within the category of government foreclosures you can consider quite a many different sources. These include VA foreclosures from the Department of Veterans Affairs, HUD foreclosures from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the General Services Administration, the Department of Treasury, the Small Business Administration, the Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Marshals Service, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and also Fannie Mae. At last count there were about 37 different government departments through which you can locate foreclosure properties. One site that has compiled listings from a few of these departments is www.homesales.gov.
The more commonly known government foreclosures are through HUD and VA and more information about those can be found on the following pages respectively:
Note: check out our database of foreclosure homes which has over 1.5 million listings including an extensive supply of bank foreclosures. It now includes all Wells Fargo foreclosures since their asset manager, Premiere Asset Services, has signed up.
Once you've decided to start investing in foreclosures, you still have one big step left to handle. You must find the right foreclosure listings. There are numerous sources of foreclosure properties and I find it helpful to divide the sources into two broad categories: government foreclosures and bank foreclosures.
Within the category of government foreclosures you can consider quite a many different sources. These include VA foreclosures from the Department of Veterans Affairs, HUD foreclosures from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the General Services Administration, the Department of Treasury, the Small Business Administration, the Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Marshals Service, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and also Fannie Mae. At last count there were about 37 different government departments through which you can locate foreclosure properties. One site that has compiled listings from a few of these departments is www.homesales.gov.
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I've been polling my readers for a while now about how many deals you've done and not surprisingly the vast majority of you are yet to do your first real estate deal - which is no problem at all. We're going to fix that soon enough.
" by George Ross and have been surprised how much relevant information there is. And due to that fact, I went hunting for some videos of Donald sharing some tips for success.
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