How to Perform Due Diligence on Turn Key Real Estate Providers You might be really excited about the idea of buying rental property. But what do you do if you aren’t fully able to do so and manage the property and its management? Maybe you have limited knowledge or expertise when it comes to real estate. Perhaps you want to invest outside your local neighborhood. People in that situation often turn to turnkey investing deals. If so, the question becomes how to make sure your … [Read more...]
Boost Your Productivity in Real Estate With These iPhone Applications
October 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Boost Your Productivity in Real Estate With These iPhone Applications Being accessible 24/7 may be aggravating at times, but the evolution of the cell phone into a million-use device has created a lot of productive applications. As an iPhone user I find myself constantly searching for another app to simplify the way I conduct business and my life altogether. I came up with a list of mostly free apps that I use daily to help my real estate business and while none are specifically geared … [Read more...]
REO List Price Doesn’t Mean Squat Anymore
October 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment
REO List Price Doesn’t Mean Squat Anymore I remember not too long ago when banks set the list price of an REO foreclosure at a particular price, but with the anticipation of settling on a lower offer. Investors built entire models around bidding at a certain percentage below asking price knowing that a predictable portion of those bids would get accepted. This was especially true for HUD properties where many investors knew the exact formula for minimum bids that would be accepted by … [Read more...]
Managing Residential Income Property: One Simple Bit Of Timing Can Make A World Of Difference
October 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Managing Residential Income Property: One Simple Bit Of Timing Can Make A World Of Difference Having been born and raised in SoCal, doing business there for over three decades, many of the lessons learned in nearly a decade workin’ in other states has been instructive — an understatement if ever there was one. I’ll bet if you’re invested in a midwestern state, the thought of a last quarter vacancy freezes you in your tracks, pun intended. A November vacancy in San Diego is irritating, … [Read more...]
Four Things You Must Know About Pinterest
October 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Four Things You Must Know About Pinterest Pinterest, http://www.pinterest.com, is the newest (and some say coolest) social sharing platform. Originally used by craft-lovers, mommy bloggers and fashionistas, Pinterest has grown to be used for fun and business alike. And yes – even real estate investors use Pinterest with success. 1. Pinter-what? Let’s start with the basics. Pinterest is a website that allows anyone to post or “pin” a picture to their own virtual “pin board.” … [Read more...]
Non-Conforming Uses: A Primer for Real Estate Investors
October 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Non-Conforming Uses: A Primer for Real Estate Investors In my previous primer on zoning, I explained how zoning creates a type of rigidity where a single zoning classification is often overlaid on a variety of land uses. This rigidity creates something called the non-conforming use. A non-conforming use is a fancy legal term that simply means the existing land use somehow does not fit in with the zoning ordinance. The non-conformity may be the use of the property, such as a commercial … [Read more...]
Hedge Funds and Their Impact on Mom-and-Pop Investors
October 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Hedge Funds and Their Impact on Mom-and-Pop Investors Back in May I wrote an article titled “Smart Money Woke Up – Now What.” The basic theme was that my market changed almost overnight when the well capitalized hedge funds started actively buying. In the article I highlighted how I was going to outsmart them by being nimble and learning where they weren’t playing in my market.In this article I am going to highlight my thoughts on the good, the bad and the ugly of Hedge Funds’ … [Read more...]
Which Comes First: The Real Estate Deal or the Buyer’s List?
October 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Which Comes First: The Real Estate Deal or the Buyer’s List? This question is kind of like another question where people can’t seem to agree on the answer; “Which came first; the chicken or the egg”? Real estate investors all have a different opinion when they are asked whether you should find a deal first or start a buyer’s list and then find a deal. For me, the answer has always been “the deal.” If you have a great deal, you can always find a buyer for it.I had someone email … [Read more...]
Should I Buy a Rental Property with Great Cash Flow in a Bad Location?
October 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Should I Buy a Rental Property with Great Cash Flow in a Bad Location? Today I’d like to get your opinion.Is price everything? Also, how much of a role does location play for a real estate investor?Let me explain.This week I was presented with an interesting deal that I am considering.The property’s numbers are great – $97,000 for six units, average rent at $475 per month, which following the 50% rule leaves $1400 for a mortgage payment – plenty to cover the loan payment and provide … [Read more...]
Why the Majority of People Fail Miserably At House Flipping
October 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Why the Majority of People Fail Miserably At House Flipping The Usual DiagnosisMost people would start a post on this topic by describing how people are overwhelmed with the amount of information available on learning how to flip houses. Making heads or tails of where to start is a challenge in and of itself. Each time you think you’ve cracked the code, you realize that you’ve just discovered 20 more questions that need to be answered.I will agree that “analysis paralysis” is one of … [Read more...]
Friday Asia Digest: Singapore RE Market White-Hot, India Steps Up Its Game
October 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Friday Asia Digest: Singapore RE Market White-Hot, India Steps Up Its Game Singapore’s residential & industrial real estate sectors are on fire, despite government attempts to keep prices under control. July saw 1,946 new homes sales, a rise of 42 percent month-on-month. That puts the total sales figure for the first eight months of 2012 at 15,300 new properties, close to the full-year total of 2011. Savills anticipates a return of foreign investors into the Singapore property market. … [Read more...]
One Big YouTube Marketing Secret
October 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Ever used YouTube for marketing? If not, it’s something to consider. Here’s a quick and dirty run down of why: It’s free to use. It’s run by Google, which means your video may show up in Google searches. When it comes to learning new information, many people prefer video to reading text. You can link to your website on your YouTube Channel. For these reasons and more, YouTube is an excellent choice for marketing yourself and your Real Estate Investment business. An Example In … [Read more...]
Your Retirement Income — News Flash! You’ll Only Be Spending AFTER Tax Income
October 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Your Retirement Income — News Flash! You’ll Only Be Spending AFTER Tax Income There comes a time when retirement becomes very real. In my experience most people begin gettin’ that twitch in their get-along the closer they get to 50. It’s not much later when it dawns on ‘em that their 401K just ain’t gettin’ it done. In fact, if at 50, their $500,000 401K never had another losing year, AND averaged an annual yield of 8%, they’d not like the results. (Before continuing, here’s … [Read more...]
The Every Day Impact of $9.2 Billion Spent on Investment Property Renovations
October 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The Every Day Impact of $9.2 Billion Spent on Investment Property Renovations For the past few years, I have been on a mission to shape a narrative for real estate investors that at best, is not understood by the main stream media and at worst is completely ignored. I place a lot of the blame for the lack of coverage of this particular narrative on real estate investors and even investment companies like my families. For too long we have failed to tell the proper story early on and have … [Read more...]
What Your Tenants Won’t Tell You
October 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment
What Your Tenants Won’t Tell You A new study of single family and multifamily tenants by John L. Burns Real Estate Consulting based upon data from Fannie Mae’s American Homeownership Series fills a huge void in our understanding of single family rental tenants and how they differ from multifamily.Especially on topics that your tenants probably will never discuss with you, the findings include more than a few “Aha” moments, a few surprises and useful insights that could help you better … [Read more...]
6 Tips to Improve Your Local Real Estate Investment Company’s Branding
October 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment
6 Tips to Improve Your Local Real Estate Investment Company’s Branding One of my favorite ways to find leads and motivated sellers is for other folks to find the deals for me. If you would like to position yourself as the “#1 ________ Investor in the area” or the “Authority in __________ field” then please read the following article below.Branding (as I see it) is that automatic association–the identification–of you, your company, and/or your product by your target audience. … [Read more...]
What Liability Do You Assume When You Allow Pets In Your Rental Property?
October 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment
What Liability Do You Assume When You Allow Pets In Your Rental Property? There has been so much discussion on BiggerPockets about whether or not you should allow pets in your rental property. This is also a topic that comes up frequently at our REIA group.Some folks feel very strongly (like I once did) that they always end up damaging the property, so they just don’t allow them. Other landlords welcome pets and feel they get better tenants. What I found in my business, was that if the … [Read more...]
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Friday Asia Digest: China’s Mega-Rich Lose Billions, Asia Bubble Potential Intensifies
Friday Asia Digest: China’s Mega-Rich Lose Billions, Asia Bubble Potential Intensifies China‘s property billionaires are far from happy this year, as government measures intended to curb speculation in China’s huge and virginal private ownership property market have been put into place. 8 of the country’s richest property moguls, all of whom are on Forbes’ “top Asian 100″ rich list, have lost a combined 3.87 billion USD, or 16% of their wealth, in the last year. Hui Ka Yan, … [Read more...]