Global Cash Flow – Real Estate Financing’s Newest Buzz Words There is nothing worse than finding just the right investment property that you know will make you great income, only to have the opportunity fall through because you got turned down for financing. It’s even worse when you see someone else pick up the property and make a fortune. It’s a devastating feeling, but one that real estate investors face every day with all of the changing lending guidelines.You located the … [Read more...]
Dealing With Tenant Drama: Are You Ready?
July 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Dealing With Tenant Drama: Are You Ready?Tenants are the reason we survive as landlords. By paying their rent, tenants put gas in our cars, food on the table and hopefully a little money in the bank. Tenants, however, are human, and being human means they bring drama. Are you ready for it?Sometimes the drama is petty.“My roommate and I don’t like each other anymore, she needs to leave.”Sometimes it is more serious.“I lost my job.”You as the landlord need to be ready to deal with … [Read more...]
How to Get the Greatest Marketing Return on Investment Available
July 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment
How to Get the Greatest Marketing Return on Investment AvailableIn real estate, it’s ALL about the numbers. After repair value (ARV), renovation budget, purchase price, days on market, cost of money, Realtor commission, and the list goes on. You get the point.Besides your “deal analyzer” numbers, you also have your “marketing” numbers. Particularly, what kind of return are you getting by spending money on the various forms of marketing?Although I have no statistical data to back up … [Read more...]
My Mind Is A (small) Glass of Water: A Lesson on Productivity
July 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment
My Mind Is A (small) Glass of Water: A Lesson on ProductivityI like to compare my mind to a glass of water.It’s small, mostly transparent, and limited in capacity. I can add water to the brim of the glass, but once it’s full it can no longer fit any additional water. Instead, it just spills over the side of the glass and runs all over the table. In the same way, my mind is continually filled with bits and pieces of information – thus when new information is added, the old tends to spill … [Read more...]
Space Aliens, Ghosts and Shadow Inventory
June 29, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Space Aliens, Ghosts and Shadow InventoryWhat is it with this country and our morbid curiosity for the unknown, the mysterious and the enigmatic? We’re fascinated with space aliens, ghosts, zombies, vampires, a lone gunman on the grassy knoll, and Adele. Okay, maybe it’s just me that’s fascinated with Adele. It’s just that I’ve never heard a woman sing like that before.I guess this also explains why the mainstream media, bloggers and real estate pundits love talking about shadow … [Read more...]
The Importance of Keeping Business and Personal Bank Accounts Separate
June 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The Importance of Keeping Business and Personal Bank Accounts SeparateIt doesn’t matter whether you are an established business or you are just starting out, it is imperative that you keep your business finances separate from your personal finances. These same basic principles apply whether you have a full time business or you just have some sort of part-time venture. Separate bank accounts are a must. Not only will it make it much easier to keep track of all of the expenses for your … [Read more...]
Financing Your First Real Estate Deal: How to Pitch Your New Business to Banks
May 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Financing Your First Real Estate Deal: How to Pitch Your New Business to BanksWould you lend to two recent college graduates who formed a partnership to invest in real estate, with little starting capital, and no business or real estate background? Just a few short years ago I was one of those college grads, eager to get my real estate investing company off the ground, and as you can imagine, securing financing to purchase our first investment property was a major hurdle. The housing collapse … [Read more...]
Value Disputes and Bank of America Short Sales
May 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Value Disputes and Bank of America Short SalesIf you have completed more than a handful of short sales, then you have likely have been involved in a value dispute with the short sale lender. During the course of the short sale, the short sale lender sends out another Broker to complete a Broker Price Opinion (BPO) for the short sale listing. The bank then, in most cases, bases their price on the value stipulated in the BPO. However, often times, there is a discrepancy between the value … [Read more...]
How to Address Closing Cost Credits in Short Sale Transactions
May 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
How to Address Closing Cost Credits in Short Sale TransactionsAgents, buyers and sellers are abuzz because it’s a seller’s market again. Just a few weeks ago an agent friend of mine received 24 offers on his short sale listing, and another property in my area got 10 offers the very same weekend.When reviewing short sale offers with clients, it is important to look at the type of loan that the buyer will obtain: VA, FHA, or conventional financing. And, will the buyer require a closing cost … [Read more...]
Do you know what a Non-Performing Note Could Cost You?
May 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Do you know what a Non-Performing Note Could Cost You?Non-performing note investing is not for the faint at heart. In fact, many note investors get excited about the prospect of buying non-performing notes at pennies on the dollar and they can only think of the upside potential of the note purchase. What really needs to be done is to consider the worst case scenario of being a non-performing note investor and hoping for the best, but planning for the worst.Here are a few things to consider if … [Read more...]
What Is a Commercial Loan Modification?
April 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment
What Is a Commercial Loan Modification?A commercial loan modification, also called a Workout Loan, may be considered if a business is in financial distress and unable to pay back a loan.In order to understand what Commercial Loan Modification means, let’s break down each word and define it:Commercial: Related to business. We are only concerned with loans taken out for business purposes. This does not include an individual loan for something like your car, home mortgage or an educational … [Read more...]
How a Commercial Short Sale Can Save the Day
April 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment
How a Commercial Short Sale Can Save the DayAs an investor, you’re looking for opportunities to help people. That should be your ultimate goal.Often, in bad economic times (like the past few years), companies need to reduce their asset load due to decreases in property values. In essence, the properties that were once assets are now burdens and foreclosure is a very real possibility. However, for an investor with a focus on what will happen down the road – not how the next mortgage payment … [Read more...]
A Home Run with Hard Money?
April 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment
A Home Run with Hard Money?I had made up my mind. No more debt.No more credit cards. No more car payments. No more hard money loans. Sure, paying 18% was steep. But that wasn’t the real reason I decided to give up leveraging my fix and flip deals. Borrowing money had bankrupted me in 2007. The funny thing about creditors is they don’t give a damn if your real estate investment portfolio drops in value by 65% – they still want their monthly payment.Then the summer of 2009 rolled … [Read more...]
Creating Your Own Bank for Seller Financing For Quicker Returns
April 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Creating Your Own Bank for Seller Financing For Quicker ReturnsFor many real estate investors offering the option of seller financing is attractive if you want to get a property sold, but there could be one tiny hiccup! You may not have immediate returns on your cash to do your next investment deal especially if you’re an active investor looking to wholesale properties or do fix and flips. Here is a fairly simple and very real solution in today’s market that most investors overlook. … [Read more...]
Cancellation Rates And Contract Failures
March 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Cancellation Rates And Contract FailuresContracts are failing at a high rate. Here’s why: Appraisals: Appraisals often come in lower than the previously negotiated price. Sellers do not want to renegotiate, or short sale agents have trouble challenging the bank’s short sale approval with their home appraisal. Homeowner’s Association Troubles: In these tough times, the Homeowner’s Associations are facing challenges. Delinquency rates impact their financial stability, and this (in … [Read more...]
Building a Pipeline of Short Sales
February 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Building a Pipeline of Short SalesAny investor or homebuyer that has worked through a short sale in the last year knows what a lengthy process this can be. I actually bought a new personal residence in 2011 and it took 8 months for the bank to finally approve our offer. Of course, this was after multiple denials and re-offers, appraisals, inspections, etc. Because the process took all of 8 months, we eventually resolved that the bank wasn’t going to approve the offer and had mentally … [Read more...]
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Learn from My Mistake: Why You MUST Understand Your Seller’s Needs
Learn from My Mistake: Why You MUST Understand Your Seller’s Needs Several weeks ago, I wrote an article about a deal I had to give up on because the bank wasn’t playing ball — it was called “Swing and a Miss.”The gist of that story is that I was trying to duplicate my deal of the year from 2011 in 2012 by buying the apartment build next door to my original 2011 purchase. In the story, I had to give up because I wasn’t able to structure the deal in the same fashion.Shortly after … [Read more...]