47 Reasons Sane People Sell A House Dirt Cheap Are you apprehensive about marketing to motivated sellers? Do you wonder whether people actually exist that are willing to sell their houses for dirt cheap without being forced? Join the club. I think most of us have these doubts when we got started. It’s only natural because we’ve likely never been in a situation that would make us want to sell under market value. The more marketing I did, the more it became clear that people were more … [Read more...]
Nine Things Successful Business Owners Do Differently
December 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Nine Things Successful Business Owners Do Differently Whether building a $100 million dollar tech company, shopping for a killer first investment property, or selling Mary Kay out of the back of a pink car – successful business owners don’t mess around. In fact, I think it’s safe to say that, if forced to start over from scratch, the majority of successful business owners would be able to find great success again. What is it that sets successful people apart from wannabes? Why do some … [Read more...]
Why Invest In Real Estate?
December 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Why Invest In Real Estate? “It’s tangible, it’s solid, it’s beautiful. It’s artistic, from my standpoint, and I just love real estate.” -Donald Trump Let me ask you a very simple, yet profound question: Why invest in real estate? Understanding the answer or answers to this question will help you along your investment career. The following are a few common answers I have received when I ask the question: Why People Invest in Real Estate Freedom: Frankly, this is why I … [Read more...]
How to Make a Million Dollars from Real Estate: A Step By Step Path
December 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment
How to Make a Million Dollars from Real Estate: A Step By Step Path The guy who invented the pet rock made $1,000,000.00. So did the guy who sold a million pixels on a computer screen for $1.00 each. Don’t forget about the guy who invented googles for dogs and made $1,000,000. There are a lot of ways to make $1,000,000.00 but unless you happen to get really, really lucky – you aren’t going to invent the next new thing. Instead, most individuals turn to three different means of … [Read more...]
Tenant Screening: Avoiding Discrimination Lawsuits
October 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Tenant Screening: Avoiding Discrimination Lawsuits Last week I discussed the importance of screening tenants. I noted that tenant screening was perhaps the key to being a successful landlord. This week I want to follow up on that article by discussing methods to screen your prospective tenants to avoid a discrimination lawsuit.What is discrimination? A quick Google search defines discrimination as “Recognition and understanding of the difference between one thing and another.” It … [Read more...]
Are You a ‘Slumlord’?
October 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Are You a ‘Slumlord’? Last week on the BiggerPockets.com blog I discussed a property I was trying to decide whether to pursue or not. The property was located in a lower-income “rough” area of my town and needed significant cosmetic fixes (and perhaps more than just cosmetic.) I’ll tell you later what I did this week with the property, but first I want to explore the issue a little further.This post became exceptionally popular and at the time of this writing has over 90 comments as … [Read more...]
The Facebook Stalker: Real Estate Investors Need Thick Skin!
October 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The Facebook Stalker: Real Estate Investors Need Thick Skin! Facebook is one of the great tools for real estate. Networking, selling, building buyer’s lists, and even advertising if you want to spend some marketing dollars. I’m on Facebook quite a bit and it has helped contribute greatly to the building of my business. When I stop and think about it, the real estate investor’s relationship whom I do the most business with was formed thanks to Facebook.However… as is the case with … [Read more...]
How to Flip a House Using Project Managers
October 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment
How to Flip a House Using Project Managers I had a real bad day the other day.With framing subcontractors coming in as scheduled, I all of a sudden realized that the floor that they would be framing over had some very serious issues.Pounding on my cell phone to find someone…anyone to help me on literally zero notice, I realized the only person I had that could do it…was me.So I dusted off the flooring toolbox, started pulling out the old flooring tools and began ripping up floorboards … [Read more...]
How to Perform Due Diligence on Turn Key Real Estate Providers
October 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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...]
Friday Asia Digest: China’s Mega-Rich Lose Billions, Asia Bubble Potential Intensifies
October 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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...]
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...]
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...]
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...]
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...]
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...]
Get a copy of my best selling book ($9.97 on Amazon.com) and an investor training video series FREE!
My Experience Investing in a Changing Real Estate Market
My Experience Investing in a Changing Real Estate Market I quit my corporate job in 2005 to pursue real estate fulltime. I had listened to Carlton Sheets’ “Zero Down Investing” course multiple times the year leading up to my departure from my day job while trying to learn as much as I could. Flipping through study guides and reading real estate books only served to increase my appetite for this industry because I wanted to change the real estate market. I remember the excitement of … [Read more...]