Ground Leases 101: A Financing Alternative Despite the relative return of liquidity in the credit markets, many real estate owners and developers are still facing an uphill battle to obtain sufficient funding for their projects. One way to move that project from the drawing board to the construction site is eliminate the high property acquisition costs and turn to ground leasing as an alternative. Before you get started, here are a few issues to consider before signing the lease.Don’t Be … [Read more...]
How to Make Money in Real Estate
September 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Discovering how to make money in real estate can be a daunting experience. Real estate is a vast subject matter and millions of people earn a living (and some actually become fabulously wealthy) from real estate. After being a part of more than 1,000 real estate transactions over the past decade personally, along with coaching and training thousands of investors from all walks of life throughout the United States and Canada, I've heard, seen and done enough in real estate to simplify for you how … [Read more...]
What’s In Your Real Estate Purchase Contract?
September 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment
What’s In Your Real Estate Purchase Contract? How wordy do you need to be when purchasing a property? Some purchase offer contracts can run into the dozens of pages. I find the opposite works better for me. I currently use simple and concise contract language that fits on about one page when I wish to make an offer on a property. This contract language has evolved over the years and I use it for several reasons.It keeps things simple.Keeping it simple sometimes makes the deal.I can … [Read more...]
3 Ways to Overcome Restrictive Leasing Covenants
August 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment
3 Ways to Overcome Restrictive Leasing Covenants I have been buying and selling houses for over 7 years now and never really had any problems with my Homeowners Associations …. until this year. Interestingly, I’ve run into problems on three different properties in different neighborhoods just in the last few months. What I’ve encountered are HOA’s with restrictive covenants limiting an owners ability to rent properties in the neighborhood.It’s understandable why an HOA would … [Read more...]
The Disadvantages of Section 8 Rentals
August 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The Disadvantages of Section 8 Rentals It felt like I was walking into a cave. A dark, messy, smelly cave. I looked around at the walls of my Section 8 rental and saw black, only black. The tenants had decided to add some “color” to the décor. But seriously, who paints walls black? And poop? Who leaves dog poop all over the floor? And trash? How can a family of four leave two, not one, but two dumpsters worth of trash? I started calculating the cost of priming and repainting, carpet … [Read more...]
A Must Use Form for Every Landlord: Release to the Rights of Possession
August 6, 2012 By 1 Comment
A Must Use Form for Every Landlord: Release to the Rights of Possession The “Release to the Rights of Possession” form is one of the most important forms that a landlord can use. It is a must use for every landlord. It helps protect you from future claims from former tenants. Let me explain.When you sign a lease with a tenant, you legally give them what is termed “possession” of that rental unit. The tenant then occupies and possesses the rental unit for the term of the … [Read more...]
How to Think Like a Buyer When Getting Your Property Ready to Sell
July 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment
How to Think Like a Buyer When Getting Your Property Ready to SellThe house is finally done after a whole lot of “blood, sweat and tears”, and now it’s time to get your wholesale flip “retail buyer ready”. Real estate investors all have the same question at this point; how can I make my house stand out from the other homes for sale in the neighborhood? The answer is quite simple. Your home has to make a better first impression than your competition. Your potential buyer has to want to … [Read more...]
Building Trust With Buyers
July 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Building Trust With BuyersWhether you’re selling a residential or commercial property, building trust with buyers will go a long way towards closing the deal. So here are three tips to keep in mind: 1. Be Specific and Offer ProofIt’s easy to throw around words and phrases like:Great neighborhood Move-in condition SpaciousBut if you want these words to have some weight, have facts and proof to back them up. For example if the house you’re flipping is in a great neighborhood, have crime, … [Read more...]
Use This One Technique to Ensure Yourself a Good Note Investment
July 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Use This One Technique to Ensure Yourself a Good Note InvestmentTwo of the most common questions I get from prospective note investors is how do I find notes in the first place, and when I find them, how do I know it’s a good note? Finding a note can be just like finding a good property. You can go the traditional route of direct mail, talking to brokers or placing ads or you can use this one technique to create the best note possible for yourself. All you will need is an active real estate … [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...]
Flippers: You’re the Expert – NOT the Wholesaler!
July 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Flippers: You’re the Expert – NOT the Wholesaler!The conversation…Wholesaler: “Hey, I have a smokin’ hot deal for you! It will sell for $125,000 and only needs some carpet and paint. Should cost you around $7,500.”Investor: “Really? Wow! That’s great. I want it!”Fast forward 3 months…Investor: “Mr. Wholesaler, I’m in the third month of this rehab and I’m already at $20,000 and still haven’t even gotten to carpet and paint yet! On top of this, I spoke with a few … [Read more...]
Real Estate in Japan – “The Tenant is King”
July 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Real Estate in Japan – “The Tenant is King”We’ve covered the basics – Japan’s got beautiful cash-flow, zilch to negative capital gain (may change, may not), and the icing on the cake – the best and safest business and residential environment one could possibly hope for as a foreign investor or business person.So, the question begs to be asked –why isn’t everybody and their dog shopping there???Well, the big boys, (GS, DBG, Fortress, TPG, etc) already are, as mentioned. As for … [Read more...]
Commonly Overlooked Lease Issues: Third Party Rights
June 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Commonly Overlooked Lease Issues: Third Party RightsThis series is devoted to highlighting those often neglected lease provisions and prevailing on our landlord readers to give them a second look when crafting their contracts. Last month, we looked at the benefits of affirmatively addressing the, dare I say, not uncommon occurrence of a landlord default on their lease obligations and potential tenant remedies in such circumstances. Today we look at third party rights.Third Party Rights: The … [Read more...]
Hong-Kong Real Estate: Leases VS Freeholds & the Chinese Connection
June 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Hong-Kong Real Estate: Leases VS Freeholds & the Chinese ConnectionAs promised, here’s a drilldown of some unique characteristics of the Hong-Kong property market, including tips, tricks, inside information etc – starting with the most significant and drilling down to the misc odds & ends –Government LeasesAll land in Hong Kong is leased from the Government, (as opposed to being freehold, which is the straight-forward ownership we’re all familiar with). While this concept may … [Read more...]
Three Budget Items Not to Forget Regarding Your Property Analysis
June 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Three Budget Items Not to Forget Regarding Your Property Analysis.Almost everybody has a different formula when it comes to rates of return and cash flow analysis. While it is imperative that investors have a good way to analyze investment properties, there is no right or wrong answer to this equation. I believe it boils down to experience, location, and personal preference when deciding what line items and assumptions to use when creating your deal analysis.Most models include the staple … [Read more...]
Our Flipping Journey: Taking a Property From Ugly to Pretty
June 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Our Flipping Journey: Taking a Property From Ugly to PrettyI hate textbooks.Don’t get me wrong, I have used them and when needed will still pay a few dollars for one on Amazon or eBay, but for the most part, I find them pretty worthless. Why? Simply put, because everything is always displayed in “perfect world” conditions. As is the case in any business, but even more-so in real estate, these textbook conditions just don’t exist.Instead of just complain about it, I’m going to take … [Read more...]
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Handshakes Vs. Contracts: Which Do You Think Is Better?
Handshakes Vs. Contracts: Which Do You Think Is Better?Yes, I know . . . on the face of it this seems like an incredibly dumb question. But is it?In the past two weeks I have found myself in the challenging position of advising clients on the basics of the difference between executed contracts vs. doing business with just a handshake. And, to make matters even worse, I was a partner in one of the deals that involved just a handshake.As someone with lots of experience and who considers … [Read more...]