8 Traits of Successful Real Estate Investors Take a few minutes to think about the successful people around you, not only financially, but also those who embody personal success. Consider the characteristics each of them possess and how these characteristics have fueled their achievements in their given field. Over the past several years I have come in contact with quite a few real estate investors, both directly and indirectly, and have recognized many I consider to be very successful. These … [Read more...]
Reality TV Real Estate Flipping: How ‘Real’ is It?
October 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Reality TV Real Estate Flipping: How ‘Real’ is It? Hi. My name is Clay and I’m a reality TV addict.Survivor, Shark Tank, The Amazing Race, Big Brother, and the list goes on…At the top of my list though are the reality shows about real estate, in particular, flipping. I am a sucker for them, and if I’m honest, they were a big reason why I decided to get into real estate in the first place. I mean don’t you see the massive amounts of profits real estate investors make in 30 – 60 … [Read more...]
Private Lending: Pros and Cons
October 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Private Lending: Pros and Cons One of my investors called me up today and told me he had decided he was ready to get into the lending business. He had already purchased a number of properties over the last year or so and was ready to diversify his real estate investing strategy. Part of his decision making process had to do with the tedious financing process he had experienced when buying a property a few months prior, but I think most of the decision had to do with a desire to branch out … [Read more...]
WARNING – Real Estate Investors: Do NOT Buy this Book!
September 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment
IWARNING – Real Estate Investors: Do NOT Buy this Book! n my previous article I talked about a book that I felt was well worth the investment of money (to buy) and time (to read). I must say, it was a great decision on my part to purchase that book. It was definitely the most efficient use of my money and time. Tired of me patting myself on the back? I’m tired of it too. Time for some humble pie…It’s easy to talk about our great decisions, but I believe the most can be learned from … [Read more...]
Three Ways to Use Your Website For Branding and Lead Generation
September 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Three Ways to Use Your Website For Branding and Lead Generation Your website is one of your best marketing tools – and it’s extremely cost-effective. For as low as $10 per month, you can host your site on the web with little to no trouble. If you don’t already have a website, go ahead and put that towards the top of your to-do list. And if you do have one up and running, take a look at these three ways to use your site for branding and lead generation: 1. Use Search Engine … [Read more...]
Real Estate Investing for the Next 10 Years: If It Were Easy, Everyone Would Do It!
September 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Real Estate Investing for the Next 10 Years: If It Were Easy, Everyone Would Do It! Real Estate seems so simple; all you do is buy low and sell high, right?Wrong!!!Well, what about buy and hold investing or land lording? That’s simple, right? All you do is buy a property and sit on it for 10 years or so and magic happens, no?Wrong!!!Okay, but setting up a long term financial plan and retiring from your day job has to be easy, because all you do is buy one additional property a year for … [Read more...]
The $9.2 Billion Impact of 28.1 Million U.S. Real Estate Investors
September 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The $9.2 Billion Impact of 28.1 Million U.S. Real Estate Investors As most of you know, BiggerPockets.com has been the online home for real estate investors for almost 8 years. Through that time, we’ve developed intimate knowledge of the investor market and mindset. However, we knew that simply stating our belief from those years of insight and access to investors was not going to mean much, if anything, unless it could be backed up by scientifically significant data. We felt it was … [Read more...]
Welcome to the Big Leagues of Borrowing
September 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Welcome to the Big Leagues of Borrowing If any doubts remain that real estate investors and single family rentals have hit the big time, check out a bulletin issued last week by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the agency that regulates all federally chartered banks and thrifts.Just to make sure that lenders get the message, the OCC served an official notice that the financing of single family rentals (which it calls Investor Owned Residential Rentals, or IORRs) is to be managed … [Read more...]
Cash Reserves For The Long Term Real Estate Investor — Things Change
September 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Cash Reserves For The Long Term Real Estate Investor — Things Change As happens often in conversations with ongoing clients, I bring up the subject of cash reserves. It usually surfaces naturally when they make known their desire to explore the acquisition of more investment property. Since we all live in the universe of reality, we understand the status quo is but a measurement of the here and now. Assuming your financial status has remained static the last 1-5 years is a mistake we simply … [Read more...]
Planned Unit Developments: A Primer for Real Estate Investors
September 17, 2012 By 1 Comment
Planned Unit Developments: A Primer for Real Estate Investors My last two articles on land use regulations focused on zoning and subdivision regulations. In this article I want to discuss something that is sort of a hybrid between the two and is becoming much more frequently used, the planned unit development or PUD.Zoning and subdivision regulations by their very nature are rigid and unbending. You can either do something or you can’t. There is no in between. You can either have … [Read more...]
Your First Steps as a New Real Estate Investor
September 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Your First Steps as a New Real Estate Investor I began walking just minutes from childbirth.I walked right out the door as my mother was being carted out in a wheel chair. The doctors were amazed.By three months old I was power walking around my local shopping mall (with sweat pants), by six months old I was running side by side with my old man, and by one year I had completed(and won) my first Boston Marathon. It’s all been easy since then.Impressive, right?Of course this isn’t true.I … [Read more...]
A Great Real Estate Attitude… thanks to Disney!
September 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment
A Great Real Estate Attitude… thanks to Disney! There’s nothing like pulling inspiration from a childhood Disney movie. You would think that these sorts of movies are only good for keeping your kids occupied; however, The Mighty Ducks (1992) has one quote in particular that I believe is a “must-have” if you plan on being successful in real estate:“It’s not worth winning if you can’t win big!”Still gets me fired up even after all these years!Let me take the words right out of … [Read more...]
Choosing from the Real Estate Smorgasbord
September 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Choosing from the Real Estate Smorgasbord Real estate is like a smorgasbord! You can pick and choose the foods you’ll eat, keep returning for more helpings, and learn what areas you like and which areas you love. Like food, once this information is digested by your brain you will then make an educated business decision to continue practicing this method or leave it for later or never.As a real estate investor and mentor I speak with sellers, buyers, and other investors who know exactly what … [Read more...]
Letting Go To Grow Your Business
September 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Letting Go To Grow Your Business When I first became a full time real estate investor and quit my “real job” I was very concerned about cash flow. Even thought I had done my home work, that nagging voice in the back of my mind kept asking questions. Did I calculate things correctly? What if I made a mistake? Am I sure I will have enough to pay all the bills?What was my reaction to all of these questions? It was to keep expenses down by doing many things myself. I did many of … [Read more...]
Your Brand and Your Competition
September 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Your Brand and Your Competition If you were the only real estate investor in the United States, branding wouldn’t matter. But you’re not the only one. There are hundreds of thousands of other real estate investors all vying for the same great property investments. These people are your competition. And they are the reason branding is so important for real estate investment success. Scope out the Competition Unless you are totally new to the area, you probably have an idea of who your … [Read more...]
The Number One Irrational Behavior of Real Estate Investors
September 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The Number One Irrational Behavior of Real Estate Investors If you ever get a chance to read my posts on the BiggerPockets forums, you notice that I am a big proponent of education, mentor ship, coaching, whatever you want to call it. I call it surrounding yourself with people you want to learn from and always learning something new. One week ago, I had the chance to travel to Boston to attend the Hubspot Inbound ’12 conference and do both!Before tying this into real estate, I think … [Read more...]
What Does a Real Estate Wholesaler Look For In a Buyer?
September 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment
There has been a lot of conversation lately on BiggerPockets about working with wholesalers; the good, the bad and the ugly.I think that we can all agree that there both ethical wholesalers in this business, and those that are less than ethical. This is no different than you would find if you were looking at rehabbers, landlords or any other group of real estate investors.Since I am a full time wholesaler, I wanted to talk a little bit today about what I look for in a buyer which is what I … [Read more...]
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2 Ways Washington Can Use Real Estate Investors To End The Housing Crisis
2 Ways Washington Can Use Real Estate Investors To End The Housing Crisis Like many people in my generation, I spent a few extra years in college, 5 ½ to be exact, and yet I have no diploma to hang on my wall. I enjoyed my years at the University of Memphis playing a varsity sport, hanging with my fraternity brothers and in general trying to avoid studying. Don’t get me wrong though, I learned a lot in my time there and it has absolutely served me well since leaving college. I was a … [Read more...]