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...]
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...]
8 Stupid Mistakes That Can Kill Your Real Estate Investing Business
September 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment
8 Stupid Mistakes That Can Kill Your Real Estate Investing Business When you were a baby, you made tons of mistakes.You learned to walk on your own by walking, falling, getting up, walking again, falling…You hit your head, you cried, and you learned to be more careful… but, what would have happened if you one day decided to give up walking entirely?You said: “This walking thing is just too tough for me, y’know I keep hitting my head, bumping my butt, its just waaaay too hard. I think … [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...]
The Power of Appreciation and Leverage: Boost Your Real Estate Returns
September 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The Power of Appreciation and Leverage: Boost Your Real Estate Returns If you’ve read any of my blogs on BiggerPockets, http://www.biggerpockets.com, you’ve probably noticed that I am a believer in real estate appreciation. Yes, real estate can and has lost value in recent years; but over time, real estate generally increases in value. This is especially true if you happen to time the market effectively. I have not been shy about the fact that I believe now is a very good time to buy … [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...]
How To Earn Infinite Returns in Real Estate
September 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
How To Earn Infinite Returns in Real Estate Earning infinite returns on your investment is one of the most exciting accomplishments of a great real estate invest. It doesn’t happen on every deal, but when it does, it’s awesome. Infinite returns are achieved when you no longer have any of your money invested in a property, but you still own it and the property is still generating income. You can earn infinite returns in real estate through two strategies. One you’ve probably … [Read more...]
The Seven Deadly Sins of Real Estate Investing
September 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The Seven Deadly Sins of Real Estate Investing Have you committed one of the seven deadly sins? No, I’m not referring to gluttony, wrath, or sloth. I’m talking about the Seven Deadly Sins of Real Estate Investing. Ok, maybe they aren’t physically deadly – but they are possibly catastrophic to your business. If you are concerned about the health of your investments, make sure to steer clear from these seven sins:Buying Based On Future Value Also known as “pro forma” numbers, many … [Read more...]
Can You Really Flip Houses With No Money?
September 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Can You Really Flip Houses With No Money? To many, it seems like there’s no way you can get started flipping houses without at least a little money of your own.True, whether it’s buy and hold real estate investing, flipping houses or any other kind of real estate investing, it is a lot easier to do it with money than without…no doubt.However, flipping houses with no money is not only possible to do, but it’s not as hard as you might think. In fact, there’s no “hidden secret” to … [Read more...]
The Top 100 Ways To Make Money In Real Estate
September 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Have you heard my “toilet story?”Let’s just say it involves a plugged toilet, three college-aged tenants, three weeks of procrastination (with continual use of that plugged toilet), and my bad mistake of not hiring a plumber. It was a low point in my investing career but a turning point as well. I realized the type of investor I wanted to be and the type of investor I did not want to be. I no longer work on toilets.It’s been years since that event, but I still think of it when I hear … [Read more...]
3 Missteps That Can Derail Your Real Estate Investing
August 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment
3 Missteps That Can Derail Your Real Estate Investing With the unprecedented drop in real estate values over the last few years, more and more people are trying their hand at real estate investing. With the wealth of available knowledge related to real estate investing, it is not difficult to research the possible investment strategies and locations in which to invest.Not surprisingly, investors in this market cycle seem to be more cautious about their investing … especially when compared … [Read more...]
How The Summer Squeeze is Changing Investing
August 29, 2012 By Leave a Comment
How The Summer Squeeze is Changing Investing Investor participation in the housing market dropped sharply In July for the second straight month, reversing long-term growth in investor purchases of residential properties, according to the Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey.Investor participation in the housing market fell to 21.9 percent of all transactions in July, from 23.5 percent in June, based on a three-month moving average. Investor participation back in May … [Read more...]
The Hardest Part of Buy-and-Hold Real Estate Investing: Delayed Gratification
August 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The Hardest Part of Buy-and-Hold Real Estate Investing: Delayed Gratification Let me start this post by saying I love “buy-and-hold” real estate investing. I just wish it was easier.Flipping real estate or wholesaling deals is appealing, as cash is quick and you know in a short time frame if you have made a good deal. Unfortunately, buy-and-hold real estate can take a long time to generate a meaningful amount of cash flow.This leads me to today’s topic, as I want to highlight what I … [Read more...]
So You Want to be a Full Time Real Estate Investor?
August 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment
So You Want to be a Full Time Real Estate Investor? Reading Michael Zuber’s post the other day got me thinking back to the days when I was a newbie investor and still had a full time day job. My weekends were pretty full also, as well as many of my nights after work. My wife and I worked very hard, buying and rehabbing properties, dealing with tenants, raising and saving capital. Heck, I even cut all the yards for a while. However, we worked so hard because we had a goal.That goal was … [Read more...]
Wholesaling Real Estate: 3 on 3 Interview Series
August 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Wholesaling Real Estate: 3 on 3 Interview Series Wholesaling is the real estate strategy of choice for many new real estate investors because it is perceived as an easy business to start with little or no capital and minimal experience. Unfortunately, there are a lot of misconceptions regarding wholesaling and most people who attempt to wholesale fail to be profitable. However, if done properly and with the necessary education, wholesaling can be a very prosperous business.To help clear up … [Read more...]
Pursuing Real Estate Investing Freedom? Consider Getting a Real Estate License!
August 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Pursuing Real Estate Investing Freedom? Consider Getting a Real Estate License! One of the most highly talked about and debated questions within the world of real estate investing is ‘should’ or ‘should you not’ get licensed in your state? There are numerous articles on BiggerPockets discussing pros and cons and everything in between, but I wanted to throw my $.02 into the debate.There are a ton of financial reasons to pursue the license, but in this article, I’m going to focus on … [Read more...]
The Recovery: Coming to a Market Near You
August 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The Recovery: Coming to a Market Near You Whatever you want to say about the toddling real estate recovery, it’s certainly not boring. Even though it’s so young that it’s still in diapers, it’s surprising the experts as it delights and disappoints simultaneously.After several false starts, the recovery looks to be real this time and the longest real estate depression in the nation’s history is beginning to end. Some are now even talking about the real estate recovery outpacing … [Read more...]
9 Ways to Leave Behind “A Great First Impression”
July 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment
9 Ways to Leave Behind “A Great First Impression”Real estate investors have gotten some bad press in the last few years, and some of it was well deserved. But I believe that in most cases, it was simply due to a lack of understanding about what real estate investors do. There are those people out there that think all real estate investors take advantage of folks that are down and out; homeowners that are in some type of distress. While I’m sure those investors are out there, the vast … [Read more...]
Successful Women Real Estate Investors: 3 on 3 Interview Series
July 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Successful Women Real Estate Investors: 3 on 3 Interview SeriesIn the previous two installments of the three on three interview series the focus was on a specific investment strategy or type of business (spec-building & flipping & rehabbing distressed property), but this one will focus on a group of people, successful women in real estate. Real estate investing is often regarded as a male dominated business, but more and more often women are making it to the top of their respective … [Read more...]
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Real Estate Investing for the Next 10 Years: If It Were Easy, Everyone Would Do It!
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...]