What Liability Do You Assume When You Allow Pets In Your Rental Property? There has been so much discussion on BiggerPockets about whether or not you should allow pets in your rental property. This is also a topic that comes up frequently at our REIA group.Some folks feel very strongly (like I once did) that they always end up damaging the property, so they just don’t allow them. Other landlords welcome pets and feel they get better tenants. What I found in my business, was that if the … [Read more...]
What Liability Do You Assume When You Allow Pets In Your Rental Property?
October 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment
How to Reduce Your Property Tax Assessment
October 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment
How to Reduce Your Property Tax Assessment The downturn in the real estate market has created a potentially ideal situation for anyone who holds real estate. This is because you have a good chance of reducing your property tax assessment and thus your property tax burden by appealing the value. I have saved thousands of dollars by appealing my property tax values, and you can as well.Your property taxes are based on the “fair market value.” The local tax assessor is supposed to … [Read more...]
The Five Financial Benefits of Real Estate Investments
October 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The Five Financial Benefits of Real Estate Investments Financial advisors will tell you that there are five ways that you can earn a return on any investment. In no particular order, these are:Cash Flow or Rate of ReturnFederal Tax BenefitsLeverage of OPM (Other People’s Money)Principal PaydownAppreciation.One of the wonderful things about real estate is that you can get all five! Real estate is the only investment that I know of that potentially gives you all of these advantages!Think … [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...]
What’s That Underperforming Property REALLY Costing You?
September 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
What’s That Underperforming Property REALLY Costing You? I was out of town last week and had an opportunity to meet a number of different investors on my trip. One conversation in particular stuck with me because I believe the scenario is common to a lot of people. Many investors that are in the market today for investment properties were the same ones that were buying properties either during the real estate frenzy of the mid-2000’s or on the front end of the recession (before prices had … [Read more...]
3 Key Tips For Screening Tenants
September 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment
3 Key Tips For Screening Tenants Everyone has their own method and criteria for screening tenants. Many folks use a formula that is a percentage of gross income to determine if they make enough money to qualify for the property. There will also be other factors such as length of employment and previous landlord recommendations. But the sad fact is that after all that due diligence, you may very well still end up with a tenant that doesn’t pay the rent and doesn’t take care of your … [Read more...]
Your Real Estate Command Station
September 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Your Real Estate Command Station Efficiency is the name of the game. The less time you spend on a task, the more time you have to spend with family, friends, toys, vacations, etc.If you’ve read some of my other articles, you know that as a former engineer, I can’t help but be obsessive compulsive about making processes and tasks as efficient as possible.As I was sitting at my “command station” (desk in my office) contemplating what this article should be about, I noticed I had an … [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...]
Four Pieces of BAD Advice on Managing Rental Property You Should Forget
August 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Four Pieces of BAD Advice on Managing Rental Property You Should Forget Every once in a while I come across a blog post or an article or even a video that I think misses the mark so badly that I want to reach through the computer at the person who put it out and ask them “what are you thinking”? Not your usual disagreement or not understanding someone’s point of view, but actually wanting to ask why in the world they give the advice they are giving. I never do mind you. I think … [Read more...]
Real Estate Investors: What If Property Values Don’t Increase?
August 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Real Estate Investors: What If Property Values Don’t Increase? Property values always go up.Or at least that’s what people believed.For years, values have consistently climbed higher and higher at an average rate of around 5% per year. Real estate investors rely heavily on price appreciation to maximize their investment for the future. I know that I personally hope my properties will continue to climb in value for many years and I’ll be able to retire before I hit thirty-five.But what … [Read more...]
Friday Asia Digest – Theme Parks Flourish as Indo/China’s Thrill Ride Ends
August 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Friday Asia Digest – Theme Parks Flourish as Indo/China’s Thrill Ride Ends India‘s declining currency and less than regulated business environment has finally caught up with its speculative real estate sector, with international investors rattled by the Indian Government’s increasing focus on offshore structures and threat to apply tax rules retroactively to purchases and sales of India domestic entities through offshore entities, as well as seemingly un-addressed lack of regulation … [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...]
Investment Property Management: What Metrics To Track And Why?
August 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Investment Property Management: What Metrics To Track And Why? Whether you manage your own investment portfolio, or hire a property management company to manage your investments, there are key metrics to track and measure if you want to truly find success. Any two real estate investors will define success differently, especially when it comes to property management. If you follow on-line forums dedicated to real estate, you will notice heated arguments on the merits of using property … [Read more...]
Buy Where People Want to Live
August 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Buy Where People Want to Live I was at a business networking meeting a couple of weeks ago and met a real estate investor. As usually happens, we started talking about the state of the market in the area. He couldn’t contain his excitement about a deal he had just closed to purchase a rental property. This wasn’t his first but he was fairly new to the business. The price per square foot certainly seemed like a good deal; the house was in good shape and he was starting to advertise for a … [Read more...]
‘Property Wars’ Distorted View of Reality
August 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment
‘Property Wars’ Distorted View of Reality I don’t watch much television. However, on the rare occasion I do sit down in front of the tube it’s unlikely my remote control will stop on a reality TV program. My beef with all of these shows is that they aren’t very realistic. Maybe it’s because, most of the time, reality isn’t all that exciting.The reality TV show formula is easy to dissect. Mix together a colorful protagonist and antagonist, a lot of yelling and screaming and, most … [Read more...]
Legislating Disaster in Nevada and Maryland: Good Intentions Gone Wrong
August 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Legislating Disaster in Nevada and Maryland: Good Intentions Gone Wrong It stands to reason that if you pass a law delaying something bad for your local housing economy, like foreclosures, in hopes of buying time to help a few defaulting borrowers, you’ll be delaying the inevitable and all other homeowners in the market will eventually pay the price in the form of delayed depressed values and extended pain.That’s pretty much what’s happening right now in several states with new laws … [Read more...]
Owning Rental Property Without Managing Tenants: Why I Use Property Managers
July 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Owning Rental Property Without Managing Tenants: Why I Use Property ManagersA few weeks ago, David, a co-worker of mine, got on the topic of investing in rental properties. After what seemed like 20 minutes, I found out the following about David:He owned a 4-plex ten years ago. He lost a lot of money. He hated dealing with tenants. He will never buy an investment property again. What I deciphered from his story was that he took on too much. He handled every aspect of his rental business … [Read more...]
Are Appraisers Part Of The Problem With Slow Housing Price Recovery?
July 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Are Appraisers Part Of The Problem With Slow Housing Price Recovery?Are Appraisers Holding Up The Housing Recovery?This is a question that is being asked more and more in communities around the county and real estate professionals seem to be consistently stymied by appraisers that have been labeled as over-zealous or overly-cautious. But, do appraisers really deserve part of the blame in such an unfamiliar real estate environment?I was talking to a good friend of mine who at one point … [Read more...]
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Why I Have to Use Property Managers
Why I Have to Use Property Managers If you work full-time like I do and you chose to be an active real estate investor, you will likely face tough decisions every week. One area in which I see new investors struggle, and where experienced investors have strong opinions is the use of property management.As one of the experienced investors, I know for sure that if I managed my properties myself I could do a better job, save some money, collect more rent, and produce a better return on my … [Read more...]