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...]
Ground Leases 101: A Financing Alternative
October 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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...]
Where Oh Where Have All the Distressed Sales Gone?
September 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Where Oh Where Have All the Distressed Sales Gone? The signing of the Attorneys General agreement five months ago was supposed to speed up foreclosure processing and move more properties through the pipeline faster than we’ve seen since Robogate. Over the past year, new initiatives by the GSEs and the biggest banks, and improved transaction management technology were supposed to get record numbers of short sales to closing faster and easier than ever.So what the heck happened?If you’re … [Read more...]
Is Buying a Foreclosure a Good Idea?
September 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Is buying a foreclosure a good idea? Maybe. Are you looking to buy a home to live in or are you an investor? If you're goal is to occupy the property as your primary residence, buying a foreclosure may be right for you. You can get more bang for your buck by purchasing a home that needs a little TLC. But if you are a real estate investor, buying a foreclosure may not be a good idea at all. Here are four important steps to follow when buying a foreclosure to live in as your home: Hire a … [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...]
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...]
Friday Asia Digest – Asians Buying Up NYC & London | Taiwan’s Time in the Sun
September 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Friday Asia Digest – Asians Buying Up NYC & London | Taiwan’s Time in the Sun An unexpected source for economic recovery hopes in New-York City and London (pictured on right) has emerged this week, as reports of a rapid increase in Asian ownership of properties in prime locations around the two metropolises are published in various media outlets.Investors from mainland China and Hong Kong have been bidding like crazy on top-notch properties around London, including but not limited to … [Read more...]
1st is Good But Who’s on 2nd?!? Hopefully it’s YOU!!
September 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment
1st is Good But Who’s on 2nd?!? Hopefully it’s YOU!! Until this post I have only talked about 1st position notes. From a control standpoint, they are the best investment — you have the right to foreclose on the property. That means you essentially have the right to control the asset and your ownership of the note is the highest priority. Now, consider this: Some investors like the low prices of 2nd position notes as an entry point to note investing. So what exactly is a 2nd … [Read more...]
Friday Asia Digest – Japan’s Stability VS Hong-Kong’s Luxury Bubble
August 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Friday Asia Digest – Japan’s Stability VS Hong-Kong’s Luxury Bubble As the economic freefall continues in Europe, more and more of the continent’s largest funds, banking groups and investment companies send their cash to Japan – seen as one of Asia’s (and indeed the world’s) more stable, safe and regulated financial environments – and in recent months seemingly at the end of its two-decade long property slump. As the strongest economies in Europe are North European, it’s … [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...]
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...]
It’s Time to Crank Up the Old Marketing Machine
August 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment
It’s Time to Crank Up the Old Marketing Machine For the past few years deals have been plentiful for real estate investors; so plentiful in fact many of them felt that they no longer really had to do any marketing. Foreclosures and bank owned properties were everywhere. A lot of real estate investors have had their pick of great deals. All they had to do in many cases was to cherry pick bank owned properties right off the MLS.As the supply of foreclosures and REOs begin to decline, these … [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...]
Short Sales Cast a Long Shadow
August 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Short Sales Cast a Long Shadow Yesterday the GSEs, Fanny and Freddie, accelerated the switch to short sales that has been underway for the past two years by announcing new servicing standards to speed up and streamline the processing of short sales for borrowers whose mortgages are held by the GSE’s, which is about half of all mortgages in the nation. The new guidelines, which take effect in November, allow servicers to approve a short sale for borrowers who have certain types of … [Read more...]
Partial Tax Deferred Exchange? You Bet
August 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Partial Tax Deferred Exchange? You Bet In last week’s post, in which I interviewed Qualified Intermediary & 1031 Expert Bill Execter about 1031 exchanges, questions were asked and answered as to how to ensure a successful closing of an exchange transaction. But the reader could have very credibly inferred that 1031s are an either/or proposition, which is patently false. The fact is, you as an investor can indeed sell a property held for investment, defer some or most of the capital … [Read more...]
Interview With Noted Tax Deferred Exchange Expert And Qualified Intermediary William Exeter
August 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Interview With Noted Tax Deferred Exchange Expert And Qualified Intermediary William Exeter Though the exact count isn’t known, I’ve done a lot of ‘em. I know a ton about ‘em too. I could tell stories, big time. But first, I’d make dang sure Bill Exeter wasn’t in the room, cuz no matter how many stories I can tell, he has 100 times more. Also, I’d never tell the first story if he was in the room, never. Yeah, I’ve done multi-state exchanges with a buncha properties and … [Read more...]
12 Tips for Being a Good Landlord and Having Happy Tenants
August 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment
12 Tips for Being a Good Landlord and Having Happy Tenants Every landlord would like to lower the turnover in their properties. It’s costly to attract and retain good tenants, not to mention the costs you incur when they move out and you have to turn a vacant rental. It just makes good business sense to strive to have happy, long term tenants in your properties. However, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have good systems in place and treat this like a business. Here are some … [Read more...]
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Friday Asia Digest: The Great Tokyo Rebound | Asian Real Estate Gets Greener
Friday Asia Digest: The Great Tokyo Rebound | Asian Real Estate Gets Greener Two decades of deflation, following the great Japanese property bubble burst in the early nineties, have left speculative investors on the sidelines as far as Japan is concerned. The ultra-safe and highly regulated business environment, tax incentives for foreign investors, and even the promise of spectacular cash-flow, in a world gone mad with negatively geared sub-prime properties, have not been enough to lure … [Read more...]