Often times we talk about flashy real estate deals that make big bucks. You might find a beat up foreclosure for $30,000 put $15,000 into it and sell it for $85,000. Not a bad day at the office from my perspective.

To be honest those types of stories while true, also sell.

But let’s talk a little bit about real estate investments instead of real estate transactions. It was only a couple of years ago that everyone wanted out of their day job to make it big in real estate. Fast Forward to late 2008 and early 2009 and all of a sudden most folks were just happy to have that day job and hunkered back down.

It was one of those markets about 15 years ago that my friend Steve made his first purchase in real estate. He bought a duplex. I remember being mesmerized by the deal. He paid full retail value, I believe $115,000 (which was a large investment in real estate at the time.) It wasn’t a foreclosure, nothing special by all rights. It was just a retail property.

I remember Steve telling me how he was going to live in one side and rent out the other. He figured up his numbers like this:

Mortgage = $1,200 (forgot to mention he got a 15 year loan)

Rent Received = $700

Out of Pocket = $500

This is a pretty boring deal! Yeh great he was able to pay for his house with some rent from another house and it only cost him $500 for his mortgage. Big whoop!

Here are a couple of things to keep in mind.

Number 1 – In 1997 the interest rate on that loan was 8.5%, over time he was able to refinance it down into the mid 4’s

Number 2 – Each year he was able to take the full payment of the loan plus expenses, net rents as a deduction on his income taxes. Effectively, depending on his income, making his housing costs about zero. A little sexier now, huh?

Number 3 – It is now 2012, the loan is paid off and everything coming from the property is cash flow. Oh and by the way, rents run about $900 per side now. $1,800 a month (Steve has long since moved on to a single family home with his new family, a home that can easily be paid every month from the cash flow of this home.)

Number 4 – That $115,000 house is now worth $152,000. I know that $37,000 is not sexy as all get out. But the fact is it continues to go up a few percent a year in a down market. It helps Steve sleep at night knowing he could sell the property and make money if need be.

So the moral of the story is buy a duplex, live in it for a while and some day it will be paid off, right?

NO, NO, NO!!!

The moral of the story is this…

In 15-20 years if you buy just one property a year for the next 5 years, with very little effort and time on your part you could own 5 cash flow homes making $1,000/mo plus the tax benefit. But more importantly in 15-20 years if you get a 15 year mortgage those homes will be paid off and throwing off, depending on the property, $9,000/mo.

How much are you hoping to retire on? How much do you have in your 401(k) and how much will you need to be able to retire and take $9,000 a month out of the plan while keeping the principal at zero or increasing?

Side note: I believe if Steve bought that same property today for $115,000 in this depressed real estate market that with average appreciation that home could easy double in value in 15 years. (just my guess, don’t bank on me.)

All of the experts keep saying that now is the best time to invest in real estate and they are right. But keep in mind, when you buy a good property at the right price and you hold it long-term, it is always, always, always the best time to invest in real estate.

Next Time: Let’s talk about what Steve could do if he were to roll this property over to a bigger cash flow property (welcome to Get Real Monopoly.)

We thought we would bring this video out of retirement to answer the question most people have. What type of real estate investing is good today? The answer is the one that makes you money!

But seriously it really depends on your goals and who you are. Watch this video to learn more about great real estate investing opportunities.

The Dow hit 13,000 today. People are dancing at their trading desks. From the doom and gloom media for once it was pure optimism. That in itself scares me. So why is it getting to be too late to invest in real estate? Finally, the economy is getting better, housing is going to heat up and I you can make money in real estate again. Huh?

Ok on occasion I have been accused of being too Pollyanna about my view on real estate investing. (Pollyanna it turns out means to be always optimistic, came from a book of the same name where the main character was always looking at the bright side, didn’t know that? me neither, till I just wikipedia’d it!)

Anyways, literature lesson aside, I have spent a lot of my time telling people that the down market is the perfect time to invest in real estate. Some listened, most didn’t, next.

I started investing in real estate about 7 years ago and about 5 years ago started informing and educating others about it. When the market was hot (read: prices were going up) I had no problem getting others to invest. Heck they didn’t even care if it was a good sound investment. Folks threw good money after bad, after money they didn’t have into any structure with four walls and some with three. It was great times but then, well you know, a funny thing happened to the real estate market.

Back to the original question, why is getting to be too late to invest in real estate?

Let me be clear about one thing. It is never a bad time to invest in a good deal and it always a horrible time to invest in a bad deal. There are no two ways around it. But there are better and worse times to invest in, well anything. Real estate is no different than any other investment vehicle, well except even if the market comes tumbling down you at least still have a piece of real estate.

Think about it for a minute. Do you want to buy when everything is going up or coming down? Trick question I know. You want to buy when everything is at its rock-bottom or slightly coming up. Today’s Dow 13,000 milestone might not mean the run up of the real estate market but it does show signs of change. The biggest change being the US consumer’s confidence.

If you are like everyone else, including yours truly, you will wait. Wait til the last possible moment, wait til everyone else has jumped on board and probably wait until it is too late. If you are one of those that has really study real estate investing, really gotten a handle on how the market works, built your dream team to support your investing business and have your financing options lined up, then you can ignore this next part. For the rest of us…

Unlike buying a car or breakfast, real estate investing is not something you wake up one morning and decide to do, at least not successfully. Real estate investing takes education, knowledge, practice, hard work and time. So if you are thinking, “Hey it might be a good time to buy some properties in the next year once the market comes back.” Then my question to you is, “Will you be ready to pull the trigger the second you know it is time?”

The up market comes faster than you can imagine and the down markets don’t last nearly as long as you think. There is always tomorrow and always time before things get hot. Just think of how many people thought that when they were buying at the top of the bubble. Start buy buying right and the rest is a heck of a lot easier.

We know that all of the gurus will spout off to you crap like, “you need to get out of your comfort zone” or “no one ever makes money unless they take action.” While that is true you and I know it doesn’t make  a hill of beans difference for any of that unless you have tools and knowledge to make a good decision.

Check out this video for a quick and simple 7 minute explanation of how to calculate the accurate after repair value of a foreclosed home or one you are just buying on the open market that needs a little sprucing up before re-selling or renting the home.

Real estate investing can be intimidating but once you start to learn the tricks of the trade and can make an informed decision you will be on your way to taking action every single day.

If you want more information on how to find and analyze real life real estate deals then enroll in our 4 week online course, Finding and Analyzing Deals

The first reaction to most people when you tell them that you are a real estate investor is to look at you with a bit of suspicion and wonder. They wonder if “real estate investor” really means “freelancer” or “doesn’t really have a job.” Then, once they realize that you really do have a profitable business venture going, they start to wonder what exactly it is that you do and how you know how to do it.

With your friends and family it’s fine for them to wonder a bit about your business and even have some suspicions. However, when you are looking to transact business with someone you want them to have enough information about you, your skills, and your experience for them to decide that they want to do business with you. One way you can show prospective clients and business partners that you know what you are doing is to create a small investor’s credibility kit for yourself.

Your investor’s credibility kit doesn’t have to be something you pay a fortune to have created. It doesn’t need to be professionally printed on glossy paper. It simply has to show people your experience, and to help them to decide to work with you. It needs to show people that you can do what you say that you can do.

The first thing you credibility kit needs to contain is a short biography about your company. If your real estate investment business is new, then a short biography about yourself and your relevant experience will suffice. Keep it to one page and try to keep the information as applicable as possible.

If you have attended real estate seminars, trainings, boot camps, classes, etc… include a copy of your certificate of completion along with your bio. If the vendor didn’t give you one, print one up yourself and send it to them and ask that they sign it for you.

If you have bought and sold property already, then you want to get testimonials from any of your previous clients and investors who have agreed to be references for you. If you have not yet bought or sold any property, you could get testimonials from previous or current employers as to your character. In addition, you will want some names and phone numbers of references that people can call to check up on you.

Your investor’s credibility kit should be given to anyone you are approaching about conducting business with. Just the simple act of creating it shows people that you are serious about your business and that you can do what you are telling them that you can.

Sellers and Buyers need people they trust, understand how to create an LLC and give them that confidence with the Investor’s LLC Kit

Property investment is a numbers business. As a real estate investor you’ll need to pay close attention to your numbers when purchasing a property in order to make money. Every investor develops their own basic plan for purchasing property to make a profit.

Those just starting out can get confused with all the suggested rates of return that you need to aim for, but each property purchase needs its own specific discount for you to make a good profit.

Start with the Minimum
A basic plan is to start by taking 10% off the asking price or the mortgage of a property you are working with the homeowner to purchase. This can be called your profits or your basic earnings.

From there you’ll continue to lower the amount of money you are willing to pay for that property based on certain negative factors associated with the home. This can be fact that the property doesn’t have a basement or it needs a new roof. You can negotiate a discount for many different problem areas with the bank. Just calculate the costs of these repairs or how much less a buyer would be willing to pay for it and you’ll get the additional discount you need to ask for on the sale price of this property.

Examples of negative issues associated with a property;

• Disrepair; needs new roof, new heater, etc.
• No appliances or old appliances
• No basement
• Only one bathroom for multi-bedroom house
• Economically depressed area
• Lot of other properties for sale around the home
• General shabby look, needs lawn care, new paint job, etc.

When you finish the calculations on discounts you’ll ask for, you’ll have your minimum discount, your additional discount and your total discount. That determines what you’ll be willing to pay for a property. As long as you approach the seller or the bank with proof of these negative issues, you stand a good chance of getting your discounted price.

This method of calculating will allow you to remain true to your financial plan for real estate investing, and also not end up getting into trouble by paying too much for a property.

If you want a quick and thorough way to calculate the value of investment properties check out our 4 week course Find and Analyze Deals.

You’ve found a great real estate investment to purchase, signed on with the homeowners and gotten all of your information in order. All that’s needed is to approach the bank with a short sale offer and close the deal right? Maybe not.

There is an art to negotiation in the real estate investment industry. Negotiating a short sale isn’t simply approaching the bank with your packet of paperwork and your best offer to close the deal.

You’ll need to endure at least two rounds of negotiation with the banks most of the time. So, don’t approach them with your final offer right off. It’s probably best if your first offer to the bank is a price that’s lower than what you are willing to pay.

Send a Cover Letter
Submit to the bank an offer cover letter filled will all of your points to justify the discounted offer you are making on the bank. The banks you usually end up negotiating with get tons of offers for their properties. This submitted cover letter helps you stand out and makes you look a little more professional as a real estate investor.

The cover letter can outline your interest in the property, certain negative aspects you’ve noticed to the default property and your first offer on the property. Don’t be afraid to make a low offer on the property when negotiating short sales. You can always up your offers, but you can never lower them. So, if you start out by giving them the most you are willing to pay for the foreclosure property you are interested in the bidding could quickly enter a price range you aren’t able to afford.

Make it Personal
Making more personal offers, such as using the cover letter submission, will get you into more negotiations with banks and help you close more deals. You’ll waste a lot of time if you go out make a 100 low ball offers in a very impersonal manner. It just won’t make real estate investment worth the time.

Instead, go out and find ten default properties that you are interested in and make more personalized offers on them. Put together a nice cover letter for each that outlines the points above and you’ll find that you enter more deal in less time. Less time spent means you are making more money for your effort and you are more likely to make that real estate deal.

Want to know what a house is worth with confidence? Take the 4 week course and turn your knowledge to cash. Find and Analyze Deals.

I have always been an early adopter of technologies to help me in my business.  I usually am keeping an eye out for the next new thing that will help me market my real estate investing business better than others working in my market.  In turn I have always said that Realtors and real estate investors alike are technophobic.  Social Media has proved me wrong.

Realtors are taking to sites like Twitter and Facebook like well, Realtors take to commissions.  If a Realtor isn’t currently using these sites to build business then they are asking everyone in their office about how to do it and what are the results.  Social Media is a very cost effective way to add to your marketing campaign for buyers and sellers but there are three things you should consider before pulling the trigger.

Number 1 – What is your end goal.  As a Realtor or real estate investor what do you want to get out of social media.  Don’t just do it because everyone else is, know what you want and define what success will mean to you. By beginning with the end in mind, as Stephen Covey puts it, you can craft your social media presence to focus on your market and niche.  Do you work the distressed property market?  Are you looking to build your buyers list? Are you trying to increase listings?

Number 2 – Have a plan.  Now that you know what you want to get out of your real estate marketing social media assets create a plan for it.  As a recent guest on my show, Harrison Painter explained, your job is real estate and making money at it not tweeting all day long.

By having a daily, weekly and monthly plan you can define how much time you are dedicating to your social media marketing and increase your return on the time invested by cutting out aimless wandering on these sites and entering into non-productive conversations.

Number 3 – Be the expert.  The great thing about social media is you can use the tool to brand yourself as an expert in your local market or even your specific niche in your local market.  This is where the rubber meets the road.  You need to join in conversations and provide real answers and consultation to your target market.  Don’t just join in to get your name out there. Instead provide solutions to questions and situations and your local market will come to you time and time again as the expert in your field.

After you have completed these steps you need to do one more thing, be consistent.  Make sure you stick to your plan and measure your results.

For more real estate investing marketing tips visit http://getrealrei.com/wholesaling/

You are bombarded by it in the news, “Foreclosed Homes hit all time highs.” Around the water cooler you hear your co-workers talking about finding a great deal on a foreclosed home they are going to make a mint off of. Then you trudge back to your desk and jump on the net looking for foreclosed homes. Quickly you start to think that finding a real foreclosed home let along a sweet deal on one is a task better suited for Sherlock Holmes than for you.

If you are like most newer investors or home buyer’s looking to get an awesome deal a foreclosed home you are probably thinking the bank must be hiding them all behind those foreclosure listing services where all you see is the street name and the city of the listing but have shell out $30 a month to get, “more details.” Come along for the ride for a minute with me, it is not as hard as it seems.

Easy Way 1 – Go to the source. Just a few years ago banks didn’t want you to know they had foreclosed homes. These homes were an embarrassment to them and they kept their inventory veiled in secrecy from the public. Today things are much different and the cat is out of the bag. Everyone knows that the banks are inundated with foreclosed homes and they are more than willing to share what they have in hopes you will buy one of their homes. Visit the larger banks and local banks in your area odds are you will find a foreclosed homes or foreclosure link on their site and take a look at what they are offering.

Easy Way 2 - Once you have visited a few of the banks websites you will notice a pattern. Their foreclosed homes offering is being listed by one or maybe two realtors in your local market. These realtors are called REO (Real Estate Owned) brokers. They specialize in listing and selling foreclosed homes for the banks. If you find a local broker listing a bunch of homes for one bank the odds are good they are listing homes for other banks too. Contact these brokers to get foreclosed home listings they have available. These realtors are not only a great source of inventory but they also have the inside track to the bank’s ear.

Easy Way 3 – An REO realtor is, by their nature, going to be most interested in selling you the foreclosed homes they have in their own inventory. You can also tap another realtor source and that is the buyer’s agent. These realtors specialize in helping you find a home. Find one you trust and ask them to set up an email search of the MLS in your market for foreclosed homes. A good realtor knows the keywords to enter in their search to get focused listings of foreclosed homes sent to you via email each day.

Easy Way 4 – You probably already found this foreclosed home source just by Googling foreclosures or foreclosure listings but it is the foreclosure services. The two largest services in the US are RealtyTrac and Foreclosures.com. While there is a fee to get these listings they can be a very good source of foreclosed homes. Beyond just brining you the listings they also provide a wide array of tools that can be helpful in analyzing deals and choosing the homes that make the most sense to you financially. Keep in mind that while there is a fee it is what you do with the information that matters. A small monthly $30 fee is a good investment if you can regularly identify and purchase foreclosed homes that make you money.

Easy Way 5 – Our first 4 sources of foreclosed homes focused on homes that have already been taken back by the bank. In the US our laws provide for the right of due process for every homeowner. This means there is an often lengthy period that the home is in pre-foreclosure before the bank actually gets the home back. If you track the pre-foreclosures in your market you will have a leg up on your competition knowing which homes will soon be entering the banks foreclosed homes inventory. This source is a topic that deserves it’s own article and may be for more advanced real estate investors but keep it in mind when the time comes for you to move in this direction.

If you even just work one of these sources for foreclosed homes you will find that there is a seemingly endless supply of foreclosures in your local market. They key to using any of these sources is to look on a consistent and persistent basis. New foreclosed homes enter the market every day and time is of the essence for the really good deals. So grab on to a source or two and take action to cash in on the extremely hot foreclosure market.

]]> http://www.getrealrei.com/foreclosure/5-easy-ways-to-find-foreclosed-homes/feed/ 0 http://www.getrealrei.com/foreclosure/3-rookie-mistakes-when-buying-foreclosed-homes/ http://www.getrealrei.com/foreclosure/3-rookie-mistakes-when-buying-foreclosed-homes/#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2011 01:45:53 +0000 Judson Voss http://www.getrealrei.com/?p=541

If you have been thinking about jumping on the foreclosed homes bandwagon and making some pretty good money off of these homes then it may seem like a simple process.  Get a foreclosed home listing, make an offer close to the listed price and cash in.

Unfortunately as with anything in life it is not quite that simple.  The great news is that while you probably won’t make big money all that easily with some hard work and a little knowledge you can cash in on one of the hottest foreclosed homes markets we have ever seen. The key is to avoid 3 of the big mistakes many new investors make when setting out on making their fortune in real estate investing.

Mistake 1 – Using the bank’s sale price. Many new investors often use the bank’s price on a foreclosure listing as a method to decide what they will offer for the home.  Here is a common scenario, take the banks listing price on the foreclosure and reduce it 30% to make an offer. While this is a simple method and appears you are sure to get a deal there is one problem. The bank’s listing price may or may not have anything to do with the value of the home.

I recommend that you completely ignore what the foreclosed home is listed for and only use your own due diligence to analyze the deal.  First you should calculate the market value, then take into account any repairs needed and lastly build in your profit.  This should be the only offer you should make on a bank owned home, or any other home for investing purposes for that matter.

Mistake 2 – Get your deals from one source. Yes I know you have a full time job and family commitments so you don’t have time to work with a bunch of different sources to get your foreclosed homes listings.  So you go out and find a realtor that is willing to pull foreclosures from the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for you and you are done.

For whatever reason this just doesn’t work. You will not get every deal right when you need them from this method.  Instead you need to work with multiple sources to find foreclosed homes.  My best recommendation is to work with a buyer’s agent to search foreclosures for you but you must also go to the source, the banks themselves and REO (Real Estate Owned) brokers who list these foreclosed homes for the bank.  In this case the more the merrier.

Mistake 3 – Having no exit strategy.  I keep hearing over and over again that you make money when you buy the home.  Try that out once and then check your bank statement, you will find this is not true.  You might create value when you buy the home well below market value but my checking account has never grown until I sold the home.  Before you even begin to look at foreclosed homes start by knowing what your exit strategy is.

The type of home you are looking for will vary greatly depending on whether you plan to fix and sell the home, fix and rent it, fix and lease option it or just wholesale it to another investor.  Once you have at least one exit strategy you are going to commit to then you can narrow your search for foreclosed homes and choose the ones that are right for you.

Today, right now is the best time to work the foreclosed home market.  Foreclosure listings are reaching all time highs and the banks are feeling the pain of the REO inventory.  Keep in mind that buying a home for investment purposes is a serious matter and you need to have a serious plan in place to profit from it.  Avoid these 3 mistakes when investing in your foreclosed home and you will be one step closer to profiting from foreclosures.

Learn more about using Private Money to Invest in Foreclosed homes.

Financial Advisor, Scott Cramer, joined me to discuss how the individual real estate investor can diversify their portfolio into markets never imagined. If you think now is a great time to own real estate but you are afraid of getting out there and buying and flipping houses then you might want to consider REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts) A REIT is basically a professionally managed group of assets that all fall within a specific charter, or more plainly, are similar properties/activities.

As you will find out from Scott, REITs encompass a wide range of property types and geographic areas. If you want to invest in other states or other countries even, REITs make it possible. As with any type of investing though it is important to understand your personal investing goals and risk tolerance.

If you would like to find out more make sure you visit Scott’s site http://www.cramerandrauchegger.com

Remember: Andy Heller is still offering a silly cheap deal on his REO Fortunes course offered online, check it out

Many real estate investors choose to purchase properties which are in need of some repair. Some take on the repairs themselves, while others sell the home with a discount to someone else who will happily deal with the repairs themselves. Whichever option you choose, it is imperative to know how to figure out what the repair costs involved in a property will be, before you ever agree to a purchase price.

When you are walking through a property you are considering for purchase, you should always do so with a pad of paper and a pencil handy. Start at the outside of the home and walk around the grounds. Make note of the roof, gutters, exterior paint, windows, garage door, etc… To help yourself remember later, when you are not at the property, make notes on each item and whether they are in good shape or need some work. If work is needed write down exactly what you believe is necessary.

Once you enter the property start the dishwasher, washer, dryer, heater, A/C and any other systems in the home which will come with the property. Let these items run a bit while you look in other areas of the home, and make notes on them as well.

At each sink in the kitchen, bathrooms, and garage, turn on both the hot and cold water. Check to make sure both hot and cold water come out and check beneath the sink to look for any possible leaks. Again, make notes for yourself which you can refer to later.

When you walk through the other areas of the home such as living rooms and bedrooms, make sure to check for any flooring issues. Additionally, look at all of the interior and exterior doors in the home and check them for damage. Make notes of any flooring or door issues you see.

Once you have completed your walk-thru of the home, you now have a listing of all of the obvious material issues which may need to be addressed. From this list you can now determine the approximate costs of repairs and make a more informed decision on whether or not to purchase the property.

David Veeder joined me today to talk about how he built his real estate business. Now David isn’t going to tell you how he built Billions in real estate. Instead David is a guy I have known for 3+ years. He started exactly where we all do with no real estate. In a fairly short period of time he has built up his business to the point that he makes his living by owning rental homes and loaning private money. This interview is a must for anyone that is trying to figure out how to go from employee to real estate entrepreneur.

David shares…

• How to figure out what type of investing is right for you
• Going out and building a network of other investors
• Searching out and working with a mentor to help you learn
• Learning how to rehab rental properties correctly
• Getting up after a tough deal
• Using your money to create income in real estate without owning it

Remember if you have a story to tell make sure you go to the “Suggest an Interview” form and let us know.

Have an interest in foreclosures? You have to check out Andy Heller’s Bank Owned Home training course.

Ankit Duggal started in real estate young at the age of 18. Not only did he get started he did it differently than many wanna be investors. Ankit started as a Realtor and really learned the business. Once he had that down he moved into expanding his knowledge of the business by becoming a mortgage broker and really picking up the keys to learn what it takes to finance an end buyer. With this fully in hand then he moved on to looking at investing in real estate himself. All while he was still going to school full-time!

There is no way you won’t learn a ton of great stuff from Ankit in this interview. He not only shares the nuts and bolts of his real estate business, RER, LLC. But he is going to teach you some great things about work ethic and overcoming adversity along the way.

Let me and Ankit and I know what you think in the comments below.

Kurt Carlton joins me on this episode to answer the BIG question. How can I get financing in today’s market and once I get that first property how can I afford to keep buying more properties?

Kurt covers topics like…

• Current lending requirements for landlord properties
• How to finance homes that need repairs
• How to refinance properties after the repairs are done
• Using your down-payment over and over
• Overcoming seasoning requirements

You can find out more about Kurt at http://www.shermanbridge.com

I think this is a great episode, make sure you tune in and hear how Jim Simcoe stumbled into one of the hottest ways to invest in real estate today. Jim is rehabbing and consulting with other investors on how to plan and execute single and multi-family rehab projects by using sustainable and eco-friendly methods and materials.

He learned some great along the way, it is PROFITABLE! With so many government incentives for eco-friendly projects today and the flow of other private money to the green space it is possible to rehab better and cheaper than ever before.

Jim gives the how’s and why’s of greenhabbing including -

• Less competition in this space
• Better purchase prices on homes from banks
• Lower cost to rehab = greater profits
• Lower overall cost of ownership for the homeowner or the landlord
• More private money opportunities

Overall sustainable rehabbing is HOT and profitable. I hope you get some great info from Jim.

Get a FREE copy of Jim’s 70 page report on “How to Rehab Green”

Interview

My good friend Andy Heller joined us today to share what he is doing in this real estate market to profit from the record low housing prices. I can’t tell you all of the great information here, so listen in to this episode. But I can tell you a few of the high points of his talk.

1. With the number of foreclosures on the market today houses are at their lowest in a very long time making it a great time to buy. Not only are houses cheap their are a lot of Realtors specializing in foreclosed homes.

2. Another great thing about this market is there are more and more people moving into the rental market. With the rise in foreclosures, bankruptcy and job loss, unfortunately people have been pushed out of homeownership and into rental situations. The good news for investors is they are able to provide affordable housing with good cash flow as the pressure mounts on the rental deman.

3. Foreclosure investing does not mean driving all over town looking for houses. If you can spend 2-4 hours a week and leverage the time of a Realtor that specializes in bank owned homes you can find and purchase from 4 – 20 homes a year.

4. My favorite part! People with money realize that today’s real estate market is a great time to buy. Because of this and the very low returns on savings vehicles many folks are willing to put up private money to lend on your foreclosure projects.

Stay Up to Date

Make sure you join our email list to stay updated on what’s going on along with any special educational events and news. Plus get some great freebies when you sign up.

Upcoming Shows…

• Greenhabbing – Rehabbing homes in a sustainable and eco-friendly manner
• Lease/Options
• Real World Wholesaling
• Using Technology to Run Your Business

Wow! We hit a home-run with this one!

OK before you think I am getting full of my lil real estate self only a couple of days back on the show give me a sec.

Don Derosa joined me today to talk about something very important. “How do you make money in real estate today!!” Don opened up and share some real no holds barred stuff. He didn’t sugar coat it. Instead he talked about exactly what he is doing, the real numbers he is getting in profits and why it works.

Here are some of the things Don touched on today:

• Where are the best deals
• Who are the best sellers
• Who are the buyers for the deals
• What kind of realistic money can you make
• How much money do you need
• Where is Don finding his best deals
• How to structure these to be fair to everyone

So what does Don think is the best way to invest right now? I could tell you to listen and find out but the fact is if you want to make money you will do that anyways. Don likes engineering lease-option deals where he can put the house under contract and then owner-finance it to an end-buyer and get out of the deal. Just that simple, well a little bit of work but it is a basic process.

Help Me Out!!
I am on a quest to talk to as many regular everyday investors as possible. Make money, lost money, or just plain old lost, I don’t care. Everyone has a story and we can all learn from it. Head on over to the contact page and let me know if you want to be interviewed or know someone that would be a good interview. I have a special gift just for helping out.

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GRS – 200

OK, I know we deserve crap for disappearing off the face of the earth for 6 months without saying a word. Here is the deal…

We were on holiday in the congo when a group of aborigines jumped out of nowhere and captured our whole group.

Well, wish that was the case but instead we got sidetracked working on a bunch of different stuff, getting pulled in 20 directions and lost focus on what we really like to do. Talk about real estate and real estate investing. So today we are back, re-energized and re-focused on the task at hand, sharing what people are doing to cash in on the current real estate market.

Make sure you head over to the Contact Page and leave us a comment or if you know someone we should interview I will jump right on it!

Upcoming Shows:

We have Andy Heller and Don Derosa coming up in the next week here talk about what they are doing to make money today and how to get your hands on some cash if you don’t have a ton.

Judson: We’re lucky today, we’ve got Mark Kreditor and Mark is the past president of the National Association of Residential Property Managers, obviously I can say that easily. He is also a professional property manager down in the Dallas, Forth Worth area,  doing about 1500 properties currently. So, he got a big portfolio that he manages for other folks down there. How are you doing Mark?

Mark: Just great.

Judson: Cool.

Allison: Mark, can you toss a little bit about your business, and what type of properties that you manage?

Mark: Sure. We started in 1981. And our business basically becomes whatever the marketplace needs, and I think we’ve first started in the mid-80s, managing mostly condominiums that were built for sale and never sold, and they were rented. And then got into single family much more as we embraced the learning curve through NARPM, an association of residential property managers. And we’ve managed for about 1200 single family and 300 condos but there really no litmus test on what all manage, Our rents go from 200 to 5000 a month and everybody is treated exactly the same. I call it the queezen art approach to property management. And everything goes in the same way and comes out the same way.

Judson: Okay. That makes sense. So ,that’s that type of stuff you got started with. Did you say ‘81?

Mark: ‘81, it was when I started the business and we mostly did condominiums for the first years of our business. That was normally what was being built but couldn’t sell and eventually everything couldn’t sell.

Judson: That’s fairly impressive that you’ve been doing that since ‘81 and we’re not talking to you from the insane asylum.

Mark: You know what, everybody, everybody thinks that you get to this person who is going to be crazed from it but it really always step back, and everybody thinks that I am a lawyer because I feel like a more a Baptist minister and I read everything based on exactly what it says. Then you really don’t allow your emotional side to get involved with anything blurred. This is what it says. Its clear as day as what it says. And we don’t change ever, anything. That the least makes us very sane because we treat everybody fairly, ethically and consistently.

Judson: Well I think that’s a –

Mark: Nothing that we are good of you as money.

Allison: Yeah, exactly.

Judson: So, what was that got you interested in property management even in the first place?

Mark: Residual income. I was originally leasing properties and then the owners would be out of town and something would break and they call me and ask if I knew a plumber or they would call and ask if I would run over there, and I was doing the property management for free. And then I realized that this doesn’t really seem right, and I could just mange the properties for them and get residual income each month. And that was really the best kind of business model to have. So, with that in mind, it doesn’t matter what kind of economy exists in a marketplace, if you have a residual income that comes in every month, you really aren’t affected by ups and downs as much.

Judson: Yeah. That’s true.

Mark: It’s the best business in the world.

Allison: Absolutely. What you like most about managing the properties?

Mark: Residual income every month.

Allison: Yeah.

Judson: The money.

Allison: I think that probably would be my favorite. What you like least about it?

Mark: Dealing with the same person every single day, several times a day that wants their problems to be yours that have made really stupid decisions that they openly admit they made with regard to their credit or their creditors or whatever they’re doing. And yet they want their problems to be your problems. And it’s so hard for me not to immediately respond that I often do, when for example, if someone says, well I know my credit shot but it’s only medical bills I own. And my response, this is always yea, but the owner Dr. Anderson has a problem with that. I always, and again no offense to the millions of listeners out there who are having a fight with PPO because I know all about that too, but you got to understand that most of the time when someone has a problem, they want it to be the landlords problem. And that part I hate. I hate people who retrade deals, I hate people who just won’t say hey I blew it, I realized I am late, here is the agreed upon late fee and thank you for not throwing me out. That’s what they should be saying.

Judson: Sure.

Allison: Yeah, exactly.

Mark: Only a few say that.

Judson: That’s true.

Allison: That’s true. Few and there I guess you’re going to get those with anything as always, a few bad eggs.

Judson: I’m glad you didn’t put something about investors as a thing you like least.

Allison: That’s a good thing.

Judson: So, speaking of…

Mark:  Yeah, my clients also but I have to tell you that I work for the owner of the property. So, I have to be somewhat empathetic when they’ve made a less than perfect investment. But we need to move pass that and many of the signature sound bytes are used when they tell me, look I don’t have the money right now to do the make ready, just tell the tenant at it look before they move in. But obviously, I’d like to answer them what you an idiot but I have to be kind and I have to respectful, they are my clients, so I say, you know that’s truly almost like telling that I can buy the car and you’ll clean it when I come pick up the keys. But there’s a 100 dealerships with a 100,000 clean cars all along the same street.

Judson: Yeah, exactly.

Mark: They don’t understand that they have to out compete whatever is on the market, not the market bears dirty property that only get cleaned when you pick up keys. They may can get away with it. But they’ve hired me to tell them what the market is. The investors really need to listen to their property manager because they have the best sense of what the market needs to find your qualified tenant. And dirty houses almost always don’t work.

Judson: Yeah, that’s a good tip. Make sure that they look like they’re ready to move into because that’s what they want to see as something they can move into.

Mark: Perfect condition.

Judson: Unless they own a cleaning company, may be they’d be excited about that but. Let me ask you a question sort of from a career standpoint. This goes out to the folks that are listening that that want to be investors and also to folks that are realtors that are interested in property management, with someone like this, psychological personality characteristics that makes this a fit for somebody. Do you their investor rental properties or to manage them?

Mark: A great question. Let’s start with the question about realtors because I am a realtor and I teach a lot to realtors, only about property management. I don’t sell real estate. So my first choice says, I don’t need to do your job but I also ask you, please don’t try to do mine unless you become an expert first. That to sell real estate is almost a different side of the mouth, to speak out of and really encouraging people to rent. And obviously if I’m a landlord, I want to encourage people to rent, to embrace that. And I think it’s very difficult to do both. So, I think you’d best off if you are a realtor that sells to not try to do both. I think it’s really very difficult. But if you think you want to, then I would tell you to get an education first, join the National Association of Residential Property Managers and go take some classes and immerse yourself in property management laws and this is kind of a sound byte. When you sell a house you have an appraiser, you have an inspector, you have a credit company, you have a surveyor, and you have a title company, all making sure you don’t screw up the do’s and don’t’s in the checklist.

Judson: Right.

Mark: When you rent a property, you only have two people, a lease, and you are living with each other for 24/7 for a year. So, you better know what that lease says, because you have none of these other partners making sure there isn’t black mold and there isn’t the wrong place where the fence goes that this is the lot of cover your butt stuff that you need to do be able to do in property management that in regular real estate and sales, you hire experts to do for you.

Judson: So, you got to take care of the little more the due diligence yourself.

Mark: Right. I am a compulsive person almost.  I need medicine for it and I think I make the best property manager because I really an adimant about following through and and making sure that tenant’s air condition got fixed and getting checks out at midnight of the 1st. I mean I do everything as fast as possible. And that has been kind of the unique selling point of our particular brand as we get there first.

Judson: Okay. That’s a good one.

Allison: Yeah. I would appreciate that a lot over somebody else.

Mark: We’re open to  midnight of the due date of the rents so that everyone is paid within five minutes, we have the check.

Judson: That’s pretty cool.

Allison: That’s a definitely a good selling point, I would think. Mark, what are some of the ways you find to be the most effective when it comes to getting your properties filled?

Mark: Filled. I mean in the internally soft market, I’ve been dealing this in dollars for 25 years and I’ve never had a waiting list ever.

Judson: Really?

Mark: So, I only speak for my little world, which is very competitive. And the most important way to get it is filled is make it perfect, that there should be a standard of excellence check list and any investor has memorized. So, if they are doing the make ready or they’d subcontract out, they are giving the checklist to someone will be sure. The top of the fridge is clean, the light bulb in the refrigerator is the highest wattage that you can have, the ceiling fans are dusted off, the clothes hangers are removed from the front. I mean I have a 300 of these things on the checklist and that to me is  the fundamental first step towards excellence as the standard in terms of property condition to attract the best tenant possible.

Allison: Okay.

Mark: So, the next step is going to be advertising. And in marketing to a tenant, you want to give them as much information as possible so that you don’t have to tell somebody how much money they need or how much income they need on a ratio. You tell everything up front to the public and then people will only call you if they really think they can qualify. So, they know how much the rent is, how much the deposit is, what references they might need, what credit score rating they might want. And you just are very upfront and honest in disclosing to the public what it takes. And look, if you’ve got flowers planted in the beds, the place looks gorgeous from the drive by, you will probably attract qualified tenants and that’s what it is all about.

Allison: That’s true.

Mark: I don’t believe in unconventional marketing, I don’t think that running an ad in the newspaper is affordable or really effective or as effective as knocking on your neighbors’ doors with a color flyer and even may be something of a plant to a goodwill gift to them and just say,  Hey I’m trying to lease my house next door. If you know somebody who would like to be your neighbor, here’s some information about the property. So I always market within the neighborhood. When we do a color brochure that gets mounted to a tube, it’s place next to the sign and front of the property. We’re also doing video commerical tour just on the website. Those two are more effective any ads we placed in the newspaper.

Judson: Wow. That’s much more cost effective too because of what newspaper ads cost nowadays

Mark: I don’t want to say that but yeah.

Judson: I don’t understand how –

Mark: I know the news paper industry is hurting so I am not saying not to do it but certainly that is much less expensive, much more direct and much more informative.

Judson: It’s a relationship type of marketing that’s works up pretty good. That’s cool. So, once I’ve got folks there that have qualified, like you said, you’d let them prequalify themselves, which is key too, it saves you a lot of time by not having people that don’t just make the bar at all.

Mark:  Truly,  I don’t believe anything they’re telling us. We should be know it. Even if you use a third party to verify everything that they’re telling you, I have everyday an owner saying uh these really great people came to look to my house. They seem perfect, let me give the keys on Friday night, and I say why don’t we just let them fill out an app and by the time I find out what they’ve done in their last 3 felony counts, when they stayed in jail, what their credit was, and all but I mean people don’t expect you to do a thorough background check and you must do it if you’re going to be a professional property manager because it’s just the right thing to do.

Judson: Sure.

Mark: And we find four out of five people fail the litmus test, at least in this market but North Texas have the country’s lowest credit scores, that’s a fact.  We just want everybody to be run through the same, just like a doctor and you have to go through a physical.

Judson: So, what are some of those things you use to qualify them?

Mark: Well, a sort of a blood test. We get two years of rental history, the names and phone numbers of landlords so that we can verify the relationship in terms of payment and condition with the landlord but it doesn’t stop there. You have to assume that that person you are calling is their brother in law or their mother in law who want some another house. So, you have to ask questions for them to fill in the blanks. You can’t just ask them, so they moved here this date to that date, did they paid their rent in time, and their interest. So, we got one this morning where we ran the tax record on the person that this tenant was saying was their owner landlord and that persons name wasn’t on the tax record. So, we had a hunch, it might have been a bogus reference.

Allison: Of course, yeah.

Judson: And she had all bad credit and all those stuff so we certainly had a propensity believe she might be doing that. But that’s just what we do. You just go into the tax records and it’s real easy on the internet to see if that person they’re telling you that they’ve been paying rent to is really the owner. Then you want to verify income. There are so many people in this country are self employed doing all kinds of things. You have to not expect to call human resources or IBM and get and answer to your question in 30 seconds. You might need to get tax returns. You might need to get bank statements. And you really have to be comfortable that there’s reliable consistent income coming in or you’re going to have a problem in the short-term getting rent.

Judson: Okay.

Mark: Credit criminal is just electronic in putting into your PC and you can check that out as a member of the credit bureau and criminal is readily available through lots of web sites. And all this kind be done by wonderful third party national firms that service the property management industry by verifying applications and tell you what to do, whether or not you should lease to him or not.

Judson: Okay, that makes sense.

Allison: Yeah.

Judson: It’s very business like is what you’re saying.

Mark: And it’s also their fault. If you want to decline them, you’re not declining them but the third party company is. It’s much better for housing purposes to just take out the personality and you just feel what this verification service. They tell me whether or not I can lease you a house.

Judson: It’s great.

Allison: Yeah, not kidding. Mark, what are some of the biggest mistakes that you see in your investors make when it comes to filling their vacancies?

Mark: Well, the first mistake investors often make in terms of the vacancies is thinking that the vacancy going to be filled for the rent that the seller told them it would rent for. Because very often when you buy a house from a seller, the seller forgets to tell you that he gave the tenant three months free rent, to get them up to that rent to the $1000 when they really, really paid only 750. So, what I always ask for before even fill the vacancy on an investment is I wanted to see the tax returns of the seller where he discloses how much income he got. And it’s never the same number as what he tells me it rented for or it rented for right now. I’ve seen everything from new clients when they bring their investment properties, mostly bogus leses that amounts that the tenant said was just this month only, could they’ve bought me something to sign this lease. But after it’s closed, it took a  lot of problems to go back to that seller that just hustled you, so, I always go by the seller’s tax return.

Allison: Okay.

Mark: But back to the original question, which is where do you try to find, where you get the best tenant to let in.

Allison: What are some of the biggest mistakes that you see in your investors make when it comes to filling the vacancies?

Mark: Filling the vacancy. The biggest mistake I find they make is they like the prospect too much. And they want so badly for that person who they emulate because may be they have the same aged child or the same car or go to the same church that they want so badly for this relationship to work. It’s a business. And I tell owners all the time to never ever tell this prospect you’re the owner because if you decline them they’re going to find out where you’re living, they going to take your children. It’s business,you fill out the app and the third party company takes cares of it.

Allison: Absolutely.

Mark: Another mistake they make is they want it so badly for this coworker’s brother in law’s sister, who really has had just so much bad luck in her life to lease your house. I mean everybody wants to help someone else. It’s just natural for you want to be charitable. But be charitable with something other than your rental property. But once you put someone in that can’t pay rent, it’s really a big problem. It’s like letting someone into your body. It’s a real problem. So, that’s the biggest problem. These investors get too personally involved with the whole process.

Allison: Okay.

Judson: I always tell people don’t rent to people who you go to church with unless  you want to serve with eviction papers on Sunday.

Mark: Again, I say the same thing, unless they can  qualify.

Judson: That’s true.

Allison: You just relate to them on whatever their personal, whether you guys have something in common.

Mark: That’s what it is. And if it sounds like I am selling you a car where you’re going to pay me a lot of money for the car all cash and then you might drive the car recklessly, I don’t care, you own the car.  With a rental property you are not going to get the car back.

Allison: That’s right.

Mark: It’s like inviting somebody into your body. You have to make sure you really want them there.

Allison: Absolutely, that makes a lot of sense,

Judson: Once we get people qualified, we have to qualify tenants in there, even the best of their plans as they say surely go array. What are some of the ways you use to make sure you collect your rent on an efficient basis?

Mark:  No problem. So, we’ve qualified the tenant, they seem great. The next step is a  closing. And I make this the most serious business transaction you’ll ever go through. It takes much longer to go over the lease in my office than it does to buy the house of the title company because I want the tenant to completely understand what they’re signing. From an ethical standpoint, it’s like accepting God, we want you to know what is said. I accept God, this is what goes along with it. So, people just want their keys and they want to give me money and they want to go. But no, we need spend an hour, you need to learn how to water the foundation, and when to do it. You do learn how to change your air conditioning filter. And you need to learn how to buy a plunger because we’re not paying for pulling stoppage and like this, a hundred of these things.

Allison: Yeah.

Mark: But when it comes down to the nit and gritty of where we’re going to have problems, the first one is going to be the condition of the property when you move in. So we when allow for the tenant, a full digital library of what the condition of this property is when you pick up keys. And all of this can be done with a digital camera and a hard drive so the tenant sees that we have and entire videography of picture of every room. We also have a written inventory of every room. So, the tenant will then not pull that great line of American history, it was like that when I moved in.

Judson: Yeah.

Mark: When they move out and they’re sort of a hole in the wall.

Judson: Yeah.

Mark: So, digital photography has made this argument so much diminish for us because we know what it was like when we moved in because we both went over the video together.

Judson: Absolutely.

Mark: So, that’s the first area that’s a major component of this closing is establishment of condition when you move in so they can’t say it was like that when I moved in. when they move out and it’s a hole in wall. The second is of course the question you want me to answering that rent payment. We want tenants to understand what is going to happen if they don’t pay rent. And I can only tell you what happens here in Texas. As I said to you yesterday, our property code is written largely by Smith & Wesson. And what happens here is that you can give the tenant if you both agree in the written agreement, a one day notice to vacate.

Speaker2: Nice.

Speaker1: So, if they don’t pay the rent by midnight of the 1, then on the second, they’re going to get one day to get out of the house. So, if they are not out of the house within that day, then we’re going to file an eviction. And we explain to the tenant, how much it cost to file, what the code costs are, how much it is for us the park. At the court house, how much it’s going to cost me on the tollway  to get the courthouse. And all of this just laid out financially for then tenant. And the late fees, there’s a late schedule is a late fee schedule scheduled we’ve give to the tenant. As all this is not done to scare them. It’s done to share them. We want them to know what’s going to happen if they need to pay late. Because everybody may have to pay late, we just don’t want them to come back and say, I can’t believe you are doing this to me, nobody told it was going to be like this. So don’t sign the lease, it’s going to like this. This is exactly what it says and this is an exactly step by step how everybody will be treated fairly, consistently and ethically. And 99.9% of the people sign the lease but now they actually understand what’s going to happen. So what this creates for you is a better environment to deal with delinquency. I said better because people are always angry no matter what it is. They feel you have to be fair, they have to be a reasonable estimate of your damages, they can’t be crazy. And that’s kind of how we really approach this whole payment thing, just making sure people understand what’s going to happen if they can’t pay the rent.

Judson: Okay. You are basically setting expectations of everything, you know what that…

Mark: And then the other part is you better follow through.

Judson: Making sure people understand what is gonna happen if they can’t pay.

Mark: From midnight we have video cameras everywhere and drive up window and so that we really know if you are here to pay. If you don’t pay then by the time you wake up the next day a server has been to your house already to put a notice on your door. And everyday somebody would probably be at your home giving you a subsequent notice of what’s going on. We will also follow through with that and then physically will go to the client’s home , the client’s rental home and motivate the tenant anyway we cant pay the rent.

Judson: Okay .They have to. So say why I turned my dog. If I say no we  cant  just continue to do it.  When I say “no” there are consequences.

Mark: You can’t be a landlord in a half hearted way when it comes to collecting rent. You cant say to the tenant it’s a 100 dollar a day late fee because I don’t have time to chase you. And the tenant then doesn’t pay rent and pays late and you waive it one month and the next month you get pissed off because they didn’t water the lawn, then you are going to charge. That doesn’t work. It has to be consistent. It has to be fair. It has to be reasonable. In the  whole of that as often a little difficult  for owners because they get pissed off , they get the feelings hurt. I inherit these leases that are 100 dollars a day late fee leases,  this is ridiculous before you can even collected it. Second of all, nobody would have ever paid and have a reasonable late fee that everybody agrees to, that is going to be consistently enforced.

Judson: Okay. That makes sense. One last question in  concerns to the maintenance part of it and maintain in the lease and everything. It comes down to the maintenance of the property. Now I know something as to do  you mentioned before , how to change the filters, light bulbs and all that kind of stuff, but obviously there is going to be some stuff that is gonna be taken take care by a professional. How do you handle those maintenance requests?

Mark: No problem. First we wanna do is show the tenants from the property code itself what gets covered in your state. I can only speak on behalf of Texas. And in Texas a land lord must make a diligent effort to repair any item that is for help or safety of an ordinary resident. In four areas specifically in the property court are mentioned , heat, air conditioning , hot water to 100 degrees, 120 degrees and structural defects that have water penetration like a roof leak. So that’s a very short list. But we do focus on stuff that doesn’t get fixed. Because that’s really what the tenant is gonna get more angry about when they think that they stopped up their toilet they gonna get a maintenance service to get the Roto-Rooter out there or they didn’t change the air conditioning filter or their smoke alarm is chirping or their breaker tripped or their outside clearance is dirty because the cottonseed in the yard or they ran over the sprinkler head.  Realize  that the state of Texas in the law books , in the property code is the tenant’s expected repair.  And why this is so important. Many of your investors are going to be leasing tenants who have moved from an apartment environment where everything was  fixed. Everything was done for them because that’s what that policy of that apartment community was. They even took the garbage out when they stopped your garbage disposal to everything. But it wasn’t really what was required under the law, it was just what was the policy of that opponent. Retrain the tenant based on that law to minimize your expenses on repairs.

Judson: Okay. That’s great. I think like every time you keep coming back to the sort of managing expectations and everything like that. That sounds like…

Mark: Usually you have a pager , a cellphone and a list of vendors that you can call on get after quickly. because there is nothing that I want more that tenant to renew their lease because they got excellent service , when they had some fix and we do every effort possible to get the tenant to get us the maintenance request in writing and to get it to the air  conditioning vendor and to get them out there to fix your problem.

Judson: Cool. And that’s just a part of service and everything.  From everything that’s listed now, either they’re an investor or probably from an investor stand point, that’s looking for a property manager what you think are a couple of the things that you can impart with them?

Mark: Because you should look for property managers that are licensed. I think the people who have licenses in most states are going to have to be at a higher level of complaints. I am a strong believer that they should use a realtor, because the realtors associations through out the country are usually where you will find the very best forms in terms of contract and I think they should also pick a NARPM member because those are the ones that are committed to single family property management. And this association that I really believe so highly and has educated some of the best managers I  have ever known.

Judson: Cool. Wonderful. Website has a listing of property managers on it?

Mark: Yes all over the country.

Judson: Okay. What is the website?

Mark: www.narpm.org.

Judson: Okay. Great. Michael we appreciate all the information you gave folks today. You have a very business like approach to managing yoru properties and I hope that that kind of stuff is what gives a part on the folks that are listening today so that they do the same thing too.

Allison: Absolultely.  Lot of great information.

Judson: Have a great day.

Allison: Thanks so much.

Judson:  Bye bye.

On this show Andy discussed how he;

• Spends only 2-4 hours per week looking for homes
• Leverage the help of banks and REO Agents
• Has 4 profit centers to make money on each house
• Averages $40k-$70k profit quick turning 25% of his homes
• Rents homes quickly and with almost no tenant calls
• How to buy foreclosures even if you are strapped for cash and credit

This really is one of the best interviews I have had with Andy so make sure you check it out.

For more information on the Regular Riches method of investing in foreclosures visit http://getrealrei.com/fortunelauncher

Get Real Show – Episode 186

Today is a special question and answer show because we have had a ton of great questions lately. If you have a question make sure you click on the “Questions” tab at the top ofhttp://thereiminute.com and leave your question to get a chance at your choice of two great real estate investing products worth $200.

Our questions today were about how to cash in on acquiring tax lien properties, moving out of rentals and into flipping homes and acquiring private money and keep your nose clean with the SEC.  Listen in to get the answers to these questions.

Business Builders 2010

If you want to come to one of the biggest investing conferences in the Southeast this year make sure you visit http://businessbuilders2010.com and not only do you get a lot of great education and networking but you get it for FREE too!!http://traffic.libsyn.com/getrealrei/GRS186.mp3

I did a 90 minute webinar with Chris Johnson last night and I couldn’t wait to get up this morning to get a replay out to everyone.  Chris had a ton of great information and it is amazing to me how well his students have done at raising capital for their real estate and their businesses.

I hope you enjoy it and take some good notes on what Chris is teaching so you can get some government cash too.

If you are interested in being a student make sure you visit http://thereiminute.com/freemoneyoffer.

This week is a listener mail week where we answer your burning real estate investing questions. If you have a question make sure you click on “Questions” on the top of the page and leave us your question.  If we read your question on the show you will have your choice of 2 really cool gifts from us valued at over $200!

Today’s questions were…

“I have seen MLS listings for short sales that say one of the following:
1. Subject to Lender Approval – this is pretty obvious.
2. SHORT SALE with approval or we have approval price from bank  – Does this mean the approval price might be different from the listed sales price, and that the approval price is the only price the bank will accept?  Should I even consider trying to negotiate less than the approval price?
I am basically trying to determine when it is appropriate to offer less than the listed sales price.” from Cheryl B

and…

“I’m a buy and hold investor looking for ways to maximize my time with advertising my rentals. Currently I have 61 units and was wondering if you have any tips on how to keep my Craigslist ads near the top of the list without having yo delete the ad and rewrite it. Or do you know of any software tools that help you post rental ads?” from Cory B (no relation to Cheryl)