Archive for Articles
Accounting for Time in QuickBooks
Posted on January 4, 2016 byIn the Real Estate Investment industry and as a contractor, you sell services to your customers, you’ll need to understand how to use QuickBooks’ time-tracking features.
Usually contractors do not keep much if any inventory on hand. Most work is done with materials either supplied by your customer or you purchase what is needed to complete that particular job and bill the customer accordingly.
But if you are only billing for time and services, that becomes a different story. There’s no real inventory tracking involved — except in terms of knowing how much manpower you have available at any given time. But just like you wouldn’t want customers to walk off with merchandise they haven’t bought, you don’t want any billable minutes or hours to be ignored. Both scenarios eat into your profits.
Gone are the days when you had to count on employees to fill out detailed timecards and hope that they remembered to document everything. QuickBooks can help ensure that you’re getting paid for all time and services rendered. Read More→
Dispelling Common Objections to Real Estate IRAs
Posted on January 4, 2016 byWhen it comes to investing, there’s a lot of information out there—and a lot of misinformation as well. Being able to tell which is which is one of the keys to educating yourself as an investor and keeping your retirement investments secure, safe, and stable over the long haul. That’s why we love to dispel some of the common myths and objections when it comes to Self-Directed IRAs—and today, we’re tackling Real Estate IRAs.
Are we saying that all objections or questions about Real Estate IRAs—or Self-Directed IRAs in general—are meritless and without value? Of course not. But by the time you’re finished reading this article, you should have a solid grasp of which objections you might want to consider…and which ones really aren’t objections at all:
Common Objection #1: Real Estate IRAs Leave You Little to Invest With!
The idea of contributing, say, $100 per month to an IRA is easy when you’re investing in stocks and mutual funds. When you’re investing in real estate, many people understandably wonder how a similar strategy might work when it comes to Real Estate IRAs. Read More→
Year-End Urgency Sways Short Sales in Your Favor
Posted on January 4, 2016 byIf you are working on a short sale close to the end of the year, you will find that they are approving the short sales quicker versus throughout the year. The Banks work on numbers every quarter giving us 4 quarters per year to get a short sale approved. The closer to the end of the quarter, the more likely they will approve the short sale and when it comes to year end, the Banks are known to take deeper discounts, just so they can get the property off their books. Did you know that the Banks are required to hold in escrow three times the amount of their bad debt? Liquidating debt, aka short sales, allows the Banks to open up more money to the market that they can send out into their banking industry and loan out. When they loan the money out to customers, they receive interest, origination fees and points on the money.
When you submit a short sale to the Bank/Lender, the HUD Settlement Statement shows the negotiator what the NET is going to be in order to satisfy the debt. The NET figure is different than the Purchase Price. In fact, when you are negotiating with the Bank, you need to clarify that the “magic number” you are discussing is the Purchase Price and not the NET figure to them.
The Purchase Price includes all of the fees associated with selling the property such as title work, Realtor commission, settlement fees, tax prorations, outstanding liens, second or third mortgages, homeowner association dues and any other closing costs. When the short sale is submitted, the negotiator will usually run an REO Net sheet based on the loan balance, status of where it is in the foreclosure action, and how long it would take to get the property to foreclose and become an REO (Real Estate Owned) by the Lender. This helps the investor who owns the loan to determine whether or not a short sale discount would allow them to profit more than an REO property, and which way is most profitable to liquidate the property from their inventory. Read More→
Fast and Easy: Sign-n-Send Review
Posted on January 4, 2016 by“Every thought you produce, anything you say, any action you do, it bears your signature ~ Nhat Hanh
The Sign-n-Send app for my iPad and iPhone is a really handy tool for my everyday use. I find it very convenient to send documents via email, but sometimes it’s hard to put your signature on there without being on a desktop. It is very intuitive, just tap and hold to open the pdf and edit.
For a long time I struggled with signing pdfs on my phone. I tried taking a photo and writing over it, an electronic stamp, other apps as well, and none are as fast and simple as Sign-n-Send. If you have an email with a pdf attached, just tap and hold the attachment, and a window will show you a few options. You will want to select ‘open in’ and then select ‘sign-n-send’. From there the app is very easy to navigate.
The user will always go through another application to get to this app. Mostly through your mail app or a messaging app. When you tap and hold the pdf to open, it does take a few seconds to open. Once it is open, use one finger to draw on the page, but pinch with two fingers to zoom in and out. If you have a screen protector, better to put down the stylus and use your finger for the signature line. Read More→
What Causes a Quantum Leap?
Posted on January 4, 2016 byI’m sure you’ve noticed when I sign off, I prefer “To your quantum leap.” People often ask me what I mean by that or how to have a quantum leap. The only way I know to answer is to “keep fertilizing your crop.” Let me explain.
You must ask yourself certain questions and continuously analyze what you’re doing at every moment. Whether you’re young or old, what are you doing to fertilize your crop? Is every day the same or are you taking on new challenges and learning new stuff? Are you playing not to lose or playing to win? Does your seed have a chance to grow and if it does, will it produce a crop worth having? Are you spending so much time making a living you can’t take time to get rich? If you are rich, are you complacent and bored or are you putting it on the line to stay in the game and win big? Do you look forward to tomorrow because it’s just another day full of problems? Have you had some major set- backs with your finances or health that you’re letting take you out of the game, or are you playing no matter what?
Everyone faces adversity at some point, many more than others. Yet, successful people just keep ticking. They keep fertilizing their crop and looking for new harvest. They survive the test of time because they refuse to quit when things get tough and because they love what they do to the point it becomes their life… their station.
You never know at what point in your life a major turning point will take place that catapults you further in one year than all previous years combined. I’ve seen that happen a lot lately with some of my students and in my own life. Read More→
The Profit Newsletter December 2015 Edition
Posted on December 7, 2015 by
The December 2015 Edition of The Profit Newsletter is now available for download. There are 50 pages of valuable information this month for your real estate investing pleasure and success. Download it and check it out! The Profit is Atlanta REIA’s digital, interactive newsletter for serious real estate investors delivered as an Adobe PDF file to read on your PC, Mac, Smart Phone, iPad or other mobile ready devices. Many of the articles and ads in The Profit contain many hyperlinks you can click to get more information online! The high res version of The Profit is “print ready” for those who want to print the newsletter on their home or business printer. Be sure to Subscribe to The Profit by Email or Subscribe to The Profit by Text so you don’t miss a single issue.
You Don’t Need Money
Posted on December 7, 2015 byYou don’t always need money to buy real estate…if you know how to use creative financing. Creative financing is a broad term. There are many ways to complete a real estate transaction using creative financing, so many in fact that it would take me at least a full day to teach you all of the tricks of that trade. In this article I am going to cover the two most popular creative financing techniques that I have had the most success with. They are Master Lease Options (Lease Options) and Seller Financing. I created a 400 unit portfolio using creative financing without ever needing a traditional lender like a bank and you can too. It’s really not that hard.
Master lease options (MLO) or lease options are a great way to get started in the real estate business or to limit some of the risk of buying a distressed asset. We use the term master lease options when we are discussing a multifamily property as there is more than one unit involved, therefore the term “Master Lease”. If we are discussing a single family deal then it’s just a lease option. They are basically the same thing and will work the same way.
A master lease option is a set of two contracts. The first is the lease that allows us to “rent” the property with the right to sublet or re-rent the property to a tenant. This gives us control over the operations of the property and the CASH FLOW! With this document we now control the operations of the deal including management. This will allow you to manage it yourself or to hire a management company to do it for you. If there is work that needs to be done to the property you can now get it done under the lease option. If there is bad management you can now hire new management and lease up the place so it makes more cash flow (multifamily). The lease will set a “rent” payment to the seller and it will stay fixed for the life of the contract so you always know what the payment is. Ideally this rent payment will consist of the owners mortgage payment, taxes, and insurance. This will allow the seller to break even and will allow you to keep any positive cash flow! Read More→
Hello Atlanta REIA Members. I am Scott Ulmer and I have been investing in real estate over 20 years. In that time, I have experienced some tremendous successes, and some tremendous failures as well.
Every time I fell down, I picked myself up. No matter how hard the situation, being tenacious and never giving up always paid off, and here I stand today.
I owned 2 real estate companies prior to the market meltdown, and ultimately lost them both. What I have learned and experienced firsthand is that failure is a part of success, and a person only truly fails when they quit. One thing I will never do is quit.
Just over 17 months ago I left my job, where I ran the real estate operation for a nationally-known real estate guru. I was also one of the top Mentors, and consulted hundreds of students around the country.
Although I enjoyed my time running that real estate operation, I learned a few things about myself. Not only did I have a particular knack for helping people become successful real estate investors, but I also took my years of investing experience and created a unique formula for success along the way.
I created a business model that, when implemented with the right systems, can generate immediate cash flow, and a lot of it! Read More→
Fighting the Short Sale Lender Values
Posted on December 7, 2015 byI have spoken with many Realtors and Investors who informed me that they are not interested in listing or buying short sales because the Short Sale Lenders are always higher than the actual value of the property.
I have stressed over the years how important it is to meet the Realtor or Appraiser that was sent from the Short Sale Lender at the house with the Purchase Agreement, Hardship Letter, Comparables, Crime Report of the Area and Repair Estimate for the property in order for the Short Sale Lender to have the actual value of the property.
The BPO Agent/Appraiser does not provide to the Short Sale Lender the Crime Report or the Repair Estimate on the property. This information is provided by the Listing Agent or the Negotiator representing the Seller when you have to dispute the value. In fact, a BPO Agent may only have 3 little boxes to include the costs of the repairs so they can’t always include all the repair costs that the house really needs.
The BPO Agent/Appraiser has been informed from the Short Sale Lender that they do NOT consider cosmetic repairs. So what are cosmetic repairs? Paint, Carpet, Appliances and updates of kitchens, bathrooms, roof and air conditioning unit that are functional. Read More→
There Are No Tears in Real Estate
Posted on December 7, 2015 byWith less than a week left before completing a major rehab on our latest real estate investing deal, all Kim wanted to do was to drop to the floor and cry when she saw what had happened to every interior wall in the home.
The day before, the walls had been perfect. But on this day, the walls looked like something you’d see in one of those circus houses with funny mirrors that make your head look huge while making your body look the size of a walnut.
In this home, we’d replaced all the paneling with new paneling. Then came two days of constant rain. Because the HVAC system wasn’t yet working, there was a significant increase in the home’s humidity level. The new paneling quickly absorbed the excess humidity and became wavy.
A multitude of things made Kim want to cry. All the time and money spent demolishing the old walls and installing the new ones was for naught. The rehab was scheduled to be completed in five more days, but now would be extended by at least two weeks. The extra work would cause this rehab to go over budget. Read More→
LightArrow’s LifeTopix App Review
Posted on December 7, 2015 by“A place for everything and everything in its place” ~ Benjamin Franklin
The developers at LightArrow must have had me in mind. Or at least, someone like me. I found myself constantly checking various apps, and across devices it is easy to lose track of messages, updates, and photos. I’ve been juggling things for a long time, but LightArrow has made an app that makes everything mesh together on one screen.
LifeTopix is almost like an operating system for all your apps. This single app makes one place where you can view your calendar, update travel plans, make a checklist, even order things on that list or make memos to yourself. I love the fact that you can install this on your phone or your tablet, and the interface is very clean with a white background. It even prompts you if you forgot something.
Doing what I do is my passion, but also overwhelming at times. I like the fact that this one app has consolidated my other apps, and really saves me time. Instead of bouncing around from one screen to another, everything that is important to me is on one screen. At a glance, I can see my tasks, reminders, and in this screen I can even shop. Read More→
Will You Sink or Swim?
Posted on December 7, 2015 byThis is your life. You have decided that real estate investing is something you want to do. But…
Are you sinking or swimming?
Right now, I am teaching a 58 year old friend to swim. I can see his fear. He is thinking, “What if I drown?” or “What if I can’t do this and I look silly?” We all have fears about uncertainties; fear is natural and good—it can keep us out of trouble! But, when fear controls you, when it stops and paralyzes you, when it keeps you from success, it is a problem.
Remember: There is no such thing as a dead end.
Your fears can be conquered easily through calculated action and baby steps.
How is your business like learning to swim? Like my friend, you probably have fear. Maybe you fear loss of financial security or not being able to know a bad deal from a great deal. Maybe you fear failure, or you fear what people will think if you make bad decisions. Maybe you even fear success. The problem is that fear will wear you out and kill your drive. Just like the swimmer, you need to know when to swim and when to float. You need to learn to trust the system and yourself. Read More→
