Archive for Articles

Recent indicators clearly show home values in nearly half of the country’s largest metro areas will not reach their pre-recession peak levels again for another three years or more. The data I have been seeing using REIAComps during the first half of this year are proof the recovery is still very much in its middle stages.

Nationally, home values remain double digit percentages below their 2007 peak. Looking ahead, U.S. home values are expected to rise through the early part of 2015. Really though, It will take another 3+ years for national home values to recover their pre-recession levels, assuming a steady rate of appreciation. And this is not every where. Las Vegas will take another decade.

For those of you already connected to REIAComps, the control and feeling of confidence you have over your deals is priceless. These new statistic add power and knowledge to your tool belt. Using REIAComps to investigate the value of houses as they come to market, against other less reliable sources continues to be a no brainer. Read More→

No One Cares

Posted on July 28, 2014 by

This is one of the most powerful business lessons that I have learned. That may not be what you were expecting to read but let’s face it…its true. No one cares about you, your business, your services or you in general. The one thing that people always care about is their own problems and finding solutions to those problems. Now let’s put that into the real estate world.

Whether you are interested in commercial real estate or single family homes…people still only care about solving their own problems. They don’t care about your investment or doing business with you or what deal you may be working on. They care if you can solve a problem for them and that is the root of becoming wealthy in the real estate business. If you can master the art of creatively solving problems then the financial doors to financial freedom and cash flow will swing wide open for you. If you view real estate and the world at large as a place to serve yourself, the doors to wealth will stay firmly shut. You may be able to force your way into the business world with self-serving actions but why? Why not have all the people who have what you want just simply give it to you and say “thank you” when you take it?

Everything you want in the real estate world is likely to be owned or controlled by someone else. There is no more free land in the world waiting for you to run out and stick a flag in it. Everything is owned. Now you job is to go out and get those sellers and owners to “give” you what you want. You do this by solving problems. Here are some very common problems in the real estate world today. Read More→

It is the goal of this column to answer questions about QuickBooks and how it is used in the REI arena. Knowing how to record transactions in the proper way and have your set of books in good shape when it comes time for taxes. It is our intention to do this with you, the members, submitting questions to Karen@smallbusinessadvisor.biz, and getting answers here in this column.

Q: I am new to having my own business – just what is accounting?

A: Accounting is the process by which financial information about a business is recorded, classified, summarized, interpreted, and communicated to owners, managers, and other interested parties. An accounting system is designed to accumulate data about a firm’s financial affairs, classify the data in a meaningful way, and summarize it in periodic reports called financial statements. Owners and managers obtain a lot of information from financial statements. The SBA helps to:

  • establish the records and procedures that make up the accounting system
  • and/or may supervise the operations of the system

Once the books are in good order they can then be passed on to the CPA to either work with the owner to suggest strategies and/or prepare taxes. Most owners and managers rely heavily on the CPA’s judgment and knowledge when making financial decisions. Read More→

Download The Profit Newsletter for July 2014 (PDF)
The July 2014 Edition of
The Profit is Available for Download!

The Profit Newsletter - July 2014The July 2014 Edition of The Profit Newsletter is available for download just in time for our Atlanta REIA Main Meeting on July 7th. The Profit is an digital, interactive newsletter for new and seasoned real estate investors delivered as an Adobe PDF file to read on your PC, Mac, Smart Phone, iPad or other mobile ready devices with a PDF reader. Many of the articles and ads in The Profit contain many hyperlinks you can click or tap to visit websites, watch videos, listen to audios, download content, send emails, comment on articles, share socially and much more! The high res version of The Profit is “print ready” for those who want to print the newsletter on their home or business printer. Also, be sure to Subscribe to The Profit Here so you don’t miss a single monthly issue.

Download The Profit Now!
See The Profit Archives for our past editions.

Read More→

Doing a Subject-to Deal?

Posted on July 1, 2014 by

In last month’s column, we outlined a Subject-to Deal.  This month let’s look at this advanced deal-structuring technique in action.  (NOTE: You can find last month’s column here on AtlantaREIA.com).

In mid-March, we got a call from an experienced investor.  He owned several single-family rental homes.  He had received a call from a motivated seller, who, because of a difficult family situation, wanted his house sold in less than a week.

For years, this investor had heard me talk about Subject-to Deals.  He thought this technique would be the perfect solution for this seller’s problem, and called to see if I’d help him with the deal.

(Sidebar: A Subject-to Deal is when you buy someone’s property, but instead of paying off their mortgage at closing, the seller leaves his mortgage in place, and you agree to make the seller’s mortgage payments, on the seller’s mortgage, for the seller.)

The first thing we did was meet at the seller’s house to discuss the situation and to look at the property. Read More→

Calling in the Home Pro

Posted on July 1, 2014 by

“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.”  ~ Beverly Sills

 Poor Cousin Roy. He sure loves a bargain, and he couldn’t wait to show this one off to me. He just bought a property, he said, that would be perfect for a big family. It’s got a sparkling pool! A gourmet kitchen! Four huge bedrooms, and three updated bathrooms!

I was skeptical, because I’ve seen some of Roy’s “bargains” before. But, what the heck, I had some free time, so I was willing to take a look. Maybe I could be helpful.

Well, it turns out the pool wasn’t exactly sparkling, unless you count the sun’s reflection off the black, oily sludge at the bottom. And the bedrooms were huge only if you’re a gerbil.  The kitchen had all the extras, all right: a battered old garbage disposal sitting on the floor, a vintage double oven in trendy harvest gold, and – well, who really needs a faucet, anyway? And let’s not talk about the bathrooms. Ever. To anyone.

Now, my readers already know that this is the kind of property I love, because I can make a ton of money on it. But it takes careful due diligence to make sure it’s going to be profitable, and I was pretty sure cousin Roy didn’t even know where to begin. Read More→

Jimmy Napier made the following quote and I truly believe these words are a key to create wealth in today’s real estate market.

Quote:  “You Make The Majority of Your Money In Real Estate During Your Negotiations”. 

Last month I made reference to what I believe will be the key to success for real estate investors in the event the economy tanks like the economist Harry S. Dent has recently predicted. As you may remember I talked about how every investor needs to learn how to talk to sellers face-to-face and negotiate profitable deals without thinking that all every seller wants is all CASH. Since then I have had much thought about things I have experienced through my career of over 35 years that were what I call “Deal Killers”.

If you want to be a successful real estate investor you need to not make the same mistakes I made when negotiating with sellers. For the first 20 years of my career I had no training of what to say and what not to say, I learned negotiating by just opening my mouth and saying what I thought every seller wanted to hear. I can’t tell you how many deals I screwed up just by saying the wrong things or by not asking the right questions. This article is about some of the things I have said and how those things were deal killers for me.  Read More→

Selling Houses Fast

Posted on July 1, 2014 by

In our last several issues we covered the entire process of buying houses step-by-step. Going forward, we’re going to cover the process of selling houses, but they include the same five steps, which are:

  1. Locating Prospects
  2. Prescreening Prospects
  3. Constructing and Presenting Offers
  4. Follow Up
  5. Close Quickly

Fortunately today, locating prospects to buy houses from you is almost free, and, in fact, many of the things you do will be free. Here in Jacksonville, where we buy 6-12 houses per month and sell them, mostly to lease option tenant buyers, there’s only a couple of things we do. The main thing is running ads online to attract buyers to call us, and obviously there’s no cost to that. The only other thing we really do is put signs out in front of houses we have ready to sell and pointer signs in several places around the house to drive people to it. Read More→

Practicing Mastery

Posted on July 1, 2014 by

Does this sound like you:

“I have spent thousands of dollars on education…I have spent time researching the properties…I have been in a coaching program…I have spent money on marketing…

So why is it I haven’t done a deal?”

I challenge you to consider this: Could it be fear of taking a risk that is holding you back?

When you make a change in your life to become successful, you take a risk.

You take a risk because things might not turn out the way you think they should. Instead, I choose to think that, yes, they may not turn out the way I imagined, but they might turn out even better.

When I want to make a change, I look forward to it. I do it with mastery: having small wins every day. The small wins give me confidence and a sense of moving forward. The small wins can be that I did three things from my to-do list. Maybe I posted one ad or I answered one phone call or I called a new seller. These small things are mastery: mastery over your time and yourself. Mastery and consistency allow you to win. Read More→

Welcome back to part 3 of this exciting article series about Video Marketing!

Quick refresher of what was in parts 1 & 2: Everyone is online watching videos these days. They’re using their computers, laptops, tablets,  and smartphones. When they’re looking for the information they want, you’ll stand out and get the business if you can effectively attract and engage them with your videos.  If you can’t, good luck!

You got an example of how to use video marketing to sell houses (in part 1).

In part 2, we discussed how to create videos, different types of videos, and what to say in your videos. Shoot, I even gave you a couple of great script outlines & examples for you to use!

So if we’re now on the same page, let’s move on…

In this article, I’m going to cover the last main steps of what you need to do with your videos:

Optimize, Upload, and Promote them. Then I’ll set you free upon the world to have fun! Read More→

Recently I got a short sale approved on a 4 bedroom, 1 bath for $43,800.00 and my partners and I were going to flip the property to another Investor.  However, after reading the required verbiage that the loan servicer required to be written into the Deed, it made it impossible to sell the property on the same day that we purchased it.  The servicer was Bank of America and the Seller was going through the HAFA program.  Bank of America always places a 30 day hold on the property.  In addition, item #8 on their Approval Letter states “Another buyer cannot be substituted without prior written approval of Bank of America.  The buyer may not alter how he will take title.  For example, a buyer may not enter into a contract to purchase a property and then amend the contract to purchase the property as Trustee for a trust or any other legal entity.”  Based on that verbiage, you cannot close in the name on the approval letter and then immediately place it into a Land Trust, even though I hear people state that the Land Trust is for Asset Planning.  I totally disagree with the fact that a Land Trust is used for Asset Planning, as it only covers who the beneficiaries are, and the Trustee is responsible for signing all the documents.  In addition, this means you must not sell the property to anyone until 31 days have expired.   There are ways around the 31 day hold; however, I only teach that Super Secret at my Foreclosures Gone Wild Boot Camp.  Check my website for the next event.

On the HAFA Short Sale Affidavit, which all parties sign including the Realtor, it states “(b) There are no agreements, understandings, contractors or offers relating to the current sale or subsequent sale of the Property that have not been disclosed.”  What this means is that you cannot have a signed contract with another Buyer to purchase the property from you until after the sale of the property. Read More→

One of the first things you will discover as a Real Estate Investor is that there are many motivated sellers out there just waiting to “give you” their property if you know how to find them. What I mean by this is that there are a lot of great deals to be had and big profits to be made if you are proficient at finding the truly motivated sellers. I have spent several years perfecting systems to locate all of the qualified motivated sellers I need regardless of what my real estate market is doing and regardless of what my competitors are doing.

For the many Real Estate Investors who have figured out the formula to getting the truly motivated sellers contacting them with potentially profitable deals, the problem then becomes the difficulties they encounter when trying to find enough motivated buyers for their real estate deals.

By implementing successful marketing systems Real Estate Investors are finding all the qualified motivated sellers they need, including sellers who will hold the mortgage for them or who will simply deed them the property subject to the existing mortgage, so these investors very quickly recognize that they need to acquire the resources and techniques to locate more motivated buyers for their Real Estate Investing business.

In order to become a successful Real Estate Investor you must reach the truly motivated sellers and then amass motivated buyers for your properties so you can turn your deals quickly for the big check. This creates for you, the investor, a true sense of confidence when you are actively pursuing deals. After all that’s why you became a Real Estate Investor, right? Read More→