Archive for Articles
Are Women Better Real Estate Investors?
Posted on December 23, 2013 byI must start by saying: If you’re looking for politically correct, then I’m DEFINITELY not your guy!
Kim and I were discussing who is better at real estate investing – men or women. Lord knows men and women are very different creatures. Men are clear, concise and rational thinkers. Women are not.
Seriously, I think women can be better – a LOT better – at real estate investing than men. To prove this, our real estate investor’s meeting this month is about successful women real estate investors. Our panel will be four women who, between them, do over – way over – 100 deals a year!
Three reasons why I think women can be better at real estate investing: 1) Great time management. 2) Not ego driven. 3) Aren’t scared of hard, dirty work. Read More→
Cut Through The Obvious
Posted on December 23, 2013 byThis past weekend, I was one of the instructors who taught at a boot camp for new real estate investors. At the end of the four-day event, the frequently asked question was, “What do I do first?”
The advice from the instructors varied. One said to spend the week reviewing the course notes. Another told the investors to put their real estate investing team together. Several thought it best to work on a marketing plan.
When it comes to advising would-be investors how to start – or seasoned investors how to get back on track – I often feel like a salmon swimming upstream. I think the FIRST, most important thing an investor needs to do is to get face-to-face with sellers as SOON, and as OFTEN, as possible!
A number of the attendees didn’t care too much for this advice. One woman best summed up the fears in the room when she said, “I’m not sure what to say to a seller. I’m not comfortable creatively structuring a win-win deal. I don’t know what to do if the seller accepts my offer.” Read More→
Vacancies Are a Fact of Life
Posted on December 23, 2013 byWhy would a reasonably sane person own rental property? After all, we’ve all heard lots of landlording horror stories, right? You know the ones: the tenants refuse to pay rent, the tenants trash the property, the tenants move out in the middle of the night, etc.
Here’s something to consider: We had 61 investors attend our monthly real estate investors meeting in October. These 61 mom-and-pop investors control 573 properties. A couple of weeks back, I (along with seven other instructors) was asked to teach at a boot camp for new real estate investors. The instructors controlled 122 properties. All told, that’s 69 investors controlling almost 700 properties – incredible, isn’t it?
So why do all these folks own rental property? Easy answer: They want MAILBOX MONEY! What’s mailbox money? It’s when you get checks in the mail because your capital is working for you, instead of you working for your capital.
Are there other ways to get mailbox money? Sure – some folks own stock and live off the dividends. We have friends who make purchase-money loans to real estate investors and live off the interest they make. Of course, there’s also a one-in-a-billion chance that you’ll win the lottery – talk about a shaky retirement plan! Read More→
He Appealed to My Greed
Posted on December 23, 2013 byA few months back, one of our rental properties went vacant. It’s a nice three-bedroom, two-bath home with a fenced yard. After a bit of paint and clean up, we stuck a For Rent sign on the lawn.
Over the course of two weeks, we received several great applications. One application stood out above all the others. The applicants had been on their jobs for years, they had solid references, they had the move-in funds ready to go, and they kept their current residence immaculate. They would make PERFECT tenants!
Shortly before I called these ideal tenants to give them the good news that they got the house, I got a call from someone who wanted to buy the property. They explained that their credit stunk, but they had $10,000 to put down.
Their $10,000 down payment got my attention and put the brakes on everything. A thorough background check revealed that the prospective buyers didn’t pay their bills or maintain their current residence well.
Over coffee, the potential buyers explained that they had just inherited $20,000, had always wanted their own home, loved the house we had on the market, and buying it – if we gave them owner financing – would be a dream come true. Read More→
But I Don’t Have the Money
Posted on December 23, 2013 byIs real estate a good, safe, profitable investment? Consider this: More millionaires have made their fortunes using real estate as their primary investment over any other investment vehicles – including stocks and bonds.
With real estate, an average American with no college education can buy a house – often at less than 50 cents on the dollar – with little or none of his own money, get great tax breaks, and here’s the best part: have his tenant (or buyer) pay for it all!
Can you name any other investment that can match these benefits? No? So then why aren’t a lot more folks investing in real estate? Why do so many people choose to be realtors instead of investors – lord knows, investing pays a lot more!
The answer to these questions is best summed up by the excuse most would-be investors give: “I’d love to invest in real estate, but I don’t have the money, and the bank won’t loan me a dime.” Folks, this is one lame, stinkin’ excuse!
Rarely do Kim and I go to banks for our purchase funds. In fact, since 2005, we can count on three fingers the total number of loans we’ve gotten from banks to do our deals. So how are we paying for them? Read More→
I’m A Failure…Or Am I?
Posted on December 23, 2013 byLast month, I did a knocking-on-sellers’-doors challenge. To help folks better understand what real estate investing is really like, I posted my daily results on North Georgia REIA’s Facebook page – including pictures and many of the creative offers I structured!
For the month, I spent 9 days out getting face-to-face with sellers. In total, I talked to 30 sellers at the door, 27 invited me in, and I made 23 written offers – including a $1 million offer on a $125,000 house!
Yesterday, I spoke with an investor who followed me on Facebook. He said, “If I had been you, I would never have done a public challenge.” “Why not?” I asked. He answered, “Because you talked to all those sellers but didn’t find a single deal. Now everyone is gonna think you’re nothing more than a big, fat, ball-headed failure!” Read More→
The Profit Newsletter December 2013 Edition
Posted on November 26, 2013 by
The December 2013 Edition of The Profit Newsletter is available for download just in time for our Atlanta REIA Main Meeting on December 4th. You can download The Profit Newsletter as a High Quality PDF or Low Res PDF for slower devices. The Profit is the official newsletter of the Atlanta Real Estate Investors Alliance and is a 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.
How to Manage Your Real Estate Career For Maximum Profits
Posted on November 26, 2013 by
Investing in real estate is profitable, fun and there are times when it can be psychologically rewarding. The real reason why you are doing it though, your motivation, has a lot to do with total financial freedom and with the ability it will give you to dictate your own future away from money worries and pressures that have anything to do with finances.
This is why the decisions you make in your real estate career are going to affect your purchasing record and the way you operate as an investor in terms of identifying the correct market to target.
The thing to remember when you are working in real estate is that it takes almost the same amount of time, effort and attention to detail to close a small deal as it takes to close a large one so there’s no real reason you should not be closing large deals all the time and for that you need to get into the frame of mind that allows you to identify specific goals within specific time frames. Read More→
How Many Leads Do You Need to Succeed?
Posted on November 26, 2013 by
Recently I wrote an article on “Determining Your Marketing Plan in 7 Easy Steps”. You can apply these 7 Steps to market your home buying and selling business or pretty much any other business, product or service you wish to promote.
In this article, I want to expand on Step #1: Determine How Many Leads You Need to Succeed at _____________. For the purposes of this article, let’s fill in the blank with Wholesaling. In order to determine how many leads you need to succeed at Wholesaling, you need to begin with the end in mind and ask yourself a few more questions…
1. How many deals do you want to do per month and per year?
You need to set a target number of deals you want to quick turn (put under contract to buy and immediately resell or assign) each month to know if you’re achieving your goals. Let’s say you want to find and flip 1 to 2 deals per month or 12 to 24 deals per year. This is a very, very realistic and achievable goal for any part-time real investor.
2. How much cash do you want to make per month and per year?
You need to set the monthly and annual financial goal you wish to achieve so you know if you’ve succeeded or not. Let’s say your goal is to make $10,000 per month or $120,000 per year wholesaling houses on a part-time basis. Again, this is a very realistic and achievable goal for an investor who is willing to put in the time and effort to get the job done. Yes, wholesaling is like a job. It pays you well if you work it and pays you nothing if you don’t. Read More→
Busy Season? Don’t Lose Your Mynd!
Posted on November 26, 2013 by“It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?” ~ Henry Thoreau
I love the holidays! But they can be pretty tough to navigate, what with parties, church and synagogue events, school happenings, gift shopping, cooking, work, and everything else I’ve got to manage. Thank goodness for my iPad, because otherwise, I would forget about Grandpa Bill’s annual Christmas Luau. And that party is a hoot!
We’ve talked about applications for getting organized before. Well, I’ve found a new one I think you’ll like: “Mynd” calls itself the “calendar with a brain.” That might be taking it a little far, but it’s pretty darned smart.
The best applications can integrate with other apps to make your life easier. What do I mean by that? Well, let’s say you’ve got an appointment with your lawyer at 3:00. When you made the appointment, you put it into your smartphone’s calendar. (You did do that, didn’t you?) On appointment day, your calendar sends you a reminder, and you’re ready to get in the car and go – but you don’t remember where her office is. If your apps aren’t integrated, you’ll have to exit your calendar, go into contacts, and find your lawyer’s address and jot it down. Then you’ll have to exit contacts, get into your GPS application and enter the address. What a pain in the neck! Don’t you wish your calendar could just talk to your contacts list and fetch the address for you? Well, that’s exactly the kind of convenience I’m talking about. Read More→
How Many Units to Retirement?
Posted on November 26, 2013 byDo you have a solid plan to have your real estate investing be your vehicle to retirement? Do you know how many units you need to own to quit that J.O.B (just over broke)?
Not having a solid plan of action is one of the biggest mistakes I see new investors making. Most people know that they want to be full time investors and they want the passive income from real estate to replace their working income but they never really form a solid plan to get to that goal. In this article I will help you do just that! Create that retirement plan!
The first step is to decide how much money you need to live on each month. Not how much money you need to be really rich but just how much money you need to cover your monthly expenses and be free from having to earn a paycheck. Most people I speak to say this is $10,000 a month. Read More→
Self-Directed IRAs: Investing in What You Don’t Know
Posted on November 26, 2013 byIf you’ve been following our articles, then you know we have often talked about how self-directed IRAs give you the freedom to invest in what you know and understand with your retirement account. This is the first time that we will talk about investing in what you don’t know.
Setting the stage…
Introducing Jenna, she is new to real estate investing and knows some very experienced real estate investors she can lean on for advice. She’s looking for her first deal and has not yet mastered the art of networking.
Jenna’s Goal…
Jenna is looking for her first purchase with her self-directed IRA…a single family home for $60,000 or less in an area that currently has a shortage of rental properties available. She wants 50% equity in the home she purchases and, given her inexperience, she is looking for a home that needs very minimal repairs. Additionally, she wants a net monthly profit of $250 per month. Her goals are ambitious even for an experienced investor. Read More→
