Options as a Strategic Investment » foreclosure

Creative Real Estate Investing for Flat and Down Markets – Beating the Bursting Bubble!

admin — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:25:11 +0000

I find the current media coverage about the “Bursting Real Estate Bubble”to be priceless for those of us who are investors. They talk about falling house prices which will only bring gloom and doom for homeowners and real estate investors a like. I can understand where they are coming from; having little or no knowledge about investing and that is OK, because it just creates more opportunity for you and I. Real estate is cyclical and always has been. There was a large national article published that stated Las Vegas real estate had completely capped out and there was no place for it to go but down. Does that sound familiar? If so, you may want to think again. That article was published nearly half a century ago! Has real estate gone up in value in Las Vegas in the last 50 years? You bet, and not just a little! Now does that mean real estate is going to keep going up like it has the last few years? I wouldn’t plan on it, particularly in the short term, however that’s what makes this media coverage so invaluable. *It creates fear that scares off a lot of people from investing (creating more opportunity). *It eliminates aggressive scam investments (as we saw rampant with builders in Florida and Las Vegas the last few years). *It makes people question the value of their properties (creating more flexible sellers). Here is something to consider: do you know any ultra successful real estate investor that is afraid of flat or declining house prices? Quite to the contrary, knowledgeable investors understand when markets are flat or down it just weeds out beginning investors, makes people panic and means more opportunity. What’s important to understand is just as real estate is cyclical, so are the amount of buyers and sellers in a given market. When markets are up, you’ll have to spend more time finding motivated sellers, but you have the benefit of appreciation on your side. When markets are down, you can’t depend on appreciation, but you’ll have a lot more motivated sellers to work with. In fact, when markets are down, you usually have to let “good” deals go, so you can take advantage of the “best” deals! We’re not just buying properties and hoping that they will appreciate or go up in value. That’s not investing, that’s speculating! Your completely dependent on future growth that is entirely out of your control. That’s a conventional mindset and will not work in flat or declining real estate markets especially in the short term. Like any business, you need to make well calculated decisions. In real estate, that includes making creative, risk free offers and setting up your exits appropriately for the specific circumstances. There are better and more creative real estate investing strategies for down and soft markets like assignments, lease options(as a seller or a “sandwich”), foreclosures, short sales, wholesaling and “subject to” arrangements. But even when doing rehabs or fixer uppers (which are not typically recommended in down markets) there are still good ways to make a good profit with the right system and proper planning. For example, let’s say you are in a market depreciating at 10% a year, you would need to factor in the time to make the rehab repairs plus the time to sell (with a cushion), then subtract market depreciation during that time. So if an area was depreciating at 10% a year and you had a property that would take 2-3 months to fix up and 2-3 months to sell, you would want to subtract an additional 5-6% from the retails sales price when making your offer to a seller. There’s really no issue with doing rehabs of fixer uppers in down markets, you just need to factor in depreciation accordingly. This is why faster, lower risk, more creative real estate investing strategies are better to use during market declines. The point is market conditions will not determine your success; it’s how you approach your market and do what is appropriate for the current trends. When you structure risk free deals and make calculated decisions, the market conditions will never be a determining factor of whether you make money or not! Copyright © 2007-9 Creativerealestatehelp.com. All rights reserved.

Real Estate Investing – How to Have a Steady Stream of Motivated Sellers Calling you

admin — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 23:47:41 +0000

With foreclosures due to reach record levels in the US in 2008, this is a fantastic time to be a creative real estate investor! Not only are you in a position to genuinely help people who are struggling under the growing weight of a sub-prime mortgage, for example, but you can also make significant amounts of money in the process.
Whatever strategy, or strategies, you favour – flipping or fixing, owner financing, real estate notes – 2008 has the potential to be the year when you make your fortune.
However, what is the one hole in your business plan? What is the one weakness at the heart of all your investment strategies? What is your Achilles’ Heal, the one thing you can barely admit to yourself, let alone other people?
I don’t know you personally, but I can make a fair guess.
The one thing that is tripping over your real estate investment plans is that you simply can’t find enough deals! And you can’t find enough deals because you’re not talking to enough motivated sellers, and that’s because it’s hard, time-consuming work. Am I right?
Well, I’m going to share a secret with you right now that the vast majority of real estate investors don’t understand. Get this, and get it right, and you’ll never be short of deals again.
The secret is this…
Your creative real estate investment strategies mean nothing without good marketing!
You see, you can have all the real estate investment knowledge in the world, but if you can’t market effectively to find motivated sellers who are ready and willing to work a deal with you, then you have no way of turning all that knowledge into cold, hard cash.
Now, let me ask you a question.
Does good marketing mean…
* Scouring the newspapers every day for foreclosure notices?
* Buying foreclosure lists and working them, just like every other investor is doing?
* Making cold-calls to home-owners who may or may not be motivated sellers?
* Driving around the neighbourhood looking for foreclosure signs?
OK – they are slightly loaded questions, but you can see where this is going, right? If you do what everyone else does, you’ll be forever operating in a crowded and competitive space, and finding the next deal is always going to be difficult and time-consuming.
Now, if you had to imagine a scenario that was significantly more profitable, that took a lot less work and stress, and that took away the problem of constantly going up against your competition, what might that look like?
Imagine, for example, that you had motivated sellers calling you. Every day. Wanting to talk to you about doing a deal on their home.
* One wants to sell their home to you and then rent it back
* Another just wants to sell and get out to avoid foreclosure.
* A third wants to sell fast, and is happy to carry paper on the deal.
All on one day!
How would this scenario transform your real estate investment activities? How would it transform your life if you never had to ‘cold-call’ anyone ever again, and as many deals as you can handle simply presented themselves to you, day in, day out, year in and year out?
Well, it’s perfectly possible to achieve this exact scenario through clever, targeted direct marketing that is specifically designed to bring you a constant stream of motivated sellers, desperate to do a deal with you.
However, you need to forget anything you know about marketing in other businesses. Real estate is different because your customers are under stress a lot of the time, because you’re providing a much-needed life-line in many cases, and because you’re helping people through a difficult, traumatic phase of their lives.
What you need, then, above all, are three key elements.1. Understanding. You need to fully understand the sellers’ situation, in depth, and you need to show the seller that you do understand – preferably better than anyone else!
2. Compassion. Beyond understanding lies compassion. Where understanding is relatively cold and fact-based, compassion is that person-to-person connection that says, “I know what you’re going through, and I’m here to help”.
3. Integrity. Call them back within a reasonable time. Be on time for your meetings with them. Do what you say you’re going to do, when you say you’re going to do it. Be utterly straightforward and honest in all your dealings with all your customers, and you will be rewarded many times over.
(These three elements only apply to your customers, of course. Another huge benefit of having a systemized direct marketing system running 24 hours a day is that you have the luxury of picking and choosing your customers! If someone is difficult on the phone, or not motivated enough, or rude, or whatever, then you just move on. With a constant flow of prospects coming in, you don’t need to take on ‘problem cases’ any more!)
You need to be marketing to people’s emotions here. Show them that you understand the issues they’re facing, and you assure them that you can lead them along a safe route through the chaos.
When your prospect trusts you, everything else becomes plain sailing.
And you can see how this is the complete opposite of what most investors do – cold-calling, being pushy, focusing on the deal rather than the person, on the cash for themselves rather than the outcome for the customer.
Distinguish yourself through your emotion-based, direct response marketing.
Have your marketing completely systemized so it runs 24/7 without too much input from you.
And that leaves you free to talk to prospects who really want to talk to you, and do the deals!
For a free report on getting a constant stream of motivated sellers to call you, go to http://www.maverick-investor.com/msm

Foreclosure Investing is a Smart Investment Strategy

admin — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:19:40 +0000

Foreclosure investing is a way of real estate investment. It is one of the top investment options as far as returns on investments are concerned. Foreclosure investing opportunities are normally created when homeowners default on monthly installment payments and the bank confiscates their property. The property is then sold at a foreclosure auction. Foreclosure investing opportunities are also available when a homeowner tries to sell the property directly to the ready buyers, before the foreclosure is announced. Information about such auctions is readily available on the Internet. You can use the information to invest in properties that have the potential to maximize your investment returns, in the next few years.It is a Buyer’s MarketThe foreclosure investing market is often called a buyer’s market because buyers are in a better position to negotiate the price of the property and other related terms and conditions in a deal. A homeowner, who has not made timely payment towards a mortgage loan, is usually aware of the fact that the property will be confiscated and he will not be able to profit from the sale proceeds. To avoid foreclosure, homeowners try to sell their property and use the proceeds for applying for new mortgage loans or buying new properties. Generally, owners who want to avoid the impending foreclosure have only 60 to 90 days to sell the property, before it is evaluated at a public trustee sale. According to certain state laws, homeowners are even given the option to reclaim their property within 360 days. Homeowners, who do not use this option, if available, will not be able to stop the lenders from foreclosing the properties and eventually selling them at a public auction.Foreclosure investing is a cheap and low risk investment optionForeclosure investing in properties is probably the cheapest way of maximizing your investment returns. If you conduct a thorough research, you can easily identify and buy properties at very reasonable prices. In the past, there have been foreclosure investing properties that were sold at discounts as high as sixty to eighty cents to a dollar. The foreclosure investing market is considered a low risk one, since land is a scarce resource. The value of the land will categorically rise, even if the real estate market witnesses a downtrend.Other Foreclosure Investing BenefitsThere is no demise of foreclosure investing and properties in the real estate market. In order to buy a foreclosure investing property, you may not even have to apply for a bank loan. You just need to identify a suitable buyer, who is willing to pay the right price. Foreclosure investing properties are either sold at auctions or the buyer sells it directly.As compared to the regular real estate market, the foreclosure investing properties market has a fewer investors. This makes it a lot easier to find and buy properties below the existent market rates. It is anticipated that the foreclosure investing properties market is set to grow at a steady pace in the next few years. Foreclosure investing thus made is worth all the initial effort and patience applied. The foreclosure investing market offers real value on the money spent and re-evaluation of the property always reveals that the price paid was well below the existent market value.