August 2010

Mobile Home Investing: Beware of Hidden Liens

by John Fedro | August 6, 2010

Investors that do not learn from their past mistakes are doomed to repeat them. I recently helped a newer investor (Tim) close on a slam-dunk mobile home deal inside of a preexisting family mobile home park in his town. The negotiation and acquisition went as smoothly as planned. It was not until after the closing [...]

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Real Estate Marketing

Referrals: An Often Overlooked Way to Get Motivated Seller Leads

by Shae Bynes | August 5, 2010

On Tuesday I spent 3 hours in a mastermind session with ten business owners across a variety of industries and one of the topics we covered at length was marketing and various methods for generating leads for our businesses. One of the key takeaways I have from the session is that referrals are one of [...]

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Taxes

The Basics of “Real Estate Professional” Status for Tax Purposes

by J Scott | August 4, 2010

One of the biggest challenges real estate investors face is keeping the profits that they earn from their investments. Just like any other business, the IRS is going to want to take as big a chunk of your profits as possible, and knowing how to use the system to your advantage will help you keep [...]

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Real Estate Investing

Back to Basics on Buy and Hold

by Julie Broad | August 4, 2010

This past week was spent catching up with friends we haven’t seen in awhile. When these old friends ask what we’re up to, they aren’t surprised to find out it’s real estate related, given that we began investing in real estate in 2001. While most have heard the stories of our crack house adventures in [...]

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Starting Out

5 Simple Steps for Beginner Real Estate Investors

by Ryan Moeller | August 4, 2010

Most beginners get lost in a world of information. They analyze and try every strategy but never focus or become a master at one real estate investing strategy. I suggest an alternative plan, which will simplify things and increase the likelihood of your success. Here are 5 simple steps for investing beginners. Pick one and [...]

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Real Estate

Your 401K/IRA ‘Retirement’ Will Disappoint – Gut It – Pay Taxes/Penalty – Do Better

by Jeff Brown | August 3, 2010

It makes me sick to my stomach whenever I talk with folks who were whipsawed in the latest stock market crash, describe having watched their retirement, just a few years off, as it disappeared like steam in the wind. I spoke with one such couple last week, and in the middle of our conversation the [...]

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Real Estate Law

Are You Safe to Sell Under the SAFE Act?

by Clint Coons | August 3, 2010

Every workshop I teach lately has at least 10 investors who ask me if I am familiar with the SAFE Act (Secure and Fair Enforcement Mortgage Licensing Act) enacted by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and does it spell the end of seller financing. Many of you know that in today’s market [...]

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Real Estate Investing

5 Methods to Test First and Make Informed Business Decisions

by Ryan Moeller | August 2, 2010

Many business people use their knowledge, past experience and intuition to make business decisions. Unfortunately many just do what everyone else is doing. What if your decision fails? What if you are investing a lot of money, effort and time without confidence and close to certainty of a successful outcome? It is always recommended to [...]

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Housing

Housing Market Insight – August 2nd Edition

by Ryan Hinricher | August 2, 2010

Last week saw critical changes to appraisals, an increase in mortgage purchase applications, the interest rate trend continuing, corrections in last week’s HAMP report, and the new emerging trend; “renter nation”. Appraisal Rules Set to Change Housing Market There were 2 important changes in the appraisal world recently; Fannie Mae is stopping lenders from cutting [...]

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Rehabbing

Want To Super-Size That Rehab?

by Richard Warren | August 2, 2010

“Would you like to super-size your value meal?” Quite often the response is “Sure, it’s only eighty-nine cents.” When people decline the offer it’s more often out of concern for their waistline than the bottom line. It’s such a trivial amount that you don’t really need to think about it from a financial perspective. For [...]

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Commentary

More Government Intervention? No, Thanks!

by Alex Cortez | August 1, 2010

With strong lobbying from various groups, President Obama signed a Homebuyer Tax Extension, thereby giving 3 additional months for qualifying transactions to close (and let’s face it, short sales take time and even with the extension some just won’t close in time). And now there are already many in the real estate industry clamoring for [...]

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