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Winston Westbrook

Real Estate Investing

Invest on the Ground Floor

by Winston Westbrook | November 20, 2009
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My grandfather was born in Guayaquil Ecuador in 1906. He came to America in the 70’s and would tell me stories about his business in Ecuador exporting bananas to the United States. He loved America and all it stood for; he wouldn’t drive anything but American made cars. Chevy to be exact, lol. He [...]

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Landlord Tenant

Landlords Beware: Discrimination can cost you Millions!

Thumbnail image for Landlords Beware: Discrimination can cost you Millions! by Winston Westbrook | November 10, 2009

It cost billionaire Donald T. Sterling millions.
On November 3rd of this year the Justice department received the biggest settlement on a housing discrimination lawsuit.
Donald T. Sterling has agreed to pay $2.725 million to settle allegations that he discriminated against African-Americans, Hispanics and families with children at apartment buildings he controls in Los Angeles.
The Justice Department [...]

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Housing

The best time of the year to buy real estate is…

by Winston Westbrook | October 12, 2009

I get asked the following question from time to time:
Winston what is the best time of the year to buy or invest in real estate?

I have been in real estate sales and finance since 1995 and I would usually say that towards the end of the year was the best time of the year to purchase a property. Why do I say this?

  • Less competition
  • Less competition
  • Less competition

I never had the hard stats to prove it but you could just get a feel for it based on market conditions. Towards the end of the year I would get less activity from:

  • advertisements
  • listings
  • referrals
  • etc etc

I got to thinking and so I came across this section in Google called Google Trends. Google Trends lets you see what people are searching for over a selected period of time. I found an interesting trend for the search for “real estate” in the United States.

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Foreclosures

Top 20 tips for making offers on Freddie Mac/Home Steps REO properties

by Winston Westbrook | October 5, 2009

Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddi...

In today’s challenging real estate market where 30 offers on homes out here in Victorville, CA is the norm, (and I’m sure the same applies all over the United States) we need every little bit of information to help our offers stand out from the crowd.

I have made countless offers on REO properties including Freddie Mac deals, and these tips reflect my experience in dealing with them. These are the things that Freddie Mac always counters with and always wants flat out.

When making an offer to purchase a Freddie Mac or Home Steps owned property you should try and follow these guidelines to help your offer stand out from the crowd and help you save a day or two in negotiations with them.

The Top 20 Tips for Making offers on Freddie Mac, Home steps or FHLMC Properties

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Real Estate Marketing

How to learn from Junk mail

by Winston Westbrook | September 28, 2009

I go to my post office box once a week. I insert my key and kaplow out comes a pile of junk mail. Sometimes I think I am just paying for my post office box just so companies can send me junk, lol. Just a few years ago I would’ve been ticked off to be getting so much junk mail but now I embrace junk mail. I love junk mail.

I get junk mail from banks, auto dealers, insurance companies, fast food chains, super markets, travel, get rich quick schemes and the list goes on and on.

Fortune 500 companies spend millions hiring the top advertising agencies of the world to create and come up with the best advertising. These advertising agencies take into account every little detail and every word that’s said.

I know we don’t  have millions of dollars to spend on the best advertising money can buy so why don’t we learn from these advertisers and put together the best of best for FREE.  Let’s learn from our competition and such.

The next time you pull out a pile of junk mail and instead of just tossing it into the trash stop and look it over for a second.  Separate the mail that catches your attention from the mail that is flat out junk mail and uninteresting. Take the mail that seems interesting and look for the following:

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Real Estate Investing

Investment Property Nightmares: How to get rid of that smell!

by Winston Westbrook | September 7, 2009

I purchased my first investment property in Victorville, CA. It was an REO that looked ok on the outside but I had no idea what I was going to find inside. When I opened the door to take a look inside I couldn’t believe anyone could live in such conditions. The place looked and smelled like a garbage dump. I am not kidding, it literally looked like one. Roaches would cascade down doors I opened them up. I think they were upset that I disturbed their sleep, lol. The previous owners pets no doubt had full range of the house, but especially in this one particular front bedroom. The smell of urine was so bad you needed a gas mask. Even though the property was in need of many repairs it was still a great investment.

The Battle to Clean this Investment Property

I ended up purchasing the property and began to gut it out. I removed all the carpet and hauled out all the trash. The smell began to lighten up around the house but this front bedroom still had that awful smell. I thought that by taking the carpet and padding out it would of solved the problem, but I was dead wrong.

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Real Estate

First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit needs one of those Modifications

by Winston Westbrook | August 31, 2009

So the time has come to wave goodbye to the first time homebuyer credit. If you are working with first time home buyers and you haven’t locked down a property in escrow by the end of next month your clients might not be able to make the deadline of Dec 1, 2009 to get that rebate. Remember that escrow or the real estate transaction must be closed, finalized and done by Dec 1, 2009. Some people think that as long as the property is in the closing process by Dec 1 they would still get the credit but that is false. I’m sorry to inform you but it has to be completely closed.

An Extension to the First Time Home Buyer Credit?

With that said many people have been asking me if I knew if they were going to extend the first time home buyer credit. I had not heard of anything so I did a little research and low and behold there was a bill introduced back in June 10, 2009. This bill has not received too much attention because people were not worried about the tax credit expiring. Now that the clock is ticking I am sure the tax credit will be coming back into the lexicon a lot stronger in the next couple months

If you have never followed a bill in your life then you might want to take notice as an investor, real estate agent, loan officer etc. This one will affect you once it’s passed until it expires in 2011.

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Real Estate Marketing

Lose the pounds not the Deal by Door Knocking

by Winston Westbrook | August 24, 2009

Ok, so you got up this morning and jumped on the scale in the bathroom like I did, and you noticed you gained some pounds over the course of this year. I don’t know about you, but I hate it when my pants do not fit like they should. Not only is it bad on the eyes but bad on the health.

So you ask, how does this tie in with real estate Winston?

My friends, I’ll tell you that health is wealth. What good is it if we have the world at our fingertips, but we cannot enjoy it beacuse we are overweight and unhealthy. So I got to thinking and I came up with a good way to get rid of those stubborn pounds, while at the same time uncovering some of those hidden deals that are just sitting in my neighborhood. The holidays are right around the corner, and if you put some of these simple tips into play, you can lose some serious pounds. You’ll also get the chance to make some deals happen that you wouldn’t have had the chance to do otherwise.

Here is the best way to drum up real estate business while at the same time losing weight and getting healthy:

  • Take a walk throughout your neighborhood and pass out flyers to every single house letting them know about you and your service by door knocking. This works great for investors, real estate agents and loan officers. If you are an investor you can let them know you buy houses fast for cash or if you are a real estate agent you can let them know you can sell their house the quickest etc. etc. You get the drift.
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Real Estate

Surfs up! Here comes another foreclosure wave!

by Winston Westbrook | August 17, 2009

real-estate-opportunityWe’ve all heard the saying that opportunity only knocks once.

Do you feel like you missed the boat?

Many investors that were not prepared for this current historic market of record low prices and interest rates feel that their boat has set sail and they did not get a chance to participate.

American author Louis L’Amour said it best. He said, “Some say opportunity knocks only once. That is not true. Opportunity knocks all the time, but you have to be ready for it. If the chance comes, you must have the equipment to take advantage of it.”

Well, I have good news for you my friends. Another wave of foreclosures is coming and you have some time to prepare for it. The historic market you think you missed is coming back and better than ever.

So Winston, where is this second wave of foreclosures coming from?

The 2nd wave of foreclosures is coming due to the following 4 reasons:

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