All Forum Posts by: Dustin Ruhl

Investing is difficult and growing wealth perhaps even harder, even when you know what you're doing. For Steve Down, investing is also about social causes. Steve Down is the owner of Financially Fit, a firm that helps individuals grow their wealth and get them to where they want to be. He has summarized his investment approach into five bullets, the first three of which are known for anyone who has attempted investment: hold on to your capital, create cash flow and, thereby, create wealth. The last two, however, are what make Steve Down so interesting and worth listening to. He has made it important to himself (and wants to spread the message to others) to create a legacy of impacting his world, that world which he *lives* in. He includes in his goals of intelligent investing a leg promoting a social component of having a cause and helping it along as you grow your wealth. In creating wealth, he takes opportunities to start companies and partner with non-profits to target social needs. It is novel from the investing angle: grow a business and use it to leverage a social cause. Steve may not be unique to this approach but he is definitely talking it up. For investors out there with a similar goal, Steve Down is definitely worth listening to. He is someone intent on wealth creation and planning *with* social causes.

Key Takeaways:

• The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham, first published in 1949, is a widely acclaimed book on value investing.
• The Intelligent Investor is based on value investing, an investment approach Graham began teaching at Columbia Business School in 1928 and subsequently refined with David Dodd.
• This sentiment was echoed by other Graham disciples such as Irving Kahn and Walter Schloss.

"Creating cash flow enables investors to sustain themselves and their families along with their investing as well as growing their businesses and portfolios."

Read more: https://thinkrealty.com/steve-down-reveals-5-goals/

Investing is difficult and growing wealth perhaps even harder, even when you know what you're doing. For Steve Down, investing is also about social causes. Steve Down is the owner of Financially Fit, a firm that helps individuals grow their wealth and get them to where they want to be. He has summarized his investment approach into five bullets, the first three of which are known for anyone who has attempted investment: hold on to your capital, create cash flow and, thereby, create wealth. The last two, however, are what make Steve Down so interesting and worth listening to. He has made it important to himself (and wants to spread the message to others) to create a legacy of impacting his world, that world which he *lives* in. He includes in his goals of intelligent investing a leg promoting a social component of having a cause and helping it along as you grow your wealth. In creating wealth, he takes opportunities to start companies and partner with non-profits to target social needs. It is novel from the investing angle: grow a business and use it to leverage a social cause. Steve may not be unique to this approach but he is definitely talking it up. For investors out there with a similar goal, Steve Down is definitely worth listening to. He is someone intent on wealth creation and planning *with* social causes.

Key Takeaways:

• The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham, first published in 1949, is a widely acclaimed book on value investing.
• The Intelligent Investor is based on value investing, an investment approach Graham began teaching at Columbia Business School in 1928 and subsequently refined with David Dodd.
• This sentiment was echoed by other Graham disciples such as Irving Kahn and Walter Schloss.

"Creating cash flow enables investors to sustain themselves and their families along with their investing as well as growing their businesses and portfolios."

Read more: https://thinkrealty.com/steve-down-reveals-5-goals/

At the 2017 Think Realty National Conference & Expo held in Balitmore, Maryland on June 24, 2017, Steve Broadley from Legally Mine asset protection services addressed the need for the right asset protection to the audience of real estate investors and private lenders. During his speech, Broadley shared the key point that having the wrong type of asset protection can be worse than not having protection at all. Lawsuits can happen to anyone, but they are more likely to happen to people that have money and/or assets. Therefore, you want to be prepared for any type of potential lawsuits to ensure that your assets will be well safe-guarded and your hard-earned money and investment capital will not be taken away from you. Broadley shared a story of a successful doctor that ultimately lost his fortune and his lifestyle due to a family that sued him for his secretary’s driving accident that caused the death of two teenaged sisters. Broadley emphasized that this doctor did not have adequate asset protection to cover him and you don’t want to end up like him so it is in your best interest to speak with an asset protection specialist as soon as possible to make sure that you will be legally protected from worst case potential lawsuit scenarios.

Key Takeaways:

• One day, he sent his secretary out for sandwiches for the office. She ran a red light and killed two teenaged sisters.
• After addressing the logistics of establishing asset protection for investors, business owners, and entrepreneurs, Broadley revealed some shocking details about failing to adequately and appropriately
• As Broadley observed, lawsuits are, at the heart, all about money. “If Dr. Adams had owned no assets, the insurance money would have sufficed,” he said.

"You have two options available to you when it comes to lawsuits: forget them and hope the snake never strikes"

Read more: https://thinkrealty.com/legally-mine-asset-protection/

Real estate investments can come in varied shades. One of these would be for instance the ultimate far sighted vision of one day owing bigger home, yet in the mean time making the decision to downsize ones expenses by tuning one's rental property into a primary residence. A move like this helps with long term budgeting, as overall capital deployments & monthly liabilities decrease. Next, the improved cash profile helps with potential selling projections down the road, while at once building a family, almost hustle free. The greatest benefit in the tax law for property owners is the home sale exclusion. This rule permits single homeowners to exclude from their taxable income up to $250,000 in profit realized from the sale of a personal residence. The exclusion is $500,000 for married couples filing jointly. This qualification requires ownership & occupation of said residence /converted rental as your principal residence for at least 2 years prior top sell date. You do not have to be living in the home at the time of sale & there is no lifetime limitation on how many times the exclusion can be used. Converting a rental into your residence will not eliminate all taxes when you sell it, ownership taxes & deductions. You must also review & recapture depreciation deductions claimed for it each year as the total depreciation you claimed during the rental period is not eligible for the exclusion. You must "recapture"/ report the amounts on IRS Schedule D & pay a flat 25% tax on these deductions, which can have a significant tax impact. Remember that this is just a summary.

Key Takeaways:

• Consult a tax expert on when to make the switch to primary residence. The advantages and savings are all about timing.
• Do maintenance and updates as a rental. This allows you to write them off.
• If you are going to sell primary residence is the way to go. This will save you on capital gains tax.

"There are many reasons why you might want to move into your investment property, but in doing so, you change its status from a rental to a primary residence."

The Houston Association of Realtors have made a multi-year agreement with Remine, who provides data and analytics to its clients, as announced by the firms on Thursday. This will allow Remine to make its services available to the Houston area realtors community. Over thirty six thousand realtors and realty service provides will be able to take advantage of access to new and important data due to the establishment of this agreement. The data that Remine provides is called "big data" for a reason - there is a lot of it! This data will be made available via data tools and software designed to manage such large data sets. The primary goal in using these impressive tools is to provide better service to customers. This comes in the form of identifying listings and the customers that may be interested in them, as well as providing an effective and meaningful way to reach them. The software features modern interactive elements that are expected in many fields of industry, but are only just now becoming readily available to realty. For instance, realtors will be able to search for properties on maps - just as provided by many online sites - instead of using archaic list formats. This advantage is cemented with rich metadata being readily available - data points like previous sale price and current occupancy will be available to review with the listings. In addition to this, a special score called the RPI is available alongside equity information - this can help a realtor decide if a property could be purchased easily from the current owner. Remine is excited and happy to add this agreement to its list that includes states such as Michigan and Alaska.

Key Takeaways:

• Newly signed multiyear license will aid more than 36,000 realtors in Houston area.
• Remine is a data and predictive analytics provider which aids realtors in selling homes.
• Remine is continuing to expand nationwide as they move into larger metro areas of Texas.

"Remine will provide agents with powerful new data based tools that will improve the way they provide service to their customers, identify new listings, connect with buyers and stay in touch with their clients"

Read more: http://www.housingwire.com/articles/40034-houston-becomes-latest-metro-to-add-big-data-for-realtors

The national lender, Finance of America, has created a new side for those who invest in residential real estate. It is called Finance of America Commercial, and with rental units and the opportunities to flip houses being so great at the present, they are believed to be a leader in this market. Finance of America Commercial has easy and fast products available for investors that are just getting started as well as professionals with million already in their portfolios. This company is very competitive in the market offering very low pricing and a wide range of products. This new business is the result of Finance of America's purchase of B2R Finance whom had recently acquired assets from Jordan Capital Finance. There is a great deal of leadership and experience running the new company with Jordan Capitol's previous CEO, two senior vice presidents from B2R, and a senior vice president from Jordan Capital added to the team now. The new company helps customers across the United States with its biggest offices in Charlotte and the outskirts of Chicago. Finance of America Commercial has the ability to help people who may not meet certain requirements of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. They are dedicated to growing trusting relationships with investors across the country who want to grow their own business while developing new products all the while.

Key Takeaways:

• There are approximately 16 million rental vacancies in the United States.
• Consumers are purchasing, reselling and rehabbing homes in ever-increasing numbers.
• For investors in real estate, the moment is golden in the United States.

"Finance of America, a national lender known for its home loans and reverse mortgages, has created a new unit dedicated to serving residential real estate investors: Finance of America Commercial."

Read more: https://thinkrealty.com/finance-of-america-commercial/

According to the National Association of Realtors, almost half of homes that sold were sold in less than one month's time last month. This value is considerably below the average time sold value from one year ago, when the time on the market average was around 47 days. This change in average listing time to sale has significant for investors. In many markets, there is a shortage of inventory, and home buyers are finding their options limited when they attempt to purchase homes. According to the chief economist of the National Association of Realtors, this shortage is a result of the homebuilding industry's inability to meed the demand for new homes. Any investors who can either find off-market deals, or who can rehab homes and prepare them for market, will be able to enjoy a sellers market. The NAR economist predicted that this trend will continue for the relatively near future. While this trend of low time between homes being put on market to purchase was observed throughout most of the country, there were a few markets where it was especially marked. The cities of San Jose, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, Denver, and Vallejo-Fairfield were all noticeably quick in turnaround time. In these cities in particular, this trend is likely to continue for the foreseeable future, as housing inventory is tight to begin with.

Key Takeaways:

• Since they removed distressed locations, the average time of a house on the market has fell significantly.
• Value in houses are going down because they're being remodeled which takes more money than actually getting people to buy it
• The demands for clients living at these locations decreased significantly because of not enough inventory and proper value

"Well, in many markets, it means there is a definite inventory “crunch” available to take advantage of."

Read more: https://thinkrealty.com/nearly-half-homes-selling-less-month/