The Secret For Successful Real Estate Investing In California
May 28, 2010 by Kenny Santos
Filed under Real Estate Investing
It would seem to most people that there would be few opportunities for California real estate investing.
The state has one of the highest costs of living of all the states in the country. While this increase in cost of living keeps many Americans from moving out West, there are still some people who make the state their permanent residence.
There is constantly an influx of people moving into the state of California creating a constant demand for real estate. This demand is what keeps California real estate investing an opportunity for real estate investors.
For success in California real estate investing, investors much keep a consistent watch on the real estate trends. While there are some cities in the state that will always be popular, those cities that present the biggest opportunity for investing are always changing. Investors must pay close attention to market trends in these cities.
In California real estate investing, there are some key factors to pay attention to. One of these factors is the average days on the market for homes. This number lets investors know how long they can expect for a home to stay on the market before it is sold. If the number decreases over a period of time then the market is speeding up and it is a good time to invest.
On the other hand if the average days on hand is increasing, the market is slowing. Investors that currently hold properties should sell to keep from losing money in California real estate investing. In the case that time on the market is increasing, investors in California real estate might need to adjust the price of their homes to make sure they are selling.
Sacramento and San Diego are two key markets that are slowing. California real estate investing in either of these markets is not advised. Investors that already have these markets? real estate in their portfolio should divest the properties quickly. The exception is if the properties are rentals rather than homes for sale. However, if the homes are intended to be sold, the best time to do so is now. Waiting to sell the properties could result in losses.
Condominiums are one type of property that never seem to lose steam in California. In most cities, even those that overall home sales are declining, purchase of condos are still on the rise. The California real estate investing market is safe for condos.
Oakland, San Francisco, and Riverside are a few cities that are safe for California real estate investing. Despite the decline in many other California cities, these continue to display signs of growth. In the past, California real estate has proven to be trendy. Residents do not remain interested in one place for an extended period of time. While investors will be able to make a profit in these areas for the time being, they should not expect for these markets to be profitable for long.
For the best opportunity for success in California real estate investing, investors should study the markets for a period of time prior to making any transactions.
Take advantage of these tips and you are sure to make good profits in California
About the Author:
Claim a free e-book that will show you a system used to control $4.1million worth of real estate for just $22 - and you can follow this system to do the same. Comes with resale rights from: Free Real Estate Fortunes Ebook
Real Estate Investing- Using the Right Tools
May 12, 2010 by Kenny Santos
Filed under Real Estate Video Tips
If you try to invest in real estate with out the proper knowledge and education, it will cost you money, you will get frustrated, you will work very hard and you will most likely give up. It’s like trying to chop down a tree with a sledge hammer. Get yourself educated and you will see the results you are looking for with less work and less frustration. Like chopping down the same tree with an axe!
Is Real Estate Investing Really One of the Best Income Opportunities
May 10, 2010 by Kenny Santos
Filed under Real Estate Investing
Investing in real estate can be one of the very best income opportunities, but it depends on your personality. I don’t believe everyone is suited for real estate investing, any more than I believe that everyone is suited to be a professional golfer, opera singer, or CPA.
In order for real estate investing to be the best income opportunity for YOU, first make sure you’re the type of person who can succeed as an investor. Fortunately, there are almost as many ways to invest in real estate as there are personality types, so the chances are excellent you will find one you can succeed at.
By answering a few simple questions, I can help you narrow your focus and decide what kind of investing you’re likely to do well with. Be honest with yourself, and answer each question with a simple yes or no. Ready? Let’s get started.
1. Do you consider yourself a highly detailed and organized person?
2. Do you find it difficult or uncomfortable meeting new people and starting conversations with them?
3. Do you enjoy managing large projects and orchestrating the efforts of a group of people?
If you answered yes to the three questions above, your skills make you well suited to rehabbing properties. You may not succeed as a negotiator, so finding and flipping properties is something you probably should avoid, but if you can partner with a skilled deal-finder, handling the rehab projects is something you most likely would enjoy and be good at.
Here’s another set of questions.
1. Do you find it easy to get to know new people and start conversations with them?
2. Do people tend to trust you easily?
3. Do you like how it feels when you negotiate a great deal?
4. Do you dislike detailed work, or are you slightly disorganized?
5. Are you tenacious and persistent?
If you answered yes to at least 4 of the above questions, bird-dogging, wholesaling, and flipping may be right for you. Talking to sellers will be one of your strong suits, once you learn how. Building a list of buyers will probably come easier for you than it might for someone else. However, you should avoid taking on rehabs, or becoming a landlord. Those require more detail and organization than you possess.
Here’s the final group of questions.
1. Are you patient and not easily frustrated?
2. Can you be firm and direct when necessary?
3. Are you consistent and organized in you own personal finances and recordkeeping?
If these answers were yes, perhaps landlording and holding properties for rental would be a good fit for you. In fact, these traits are found in almost all successful, long-term landlords. On the other hand, not possessing these qualities is most likely why so many landlords get fed up with their tenants and wind up selling their properties at a big loss.
There is much more we could say on this topic, but by now you’re getting the idea. It’s vitally important to take a look at yourself truthfully. Ask yourself some hard questions, and use the answers to help determine if real estate investing will be one of the very best income opportunities for you, and which type of investing you are best prepared to excel at.
Now, go make more offers!
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Tom Dunn is a successful real estate investor and author of the popular DealFiles Real Estate Investor Stories free newsletter. You are welcome to share this report, unedited and in it’s entirety, with anyone you like. You may not remove this text.? 2006 by Tom Dunn. Website: http://www.dealfiles.com e-mail: tom@dealfiles.com |
Next Game April 30th- Learn to build wealth by playing Cashflow 101
April 20, 2010 by Kenny Santos
Filed under Cashflow 101
Based on the best-selling book, “Rich Dad Poor Dad,” Utahns will have the opportunity to learn to build wealth by playing a game, Cashflow 101.
Game instruction will be held at 6:30pm. Friday April 30th at 425 E Bridle Walk Lane. Bridle Walk is about 5700 S off of Fashion blvd. East of Fashion Place Mall. The game will be taught by Kenny Santos, a wealth trainer, real estate investor and president/ founder of “Bring the Game to Life: CASHFLOW CLUB.”
The game teaches the basics of fundamental investing, how to take control of personal finances and how to invest with greater confidence in real estate and other businesses. The Cashflow board game is recommended for adults and children age 10 and older.
For more information, contact Santos at 801-755-9297, via e-mail at kenny@richdadinvestor.com or by going online to www.richdadinvestor.com.
Real Estate Investing By The Numbers: Part 1
April 9, 2010 by Kenny Santos
Filed under Real Estate Investing
In our recent Mastermind Group training session, our key topic of discussion was how to invest by the numbers. The longer that I spend investing in real estate and also evaluating projects around the county, the more and more I am astounded at the lack of knowledge from “so called” professionals. For most individual real estate investments, the level of analysis is not terribly difficult?. You find yourself doing the same thing over and over again. In this article, I will try and share this simplistic view and how you can know more than 95% of the “professionals” in this market.
What You Need To Know? For any investment, there really is 4 things you need to know and guess what, NOBODY gives them to you in a normal sales presentation. Let’s break down each one and how it is obtained:
1)Purchase Equity ? This is one of the simplest to obtain but is easily abused by sales people. What you want to know is what is your purchase price, relative to the actual STREET PRICE; i.e., the price a real individual in the area would pay to own your property. How do you get it? Appraisals, talking with agents in the area, running test ads in newspapers, etc.
2)Annual Appreciation (%) ? Now the witch craft begins?.. This requires a CRYSTAL BALL to look into the future. Because of this, appreciation is an OPINION that you should form on your own?. An “Experts” OPINION is still an opinion and you should treat it as such. To make an opinion, you had to consider things like job growth, lack of similar product, future demand, etc. Bottom line is that you would like to come up with a % number and this takes a little practice but after looking at a few areas, you can pretty easily form an opinion. PLEASE NOTE: If we “project” appreciation rates in an area, we are violating securities laws so we don’t do this. We share all the information about an area and why we like it and then have to leave it up to the individual to form their own opinion. However, when we have decided to introduce a property, we have formed our own OPINION and we like what we see.
3)Annual Cashflow ? Over time, you will either be making or losing money on this investment. It may turn out that small amounts of negative cashflow make sense if the annual appreciation and purchase equity are strong. The components that you have to gather for annual cashflow are
?Gross Annual Income; ?Management Expenses; ?Taxes, Insurance, HOA; ?Interest Expenses; and ?Maintenance Estimates
Fortunately, most of the expenses can be estimated pretty closely. For gross annual income, realize that again, NOBODY can predict the future. So, you can gather market rents data that you believe are comparable, apply any safety factor that you like, and then use that for ESTIMATES.
4)Special Tax Situations ? This is typically an unusual situation for individual investors but applies in areas such as the Go Zone where bonus depreciation can be used.
How Do You Use This Information Suppose you could see EXACTLY what was going to happen into the future?.. Of course, we know this is unrealistic however it still does not hurt to try based on our assumptions.
Suppose you looked into the future and you saw that in 5 years, your net gain on a property was going to be a little over $87,000 with a $21,000 dollar total investment and a little bit of your time. If you KNEW that was GOING to happen, what would you do? Would you purchase the property? Would you pass on the property? Why?
Realize, that for a $21,000 investment, this equates to making 33.9% on your money, year after year after year. That is not too shabby. Let’s apply the “rule of 72″ here which states that you can calculate how long (approximately) it will take to double your money with a certain return %. You take 72% / 33.9% = 2.1 Years to double your money. Is this something that is good?
The answer of course depends on a few factors but let’s put it into perspective. Suppose you invested $100,000 at a steady 33.9% rate of return. In 15 years, then you have now turned that $100,000 into $7.9 Million. Got your attention yet if you KNEW this was going to happen? Of course, if we have to take on all kinds of risks to get that return, then that may, or may not be such a good idea. If, however, it is low risk, now you have the makings of a good investment.
My argument now is that IF YOU COULD SEE INTO THE FUTURE, and you saw this kind of performance, you would be excited. Right? Well, why not pretend we can look into the future and CALCULATE what the future looks like using our 4 KEY parameters above. If we like the “future” answers, and we believe our assumptions, and we believe the risk to be low, isn’t that a prudent approach?
For many non-investors, they believe that real estate investors take on tons of risk and are gun slingers?? Quite contraire, monsieur, that is exactly what we DON’T do. Good investors simply look at all the FACTS, make some estimates of key parameters, estimate future performance, and then play “what if” games to what happens if things don’t work out exactly as thought.
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Dr. Chris Anderson is the founder of one of the largest preconstruction groups on the internet today and is referenced in many venues including the New York Times and USA Today. Get access to wholesale property investments today. |
7 Steps To Make Money In Real Estate Investing
March 28, 2010 by Kenny Santos
Filed under Real Estate Investing
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#1 Know that you can do it too! Have you ever stopped to think about who owns all the downtown buildings? Or how about all those apartment complexes you see everywhere? When you see a “For Rent” Sign on a house do you wonder how many more rental houses that guy owns. Well, the point to these questions is to say that you can be one of the millions of people that own rental real estate too? That actually comes as a surprise to some people and that is why the title above says KNOW that you can do it too! You can and you should. Let me repeat that. You can and you should. There are plenty of excuses people use to say; “well, I can’t do that” and as the saying goes - “You either can or you can’t, either way you are right!” Here’s what I want you to do. Just below write out the first few “I can’t” reasons. I’ll even get you started… What if you could turn it around so there were no excuses, no more “I can’t”? Wouldn’t that allow you to achieve your goal of financial freedom? Wouldn’t that allow you to create the result of buying properties below market value so you could make money time after time? What we intend to do is what we will ultimately get. The more clear the intention, the better chance we will do the things necessary to get it. For instance, if you say; “I want to invest in real estate”, that intention is very vague and not easily acted upon. However if you can describe what kind of real estate you want it becomes much clearer and much more likely to happen. As an example, if you say; “I want to own a rental duplex in the hospital district with each side being 3 bedrooms and 2 baths and it needs to cash flow at least $150 per side and I don’t want to pay more than $10,000 down and would love owner financing”, you are much more likely to find what you are looking for. Is it easier to believe that you can own a duplex in the hospital district or that someday you want to be rich? Your mind will help you be successful if you truly believe and articulate what you want in detail. #2 Begin with the end in mind In Stephen Covey’s book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, habit number one is “Be Proactive”. You’re being proactive just by reading this article. You’re taking action. Habit number 2 is “Begin with the end in mind”. Set a goal. Know what you want and plan how to get there. So many would be investors don’t have a road map to where they want to end up so they don’t end up anywhere. THIS IS A CRITICAL STEP!! There is a major difference between investing in real estate and being a real estate investor. By inheriting a property or buying a house that pays you $2 per month, you are an owner of an investment property. (Many people actually loose money each month because they didn’t buy right but that is another story). Technically, they are invested in real estate. But they are not real estate investors. They don’t have a plan of accumulating wealth with strategies and tactics that get them there over time. (Sorry, this is not a get rich quick opportunity…lottery tickets sold elsewhere). A plan should have realistic goals. For instance, if your desire is to retire wealthy, what do you mean by “retire wealthy”. Be very specific. I have one client that defines it as “I want my wife to be able to stay home and I don’t want to have to work. I need about $6,000 to pay my bills and I want to be able to do some traveling so I want $10,000 per month” You should have a long term goal of 10 - 15 years or more; medium term goals in the 5 - 10 year time horizon and shorter term goals in the 2 - 5 year range and immediate goals that define what you are going to do this year. Let’s take a look at a sample of this… A 52 yr. old working male with a wife that works as a teacher might start with basic goals as follows: 10 year goal retire at 62 with no reduction in lifestyle [so they need to replace $82,000/year income ($6,834 per month) which might take 10-12 free and clear houses generating cash flow in the $500 - $600/month range] 5 year goalOwn 15 housing units (could be apartment or duplex generating at least $150/unit in free cash flow ($2,250) to retire my wife to be looking for real estate full time). Own Real Estate in my self Directed IRA - grows tax deferred or even tax free if using a ROTH Join the local REIA - Real Estate Investors Association. Understand my financial situation - set a household budget, savings & Investment plan, income statement and balance sheet (which you will need for loans anyway). Develop a buying criteria - (what do you want to buy, where, how much, what condition, how big, etc). Find an investor friendly real estate agent (to help me find property that fits my criteria). NOTE: this is just a summary of goals while a real plan is more in depth & detailed. #3 Model success - Another way to say this is “don’t recreate the wheel”. If 8,000,000 people have already done something and hundreds of thousands are currently doing it too, DON’T TRY TO MAKE IT UP AS YOU GO! There are many real estate investors that are happy to share their experience over a cup of coffee or lunch (you buy of course). The investors I have been privileged to know are a caring, sharing group of people that want to give back and help people. That’s how I got interested. Now let’s talk specifics. If you were going to go into the hamburger business would your chance of success be better if you were starting your own burger place or buying into a big name franchise? Assuming all things were equal, you wouldn’t have to develop all the systems and training for your own business if you went the franchise way. You would have the expertise of people that have been there and made mistakes and refined their systems and processes to improve the business. You would have the help of other franchise owners in your area to let help you get started and to talk with about local business trends and situations and on and on…. The point of this is to find out what other successful people are doing and model them. Don’t recreate the wheel. If your advertising isn’t working to generate leads, find someone that has a “lead generation machine” and copy what they are doing. (Please don’t infringe on copyrights, etc). But if they have a web page driving lead traffic, you should consider it. If they are putting signs out, you should consider it. If they are doing direct mail, you might give it a try. I think you get the point. Look at every process as you find, fund, fix and flip real estate and break down the components to business processes and then put a system around the process to help you make it more efficient and more manageable. #4 Focus, Focus, Focus Lack of focus is probably the single biggest cause of new investor failure that I have seen. Every month people are buying new books and tapes from the circuit guru that flies into town for the REIA meeting or some big name putting on their own event. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t expose yourself to different techniques to buying and/or selling property but most people have a “flavor of the month” investing technique that they get excited about and don’t ever focus creating a business (being a real estate investor). Look at your resources, network of people and resources, time you have and level of difficulty and commitment to do a specific type of transaction. You should pick one that considers your time and resources and then get really good at it. #5 Take action You don’t have to be good to begin, but you have to begin to be good. This is the shortest section here. TAKE ACTION! Do something. One of my bible study teachers used to say to me after I asked so many questions was; “Larry, Just get a mitt and get into the game!” Translation for real estate investors….”Just get out there and make offers”. You can’t make money until you get a contract that is signed by the seller, right? #6 Build a team of experts #7 Make offers! You can learn a lot and not make money. You can plan a lot and not make money. You can network with hundreds of people and not make money. You can attend meeting after meeting and conference call after conference call and not make money. Start making offers and start making some money. How many? How about 1 a day to start and then get up to 50-100 per month? Believe it or not, at some point someone will accept one of your offers and you’ll be “off to the races”.
Article Tags: make, people, real
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