Real Estate Investing For Your Retirement
March 22, 2012 by Kenny Santos
Filed under Real Estate Investing
Are you going to be able to retire? And if you do, will you be in a position to enjoy your life, pay medical bills and maintain an acceptable level of health?
Those can be chilling questions if you haven’t thought about them much. If you haven’t given them adequate thought, that means you haven’t prepared for certain inevitabilities.
Real estate investment can help you answer those questions and remove that chill factor.
Let’s face it. Not only will you not want to spend your golden years working, you may not be able to, regardless of whether you would like to. You may live well up into your 80s or 90s and be unable to do the job you are doing today?or any job for that matter.
You need to lay the foundation of security and happiness for your future self. Real estate can help you do that.
This is because, as your investments age, they should be making more and more money for you with less and less work output from you. It’s a sort of financial magic that will serve you especially well in later years. That’s why people get into investing in the first place.
In order to prepare for your retirement in this way, however, you must examine your core. That means that you will need to make sure your needs are taken care of in such a way that you don’t have to spend all of your time scrounging for pennies. You need the time to learn about real estate, and working in someone else’s office for peanuts isn’t going to get you that.
According to Robert Kiyosaki, author of the Rich Dad book series, you need to build a business system that can operate without you, thereby making money without working for it. Then take a portion of that money and invest it, thereby exponentially increasing your earning potential. Have you heard of making your money work for you instead of vice-versa? That is what this means.
As you grow older, you should be working less, not more. This is partly because your ability to work will decrease. But it is also because you deserve to be able to work less and enjoy your life more. Retirement isn’t about being forced out of a job?or at least it shouldn’t be. It should be about leaving a job to catch up with your life. To spend time doing the important things like hanging out with family and friends, engaging in hobbies that you enjoy and becoming involved in life-enriching activities such as spirituality or art. Not to mention getting enough exercise.
If you are in a job now that doesn’t allow you to do these things because it doesn’t pay enough or because you don’t have enough time left over in the day to learn to make a change, then consider switching to a job that pays more or gives you more time. Develop a business system in which you can train people to do the work for you. Then, when that is up and running, and providing you with the money and time you need, start learning about real estate.
Put your extra money into real estate investment?but don’t put in more than you can afford to lose on the learning curve. Real estate investment is a skill like any other and you will make mistakes. Don’t be the farm on your first few purchases. In fact, don’t bet the farm at all. Make sure you are making enough money to live on, and then enough money to invest on.
After a while you should see your money start to grow exponentially. Then you are on your way to a happy retirement.
About the Author:
Alex Anderson Helps Regular-People (Just Like You) To Successfully Invest In Real Estate. Enroll In Her Free - Educational “Investment Property Program” At: www.GreatInvestmentProperty.com
Real Estate Investing With Foreclosures
January 22, 2012 by Kenny Santos
Filed under Real Estate Investing
Real Estate investing with foreclosures can be an exceptional method of making money in the real estate market. You can usually get a foreclosed house for a below market value. The reason is the bank is not looking to hold on to real estate. They are looking to unload it. And the best and fastest way is to unload it for below market.
Now, with that said, it is foreclosed for a reason. Sometimes it happens to be a situation where the family can no longer afford it, and the bank forecloses on them. But more often than not, the family has totally trashed the house. The carpet will need replacing; the walls fixed, and repainted, the ceiling repainted, and the entire house scrubbed down. This was the case when I bought my first foreclosed house.
The foreclosed house we bought needed some repair. Most of the potential buyers could not get past the odor when they opened up the front door. See, the previous owners let their dogs run wild in the house, and even kept them in the house for 4 weeks when they went on vacation. So, you can imagine the smell. But we looked past it.
The house needed work, but we got it for $30,000 below market. We then used the money saved on the purchase, and took out a construction loan for the original amount plus the extra money to get it to market value. We put in 4 weeks of solid working on it, but when we were done, we had a brand new house with all new products inside.
We only stayed there for 2 years before deciding to move. When we sold, we made a 25% gain on the house, all because we were willing to put in a little sweat equity. It is not easy, but it is well worth it in the long run. I would definite recommend real estate investing with foreclosures.
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Michael Baker is has bought foreclosed properties, fixed them up, and sold them for profits. He now is the owner of Real Estate Investing With Foreclosures website. |
Is Birdogging Really Real Estate Investing?
December 16, 2011 by Kenny Santos
Filed under Real Estate Investing
I?ve been asked the question by beginning real estate investors, ?If I only birddog, am I really investing in real estate?? Good question.
My answer is, ?Are you making money, are you learning, and are you moving forward toward your goals?? If you can answer yes to those questions, then the right answer to ?Is birdogging really real estate investing?? is ?Who cares??
First, a primer on birdogging. It?s nothing more or less complicated than finding deals for other investors. As a birddog, you will do the legwork required to hunt down property that is in distress. That means it?s either vacant or in need of repairs, or the owner is experiencing some life situation that causes him to need to sell.
When you find a likely property, you will get another investor involved, and when they purchase the property you will receive a birddog fee. This usually amounts to between $500 and $5,000 depending on how much the property sells for and how much legwork you did to bring the deal to the buyer.
Birdogging is a great way to learn the ins and outs of real estate investing. You learn not only how to find distressed property, but also how to value real estate, how to use creative financing techniques, how to talk to sellers, and much more. In short, birdogging is a great way to get an education in real estate investing and earn a good living at the same time.
So, is birdogging really real estate investing? Not technically. It?s actually closer to being a real estate merchandiser. That is, you?re really in the business of locating property, or generating leads for other investors. Based on the amount of money you can earn, the education you?ll receive, and the low risk involved, that?s not really a bad thing.
Speaking of risk, that?s one of the chief advantages of birdogging. After all, since you?re not using any of your own money, there?s nothing to lose except your time. In addition, you really don?t need any cash or credit to get started in real estate investing? a perfect solution for people who are lacking one or the other, or both.
Now that you have a grasp of what birdogging is all about, why not make it a goal to birddog a few deals this month? You?ll have a blast, learn a ton, and make some money. What could be bad about that?
For more on beginning real estate investing visit http://www.dealfiles.com/beginninginvesting.html
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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. This text, and all live text links, must remain intact. ? 2007 by Tom Dunn. |
Real Estate Investing ? Are You Listening To The Right People?
September 3, 2011 by Kenny Santos
Filed under Real Estate Investing
Everywhere you go, you hear the same sad things: ?The rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer.? ?There just isn’t enough to go around.? ?It takes money to make money.? This can lead you to believe that there is some mystical force out there that regular people like you and me just can’t tap into. If you subscribe to this way of thinking long enough, you may be tempted to say, ?Since it takes money to make money and I have no money, then what hope is there for me?? There is plenty of hope, as long as you don’t listen to the wrong people. Media naysayers are definitely the wrong people.
Press about the declining value of real estate as an investment or about skyrocketing housing prices that keep regular people out of the market altogether can make the prospect of making money through real estate investment seem almost ludicrous. Yet people are doing it ? real people like you and me. And you can do it too. All you have to do is listen to the right people.
Sounds easy doesn’t it? Yes it does. That’s because it is. It is very easy to find a person who knows how to make money by investing in real estate, find out what has worked for them, and apply it to your own life. If it’s so easy, you might be tempted to say, then why isn’t everyone doing it? And that, my friend, is the meat of the matter. Everyone isn’t doing it for two reasons. The first reason is that they’ve simply been told all their lives that success is very, very difficult. In fact, they’ve been told, because of the scarcity of money, success is almost impossible.
They are paralyzed because they have been listening to the wrong people.
The second reason everyone isn’t investing as they should is, it’s just too easy. If you look at the lives of successful people, those people have followed a systematic plan to increase their wealth. Well, systematic plans aren’t sexy. They aren’t interesting. They’re boring, and that’s why people don’t like them. Most people would rather have the adrenaline rush of a get-rich-quick scheme than settle into a proven systematic plan to let their wealth increase for them in the background of their lives.
Because most people think like that, those are the ideas that the media are catering to. That is why murder and mayhem is front-page news and happy things are not. That is why people slow down when they see an automobile accident and not when they see a couple holding hands. Tragedy is far more interesting. Just check out the plot line of any major motion picture. People like to believe that life is tough.
The good news is, it doesn’t have to be.
If you can break the habit of thinking of life in tragic terms, of convincing yourself that there is simply not enough money to go around, then you will learn to start listening to the right people so you can develop your systematic plan for investing. And what does a systematic plan lead to? Financial success. We’ve established that the media and the majority of their audience are the wrong people to listen to, but who are the right people? The right people are those who have invested in property and profited significantly from those investments.
Wouldn’t you rather listen to someone who can tell you how you can make money, rather than to people who insist on telling you how to stay poor?
About the Author:
Investment Property Specialist - Alex Anderson Connects Real Estate Investors With High-Quality Investment Properties. Get A Free Copy Of, “The Investor’s Rental Guide” at: www.GreatInvestmentProperty.com
Real Estate Investing For Newbies - Intro To Foreclosure Basics
May 30, 2011 by Kenny Santos
Filed under Real Estate Investing
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By now of course you know foreclosures are at an all-time high in our country. Nevertheless it is another Real Estate Investing niche that has given many people great potential for making money. One of the most important things to remember about foreclosure investing is that there are many details to consider. It is not difficult, per se, and once you become familiar with all of the small details you can achieve success in no time at all. The first thing you need to know about foreclosure investing is how it works. Basically, a foreclosure is a property that the bank owns due to the fact that the owner of the property neglected to follow the terms and conditions of his/her mortgage, which usually means a failure pay his or her mortgage. In turn, the bank that owns these properties is forced to sell them back to the public in order to recover the money that they lost. And to go along with this, the bank often attempts to sell foreclosures quickly because they are not making any money by holding onto them. All of this works out to the advantage of a foreclosure investor. Because homeowners have heard or read about the profit potential, most people facing foreclosure will usually try every option available before selling to a Real Estate Investor. Let’s face it, they know that as Real Estate Investors we are only going to offer a certain percentage of what the property is worth on the open market, but look at the alternative. The home will be auctioned off. The homeowner will get nothing in terms of money, will lose all of their equity in the house, and have a foreclosure on their credit report. This will probably prevent the homeowner from being able to qualify for another loan for several years. Depending on the situation the Real Estate Investor, in exchange for control of the property may offer the homeowner a cash payment, make up the missed mortgage payments, and pay all of the penalties and legal costs that have accumulated. In essence the property is brought to a current status and the foreclosure process is effectively stopped. Real Estate Investors have really helped homeowners in this situation whether they realize and appreciate it or not. So our job is to find homeowners who are facing foreclosure and either pass on or work the lead to see if we can buy the property. The main thing that makes the foreclosure process very complicated is that it varies from state to state.
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