Real Estate Investing - An Alternative To Traditional Stock Market Investment

From a historical perspective, investing in real estate is almost as old as the construction of property itself. Indeed many business owners who created their wealth through companies then went on to diversify into real estate investments. In fact, over the years real estate investments have produced similar returns to those found in the stock market. Let’s take a look at some of the reasons:

First of all, and most obviously, the supply of building land around the world is limited, even when taking into account landfill opportunities. Since the world’s population is growing and the demand for housing ever increasing, then there would seem to be a never-ending and increasing requirement for real estate of all types.

Now let’s take a look at the mechanics of buying property. Here it can be seen that investing in real estate is quite different from most other traditional investments such as stocks. With real estate you can often borrow up to around 80 percent of the value of a property, sometimes even the full value and beyond under special circumstances. Thus a more modest investment of say 20 percent of the value can be used to buy and control the full value of the larger investment. Naturally, if the value of your investment increases, I.e. property prices rise, then the value of your real estate investment also increases. If so, then you are into profit, including that on the money you originally borrowed.

Naturally, there will be costs associated with real estate investing (such as legal fees and property maintenance, taxes, etc), but these are usually small in comparison with the potential gains.

Borrowing in order to invest in real estate makes real estate a type of leveraged investment. But if you know anything about leverage, you will realize that leveraged investments can also go against you. What, for example, if the property you purchased for $300,000 decreased in value to $240,000? Even though the value only dropped by 20 percent, you actually lose 100 percent of the original $60,000 investment. And if you have a mortgage on this property making up its full purchase price, you will actually need to pay money to the mortgage provider in order to cover the costs of selling the property. That’s in addition to the loss of the whole of your initial investment.

So, as you see, investing in real estate is something to be taken very seriously and should not be done with money which you might need for other things in the near future. Investment in property is more secure as a long-term investment. In the above example, if you could have held onto the property and not sold it, the loss would purely have been ‘on paper’. In all likelihood, over time the value of the property, unless grossly overpriced when you originally bought it, will rise and you will likely not only recover the full value of the initial investment, but also possibly make a nice profit when you do come to sell.

Another reason that real estate is a popular investment is that there are profits to be made from it whilst you are the owner. In addition to the tax-saving benefits (in that any tax due on the property’s increase in value doesn’t become due until it is eventually sold), you can also make additional money from renting out the property. This can often cover all your running costs of the property, plus providing a profit on top.

Unless you make a large down payment, early on during your ownership the monthly operating profit from your property business is likely to be small or non-existent. But over time this profit will increase as the amount of rent you can charge increases at a higher rate than the running costs. Naturally these profits will be subject to normal income tax rules.

A further benefit of investing in property is that you might be able to purchase cheaply a run-down or ‘distressed’ property and fix it up or develop it further. Properties like this can still be found if you look around carefully. Naturally, investing in this type of real estate can still produce large gains. This is something you certainly can’t do with traditional stock market investments.

However, returning to the initial question about whether real estate investing is still a viable option when current prices seem to be nearing their peak: yes, it can still be so, but you might need to be more creative and prepare to be in for the long haul. Property ‘flipping’ methods that worked extremely successfully yesterday, might not work at all well tomorrow.

You might also consider diversifying into overseas real estate markets. Whilst this will require greater study and analysis, and there are many more legal issues to consider, seeking out what appear to be undervalued international real estate opportunities has the potential to be highly profitable if handled correctly.

Naturally, you should always seek the advice of professionals, both financial and legal, before investing in properties of any description, particularly when considering investing overseas. There might be major implications to your overall taxation. Risks can also be substantially higher when you are not there to oversee your investment in person.

About the Author

You can learn more about real estate investing and Bianca Tavares’ guide to Florida property at Florida Real Estate.

How To Get Private Money For Real Estate Investing - Step Two

If you spend much time online, you?ve most likely read or heard about the law of attraction. Essentially, this law states that you tend to attract into your life whatever you focus on. I personally think the philosophy that?s risen up surrounding this so-called ?law? is just so much drivel, but there is truth to the central idea. Which brings us to step two for getting private money for real estate investing.

As in most other areas of life, if you don?t know what you?re looking for, neither will anyone else. That?s why it?s important to think carefully about what you?ll be expecting from your lenders once you sign them up. Ask some pertinent questions, write down the answers, and develop a ?Lender Fact Sheet? to give to your prospective private money lenders. Here are some of the questions you should be asking.

1. What size loans will you be looking for? This will be dictated by the type of property you normally buy. If you focus on single family homes in the $75,000 to $150,000 range, then loans up to $150,000 are what you?ll be seeking.

2. What will the terms be? Think carefully about how you will want to pay your loans back. This will, of course, change as you get into the mechanics of each individual loan and each individual property, but your prospective lenders will want to know what your intentions are. Do you plan to use the money for three years, five years, ten years? Will you make interest only payments with a balloon at the end of the term? The terms are limited only by your own creativity, but think about them now, and add them to your outline.

3. What rate will you be paying? A good rate of return compared with what they can earn elsewhere is what will attract your potential private money for real estate investing lenders. The rate you choose is up to you, and will be negotiable based on market conditions, but you should give your prospects a starting figure. Ten percent, eleven percent, twelve percent? Be prepared to make adjustments, but have a place to start.

4. How often? What will be your approximate frequency of use? Lenders want to know that they have a reasonable expectation of return. Don?t sign them up if you can?t use their money, because you?ll just be setting them up for disappointment. Only sign up as many lenders as you can reasonably expect to actually use.

As you think through these questions, others may occur to you. Write them down, along with the answers. Then, use your outline to develop your Lender Fact Sheet. Give this sheet to your prospective private money lenders at your seminars or one-on-one presentations, and be prepared to explain your terms.

If you want more on how to get private money for real estate investing, visit http://www.private-money-real-estate-investing.com for tips, techniques, and strategies.

Real Estate Investing - An Alternative To Traditional Stock Market Investment

From a historical perspective, investing in real estate is almost as old as the construction of property itself. Indeed many business owners who created their wealth through companies then went on to diversify into real estate investments. In fact, over the years real estate investments have produced similar returns to those found in the stock market. Let’s take a look at some of the reasons:

First of all, and most obviously, the supply of building land around the world is limited, even when taking into account landfill opportunities. Since the world’s population is growing and the demand for housing ever increasing, then there would seem to be a never-ending and increasing requirement for real estate of all types.

Now let’s take a look at the mechanics of buying property. Here it can be seen that investing in real estate is quite different from most other traditional investments such as stocks. With real estate you can often borrow up to around 80 percent of the value of a property, sometimes even the full value and beyond under special circumstances. Thus a more modest investment of say 20 percent of the value can be used to buy and control the full value of the larger investment. Naturally, if the value of your investment increases, I.e. property prices rise, then the value of your real estate investment also increases. If so, then you are into profit, including that on the money you originally borrowed.

Naturally, there will be costs associated with real estate investing (such as legal fees and property maintenance, taxes, etc), but these are usually small in comparison with the potential gains.

Borrowing in order to invest in real estate makes real estate a type of leveraged investment. But if you know anything about leverage, you will realize that leveraged investments can also go against you. What, for example, if the property you purchased for $300,000 decreased in value to $240,000? Even though the value only dropped by 20 percent, you actually lose 100 percent of the original $60,000 investment. And if you have a mortgage on this property making up its full purchase price, you will actually need to pay money to the mortgage provider in order to cover the costs of selling the property. That’s in addition to the loss of the whole of your initial investment.

So, as you see, investing in real estate is something to be taken very seriously and should not be done with money which you might need for other things in the near future. Investment in property is more secure as a long-term investment. In the above example, if you could have held onto the property and not sold it, the loss would purely have been ‘on paper’. In all likelihood, over time the value of the property, unless grossly overpriced when you originally bought it, will rise and you will likely not only recover the full value of the initial investment, but also possibly make a nice profit when you do come to sell.

Another reason that real estate is a popular investment is that there are profits to be made from it whilst you are the owner. In addition to the tax-saving benefits (in that any tax due on the property’s increase in value doesn’t become due until it is eventually sold), you can also make additional money from renting out the property. This can often cover all your running costs of the property, plus providing a profit on top.

Unless you make a large down payment, early on during your ownership the monthly operating profit from your property business is likely to be small or non-existent. But over time this profit will increase as the amount of rent you can charge increases at a higher rate than the running costs. Naturally these profits will be subject to normal income tax rules.

A further benefit of investing in property is that you might be able to purchase cheaply a run-down or ‘distressed’ property and fix it up or develop it further. Properties like this can still be found if you look around carefully. Naturally, investing in this type of real estate can still produce large gains. This is something you certainly can’t do with traditional stock market investments.

However, returning to the initial question about whether real estate investing is still a viable option when current prices seem to be nearing their peak: yes, it can still be so, but you might need to be more creative and prepare to be in for the long haul. Property ‘flipping’ methods that worked extremely successfully yesterday, might not work at all well tomorrow.

You might also consider diversifying into overseas real estate markets. Whilst this will require greater study and analysis, and there are many more legal issues to consider, seeking out what appear to be undervalued international real estate opportunities has the potential to be highly profitable if handled correctly.

Naturally, you should always seek the advice of professionals, both financial and legal, before investing in properties of any description, particularly when considering investing overseas. There might be major implications to your overall taxation. Risks can also be substantially higher when you are not there to oversee your investment in person.

About the Author

You can learn more about real estate investing and Bianca Tavares’ guide to Florida property at Florida Real Estate.

How To Get Private Money For Real Estate Investing - Step Two

If you spend much time online, you?ve most likely read or heard about the law of attraction. Essentially, this law states that you tend to attract into your life whatever you focus on. I personally think the philosophy that?s risen up surrounding this so-called ?law? is just so much drivel, but there is truth to the central idea. Which brings us to step two for getting private money for real estate investing.

As in most other areas of life, if you don?t know what you?re looking for, neither will anyone else. That?s why it?s important to think carefully about what you?ll be expecting from your lenders once you sign them up. Ask some pertinent questions, write down the answers, and develop a ?Lender Fact Sheet? to give to your prospective private money lenders. Here are some of the questions you should be asking.

1. What size loans will you be looking for? This will be dictated by the type of property you normally buy. If you focus on single family homes in the $75,000 to $150,000 range, then loans up to $150,000 are what you?ll be seeking.

2. What will the terms be? Think carefully about how you will want to pay your loans back. This will, of course, change as you get into the mechanics of each individual loan and each individual property, but your prospective lenders will want to know what your intentions are. Do you plan to use the money for three years, five years, ten years? Will you make interest only payments with a balloon at the end of the term? The terms are limited only by your own creativity, but think about them now, and add them to your outline.

3. What rate will you be paying? A good rate of return compared with what they can earn elsewhere is what will attract your potential private money for real estate investing lenders. The rate you choose is up to you, and will be negotiable based on market conditions, but you should give your prospects a starting figure. Ten percent, eleven percent, twelve percent? Be prepared to make adjustments, but have a place to start.

4. How often? What will be your approximate frequency of use? Lenders want to know that they have a reasonable expectation of return. Don?t sign them up if you can?t use their money, because you?ll just be setting them up for disappointment. Only sign up as many lenders as you can reasonably expect to actually use.

As you think through these questions, others may occur to you. Write them down, along with the answers. Then, use your outline to develop your Lender Fact Sheet. Give this sheet to your prospective private money lenders at your seminars or one-on-one presentations, and be prepared to explain your terms.

If you want more on how to get private money for real estate investing, visit http://www.private-money-real-estate-investing.com for tips, techniques, and strategies.

Real Estate Investing - An Alternative To Traditional Stock Market Investment

From a historical perspective, investing in real estate is almost as old as the construction of property itself. Indeed many business owners who created their wealth through companies then went on to diversify into real estate investments. In fact, over the years real estate investments have produced similar returns to those found in the stock market. Let’s take a look at some of the reasons:

First of all, and most obviously, the supply of building land around the world is limited, even when taking into account landfill opportunities. Since the world’s population is growing and the demand for housing ever increasing, then there would seem to be a never-ending and increasing requirement for real estate of all types.

Now let’s take a look at the mechanics of buying property. Here it can be seen that investing in real estate is quite different from most other traditional investments such as stocks. With real estate you can often borrow up to around 80 percent of the value of a property, sometimes even the full value and beyond under special circumstances. Thus a more modest investment of say 20 percent of the value can be used to buy and control the full value of the larger investment. Naturally, if the value of your investment increases, I.e. property prices rise, then the value of your real estate investment also increases. If so, then you are into profit, including that on the money you originally borrowed.

Naturally, there will be costs associated with real estate investing (such as legal fees and property maintenance, taxes, etc), but these are usually small in comparison with the potential gains.

Borrowing in order to invest in real estate makes real estate a type of leveraged investment. But if you know anything about leverage, you will realize that leveraged investments can also go against you. What, for example, if the property you purchased for $300,000 decreased in value to $240,000? Even though the value only dropped by 20 percent, you actually lose 100 percent of the original $60,000 investment. And if you have a mortgage on this property making up its full purchase price, you will actually need to pay money to the mortgage provider in order to cover the costs of selling the property. That’s in addition to the loss of the whole of your initial investment.

So, as you see, investing in real estate is something to be taken very seriously and should not be done with money which you might need for other things in the near future. Investment in property is more secure as a long-term investment. In the above example, if you could have held onto the property and not sold it, the loss would purely have been ‘on paper’. In all likelihood, over time the value of the property, unless grossly overpriced when you originally bought it, will rise and you will likely not only recover the full value of the initial investment, but also possibly make a nice profit when you do come to sell.

Another reason that real estate is a popular investment is that there are profits to be made from it whilst you are the owner. In addition to the tax-saving benefits (in that any tax due on the property’s increase in value doesn’t become due until it is eventually sold), you can also make additional money from renting out the property. This can often cover all your running costs of the property, plus providing a profit on top.

Unless you make a large down payment, early on during your ownership the monthly operating profit from your property business is likely to be small or non-existent. But over time this profit will increase as the amount of rent you can charge increases at a higher rate than the running costs. Naturally these profits will be subject to normal income tax rules.

A further benefit of investing in property is that you might be able to purchase cheaply a run-down or ‘distressed’ property and fix it up or develop it further. Properties like this can still be found if you look around carefully. Naturally, investing in this type of real estate can still produce large gains. This is something you certainly can’t do with traditional stock market investments.

However, returning to the initial question about whether real estate investing is still a viable option when current prices seem to be nearing their peak: yes, it can still be so, but you might need to be more creative and prepare to be in for the long haul. Property ‘flipping’ methods that worked extremely successfully yesterday, might not work at all well tomorrow.

You might also consider diversifying into overseas real estate markets. Whilst this will require greater study and analysis, and there are many more legal issues to consider, seeking out what appear to be undervalued international real estate opportunities has the potential to be highly profitable if handled correctly.

Naturally, you should always seek the advice of professionals, both financial and legal, before investing in properties of any description, particularly when considering investing overseas. There might be major implications to your overall taxation. Risks can also be substantially higher when you are not there to oversee your investment in person.

About the Author

You can learn more about real estate investing and Bianca Tavares’ guide to Florida property at Florida Real Estate.

Mastering One Of The Hardest Parts Of Real Estate Investing - Getting The Great Deal

Real estate investing has become a very ?in? thing for most people to do because it makes so much sense. As a result of this demand, there are dozens of real estate books and courses for new and existing real estate investors to study.

Most of the real estate investing techniques do work well and many folks have been very, very successful executing real estate transactions practically every day. It is true that real estate investing is a wonderful opportunity where great success can be yours.

But just in case your incoming home seller leads for your real estate business are fewer than you?d prefer, don?t be discouraged and don?t blame yourself. You may just be a ?normal? real estate investor.

For one thing, you should be aware that you might be part of the current real estate investor ?herd?. That statement may sound a little strange but it?s meant to make you think about what may be going on around you.

For example, do you ever feel like you?re using the same prospecting strategies as other real estate investors, facing the same struggles as other real estate investors, and making the same limited progress as many other real estate investors?

Perhaps it?s because there are so many real estate investors trying to get ahead by ?getting the great deal? but ironically that same group of investors are using the exact same strategies to get that great deal.

Whenever you have a large group of people “into” a certain opportunity, like real estate investing, you must find an ?opposite? way to approach it.

In the beginning of my real estate investing career, I went from seminar to seminar, looking for that “magic formula” that was really going to increase my business. I learned a lot about the mechanics of real estate deals just like I learned a lot of theory in college. But I never really learned ?how? to get the deals to come to me.

To remedy this problem, I studied aggressive marketing and business strategies for about two years. As a result, one giant discovery that I made was the absolute need to separate myself from the real estate investor ?herd? in every possible way.

Meaning, eliminate the competition for deals between me and the other real estate investors around me. I did this easier than you may think just by changing my ?positioning?.

Your positioning involves what level of control you have on your incoming business, and that largely determines your success. For example, can you control how many deals come your way? Do you have people calling you or contacting you through your various lead generating ?funnels?? Do you have influence on this process or not? If you?re like a large percentage of investors, you?re probably always chasing down the deals instead of having the deals come to you.

When you have control of your lead generating process and it produces leads for you, you can then position yourself to take advantage of this new incoming business. If you don?t have your lead generating process doing this, make it your # 1 focus until it works for you. Then you?ll have the ability to go to step # 2 which involves choosing exactly what to do with all your leads.

There are many real estate investors who literally have their phones ringing off the hook with sellers calling them and then there are the ?investors? buying overpriced homes just because they?re not educated on how to get good leads. Which one do you want to be?