Buying Pre-Foreclosure Homes Can Be Your Very Lucrative Real Estate Investing Niche

Buying real estate at a discount to the fair market value is one of the important ingredients to making the most money in today?s housing market. One of the best investing niches to buy at a discount is buying a pre-foreclosure home.

Why is buying a pre foreclosure such a good deal?

First of all, pre-foreclosure is the period of time between when the lender files a foreclosure lawsuit or notice of default against the property owner and the date the property is sold at a public auction or trustee?s sale.

During this period of time the home owner still controls his property. He can bring his mortgage current and stop the foreclosure process or he can sell the property to save his credit profile from having a foreclosure notice attached to it. He can pay off the loan he can no longer afford to make payments on and perhaps have some equity left over in the property to put some cash in his pocket.

The pre-foreclosure period is the first and best stage in the foreclosure process to buy a property at a discount because you, the investor, can do three important tasks to maximize your profits:

You can evaluate the profitability of buying the pre-foreclosure.

You can inspect the property to determine what repairs need to be made and discount your offer price accordingly.

You can negotiate the price and terms with the home owner directly and perhaps get a discount as much as 50% off the current market value.

This is ideal compared to the following stages in the foreclosure process, namely, the public auction and post-foreclosure stage.

The public auction stage can carry more risk to the investor as well as disappointment. There is more competition at the public auction and so the price may be bid up beyond your top bid price for the property. You also need to come with cash in hand in the form of cashier?s checks to buy the property. Then there is the disappointment of being told the sale has been cancelled. This is typically due to some legal maneuvering by the home owner such as filing for bankruptcy protection to stall the sale.

The last stage of post-foreclosure occurs when there are no successful bids at the auction. The lender takes the property back and it becomes what is commonly known as ?real estate owned? or an REO. At this point many lenders will list the property with a local real estate broker at fair market value depending on the condition of the property. The lender may even choose to rehab the property to obtain a higher sales price. The likely type of buyer at this point is someone wanting a personal residence or an investor that will buy and hold.

What skills do you need to buy a pre-foreclosure property for the most profit?

With so much opportunity in pre-foreclosures you should be highly motivated to learn all you can about the skills needed to be successful in this real estate investing niche. There are a number of skills you need to develop to be successful.

One very important skill or method you must develop is the ability to locate the pre-foreclosure listings before the rest of the eager investor competition does.

Now you can find these properties for free if you go down to the county courthouse yourself and research the public records. This is time-consuming, however, and the information you?ll gather is very basic. Highly successful investors use other methods and strategies they have developed to locate distressed home owners and pre-foreclosure lists. These include:

Foreclosure Subscription Services:

Foreclosure subscription services provide pre-foreclosure property listings. However, not all listing services are the same. There can be a vast range in two critical areas:

[1] How fast they notify you of new listings. The best services should have listing information to you in a matter of days, not weeks. [2] How comprehensive the information is that they gather. You need more than an address, the loan the default has been recorded on and basic property information, to make informed investment decisions. The best services will also provide you with such information as any other loans against the property and local comparable sales.

Strategies of getting the distressed home owner to call YOU for help and ready to make a deal

There are successful methods of contacting the home owner of a pre-foreclosure that involve mailing them or calling them or leaving something on their doorstep. You need to develop the skill to write and deliver a message to the home owner that will get their attention and get them to call you instead of a competing investor.

Better yet, if you can get a home owner to call you before the notice of default is even filed, you?ll be way ahead of the pack of competing investors. This is really a very special skill that the most successful investors have developed.

This is just one of the skills you need to develop. Others include property evaluation skills such as crunching the numbers to calculate potential profits and knowing how to inspect the property to determine the condition and what repairs need to be made and how much they will cost. You need good communication skills when talking to the home owner to build trust and make a connection so you can negotiate successfully with them. You also need skills in drafting the purchase contract with the proper clauses to protect your interest to avoid getting stuck with a property that turns out not to be a good deal upon further investigation.

How to learn the skills to be a successful investor

If you haven?t developed these skills and don?t know where to start, I recommend you find a real estate investor mentor. Find someone in your local area who is already successful in pre-foreclosure investing and ask if they will coach you. They will need an incentive, of course. Maybe they need someone to do some grunt work because of time constraints. Then be their grunt and keep your eyes and ears open at all times and be a sponge. In time you will develop the skills and strategies needed to be highly successful in the lucrative niche of buying pre-foreclosure homes.

What to do if you don?t have a local real estate mentor to help you

If you don?t have a local real estate mentor, the next best thing is working with a ?virtual? mentor. Many of the best and most successful investors in pre-foreclosures have written step-by-step guides to help someone just getting started or someone who wants to improve their skills to make even more money. So find yourself a mentor, either in your area or a ?virtual? mentor and start learning how to make money in pre-foreclosure homes.

Buying Pre-Foreclosure Homes Can Be Your Very Lucrative Real Estate Investing Niche

Buying real estate at a discount to the fair market value is one of the important ingredients to making the most money in today?s housing market. One of the best investing niches to buy at a discount is buying a pre-foreclosure home.

Why is buying a pre foreclosure such a good deal?

First of all, pre-foreclosure is the period of time between when the lender files a foreclosure lawsuit or notice of default against the property owner and the date the property is sold at a public auction or trustee?s sale.

During this period of time the home owner still controls his property. He can bring his mortgage current and stop the foreclosure process or he can sell the property to save his credit profile from having a foreclosure notice attached to it. He can pay off the loan he can no longer afford to make payments on and perhaps have some equity left over in the property to put some cash in his pocket.

The pre-foreclosure period is the first and best stage in the foreclosure process to buy a property at a discount because you, the investor, can do three important tasks to maximize your profits:

You can evaluate the profitability of buying the pre-foreclosure.

You can inspect the property to determine what repairs need to be made and discount your offer price accordingly.

You can negotiate the price and terms with the home owner directly and perhaps get a discount as much as 50% off the current market value.

This is ideal compared to the following stages in the foreclosure process, namely, the public auction and post-foreclosure stage.

The public auction stage can carry more risk to the investor as well as disappointment. There is more competition at the public auction and so the price may be bid up beyond your top bid price for the property. You also need to come with cash in hand in the form of cashier?s checks to buy the property. Then there is the disappointment of being told the sale has been cancelled. This is typically due to some legal maneuvering by the home owner such as filing for bankruptcy protection to stall the sale.

The last stage of post-foreclosure occurs when there are no successful bids at the auction. The lender takes the property back and it becomes what is commonly known as ?real estate owned? or an REO. At this point many lenders will list the property with a local real estate broker at fair market value depending on the condition of the property. The lender may even choose to rehab the property to obtain a higher sales price. The likely type of buyer at this point is someone wanting a personal residence or an investor that will buy and hold.

What skills do you need to buy a pre-foreclosure property for the most profit?

With so much opportunity in pre-foreclosures you should be highly motivated to learn all you can about the skills needed to be successful in this real estate investing niche. There are a number of skills you need to develop to be successful.

One very important skill or method you must develop is the ability to locate the pre-foreclosure listings before the rest of the eager investor competition does.

Now you can find these properties for free if you go down to the county courthouse yourself and research the public records. This is time-consuming, however, and the information you?ll gather is very basic. Highly successful investors use other methods and strategies they have developed to locate distressed home owners and pre-foreclosure lists. These include:

Foreclosure Subscription Services:

Foreclosure subscription services provide pre-foreclosure property listings. However, not all listing services are the same. There can be a vast range in two critical areas:

[1] How fast they notify you of new listings. The best services should have listing information to you in a matter of days, not weeks. [2] How comprehensive the information is that they gather. You need more than an address, the loan the default has been recorded on and basic property information, to make informed investment decisions. The best services will also provide you with such information as any other loans against the property and local comparable sales.

Strategies of getting the distressed home owner to call YOU for help and ready to make a deal

There are successful methods of contacting the home owner of a pre-foreclosure that involve mailing them or calling them or leaving something on their doorstep. You need to develop the skill to write and deliver a message to the home owner that will get their attention and get them to call you instead of a competing investor.

Better yet, if you can get a home owner to call you before the notice of default is even filed, you?ll be way ahead of the pack of competing investors. This is really a very special skill that the most successful investors have developed.

This is just one of the skills you need to develop. Others include property evaluation skills such as crunching the numbers to calculate potential profits and knowing how to inspect the property to determine the condition and what repairs need to be made and how much they will cost. You need good communication skills when talking to the home owner to build trust and make a connection so you can negotiate successfully with them. You also need skills in drafting the purchase contract with the proper clauses to protect your interest to avoid getting stuck with a property that turns out not to be a good deal upon further investigation.

How to learn the skills to be a successful investor

If you haven?t developed these skills and don?t know where to start, I recommend you find a real estate investor mentor. Find someone in your local area who is already successful in pre-foreclosure investing and ask if they will coach you. They will need an incentive, of course. Maybe they need someone to do some grunt work because of time constraints. Then be their grunt and keep your eyes and ears open at all times and be a sponge. In time you will develop the skills and strategies needed to be highly successful in the lucrative niche of buying pre-foreclosure homes.

What to do if you don?t have a local real estate mentor to help you

If you don?t have a local real estate mentor, the next best thing is working with a ?virtual? mentor. Many of the best and most successful investors in pre-foreclosures have written step-by-step guides to help someone just getting started or someone who wants to improve their skills to make even more money. So find yourself a mentor, either in your area or a ?virtual? mentor and start learning how to make money in pre-foreclosure homes.

Pitfalls Of Real Estate Investing

Pitfalls Of Real Estate Investing Submitted By: Kim Lee

Investing in real estate most likely won’t produce the get-rich-quick results promised by many a late-night infomercial. But for investors willing to do some homework, make a good purchase and properly manage a piece of property, the rewards can be substantial. There are some common mistakes made in real estate investing that almost every novice makes. These pitfalls of real estate investing can easily be avoided. You need to know these mistakes or it could cost you a fortune. Paying attention to the smallest detail could net even more profits than you could imagine. The first mistake you must not make is not formulating a plan. Every successful business has started with a marketing plan. They recognized the marketing niche which needed filled and offered the service to fill the void. This is what you must do to avoid the pitfalls of real estate investing. The marketing plan is easy to write. You must write it down. This gives you a visual of what you are doing. When you seem to get lost in the transactions, you can refer to this plan and get back on track. The marketing plan should include how many deals you want to process. You will want to list how much money you want to make. You will also want to put down how long this is going to take. Setting goals and sticking to them will make it easier to realize your real estate dreams. Another pitfall of real estate investing is not knowing the market. You must know what areas are growing and which ones are becoming depressed. The last thing you want is to buy the dream home in an area where no one wants to live. This can be a costly mistake. Getting to know your market means knowing the price you can buy at and sell for. This is one thing that is a must when investing in real estate. Expecting every deal to be like the last one is a mistake many novice investors make. They get frustrated and disgusted when the second or third deal does not go as smoothly as the first. Some times the first deal is harder to put together than any other. Each transaction is going to be different. The home is different. The sellers want something different. You may have to use a lender or you may not. Each deal should be treated as though it were your first. This way you pay close attention to every detail and the risk of making a mistake is lower. One of the biggest pitfalls in real estate investing is not properly estimating the property. The home you are looking at must be able to yield a profit. It does not matter if the neighborhood is great or that you would love to own that house. It must make sense financially to buy the property. If it is not a sound investment, do not do it. There may be a snag in the deal where the net profit is jeopardized. If this happens, check to make sure you are still going to gain. At any time, you can walk out of the deal should it turn sour. Do not try to salvage a sinking ship. Let someone else do that. Cut your losses before it is too late. Avoiding these common pitfalls when investing in real estate can save you headaches and finances. Remember to set up a marketing plan, know your market, research the property, and bail if the deal goes bad. If you remember these points you should succeed in the real estate investment market. Article Tags: estate, investing, make Tags: Costly Mistake, Dream Home, Estate Dreams, First Mistake, Fortune, Homework, Infomercial, Investing In Real Estate, Kim Lee, Late Night, Marketing Plan, Niche, Novice Investors, Paying Attention, Pitfall, Pitfalls, Real Estate Investing, Rewards, Setting Goals, Successful Business Real Estate Investing For Newbies - Intro To Foreclosure Basics May 30, 2011 by Kenny Santos   Filed under Real Estate Investing Leave a Comment   Real Estate Investing For Newbies - Intro To Foreclosure Basics Submitted By: Chris Parks     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. Tags: Advantage, Bank Foreclosures, Control, Credit Report, Facing Foreclosure, Failure, Foreclosure Property, Great Potential, Important Things, Investing Basics, Lost, Making Money, Many People, Mortgage, Nbsp, Niche, Real Estate Investor, Real Estate Investors Pitfalls Of Real Estate Investing January 28, 2011 by Kenny Santos   Filed under Real Estate Investing Leave a Comment   Pitfalls Of Real Estate Investing Submitted By: Kim Lee     Investing in real estate most likely won’t produce the get-rich-quick results promised by many a late-night infomercial. But for investors willing to do some homework, make a good purchase and properly manage a piece of property, the rewards can be substantial. There are some common mistakes made in real estate investing that almost every novice makes. These pitfalls of real estate investing can easily be avoided. You need to know these mistakes or it could cost you a fortune. Paying attention to the smallest detail could net even more profits than you could imagine. The first mistake you must not make is not formulating a plan. Every successful business has started with a marketing plan. They recognized the marketing niche which needed filled and offered the service to fill the void. This is what you must do to avoid the pitfalls of real estate investing. The marketing plan is easy to write. You must write it down. This gives you a visual of what you are doing. When you seem to get lost in the transactions, you can refer to this plan and get back on track. The marketing plan should include how many deals you want to process. You will want to list how much money you want to make. You will also want to put down how long this is going to take. Setting goals and sticking to them will make it easier to realize your real estate dreams. Another pitfall of real estate investing is not knowing the market. You must know what areas are growing and which ones are becoming depressed. The last thing you want is to buy the dream home in an area where no one wants to live. This can be a costly mistake. Getting to know your market means knowing the price you can buy at and sell for. This is one thing that is a must when investing in real estate. Expecting every deal to be like the last one is a mistake many novice investors make. They get frustrated and disgusted when the second or third deal does not go as smoothly as the first. Some times the first deal is harder to put together than any other. Each transaction is going to be different. The home is different. The sellers want something different. You may have to use a lender or you may not. Each deal should be treated as though it were your first. This way you pay close attention to every detail and the risk of making a mistake is lower. One of the biggest pitfalls in real estate investing is not properly estimating the property. The home you are looking at must be able to yield a profit. It does not matter if the neighborhood is great or that you would love to own that house. It must make sense financially to buy the property. If it is not a sound investment, do not do it. There may be a snag in the deal where the net profit is jeopardized. If this happens, check to make sure you are still going to gain. At any time, you can walk out of the deal should it turn sour. Do not try to salvage a sinking ship. Let someone else do that. Cut your losses before it is too late. Avoiding these common pitfalls when investing in real estate can save you headaches and finances. Remember to set up a marketing plan, know your market, research the property, and bail if the deal goes bad. If you remember these points you should succeed in the real estate investment market. Article Tags: estate, investing, make Tags: Costly Mistake, Dream Home, Estate Dreams, First Mistake, Fortune, Homework, Infomercial, Investing In Real Estate, Kim Lee, Late Night, Marketing Plan, Niche, Novice Investors, Paying Attention, Pitfall, Pitfalls, Real Estate Investing, Rewards, Setting Goals, Successful Business Real Estate Investing - Matching Buyers with Properties November 21, 2010 by Kenny Santos   Filed under Real Estate Investing Leave a Comment One of the things you have to consider as a real estate investor is matching buyers with properties that you acquire. When you develop a buyers list for your properties, whether you?re trying to wholesale or rehab, you will find that the simple saying, ?Different strokes for different folks,? applies. Some of the different ?strokes? might be low-end rentals, high-end rentals, multiple unit rentals, and rehabilitation projects. The different ?folks? will often match these properties. For every investor, there is a niche they specialize in. If you want to wholesale properties, it?s up to you to offer the greatest spread of properties to fellow investors. Also, you must take into account, your regular home buyers (owner-occupants). Part of any building block of a business is to identify the target market. For instance, with this site, we identified the people who would be visiting it most likely. We tailor the articles with content that is basic in order to meet the ?customer? needs. We don?t overload the articles with complexities, but we do offer the basic 1-2-3 steps for beginning a real estate investment business or a business in general. Part of this required developing a ?character? for our visitors. In doing this, we are constantly developing new avenues of interest that we think our visitors will benefit from, including hard money financing (coming soon). So, for matching buyers with properties is to simply define what each potential buyer prefers. When you decide to advertise for buyers, you might put out ads like this: Deep Discounts-Properties need Rehab, Priced to Sell, Call XXX-XXX-XXXX or Excellent Cash Flow Rentals offered at Discounted Prices, Call XXX-XXX-XXXX This may attract buyers who are looking for rehab projects. Thus, you?ll be matching rehabbers/contractors with properties in need of rehab. However, when the phone starts ringing, you?ll need to distinguish the type of homes each potential buyer wants. For instance, some might want 4 bedroom, 2 Bath, high-end rehabs, while others will want your basic ?bread and butter? home, 3 beds and 1 bath. Also for the second advertisement, you?re looking for landlords. Additionally, you?ll need to identify the different areas each buyer will consider. You may also run an ad like this: Stop Renting-Starter Homes Available-Mint-Discounted Prices Call XXX-XXX-XXXX These buyers might be your owner-occupants that are currently renting that you?ll add to your buyers list. Part of your strategy here might be buying, rehabbing and selling them yourself. Of course, running one ad might be most economical: Deep Discounted Properties for Sale, Home Buyers, Investors Call XXX-XXX-XXXX Now, how do you determine what each investor/buyer wants? You may ask the following questions: What type of property are you looking for? Specifics? (# of bedrooms, baths, rooms) What locations are you primarily interested in? Have you closed on properties in these areas before? What are your overall objectives for properties you buy? What is the ideal return on investment you?re looking for? What type of rentals do you prefer? How do you continue to grow your customer base (the amount of people you can sell a property to)? Well since money is always the bottom line and not all buyers have cash to buy (and you should never expect or rely on that solely), expanding the pool of investors and buyers you can sell to comes down to having contacts. If your buyers don?t have the contacts or the cash, you will need them. So four simple things you should do are: Make contacts with good mortgage brokers and use them to qualify buyers Make contacts with good hard money lenders to qualify investors (noobs) Make sure these brokers and lenders can close deals quickly Make sure you know the process inside and out so you can expedite the process Lastly, you may look for ads that offer rehabbed homes for sale. For example, if you see a for sale ad that says, ??renovated? or some variation, call that number and begin the process of adding that individual to your buyers list. Visit the property to get a completely true feel for what they look for. This can be a very effective way of getting investors who are actually involved in performing on a contract because they already have demonstrated the ability to do so! Always remember that you?re running a business. Every successful business has a well-defined strategy for marketing, sales and growth. Real estate investing is no exception! ?2006 noobdogs.com Noobdogs.com offers a place for fellow new investors in real estate to ask questions and get good, sound information they can understand. Noobdogs.comis owned and operated by AmeriCountry Realty Group LLC. Founded in 2006 by Tom McGiveron, a Behavior Specialist and entrepreneur, noobdogs.com is becoming the premier site for new investors to achieve success in personal development and real estate investment. Tags: Basic 1, Cash Flow, Complexities, Different Strokes For Different Folks, Fellow Investors, Hard Money, Home Buyers, Investing, Investment Business, Match, New Avenues, Niche, Owner Occupants, Real Estate Investment, Real Estate Investor, Rehab Projects, Rehabilitation Projects, Target Market, Wholesale, Xxxx Real Estate Investing - Matching Buyers with Properties August 31, 2010 by Kenny Santos   Filed under Real Estate Investing Leave a Comment One of the things you have to consider as a real estate investor is matching buyers with properties that you acquire. When you develop a buyers list for your properties, whether you?re trying to wholesale or rehab, you will find that the simple saying, ?Different strokes for different folks,? applies. Some of the different ?strokes? might be low-end rentals, high-end rentals, multiple unit rentals, and rehabilitation projects. The different ?folks? will often match these properties. For every investor, there is a niche they specialize in. If you want to wholesale properties, it?s up to you to offer the greatest spread of properties to fellow investors. Also, you must take into account, your regular home buyers (owner-occupants). Part of any building block of a business is to identify the target market. For instance, with this site, we identified the people who would be visiting it most likely. We tailor the articles with content that is basic in order to meet the ?customer? needs. We don?t overload the articles with complexities, but we do offer the basic 1-2-3 steps for beginning a real estate investment business or a business in general. Part of this required developing a ?character? for our visitors. In doing this, we are constantly developing new avenues of interest that we think our visitors will benefit from, including hard money financing (coming soon). So, for matching buyers with properties is to simply define what each potential buyer prefers. When you decide to advertise for buyers, you might put out ads like this: Deep Discounts-Properties need Rehab, Priced to Sell, Call XXX-XXX-XXXX or Excellent Cash Flow Rentals offered at Discounted Prices, Call XXX-XXX-XXXX This may attract buyers who are looking for rehab projects. Thus, you?ll be matching rehabbers/contractors with properties in need of rehab. However, when the phone starts ringing, you?ll need to distinguish the type of homes each potential buyer wants. For instance, some might want 4 bedroom, 2 Bath, high-end rehabs, while others will want your basic ?bread and butter? home, 3 beds and 1 bath. Also for the second advertisement, you?re looking for landlords. Additionally, you?ll need to identify the different areas each buyer will consider. You may also run an ad like this: Stop Renting-Starter Homes Available-Mint-Discounted Prices Call XXX-XXX-XXXX These buyers might be your owner-occupants that are currently renting that you?ll add to your buyers list. Part of your strategy here might be buying, rehabbing and selling them yourself. Of course, running one ad might be most economical: Deep Discounted Properties for Sale, Home Buyers, Investors Call XXX-XXX-XXXX Now, how do you determine what each investor/buyer wants? You may ask the following questions: What type of property are you looking for? Specifics? (# of bedrooms, baths, rooms) What locations are you primarily interested in? Have you closed on properties in these areas before? What are your overall objectives for properties you buy? What is the ideal return on investment you?re looking for? What type of rentals do you prefer? How do you continue to grow your customer base (the amount of people you can sell a property to)? Well since money is always the bottom line and not all buyers have cash to buy (and you should never expect or rely on that solely), expanding the pool of investors and buyers you can sell to comes down to having contacts. If your buyers don?t have the contacts or the cash, you will need them. So four simple things you should do are: Make contacts with good mortgage brokers and use them to qualify buyers Make contacts with good hard money lenders to qualify investors (noobs) Make sure these brokers and lenders can close deals quickly Make sure you know the process inside and out so you can expedite the process Lastly, you may look for ads that offer rehabbed homes for sale. For example, if you see a for sale ad that says, ??renovated? or some variation, call that number and begin the process of adding that individual to your buyers list. Visit the property to get a completely true feel for what they look for. This can be a very effective way of getting investors who are actually involved in performing on a contract because they already have demonstrated the ability to do so! Always remember that you?re running a business. Every successful business has a well-defined strategy for marketing, sales and growth. Real estate investing is no exception! ?2006 noobdogs.com Noobdogs.com offers a place for fellow new investors in real estate to ask questions and get good, sound information they can understand. Noobdogs.comis owned and operated by AmeriCountry Realty Group LLC. Founded in 2006 by Tom McGiveron, a Behavior Specialist and entrepreneur, noobdogs.com is becoming the premier site for new investors to achieve success in personal development and real estate investment. Tags: Basic 1, Cash Flow, Complexities, Different Strokes For Different Folks, Fellow Investors, Hard Money, Home Buyers, Investing, Investment Business, Match, New Avenues, Niche, Owner Occupants, Real Estate Investment, Real Estate Investor, Rehab Projects, Rehabilitation Projects, Target Market, Wholesale, Xxxx Pitfalls Of Real Estate Investing June 17, 2010 by Kenny Santos   Filed under Real Estate Investing Leave a Comment   Pitfalls Of Real Estate Investing Submitted By: Kim Lee     Investing in real estate most likely won’t produce the get-rich-quick results promised by many a late-night infomercial. But for investors willing to do some homework, make a good purchase and properly manage a piece of property, the rewards can be substantial. There are some common mistakes made in real estate investing that almost every novice makes. These pitfalls of real estate investing can easily be avoided. You need to know these mistakes or it could cost you a fortune. Paying attention to the smallest detail could net even more profits than you could imagine. The first mistake you must not make is not formulating a plan. Every successful business has started with a marketing plan. They recognized the marketing niche which needed filled and offered the service to fill the void. This is what you must do to avoid the pitfalls of real estate investing. The marketing plan is easy to write. You must write it down. This gives you a visual of what you are doing. When you seem to get lost in the transactions, you can refer to this plan and get back on track. The marketing plan should include how many deals you want to process. You will want to list how much money you want to make. You will also want to put down how long this is going to take. Setting goals and sticking to them will make it easier to realize your real estate dreams. Another pitfall of real estate investing is not knowing the market. You must know what areas are growing and which ones are becoming depressed. The last thing you want is to buy the dream home in an area where no one wants to live. This can be a costly mistake. Getting to know your market means knowing the price you can buy at and sell for. This is one thing that is a must when investing in real estate. Expecting every deal to be like the last one is a mistake many novice investors make. They get frustrated and disgusted when the second or third deal does not go as smoothly as the first. Some times the first deal is harder to put together than any other. Each transaction is going to be different. The home is different. The sellers want something different. You may have to use a lender or you may not. Each deal should be treated as though it were your first. This way you pay close attention to every detail and the risk of making a mistake is lower. One of the biggest pitfalls in real estate investing is not properly estimating the property. The home you are looking at must be able to yield a profit. It does not matter if the neighborhood is great or that you would love to own that house. It must make sense financially to buy the property. If it is not a sound investment, do not do it. There may be a snag in the deal where the net profit is jeopardized. If this happens, check to make sure you are still going to gain. At any time, you can walk out of the deal should it turn sour. Do not try to salvage a sinking ship. Let someone else do that. Cut your losses before it is too late. Avoiding these common pitfalls when investing in real estate can save you headaches and finances. Remember to set up a marketing plan, know your market, research the property, and bail if the deal goes bad. If you remember these points you should succeed in the real estate investment market. Article Tags: estate, investing, make Tags: Costly Mistake, Dream Home, Estate Dreams, First Mistake, Fortune, Homework, Infomercial, Investing In Real Estate, Kim Lee, Late Night, Marketing Plan, Niche, Novice Investors, Paying Attention, Pitfall, Pitfalls, Real Estate Investing, Rewards, Setting Goals, Successful Business Virtual Real Estate Investing in 2006 by Jack Humphrey May 30, 2010 by Kenny Santos   Filed under Real Estate Investing Leave a Comment Copyright 2006 Tale Chaser Publishing, Inc. Virtual real estate is becoming more and more lucrative as the “overnight successes” (spam sites) are disappearing due to search engines “sand boxing” all new sites and de-listing spammers. Gone forever are the days where anyone with moderate experience could come into a market and dominate it within a month or two in the search engines. Since Google and other engines no longer reward new sites of any kind with immediate results, only the mature, savvy e-real estate investor will win the day in 2006. Smart niche site network publishers have been gearing up for 2006 with solid, well-thought-out site designs, content strategies, and niche research to place content rich sites up with no other goal than to let them grow and season into very valuable properties in 6-8 months time. Having a site entrenched in the search engines means you have been around for at least 3 months - and that is stretching it. Rewards are coming to those who wait patiently. And only to those content site publishers who build real sites, not the spammy sites we were all waiting anxiously to disappear from the engines last year. Finally, content, which has been referred to as “King” for years, (but treated in reality like a cheap whore until recently) is truly the focus of smart investors looking to build a network of sites on special niches to attract lucrative advertising and product sales revenue. Many virtual investors and developers who have built now popular sites are selling their networks for millions today. And this is the real “out.” Smart virtual real estate investors not only build to profit in the short term, but are building popular sites and networks of sites with an eye to cash out big in the coming year. All it really takes is good research, creativity in isolating a market, and most of all - patience. The longer you let your network grow and season and the more popular you make it with strong promotion tactics, the more it is worth to investors who are looking for any site network that moves traffic. The second level of virtual real estate investing is buying up networks of content sites and focusing the traffic on profitable product lines, affiliate product sales, services of all kinds, and for advertising revenue. Investors who sell traffic via banner advertising, pay per click, and any number of text linking schemes always seem to have a higher demand for ad space than traffic supply. This will continue to be the case in the coming years and smart niche site publishers are banking on the advertising industry’s insatiable appetite for good targeted traffic. Once people get over the Adsense boom and bust period of 2005, they will start to realize that Adsense is merely “funded research” and the big game is the virtual properties themselves. Biggest mistake in 2006? Spam sites! Once they are dropped out of the engines, and they all have been or will be soon, they are totally valueless. Complete and utter failures from the domain name to the time and money poured into them. Yet publishers who go the extra mile and exercise a modicum of respect for their industry are still floating the wave of profits by creating real sites. Think about it this way: A publisher who starts from nothing today and builds one rich content site per week in 2006 is going to have about 52 sites this time next year. With a good marketing plan for each site which includes no SEO tricks and nothing even “grey hat” in the mix, she should have the ability to isolate 10 sites in her network worth spending more time on than the others. This is given that the revenue model for each of the 10 sites is producing at least $10 per day. Turning those 10 sites into $30 a day earners can pluck up over $100,000.00 in revenue in a year’s time! With good research on profitable niches to provide with good content, and a simple but solid marketing plan for each site, anyone with the proper training and patience can get into the game. Now the publisher in the above example is pulling in $300 per day with just 10 sites. Last year it took upwards of 100 or more spam sites to do the same thing with no hope it would continue from day to day depending on when the engines caught up with them and de-listed them. The publisher in the above example can keep that money rolling in indefinitely without fear because her 10 sites are perfect content sites that search engines love. No tricks and no spam software involved. A publisher can then go on to find the next 10 winners in their network or continue to focus on the current 10 with an eye on drastically improving one or all of the sites’ profit margins with ramped up marketing and content development. Now comes the great part. A publisher who finds their 10 winners and develops them into sites that average 300-500 visitors per day each now has a network of sites pulling in 3000-5000 eyeballs each and every day. Depending on the markets served with the 10 winners, a site network like this, which has proven revenue and traffic, can easily value from $150,000.00 and up these days. Why? Because of the traffic, proven profits, and the quality of the sites themselves. This is something that was totally forgotten in the Adsense spam site days. The guys who built 5000 sites with no more value than a single, traffic-less affiliate casino site have lost everything they worked for. Once they were out of the engines, they were out of business. And they have nothing to sell. No assets. No content means no value. No search engine rankings means no serious traffic and no revenue. But the publisher who built just 10 content sites last year that are now doing at least $30 each per day is sitting on not only $109,500.00 gross yearly revenue, but also a network worth far more than that which they can sell to rabid investors looking for just such a deal to land in their lap each and every day. Again, all it takes is knowing the niche publishing industry and the tactics for creating and marketing content rich niche sites and a little patience. This is what the market wants. All you have to do is give it the elbow grease it deserves to reap massive profits down the relatively short road to success. About the Author Jack Humphrey is the managing partner of http://www.contentdesk.com and author of the renowned Power Linking series of internet marketing courses. More information on the niche publishing industry can be found at http://www.contentdesk.com/csb Tags: Chaser, Cheap Whore, Content Strategies, Developers, Google, Jack Humphrey, Moderate Experience, Niche, Niches, Overnight Successes, Patience, Publishers, Publishing Inc, Real Estate Investor, Real Estate Investors, Research Creativity, Rewards, Search Engines, Smart Investors, Virtual Real Estate Real Estate Investing - Matching Buyers with Properties May 18, 2010 by Kenny Santos   Filed under Real Estate Investing Leave a Comment One of the things you have to consider as a real estate investor is matching buyers with properties that you acquire. When you develop a buyers list for your properties, whether you?re trying to wholesale or rehab, you will find that the simple saying, ?Different strokes for different folks,? applies. Some of the different ?strokes? might be low-end rentals, high-end rentals, multiple unit rentals, and rehabilitation projects. The different ?folks? will often match these properties. For every investor, there is a niche they specialize in. If you want to wholesale properties, it?s up to you to offer the greatest spread of properties to fellow investors. Also, you must take into account, your regular home buyers (owner-occupants). Part of any building block of a business is to identify the target market. For instance, with this site, we identified the people who would be visiting it most likely. We tailor the articles with content that is basic in order to meet the ?customer? needs. We don?t overload the articles with complexities, but we do offer the basic 1-2-3 steps for beginning a real estate investment business or a business in general. Part of this required developing a ?character? for our visitors. In doing this, we are constantly developing new avenues of interest that we think our visitors will benefit from, including hard money financing (coming soon). So, for matching buyers with properties is to simply define what each potential buyer prefers. When you decide to advertise for buyers, you might put out ads like this: Deep Discounts-Properties need Rehab, Priced to Sell, Call XXX-XXX-XXXX or Excellent Cash Flow Rentals offered at Discounted Prices, Call XXX-XXX-XXXX This may attract buyers who are looking for rehab projects. Thus, you?ll be matching rehabbers/contractors with properties in need of rehab. However, when the phone starts ringing, you?ll need to distinguish the type of homes each potential buyer wants. For instance, some might want 4 bedroom, 2 Bath, high-end rehabs, while others will want your basic ?bread and butter? home, 3 beds and 1 bath. Also for the second advertisement, you?re looking for landlords. Additionally, you?ll need to identify the different areas each buyer will consider. You may also run an ad like this: Stop Renting-Starter Homes Available-Mint-Discounted Prices Call XXX-XXX-XXXX These buyers might be your owner-occupants that are currently renting that you?ll add to your buyers list. Part of your strategy here might be buying, rehabbing and selling them yourself. Of course, running one ad might be most economical: Deep Discounted Properties for Sale, Home Buyers, Investors Call XXX-XXX-XXXX Now, how do you determine what each investor/buyer wants? You may ask the following questions: What type of property are you looking for? Specifics? (# of bedrooms, baths, rooms) What locations are you primarily interested in? Have you closed on properties in these areas before? What are your overall objectives for properties you buy? What is the ideal return on investment you?re looking for? What type of rentals do you prefer? How do you continue to grow your customer base (the amount of people you can sell a property to)? Well since money is always the bottom line and not all buyers have cash to buy (and you should never expect or rely on that solely), expanding the pool of investors and buyers you can sell to comes down to having contacts. If your buyers don?t have the contacts or the cash, you will need them. So four simple things you should do are: Make contacts with good mortgage brokers and use them to qualify buyers Make contacts with good hard money lenders to qualify investors (noobs) Make sure these brokers and lenders can close deals quickly Make sure you know the process inside and out so you can expedite the process Lastly, you may look for ads that offer rehabbed homes for sale. For example, if you see a for sale ad that says, ??renovated? or some variation, call that number and begin the process of adding that individual to your buyers list. Visit the property to get a completely true feel for what they look for. This can be a very effective way of getting investors who are actually involved in performing on a contract because they already have demonstrated the ability to do so! Always remember that you?re running a business. Every successful business has a well-defined strategy for marketing, sales and growth. Real estate investing is no exception! ?2006 noobdogs.com Noobdogs.com offers a place for fellow new investors in real estate to ask questions and get good, sound information they can understand. Noobdogs.comis owned and operated by AmeriCountry Realty Group LLC. Founded in 2006 by Tom McGiveron, a Behavior Specialist and entrepreneur, noobdogs.com is becoming the premier site for new investors to achieve success in personal development and real estate investment. Tags: Basic 1, Cash Flow, Complexities, Different Strokes For Different Folks, Fellow Investors, Hard Money, Home Buyers, Investing, Investment Business, Match, New Avenues, Niche, Owner Occupants, Real Estate Investment, Real Estate Investor, Rehab Projects, Rehabilitation Projects, Target Market, Wholesale, Xxxx Next Page » eNews & Updates Sign up to receive breaking news as well as receive other site updates! 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