Real Estate Investing - Control Your Future by Controlling Expenses

I was speaking with a highly respected and successful fellow investor a few days ago and he said something which really grabbed my attention. He said, "The single most important reason for my success is my ability to rigidly control my expenses." I found that hard to believe, so I pressed him on it.

"John," I said, "You’ve done a lot of things right. How can you single out expense control as the most important contributor to your success?"

"Simple," he replied, "Controlling my expenses has allowed me to control my cash, and EVERYTHING else flows from cash."

Our conversation consisted of just a few sentences, but I’ve been thinking about them ever since. You would be very wise to think about them too. In fact, follow along with me while I dissect what John said.

Let’s begin with his summary, "Everything else flows from cash." Two questions arise- first, what exactly did he mean? Second, is it true?

Cash Is King

Here’s what I think he meant. When an investor has ready cash available, he is free to move when opportunity presents itself. He doesn’t need to pause and consider whether or not he is in a position to take a deal down- he already knows. Therefore, he can move lightning fast. Cash equals speed.

Also, when an investor doesn’t have to get all creative with financing techniques, he can concentrate on other, more crucial aspects of the deal. Cash equals focus.

Finally, when he is able to focus his energy and attention on the most crucial elements of the deal, AND he can move with lightning speed, his confidence soars. He KNOWS he can complete the deal, and he won’t let anything stand in his way. So, cash equals power.

If cash equals speed, focus, and power, why then do so many people talk about "no money down" deals? Because they can be done, that’s why, and for someone just starting out, with little or no cash, it’s important to know that. But just because something CAN be done doesn’t make it the best way to do things. No money down is definitely not the best way- not all the time.

What about the second question? Is it true? Does everything flow from cash? Does it really equal speed, focus, and power in real estate investing?

You bet it does! Every experienced investor I know would agree that having large amounts of ready cash makes his or her investing life much easier. It also opens many doors, allowing quicker growth and bigger profits.

I didn’t realize how important cash was until I had some. I remember the feeling I had when my Realtor called me out of the blue one day and said, "Tom, a deal just fell through on a fantastic foreclosure property. The bank wants another buyer by the end of today. How fast can you move?"

I had already looked at this particular property and I recognized a great deal when I saw one. More important, I had enough cash in my account to take the deal down, and I could prove it to the bank. I told my Realtor, "Buy it."

My ability to move lightning fast, and with complete confidence, ultimately put another $28,000 in my pocket!

No cash, no deal. Remember, cash equals speed, focus, and power. Or, put another way, CASH IS KING!

It’s Your Money- Keep It!

We’ve established that everything flows from cash, so John’s summary statement is true. But what about his premise, "Controlling expenses allows us to control cash?" Is that true as well?

This is more difficult to pin down, but let me just share a little of my own experience with you. When I was a beginning investor I had little or no cash, so I did a couple of "no money down" deals and built up a small reserve. Unfortunately, spending discipline has never been my strong suit, so a lot of that cash went right out again. Every expense was justifiable, at least in my own mind. After all, I was building a business wasn’t I? The things I was buying were certainly necessary, weren’t they?

In hindsight, most of them were not. I now realize that if I had eliminated or reduced most of the expenses I thought were essential, my cash reserves, and therefore my portfolio, would have grown much faster. That’s what John learned early on, and what I have finally learned as well.

If you learn it now you will thank yourself a thousand times down the road. Be ruthless when spending your hard won profits. Keep excellent records, and verify each and every expense. Check all of your bills and receipts. Most important, sleep on every decision to spend money, or talk to a trusted adviser . Any technique that slows you down just enough to THINK IT THROUGH will pay you back over and over. The one exception is when you need to move fast on a property, and you have already done your due diligence, or can do it after the offer is accepted.

Most investors put a great amount of effort into finding deals and getting to the closing table. Unfortunately, most don’t put the same effort into safeguarding the profits they take out of those deals. They allow bad spending and expense habits to cripple their growth. This includes overpaying contractors and other service providers, buying unnecessary supplies and equipment, and not carefully checking receipts and invoices. Defeating these bad habits now is like putting money in your investing account. After all, it’s your money- KEEP IT!

So John was right. Controlling expenses allows an investor to control cash, and everything else flows from cash. It looks like it really was the number one reason for his success. Will it be yours?

Now, go make more offers!

Real Estate Investing For Your Future

Everyone wants to be rich, right? Well, actually, everyone says they want to be rich. But few people want to actually take responsibility for taking control of their future. And that’s what you have to do in order to get rich: Take control.

Easier said than done, right? Not really. There is so much literature on the bookshelves about how to do it, anyone can learn how. And that is the key. You have to learn. You have to educate yourself. If you think that there is simply too much material out there and you wouldn’t know where to start, then you can stop worrying, because you’re already making yourself financially smarter. Simply by visiting this site and reading these articles, you are giving yourself an important education that will give you the tools to take control of your financial future. You are one step closer to being rich.

Not only are you one step closer to being rich, but I am going to tell you what you would learn if you were to read every single book in the financial section of the book store. It’s not about complex accounting principles or Wall Street magic. You can hire professionals to take care of those kinds of details for you. What you will gain from truly learning how to get rich is this: You have to change your thinking habits.

That’s it. The fact of the matter is, you only have to get out of the habit of thinking like an employee and start thinking like an investor.

I’ll give you a moment to digest that one. It’s such a simple concept, it can take you by surprise. But it’s true. Just think about the kinds of conversations you and your fellow employees tend to have when you’re talking about your jobs: ?If only the boss would let me do this.? Or how about, ?I can’t do that?I’d lose my 401K!? The employee mindset is a fearful one, dependent on the system to take care of them. Oh sure, they put in the hours so they can have a roof over their head. And that’s exactly what they get?a roof over their head. Maybe a two-week vacation once a year if they’re lucky.

If you want more than that?to be rich, for example?you have to start thinking like the people who control the money. Think like the people who work smart, not hard. With a little thought, you can figure out how to make your money work for you.

Now, who are the people who work like that, who actually control the flow of money in our economy? You might be tempted to say ?corporations,? and you would be right to an extent. But corporations are not people: They are financial entities. Think about the people behind the entities and you are on the right track.

That’s right?the businesspeople. But they are only near the top of the food chain. If you go to the very top, what you find is…investors.

Investors are at the top of the food chain because they know how to make their money work for them, instead of slaving for their money. And they are laughing all the way to the bank because they know what a simple concept it is. They know that anyone could do it. And they know that most people won’t because they are stuck thinking like employees. The sad thing for most people is that they will never break that habit. You don’t have to be one of them.

All you have to do to become one of the big fish is invest. It’s that simple. Investing in real estate is a good bet because it’s a stable investment. It’s so stable, in fact, that the bank will actually lend you money to purchase it. No kidding.

That’s the long and short of what you will learn if you read every book available to you on how to start thinking rich and stop thinking secure. They will tell you how easy it is. They will tell you to change your thinking. And they will tell you to let the experts deal with the details.

About the Author:

Alex Anderson Connects Investors With Florida Investment Properties and Minnesota Real Estate Investment Property in Appreciating Markets.

The First Steps In Real Estate Investing

With all the stories of people making tremendous amounts of money in real estate it’s no wonder why so many are looking at real estate as an investment vehicle. It offers more security than the stock market, provides great potential returns, offers tax benefits and let’s not forget; it sounds cool to be ‘in real estate’. Everybody can buy and sell stocks from their phone or computer these days. But real estate, now that’s something else.

One of the challenges that many are faced with is putting up the money to acquire a piece of property. Although in reality this is usually not the biggest obstacle. You might say “Hey, what do you mean, not an obstacle. I would love to invest in real estate, but I just can’t afford to!” The point is that hardly anyone who buys a piece of real estate has enough money in their account to pay for it. That’s where your banker comes in. Let’s face it. Do you know anyone that owns their own home? I mean truly own it? Probably not. Sure, you know a lot of people that have a house to their name, but wait until they get behind on their monthly mortgage payments and you will soon find out who really owns their house. That’s right, the bank. So if these people can use the bank’s money to buy a house, why can’t you?

Now ‘owning’ your own home may sound like a somewhat obvious way to get started in real estate, but it is also a very good way to do so. You might say “Duh…” But apparently this little step is overlooked by a lot of people. Just take a look at how many people are still renting a property instead of buying one. Now of course the relation between rent and housing prices varies from country to country and even from area to area. But wherever you go you will still find people renting, because in their mind “they don’t have enough money to buy a house.” In reality it would be much cheaper for them to buy!

When you rent, you are pretty much flushing your money down the toilet. Of course you are getting the pleasure of living, but the point is you’re not building anything long term. Every dollar you spend on rent is a dollar you will never see again. Whereas if you own your own home, instead of paying rent you would be paying for your mortgage. Even though there is a lot of variety in mortgages these days, the basics of practically all mortgages are more or less the same. Every month you make a payment which consists of two parts: interest and principle. The interest part can be compared to rent. Those dollars are gone with the wind and you will never hear from them again. However, the part of the payment that goes to the principle is money you keep. Every dollar that is used to pay off the principal is a dollar you put in your own pocket.

So if you’re thinking about getting started in real estate and you don’t ‘own’ your own house yet… Change it, and get some experience. It’s a great first step towards building your capital and in many cases, it just makes more sense financially. It can also supply a range of opportunities for accelerating the process of building your net worth. When real estate prices go up, so does the value of your property. Whereas the money you owe the bank, your mortgage, remains the same. In other words this helps you build your net worth. Compare this to people that are paying rent… Their net worth does nothing. However their landlord’s net worth is doing very nicely in this scenario and he or she will probably love you for it. So if you get a warm fuzzy feeling about making somebody else rich at your own expense… Keep renting. If you would rather build your own capital instead… Buy your own house!

Many home owners have accumulated more money through appreciation of their property than by working a full time job for many years. Now before you go out and buy the first property you lay eyes on, don’t forget that some security measures are in order here. As you may or may not know, real estate prices do not always go up, and certainly not in a straight line. Yep, this can be shocker to some people, as well as an ugly reminder for those who overlooked this minor detail in the past. If for some reason you would have to sell your home in a down market, it can be a costly adventure. You wouldn’t be the first to end up with a house worth considerably less than the mortgage resting on it. So make sure to keep some slack. In the long run real estate prices have always been on the rise, but in any cycle there are down periods. By keeping some slack and being patient you will be able to sit through these times and profit from the long term up-trend.

About the Author

Jim Mack is an expert on business, health and well being. He regularly contributes articles on these subjects. The Best Investing Tips

Real Estate Investing : Graduated Lease

New business start-ups need at least a few months to stabilize and it could take a few months before a break-even point occurs. To help such businesses as well as to counter he slack in rentals, commercial, industrial property owners have designed a lease called the graduated lease to entice new tenants. In a graduated lease, the lease amount is low for the initial couple of years and gradually increased proportionally the next three years in a typical five-year contract. This strategy worked so well that people have applied graduated lease to residential property too.

Graduated Lease: How does it Work? Let us say there is a person x who leases a commercial space using a graduated lease for a period of five years. The lease includes the maintenance, taxes, insurance, utilities and janitorial services charges. His office space is 2,000 squares in a 30,000 square building. He pays $20 for each square foot so his yearly base rent will be $40,000 and for fiver years $200,000. In a graduated lease he can pay $2,500 each month for the first year {$30,000}, $3000 each month for the second year {36,000} and $ 3,500 each month for the third year {42,000} and $ 3,833.3 each month for the next two years {$91,999.9}. The low monthly rental for the first three years gives X the chance to utilize the money to develop his business and stabilize financially, hence a graduated lease will work to the advantage of the lessee.

Lessees who lease commercial and industrial properties therefore prefer this kind of lease. Usually, graduated leases are offered at a flat rate for the first two years, and gradually increased as per the lease term typically five years. Lessees can negotiate to get as low an escalation cap as possible for each additional year. The lessee should make sure he understands the terms of the contract properly and that he is not paying rent for space he does not use such as a foyer or lobby to which he has no access as it is on another floor. The landlord has to ascertain that the lessee has no deceitful intent and has no record of fraud or history of delinquent rental payment. The lessee should not cause damage and or repair to the property and abscond without a trace, leaving the landlord in a lurch. It is therefore necessary for both parties to hire an experienced attorney and see to it that they are not being cheated, by carefully verifying the due-diligence and all documents presented.

Graduated leases are helpful for new entrepreneurs who can use the money saved on the first few years of the lease to build and establish their business.

There are firms that offer services and products to help new entrepreneurs run a successful business.

Real Estate Investing: Adjusted Gross Lease

It is imperative that the lease structure of a property selected be just as suitable as the property. Commercial leases can be gross, adjusted gross or net leases. In a gross lease, the lessor is responsible for the payment of utilities, taxes, maintenance and the property insurance; the lessee has to pay the lessor a base rent, which includes all the charges. The lessee has to agree to pay his share of any increases that may occur in the base operating expense. In some cases, the lessee just pays a fixed base rent for the duration of the lease and agrees to pay for any increase in the operating expenses as well as the maintenance dues at the end of the first year of the lease. What Is An Adjusted Gross Lease?

A modified or adjusted gross lease is similar to a gross lease except that it excludes some basic services that are typically provided by landlords such as the responsibility to pay their taxes, insurance, maintenance and utility bills. In some adjusted gross leases, the landlord is not responsible to pay for maintenance; janitorial services, electricity, and these charges are not included in the base rent. An adjusted gross lease is very useful for multi-tenant properties as each of the lessee has different needs and keeps different timings, hence they would prefer to have separate meters to measure the utility usage such as electricity and water. Separate meters will prevent any dispute regarding the pro-rata share each has to pay. Like for example in a multi-tenant building, let us consider two of the tenants. A is operating a boutique and opens from 9 am to 9 pm, Monday to Saturday, where as B is a dentist who works from 8 am to 8 pm, Monday to Friday. Separate meters will ensure that one tenant does not end up paying a part of the expenses of another tenant. The tenants are responsible to pay for their share of the utility bills.

Base rent in an adjusted gross lease is usually higher than a net lease due to the pass through feature of the lease. Pass through refers to the method of making the lessee pay a proportionate share, to pay for any increase in the operating expenses at the end of a base year. The recoverable expenses will be borne initially by the landlord, which can be calculated based on dollar per square foot, or a pre-defined amount. An adjusted gross lease is more equitable than a gross lease. Lease agreements need to be understood clearly and the help of an attorney sought to comprehend its entire content. Make sure that the property selected and the type of lease suits your needs. There are firms that help businesses run successfully by offering their services as well as products.

7 Tips For Real Estate Investing Success

1. Find out what you really want from your investments.

Set goals. Where do you want to be 5 years from now? Do you want a much larger nicer house for your family? How about waltzing into a car dealership and paying cash? Picture what you want.

Your investing needs to provide a living -and a lifestyle. You need to be able to look forward and enjoy your life and your family.

If you want to coach your children’s sports teams, your real estate needs to give you the time, not steal the time from those precious events.

With proper planning you can learn how to out-source but you’ve got to know where you want to go before you can get there.

2. Start simple and keep it simple

Sometimes it’s too easy to lose focus because of information overload. Our generation is being bombarded with more knowledge than any in history. And it’s only going to get worse.

Real estate is basic investing. Stick to the fundamentals. Go to the old gurus such as Tyler Hicks and read the old books. Markets come and go, but the basics never change.

3. Do your investing one small step at a time

Don’t try to compete with Donald Trump with your first property. Start small.

Get your first property going. Then move on to the second and the third. Don’t worry about what the stars and experts in online forums are doing. They’ve been at it for a long time. Naturally they can do more. And you will too if you don’t allow your investing to get too complicated.

4. Focus on one aspect of investing for six months

What are you really interested in? Foreclosures, Buy and Hold, Short Sales?

How is the market doing in your area of interest? Concentrate on one type of investment and soak up everything you can about it for six months. Not only will you become an expert but it will be almost second nature to you.

5. Design your investing around your strengths and weaknesses.

Okay, this is the challenging one.

We’ve been taught all our lives that winners do what they hate. It’s a conditioning process. In order to get it done, we’ve got to make ourselves do the dog work.

That’s okay for football or high school algebra, but real estate investing is different.

You need to like it. If there are parts of it you don’t like, don’t get bent out of shape about it. Sub those parts out. Out sourcing is one of the most valuable lessons you can teach yourself.

Don’t get upset about landlording if it’s not your thing. Out source that too. The most important point is to invest. That’s where the money is.

6.Stop analyzing and buy something

There are investors who paralyze themselves to death with market analysis. Another way of putting it is they are fearful of doing it. Jump in. Get your feet wet. Sure, you might make some mistakes but if you read the right real estate materials and study the right courses, as well as networking, you can cut those mistakes down to miniscule small potatoes.

7. Set aside some properties for your lifetime profits.

This is your own personal bank. Whether you’re a flipper, wholesaler, rehabber and you want to move those properties fast, this advice still applies to you.

It’s amazing to me how some investors let perfectly great properties get out of their hands because they want to make a quick profit. Occasionally, keep a few of them. Hold on and watch them appreciate. They may truly pay for your old age.

Real Estate Investing Apprenticeship - An Overview

If you?re new to the world of real estate investing, you may be wondering how you can get started when there seems to be so much to learn and understand. Maybe you should consider a real estate investing apprenticeship.

A real estate investing apprenticeship can take any of several different forms. It can be a flexible arrangement with an experienced investor that you partner with for one deal only, or it could be a structured agreement whereby you form an ongoing working relationship with an individual or group of investors.

Either way, there are a few things you should consider before entering into a real estate investing apprenticeship.

First, what exactly do you want to get out of your real estate investing apprenticeship? In other words, what is it you are looking to learn? If you want to learn how to flip houses after rehabbing them, you should look for an experienced rehabber to partner with, offering to bird-dog or wholesale a few deals to him in exchange for looking over his shoulder throughout the process.

If you want your real estate investing apprenticeship to help you build your cash reserves for long term property holding, you should look for a mentor who is willing to split the profits on some larger deals. You might offer to do all or most of the legwork that many experienced investors are just too busy to do.

On the other hand, if you?re hoping to learn the ropes of lease option or subject to investing, you will want your real estate investing apprenticeship to build your skills in those areas. Find an investor with plenty of experience doing those types of deals, and offer to partner up with them several deals.

When approaching a potential mentor about a real estate investing apprenticeship, make sure you tell them what?s in it for them. Tell them the benefits they will realize by partnering with you. Offer to do all or most of the legwork, bring them leads and deals, and bring them potential buyers for their deals. Don?t expect them to want to help you simply out of the goodness of their heart.

Everyone likes to know they will be realizing a benefit from their efforts. Potential real estate investing apprenticeship mentors are no exception. Tell them how they stand to benefit and you will not only make a new friend, you may just make a ton of money, too!

Looking back, some of my most satisfying deals have been done in partnership with other investors. Most of them were win/win for all parties. I may not have recognized it at the time, but I was engaging in a real estate investing apprenticeship. You should explore the possibilities of doing the same.

Take Away Power For Real Estate Investing

As a real estate entrepreneur, you must decide to learn the secret power associated with the takeaway. Maybe, you’ve already used it before. You may have used it and didn’t even know it. Regardless, this method is a powerful trigger that will work wonders when negotiating with either a buyer or seller. This technique will definitely light a fire under your prospect’s rear to get them moving regardless if you’re on the buying or the selling side.

Here’s what happens: you basically take away what ever it is you were offering. Maybe you take away a certain price on a property to hold out for a higher price, maybe you take away the ability to buy the sellers house or maybe you take away the deal all together. For example, let’s suppose that you’re selling a property for $100K. You have an offer from a buyer for $80K. You then counter the offer at $90K. At this point, you’re pretty close to reaching an agreement with the deal, as you are only $10K apart. Well, the buyer offers you $83K as an attempt to get you lower.

At that point, you go back to the buyer and apologize that you made a mistake and that you feel awful about it. You tell them that there is no way that you can sell it for the $90K, that the lowest you are able to go is $93K. Now, in most cases, the buyer will not even talk about getting it below the $90K. They’ll want you to come back to the $90K.

This is an example of the classic takeaway. This method is almost magical and really takes away the pressure from you and puts you back into the driver’s seat of the negotiations.

Just recently I used this very technique on a note buyer that wanted me to jump through all these hoops to sell the notes to him. Here’s what happened: We had a 2nd mortgage that a guy owed me around $23K. The borrower was current on his payments and had an excellent pay history with us. The note buyer had offered me $19K for this note and I accepted. Well, after a couple of weeks of goofing around, I still didn’t have the money or a note purchase agreement. So, it seemed that this guy might be a tire kicker simply wasting my time, so I get on the phone with him using the takeaway. I simply told the note buyer that I had given him more information on this note than I had given any one else with the notes that I had sold to in the past and that I wasn’t going to continue to waste my time to hold his hand. Then, I told him that maybe this deal wasn’t for him and that I had others that wanted to look at the note. I also told him that I didn’t need his money and that it really didn’t matter to me if he bought it or not. I then said, “however, if you are serious about this, then I need the note sale agreement on my desk within 30 minutes and the money wired to my account within 48 hours.” The outcome of this was that he wired the money to me in less than 48 hours of this conversation.

The takeaway method works like gangbusters. But, you may ask why? Well, it’s proven that we all are motivated by scarcity. In other words, if there is a product or service that is freely available, then the desire for that product or service is not that great. However, if there is a limit or some deadline to that product or service, then it will increase your desire to have the product or service. That’s why you see so many deadlines with promotions. And this works the same way with your real estate transactions. See, once you’re in negotiations, people already imagine having the money from the sale of their property or they’ve already imagined having that investment property added to their portfolio as they figure what their monthly cash flow will be. So once, you take what you’re offering, the desire for the item increases. Whether it’s the desire for you to buy the seller’s home or whether you’re selling your latest deal.

The point is this: the takeaway works. So, next time, your Real Estate negotiations come to a stand still or they’re not progressing at the rate you’d like, then try the takeaway. If you don’t see the value in using this one technique, then you need more help than I’ll ever be able to offer.

About the Author

Derek Pierce, a 5 year, full time Real Estate Investor, shows you the exact strategies to his success in his Free Book: “How I Went From Corporate Guinea Pig To Real Estate Success”. Get your copy by going to http://www.thereisecrets.com

Real Estate Investing - How to Coach Yourself

Real Estate Investing - How to Coach Yourself Author: D. S. Peter

Some people are not in a position to work with a coach right now. Some are stretched financially, while some are still using the “lone ranger” method. Other people might be uncertain about trying something new. So here is a brief, simple process you can apply to your own situation i.e. “coach” yourself!

1. Clarify your goal Some of us are not moving forward simply because we have not set a goal that inspires us! Make it specific e.g. I will by one property by December 10. And you can stretch yourself, but keep it realistic. If you’re blocked, schedule creative time to play with ideas. Ask someone who is where you want to be for advice.

2. Plan What overall strategy(s) will you use? For example, to buy residential properties will your strategy be area specific, fixer uppers, foreclosures, price range, or a combination? To increase profit will you increase your knowledge (to learn more on real estate investing http://www.buying-investment-property.info and http://www.realestate-investinginfo.com ), switch your real estate investing area or even state, network, or improve performance. For this stage you will also set your milestones to achieve along the way, with deadlines attached (say every 2-4 months). Also list the tasks to achieve along the way in between milestones.

3. Action Once you have the overall plan in place, it’s time to get down to specific action. You might like to list the action steps you will take in the next week, or the next 30 days. When you have completed these actions, it’s time to evaluate, and write the next list of action steps.

4. Self check Having an idea, or desire is one thing. But many of these do not get achieved. This is probably one reason you are reading this article - because there is something in your life you would like to achieve or change, but it hasn’t happened yet. Change rarely occurs without “action”. If you want to be a real estate investor, surround yourself with real estate investors. Talk a friend into doing your goal with you. Set constant diary reminders for the next month, and/or encouraging visual displays on the wall. Announcing your commitment to the world (all your friends) is also a great method to achieve your goal. And if you’re really serious about your goal, it’s hard to find anything more motivating than doing one successful deal. Learning is a lifetime journey.

Good luck! Copyright ? D. S. Peter This article can be published by anyone as long as the reference box remains intact and all links are kept live.

About the Author

Copyright ? D. S. Peter is a successful real estate investor for over 14 years.

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.

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