Flipping Houses in a Bull Market: Time to Switch Strategies?
by Fortune Builders
Flipping houses is about to get a lot tougher. How can you keep the profits rolling in?
Thousands of those who have jumped into real estate investing in the
last couple of years to cash in on foreclosures by flipping houses have
no idea what it is like to work in an up market. Especially a market
where foreclosures, short sales and REOs are scarce. Few investors in
the business today have experienced bidding wars or just how tough
sellers and Realtors can be when things are good. So is it time to
switch up real estate investing strategies?
There are many advantages to flipping houses in a rapidly rebounding
market. Properties sell faster, homes can jump tens o thousands of
dollars in market value in just days, there are far more buyers and
ultimately lenders become a little more lenient. However, this doesn’t
mean that you can afford to speculate on purchasing full priced
properties and hoping they will go up.
We should certainly start to see the number of foreclosure homes on
the market dwindling in many areas of the country by the end of this
year. Those who fail to recognize this, prepare and who aren’t already
getting the jump on competitors by diversifying their acquisition
sources could find deals drying up overnight. For those carrying a lot
of debt this can be ruinous.
Don’t worry, this doesn’t mean that you have to suffer hard times
ahead. However, it does mean a need to build on your real estate
investing education and learn more about the types of distressed homes
which are available in every market. Think properties in probate, homes
of couples going through divorce, business owners in bankruptcy and
workers forced to relocate. Know where to find them, who you need to
network with and begin experimenting now.
go to Fortune Builders
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
Does Creative Real Estate Investing Make You A Criminal?
by Fortune Builders
Can you be creative in putting your deals together without being considered a criminal or is it all a step closer to a new 6’ x 8’ residence with cold floors and bars on the windows?
‘Creative real estate investing’ has almost become a four letter word in many people’s eyes. You can’t blame sellers, lenders, agents and law enforcement from raising an eyebrow when they see the term in the after math of the recent meltdown but this doesn’t mean that being creative is always illegal and it shouldn’t stop you from pushing yourself to reach your full potential through real estate investing.
Of course you should absolutely make sure that you are on the right side of the law. There is far too much heat out there right now and the penalties far too severe for anyone to risk their freedom by committing any type of real estate fraud. You should be getting into real estate investing to increase the amount of freedom you have and improve your finances not gamble them away.
Flipping houses today can require creativity. Creativity and resourcefulness in digging up the gold in great deals, putting together winning marketing campaigns, building networks and attracting buyers to your homes. However, this doesn’t mean you need to resort to anything which will land you in trouble.
Laws and regulations have changed a lot in the last few years but as with breaking any other law, just saying that you didn’t know won’t get you off. It is your responsibility to keep up your real estate education. While many real estate education courses and programs written before the bubble may have been founded on good principals and tactics which worked at the time many, many of them will land you in seriously hot water today.
So by all means let your imagination fuel your real estate investing but make sure you are also investing in continuing education or coaching to stay on top of changes, stay out of trouble and tap into the latest trends.
go to fortune builers
by Fortune Builders
Can you be creative in putting your deals together without being considered a criminal or is it all a step closer to a new 6’ x 8’ residence with cold floors and bars on the windows?
‘Creative real estate investing’ has almost become a four letter word in many people’s eyes. You can’t blame sellers, lenders, agents and law enforcement from raising an eyebrow when they see the term in the after math of the recent meltdown but this doesn’t mean that being creative is always illegal and it shouldn’t stop you from pushing yourself to reach your full potential through real estate investing.
Of course you should absolutely make sure that you are on the right side of the law. There is far too much heat out there right now and the penalties far too severe for anyone to risk their freedom by committing any type of real estate fraud. You should be getting into real estate investing to increase the amount of freedom you have and improve your finances not gamble them away.
Flipping houses today can require creativity. Creativity and resourcefulness in digging up the gold in great deals, putting together winning marketing campaigns, building networks and attracting buyers to your homes. However, this doesn’t mean you need to resort to anything which will land you in trouble.
Laws and regulations have changed a lot in the last few years but as with breaking any other law, just saying that you didn’t know won’t get you off. It is your responsibility to keep up your real estate education. While many real estate education courses and programs written before the bubble may have been founded on good principals and tactics which worked at the time many, many of them will land you in seriously hot water today.
So by all means let your imagination fuel your real estate investing but make sure you are also investing in continuing education or coaching to stay on top of changes, stay out of trouble and tap into the latest trends.
go to fortune builers
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Cash Flow versus Cash Now - Who Wins?
by Fortune Builders
What’s better, real estate investing for lump sums of cash now or relying on cash flow?
It’s the big debate of two different schools of real estate. Building a portfolio of rental properties for cash flow and flipping houses for fast cash now. Which is the smarter real estate investing strategy?
Of course there are pros to both but ultimately what is right for you comes down to your personal goals and needs as well as where you are starting from. If you already have millions in the bank and just need somewhere profitable to park it, somewhere that will produce consistent income to provide for you in retirement then go the rental route by all means.
However, those who need to build up their nest eggs, anticipate the need for large amounts of cash in the coming years or who need to make up for lost savings on other investments then flipping houses for cash now definitely rules.
Rentals are great but if you are leveraging them let’s be honest it is going to take quite a while for a few hundred a month from a property to satisfy your needs and appreciation is never guaranteed. Plus should any of the worst case scenarios happen, your cash flow stalls and you are over-leveraged you could lose everything.
Flipping houses for fast cash means zero speculation, less risk and capitalizing on the time value of money. Of course once you have built up quite a healthy pot of cash you are going to need to put most of it to work for you somewhere and your local bank certainly isn’t as safe as it may have been once upon a time.
So yes, work towards diversifying into some prime rental properties which can be paid off. However, you can also work on building a real estate investing business. A turnkey business model which can run on autopilot providing you with income from flipping houses and rental properties while building its own equity and value which can be cashed in on later too.
go to Fortune Builders
by Fortune Builders
What’s better, real estate investing for lump sums of cash now or relying on cash flow?
It’s the big debate of two different schools of real estate. Building a portfolio of rental properties for cash flow and flipping houses for fast cash now. Which is the smarter real estate investing strategy?
Of course there are pros to both but ultimately what is right for you comes down to your personal goals and needs as well as where you are starting from. If you already have millions in the bank and just need somewhere profitable to park it, somewhere that will produce consistent income to provide for you in retirement then go the rental route by all means.
However, those who need to build up their nest eggs, anticipate the need for large amounts of cash in the coming years or who need to make up for lost savings on other investments then flipping houses for cash now definitely rules.
Rentals are great but if you are leveraging them let’s be honest it is going to take quite a while for a few hundred a month from a property to satisfy your needs and appreciation is never guaranteed. Plus should any of the worst case scenarios happen, your cash flow stalls and you are over-leveraged you could lose everything.
Flipping houses for fast cash means zero speculation, less risk and capitalizing on the time value of money. Of course once you have built up quite a healthy pot of cash you are going to need to put most of it to work for you somewhere and your local bank certainly isn’t as safe as it may have been once upon a time.
So yes, work towards diversifying into some prime rental properties which can be paid off. However, you can also work on building a real estate investing business. A turnkey business model which can run on autopilot providing you with income from flipping houses and rental properties while building its own equity and value which can be cashed in on later too.
go to Fortune Builders
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Level Up Your Real Estate Website Rankings: The Lust For Links
by Fortune Builders
Craving the top spot in Google search results? Check out our quick guide to the links you need and the links that will sabotage your rankings…
If you want your real estate investing company’s website or blog to be found and bring in leads you have to get serious about improving your placement in search engine results. If you have done any reading up and research on SEO so far you have probably heard a lot about links. Yes, it can be ridiculously confusing but before you go off and spend the next two weeks building links that will actually kick you down the ranks or gamble on another SEO ‘expert’ take a look at our quick guide.
Back Links
Backlinks or incoming links to your real estate investing website probably create the most buzz, are the most sought after and yet can do a lot of damage, not to mention wasting a lot of your time and resources.
Links to your site will only help boost your rank if they are from quality sites. So all that junk link exchanging and creating a myriad of mirror interlinking sites is usually a waste of time. Also note that while there is often a lot of talk about blog and forum commenting to create backlinks these are now longer anywhere near as powerful as other types of genuine links.
What’s good? High quality, related link exchanges, article marketing and guest blogging.
Outbound Links
Some advice columns out there will tell you you also need to be creating external links from your content on your real estate investing web assets to other related domains for improved search engine rankings. This can help to some extent but again, lots of outbound links to poor quality sites can kill you. Authority sites only and definitely no one who competes with your real estate investing business in anyway.
Internal Links
Perhaps the most commonly overlooked type of links by new real estate investing companies are internal links. These are the links between your own pages. Use keyword specific and focused pages with keyword links between them to improve your rankings.
go to fortune builders
by Fortune Builders
Craving the top spot in Google search results? Check out our quick guide to the links you need and the links that will sabotage your rankings…
If you want your real estate investing company’s website or blog to be found and bring in leads you have to get serious about improving your placement in search engine results. If you have done any reading up and research on SEO so far you have probably heard a lot about links. Yes, it can be ridiculously confusing but before you go off and spend the next two weeks building links that will actually kick you down the ranks or gamble on another SEO ‘expert’ take a look at our quick guide.
Back Links
Backlinks or incoming links to your real estate investing website probably create the most buzz, are the most sought after and yet can do a lot of damage, not to mention wasting a lot of your time and resources.
Links to your site will only help boost your rank if they are from quality sites. So all that junk link exchanging and creating a myriad of mirror interlinking sites is usually a waste of time. Also note that while there is often a lot of talk about blog and forum commenting to create backlinks these are now longer anywhere near as powerful as other types of genuine links.
What’s good? High quality, related link exchanges, article marketing and guest blogging.
Outbound Links
Some advice columns out there will tell you you also need to be creating external links from your content on your real estate investing web assets to other related domains for improved search engine rankings. This can help to some extent but again, lots of outbound links to poor quality sites can kill you. Authority sites only and definitely no one who competes with your real estate investing business in anyway.
Internal Links
Perhaps the most commonly overlooked type of links by new real estate investing companies are internal links. These are the links between your own pages. Use keyword specific and focused pages with keyword links between them to improve your rankings.
go to fortune builders
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
7 Ways to Rent Faster & for More Money in 7 Days
Slash your time to rent and rent for more with these quick fixes…
1. Accept Credit Cards
Start accepting credit cards and online payments for rent and move in costs. It will boost your profits by reducing fraud, making it easier for tenants to pay on time and reduce management time. Of course it will make your properties more attractive and mean tenants can move in faster.
2. No Credit Checks!
Of course this can be dangerous but if all you are getting is tenants applying with weak credit anyway and you can offset the risk then why not? You can still rely on references and do background checks online. Plus you can ask for more rent in advance. Depending on your state laws more deposit money may not help because you can’t spend it but advance rent you can. Often tenants are willing to pay 6 months rent in advance for no credit checks.
3. Staging
Staging can do miracles for the appeal of your rental properties. You can then move your items to the next property or if it makes financial sense offer a furnished option for more. Think appliances, furniture, electronics and even kitchenware.
4. Offer Security
On of the biggest fears of prospective tenants, especially if you are offering any form of owner financing or lease option is if the landlord is financially stable. They don’t want to hand over thousands only to lose it and be back on the street. Make it clear in your ads that you are ‘not in foreclosure’.
5. Rent-to-Own
Offer a rent-to-own option. Just be realistic about how much rent you need for it to be viable and how much down payment you can really expect.
6. Keyless Entry Locks
Keyless entry locks not only give your curb appeal a boost but can also make it a lot easier to enable showings, especially from mobile enquiries, increasing the chances your home gets rented first.
7. Reduce Response Times
Realtors are notoriously bad at returning emails and calls. Claim the business by being the first to respond to rental inquiries.
go to Fortune Builders
Slash your time to rent and rent for more with these quick fixes…
1. Accept Credit Cards
Start accepting credit cards and online payments for rent and move in costs. It will boost your profits by reducing fraud, making it easier for tenants to pay on time and reduce management time. Of course it will make your properties more attractive and mean tenants can move in faster.
2. No Credit Checks!
Of course this can be dangerous but if all you are getting is tenants applying with weak credit anyway and you can offset the risk then why not? You can still rely on references and do background checks online. Plus you can ask for more rent in advance. Depending on your state laws more deposit money may not help because you can’t spend it but advance rent you can. Often tenants are willing to pay 6 months rent in advance for no credit checks.
3. Staging
Staging can do miracles for the appeal of your rental properties. You can then move your items to the next property or if it makes financial sense offer a furnished option for more. Think appliances, furniture, electronics and even kitchenware.
4. Offer Security
On of the biggest fears of prospective tenants, especially if you are offering any form of owner financing or lease option is if the landlord is financially stable. They don’t want to hand over thousands only to lose it and be back on the street. Make it clear in your ads that you are ‘not in foreclosure’.
5. Rent-to-Own
Offer a rent-to-own option. Just be realistic about how much rent you need for it to be viable and how much down payment you can really expect.
6. Keyless Entry Locks
Keyless entry locks not only give your curb appeal a boost but can also make it a lot easier to enable showings, especially from mobile enquiries, increasing the chances your home gets rented first.
7. Reduce Response Times
Realtors are notoriously bad at returning emails and calls. Claim the business by being the first to respond to rental inquiries.
go to Fortune Builders
Investors Beware of How You Scale Your Business
by Fortune Builders
by Fortune Builders
The way you are scaling your real estate investing business could be killing your chances of success…
Beginning with the right strategy for scaling and growing your real estate investing business is critical if you want to build up any kind of momentum or manage to stay around. There are 3 factors which catch out a huge number of investors. Are you making these fatal mistakes?
Too Cheap
Many of those new to real estate investing aren’t kicking off with big budgets. Even if you were it is wise to be cautious with your capital and let profits pay for expansion. However, this doesn’t mean going too cheap on your online marketing and branding. If you are tempted to put up junk just to get something up, just don’t. Arguing that you will increase quality as you make money doesn’t work in this medium. You only have one chance at a first impression. It is far better to put up less but make it look and read great than to destroy your image before getting a chance to prove yourself.
Not Diversifying Marketing
You should absolutely have a plan to branch out and add new advertising channels for your real estate investing enterprise as you grow but it is also important not to throw all of your eggs in one basket right away either. It doesn’t matter how great your marketing is, if you are only using one medium you are asking for trouble. What happen if your mail campaign is messed up and lands on a holiday, what if there is an Internet ‘black out’, what if you put all of your money into one telemarketing list and it is complete junk?
Too Fast
It may be true that there are more great real estate investing deals out there today than you can handle and it can be very tempting to charge full speed ahead to lock down as many as possible. However, it is essential to limit the amount of overhead you take on. Expanding too fast can weigh you down with debt and mean a lot of work going into management versus flipping houses. Outsourcing can be a great move and help real estate investing scale in an affordable way though always remember to distinguish between real bottom line profits and quantity. They don’t always go hand in hand.
Beginning with the right strategy for scaling and growing your real estate investing business is critical if you want to build up any kind of momentum or manage to stay around. There are 3 factors which catch out a huge number of investors. Are you making these fatal mistakes?
Too Cheap
Many of those new to real estate investing aren’t kicking off with big budgets. Even if you were it is wise to be cautious with your capital and let profits pay for expansion. However, this doesn’t mean going too cheap on your online marketing and branding. If you are tempted to put up junk just to get something up, just don’t. Arguing that you will increase quality as you make money doesn’t work in this medium. You only have one chance at a first impression. It is far better to put up less but make it look and read great than to destroy your image before getting a chance to prove yourself.
Not Diversifying Marketing
You should absolutely have a plan to branch out and add new advertising channels for your real estate investing enterprise as you grow but it is also important not to throw all of your eggs in one basket right away either. It doesn’t matter how great your marketing is, if you are only using one medium you are asking for trouble. What happen if your mail campaign is messed up and lands on a holiday, what if there is an Internet ‘black out’, what if you put all of your money into one telemarketing list and it is complete junk?
Too Fast
It may be true that there are more great real estate investing deals out there today than you can handle and it can be very tempting to charge full speed ahead to lock down as many as possible. However, it is essential to limit the amount of overhead you take on. Expanding too fast can weigh you down with debt and mean a lot of work going into management versus flipping houses. Outsourcing can be a great move and help real estate investing scale in an affordable way though always remember to distinguish between real bottom line profits and quantity. They don’t always go hand in hand.
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