Tampa Real Estate Investors Alliance Blog

Presenting Offers – Part 1

Posted on February 10, 2014 by

In our last article, we talked about Constructing Offers, so now we have to decide how to present them. The first step is to decide what your offer’s going to be. If you’ll remember, you can either lease option the property from the seller, you can buy it with owner financing, you can take it subject-to the underlying debt or sometimes you can pay all cash when you’re dealing with FSBOs.

You make this call by looking at the math on the property information worksheets as we discussed last month and deciding what your exit strategy is going to be. Are you going to stay in the deal or get out of the deal by flipping it on an ACTS?

Your next step, when you can get a YES on the property information sheets, is either: I will sell for what I owe, I will lease purchase, or I will con­sider monthly payments. Then it’s time for you to pick up the phone and call the seller to verify the facts you have are correct and to have a preliminary negotiation of what the seller has in mind. This is where scripts are very important, and you must get to the bottom line as to the seller’s true intent before you can make an appoint­ment. Many people who are new in the business go ahead and make the appointment without being clear about whether the seller’s really motivated or not. And, even if they were sometimes, it’s not clear what we’re going to do when we get there even if the seller is motivated. So, before I go any further, let me back track just a hair. Read More→

Money Loves Speed

Posted on February 10, 2014 by

Did the title of the article get your attention? I thought so. Money does love speed. Money in general loves speed. That means getting off your “you know what” and putting in to action whatever it is that needs to be done in your business (and in life). And the faster you do it, the more likely you are to be rewarded for it, financially. This will be one of my resolutions for this year – act with more Speed.

Let’s face it. You’re not getting any younger, the clock is always ticking. And, the sooner you realize the inherent value of speed, I promise you this; the more seriously you take your goals, the more urgency you will build into your daily habits.

Ever watched a commercial for some gadget or concept that you had thought of in the past and said “hey – that was my idea”? It may have been your idea and you should have acted on it. Instead, somebody else did and now they are billionaires. (Yep – I thought of Facebook too, but Mark Zuckerberg beat me to it).

But I’m not talking about just ideas. In general, things tend to work out better when you act on it faster. I don’t recall ever succeeding at something because I got there last.

Naturally, I’m going to relate this concept to Real Estate Investing, where Speed = Money. Because Money loves Speed. Read More→

Every once in a while, I like to take a close look at my business to make sure I’m still reaching my full income and personal potential. Hopefully, you do the same from time to time, because it takes diligence to maintain success for the long haul.

Students of mine know that if something isn’t working well, it means one of three things: their business is underfunded, underexposed, or undermanaged.  This basic principle hasn’t changed since I started investing in real estate in 1997.

But how you meet that third requirement – adequate management – has changed a lot, because one of the keys to good management is the productive use of available technology. And boy, has technology changed since 1997!

Do you remember when a car phone was cutting edge, but it was a huge, expensive, ugly block of a thing with a foot-long antenna. There was no texting, and that phone sure didn’t take pictures, or save documents, or keep track of my appointments, or give me directions, or, well, do anything except make a phone call. And even though I was pretty tech-savvy, I was still very dependent on low-tech solutions like filing cabinets and calculators and old-fashioned film cameras. Read More→

By this time, most people are at least aware that mortgage banks were less than honest in how they created and sold mortgage backed securities over the last 15 years. It has driven a lot of negative sentiment towards the banks since the housing market crashed in late 2007, but very few people have a clear understanding of exactly what the banks did. That is completely understandable because the banks set up an extremely convoluted system of fake transactions specifically to avoid people catching on to what they were doing. In this article I am going to attempt to break it down into simple terms.

As the housing market heated up in the early 2000s, investors began to invest in what are known as mortgage backed securities. These are securities that consist of large pools of mortgages. The idea behind these investments was to capitalize on the housing boom while minimizing their risk.

In order to do this, investors had to work through brokers who compiled mortgages into securities on the investors’ behalf.

The way the investors would invest in these funds was use their money to fund a trust that would acquire mortgages either by originating them as the lender, or by purchasing existing mortgages. In a perfect world, the trust itself would then be the lender or purchaser designated on the mortgage. Read More→

Now that January is past, it’s time to settle in and think about some of the more important but often forgotten items. Chief among them is your beneficiary designations. The person or entity currently slated to inherit your Self-Directed IRA account may no longer be the person you want to inherit your account. This applies to your Self-Directed IRA, accounts under employer plans such as 401(k)s, 403(b)s, profit sharing plans, pension plans, and the many assets you have worked hard to acquire. There are numerous documented cases of individuals or estates inheriting retirement accounts and assets when the owner wanted the beneficiary to be a different party. The following tips can help you to track your beneficiaries and assets:

  • Maintain a beneficiary file: Create a list of all of your retirement accounts/assets and identify the named beneficiaries. If you do not already maintain all of this information in one easily accessible area, now may be a good time to start. This will help you to keep track of both your current beneficiary designations and all of your assets.
  • Perform annual check-ups: Check your beneficiary forms and your Will at least once per year to determine if you need to make any changes. Events involving your beneficiaries may necessitate changes to your current named beneficiaries. For instance, you may have gotten married or divorced, and need to update your beneficiary form to add or remove your spouse or former spouse. Read More→

When working with a Seller on purchasing a short sale it is very important to know the terms and conditions that the new buyer must uphold with the Homeowners Associations. Recently, we started working on a short sale wherein the Seller owed the Homeowner Association a fee of $457.00 per month and another Homeowner Association issue wherein they would only allow the Buyer to be an owner occupant. The Homeowner Association claims that the percentage of rentals have been filled and since that quota was met, this leaves only owner occupants eligible to purchase the property. Now your pool of buyers has been decreased greatly leaving only homeowners to buy the property.

The first thing you need to do when obtaining a short sale or any type of deal from a Seller, that you are interested in purchasing the property to fix and flip or just rent, is to obtain the Homeowner Associations Bylaws. There are Bylaws and Declarations that the Homeowners Associations are to provide to a new buyer. Here are some of the things you must look for to prevent any show-stoppers: Read More→

When you know the best pockets or market areas around the U.S. to find discounted real estate, you are half way home. All that is left is evaluating the inventory for maximum profit. For those of you connected to REIAComps , the control and feeling of confidence you have over your deals is priceless. Using REIAComps to investigate the value of “Shadow Inventory” houses as they come to market, against the recent sold comparables, will provide you a solid position to “make your profit when you buy”.

First, let’s define “Shadow Inventory”. The general definition goes like this; the current stock of properties in the shadow inventory, also known as pending supply, by calculating the number of properties that are seriously delinquent, in foreclosure or held as REO by mortgage servicers, but not currently listed on multiple listing services MLS’s.

CoreLogic released its November National Foreclosure Report with a supplement featuring quarterly shadow inventory data as of October 2013. According to CoreLogic analysis there were 46,000 completed foreclosures in the United States in November 2013, down from 64,000 in November 2012, a year-over-year decrease of 29 percent. On a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures decreased 8.3 percent, from 50,000 in October 2013. Read More→

In Part One of this Article, we discussed what most people do with leads, a typical wholesale deal, and a few reasons why you might NOT buy a house. And just when things were getting good & was about to reveal how to STILL make money even when you DON’T do the deal, I had to leave you hanging and make you wait until this part of the article came out to reveal the secret. Sorry about that. :)

But here’s where it gets interesting. So keep reading, won’t you?

Typically, if you can’t get a deal negotiated with a seller (usually because they don’t want to accept your low, wholesale price offer), you’d be stuck. You’d either throw the lead in the trash, or you’d ask them if it would be ok to call them back in a few weeks to see how things are going, then remind them of your offer to buy at your low price. Yeah, sometimes you’d get those offers accepted. Sometimes.

So what do you do if you still want to profit on this deal that you’ve already spent some time on?

Here’s your answer. Are you ready? Good… Read More→

Learning About Real Estate Investing

Posted on February 10, 2014 by

If you’re a Baby Boomer or a Gen Xer, then you’re thinking more and more about retirement – mainly, how are you gonna afford it? After all, we all know that Social Security is not much of a retirement plan.

This need-to-know desire is driving lots of folks to learn about real estate investing. After all, more folks have achieved financial freedom from real estate than from all other types of investments – combined!

The question we’re continually asked is, “What’s the best way to learn how to successfully invest in real estate?” Here’s a hint: All those TV infomercials are nothing but hot air. Those “gurus” who come to town offering a “free” seminar are just snakes in the grass…but then, you already know this.

After 19 years of investing in real estate, we’ve learned that the two best ways to learn are 1) Meet with sellers and ask Pete Fortunato’s famous question: “Why are you selling such a nice house like this?” 2) Hang out with been-there-and-done-that investors.

Sure, neither of these ways is sexy, but they are incredibly effective. Gotta add one other thing: You’ve got to do both a lot…once or twice just won’t cut it. Read More→

Marketing to Senior Homeowners

Posted on February 10, 2014 by

One of my favorite techniques for locating motivated sellers in my real estate investing business is to create direct mail campaigns targeting Senior Home Owners in my area. These homeowners are a good source of leads for my business for a variety of reasons.

After having bought and sold hundreds of properties throughout my real estate investing career, I have discovered that senior home owners may be interested in selling a property for many reasons. Most of the time these homes are in nice neighborhoods where people want to live.

One reason a senior home owner might want to sell would be that a spouse has passed away and the remaining home owner doesn’t want to continue living in the property alone. Or perhaps the senior home owner wants to move in with a relative or relocate to another state and sell their home. The homeowner may want to move into a smaller home or an assisted living facility. The home they have for sale may also have been a vacation property they owned or perhaps a retirement home they purchased and now they either don’t want to or are unable to live in it any longer. We have purchased homes that have been inherited by a senior home owner that they simply don’t want or need. Read More→

Why an IRA-Owned LLC or Trust?

Posted on February 10, 2014 by

I am often asked if an IRA-owned LLC or trust makes sense. Well, like a lot of things, it depends. If your normal custodial account is working well for you, there may be little reason to add these structures. But there are situations for which you may want to consider them as covered below.

Advantages

Promoters push the IRA owned entities as a way for you to have checkbook control over your IRA funds. While it is an arguable point as to whether you should be the manager or trustee of your IRA-owned LLC or trust (we will postpone that discussion until the class next month), there are other reasons to use these entities. For example,

Privacy – These IRA-owned entities will keep individual IRA account holder’s names off the public records. This is true even for low liability paper investments such as contracts, notes, mortgages and options as well as real property ownership. Read More→

What is Your 2014 Headline?

Posted on February 10, 2014 by

It’s the beginning of the year. We all have resolutions, but they often fail. Why? Because we don’t ask the right questions before we dedicate ourselves to the success we want. Consider these questions:

  • What do you need to keep you inspired?
  • What is blocking you from success in real estate?
  • Is it accountability?
  • Is your personal life interfering with your professional life?
  • Are you too negative?

At the beginning of 2014, I focused on goal setting. This year, I want to offer you simple techniques for creating and getting support with your investments.

Let’s begin with raising capital. Keep in mind that even great deals need ACTION ITEMS! Read More→

Thurs, February 13th at 6:00 PM @ Doubletree Suites Tampa Bay
Tampa REIA – February 13th
with Tom DiAgostino on
Creating a Cash Flow Fortune:
What You Don’t Know About Tax Sales
Is Costing You Million$

at the Doubletree Suites Tampa Bay

Tampa REIA Members Can Attend at No Charge & Guests for $10.
RSVP Online Now to Attend the Meeting.

Tom DiAgostinoTampa REIA is excited to announce that Tom DiAgostino will be our special guest trainer this month on Thursday, February 13th at 6PM at the Doubletree Suites Tampa Bay located at 3050 North Rocky Point Dr West in Tampa, FL. Tom will be teaching us “How to Create a Cash Flow Fortune with Tax Liens & Tax Deeds”, a real estate niche that most investors know nothing about. Join us at the meeting and you will learn…

  • Why auctions are not the answer, and the secret to making maximum interest
  • How to make easy 18-36% returns without owning real estate, but enjoying its security
  • Where to tap into the most motivated sellers on the planet with the LEAST Competition
  • Why this is the easiest way to buy properties so cheap it feels like stealing
  • Why there is so much meat on the bone, it’s hard NOT to make insane profits
  • How to do it ALL within your IRA
  • How we make our staff available to do it for you if you wish

Tom says… “Regardless of your experience or location, you can earn unthinkable interest, or find unbelievable deals to wholesale, flip, or partner on. Even Homer Simpson can do what I am going to teach you. I mean deals at 10-30% of repaired value.”

“I’ve been around the block for 25 years and done it all. This is not the flavor of the week. This training will change your financial life, and your generations to come. Stop trying to ride the next wave, only to find you’re on the back end, left at sea. We’re not just trainers, we’re your investment partners. Come join us and spend 90 min on February 13th at Tampa REIA where I’ll explain why this is the best deal source on the planet for every type of investor.”

We look forward to seeing you at the meeting!

Click to view Cruise VideoWIN A CRUISE: All participants who attend the Tampa REIA Meeting will entered into a drawing for a chance to win a *Complimentary 2 Day Cruise to the Bahamas with Caribbean Cruise Line! *You must be present at the meeting to win. The 2 day Cruise does not include port fees, transportation and taxes.

RSVP for the Meeting Now!

*Meeting Agenda
6:00 pm: Meet, Greet & Networking
6:30 pm: Announcements, Introductions, Haves & Wants
7:30 pm: Main Presentation with Tom DiAgostino
9:30 pm: Late Night Networking at Whiskey Joe’s Bar & Grill

*Please Note: Meeting agenda is subject to change.

Late Night Networking at Whiskey Joe’s Bar & Grill

Whiskey Joe's Bar & Grill Tampa FloridaAfter the conclusion of the Tampa REIA Main Meeting (around 9:30PM), we will be reconvening at Whiskey Joe’s Bar & Grill located at 7720 West Courtney Campbell Causeway in Tampa for the “Meeting after the Meeting”. Come eat, drink, network and have fun with us as hang out late into the night on Tampa Bay!

See Tampa REIA Events Calendar for More Events!
Sat, February 15th at 8:30 AM @ Doubletree Suites Tampa Bay

Tampa REIA Presents:
Elite Tax Sale Training Workshop:
How to Buy Houses Fast with as
Little as $275 Avoiding Tax Sales

A Full Day Workshop with Tom DiAgostino
On February 15th from 8:30AM – 4PM
at the Doubletree Suites Tampa Bay

Tom DiAgostinoElite Tax Sale Training: How to Create Generational Wealth with Tax Liens and Deeds and Get Out of the Rat Race Forever

During this special training workshop with Tom DiAgostino, you will discover:

  • How to CONSISTENTLY buy properties at 10-30% of Repaired Value so you make more money EACH Deal
  • Where to get great liens at the maximum rate allowed by the state and double your money in half the time
  • How to get Valuable properties for FREE with simple mail done for you
  • How to use your IRA to keep 100% of the profits, compounding your wealth building
  • What kind of diligence is necessary for the property and for title work to avoid mistakes
  • Strategies for wholesaling, retailing, rehabbing, and landlording for maximum profit
  • How to get the same savings on material as Tom’s 20yr relationships – for more money in your pocket!

Tom says… I’ve been around the block for 25 years and done it all. This is not the flavor of the week. This training will change your financial life, and your generations to come. Stop trying to ride the next wave, only to find you’re on the back end, left at sea. We’re not just trainers, we’re your investment partners. Trust us and come spend Saturday, February 15th, 2014 with us, where I’ll explain why this is the best deal source on the planet for every type of investor & show you how to do it.

Register Now!

Tom DiAgostino

Posted on January 25, 2014 by

Tom DiAgostinoTom DiAgostino grew up the hard way in the Monroe Housing Projects in the South Bronx of New York City. He seized opportunity and started his college career at CUNY and then Pace University, joined the Army ROTC and commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, eventually retiring from the Army. At Pace he did an internship at Reynolds Securities, a financial firm where he achieved a tremendous education in the markets, and has been heavily involved in the trading markets ever since.

His business career started in 1988 as a project manager for Orenstein Construction. It was then he purchased his first batch of Tax Liens through the tax sale process. In 1992, he struck out on his own and formed the company T-GRAM, Inc. an acronym for his bride of 24 years and 4 children, Thomas, Grace, Rick, Ann, & Maegan (he says he is the hyphen). He started as a site builder, then to a developer of small subdivisions, then to a Superior Wall franchise that set over 4,000 homes. Tom has kept current through education and seminars adding new tools to his business practice to stay on top of the ever-changing market place. Tom has been a rehabber, builder, and Tax Sale investor for the last decade. His experiences entail every facet of real estate, and throughout his career he has utilized tax sale properties for rehab projects, wholesales and rentals. Growing wealth by acquiring real estate for pennies on the dollar via Tax Sales is the foundation of Tom’s real estate business in Fortris LLC.

Tom is the Co-Author of Dare to Succeed with The New York Times Best-Selling Author Jack Canfield (Chicken Soup for the Soul). Available now on Amazon.com.

The Profit January 2014 Edition

Posted on January 6, 2014 by
The Profit Newsletter for Tampa REIA January 2014
Download the January 2014 Edition of The Profit Newsletter Now!

The Profit - January 2014 - High Quality PDFThe January 2014 edition of The Profit Newsletter is now available for download. You can download The Profit Newsletter as a High Quality PDF (Recommended) or Low Res PDF for slower devices. The Profit Newsletter is the official newsletter of the Tampa Real Estate Investors Alliance and is a digital, interactive newsletter for new and seasoned real estate investors delivered as an Adobe PDF file to read on your PC, Mac, Smart Phone, iPad or other mobile ready devices with a PDF reader. Many of the articles and ads in The Profit contain hyperlinks you can click or tap to visit websites, watch videos, listen to audios, download content, send emails, comment on articles, share socially and much more! The high res version of The Profit is “print ready” for those who want to print the newsletter on their home or business printer. Also, be sure to Subscribe to The Profit so you don’t miss a single monthly issue.

Download Now!
High Quality PDF / Low Res PDF
See The Profit Archives for our past editions.

Constructing Offers

Posted on January 4, 2014 by

Once the seller is called by either you or your virtual assistant using our property information sheet, the prospects will come at you in one of four categories:

  1. they’ll be free and clear
  2. there’ll be a mortgage with lots of equity
  3. there’ll be a mortgage with a small amount of equity, or
  4. they’ll be over-leveraged

All prospects will fall into one of these categories.

So, now our job is to look at the property information sheet and figure out what to do next after we receive this information. In this lesson, I will go through each of these and provide the script for you to make the call with the information sheet in your hand.

Let’s start with free and clear houses. You’ll know they’re free and clear because the seller will tell you that when you ask, “How much do you owe?” Once you have this information, you have a prospect that will either give you a “yes” answer or a “no” answer to the owner financing question on the right side of the property information sheet. If it’s a yes answer, it’s a prospect. If it’s a no answer, it’s a suspect. If the seller will not take their equity in monthly installments, this is a dead deal unless they answer yes to the lease purchase question. If they do say yes to monthly installments, it’s now just a matter of calling them and verifying the facts you have on the property information sheets, assuming you weren’t the first to talk to them in collecting the information. When you make that call, there’s a script you can use to determine which of the two categories they fall into: Read More→

Where is Your Market Place?

Posted on January 4, 2014 by

Ugly HouseIn last month’s article we discussed Step #2 of “Determining Your Marketing Plan in 7 Easy Steps” which was to Determine Your Market”. In Step 2 we covered “Who and What is Your Market”. Using Wholesaling as our investment strategy, we determined that our ideal property prospect was a distressed, vacant, ugly house with no mortgage or a low loan balance. Our ideal seller was a motivated seller who needs to sell and often needs to sell quickly. We also determined that our ideal buyers for these distressed properties were other real estate investors such as rehabbers, landlords, wholesalers and hedge funds who can pay all cash and can close quickly.

This month we’re going to pick up where we left off in Step #2 and determine “Where is Your Marketplace?If we continue using Wholesaling as our investment strategy, you now need to determine:

  • Where will you find motivated sellers with distressed properties for sale?
  • Will you target your entire metro area to find these properties or only certain counties, townships, zip codes or neighborhoods?
  • Will your buyers want to purchase homes in the areas where you have inventory?
  • Are there certain areas you should avoid?

By answering questions such as these, you will quickly start to determine the marketplace where you will buy and sell your inventory of distressed homes. To help you answer these questions, click below to download and complete the… Read More→

Wait – My Phone Will Do What???

Posted on January 4, 2014 by

I have a thing for tools.” ~ Tim Allen

So, here it is: January. You’ve gotten most of the pine needles and tinsel out of the carpet so the dog won’t eat it. Aunt Flora and Uncle Ruben have gone back to Miami. Your kids are back in school. And you? You’ve had a minute or two to breathe and enjoy the satisfaction of a holiday season well spent. Time is precious, isn’t it?

But now, it’s time to get moving again. The warmth of the holidays has become the chill of winter, and with that comes heating bills and college tuition and credit card bills. It’s time to make some serious money.

I realize it’s not easy to get in gear again after the New Year. But if you’re like me, you can’t afford to sit on your laurels for too long. Lost opportunities are very expensive.

That doesn’t mean, though, that you can’t have a little fun while you’re at it. So go get that new smartphone Santa brought you, and let’s get cracking. You know you want to!

There was a time when owning a smartphone was a luxury. Not anymore! It’s probably the most useful single gadget you own. I know people who take a lot of pride in having a very basic cellphone. That’s a valid choice, of course, but now I wonder how I ever got along without this amazing device. Read More→

Stocks, bonds and mutual funds are all well and good – for those seeking ordinary returns. But if you have a particular expertise, or access to a lucrative market for just about any good or service, you have the potential to earn much more by going into business for yourself than you stand to gain by investing in the broad market.

Fortunately, your Self-Directed IRA doesn’t limit you to the mundane investments you read about in the papers all the time. In fact, IRA rules only restrict you from investing in a few things: life insurance, jewelry, gemstones, art and other collectables, alcoholic beverages, and some forms of gold and precious metals of insufficient purity or standardization. Other than that, the sky’s the limit on what you can own!

Owning a Business in Your Self-Directed IRA

By using your Self-Directed IRA to start or acquire a business, you are in control. Rather than hoping against hope the market will be kind to you this year, you can make things happen yourself. Want your business to grow? You can invest in advertising, new equipment, a new truck, more staff – whatever it takes to react to the current economic environment. Many of our clients find that investments like these often pay off far better than anything the same investment reasonably earns in the stock market, at least at an acceptable level of risk. This must be an arm’s length business, you can’t operate the business, and you can’t draw a salary from it. Read More→