Tampa Real Estate Investors Alliance Blog

This month I want to give you an example of different ways any investor can use notes to buy houses instead of using CASH. Once upon a time I knew an investor who was trying to structure a deal with a seller who wanted the money from the sale of his property to buy a motor-home so he and his wife could travel the country. The investor asked the seller if he was able to find a motor-home of the sellers liking, would the seller use the book value of the motor-home in exchange for the down payment on the property the investor was trying to buy from the seller. This was regardless of what the investor had to pay for the motor home he would be trading to the seller for his property. The seller told the investor exactly what he wanted a motor-home to have, that he would accept. Once the investor knew what the sellers wanted, he then immediately set out to find a motor-home he could use as catalyst to complete the transaction to buy the sellers house. Read More→

The Short Sale lenders are getting crazier and crazier. That is why you need to stay current with the short sale changes. Approximately 3 years ago, Bank of America was the first short sale lender to start requesting that the new buyer of the property consent to not resell the property for less than 30 days. This statement was included in their short sale approval letter. This statement alone caused a lot of challenges to investors who were still looking to close back to back on transactions. A few short sale lenders thereafter, such as GMAC and Wells Fargo, started adding 60 to 90 day resale clauses on their Arm’s Length Affidavits, but not their short sale approval letters.

Recently, I was in the process of purchasing a property where I needed to get an extension on the short sale approval letter. The reason was that the Homeowner Association advised us that, pursuant to their by-laws, their 35% ownership of investment properties had been reached and only homeowner occupants can purchase the property. The servicer for the lender was Seterus. I received a brand new approval letter for the same exact buyer as before, but with a few different statements: Read More→

Are you tired of making offers on houses listed in the MLS only to have the price bid up by other investors and hedge funds? Well, that’s what happens when there is an inventory shortage and everyone is chasing the same leads. The minute a new listing hits the MLS, there are often multiple offers on the home by the end of the day.

Instead of competing for the same small pool of leads, you need to generate your own leads… leads no one else knows about but you. You can do this by using many of the same methods and techniques that have been working for years such as…

• Bandit Signs – Putting out we buy houses signs with your phone number and web address in and around the neighborhoods where you want to purchase will get the leads coming in almost instantly. Be sure to be aware of the sign ordinances in your area to avoid fines.
• Flyers – You can distribute we buy houses flyers virtually anywhere to get the leads pouring in almost as soon as you put them out. You can flyer parking lots, neighborhoods and houses for sale. You can also have your flyers distributed with the local paper, on pizza boxes or by the postal service for about 14 cents each. Read More→

I strongly believe that pre-screening sellers is one of the most important tasks you will undertake in your real estate investing business. The more quickly you learn to pre-screen prospects, the more money you will make in your Real Estate Investing business. This article is focused on teaching you how to tell a good deal from a time waster in 30 seconds or less.

If you don’t learn to pre-screen prospects quickly and efficiently, you will get burned out of the real estate investing business by working with sellers who won’t sell you their house, no matter what you say. Your job as a real estate investor is to very quickly determine the difference between a prospect and a “suspect”, meaning someone who needs to sell versus someone who just wants to sell their property.

People who just want to sell will either reject you immediately (don’t take this to heart, it just helps you move on quicker) or they will jerk your chain with a bunch of excuses as to why they won’t sell to you. Don’t waste your time with these folks!!

I know from first hand experience that motivated sellers will make themselves known to you quickly and they are a whole lot more fun to work with. Their attitude is more like “Please take my house off my hands…..now!” They are usually pretty easy to identify once you ask the right questions. Read More→

There’s a lot of ways to make a million bucks, but most involve some kind of business, and that business must have the potential to achieve a high income, or all one has is a low paying job he/she happens to own. We all have a choice. So, why not choose a business that can make you rich?

I know a dentist who spent $400,000 on two sandwich shops which his family runs and can barely break even. There’s no way to sell because there are hundreds on the market and a business making no money isn’t worth much, especially when it has no upside potential. He’s headed for a $400,000 seminar, but hey, we all take them and look how much smarter he’ll be the next time.

In 1982, I was bankrupt broke, working as a mechanic, 35 years old and clueless. I got into a heated argument with my wife over a washing machine. She wanted a new one and I wanted to fix the old one because I didn’t have the $150 to spend.

That night, there was no sleep. All I could think about was how big of an “a—hole” I was for arguing with a mother of four whom I’d already been married to for 17 years because she wanted to wash clothes for her family. The next day, I started looking for a way out. I didn’t want to live like this for the rest of my life. There had to be something I could do to make a better living.

My way out was real estate. I started reading books and attended a seminar to get me started. Greed and hunger took over from there. Before I knew it I’d bought and sold several hundred houses without using my money or credit, and still do it today, over 2,000 now.

I tripled my income easily the first year, and it continued to climb for years thereafter until I started creating courses on what I know, and selling them in 1987. Then my income tripled again.

Today, my company continues to market information products to real estate investors and those who want to triple their income on the internet or learn how to start and grow any business. Since that has become my chosen field and hundreds of thousands have gone through our training, it puts me in a good position to see what people do right and what they do wrong.

One lesson I learned the hard way has become my credo: Read More→

Real Estate IRA Investing – The Purchase

A young couple found a home they wanted to purchase with their real estate IRA. The purchase price was $50,000. They borrowed $55,000 and had $800 worth of repairs. I know that $800 worth of repairs for a house purchased with 1,400 square feet, three bedrooms, and two baths through a short sale sounds absurd, but these are actual numbers from an actual deal.

Real Estate IRA Investing – The Repair Bill

I’ve personally never seen $800 worth of repairs in my entire life and I’ve been in this business for 40 years. I can’t even walk through the house for $800. I don’t know what it is but I’ve never done that, so that was phenomenal to me. The deal’s great but how did you get $800? They actually got a little cash back at closing since they borrowed $55,000 for a $50,000 purchase. Read More→

As I write this, it’s coming up on the end of 2012. The real estate market is still crazy, and there are a lot of questions in people’s heads as to what the market is going to do. What else is new?

Ever since I first got in to real estate investing, back in 1996 (wow!), the market has ALWAYS been changing. So that’s NO excuse not to get involved & do some deals. The KEY is to just recognize WHAT the best strategies are to use at the moment, then learn all you can about them, and – most important of all – ACT on what you learn!

Winners with tiger blood running through their veins will tell you that CHANGE (and chaos!) just creates more opportunity, and the real estate market right now is certainly no exception. It used to be that the hot things in real estate were: Wholesaling, Short Sales, Rehabbing, and of course, the related “Get the Deed” system, where you take over existing houses ‘Subject To’ the existing mortgage. Read More→

“Such wicked people are detestable to the Lord, but he offers his friendship to the godly.” (Pr 3:32, NLT)

As a business person, have you ever considered that honesty produces a substantial financial gain? Or, that dishonesty inherently produces huge monetary losses? I realize that everyone might not agree with this conclusion.

However, the biblical evidence suggests there are many advantages to being honest and there are dire consequences to dishonest practices in business and in life. It is clear that ethics do have a profound impact on the bottom line. An even more basic thought, indicates that our business practices dictate our relationship with God! The Book of Proverbs contrasts the financial outcome of the honest versus the economic decay of the dishonest. Let’s examine some of these profound truths. Read More→