Tampa Real Estate Investors Alliance Blog

How important is it, when meeting with a seller, buyer, renter, realtor or contractor, to be totally focused on that person?  If you’re not paying complete attention to what that person says and how he or she says it (tone of voice, hand gestures, body position, eye movement), isn’t there a good chance you’ll miss critical information that’s being shared with you?

The number of people who are not 100% there during a meeting has become epidemic – and is a major pet peeve of mine!  If you’re over fifty years old, you already know what I’m talking about.  Baby Boomers grew up without cell phones, emails, and text messages.  Heck, we didn’t even have phone answering machines!

Here’s an example of this epidemic at work.  A real estate investor needed help structuring a deal and asked for an hour of my time.  He drove up from Atlanta and met me at the Adairsville Waffle House. Read More→

When making offers on properties as an Investor, you will need to have your exit strategies in place prior to purchasing the property.  What I mean by that is, who is your buyer and what type of financing are you going to allow the buyer to use when you sell the property.  Knowing this will allow you to maximum your profits.

When I look at properties to purchase I always analyze the value of the property and how long I will have to hold the property before I am able to sell the property for a profit.  The comparables that I use are through Realtytrac.com and also the Multiple Listing Service.  Realtytrac will give me the values in the area, however, the Multiple Listing Service “MLS” in addition to values will provide me with how the property was sold ie; Cash, Conventional mortgage, USDA mortgage, VA mortgage or FHA mortgage.  You can normally assume houses under $200,000 that many of the buyers purchasing at this price point are FHA mortgage buyers.  FHA mortgages are mainly used for first-time homebuyers.  The Mortgage Lender requires 3.5% as a down payment which attracts many first-time homebuyers.  Read More→

A few months ago, I began learning about and got more involved in apartment investing. I wrote about the steps I took to make industry contacts while building credibility. Fast forward to now and my work is definitely paying off. In many ways, the results I was looking for are coming to fruition but there are also other results, that I did not expect, that are appearing as well.

Some results I expected from my efforts were credibility, partnerships, maybe a mentor, an actual deal, financing and much more that will definitely come with patience and more work. At the beginning I thought credibility was going to the hardest part but it was not. Because I had done my homework and took the time to learn this niche, the people who I spoke with respected the dedication. Another surprise was that all my single family investing actually carried some credibility of its’ own into the apartment investment crowd. From many articles, podcasts, videos, etc. I was led to believe that the multifamily crowd looked down on the single family residential (SFR) investors but it simply was/is not true. In fact, while SFR investing is not a prerequisite, there are many ex- SFR investors who invest in multifamily. These are the people that relate to my current situation and have been eager to provide information and guidance. These relationships have grown into discussions around partnerships and potential financing. While I have still not identified an official mentor I am treating all the assistance I am receiving from multiple investors as a mentorship. This also gives me the opportunity to discuss one aspect of apartment investing with multiple investors so I can then try and decipher which information is best for me and/or which information I personally want to apply. While I have not actually found a multifamily deal that I personally like, I have underwritten many properties. Just like SFR investing, it’s a numbers game.  Read More→

Why do you need a Credibility Kit for your Real Estate Investing business? In fact, what exactly is a Credibility Kit? This is the question I hear most often from students when I am at real estate investing events.

Think about this for a second. Have you ever had a contractor come out to do a bid for you on some work you wanted done, say new cabinets, or siding on your house or new windows?  Do you remember seeing the book they brought with them that showed the photos of jobs they had completed, testimonial letters from satisfied customers and copies of their licensing and insurance? That was their Credibility Kit. Why then as a Real Estate Investor are you not creating this amazing tool for your real estate investing business? This is definitely a tool you will need for your real estate investing business and it’s so easy to create one if you follow a few simple steps.

 Your personal Credibility Kit will not only build credibility and integrity for you with your sellers and lenders, it will give you a serious edge over your competition. Almost none of your competitors know about this incredible tool that makes you look like a true professional in your Real Estate Investing business, whether you are working with sellers or buyers of properties.  Read More→

I have learned how to get enough money to buy any house, at any time, any place, and any condition. Wouldn’t it be great to have the relationships to be able to do just that? This is not out of reach and it is not very far from where you are sitting right now.

I recently got into a conversation with a fellow Investor at the gym and it went like this:

Russ: How is business?

Gabriel: I am so busy. I have 17 houses (being rehabbed) right now and the one you sold me (two months ago,) I haven’t been able to get to yet.

Russ: This is great. How are you getting them?

Gabriel: From people like you, wholesalers.

Gabriel: What are you doing?  Read More→

We all know that REO is an acronym for Real Estate Owned properties.  Basically, it is a property that has been foreclosed upon and now belongs to the bank or lender. Foreclosure properties have been front page news across America for some time.  I want to discuss REO properties and the best way to profit from these deals. REIAComps is a great way to expose yourself to the true market value of many REO homes in various stages of foreclosure around Atlanta, the state of Georgia and other market areas.

When banks supply foreclosure lists, they also provide the selling prices that they will accept for those properties. Generally, the banks or HUD have the property priced to move, therefore there aren’t a lot of negotiations necessary.  Each property investment is done on a bank-by-bank, house-by-house basis.  Read More→

As I write these words, I’m overlooking the crystal-clear blue-tinged waters of the Caribbean. The boats in the marina are docked and their crews are scurrying about in preparation of the day’s activities. The weather here in Curacao (a Dutch Caribbean island just north of Venezuela) has been exquisite, as my slight sunburn indicates. It should be about 82 degrees here today, while back home it’s a balmy 30 degrees.

So, have YOU taken a vacation recently? Did you have the chance to get away and do something fun, relaxing, or otherwise fulfilling lately?  If not, why not?  There have been countless studies done and research conducted that prove that people who take the time to take vacations live longer, happier, and healthier lives.  Google that if you don’t believe me.  Or ask the guy who sold us our timeshare (I’ll get back to you about that).  Read More→

This month’s tip is so critical to your success. There will be many times when you put deals out and instead of getting an offer, you get feedback from your Buyer.  If it is constructive, and oftentimes it is by people who sincerely want the property, listen!  Buyers, especially experienced Buyers can provide a wealth of knowledge for you on your deals.  They oftentimes have the scars of rehabbing and know many things you may or may not have thought of.  You want to take advantage of this information!

Some things they may share with you:

• What is the real cost of the rehab (very common) to attain the ARV advertised

• What the actual ARV for that area is. Remember, if they work that market hard, they oftentimes know several fine nuances that wholesalers rarely consider.  Read More→

One of the most important things I believe every investor should always do before ever making an offer to purchase any property is to first think about what the highest and best use for that property will be. Every day I talk to newer investors who never stop to think about the best use of the properties they look at and how this simple exercise can, and will, greatly improve their profit from every deal they do. It took me years to understand the importance of first considering what I should do with each property I was looking at before even thinking about making the offer to purchase it. This may not seem to be of much importance to those who aren’t experienced investors but one thing is for sure, if you don’t understand how to best utilize the property it will greatly affect the amount of money you make at the end of the day. It is my opinion that you should always step back and take a deep breath before making an offer to purchase a property. Determine exactly what your plans are if you are successful buying the property, while also analyzing the numbers of that property before making your offer to purchase.  Read More→

QBO’s tools are generic enough that myriad businesses can use it. But custom fields and classes help you shape it to meet your specific needs.

Small business accounting is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. Your company is unique in that sense; you have your own customers and products, vendors and services. Your requirements for your accounting application—what it must do and how it does that—is unlike anyone else’s.

QuickBooks Online contains a standard set of features that can accommodate a broad cross-section of the millions of small businesses in the U.S. It also offers customization options that you can use to make it your own. Two of these are custom fields and classes.  Read More→

The difference between a successful real estate IRA investor and a not-so-successful one often comes down to due diligence. The investor who understands what goes into valuing a property, to include historic and expected cash flows coming in and out as well as risk – is able to make better decisions than a less skilled investor. If you’ve been blindsided by the unexpected as an investor – or if you believe you could be – here are some tips from experienced professionals to improve your due diligence and help you avoid getting caught unaware by the unexpected ever again.

• Don’t rely on pro forma financial statements and projections that you get from the seller. This is a common rookie mistake. But most of the experienced and successful investors we speak to have never seen a case where the actual cash flows from a real estate investment were better than the pro forma. Any such information you get from the seller should be considered, at best, a wildly optimistic scenario. You want to pay a fair price for the property’s actual performance, not the best-case but highly-unlikely scenario.  Read More→

“HD doesn’t mean anything to me. It’s a technical thing. It’s like demographics. A lot of people know about it.” ~ Craig Ferguson

When we talk about demographic data it is hard to grasp. The US Census information is available for free online, but it is hard to gain anything meaningful from that. The common person isn’t apt at reading through that information, and the way the US Government organizes those numbers isn’t easily absorbed.

Demographix is a very niche app. It is a well organized database that has used the US Census information from 2010. This is not for everyone, but working in different areas I find myself needing access to information fast. Ok Google or Siri doesn’t always answer my questions on the spot. It can take time to work out the details about the population of an area I’m trying to buy or sell a home in. Demographix is neatly organized and at a glance I can look through a clean user interface.  Read More→