Tampa Real Estate Investors Alliance Blog

There was once a great and powerful king, King BOB. He had everything that a King needed or wanted. King BOB had real estate, cars, money, jewels, wine, and a Queen. One day, a gardener came to offer his services to King’s gardens, so King BOB hired him. The Gardener brought in exotic plants and trees and planted specimens that no one had ever seen. When King BOB gazed upon the palace gardens, his mind was taken to great places of beauty and peace. King BOB, while walking his garden, began to consider new frontiers. His mind often wandered to continents yet unconquered.

Little did King BOB know that he was being challenged by the lowly Gardener. He was being introduced to a new spirituality, new wealth, and new ideas. He began to feel inferior to the challenges the Gardener was presenting. The Gardener, on the other hand, was doing what he felt the land needed. King BOB’s mind was now unsettled; he reconsidered his values, goals, and purpose.

Meanwhile, other leaders were envious that King BOB had such a vast and enchanting garden. This made King BOB feel great and more powerful. He became known as the Great Arborist, the Supreme Real Estate Investor and Entrepreneur. He was no longer just a great leader or counselor; he had reached new heights. Even the Gardener became famous. There were great leaders from all nations who wanted the Gardener’s services. Read More→

There are lots of great ways to make a lot of money in real estate, not the least of which is buying and selling vacant land. This is an effective way to do real estate deals with no hassle, no rehab, no insurance and no worries of vandalism and theft. Plus, there is virtually no competition for these properties since many investors are simply not going after this incredibly lucrative portion of the market place. I was actually in the real estate business for several years myself before I discovered this very profitable part of the market. In addition, in this current market buying and selling vacant land is another good strategy to continue making money in the real estate business.

If you live in an area that is particularly rural, then buying and selling vacant land is a more lucrative means of doing real estate deals. Since it can be more difficult to find homes to purchase in more rural areas, vacant land is definitely the way to go. There are several different ways to find vacant land deals.

One is to simply drive around and look for them. However, since it can be kind of difficult to find addresses for properties this way, it is probably a much better idea to create a direct mail campaign to the owners of vacant land. Some of the parameters I use for this list are out of state owners of vacant land, especially those with past due tax bills or folks who have inherited vacant land. These are some of the most lucrative deals out there. Be especially aware of those properties that front main highways since these will create even more valuable deals for you. Read More→

All Investors and Realtors need to know the guidelines of their Title Company’s requirements for buying and flipping short sales. Each Title Company may have one or two underwriters which tell them how to conduct their business. I am a firm believer in having all my i’s dotted and my t’s crossed with full disclosure. Whenever I want to use the end buyer’s money to fund the first transaction “A to B” closing, I have already sent all my forms to the Title Company to send to their underwriter to review. This way, I will not have any problems when it is time to close. Some Title Companies will require additional documentation and others approve my forms and are ready to close, saving you points and interest on hard money.

Recently though, I had a short sale closing set on Friday with a Foreclosure Auction set on the following Tuesday, leaving 3 days after the closing to get them the money (which must be certified funds), and have them stop the Foreclosure Auction Sale. Obviously, when purchasing short sales, we don’t want to procrastinate it to the last minute due to the new guidelines with the Florida statutes about the timeline for postponing Foreclosure Auctions. These guidelines of making sure that the Plaintiff’s Counsel and/or the Defendant’s counsel has filed a Motion to Cancel Sale at least 10 to 15 days prior to the actual auction make it difficult to get Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to act due to the fact they follow that guideline. Meaning, if you have passed the window of the 10-15 days and it’s down to only 8 days before the sale date, they will say you missed it and it’s too late to request postponement. However, there are times when “stuff” happens and you close within that 10-15 day timeline, not giving the Plaintiff’s Counsel enough time to get a Motion to Cancel heard before the original Judge. Our court system has turned into a mill! Even if both parties agree, Plaintiff and Defendant, they are having a hearing before the original Judge. When I worked for attorneys, all you had to do was prepare a Stipulation and Order of Postponement and/or Cancellation, both parties would have agreed and the Judge would sign it without a hearing. I believe the Plaintiff’s attorney just likes to charge the bank more money for representation and this would be too easy for all parties. The Foreclosure Auction could be held on line or before a different Judge that does not know the Seller’s situation, nor do they care. Many times, if the Sellers wait to file their Motion to Cancel in Pro Per (acting as their own counsel), the Foreclosure Auction Judge will deny it versus the Judge who has heard their case all along. Read More→

Some would say home flipping, in which a buyer resells a property quickly for a profit, is on the decline as U.S. residential price gains slow and foreclosures dwindle. The exception are those individuals who know a valuation first approach to real estate is key to buying right. REIAComps.com insure you have a complete feeling of confidence and sense of control over all the deals you intend to flip.

In the second quarter of this year, almost 31,000 single-family houses were flipped, representing a solid percentage of U.S. home sales. These are quite consistent with data from earlier last year and not much different from the second three months of 2012, when prices bottomed after the crash. Remember we define a flip as a property sold within 12 months of purchase.

Real estate investors who are using REIAComps.com are making stronger profits and finding better opportunities for deals even after a two-year surge in property values that’s now slowing. The median existing-home price climbed 4.9 percent in July from a year earlier, compared with a 13.1 percent jump in the same month of 2013. Distressed homes still account for their share of sales going back to 2008. Read More→

Self-Directed Real Estate IRAs are a powerful tool that allow for tax-free and tax-deferred profits. In some cases, capital gains taxes can even be avoided when investing within an IRA. Still many people are still unclear on how to transition from investing in real estate outside their IRA into investing in real estate within their IRA. We’ve compiled a cheat sheet summary in this article to serve as a reference tool.

The Account

First and most importantly, you need to open and fund a Self-Directed Real Estate IRA. This involves simply filling out an application which is quick and easy with American IRA [Hint: The American IRA staff will be standing by to help with this]. The second and most important part is to fund your new account. You can fund an account by making a contribution, transferring funds from another IRA, rolling over funds from another IRA, and/or any combination thereof. When transferring from another IRA, it is important that you follow up persistently with your prior custodian to make sure they move your funds in a timely manner [Remember: You are moving money “away” from them so they are in no hurry.].

Finding Assets

Once your account is open and funded, you are ready to find deals on those assets that you want to purchase. Before making an offer on that asset, make sure you review the list of prohibited assets to ensure that the asset you want to purchase is permitted. Prohibited assets include: life insurance, certain kinds of precious metals, art, alcoholic beverages, and collectibles. You also need to make sure you are not purchasing the asset from a prohibited individual including: yourself, your spouse, your descendants, your ascendants, nor their spouses or entities they own or control. Read More→

When most people start out in the real estate business they don’t have all the money they need to buy all the properties they want to buy. I may be describing you and I am certainly describing myself when I got started. If you don’t already have all the cash you will ever need to buy properties then you will need to meet the right people (investors and sponsors) to help you get your investing going.

Meeting great people is just the beginning to creating great business partnerships but it certainly is not the only aspect of the art. Here are some things to keep in mind when networking.

Friends are great but there is much more to a successful business partnership than just liking someone or getting along with them. I am friends with all of my close partners but the relationship didn’t start that way. When you first meet a new contact you should be asking yourself two questions.

What do they bring to this relationship?

What do you bring to this relationship? Read More→

In July, fans of common sense and decency everywhere won a huge victory – in California of all places! The California Appellate Court ruled that Chase created and recorded false documentation in order to prove ownership of a property so they could foreclose on it. This is big news because it shows that the major courts in some of the biggest states in the country are catching onto the long con the banks have been playing in this country for over a decade. Not only is this a good thing for the country in general, it is creating a huge opportunity for real estate investors to do some killer deals while helping homeowners in need.

In 1998, Jan and Rosalind Kalicki secured a mortgage for their home in San Marcos California. A specialty mortgage banking company originated the loan, and Washington Mutual became the servicer. After WaMu went into receivership, Chase bought a large amount of WaMu’s interests, including the Kalicki’s loan. After being foreclosed on in 2008, the Kalicki’s filed a suit for wrongful foreclosure against Chase in 2009. The Kalicki’s claim was that Chase claimed ownership of the loan based on fraudulent documents.

In 2012, the court ruled not only that Chase had created and recorded fake documentation to show that ownership of the loan had been transferred to Chase, it was also exposed that a Chase executive had created a document that “fraudulently represented that a prior assignment had been lost and that Chase owned the Kalickis’ mortgage.” The judge ruled that the Kalicki’s owned the property and quieted the title in their favor. Chase appealed the ruling, but lost. Read More→