About Short Sales

The current state of the economy and the housing market has created a unique opportunity for the homeowner and real estate investor.

If you are ready to dive in and invest in real estate, then here are some helpful tips:

Finding Great Deals

Taking a closer look at the current economic situation, I call it the “Perfect Storm” Over supply of bank owned and foreclosed properties Troubled economy and unemployment Lower interest rates than we’ve seen in years

There Are Great Deals All Around You! This is a buyer’s market; the supply is great and the demand is low; therefore, the price is right for real estate investing.

Taking Action

How does one leverage their funds and utilize their time if they are working a full time job and struggling to make ends meet? The recommended solution that has proven successful over and over again in real estate investing is to work with a professional. Find a real estate investor or other real estate professional, who has knowledge in the market and can help you find great deals. Teaming up with a real estate professional that provides a great service will ensure your success in real estate investing.

Good business breeds more business (referrals) and bad business, puts a Realtor out of business!

A good realtor knows the housing market and can help you to avoid time wasted, missed opportunities and financial loss. Going it alone could set-up you up for disaster as a beginning real estate investor.

The real estate industry has evolved and embraced the technology that is available today via the Internet, and other communication/media. Your realtor has the tools and leading edge technology so that you can become a “VIP buyer and beat other buyers to hot new leads, by allowing you to be the first to see every deal in your area.

A successful closing

Your savvy, experienced Realtor has many strategies to help the Investor to close the deal, whether the scenario is foreclosure homes, HUD properties, Wholesale deals or short sales. A Real Estate professional can structure the purchase offer, suggest financing, and refer other real estate professionals to create a winning closed deal.

Choosing a Real Estate Professional

The best way to find a real estate professional to work with is to join a real estate investor’s association and attend their meetings. The benefits of joining a group are the networking with, and learning from, successful real estate investors and the business people who service them.

The market is right for real estate investing; experienced real estate investors know how to recognize opportunities in today’s market. If you are considering entering the real estate world, it is recommended that you find a mentor to work with. Real estate partnerships are also valuable to the experienced investor.

Before you know what to do when facing a Bank of America foreclosure, you need to understand how it works. Lots of Bank of America foreclosure homes are on the market because too many people have mortgages with Bank of America but when they cannot pay the payments, they do not know what else to do.

When Bank of America gives someone a mortgage loan and that person fails to keep up with the mortgage payments, the bank can foreclose on the home and the home then becomes a Bank of America foreclosure home. The bank can try to auction the home off to try to recoup some of their money.

Usually, it will take Bank of America a few months to start the foreclosure process. A homeowner can miss his or her mortgage payments for months before the bank threatens foreclosure. When a homeowner only misses one month of mortgage payment, nothing will happen. It is only after the third month that the bank will start being aggressive.

The Bank of America foreclosure process starts when Bank of America sends out a foreclosure notice. Bank of America may call the homeowner repeatedly to try to figure something out or the bank can just be silent and send out the foreclosure notice depending on the area you are in and the account manager.

Most people start to really be afraid of Bank of America foreclosure when the bank actually sends out official notices of foreclosure. They then try to call the bank repeatedly. Sometimes, it is too late to negotiate with the bank but other times the bank will still be willing to work something out with the homeowner. When calling Bank of America, the homeowner needs to talk to someone with authority to negotiate.

Calling Bank of America to negotiate with them is not the only way to stop the foreclosure process. There are many ways a homeowner can help himself or herself. He or she can put the home on the market and try to sell at a high enough price to pay off the lender. After all, it is far better to sell the home yourself, on your terms, rather than have Bank of America take it away from you.

A Bank of America foreclosure is not without a solution. There are many things a homeowner can do to delay a Bank of America foreclosure process or even stop it. However, it requires research and knowledge that most homeowners do not have. Homeowners should familiarize themselves with real estate short sales if they owe more than their home value.

In summary, a Bank of America foreclosure is not something that you cannot beat. If you understand how a Bank of America foreclosure works, you will be able to find ways to stop it or avoid it. Knowing how to beat a Bank of America foreclosure well in advance will give you a better chance of keeping yourself from the trauma of foreclosure and the risk of destroying your credit.

There are times in your life when you have to make decisions that others may question in order to change your future.

That is the case with many investors who want to build a rental portfolio or invest in real estate but their market is so crazy that a 2/1 shack is 200k or the taxes are so high that getting a positive cash flow is just not happening. So what do you do?

Look for properties in another area, or even another state, which are affordable and give you positive cash flow.

There are plenty of the areas that the news never talks about because they don’t have 50 percent appreciation in a year. They just steadily grow at a measly 3 to 5 percent, and guess what When the Bubble burst they also didn’t have 50% depreciation in a year. In fact, they just hang out and many people just don’t even notice.

So what are the keys to finding a stable area that won’t blow up or down? Here are 7 steps to finding out your area properties to invest in.

1. Look for areas that have a strong rental market. Meaning an area where a good majority of houses are owned by investors who are renting property. This will tell you that the taxes are low and the rent rates are high enough to attract investors who want cash flow.

2. Find the areas that other out of state investors are buying in. Google is one way that comes to mind. Craigslist.com is also a very good source. In fact, I think it is one of the best sources to find great deals.

3. Once you find the area, talk to people there about the markets overall appreciation. Find a market that is just boring, one where no one really ever understood all of the hype about the real estate bubble because it wasn’t happening there.

4. When you find the area that other out of state buyers are buying in, the work begins. You are not there, so someone will have to do your legwork. What is the best way to find the local deals? Find the local wholesaler!

5. Like a spy would find out intelligence. They go to the guy who is connected and who is the big dog dealer around and try to get them on your side. That is what you do to find the best deals in the area.

6. Find the hard moneylenders in the area. Guess whom they will be friendly with? That’s right, the local wholesaler. Find the moneylenders, and you will find the best deal finders. They will be the ones constantly finding great deals and bringing buyers who need to borrow the money. Easy - just like a spy!

7. Talk to the wholesaler in your area. It’s less work and much easier than working with realtors. Be sure to do some checking and asking around, make sure he or she is the big dog, so to speak. They run the volume-based business so they mark the deals up just a few thousand and move them so they can keep buying more properties. Besides, the local wholesaler is going to snatch all the best deals up anyway because they are going to have all the relationships with the realtors anyway and get 1st call on the deals.

In general, for the work the local wholesalers do - looking at hundreds of houses and making hundreds of offers to get their deals - they are more than worth the measly mark up they make. Let them find you the best property mangers and contractors, let them find you quality properties faster, let them help you achieve your investing goals.

Then it is time to get to work and do some deals, build your cash flow, and take charge of your future. Be Bold and Courageous, you won’t regret it!