Successful real estate investing is a long term game. Following the right strategy with discipline and perseverance will allow smart investors to weather the market’s cycles and build equity. Time and leverage are your friends.

But don’t underestimate the importance of the time part of the equation. In the past I’ve compared the performance of the real estate market with the stock market. For the disciplined investor, real estate performs favorably to the stock market over any reasonable period of time, but you’ll need a few years for the strategy to be effective. If you’re only going to stay in the game a year or two you might as well buy a mutual fund and call it a day. But investors with perseverance will see their wealth grow much faster by pursuing a prudent real estate strategy than they will betting on the stock market.  So to take advantage of time you’ll need a little endurance. Sticking with your real estate investing plan is a lot easier if you’re prudent about your decisions and keep your eye on some fundamental points.

Continue reading Real Estate Investing for the Long Haul

We’re so accustomed to having our intelligence insulted by politicians that we rarely complain about the dumbed down worldview that we’re spoon-fed by both sides of the political aisle. The partisan mudslinging that we’re subjected to these days makes it hard to imagine a world in which candidates might campaign by voicing nuanced, well articulated views on the complex issues facing our country. That’s too much to ask for, but at least we get to watch the primaries, which offer up the entertaining spectacle of Democrats savaging fellow Democrats and Republicans bashing Republicans as they fight for their respective nominations.

Continue reading Investors should care about immigration reform

Record foreclosure filings have prompted some savvy real estate investors to action. While some seasoned conservative investors are advising to sit on the sidelines, hold on to the properties they currently have and wait to invest in more, there are seasoned real estate investors used to investing in distressed properties who are cashing in by tweaking their strategy to fit today’s real estate market.

“It’s all about analyzing projects from the outset and create a manageable plan of attack,” says Glen Daniels. Glen is an investor with over 20 years of experience in buying distressed properties and rehabbing them for profit. Glen believes that an investor who analyzes, budgets and markets properties effectively will overcome the obstacles of any real estate market.

Continue reading Rehab Foreclosures For Profit

Citigroup, the largest bank in the United States, announced today that earnings fell about 60% from last year at this time due largely to losses sparked by the U.S. subprime mortgage mess. Citigroup will write down loans estimated at $1.3 billion on subprime related assets.

Exactly what does this mean? For the consumer, not great news. Subprime lending is being blamed for the unprecedented surge in foreclosure activity around the U.S., partially responsible for the drop in consumer confidence. Countless media commentary is advising average homeowners not to buy a new home for at least a year. If you have your house on the market, expect to cut your asking price significantly if you want to sell your home.

Continue reading More News on Subprime Lending

I received an email this morning and the subject line was “Do you think he regrets following the gurus?” Yes, it was about Casey and I usually just delete these now without reading them but I read that one. It was talking about Casey’s latest blog entry.

I haven’t kept up with the Casey saga over the last week but apparently there has been lots of activity. Don’t know the details, don’t intend to take the time to find out, if you know the details, I don’t really care.

But…

I did read his post from last night and I am going to discuss the advice he gives. Casey is not an expert and the theory of someone who knows all the wrong things to do is a source of advice is just stupid. If I am seeking advice, I don’t want to know how to do it wrong or in an unsuccessful way. If I am seeking someone’s help it is to avoid failure, not embrace it.

Continue reading Now Casey Is Giving Advice? Seriously?

There are a lot of blogs by real estate agents on the net. It seems that now that houses are not selling themselves the good agents are moving heaven and earth to sell houses and the contract writers have time to blog.

I’m not casting dispersions at all real estate agents, just the bad ones, just the ones who don’t understand market forces.

In other words, the clueless ones.

I get a lot of inquiries from real estate agents. In the past they wanted to list properties, now they are trying to move them. One is particularly inept in their approach. Then spend a fortune on a direct mail piece and send it about twice each month. The pitch is always the same.

Continue reading Appreciation is NOT the Play. It WAS, IS and will ALWAYS BE about the Cash Flow.

Avoiding burnout in investing. As promised here’s the first of four principles I wanted to discuss:

Principle #1: Look before you leap
Many real estate investing courses are just personal motivation seminars with a thin veneer of real estate education. These courses may serve some use if they cause you to take charge of your financial future, but you don’t want to go charging into battle without the right tools. 

Negotiation is a subject that, in my opinion, does not get enough airtime on finance themed websites – particularly those dealing with real estate investing. 

Negotiating is a core skill which real estate investors must master in order to be successful. Negotiating a successful purchase or sale is only the start; other negotiations are just as critical, and many are significantly more complicated. Consider the following:

 You need to increase the rent on one of your units but want to do so without damaging your long-term relationship with a reliable tenant. You need to get a lower rate from a trusted contractor on a rehab job in order to stay under budget. A loft that you own belongs to a homeowners association which wants to replace the roofs on all of the units in the complex, requiring all of the owners to pony up. Most of the other owners support the measure, but you’ve calculated that it’s not in your financial best interest. Your tenant has just purchased a new home and wants to break his lease, which would create an unexpected vacancy for you. Your tenant is pressuring you to make some renovations to the unit that they’re renting, but you feel that it’s already fairly priced for the current condition. 

Continue reading A critical skill overlooked by many Real Estate Investors

Everyone seems to have an opinion as to what caused the housing bubble to inflate and what poked the first hole and started to let the air out but more often than not the real estate investing community is blamed. But, real estate investors, not the speculators had little to do with driving it in either direction.

But, that doesn’t seem to matter and more and more the media and bloggers are confusing investors with speculators.

Will this be the poster child of the housing correction?

Continue reading Is Casey Serin and Speculators Like Him, Really To Blame for the Housing Bubble and Current Correction?

Real estate investing software offers a number of advantages to real estate investors, many of which we emphasize here at EquityScout.com.

Software, however, is not a panacea; it’s a tool to help you make good decisions but it won’t turn bad investors into good ones. In the past I’ve written about the information hierarchy:

Continue reading Is a real estate investment software package right for you?