So…should you get a property manager or should you run your own show? Well although there is no single right answer to this question there are some factors that I think investors should keep in mind.

I’m big on outsourcing jobs that I have no business doing. Yeah, I could roll up my sleves and lay a new carpet myself in that vacant unit I’m turning – I could get a knee kicker and a power stretcher and wrestle my way through the job, but I’d burn a whole weekend in the process and the results would probably look pretty lousy. Actually I’d burn two weekends – I’d have to ask one of my buddies to help me and as a quid pro quo I’d end up helping him move at some point in the future.

Continue reading Should real estate investors hire a property manager?

I’m not seeing a lot to like in our country’s current economic outlook.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both plunged today, each tanking by around 20%. The market as a whole is hovering at around 20% below recent highs, a level that many observers use to signal official bear territory. Credit markets are in disarray, liquidity is tight, and the Federal Reserve is trying to eye inflationary pressures on one hand and stagnant growth on the other. These are scary days.

Things will turn around. Eventually. But my fear is that our economy’s recovery is contingent on a single factor: oil. And for me this isn’t a comforting thought.

Continue reading Economic Outlook :: Trouble on the horizon

Google.com tends to be my first stop when I’m considering working with a new person.  A new website called pipl takes the idea a step further.  Unlike traditional crawlers like Yahoo and Google, the pipl search engines can access various public databases - from e-commerce to social networking to government records - and therefore generates a lot more hits. 

Look yourself up - you might find that there is more info on you out there on the web than you thought.  One drawback: search for a generic name (like, say, Chris Smith) and you’ll get a whole boatload of info on all the other Chris Smith’s out there.   [19 June] Ironic postscript:  As of today this page that you’re reading right now comes up on page 1 of a Google search for “Chris Smith”

Continue reading A deeper dive than Google

THE RULES:
There are many rules in a fluid real estate market, but here are a few that we believe hold true IN ANY MARKET (one favoring buyers; one favoring sellers; it does not matter):

•LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
•MONEY IS MADE ON THE BUY
•SELLERS SET ASKING PRICES; BUYERS DETERMINE VALUE
•BUYERS BUY VALUE
•CONTINGENCIES CLOUD NEGOTIATIONS (THE MORE “IFS” THE FEWER DOLLARS)
•THE HARDEST THING TO GAIN IS TRUST; THE EASIEST THING TO LOSE IS TRUST
•REPUTATION AND ETHICS ARE VALUE-ENHANCING ATTRIBUTES
•A HOUSE HAS DIFFERENT VALUES FOR DIFFERENT BUYERS: BUYER A CAN BUY HOUSE X FOR LESS THAN BUYER B

Continue reading Colorado Springs Real Estate Market Condition-May 2008

Back in 2006 I hired someone to perform some professional services. He was small businessman running a limited liability company, came with good references and was recommended by some people that I trusted.

We agreed on a $2,000 month-to-month retainer to do some marketing work. I paid him the first month’s two grand, he cashed my check and then disappeared. Vanished.

So here are some things I learned from this experience.

Trust is crucial. I do business based on looking someone in the eye and shaking their hand. You can’t do business without taking risks. Trust is a big factor in my decision making process, and this experience won’t change that fact.  But it does emphasize the importance of having a rock solid contract, and an organized file of every check that you’ve paid for services. A great convenience of today’s internet banking world is the fact that you can easily log on, click on a payment, and print out a front-and-back copy of the endorsed check. This guy took me for a ride, but I archived the paper trail and stayed prepared for round two.  This ain’t over.    You can’t sue someone you can’t find. That was the big hangup in this case. I got all the prep work done to take my flaky business partner to court, but have never been able to serve him with papers. Don’t give up. The statute of limitations in Texas for civil cases is a leisurely four years. That’s an eternity. Take your paperwork and seal it in a file for safe keeping. And periodically take a look around – the creep might show up.  Even though you’ve written off the loss it doesn’t cost you anything to stay on the trail.  Assume you’re going to court, prepare accordingly, and be ready to win. Once you track the guy down, hit him with a cool, well organized declaration explaining how you’re about to sue him back to the stone age. The other guy may be lazy and dishonest (which is why he stole from you in the first place) but chances are that he’s neither stupid nor insane. If you have your ducks in a row then nine times out of ten the guy will see the light and pay up before he suffers the indignity of being dragged into court.  The small claims court process isn’t difficult. If you’re savvy enough to buy and sell houses then you’re savvy enough to manage a small claims court case (up to $10,000 in Texas). Go get a brochure from your courthouse and follow the instructions.

Continue reading Stay on the trail of dishonest contractors

Ethics in investing is a topic that I’m interested in. This is one that I’ve written about before, both in the press and here in this blog . It’s one that I don’t think gets enough airplay – but the lessons of ethics and investing are the subplot to many of the other ideas and strategies that I write about on this blog.

Here are five discrete thoughts that have emerged from experiences that I’ve written about recently.

Honest investors are fearless investors: I have a lot of philosophical reasons for being honest, but I also have a practical one: Continue reading Smart investors are ethical investors

Don’t you just hate it when you’re looking for a way to optimize your WordPress blogs for better search engine results by finding the right tools and all the different plugins, hoping that you’re doing all of this optimizing to your blog the right way, only to find out that you actually didn’t?

So how would you like a seo tool for your WordPress blogs that will help you to optimize you WordPress blogs for better search engine results, the easy way and not having to worry about finding the right tools and all the different plugins or that you’ve missed some things? Well, with WP SEO Sniper you can now SEO your WordPress blogs quickly and like a pro, the easy way!

Continue reading WP SEO Sniper Review - Introducing WordPress SEO Sniper Professional

…and there are only 25 spots left of 500!

Hi guys, it’s me…Robert and I have some BIG news for you today…

And as much as I hate to say it, but you NEED to act fast if you want to be a part of this (I’m one of the 475

).

Ok, so let me explain:

If you’ve been building a virtual real estate with content based niche adsense and affiliates sites for some time now, whether you have used PLR content or created your own, it should be becoming fairly apparent that there is another level.

Continue reading PLRPro Launches PLRPro Ebooks - The Worlds #1 PLR Ebook Provider

PLR Content for Your Websites » Mila Sidman
Use PLR Content To Exploit Long Tail Keywords
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Buying Private Label Rights Content
Continue reading Testing a new tool?

Find out how to flip foreclosures on the Internet for serious profits with Mike Collins — a savvy, leading real estate investor with more than 20 years experience wholesaling properties. During this 90-minute training presentation, Mike will reveal how to become the “middle man” in hundreds of real estate deals. That means you never actually own properties, but receive big commissions when you find the right investors for them! Don’t miss this informative Webinar! Go Here to Find Out More

Mike will teach you how to:

Find amazing foreclosure deals on the Internet — up to 50% off!Create a money-making real estate business that achieves HUGE profitsBuild a cost-effective and cutting-edge lead generation machineGenerate amazing leads with search engines such Google, Yahoo! and MSNDate:

Continue reading Flipping Foreclosures on the Internet