Why Invest in Real Estate? Top 3 Reasons

Author: Beverly Manago
Source: ezinearticles.com

Real estate is a good market to get into. If you know how to play your cards well and dance with the market trends, you could profit a good sum out of it. Market watchers are especially taking note of the current market flow. That’s because they think that it is one department where losses are quite many in recent years. If you are a patient investor, however, you must not be shaken of down markets.

Real estate makes for an attractive investment due to the following factors:

* A good rental yield. Realty investors have a promising future renting out their property to tenants and gaining from that kind of income steadily. Naturally, you will have to deal with the costs of maintenance, taxes, and mortgages as the landlord. Your tenant, meanwhile, will pay you a specific amount of rent for a specific period of time. In most cases, the rental fee is enough to cover the costs along with some profit. Then again, it would not be wise for a landlord to charge way too high because it will be a lose-lose situation for him in the end. The best way to earn from renting out a property is to be patient and charge an appropriate amount of rent.

* Properties appreciate in value more often than not. One of the attractions of the real estate market is the opportunity to have your property’s market value increase over time. Again, with enough patience and a good hand in maintenance, you could earn an amazing amount out of an acquired home or property. Some real estate investors intentionally purchase a bare property. After a few improvements and constructions, they would sell out the property for a good price.

* It is easy to start on this kind of investment. Doing business out of your own home is a good startup for real estate investors. Of course, it would be difficult to play up the market if you are putting your own comfort on the line. It is advisable, therefore, that real estate investors first own a home. After acquiring another property, you are set and ready to go for doing business in the real estate market.

* There’s no need to constantly watch how the market moves. In realty, there is no down or up moment. If you have enough patience, you have got good chances of earning profits from it. At one point, you may hear market watchers saying the real estate market is down. But then again, you will never know. What you need to equip yourself is a stock of common sense. Do not be too sure that you are getting a good deal when you buy a property for $300,000 and it used to worth about $450,000 years ago. You need to watch how the deal is made, what kind of deal you are making, and how you can earn from that kind of deal.

Beverly Manago is a freelance writer focused on the real estate industry. She is also a consultant for My Single Property Website, a web 2.0 marketing tool that lets real estate agents create stunning virtual tours and single property sites easily, with a free version available for listing presentations. She also contributes to the Single Property Websites News there.

Mistakes That Real Estate Investors Make

Author: Bruce Swedal
Source: articlesbase.com

The world of real estate investing has quickly become one of the most exciting careers of the business world. A lot of people believe this due to the vast amount of money that you are able to generate from this career. However, even if you have had recent success with real estate investing it does not mean that somewhere down the line that you could not fail. One of the best ways that you can prevent yourself from failing is by knowing the mistakes that other real estate investors are making and then, teach yourself how to avoid them in your career. DealsWhen you are in the world of real estate investing you need to be sure that you have more than one deal going at any given time. If you choose to do just one deal at a time then you are opening yourself up for a variety of different problems. The main one being is that if that one deal should happen to fall through then you will quickly find yourself with nothing else that you are able to fall back on. As a result of you not having a backup it can create a big time lapse for you and you must remember that time is definitely money. Another big issue of doing only one deal at a time is that you most generally end up putting a lot more time into making the deals work that it will quickly not become a very good opportunity for you. Exit StrategyMost generally when you are purchasing a property for your real estate investing plan then you usually will have a pretty clear idea of what that property is going to be able to do for you but, what happens if that idea does not pan out? You should always be sure that you have 3 different exit strategies in place so that if one fails you will have others to fall back on. If you do not practice this step you are going to quickly find yourself with a lot of dead end deals and nowhere to go with them. EstimatesIf you under estimate the total cost of all repairs and other essential things that you will need to make the property sellable you stand to lose a lot of money. Most investors will double the estimated costs of all repairs so that if they do happen to go over budget on a particular aspect of the repairs they will have a small cushion to play with. All of these are big mistakes that a lot of real estate investors make. You need to learn how to avoid them to become successful in your own real estate investing career.

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Real Estate Investors – Are We the Last Man Or Woman on the Totem Pole?

Author: Jack Sternbergbr
Source: ezinearticles.combr
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Think about this for a moment. Who are todays real estate investors? Basically, theyre everyone from the butcher to the baker to Joe the Plumber. Anyone who wants to call themselves an investor – whether they have money or not, experience or not, professional training or not – is a creative real estate investor.

A diverse group, no doubt. However, it may be safe to assume that it is this very diversity which leads to some very significant weaknesses among creative real estate investors.

Due to the lack of coherence of this group, real estate investors are not well represented politically on a state or national level. By contrast, the mortgage bankers, realtors and other players in the system are very cohesive and very well represented. As a result of this cohesion, the mortgage industrys interests are well protected during the development of new regulations, and they are usually the ones who get to dictate what changes are made, and who these changes really benefit.

A case in point is the new Uniform Closing Instructions (UCI) ready to go into effect shortly. They were written by the American Escrow Association, The Mortgage Bankers Association, and The American Land Title and Trust Association who wanted to standardize the closing instructions across the nation in order to make things work better.

If you were hoping that your interests, as a real estate investor, were considered during the crafting of the UCI, think again.

After all, can you picture the committee of the three associations mentioned above (AEA, MBA, and ALTA) sitting around worrying about the fate of the creative real estate investor?

The purpose of the UCI is NOT to protect the real estate investor; its to protect the homeowner and those committees who crafted the new regulations.

Because the creative real estate investor has no representation and plays absolutely no part in the creation or enforcement of these regulations, the real estate investors interests have not been considered in the UCI. I want to make sure you understand that the investor is the last man or woman on the totem pole when it comes to the changes that will affect the real estate industry once these regulations are introduced.

Once put into place, the UCI will have two profound effects:

First, its intent is to protect consumers against fraud without need of Congressional action.

Second, (and this is the part that affects investors the most), it will spell the end of non – traditional deals – short sales, flip sales, double closings, etc. This means there will be a shift back to conventional mortgage practices and traditional investment strategies.

What does this mean to you? It means that most real estate investors will need to be cash buyers who can buy and hold properties for 12 – 24 months. That leaves out a lot of investors.

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pI recommend you claim a copy of my free report, The Uniform Closing Instructions Exposed: Critical Factors You Need to Know In A Dramatically Changing Real Estate Investing Environment at a target=_new href=http://www.uniformclosinginstructions.com rel=nofollowhttp://www.uniformclosinginstructions.com/a/ppYoull find out more about the UCI, as well as real estate investing strategies which comply with the new regulations. I am a nationally recognized expert on real estate investing whos been in the business for more than 30 years. My deals have totaled over $750 million and hes been to the closing table more than 1,500 times. I enjoy sharing my money-making insights and experience with other real estate investors./pbr
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Top Benefits From a Real Estate Investment Guide

Author: Seomul Evansbr
Source: articlesbase.combr
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What data can you get from a good real estate investing book? There are a numeral of online sites, which can bring out you knowledge and points on how to begin arrive at your real estate investments properly. You are able to also get a number of books, which are essentially on the content of real estate investing. You could search sites related to articles on the internet for information on real estate investing books.

Whenever you go for an in-depth analysis of these real estate investing books, youll find that there are a number of chapters covering topics like how to market your real estate investing business, the secrets of real estate investing, tips amp; tricks on real estate investing, how to follow business success of tycoon of other fields and how to grow in the real estate business. All these and more are covered as the component of a good real estate investing book.

A number of hidden pitfalls are there that you should avoid for staying in the business sector. You can get an elaborated overview about the risks, drawbacks and potential ways out. You can also know whether you are ready to step into the business of real estate investing or not. The real estate investing book could give you advice on how to use the books properly so that you get the utmost data out of it.

Although on your journey of becoming a successful real estate businessman, you would need a guide on who could help you in the right guidance. The real estate investing book can be a very good friend in achieving understanding your goals and achieving them. The book would also tell you about the real estate seminars from where you are able to get hidden benefits.

The real estate investing book also tells you how to assemble your own multi billion-dollar empire based on real estate. Some online sites offer you a numeral of courses, both online as well as normal. You can start your own real estate business with your own home mortgage. If you pay attention to the formulas offered by the real estate investing books you would be able to retrieve it within seven years.

Creative real estate investment figures the real estate investment behavior of individuals. Real estate, also known as immovable property, consists of land or anything permanently connected to the land, like buildings. Real Estate is often viewed and used in contrast to personal property. With the development of private property ownership real estate investment has arise as an emerging area of business.

Creative real estate investment is normally known as creative realty investment. It comprises of the purchase, sale of residential land and building and non residential buildings. The main conduits involved in this are landlords, tenants, buyers, developers, builders, real estate agents etc. The development in hospitality, entertainment and IT sectors are extremely influencing for the creative real estate investment business.

Constructive real estate investment as viewed normally is not only the business of the rich strata of the society as even if the investment is low it can reap huge benefits. Certain points are to be kept in mind before you go for creative real estate investing in this business like where to invest and how to invest.

The people involved in this business enterprise should have a complete and comprehensive knowledge abut the areas, which are risks prone. Success in property is the main cause behind its upsurge in countries like USA, Canada, Australia, Europe and New Zealand. The best way to get stated with creative real estate investment is to advertise.

Creative real estate investment is an art for successful real estate investment. One should start from the initial stage of gathering information and resources. Apart from that acquiring information from the net, the local newspaper is of utmost help. Information from the bulletin board also helps a lot. The legal section of the newspaper also helps in getting the right kind of information.br
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Seomul Evans is with Dallas a rel=nofollow,nofollow href=http://www.seo-1-marketing-services.com title=Marketing ServicesMarketing Services/a consulting for CallMD, an informational Medical resource site specializing in: a rel=nofollow,nofollow href=http://www.callmd.com title=Mental HealthMental Health/a and freea rel=nofollow,nofollow href=http://www.mentalhealthrelief.com title=Heart DiseaseHeart Disease/a articles.br
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Real Estate Investing – Is it a Wise Investment?

Author: Tara Contibr
Source: ezinearticles.combr
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I am often asked the question, Is real estate a wise investment?

My answer to this question is yes, I believe in investing in real estate (RE) as an asset class for the long term. But no, I am not a fan of investing in individual real estate properties as an investment.

I want to clarify; I am talking about buying real estate as an investment outside of or in addition to your home residence.

I know there are many people who may disagree with the opinions expressed here. Yes, there are exceptions to the general rule and if you know what you are doing, are an expert at speculative RE and fixing up homes and comfortable with the inherent risk of owning property you can be successful at using RE to increase your wealth. But I would say these people and situations are now the exception.

I always find it interesting that you hear so many stories about people that made tons of money in rental real estate, but rarely about the frequent disasters as people dont talk about those as much. Just like you always hear about the amount of a gamblers winnings but rarely the full amount of their losses.

One of the most important aspects of owning an individual investment property is understanding the numbers and viewing it as a business. If you are not sure what the Net Operating Income (NOI) is for the property you are considering, you should NOT buy it.

Here are the primary reasons why I do not recommend directly investing in real estate properties:

1) It is one of the few investments that can cost you significant money and time.
Owning property as an investment can include such costs as: interest on the loan, closing costs, cost of finding renters, cost for months without tenants, cost of additional insurance, cost of repairs and upkeep on an investment property and management fees just to name a few. Many people do not consider all the costs of owning a real estate property.

2) It is a leveraged investment which increases the risk.
Most people take out a loan to buy the investment whether it is a house, apartment building, or land. They are leveraging their initial investment and betting that the investment will be worth more. Leverage magnifies both gains and losses. (This is great on the upside, bad on the downside.) If the real estate market has dropped in value, you may not be able to sell the property for what you put in and you still have a cash outflow requirement every month.

3) It is not a diversified investment.
Most real estate is an investment in one property in one specific location. You are generally putting many of your eggs in this one basket which once again increases the risk. (Diversification is one of the most important tenants of investing. At my firm we are fans of low cost mutual funds and ETFs due to the inherent diversification of this type of security.)

4) It is a highly illiquid and non-marketable asset.
Depending on the real estate market it can take a long time to sell a home. Even during good markets, it usually takes more than two months to sell and close on a real estate property. Anyone who has owned a home during a buyers market, such as now can tell you their nightmare and frustration of having the house on the market for over a year (or years).

How about vacation homes?
Even with regards to vacation homes, if you want a vacation home to enjoy as your vacation home, do it, if that makes financial sense for you. I view that differently than just buying a second house purely as an investment. The enjoyment and pleasure you get by having a vacation home makes up for the risks and costs of the real estate. The main objective of a vacation home is to be used and enjoyed is different than a property bought primarily as an investment. (Often times it is much cheaper and more convenient to rent a vacation house for several weeks a year than to have the costs of owning a vacation home.)

REITs
If you believe in and want to invest in real estate, I AM a proponent for Real Estate Investment Trusts or REITs. REITs are a security that trades like a stock and invests directly in real estate by owning a portfolio of properties and/or mortgages. REITs allow you to own real estate as an investment in this asset class with the advantages of:
1) Having an expert picking the properties
2) Without the hassle, costs and obligation of maintaining an individual property
3) Not incurring the individual property risk due to lack of diversification (because many properties, mortgages, and/or locations may be owned by the REIT)
4) It being a marketable asset that can be quickly bought or sold through a major exchange.
5) A REIT by itself is a diversified investment

Conclusion
Although I do not recommend buying individual real estate properties as an investment, real estate as an asset class usually improves your portfolio diversification since it has a low correlation to the general market. Therefore, generally I do recommend committing a small portion of your portfolio to this class, not as a market call on this sector (especially now), but based on my belief in its ability to dampen the overall volatility of your portfolio in the long term.

Please note while we are not big fans of REITs right now, especially commercial property REITs, we should be in the future as the economy improves and supply lessens due to lower prices.

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pTara is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER(tm), life coach and partner at Main Street Financial Solutions./ppMain Street Financial Solutions ( a target=_new href=http://www.msfsolutions.com rel=nofollowhttp://www.msfsolutions.com/a ) provides knowledgeable, customized financial planning and investment advisory services./pbr
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6 Personal Attributes That Affect Your Real Estate Investing Style

Author: Suzette Westbr
Source: ezinearticles.combr
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What is your personal real estate investing style?

In order to answer this question, it is important to take a look at the attributes that affect your investing style – and ultimately your investment strategies. Every investor is different, and by realizing that who we are as individuals affects our investment style, we will become better and stronger investors with clearer goals and a more definitive plan.

There are 6 main attributes that will help you gain a better understanding of your real estate investment style. Consider the following attributes and think about how they impact your views on real estate investments:

1. Lifestyle – Do you have time to self-manage, or do you need a property manager?
2. Perspective on life – Do you want to travel, do you have a purpose to fulfill in life, etc.?
3. Personality – Are you good with people, or would you prefer not to deal with too many people?
4. Financial Goals – How much do you need to earn, how often, and by when?
5. Limitations – What are your weaknesses, and what could you do to begin strengthening those weaknesses?
6. Capabilities, unique strengths – What are your strengths, and what could you do to put those strengths to work as you begin paving the path towards your financial independence?

By understanding how these attributes will influence your personal investment style, you will be able to identify real estate investment strategies that will be the best fit for you, allowing you to embark on your real estate journey in a way that truly fits you.

You will also create a symbolic lens that will enable you to distinguish between the strategies and properties you may want to avoid — and the strategies and properties that are ideal.

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pSuzette West is an a target=_new href=http://worldwestinvestments.com/ rel=nofollowexclusive buyers agent/a in Seattle whose mission is to help her clients build wealth and achieve financial independence through real estate investing./ppSign up for free e-course, Three Steps to Building Wealth Responsibly with Real Estate at a target=_new href=http://worldwestinvestments.com/ rel=nofollowhttp://worldwestinvestments.com/a./pbr
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How to Invest in Real Estate With Private Money

Author: John Nocebr
Source: ezinearticles.combr
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I am not a real estate investing guru by any means. In fact, I only have 3 rental properties. The first one I bought with no money down. I used hard money to make the purchase and then traditional loans to refinance and pay back the hard money lender. The fees were very high so I would not recommend using hard money unless you are fixing up and reselling in a short period of time. The second and third properties I purchased together with just 10% down versus the traditional 20% or more required for investment property.

For my next property, I was determined to avoid using banks at all. I wanted to find a deal with either owner financing or private funding. Private funding is when an individual loans the investor the money to purchase the property. The investor/borrower then makes payments to the private lender just as they would to a bank in a traditional situation. Normally, you wont get the 15 yr or 30 yr terms you get with a bank, but you can get from 1 to 5 yrs and then refinance. You will also have to pay higher interest rates; such as 8-12% for first mortgage positions. If you want private money in a junior or second mortgage position, you will likely have to go as high as 15% due the greater risk involved for the lender.

Below, are my recommendations on buying a property using private money.

1. Find a wholesaler. These are the men and women that have the I Buy Homes ads, signs and sometimes commercials. These investors specialize in picking up properties at a discount. They usually dont want to be landlords. They like to get in and get out and make a quick buck. They purchase these properties for less than 70% of fair market value (FMV). They then turn around and sell to an investor for a small spread.

2. Get a property from the wholesaler that needs little work. Make sure you are at 70% of FMV or less. In the contract, make sure you use a weasel clause stating the deal is subject to you getting financing or subject to partner approval. The partner is this case is your private lender. This way, if you cant find financing, you can get out of the contract.

3. Once you have a property under contract, begin to assemble your property information package. This packet will consist of a cover page with a photo of the property and your contact information. The next page will be a 1 page Executive Summary detailing your goals, they types of properties you are interested and ideally, some examples of deals or experience you have that will help you do these deals. There are a ton of templates on the internet. Just search executive summary template. The 3rd page will be photos and features of the property. List the bedrooms, bathrooms and other selling points. The 4th page should be the county assessors page. Just go to your county website and enter the address. You will then be able to print out the assessors page with the square footage, yr. built, bedrooms, bathrooms, etc… All information you will need when you get insurance…but lets save that for later. The 5th page will be the Tax record page, showing the estimated taxes you will pay. Page 6 will be a printout from RealEstateABC.com. Just enter the property address and you will get a report showing the estimated value of the property along with a map of the location. Page 7 will come from Zillow.com. Enter the address and you will get another appraisal estimate along with comparable sales data. If possible, highlight comps that flatter your property and include photos. When you go out to take photos of the property, make sure you take photos of similar homes on the street. You can include these photos along with the zillow page and get some basic appraisal information.

4. Talk to everyone you know: Friends, family, co-workers. Go to real estate investing groups and speak to other investors. Someone should know someone that wants to make 8-12% on their money rather than the 2% they are getting at the bank.

5. When you find someone interested, take them to lunch and show them your packet. If its a good deal, the numbers should speak for themselves, but you may need to sell it a little. If you find a fellow investor, they should not need a lot of convincing.

6. Agree on the loan amount, the interest rate, the length of the loan and whether you are paying principal and interest or interest only payments.

7. Contact a Title Insurance company and give them the information. The seller/wholesaler will have sent a copy of the contract already most likely once you let them know where to send it. The closing attorney (usually the Title Insurance company works with one) can draw up the Promissory Note and the Mortgage paperwork. While you dont have to, its a good idea to request a lenders policy on the Title Insurance in addition to your policy. In the event the lender has to take over the property, he or she then has the title insurance. Banks require this and it really puts the lender at ease.

8. Contact an Insurance company for your fire/hazard policy. The loss payee will be your lenders information. This way, if the place burns down or the Earth swallows it up, the lender gets paid off first. Again, this really puts the lender at ease and more comfortable with the deal. When you mention the Loss Payee status and the Lenders Policy on Title Insurance, you will seem very knowledgeable and professional.

9. Lender will approve all documents and then Closing Date is set.

10. Go to closing and sign the paperwork. The lender need not be at closing, but make sure the money is there ahead of time.

Congratulations! You are a real estate investor and youve used private funding!

Naturally, there are entire books and seminars on this subject. Make sure to do your own due diligence. If you are not sure, ask a professional. Attorneys, other real estate investors, etc…

Happy Investing!

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pJohn Noce is a Real Estate Investor in Asheville, NC. As a member of the Carolina Real Estate Investors Association, John has served as club librarian, club secretary and most recently Webmaster and Internet Marketer for Club Activities. John is frequently a guest speaker at the clubs focus groups, main meetings and has presented a 1/2 day seminar on Internet Marketing for Real Estate Investors. John Noce has written several e-books and has created the Hotjohnnie Property Analyzer. As an Excel format, investors can enter in property data and verify if the numbers will work. If not, the analyzer calculates what offer to make./ppTo learn more about John Noce, go to a target=_new href=http://www.ibuycarolinahomes.com rel=nofollowhttp://www.ibuycarolinahomes.com/a./pbr
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Real Estate Investing

Author: Chris Cameron
Source: articlesbase.com

According to research there is one thing that wealthy people has in common and that is that wealthy people has invested or invest in real estate.

Real Estate Investing Tips For Profit

Author: Susan Jan
Source: download

Investing in real estate has been considered a safe investment and high return. "Flip" in property investment has become very popular in recent years, especially among the speculative real estate investors. Flipping refers to the buying and selling of property in a short period for quick profits. Although the return on investment appears to be good, there is still a risk that your money could get blocked in the absence of buyers. Property prices have risen steadily since the beginning of this decade. But many signs point to housing boom comes to an end, so it may be appropriate to make real estate investments on hold. Investing in real estate, contrary to popular thought, is a reversal of slow performance. Therefore real estate investors to do proper planning and carrying out market analysis before investing. Before investing in any asset that is vital to study all the documents related to property, to see an agent's license if necessary, to check whether the liabilities, etc.. All contracts must be in writing. All details as the names of all parties, the property address, area, purchase price, and so account must be entered in the contract, together with the signatures of all parties. It is also wise to hire a property lawyer to examine the complexities of real estate contracts. A good way to invest in real estate is to buy foreclosure properties. Foreclosure is the process in which a bank or a creditor sells the property for homeowners to recover the loan, the owner could not pay. A lease to purchase contract is considered the best type of investment in real estate. This type of contract basically allows the tenant to lease a particular property, at some period, end of period has the option to buy the property for an amount decided by the signing of the contract. The tenant pays an initial deposit is not refundable. If the property value back to the end of the lease term, which may want to buy the property to its original value. If the value has increased, not eligible to buy. During this period also can rent the property to another person. By this method, the investor takes the risk out much of himself as he does not have to commit a large sum of capital investment is not a large loan. Currently, there are some areas where the housing market is too overheated and investing in real estate is too risky. They are Miami, Las Vegas, Northern Virginia, Phoenix, Sacramento, Boston, Washington DC, and San Diego. Other "hot" areas also include San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and Seattle. The safer, less volatile areas for investment with good ROI are Dallas, Cleveland, Houston, Columbus, Omaha, Kansas City and Pittsburgh. For more information on investment, investment-expert.info visit, investment-and Prime Minister pro.info-invest. info.