I was recently interviewed by Patrick Dague of http://www.getinvestorsnow.com/ on the topic of getting and developing private lenders for your real estate investment business. Patrick is doing some great stuff and highly encourage you to go to his site and get his free report titled “SEVEN THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW TO GET INVESTORS FOR REAL ESTATE “.

Listen by clicking below

Popularity: 12% [?]

Posted by Peter Vekselman

When you buy from the wholesale market, you dont need to sell at retail to make a profit. You can sell to someone else that buys wholesale and still make a decent profit. The real estate wholesale market is not unlike any other wholesale market. In the supply chain from manufacturing to retail there are several wholesale transactions where each wholesaler makes a profit and leaves enough in the deal for the next person in the chain to profit.

The manufacturer creates the product and sells it to a national distributor that transports it to major distribution points across the country. The regional distributor sells wholesale to major retail stores and to other smaller business. Companies like Costco and Sams Club often buy from regional distributors and sell wholesale to other business that finally sell the products at the retail price. Its not unusual for there to be four wholesale transactions before the product is sold at the retail level.

There probably wont be four wholesale deals in the local real estate market but there can easily be three. A wholesale birddog that is earnestly scouting the market for the best deals. This is the investor that locks a house up under contract with no intention of making any repairs or improvements to the property. Nor do they intent to hold it or rent it. They want to turn around and sell it to a rehabber or landlord. Preferably without putting any of their own money into the deal. They want to purchase an option to buy from the distressed seller at the very lowest cost in the wholesale chain no earnest money, no obligation to buy. Then they want to assign their interest to another buyer.

Some wholesalers try to move the property directly to the retail market but that has several complications. First, the property has to be marketed as retail costly and time consuming. Second, most retail buyers dont understand complex real estate deals where the title is not coming from the person they are buying from. You could easily go through four or five willing buyers that back out when they see the complexity of the deal.

A quick sale not involving the investment of cash is more likely if it is purchased by another wholesale buyer that understands complex sales. Thats where rehabbers and landlords or another investor wanting to hold the property for a retail sale comes in. This is why a wholesaler needs a network of other wholesalers. Just like a national distributor sells again and again to the same regional distributors, the first person in the real estate wholesale chain sells to the same wholesale buyers again and again. And as a wholesaler, you leave profit in the deal for the next person in the supply chain.

The key is that each person in the chain needs to add value. The first wholesaler in the chain ads value by bird-dogging the best deals for sale. That becomes their specialty. The rehabber is busy working on or overseeing multiple remodeling projects and misses many of the opportunities that come and go on the market every day. And the landlord is busy dealing with tenants and doing maintenance work.

There is a place in the real estate wholesale chain for someone that is out bird-dogging deals. Just like the national distribution model, each segment of the real estate wholesaling handles a different volume of deals. The bird dog needs to close on five or six deals each month, passing them into the network, and taking a smaller cut on each. A good rehabber might be able to take one deal each month and a landlord probably will only take on one additional property every year or two.

Popularity: 14% [?]

By Les Christie, CNNMOney staff writer

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Bipolar is what comes to mind when diagnosing the post – home buyer tax credit market. There are two separate forces pulling it in opposite directions, and experts aren’t yet sure which path the market will take.

On one hand, sales and prices are rising, indicating recovery. On the other hand, so are interest rates and repossessions, which most certainly do not. And then there are the millions of foreclosures that need to be sold but haven’t yet been listed — so-called shadow inventory — that could derail a real recovery if they hit the market in floods.

The prognosis? Negative short term but turning positive by the end of 2010.

“In the short run, I see a mini-collapse,” said Richard DeKaser, an independent housing market analyst and founder of Woodley Park Research who correctly predicted a downturn back in 2005 when he was chief economist for National City Corp.
How to buy a foreclosure

One of market’s biggest hurdles is getting beyond the lapse of the $8,000 homebuyer tax credit. Thanks to the incentive, buyers scrambled to beat the April 30 deadline, pushing new home sales up nearly 30% in March.

But that just borrowed buyers from later months. And now we face the hangover effect.

“In the months immediately following the expiration of the tax credit, we expect measurably lower sales,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Industry insiders believe the hangover is worthwhile, however, because the credit helped stabilize housing when it most needed help. Home prices have been steadier in recent months, recently experiencing their first year-over-year rise in more than three years.

Still, there are some strong negatives dragging on the market.

1. Interest rates have been intermittently creeping up. Although nobody expects 6% until at least 2011, the days of 4.5% mortgages are behind us.

2. Bank repossessions are on track to surpass a million homes in 2010. But at least foreclosure filings fell in April, the first time since RealtyTrac began reporting.

3. More than a quarter of borrowers are “underwater,” meaning they owe more than their homes are worth.

4. “Strategic defaults” — where underwater homeowners walkway even when they can still afford to pay — accounted for 31% of all foreclosures in March, according to a recent study.
0:00 /3:10Detroit to demolish neighborhoods

But there is one factor that has experts really scared: homes that are ready to be sold but haven’t been put on the market. Right now, there could be more than 4.5 million homes in “shadow inventory,” according to a recent report by Barclays Capital.

This so-called shadow inventory is a recent phenomenon. In the past, inventory was either tight or it wasn’t. But now, with home prices so low and so many foreclosures on the market, both homeowners and banks have been waiting to put properties on the market.

“These sidelined sellers closely watch the market for signs of a possible turnaround and rush in if there’s a hint of good news,” said Leslie Appleton-Young, chief economist for the California Association of Realtors.

But as more sellers put their homes up for sale, supplies increase, which will depress prices again. Rinse and repeat ad infinitum.

That vicious cycle could cause prices to bounce up and down for years. “I see a saw tooth bottom,” Humphries said. “Prices go up; inventory rises, which sends prices down again. That plays out for three to five years of no appreciation. … Without price appreciation, it leaves more homeowners in negative equity. That’s toxic. Any setback, like a job loss, they go into foreclosure.” To top of page

Popularity: 23% [?]

Today’s investment markets offer investors a wide variety of options. One of the most rewarding opportunities is real estate investing, which can produce a very good income stream. If you choose to become a real estate investor, you will enjoy several benefits not associated with other types of investment.

First of all, investing in real estate has the enormous benefit of financial leverage. Even if you borrow the money for your real estate investing from a bank you can often get into a deal with a 10% to 20% down payment which means your returns are instantly magnified due to the fact that you are earning on the bank’s 80% – 90% contribution as well.

As an example, let’s assume you have $10,000 to invest and you get 10% return on your investment regardless of the vehicle. If you put it into the stock market you will buy $10,000 worth of shares and after 12 months your investment is worth $11,000. If you put that same money into real estate with a 90% loan you earn 10% on the full $100,000 investment and finish with $110,000.

So your $10,000 has been doubled in the real estate investment above whereas it only produced an extra $1,000 in the stock market. Why? Because your lender’s money has been working for you too. This is the power of leverage and is one of the biggest advantages of real estate investing. And yet there are even more reasons to become a real estate investor as you will see.

Another incredible reason to begin investing in real estate is the tax benefits. One of the best tax breaks of real estate investing is the REQUIRED depreciation by the IRS on the property. This represents a “paper loss” when in most cases the property (including the land) is actually appreciating. So in essence you pay taxes on a reported profit figure that is significantly lower than your actual earnings – very nice.

Perhaps an even better tax benefit is the 1031 exchange as defined by section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code. Essentially this allows investors to delay paying any capital gains taxes when a property is sold as long as the proceeds are reinvested in an appropriate property. The government is basically encouraging investors to stay in the market with this fantastic incentive.

One final benefit of investing in real estate worth mentioning here is the flexibility of sale contracts. Unlike the stock market you can get very creative with your offers. You can exchange virtually anything for a property instead of cash which can mean greater returns and some spectacular win-win arrangements.

Popularity: 30% [?]

Two Types of Lists

Let’s talk about the list. The list is important. We’ve talked about two kinds of lists. One would be a group of houses in a particular area that you would designate. Two would be a demographic – what type of person – meaning people where the tax bill goes to a different address than the home address.

Those are two types of lists that you can acquire. They’re certainly not the limit. There are dozens of other ways you can slice and dice this. You could get homes worth a million dollars or more. You could get homes worth $100,000 or less. You could get multi-family properties. You could say, “All I want is multi-family properties.” You can get businesses if you want. Invest in shops and retail things of that nature. However you want to do it, whatever list you want.

Ways to Find Lists

What I would suggest is there are a couple of different ways you can get lists. You can go out to a list broker. There are two that I recommend. First is Info-USA and the second is Melissa-Data. Both are national list brokers.

I suspect that if you went to both of them and asked for the identical list you’d find that they’d be relatively close in cost. I don’t know that for certain, but they compete head-to-head all the time so I’d gather that their prices are fairly close.

I would suggest you pick one of these, pick which one you like best, and go with it. It’s always best once you’ve identified one of them that you get used to their website. Spend some time and get used to things.

You can call them on the phone or do it over the web. Tell them what you’re looking for. They will call you or give you an estimate of how many people would be on the list.

That amount may be too many and you may need to use a smaller space or a smaller area. That’s up to you guys. If you’re looking for a list of 1,000 people and the first criteria you give them comes back with 5,000, then you may have to shrink down your criteria. You can play with that.

You can also go out to Google and search “list brokers.” I’m sure there are dozens of others that would show up.

I invite you to learn more about Real Estate Investing and become a member of our FREE weekly tele-seminar class where we teach tips and strategy on how to grow your real estate investing business and how to raise Private Money by going to http://www.realestatewealthtoday.com/TuesdayTipsSignUp.html.

Mike Lautensack is a full-time real estate entrepreneur, coach and mentor in Philadelphia, PA and creator of the Private Lending Presentation Kit. This powerful done-for-you kit is loaded with tools and techniques to attract and develop a consistent stream of private investors into your real estate business. To learn more about this kit and receive your FREE eBook go to Real Estate Investing.

Popularity: 38% [?]

Real Estate Investing In a Down Market Timing may be everything, but is now the right time to invest in real estate, given the steep declines seen in the housing marketing in recent months? Some real estate investment professionals seem to think so. In fact, the smart investors are buying, buying, buying properties right now. Why? “First, let’s define what we mean by “investing,” says real estate mentor a [...]Real Estate Investing In a Down Market

Timing may be everything, but is now the right time to invest in real estate, given the steep declines seen in the housing marketing in recent months? Some real estate investment professionals seem to think so. In fact, the smart investors are buying, buying, buying properties right now. Why?

“First, let’s define what we mean by “investing,” says real estate mentor and author Minh Pham, whose popular real estate seminars pack convention rooms with novice real estate investors eager to learn how to make money with real estate. “Are you intending to be a knowledgeable, well-educated buyer of under-priced properties and stay in the real estate market for the long term in order to see excellent returns? Or are you looking for a get-rich-quick’ scheme? If so, my real estate seminars are not for you.”

Pham explains that buying a cheap property in the hopes of immediately reselling for a lot more than you paid is speculating, not investing. And speculating is as risky as buying a lottery ticket. No credible real estate investment coach will teach you how to speculate, because there is no way to guarantee profits.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t start seeing profits in a fairly short space of time – you just need to know what you are doing.

Becoming a successful real estate investor involves getting educated, doing excellent research, and putting together a well-thought-out strategy. This may seem like homework to some, but for those who have done it the financial rewards are more than making up for the time spent learning.

“Can you make money in real estate in a down economy? Absolutely. Can you do it without knowing what you are doing? Absolutely not,” says Pham. “Worst case scenario, you could lose thousands of dollars and end up being very disillusioned, as many people are right now as a result of not really understanding what they were doing. There are rules to any game, and if you don’t take the time the learn them you could lose your money.”

According to Pham and other real estate investing experts, in order to be successful it’s important to learn how to make money in both up’ and down’ markets. You need survival strategies for when the economy is bad, and know how to win in a competitive market when the economy is booming. “Don’t fear the competition – embrace it,” advises Pham. “If you see a lot of investors competing for deals, then know you’re not the only one that sees the potential for profit. There are more than enough good deals to go around. At any given time there are hundreds of properties for sale in local market niches, enough for every savvy investor to make the profits they’re looking for.

Popularity: 45% [?]

President Obama signed a sweeping health reform bill The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on March 23rd. According to the Congressional Budget Office, it is expected to reduce the federal deficit by $124 billion.

Meanwhile its long term impact on landlords, property managers, property management companies and real estate professionals is not clear. If you fall into one of the above categories, you have to consider whether you are an independent contractor, employee or employer as it has different impact on you.

How Health Care Reform rolls out and what happens to who and when:
In 2010

1. Insurance Companies
1. Insurance companies have to remove life-time caps on illness costs, cannot drop you if you fall ill and cannot deny coverage to kids with pre-existing conditions
2. Independent Contractor Property Managers, Real Estate Professionals and Employees
1. Children up to the age of 26 can stay on their parents plan.
2. Medicare D participants receive $250 credit
3. Retirees between age 55-64 are offered re-insurance program
3. Employers Property Management Companies
1. If you own a property management company that offers health insurance, you get a 35% tax credit from premium paid
2. Small employers can get tax credit up to 50% of premium paid

In 2011

1. Insurance Companies
1. Insurers cannot raise premiums without providing justification or will be taken out of state insurance exchange pool
2. Independent Contractor Property Managers, Real Estate Professionals and Employees
1. Medicare D participants receive 50% off brand name drugs while in doughnut hole
2. Employees contributions to Flexible Spending Plans are capped at $2,500 limiting the amount that can be used to purchase health care with pre-tax dollars.
3. Penalty for non-qualified withdrawals from Health Savings Account (HSA) increases from 10 to 20 percent and 15 to 20 per cent for Archer Medical Savings Accounts (Archer MSAs)

In 2013

1. Independent Contractor Property Managers, Real Estate Professionals and Employees
1. If you are single filer and earn at least $200,000 per year or a joint filer earning at least $250,000 you will pay additional Medicare tax of nine-tenths of one percent called Hospital Insurance tax on income above these amounts.
2. Itemized deductions for unreimbursed medical expenses rises from 7.5 to 10 per cent. It has an impact on individuals who itemize deductions.
2. Employers Property Management Companies
1. New Medicare tax is to be withheld by property management companies

In 2014

1. Independent Contractor Property Managers, Real Estate Professionals and Employees
1. All individuals are required to carry health insurance or pay an IRS penalty of $750 per individual or 2% of income whichever is greater
2. Subsidies for payment of insurance cost are offered and family of four earning up to $88,000 (four times the federal poverty level) will get a subsidy.
2. Employers Property Management Companies
1. Employers or property management companies with 50 or more employees are required to provide health insurance or pay a penalty of $2000 per employee per year. State exchanges enable employers like property management companies to purchase insurance at rates similar to employees of big companies.

In 2018

1. Insurance Companies
1. All insurance plans offer preventative care with no co-pays and no deductible

This blog post for Real Estate Professionals, Investors, Landlord, Property Manager, and Property Management Companies is brought to you by SimplifyEm Pay Rent Online and Property Management Software

Popularity: 79% [?]

Posted by Patrick Riddle at http://www.privatemoneyblueprint.com/index-4.html

Part 1, How to Explode Your Private Money Lending Program with a Newsletter, in the Private Money Millions Series.
What is a Private Money Newsletter?

A private money newsletter is an excellent way to build trust and rapport with your prospects and get mucho dinero faster and easier because of it.

And Im not talking about an electronic newsletter (however email news letters are highly effective and cheap as well!); Im talking about a physical snail mail newsletter.

Now, if youre strapped for time and cash, an e-newsletter is better than nothing, but a physical newsletter is beneficial for many reasons which Ill cover momentarily.
What To Include In Your Newsletter?

But first, here are a few ideas for what could be included in your private money newsletter:

* Sample Deals Show your private money prospects the type of properties you purchase and what the

potential returns would be.
* Real World Deals This is even better than a sample deal because its shows what youre doing, not what you intend to do. If you didnt use a private lender in your real world deals, show what a private lender would have made.

* Articles You could either write articles on the bene fits of private lending or cut and paste from articles you find online (make sure to give credit to the author if you cut and paste). Include any articles that build value in real estate investing and private lending.

* Testimonials If youve never used private money before, get some testimonials from anyone youve done business with and use them to build your character and reputation. You could also use testimonials from any buyers and sellers youve worked with. Heres a great tip for ya when getting testimonials: make them results based.

* Real Estate Market Statistics People love statistics and if youre the one bringing them to them each month theyll be more apt to open up and read your newsletter. Also, another benefit of this is that youre seen as the expert in your area and your credibility goes through the roof. You can even get other investors and realtors on your newsletter when you give out quality content like this to them for free and over time youll build a great relationship w/ them and convert a good percentage into private lenders (or at the very least buyers of your properties).

A great free source for real estate market stats that you can regurgitate and put in your newsletter is John Burns Consulting. Join their free monthly market stats reports and youll get a ton of value out of it.

* Fotos (aka pictures still working on my Spanish had to google that one) Remember the old saying, A picture is worth a thousand words? Well, kee p that in mind here. Use pictures of any properties youve purchased, people youve done business with (buyers, sellers, lenders), or if youre a newbie, pictures of the type of properties youll be purchasing.

Why a Private Money Newsletter Leads to More Money Faster and Easier

1. More Touches Builds Greater Trust and Credibility In marketing, a touch is anytime you put your marketing message in front of your prospect. It coul d be through a TV commercial, newspaper ad, a newsletter, etc. And giving them something tangible, say a physical newsletter thats mailed out monthly or quarterly, is a powerful touch.

Also, just the act of continually getting in front of your prospects eyeballs shows that your business is active, youre doing deals and youre making things happen. This builds massive credibility as they see each and every month the progress youre taking and they feel they want in on the action.

2. Online Biz Makes Owners Lazy Many busines ses are abandoning direct mail and are doing all their marketing online. BUT, direct mail is still a killer strategy to get your message in front of prospects use it to set yourself apart from the competition.

3. People Still LOVE Getting Things in the Mail Theres something about getting stuff in the mail that people just love. Having your newsletter in hand makes it much more likely that it will get read AND it

4. Gives Prospects an Easy Way to Spread the Word about Your Private Lending Program It gives your prospects something to show people and ask their opinion about, it gives them something tangible, something re al. This brings your private lending program from the intangible, from just an idea, to something they can look at, touch and feel.

So, Action Steps

1. Try out the resources below (yes, we do make money off of some of them if you use them but, they are resources we personally use and like. If you enjoy our free info wed appreciate it if you use the links below if youre going to try out those services and sign up for a service to deliver your email newsletter.

2. Set a monthly date for when youre going to send your newsletter out. I like the first week of the month. Once you pick a date stick to that date so your prospects/newsletter subscribers expect it each month.

3. Start gathering people into your newsletter. Now, you need to start getting people into your newsletter. Start with your family, friends, and people you know. Ask them if theyd like to be updated on what youre doing in your biz and on the real estate market. A great way to get them on the newsletter without selling is to ask the m for advice. Like Hey, Im starting up a once a month newsletter on our local real estate market and what were doing in our business would you mind if I put you on the list so you can give me feedback on what you like and dislike?. That way theyll get on and give you feedback but also theyll see the action youre taking and will likely become interested.

Also, put a newsletter signup box on your website (Aweber will create one for you) that advertises real estate market statistics for your local area and real estate news and advice. And/or advertise a free report.

4. Ask for referrals. Make sure in your newsletter at the bottom of each issue you add a phrase that says

Like what you see in our monthly newsletters? Excellent! Forward this email to people who you know will benefit from it. Theyll appreciate you a ton!

That way your current newsletter subscribers are advertising your newsletter for you.

5. Give them great content like we mentioned above. But, DONT sell people into your program or offer any specific investments. What youll want to do is chart deals youre doing, give content, build credibility and trust and in each issue put a blurb in it saying something like

Want to learn how to work with our investment company to make passive profits? Click here.

Then, that can take them to a video on using IRAs to invest in real estate or to a page that briefly explains that you work with people every day in your community who want to get the benefits of real estate but who dont want to actively invest in it themselves. Then, pass them through your Private Lender Questionnaire which qualifies them so you know whether or not theyre an accredited investor that you can talk to.

Chat w/ your attorney about the specifics not everyones state laws are the same.

Weve had students who have emailed us saying that theyve had people on their newsletter list for months sometimes well over a year before they decided they wanted to invest with them. So, for all of the prospects who arent 100% serious about private lending quite yet get them on your newsletter and provide them a ton of value and build credibility with them over time by showing that youre taking action and running a real business.

Itll be much more powerful than you think!
Recommended Resources to Get Your Private Money Newsletter Up and Running

Alrighty now that you realize the importance of a newsletter (gives you an excuse to get in front of your prospect and it builds credibility over time) heres a few resources we think youll enjoy

Direct Mail Newsletter Resources:

* No Hassle Newsletters This service gives you done for you physical newsletter templates and ideas so you just have to plug in your content and run. It isnt the cheapest in the world but their templates and instruction are awesome. Check them out if you want well worth the monthly cost if you implement it.

* 1-800-Postcards A good print shop for good quality and economical printing. They can print up your newsletters for you or just head down to your local Kinkos or Staples and have them do it for you.

Email Newsletter Resources:

* Aweber – The email service that we personally use to send our newsletters out. They have very high deliverability, have a ton of really great email templates to choose from, and are affordable very affordable. Ive tried 4 different email services and Aweber is by far the one I liked the best. Sign up for a Free Trial

* Constant Contact This is another email service a lot of my friends use them and like them. I personally prefer Aweber but, this is another service to try out to see if you like it. They also have great email newsletter templates for you to choose from so you can be up and running your email newsletter within minutes.

* Online Slideshow Service I never did this but one of our Platinum Students has been sending people from his email newsletter to an online slideshow that documents the property rehab and sale they just completed from start to finish so the newsletter subscriber (prospect) can see right there that the project is real and that you as the investor are active and doing deals. This builds huge credibility and is professional.

Well, that does it for Part 1, How to Explode Your Private Money Lending Program with a Newsletter.

Buenas Noches

~ P-Rid

Popularity: 92% [?]