Real Estate Investing: Investment Clubs

Real Estate Investing
Real Estate Investment Clubs?
By Steven Gillman

Your local real estate investment clubs or associations will educate you. It won't be book education, but useful knowledge about your local real estate market. The people there are investors, many who have gotten wealthy investing right in your town. This means you'll get meaningful and specific advice on what is working in your area, where to go for an inspector or property manager, and many other tips and based on real experience.

There are also the actual money-making opportunities that you'll find. People there may need a partner with money, or a partner with time to find deals. Some have properties for sale and want to save the sales commission by selling to one of the members. Also, if you have a business that's in any way related to real estate, you can make valuable contacts. Handyman or landscapers can often find business at our local real estate investment club meetings.

Real Estate Investment Clubs - An Example

The local association that my wife and I belong to is AZREIA, or "The Arizona Real Estate Investors Association." I'll tell you a little about it. If you don't have a similar organization in your own town, this may give you ideas for what to include if you start one.

The association sponsors many educational events and seminars for reasonable fees, but the regular meetings are once each month, and included in the membership fee. It cost $195 per year for the two of us to join. As I write this, I am looking forward to tomorrow's meeting, which will include a winner of the TV show "The Apprentice," Kendra Todd, telling us how she made her first million in real estate.

Speakers are great, but I also like the regular events. Every meeting starts with "Open Networking," for thirty minutes or so. It's an opportunity to meet people, learn a little, and take down names and numbers. We each have a name tag that also tells everyone what our primary interests are, ranging from rental properties to fixer-uppers to wholesaling.

The monthly meeting then officially starts with "Structured Networking." This involves filling out 3 x 5 cards with your name, occupation, real estate experience, and investments you are interested in. This information is systematically traded with randomly chosen others. It's surprising how often profitable connections are made during this process.

The best part of the meeting is the "I have / I want" event. Members (or even visitors) can stand up and announce what they have and what they want. The host writes their phone number on the overhead projector. It is sometimes something as mundane as a microwave an investor needs to get rid of, that someone doing a fixer-upper might need. Often, it is someone who has money but needs help finding good investments. I once announced that I was looking for a mobile home park to buy, and I received three calls within a week.

The meetings are not formal affairs. The millionaires in the room are as likely to have on jeans as a suit. Everyone shares a common purpose - to make money investing in real estate. In fact, even if you have no money to invest, yuo can do just fine. Just go find a great deal, and if the numbers truly work, you can probably find the money at these meetings. It is just one more great thing about real estate investment clubs.

Steve Gillman has invested in real estate for years. To learn more, get a free real estate investing course, and see a photo of a beautiful house he and his wife bought for $17,500, visit http://www.HousesUnderFiftyThousand.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steven_Gillman

Real Estate Investing

Real Estate Investing - The Strongest Investment

Real Estate Investing
Why Land is the Strongest Investment Outperforming Property and Stocks
By Paul Burrows

Did you know?

89,000 people from the UK and USA in January 2006
were looking for UK land investments to purchase via the internet using google and yahoo

Why Land is the strongest investment

There is a huge shortage of Land In The United Kingdom, which is fuelling house prices and rising homeless, so buying land which is undeveloped that can be purchased is a great investment opportunity and taking into account the supply and demand situation in relation to the UK property requirements it is easy to see why.

Land value is rising steeply, and to many who thought this type of investment was only open to developers and professional investors, this is just not the case anymore.

Top Investment Properties represent Leading Property Developers in the UK who offer land investment on their Prime Residential Developments which meet the overwhelming housing demand in England – and, the planning process is handled by the Developer at no additional cost to you, with the buy back agreement in place before you spend one penny!

"One Simple investment can make over 400% return within 4 years"

Many Investors are buying because of the huge benefits of compounding on land that will give them massive profits in the near future using this proven method for wealth creation.

Land Investment Versus Property Investment
Land Investment benefits from no mortgage, tenants, voids, maintenance, utilities etc, etc, etc, as you would expect when purchasing a property for investment, this would mean no headaches and worries at all.

Also with a property investment the initial outlay is higher, and there is no guarantee you would sell at a high profit in the present climate within 4 years, yet alone over 400%.

Compounding
Land is a great low entry investment strategy with the benefits of compounding using this program, let me explain more.

There are now lots available from £10,800 upwards and with the buy back option from the developer in the period of 4 years at around 425% growth, you can make a return on investment of around £45,700.

If you now work this out and compound your land investment of £10,800 every 4 years at this growth rate with this particular land programme, this entitles you to get into more land investment deals, and because the developer is always offering a buy back option, you have the choice, to flip, resell hold or compound.

One initial investment of £10,800.00
4 years return on investment: = £45,900.00
compound for 8 years return on investment = £195,075.00
compound for 12 years return on investment = £829,068.00

So for a total of 12 years your return on investment when compounded works out at £829,068.00 from 1 investment of £10,800.

this developer has 1000s of Acres of land with potential development for investment- and the planning process is handheld by the developer, therefore has the buy back agreement in place before one penny is spent.

Paul Burrows has been providing real estate hot spot information for the last 2 years and has successfully matched Investors with Investments within the same period. If you would like to know more about Land Investment and our 6 Hot Reasons to invest Right Now then please click here http://www.topinvestmentproperties.com/land/ukland.htm

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_Burrows

Real Estate Investing

Real Estate Investing: Donald Trump

Real Estate Investing
Investment Secrets – The Investment That Made Donald Trump Billions
By Sacha Tarkovsky

There is an investment secret that has made many of the world’s wealthiest investor’s huge capital gains.

It has out performed shares, mutual funds unit trusts and property, with lower volatility and has out performed many so called higher risk investments such as managed futures and currencies.

This simple investment secret for capital growth is open to all and only needs a minimum investment of around $10,000.

So, what is it? Read on …

It’s, investing in land

If you have never considered land, its time to start, it really is the investment secret that has made astute investors worldwide fortunes.

It’s now affordable for smaller investors and there are many specialist companies catering for inexperienced investors who can give all the advice and help you need to turn your investment into long term capital gains potential.

As Donald Trump said:

"I just love real estate. It's tangible, it's solid, and it's beautiful."

Howard Hughes was another who took advantage of this investment secret and made big gains, buying underdeveloped land in California, which is now worth billions.

You don’t have to be rich to invest in land either, anyone investing in mutual funds, unit trusts or shares should consider it as a portfolio diversification.

A recent newspaper article featured an investor who turned just a 1,000 investment into 3.5 million in just 11 years!

Now, you may not do as well as this investor but land represents a fantastic opportunity for those who know how to buy in the right location.

So where should you buy land?

The investment secret of investors worldwide is to buy land in the UK for capital growth.

Why?

Quite simply, it is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, has a rising population and a huge shortage of affordable housing.

This means land in the RIGHT location is in short supply.

Buying in the right location

To maximize this investment secret you need to buy in the right location.

Once the land is granted planning permission to build houses, investors will see a big capital gain on the land and can sell at a profit.

920% average gains!

The AVERAGE capital gain on UK land has been a staggering 920% over the last 20 years.

This is far in excess of shares unit trusts or mutual funds and many leveraged investments. Even better this investment has featured low volatility.

Keep in mind this is the AVERAGE and astute investors with good plot location have made far bigger gains.

Limited downside

The downside is limited as well. Even if a land investment does not appreciate much in value it’s unlikely to fall in value much either. As over the longer term land prices tend to rise in value anyway.

Mark Twain once said:

“Buy land their not making it any more”

That’s good advice! As you can see this investment secret is essentially easy to understand and is open to all investors.

Liquidity buy back options

If you need your money quickly, many land companies offer a solid buy back option for the land purchased, so you can cash in your investment at anytime.

Land therefore has a lot of advantages and when you add them all up they give everyone access to the investment secret the world’s wealthiest investors have known for years.

Free report on land investing telling you all you need to know about investing, buying in the right location and buy back options, request your FREE copy today:

http://www.lpgroupinternational.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sacha_Tarkovsky

Real Estate Investing

Real Estate Investing: Idea for Newbies

A REAL ESTATE INVESTING IDEA FOR TOTAL NEWBIES
Copyright © Donovan Baldwin
http://www.quit-the-ratrace.com

All right, you've seen the infomercials for people like Carleton Sheets, or you read an ebook by somebody like T. C. and Vickie Bradley, and you're hot to trot out your wallet and get rich with real estate investing...just like everybody else.

Whoa, Trigger.

Not everybody IS getting rich with real estate investing, no matter what the hype leads you to believe.

First, let's understand a couple of things. There ARE people getting rich with real estate investing. Many of these people have followed the lead of Carleton Sheets or T. C. Bradley or other real estate investing gurus. Those are facts.

Here's one additional fact. If you don't know what you are doing, you can lose your shirt in real estate investing...like a lot of other people.

That's not to say you can't learn, and it's not to say that people like Carleton Sheets or T. C. and Vickie Bradley can't teach you. What it does mean is that you can't listen to one tape, or read one book and run out the door asking for somebody to please take the contents of your wallet! You have got to take the time and make the effort to learn the facts, steps, and inside information necessary to become successful in real estate investing.

However, I realize that those dollar bills are burning a hole in your pocket and you want to get started NOW, so here's a simple way to begin your trek to the top.

Let me tell you how Lois got her real estate investing empire started in Austin, TX. She looked around until she found a small, but well-maintained 4-unit apartment complex in a nice Austin neighborhood. The price was right, so, not having the credit herself to swing the deal, she got her dad to cosign with her. Once the place was hers, she moved into one unit (no more rent to pay), the rent from another unit covered the monthly mortgage, and the rent from the other two units was hers to keep.

Not exactly a get rich quick plan, but it was a start. Since she still had a full time job, she used the extra money from the apartments to pay off bills and loans, including the mortgage, at an accelerated rate. This gave her leverage to buy another unit, and the rest is history. She now is an Austin slumlord...! Seriously, she has done well in this simple way and has grown her initial real estate investment considerably.

In his article, "Buy High Yielding Turnkey Real Estate Investments With Your Signature Alone!", Bill Young, a former bank mortgage officer and real estate investor since 1980 gives valuable pointers in getting started in this sort of deal, sometimes with no down payment required. You can find a copy of this article at http://real--estate--investing.blogspot.com/2006/03/real-estate-investing-buy-with-your.html .

While wheeling-and-dealing in real estate investments can make fortunes, there is a learning curve required to make the kind of money professionals like Carleton Sheets and T. C. Bradley do. If you are a total newbie and just HAVE to get into real estate investing, you might be well advised to follow the example of my friend, Lois, and start with small, occupied apartment units, perhaps using some of the space as a residence, as she did, and using income from the units for investment growth.

About The Author:
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The author is retired from the Army after 21 years of service. He has worked as an accountant, purchasing agent, optical lab manager, restaurant manager, instructor and long-haul, over-the-road truck driver. He has been a member of Mensa for several years, and has written and published poetry, essays, and articles on various subjects for the last 40 years. He has been an active internet marketer since 2000, and now makes his living online. To read more articles by the author, please visit his blogs on Internet Business and Marketing, Health, Fitness, Diet and Weight Loss, or Real Estate Investing.
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Real Estate Investing: Foreclosure Investing

Real Estate Investing
Foreclosure Investing through Private Investors
By Paul Wells

One of the ways to get money to buy foreclosures is from private investors. This article discusses why private investors are so important to your foreclosure investing business.

A traditional way to get money for your foreclosure investments is through a hard-money lender. The hard-money lender will generally charge a percentage of the amount borrowed, or what is known as points. Three points would be three percent of the transaction. For example, if you borrowed $100,000, at 3 points, that would be $3000.

Many hard-money lenders charge interest-only on their loans, meaning they get their principal back in full and the way they make their money is on the interest. In a short term proposition this is not a bad scenario because at the beginning of any amortization schedule, the majority of the money paid out of the monthly payment goes to the lending institution. However, I have seen hard money lenders charge as much as 15 points on smaller deals to be able to fund the deal.

As I continued on with my business, and I started doing more and more deals, it become apparent that my number one need was going to be private money but without the points. So I had to put myself in the place of somebody loaning money.

Put yourself in their place. If you wanted to loan money what would you want to know about the person you’re loaning money to? Obviously, the number one criteria for someone loaning money is, how sure am I going to be that I am going to get my money back, or even a portion of my money back?

One of the most common problems with young investors is that they have no money to invest or their credit is too shaky to finance things themselves. Most banks seem to want more documentation than any person on earth can provide. The challenge in creative real estate is deals need to be done fast. Banks are notorious for not doing things at a speedy pace, but a molasses pace.

One of the exciting things about being a creative investor is that you can take ideas the average person would never have and build them into great dynasties of real estate wealth. Yes, I said great dynasties. It is potentially possible, if you have the ability to network your way through the private investment community, to add a tremendous amount of zeros to your bank account balance.

One of the true challenges for a young real estate investor is going out and finding a good deal but then not having the particular money in place at the time to pull the trigger. The power of private money can be the answer to your creative real estate financing problems and can help take you to the next level.

_________________________________________________

Paul Wells has been investing in foreclosures full-time for more than 5 years. To ask Paul a question, go to his Foreclosure Investing blog here: http://www.AskPaulWells.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_Wells

Real Estate Investing

Real Estate Investing: Ten Tips

Real Estate Investing
Ten Real Estate Investing Tips
By Steven Gillman

Real estate investing tips tend to be a bit vague, like "invest in the right location," or "make sure the numbers work." Actually, tips like these are important principles to remember. However, since they have been well represented in other articles, I want to share a few more specific tips with you.

1. Listen to the market. The cabinet guy looked to me for a decision. I realized that I knew nothing at all about which cabinets people like, so I asked him which ones others were choosing, and he pointed to one that three quarters of his last forty customers had chosen. That's the one I want, I told him. Why argue with the market you are trying to sell to?

2. Do your own research. The real estate agent might show you only the comparable sales that make the property look more valuable. Do your own research. Some counties have made it easy now, with sales prices online. You can also search any number of sites with MLS listings, just to get an idea about the asking prices of other nearby properties.

3. Partner carefully. When you do a deal with partners, be the money or the management, but not both. Group decisions tend not to work well in real estate, and will cause you much stress. Once you decide on and agree to a plan, step back if you are investing the capital, and let your partner do his thing. Of course, step up and take control if you are managing the project.

4. Negotiate openly. Just ask a seller outright, "What do you want to get out of this?" It is rare that someone is offended by this simple question, and it saves you from wasting valuable time talking about things that don't interest him or her. Once you get a clear answer, you can decide if you can give them what they want, and still get what you need.

5. Invest safely. Investing isn't gambling. There is always risk, but the difference is that the odds are in your favor. If not, you are gambling. This why you shouldn't invest based on continued price increases. There is no guarantee that prices will continue up at any particular rate. Do deals that work even if prices go nowhere, and if values go up, you're that much better off.

6. Run the numbers. It is about the numbers, and if it is income property, it's about one number in particular: cash flow. Whatever the local formulas are, whether gross rent multipliers or capitalization rates or whatever, just be sure that after every last expense you'll have cash flow from the very first month.

Rules, formulas and real estate tips are really just guidelines. Even the rule above about cash flow can be broken if you know that rents can be raised soon, for example. You have to use common sense and learn from experience, and you can't replace good analysis with rules, formulas and real estate tips.

Steve Gillman has invested in real estate for years. To learn more, get a free real estate investing course, and see a photo of a beautiful house he and his wife bought for $17,500, visit http://www.HousesUnderFiftyThousand.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steven_Gillman

Real Estate Investing

Real Estate Investing: Buy with your signature.

Real Estate Investing
Buy High Yielding Turnkey Real Estate Investments With Your Signature Alone!
By Bill Young

The worst thing an inexperienced or time strapped real estate investor can have is cash!

Every day, new investors come to us with similar problems. They are losing money on their rentals, they are being driven crazy by tenant, toilet and trash problems and they want out!

They saw “everyone” getting rich in real estate, so they decided they wanted in. They took a couple of courses, read a couple of books and they were ready, or so they thought, to buy rental properties for passive income.

Little did they know that fully 1/3 of small property (1-4 units) owners are driven out of the business each year by the same problems they were encountering!

So, instead of trying to decide which antique letter opener to use to open this month’s rent check, they find themselves trying to decide whether shooting or cyanide is the least painfull way to escape their property’s problems.

Baby sitting tenants whose only purpose in life was to make theirs miserable was no fun. Adding insult to injury, they were paying for the privilege month after month through negative cash flow! Sound familiar?

Many had already sold, most taking losses on their once prized “investments.”

It doesn’t have to be that way.

If they had taken the time to study real estate and acquire knowledge of triple net leases, trusts and equity shares, among other advanced techniques, they could have avoided most of their problems.

Like Robert Kiyosaki, the best selling author says, if you do not have the knowledge to make money in real estate with no money, you will only lose the money you have, investing without the knowledge.

Fortunately, there is an easier way for the new or passive real estate investor to acquire high yielding investments without spending years and/or thousands of dollars on courses to obtain the required knowledge.

The solution is Turnkey Investments that produce high yielding passive income. You can buy them with your signature alone or if you do not have good credit, with seller financing in most cases.

With a turnkey investment, a knowledgeable, experienced real estate professional pre-packages the investment and sells it, ready to go, to you.

The property is occupied, producing positive cash flow monthly and there is a profit built into the buying price, along with an upfront cash payment to you in many cases!

Most importantly, there are no management, repair or maintenance problems for you to contend with. The tenant is contractually required to handle those issues himself! All you have to do is to (add water and stir!) purchase the property and supply an address where you want your checks mailed!

These pre-packaged investments make passive income a reality, even making out of state ownership feasible.

If you have a high enough FICO or credit score, (680+), you can buy the investment with just your signature, no money down!

If you do not have good credit or you just don’t want the hassle of qualifying for a bank mortgage; say you are self employed or a small business owner, you can usually avail yourself of seller financing with a reasonable down payment.

If you have an IRA or other retirement fund, you can buy the investment with your retirement funds and rake in tax free returns so high they’ll make you blush as you tell your friends about it!

When looking for a high yielding, turnkey investment, you want to make sure it includes:

· Monthly positive cash flow and at least 5 other profit centers
· No management or repair responsibilities
· No violation of the lender’s due on sale clause
· Bullet proof asset protection
· Does not produce a taxable event on sale

If you are not familiar with the meanings of some or all of these terms, you can learn about these and other advanced investment concepts at our blog, http://repg.blogspot.com

You should definitely consider turnkey, signature investments until you have the time or knowledge to go it alone.

Copyright 2006 Bill Young.
Bill is a former bank mortgage officer and has been a real estate investor since 1980. He and his associates are real estate consultants and run several real estate educational and investment websites, including http://SignatureInvestors.com and http://SellerFinanceCenter.com You are invited to visit and learn more about Turnkey Investments.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bill_Young

Real Estate Investing

Real Estate Investing:
Foreclosure Investing through Private Investors
By Paul Wells

One of the ways to get money to buy foreclosures is from private investors. This article discusses why private investors are so important to your foreclosure investing business.

A traditional way to get money for your foreclosure investments is through a hard-money lender. The hard-money lender will generally charge a percentage of the amount borrowed, or what is known as points. Three points would be three percent of the transaction. For example, if you borrowed $100,000, at 3 points, that would be $3000.

Many hard-money lenders charge interest-only on their loans, meaning they get their principal back in full and the way they make their money is on the interest. In a short term proposition this is not a bad scenario because at the beginning of any amortization schedule, the majority of the money paid out of the monthly payment goes to the lending institution. However, I have seen hard money lenders charge as much as 15 points on smaller deals to be able to fund the deal.

As I continued on with my business, and I started doing more and more deals, it become apparent that my number one need was going to be private money but without the points. So I had to put myself in the place of somebody loaning money.

Put yourself in their place. If you wanted to loan money what would you want to know about the person you’re loaning money to? Obviously, the number one criteria for someone loaning money is, how sure am I going to be that I am going to get my money back, or even a portion of my money back?

One of the most common problems with young investors is that they have no money to invest or their credit is too shaky to finance things themselves. Most banks seem to want more documentation than any person on earth can provide. The challenge in creative real estate is deals need to be done fast. Banks are notorious for not doing things at a speedy pace, but a molasses pace.

One of the exciting things about being a creative investor is that you can take ideas the average person would never have and build them into great dynasties of real estate wealth. Yes, I said great dynasties. It is potentially possible, if you have the ability to network your way through the private investment community, to add a tremendous amount of zeros to your bank account balance.

One of the true challenges for a young real estate investor is going out and finding a good deal but then not having the particular money in place at the time to pull the trigger. The power of private money can be the answer to your creative real estate financing problems and can help take you to the next level.
_________________________________________________
Paul Wells has been investing in foreclosures full-time for more than 5 years. To ask Paul a question, go to his Foreclosure Investing blog here: http://www.AskPaulWells.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_Wells