Stress only has the presence and control in your life you give it.
Richard flint
We can’t always eliminate the causes of our stress. We can change our reaction to them. Stress is not what is happening to us. Stress is our emotional reaction to what is happening.
Happy investing – Ned
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Guest post By Andrew Hill @ www.NewHomeSource.com
Buying a foreclosure can be a fantastic adventure in real estate. And if you enjoy finding a great price for a home while getting your hands dirty, then it could be a perfect fit. But when shopping foreclosures you must remember this: if something looks too good to be true, it is. Foreclosures aren’t sold at rock bottom prices without reason. But, if you enter into the transaction with the required knowledge and a good understanding of the property you’re considering, foreclosures can be a goldmine of an opportunity.
The first thing to know is that foreclosures often appear old or musty as a result of being left empty for a significant amount of time. This can make the process of selecting the right home difficult because you have to imagine what you can do with the home in the state it is in. That’s not to say every foreclosure you survey will be dilapidated, but you can’t expect them to look like properly staged homes. Many of the home’s problems will also be invisible to the untrained eye, so you will want to have a professional home inspection completed on a home you are considering.
By far the most important part of this game is being prepared. The foreclosure market is highly unpredictable and the best deals go quickly. Therefore, the best way to close a deal is to be prepared with an offer at all times. To do this, you will need to get approved for a mortgage and find an agent who specializes in foreclosures. These two things should happen relatively simultaneously. Once you have these prerequisites under your belt, you’ll be that much closer to sealing the deal.
When you find the perfect property, it’s time to make the offer. You will then fill out the appropriate paperwork, which will be reviewed and given an acceptance or rejection within a matter of days. Should your offer be accepted, you can then proceed to the fun, yet labor intensive stage: reparations and modifications. The key here is to set realistic goals as you improve the home. Timetables should be used, but if you don’t meet each deadline, it’s not the end of the world.
So long as you consistently put in the effort, the fruits of your labor will not be in vain. In a short matter of time, you’ll have a “like new” property. Whether you want to live in it yourself or try to make a profit from it is another story.
The post above is a guest post by Andrew Hill. Andrew is from NewHomeSource.com a great place to find a new home by the way. And if you want a great place to learn about investing or wholesaling bank owned properties (REOs) you can’t do better than my friend Steph Davis’ Flip REOs for fast cash program
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Go to CrabProperties.com for more info and full terms
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I have a limited number of tax liens for sale. These are Baltimore City Tax liens which accrue interest at 18%! I am trying to raise money for this years tax sale and would be willing to let some of my current liens go. Some have foreclosures started and I have an attorney ready to start work on the others.
Some of these certificates will expire soon if foreclosure isn’t filed. My attorney is ready to go. If you are interested reply to this post or use the contact us link near the to of the page.
Happy investing – Ned
→ 4 CommentsTags: real estate · Tax Liens
Today’s quote about self improvement is from a Snapple drink cap. It’s their “Real Fact” #828. I love their fun little sayings.
Snapple drink cap says:
“Every hour more than 1 Billion cells must be replaced”
I love it, however even better I would add
Ned Carey says:
“Every hour you have a billion chances to improve yourself”
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The guys in the video below are fun to watch and high energy. They are of the mind that modifications only prolong the housing troubles. They say more foreclosures short run, will get us back to a stable market faster.
So the question for you is “Should banks increase foreclosures and increase the short term housing market problems? Or should they “Extend and Pretend” at the risk of keeping housing in trouble for years to come? Leave a comment with your ideas.
Whatever your point of view, the indication is that buying bank owned properties will will be a key opportunity for some time to come. Learn the best strategies to buy Bank Owned Property Here.
More about Bank owned properties and REO investing here
Happy investing – Ned
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Because those are the rules! It may not see fair but I explain in the video below
→ 12 CommentsTags: real estate · Tax Liens
Here is a fun quote from one of Ray Croc’s business associates to Ray about opening a McDonalds office in California.
Don’t you like Sunshine Art?
Not if I can get Moonshine, Ray.
Ray Croc and Art Trygg
Hey not everything in business needs to be serious.
From the book Grinding It Out by Ray Croc
Keep Laughing – Ned
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Or is it a Tsunami coming? Rick Sharga from RealtyTrack.com says that “Banks own about 900,000 houses but only 300,000 are on the market!” That means the real supply of REOs is triple what we are seeing today. His prediction; 4-6 million homes will hit the market in the next two years. That is a lot of REOs. (REO stands for Real Estate Owned by the bank)
Just Read Some of the Recent Foreclosure Headlines
I did a quick check of the MLS. In July, 79 out of 312 properties sold were listed as foreclosures. An additional 24 were listed as potential short sales. Added together that means one third of the sales are properties with lender distress. There are 304 active listings marked as foreclosures in Baltimore City.
As far as I am concerned it is Steph Davis. Stephani is a true rags to riches story and her favorite strategy is wholesaling bank owned homes. Must Know Investing website called Steph Davis one of “Best and Brightest Women in Real Estate Investing”. If you want to learn from the best buy her E-book here.
I recommend Steph’s book but more importantly people who I admire and respect like Steve Cook recommend it also. If you want the best program on buying bank owned property click here to buy it now.
Average wholesale deal $2-7,000, the price is only$47. Even with a small deal, that is a 4000% return on your investment.
Steph said I could offer you a 30 day money back guarantee. You have nothing to lose and tens of thousands of dollars to gain. Buy it Now
The 2012 version includes free bonuses. One of these bonuses is an item I regularly get asked about. Missing this bonus is something that holds back many new investors.
Happy investing – +Ned Carey
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Regular readers of this site know I am an active tax lien investor. The property below is one I acquired via the tax lien foreclosure process.
Shame on me because it had a roof leak which I neglected. One leak became two, then three, etc. Now I am a motivated seller. So motivated I have priced the property below at under $4,000 per unit!
Take advantage of my negligence and buy the property below. It deserves an owner who will turn it into the cash cow it deserves to be.
Area rents for two bedroom units are conservatively $600-800. That’s up to $1,600 per month. Rentometer says rents are even higher. They show three, 2 bedroom properties at $850-1200, all within .15 miles
Terms of Sale: “As Is”, no contingencies, Use our contract, $1000 deposit. Ground rent if any to be determined by buyer. A real estate agent or agents may have a financial interest in this property.
Disclaimer: Any suggested repairs, Repair estimates, suggested rents, cash flows, Market Value or after repair value are our opinions only. They are provided for you to be able to pre-screen this offer. Information above is believed accurate but is not guaranteed. Please do your own due diligence. Seller is a real estate licensee in the State of Maryland.
Trademarks and Copyrights: This site is copyright Crab Properties, LLC 2011. “Back of the envelope repair estimate” and the image of an envelope with text representing estimated repairs are both trademarks of Crab Properties, LLC.
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Baltimore Neighborhoods inc has released their 2011 version of their Guide to Local, State and Federal Laws, Governing Tenant-Landlord Relations. This is an indispensable guide if you are a landlord in Maryland.
Their guides summarize and explain in simple terms, Maryland and local tenant landlord regulations. A PDF flyer and order form are available here BNI Manuals. The price goes up in October so order now. They also offer local supplements for various jurisdictions like Baltimore City. If you click through to their form you will see they also offer leases and a tenant application and various other items useful to Maryland Landlords.
If you are a landlord and are not familiar with BNI, it is time to learn about them. This is from their website
BNI’S MISSION…
BNI promotes justice in housing for all people in the State of Maryland through fair housing and tenant-landlord programs and public information activities.
BNI’s VISION…
BNI is committed to helping shape a more just society by ensuring equal opportunities in housing throughout the State of Maryland. BNI promotes citizens living together as good neighbors without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, marital status, physical or mental disability, or sexual orientation.
It would be tempting to say based on their vision and mission that they are a tenant advocacy organization. This often implies anti landlord. In Baltimore Neighborhood Inc.’s case they recognize good tenant treatment starts with Landlord education.
Their manuals are an excellent example. They are also willing to answer many of your land lording questions over the phone for free. They are an excellent resource to keep you out of trouble. Bookmark their website Baltimore Neighborhoods Inc. They have lots of information there on fair housing and tenant landlord law.
Happy Land lording,
Ned
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One of the issues we used to see with financing was “seasoning”. Lenders wouldn’t loan on the resale of a property that was just recently purchased. The purpose was to avoid “fraudulent flipping.” Of course it didn’t stop fraud in just made it tough for legitimate real estate investors to rehab and flip houses quickly.
Well we are seeing something similar in today’s market. Some banks are adding seasoning requirements to REO or short sales properties. The banks are requiring the property be held for a period, typically 90 days, before being resold. I guess they figure if someone is going to make a profit it should be them.
Here is the text from an example by GMAC
Property flips occur when ownership of one property changes several times in a brief
period of time. Property flipping becomes illegal and a fraud for profit scheme when
a home is purchased and resold within a short time frame at an artificially inflated
value. For the purposes of this statement, a short time frame is defined as a period
extending ninety (90) days from the date of the short sale transaction.BUYER represents, along with BUYER real estate agent, that I/WE are not involved
in a for profit scheme to flip the property and that there are no current agreements,
written or otherwise, to immediately re-sell the Property at a higher price, and that no
transactions of this nature will take place within ninety (90) days of the date of
closing on the short sale transaction.I/WE represent that there are no relationships between any parties involved in the
transaction, including BUYER, SELLER, FINANCING COMPANY OR
INSTITUTION, NEGOTIATOR, or REAL ESTATE AGENT.I/WE understand that any information associated with the short sale, may be made
available to federal, state, and/or local law enforcement agencies for such action
within their jurisdiction as they deem appropriate if illegality related to this short sale
is discovered.
I heard a story from an attorney, that Bank of America sued an investor because he had quickly resold a property for a profit. (Sorry I can’t confirm this because if you search Bank of America and lawsuit there are just to many responses to filter through). Their basis was because the investor defrauded the bank on what the property was worth. Oh come on now, Bank of America has all kinds or resources at it’s disposal. They can click a button on their computer and get a automated valuation model in about 30 seconds. They have real estate agents which are essentially on staff.
If they wanted to know the condition of the property they could get off their fat asses and actually go look at the thing. In most cases a two minute walk through would tell them the overall condition of the house.
This is laughable on the part of banks. Basically only investors buy bank owned properties. Of course the investor expects to sell the property for a profit. That is why they buy it in the first place. Banks are proving once again they know nothing about real estate or business.
Fortunately this isn’t happening on every transaction. It’s just another roadblock that we have to get around. It shouldn’t stop you, but is something you should know about so that you can structure your deal properly
Happy investing,
Ned
→ 11 CommentsTags: real estate
It’s only too late if you don’t start now
Barbara Sher – from her book title
Many people lament what they could have done, without realizing they can still do it. Sadly the same things that kept them from doing it before keep them from doing it now. Yet it is never to late to change and have a better life.
I haven’t read the book but it sounds interesting. Buy it from Amazon and let me know what you think.
Happy investing
Ned
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The short video below shows the incredible power of words. How you say something can make as much difference as what you say. Often you can gradually get someone to come around to your point of view by being creative in how you present your message. Politicians were the first to call it “spin”. The funny thing is most politicians aren’t very good at it.
The ability to communicate effectively is one of the most important business skills you can have. Real estate, is a people business. Yes you need to know the numbers but you can’t do a deal without dealing with people; sellers, buyers, agents, lenders etc. Most real estate deals are made not found. They are negotiated. The multiple list service doesn’t have check boxes for positive cash flow, owner financing, or no money down.
A beautiful and powerful message. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or share it via your favorite social network.
Happy investing,
Ned
→ 13 CommentsTags: Business and Finance · real estate · Success & Wealth Building
Recently Google introduced their 1+ button. This was so users could easily tell others that they liked a site. You can see a white or blue box, with a “+1″ in it, just above this post and below the title. You can also click next to the listing in the search results. It is white if you have not clicked it and it turns blue after you click it. Go ahead and click it now to see what happens. OK nothing earth shattering happens but it might help my site rank a little better; so thanks.
I would love to have lots of Plus One clicks for my site. You can only click it once however. If you click the button a second time you are un-liking it. Each time you click you either turn it on or off. Make sure it is blue, that means you like it.
If you want more information, here is a Google Plus One Button info page.
I see very few sites that have the Plus One button yet. Even many of the blogs about blogging don’t have it yet. Some sites that have written about it, I had to search hard to find the button to give them credit for their post. Hint – Mine is just below the post title.
If you want to promote your real estate site, blog or any other site you can add the Plus One button. You need to know just a tiny bit about coding but if you run a blog you probably already know enough to install it. Get the Plus One button here.
There has been much speculation how the new button would be used by Google. Would Google use this to help rank where sites show up in search results? It seems like spammers would jump on that to scam the system. Leo Dimilo who writes about internet marketing strategies, recently wrote a post for the Famous Bloggers site. Leo suggested which +1 buttons you click will help Google customize your personalized search results.
Well now we know at least part of how Google will use the button. It was only the first step in the roll out of a new Social Marketing Network. On June 28 Google posted on there blog describing their new Google + Project.
Here is a brief overview video
There are a LOT of cool features; too much to fully describe here. You can check out the Google + Project blog page here. Now for the bad news, according to Google The Google+ Project is “in a limited field trial”. But don’t let that stop you from clicking the +1 button now
Happy investing, Marketing, Socializing
Ned
PS go ahead and +1 or Stumble, Digg, Buzz, Like or Tweet Now
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