Real Estate Wealth Fast and The American Dream

How To Build Real Estate Wealth Fast To Achieve The American Dream

The stock market is no place to build any kind of real estate wealth fast. Look at the Wall Street super firms struggling for survival.

A lot of firms on Wall Street were founded on building real estate wealth fast. But no more, it’s all just smoke and mirrors today.

In Detroit, the automotive industry is on life support and hoping for mouth - to - mouth resuscitation from everybody’s favorite Uncle or Big Brother – depending on their perspective.

Elsewhere, from Main Street to some of the lesser - known boardrooms across this great land, Americans from all backgrounds and political persuasions have one thing in common: they’re all circling their collective wagons, convinced that life as we know it has either come to an end – or soon will. 

How To Build Your Real Estate Wealth Fast

So where do you fit in?

Are you going to join the crowd and act like a lemming?

Or are you willing to harness a once - in - a - lifetime opportunity and hitch your wagon to building your real estate wealth fast and grab your piece of the American Dream?

It’s really no secret that people everywhere are fearful for the future and have lost sight of building wealth through real estate.

They’ve watched their life’s savings evaporate in a few months time, seen some of the biggest financial giants in the world topple like dominoes, and in some cases have learned first?hand what it’s like to be handed a pink slip.

With all this bad news, one of the soundest pieces of advice known to man – building your real estate wealth fast - has been relegated to junk bond status by almost everyone.

As a result, most people have little hope for the future.

You have a chance to be different by choosing to build your real estate wealth fast.

Now is a very special opportunity for you to secure a future free from financial worry by investing in your real estate wealth building system. 

Learn The System To Build Real Estate Wealth Fast

When everyone else is cashing in their chips and going home, savvy investors are taking some initiative and buying all the real estate they can get their hands on while prices are low.

It’s the best way to build real estate wealth fast that you can think of.

It’s true that real estate prices have hit distressing lows and billions of dollars of equity has disappeared from the real estate market.

That’s all the more reason to buy real estate now – and to start building your real estate wealth fast today - before prices shoot back up.

Economics 101 tells us that the Law of Supply and Demand dictates that the best time to start building your real estate wealth fast is when nobody else wants it.

The fact is, right now nobody wants real estate.

That means demand is low.

Which means that prices are even better.

Nobody ever got rich overnight by buying an asset that is expensive and in demand.

The best time to start building your real estate wealth fast is now, while prices are low. There’s almost no competition and many of these wealth building real estate properties can be purchased for as little as 40 or 50 cents on the dollar. 

Why To Start Building Your Real Estate Wealth Fast Now

I know that the average person would rather shoot themselves in the foot than buy something that may or may not go up in value.

Before you take aim on your big toe, think about this:

Real estate generates cash flow and that’s the key to starting to build your real estate wealth fast.

During the Great Depression, millionaires were created when people with a little bit of money or credit bought as many low?priced investments as they could reasonably get their hands on, with the firm belief that times would eventually get much better.

They knew way back then that the time was ripe to start building their real estate wealth fast.

When that happened, they would become overnight millionaires or multimillionaires.

Conventional wisdom says that you run from danger whenever possible. 

Cash Flow Properties Build Real Estate Wealth Fast

But these aren’t conventional times.

Now is the time to scoop up as many bargain properties as you can.

You can guarantee a winning transaction by making sure you’ll have positive cash flow – the key ingredient in building your real estate wealth fast.

You’ll have the added bonus of monthly, on?going cash flow.

Ultimately, property values will skyrocket. When they do, your net worth will grow with meteoric speed and your real estate wealth will be built fast than you can believe. 

The Key To Building Your Real Estate Wealth Fast

You’ll become an almost overnight success story.

All because you had the nerve to defy the flawed logic of the rest of the crowd and start building your real estate wealth fast today.

Now is the time for you to harness your future. The wealthiest people in the world can’t all be wrong.

They’re buying as much real estate as they can.

That’s the key to building your real estate wealth fast.

Using Social Media In Property Management

Investment Property Management And Social Media

Since the humongous Facebook IPO is on its way I wanted to share a few tips on how to use social media for your investment property management.

Believe it or not there’s such a thing now as a ‘Social Media Manager’, who for a few thousand dollars A MONTH will teach you how to use social media.

=> Learn How To Market Property

Knowing how to use social media for your real estate and investment property management business is not that difficult.  You just have to keep a few things in mind.

Why Use Social Media For Real Estate

First, let’s step back and take a quick look at why you should use social media in the first place.

After all, if you’re part of the baby boom generation you probably didn’t grow up with Facebook, Twitter, Digg, and the internet, so sometimes it’s a bit of an intellectual struggle as to why use this social media stuff in the first place.

Several years ago, maybe a bit longer, it was very common to run newspaper display advertising or print classified advertising when you had space for rent.

Using the yellow pages was another must-do, and it was easy to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars a month for a rather small display ad in your local yellow page directory.

Media Dinosaurs

It’s no secret that now days a lot of people do not read the paper, let alone watch the evening news.  There are a lot of reasons for this but we’ll save that discussion for another day.

The yellow page directory today, at best, is used for a door stop. 

I don’t know about you, but I can’t tell you the last time I actually used the yellow pages.  There is one in our office, somewhere in the lobby or maybe the copy room, I’m not exactly sure.

Today it’s all on the internet and that’s where people go to for information and a whole lot more.

That’s also reason numero uno why you should be on the internet too.

Using On Line Social Media

When we think about how to use social media for your real estate and investment property management business what we’re really talking about is having a PRO ACTIVE PRESENCE on the internet, some ‘face time’ if you will.

At a minimum you should have accounts with these social media outlets:

1. Facebook
2. Twitter
3. Digg
4. On Line Article Directories like Blogger, Gather and Ezine*

* I used to use Ezine, but these guys have gotten to be such a pain in the you know what that they’re really not worth the hassle any more.

With these above social media outlet suggestions I assume you’ve already got a website set up.

=> Learn How To Use Social Media On Your Website

Details On How To Use Social Media

With Facebook you can quickly and easily set up a profile for your self and your businesses.

Facebook is pretty much do-it-yourself, but if it seems like too much trouble then hire somebody to do it for you – You can probably find a friend’s kid or younger employee of yours who’ll do it for free.

A Twitter account is simple to set up also.  You can even have your Facebook account send ‘tweets’ to your Twitter account.

Unless you have a lot of spare time on your hands you don’t necessarily have to send any messages out on your Twitter account.  Simply let Facebook do it for you.

Digg, Blogger and Gather are great websites for posting short, original content articles that contain ‘backlinks’ to your main Website and your Facebook account.

In short, what Backlinks do is demonstrate to the search engines, like Google and Bing, that your on line presence has some credibility.

More On How To Use Social Media

You could go on, and on, and on about how to use social media for your real estate and investment property management business, Facebook Twitter, Google, Bing, search engines, backlinks and much more.

With this article on how to use social media I hope you’ve gotten an idea of some of the quick and easy things you can do to start building and expanding your on line presence.

As always, I hope you’ve found this article on how to use social media in your real estate business useful!
Jeffrey Roark
Basic Property Management Blog 

How To Rent A House In One Day

Here’s How To Rent A House In One Day Or Less

I figured out a way to rent my house in one day and I didn’t even use a real estate agent, the multiple listing services, or any of that other time wasting stuff.

My house for rent was priced at a market rent and I found good tenants to rent my house.

You probably know that a lot of time and money is wasted trying to rent a house.

Last week I was able to rent my house in only one day – actually less than 24 hours – by following a few simple steps and using free or inexpensive marketing techniques.

=> Get More Tips On How To Rent A House Using Social Media

Simple Steps To Rent Your House

Here are the items you’ll need to rent your house fast:

1. Sign
2. On Line Advertising
3. Website
4. Phone number for prospects to call

Total cost for the above, assuming you already have a phone number - $25.

Think about it.

If your house rents for $900 a month, that’s $30 per day in rental income.

Each day that your house is vacant, off of the market, not rented, you’re losing $30 each and every day.

So last week when I rented my house in less than one day, I spent less money - $25 – than a single day’s worth of rental income.

I didn’t have to run expensive newspaper ads, I didn’t have to pay a real estate agent to put up a sign and pay them a juicy commission just to have them sit around and wait for the phone to ring.

I didn’t have to listen to their excuses about why my house wasn’t getting rented.

I did it my self and saved a ton of money, and so can you.

Learn How To Rent A House Fast

Here’s the rundown on the steps I used to rent my house in less than one day:

Sign

This was the most expensive part of getting my house rented. The nice thing is that I can use the sign again, next time I have to rent my house.

There are plenty of inexpensive, on line websites where you can design your sign and have it printed and shipped to you ASAP.

You don’t have to be a graphic artist or designer because these sign design websites have easy-to-use templates.

As long as you can spell, you can design your sign in less than a few minutes.

When you design your sign, be sure to put your phone number on the sign (I know what you’re thinking but you’d be surprised at how many people forget this step) and make sure to put your website address on the sign.

On Line Advertising

There is one free – or depending on what market you’re in, inexpensive – on line advertising source that will work for you each and every time.

It’s simple to post an on line ad.

Don’t try to write a novel about your house for rent with your on line advertising.

Simply include some basic information about your house for rent, what the rent is, one picture of the house, where it’s located, and a link to the free website that you’ve set up for your rental home.

Also, be sure to include your name and phone number.

DO NOT include an email address. You want prospects to call you, not write you.

Website

Set up a simple, free website.

On your house rental website include a little more detail about your house for rent, but again, do not write a novel. You want prospective renters to call you for more information.

Include a few more photos, an on line flyer if you have one and a rental application if you have one.

=> Learn More About Using Internet Marketing To Rent Your House

Make sure your website has your phone number that prospective renters can call to schedule an appointment to see your house.

More Tips On How To Rent A House

That’s it. You can actually do all of the above – design and order your sign, write a short on line ad, and design a simple real estate website for your rental house in less than one hour.

Sure, it might take a bit longer the first time around, but think of all the money you’ll be saving by not having a real estate agent wasting your time and by getting your house rented fast.

In the 5 Step House Rental eBook we give you the details on where to go for easy on line sign design, free and inexpensive on line advertising, and teach you quick and easy ways to set up a website.

Click here to learn more about the 5 Step House Rental eBook

I hope you've enjoyed this article about how to rent a house in less than one day without using a real estate agent!

Jeffrey Roark
How To Rent My House Real Estate Training

Tips On How To Market Property

A Few Tips On How To Market Property

Good ideas on how to market property are becoming more and more important as the competition for good tenants increases.

In the good old days you could put up a sign and wait for the phone calls to come in so tips on how to market property weren’t all the important.

You’ve probably noticed that the ‘good old days’ are just that.

I read the other day that compared to a couple of months ago, both retail and office vacancies are on the increase, apartment vacancies are on a slight decrease, and that more and more people in their 20s and 30s and moving back in with their parents.

This has enormous implications on how to market property and is a leading indicator of how much competition there is – and will be – for good quality, paying tenants. 

How To Market Property – The Basic Steps

There are only a few basic items that you need to effectively market your property:

1. Sign
2. On Line Advertising
3. Website

Total cost for the above, excluding a phone number to call, is about $30. That’s the cost of the sign.

These property marketing items are the same whether you have one unit or space available for rent or sale, or multiple units.

It doesn’t matter. Think of these items as the building blocks of your property marketing campaign. 

Learn How To Market Property

Here’s a quick breakdown of each item, what to do, and what to include and - just as importantly – what Not to include.

Sign

At about $30 before shipping this is the most expensive part of the three how to market property steps.

Buying a sign is something of a one-time investment because the odds are you’ll be able to use it over and over again.

There are plenty of inexpensive, on line websites where you can design your sign and have it printed and shipped to you ASAP.

You don’t have to be a graphic artist or designer because these sign design websites have easy-to-use templates so you can design your sign in just a few minutes.

Think of your sign as an outdoor billboard. The simpler the better, and the more eye catching the better.

Remember that people seeing your sign are probably not standing still so keep your message short and sweet.

When you design your sign, be sure to put your phone number on the sign (I know what you’re thinking but you’d be surprised at how many people forget this step) and make sure to put your website address on the sign.

On Line Advertising

There are a few free – or depending on what market you’re in, inexpensive – on line advertising sources that will work for you each and every time.

It’s simple to post an on line ad.

Don’t try to write a novel about your property with your on line advertising.

Simply include some basic information about your space for lease or sale, what the price is, one picture of the property, where it’s located, and a link to the free website that you’ve set up.

Also, be sure to include your name and phone number.

DO NOT include an email address. You want prospects to call you, not write you.

Website

Step #3 of how to market property is to set up a simple, free website.

On your real estate website include a little more detail about your property, but again, do not write a novel. You want prospects to call you for more information.

Include a few more photos, an on line flyer if you have one and a rental application if you have one.

Make sure your website has your phone number that prospects can call to schedule an appointment for a showing or tour. 

More Tips On How To Market Property

That’s it. Pretty simple, yet I’m still surprised at how many owners, landlords, agents and property managers don’t take the time to do these few simple things.

You can actually do all of the above – design and order your sign, write a short on line ad, and design a simple real estate website for your property in less than one hour.

Even if you’ve never designed a sign or built a website before.

I hope you've enjoyed this article about how to market property.

Jeffrey Roark
Basic Property Management Blog

The Basic Steps To Building Your Real Estate Wealth Fast

How To Build Your Real Estate Wealth Fast – The Basics

My article a few weeks ago on how to build your real estate wealth fast received a tremendous amount of response so I wanted to follow it up with another that I hope you'll enjoy.

Last month I strongly encouraged you to stop thinking about it and starting doing it.

Today I’m going to strongly suggest that now is the time to begin quickly building your real estate wealth.

I don’t have crystal ball so I have no idea if the market is bottomed out yet.

What I do know is that only a fool tries to time the exact bottom – or top – of a market.

Trying to do that is a sure-fire recipe for Not building your real estate wealth fast.

What I also know is that in almost every market there is a huge amount of money flowing in buying up short-sales, REOs and foreclosures.

Property is being rehabbed, rented, flipped, and real estate wealth is being built fast, right before your eyes.

Savvy real estate investors – people just like you – are getting wealthy in real estate as we speak.

There’s a huge amount of opportunity out there right now to start building your real estate wealth:

• Lenders aren’t getting their loans paid
• Home owners are getting foreclosed on
• Renters are relocating because their rentals are getting foreclosed on
• Banks have so much product in the pipeline that they don’t know what to do
• Sellers that need to sell now are amazingly motivated to sell . . . .

To sell to someone just like you who is intent on seizing the day and building their real estate wealth. 

Look Before You Leap

There are a few things that you should keep in mind before getting started:

Bidding Wars

Do not ever get caught up in a bidding war.

I’ve personally seen some otherwise smart real estate investors get emotional over a particular deal and pay way more than they should have.
Have your game plan set up, know what your exit strategy is before you buy, understand what your true rehab costs are going to be, and always have a Plan B and C if possible.

OPM

Using Other People’s Money is what a lot of real estate wealth is built on.

Remember, the more of your own money you have tied up in the purchase, the less you’ll have for rehabbing and marketing to find tenants.

Reliable Suppliers and Vendors

Have these guys and gals lined up before you close the deal.

Creating a Rehab Team is one of the smartest things you can do to build your real estate wealth fast. Unless you have a lot of time on your hands - and a lot of skilled construction knowledge – it’s best to outsource this part of your wealth building real estate investment project.

Buy From Sellers Who Want To Sell

Even with the way the market is today there are still sellers out there who whine about having to sell for less than what they (over) paid for their property during the boom times.

Is this your problem?

Of course not. If you’re trying to buy real estate from a seller that doesn’t want to sell for what you think the property is worth, then move on.

It’s their loss, and your future gain.

Stick To Your Plan

Know if you’re buying the property and will keep it for the cash flow, or if you’ll building your real estate wealth fast by selling the thing to another investor.

=> Learn More About Building Your Real Estate Wealth Fast

Have your Rehab Team put together and understand what your actual costs are going to be to get the rental property up and running and rented fast.

I hope you've enjoyed this article on how to build your real estate wealth.

Jeffrey Roark
How To Rent My House

The Bottom Of The Housing Bubble?

If you're an active real estate investor or investment property manager like I am, the short answer to this housing bubble question is, "I don't know."

The somewhat longer answer to whether we're close to the bottom of the housing bubble is, "I don't think so." 

Where Is The Housing Bubble Bottom?

Let's start with this chart from the Census Bureau that tracks home ownership rates for the past 16 years:

You could make the argument that we're reverting back to the norm of 1995 where ownership rates of homes was about 64% versus today's level.

This next chart uses data from the Case-Shiller Housing Price Index and tracks back to just post World War II, a better view than going back just to 1995:



Up until the year 2000 when the housing boom went vertical, the price index bounces around between 100 and 120.

You may know from experience that the pendulum always swings further in one direction before going back to the norm, so you could guesstimate that housing prices are going to drop another 15% - 20% in the next few years. 

Should You Wait For The Housing Bubble Bottom?

No body has a crystal ball, so the answer to that question is going to vary with each investor.

Here are a few things to consider:

Has the market bottomed out?

The favorite definition of a buyer's market is when there are 10 properties for every 1 buyer.

Experienced real estate investors will never, ever, try to time the top or the bottom of any market.

Investment Strategy and Product Types

What is the real reason for buying a property and what asset class matches your business skills & personality?

CAP rate

What is projected for the property and are you satisfied with that return?


Cash-on-Cash return

What is projected for the property and are you satisfied with that return?

Capital reserves

No matter how many profit & loss variables an investor considers, some of them are going to be wrong.

Market rents could significantly drop, competitors could flood the market, the economy could stagnate for years, property taxes could increase, and it could take much longer than expected for the house to rent.

Is there money in the bank - the capital reserves - to cover these worst-case scenarios?

Cash. Speaking of money in the bank, many experienced investors will pay cash for a property and seek to finance later. In a distressed market the ability to close quickly with few contingencies will lead to more deals being made at lower acquisition prices.

In The Basic Property Management eBook I really focus and drill down on how to find the right real estate investment property, how to set the right investment expectations, and how to set up a system to profit and make money from your investment real estate.

=> Learn more about Investment Property Management

There are certainly opportunities in residential investment real estate right now that are created by the housing bubble.

Experienced real estate investors will take their time, analyze the investment returns with each individual deal, and always have a drop dead point where if they can't get exactly what they want, they'll move on to the next deal.

The housing bubble has given us a lot of great real estate investment deals to pick and choose from.

I hope you've found this article on the housing bubble and investment property management useful!

Jeffrey Roark
Basic Property Management Blog

Tips For Tenants On Foreclosed Home Rentals

Some Tips If You’re A Tenant Renting A Foreclosed Home

Am I going to be renting a foreclosed home?

Renting a foreclosed home is one of the biggest fears that tenants have, and also a common questions that you’ll run into if you’ve got a home for rent.

If you’re a landlord don’t take the question personally.

The fact is that in today’s real estate market, a lot of tenants end up renting a foreclosed home that they had no idea was getting foreclosed on.

=> Click here to get more Tips For Tenants

Until they come home one day and see the notice on the door.

Foreclosure Rent Scams

Unfortunately there’s a few scammy landlords out there that decide to stop paying the mortgage on their rental home, but keep collecting the rent from the tenant, then disappear when the rental home gets foreclosed on.

Leaving the tenant holding the bag and scrambling to find a new place to rent.

If you’re a tenant, I Know you’ve heard these stories before.

The sad thing is, most people only know or care about the ‘tenant scam’ stories but simply aren’t aware of the real estate investors that trick tenants into renting a foreclosed home.

Tenant Tips For Foreclosure Rentals

If you’re a renter and trying to avoid a home going into foreclosure, it can be tough.

Some areas have ‘disclosure laws’ where a pending foreclosure or trustee sale is public record, and some do not.

So trying not to rent a foreclosure home can sometimes be like a roll of the dice.

The good news is, in 2009, there was a Federal law passed called The Protecting Tenants At Foreclosure Act that gives you, the tenant, specific rights if the home you’re renting is foreclosed on.

To get a copy of the law just do an internet search of “Protecting Tenants At Foreclosure Act”.

Tenant Protections For Renting A Foreclosed Home

Here are a few tips to follow if you’re a renter and want to protect yourself in case the home you’re renting gets foreclosed on:

• Have a valid written lease
• Make sure the rent is at fair market
• Don’t rent from a relative

With this last point I don’t mean to imply that your relatives are going to stiff you.

In order for the Federal law to protect you, the rental home lease has to be an ‘arms length’ transaction.

As a renter you’ve probably got a good feel for what the ‘fair market’ rent is.

With the lease, it might be worth paying a real estate agent or a real estate attorney a few bucks to get a second opinion.

The one exception to these above rental home tips is:

If the person buying the foreclosed home that you’re renting wants to live there themselves, then you do need to leave within 90 days of notice.

When I wrote the 5 Step House Rental eBook I figured that a lot of landlords and property manages would be buying the book. And they did.

=> Learn to Build Your Wealth In Real Estate Fast

But I’ve also discovered that there quite a few tenants buying the eBook as well, so that they can learn how to think like a landlord!

As always, I hope you’ve enjoyed this How To Rent My House article on renting a foreclosed home!

Jeffrey Roark
How To Rent My House

Tenant Lease Default - How To Spot Them Before They Happen

The Early Warning Signs Of Tenant Lease Defaults 

Tenant lease defaults usually come at the worst possible time.

Just when you think everything in your property is running smoothly, when you’ve finally reached that magical 100% occupancy number, you get a phone call informing you that a tenant is defaulting on its lease.

No doubt about it, tenant lease defaults can catch you by surprise.

But often times there are early warning signs that will let you spot potential tenant lease defaults before they catch you off guard. 

Know Your Tenant Patterns

Before you can begin to accurately predict if a tenant is going to default, you need to know what the tenant’s normal patterns are.

You should know by memory these tenant patterns:

• What date you normally receive the rent check
• What are their normal business hours
• Who normally runs the shop or office
• How prompt are they in returning messages
• How often do they complain, and what do they complain about

Once you understand what your tenant’s normal behavior pattern is, you can then keep an eye out for changes in tenant behavior, changes that might be a sign of pending tenant lease defaults.

When there's a change in behavior, you should understand well enough what the tenant's normal behavior is, to say to yourself, "That's odd . . . .".

To be sure, one or two changes don’t necessarily mean anything, but if you start to notice a change in the overall behavior pattern of your tenant, you’re probably going to have a tenant default on your hands. 

Tenant Lease Default Examples

Here are a few situations where I’ve found early warnings signs to be a reliable predictor that a tenant may start to have trouble paying the rent:

Increasing number of complaints from the tenant

Usually if business is slow and people have trouble paying the rent, they’ll look for an outside source to blame.

That source is often going to be you, or the property that they’re renting from you.

One early warning sign of tenant lease defaults is when the tenant starts to complain – a lot – about things like landscaping, the neighboring tenants, or little things that were never an issue before that are suddenly a big deal.

Forgetting to pay the rent

Everybody forgets to do things.

You’ve probably forgotten to pay a bill once or twice in your life.

I know I have. But not that often.

If your tenant forgets to pay the rent statement once, make a mental note of it. It may be nothing, or it may be an early warning tenant default sign.

Watch to see if a pattern of forgotten rent payments develops. Often you’ll see one ‘forgotten month’, followed by a few ‘remembered months’, then back to a forgotten month.

Complaints about the condition of your property

If you’re following a property management routine similar to the one we describe in The Basic Property Management eBook, your property management is probably going like clockwork, and any issues that might come up are quickly taken care of.

Your property is presentable, attractive to your tenants and their customers, and lets you maximize the rental income.

In other words, the condition of your property is pretty much the same, day in and day out.

With this in mind, if you start getting complaints from a tenant about -

• Parking
• Trash pickup
• Water pressure
• Tenant next door

All of the little things that haven’t changed since the complaining tenant moved in but that are now suddenly a Big Deal,

You’ll want to start watching the tenant carefully to see if there are other early warning signs of a tenant lease default.

Click to learn more about tenant management in The Basic Property Management eBook

Jeffrey Roark
Basic Property Management Blog