Archive for the ‘real estate investing’ Category
Monday, October 29th, 2007
Want to teach your kids how to manage money? Do you want them to share your desire to develop income independence?
In the post “Do As I Do” at Overcoming Real Estate Obstacles, Carol says, “You’ll never be financially secure working for someone else. Your job, as much as you love it, is always at risk for many different reasons. Therefore, you need to make your job a bit less important. The only way to do this is to start a business of your own. You can begin small, while you’re still working. That way, you will be prepared if your fired, laid off, or the company you work for shuts down.”
And she says that the way that our kids learn about financial realities is by setting a good example. If they watch us do it, they are far ahead of the pack. I encourage you to read this excellent article.
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Tags:begin small, do as I do, Overcoming real estate obstacles, refinancing a house, start a business of your own, you'll never be financially secure working for someone else
Posted in do it yourself, investing, investing financial independence, investing in real estate, investing in your spare time, investment house, investment property, investments, investmet properties, money, multiple careers, real estate investing, real estate principles, success, teaching children | No Comments »
Sunday, October 21st, 2007
Think you’ve got it rough with your real estate investing?
In this blog post by Overcoming Real Estate Obstacles, the author describes how she bought real estate in spite obstacles, and with eight kids to take care of.
She found a way to invest while raising a busy family. As she relates it, “Research was key. First I’d get the free new home magazines from the grocery stores. I would mark the neighborhoods where I thought the numbers would work. Then I’d call the agents asking about the pricing for the current phases, tax rate, HOA, etc, in order to determine if that development was still a viable option. On the weekends, we’d pack up the kids and peruse the areas in person.”
It’s an insightful and inspirational story.
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Tags:obstacles to real estate investing
Posted in overcoming obstacles, real estate investing | No Comments »
Saturday, September 29th, 2007
In a comment posted on yesterday’s blog (“Real Estate Gurus”) the writer rightly pointed out that John T. Reed receives a lot of criticism. It’s true that Reed may not provide a balanced review of some gurus. Sometimes he may have an ax to grind, and he can be strident, blunt and arrogant.
Many people saw his attack on Robert Kiyosaki’s book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” as over the top. “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” is not my favorite book, but Reed was using a cannon to swat a fly in his book review.
To provide some insight into what the critics say of John T. Reed, I post this link to a review of Reed’s new book by Aaron Wall of SEO Books. The comments following the review go into even more detail about the criticisms that are made about Reed.
While Reed can be opinionated and harsh, most of his guru evaluations seem to hit the mark. He is the only person on the web that provides this kind of information, and maybe it takes a guy with a thick-skinned confrontational personality to dig out the information he comes up with. Some of these gurus do lie, cheat people out of money, and use questionable hard-sell tactics. They’re no saints either. It would be nice if Reed could evaluate them without such a hard edge, but where else can the average person turn to for this kind of information?
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Posted in gurus, John T. Reed, real estate investing | 1 Comment »
Monday, September 10th, 2007
For those of us in the fixer upper rental house business I like to share interesting books that I happen to be reading.
I am presently reading Bryan Wittenmyer’s book Perpetual Income: How to Generate Cash Flow from Low-End House Investment. The author writes a book that truly gets down to the nuts of bolts of all aspects of finding, buying and renting low-income properties. A lot of real estate books are 90% fluff and 10% substance. This book is 100% substance.
The key, as Wittenmyer explains it, is to buy low-end (and not slum) housing because it is cheaper to buy, pays a pretty good monthly rent, and can be paid off quickly. This book has an enormous amount of really practical suggestions that apply to both low-end housing as well as middle-end properties.
I particularly enjoyed his section on what to repair, in recognition of the fact that the tenants will not take care of the property anyway. I like his practical advise on how to repair typical rental problems, but by spending the absolute least amount of money in the process. One suggestion was to mix leftover paints together in a five gallon paint bucket, and use the resulting grey paint to paint attics, or other areas where the color doesn’t matter. He also suggests not washing a wall before painting (unless heavy dirt exists) because paint can do a great job of covering the fingerprints and odors. Wittenmyer says, “why waste time cleaning when you can paint over it?”
I couldn’t agree more.
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Tags:Bryan Wittenmyers, do it yourself, fixer upper rental house business, house repairs, how to generate cash flow from low-end house investment, Perpetual Income, rental house repairs
Posted in fixer upper houses, fixer uppers, fixer-upper business, fixing rental houses, for rent, house repair, house repairs, real estate investing, rental house improvements, rental houses, rental properties, rental property, rentals, renting, repair, repair books, repairing properties, repairing rental houses, repairs | No Comments »
Saturday, September 8th, 2007
As real estate investors we must be thinking about protecting our properties and our private lives.
A good way to protect yourself and your family from a hostile client or from someone else who may want to cause you harm is to keep a low profile. Always take precautions when doing business with the public. You should have tenants mail monthly rental checks to a post office box instead of to your home residence. You should have an unlisted home phone number. Because you own real estate, you may be perceived as wealthy target.
Its surprising how much of your life is available on the intenet through websites like privateeye.cmo or web-detective.com. Now, all my business and private mail, including rental checks, goes to my P.O. Box. If I have to give a phone number, I give my pay-as-you-go cell number. I just purchase minutes when I need them, without a contract so my number cannot be tracked back to me. If my address is requested on any kind of form, I always give my P.O. Box address. Sound advice comes from J.J. Luna in How to Be Invisible who states, “do not, as long as you live, ever again allow your real name to be coupled with your home address.”
In his book, Luna relates a story about a former husband who tracked his wife down to her job. The husband killed his wife and several other people who worked at the company. The owner of the company managed to avoid the husband because the owner had a P.O. Box listed for a home address. The lesson is, don’t make your personal information available to the general public.
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Tags:how to be invisible, jj luna, protect real estate, protecting our properties
Posted in doing business in public, real estate investing, rental houses, rental management, rental properties, rental property, tenants | No Comments »
Thursday, September 6th, 2007
Author Glenn Ruffenach, in his Wall Street Journal Article Don’t Count on Your House for Retirement warns us to “think twice about how big a role your home will play in subsidizing your future.” Studies show that 68% of 60-year-olds count their personal residence as a retirement asset, and to one-quarter of those, their home represents half or more of their retirement income. The author feels that because of lowering home values and higher interest rates, selling your home and buying another may not be so easy.
But how about us real estate investors? If we are buying and holding properties for the long term, our houses are assets that produce spendable rental income every month. Lowering property values and higher interest rates don’t affect us much. Higher interest rates means that fewer people can afford to buy houses and must rent (from us). As house prices go lower, we can get ready to purchase more houses at bargain basement prices. Economic conditions that may affect the majority of the population adversely are opportunities for the prepared investor.
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Tags:Don't Count on Your House for Retirement, Glenn Ruffenach, move into a smaller house, rental income, sell your house
Posted in interest rates, lower home prices, real estate investing, retirement | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 7th, 2007
Learning about real estate investing, just like life itself, is a never ending process. You should be gathering information about house repairs and investing everywhere you go. Never let an opportunity pass to learn. I encourage you to buy books and videos on house repair and real estate investing.
Your books are invaluable guides when you are starting a project you haven’t done before, or in the middle of making a repair, and need reliable input on how to do it. I like to scour the fix-up book and real estate book areas at used book stores for good buys. I buy a book as soon as I see it, if I know that it has valuable information. In the past, I have waited to purchase the book only to return later and find that the book I had wanted was gone. The price you pay will literally be a drop in the bucket compared to the money you will save in the long run.
Click to view my Top Books About Fix Up Houses and Real Estate Investing located at Amazon.com.
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Tags:house repairs real estate investring, real estate books
Posted in fixer upper house books, investing in real estate, real estate books, real estate investing, repair books, repairing properties, repairing rental houses, retirement | No Comments »
