2007 September | Real Estate Investing Blog

Posted on: September 16, 2016 Posted by: Real Estate We Blog Comments: 0

2007 September | Real Estate Investing Blog

Take a look at your local newspaper and thumb through it until you find the real estate section. Now more likely than not, you’ll see advertisements from new builders who are offering amazing interest rates or temporary buydowns if you purchase a new condo or townhome from them.

There’s a relatively new condo development (one of many) in San Francisco called 170 Off Third. I went down to check them out because they’re in a great South Beach location literally across the street from the San Francisco Giants baseball stadium. The units are on the smaller size but I really liked the modern art deco look and feel of the building and common areas. It would definitely be a nice place to live but I’m cringing for those who fall victim to their “last chance” offer. Here’s a portion of the e-mail I recently got from them: Read more

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What are FSBO homes, and can you really make money flipping them? First some definitions. “Flipping” refers to buying and selling real estate for a profit over a short period of time. Some “flippers” are looking only to make money from buying low and reselling quickly, while others repair and improve or otherwise add value to the property before selling it – an important distinction we’ll get back to in a moment.

FSBO, pronounced “fizbo” means “for sale by owner.” Owners try to sell on their own primarily to save the cost of a real estate broker’s commission. This is often a mistake, for many reasons we won’t get into. The bottom line is that these houses statistically sell for less on average than those sold through an agent, negating any savings. Read more

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As the real estate market continues to slow down foreclosures are already reaching an all-time high. This is only going to get worse in the next couple of years and it’s all because of the real estate boom in the previous three to five years.

Why is this happening?
It’s because home buyers were spending more money on new properties than they can afford and because loan brokers and mortgage companies were allowing them to overextend themselves. These brokers (in my opinion) were taking advantage of home buyers by giving them great deals on 3-5 year ARM loans or interest-only loans which allowed them to buy bigger houses they couldn’t really afford. Brokers of course get paid commissions from lenders they match you up with but that’s a different story. Read more

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Being a real estate investor, I’m always on the lookout for a good deal. That’s probably no surprise but if you ask 99% of all real estate investors I bet you the #1 important factor in real estate to them is location location location. Although this may be true for finding a property you want to live in, it’s not always true in finding a seller who has strong motivation to sell. This is really the first key ingredient in finding a good deal to invest in. Read more

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1. Money is made at the buy, not the sell of your flip. When flipping a house your money is made at the purchase not at the sell of the house. So, many times people buy a house with the intensions of making a huge profit only to find out that they could not make any money after all the renovations because the purchased price of the house was to high. When you purchase your property you need to be sure that you buy the house with enough money to make renovations, have carrying cost, and add about 5% for extra expenses, and see what type of profit margin you will be left with.

Example: If you buy a house for $120,000 and the houses in the area sell for $155,000, and the house needs $15,000 to fix it up. You are now at $135,000. Carrying cost for six months on the home is $6,000. Now, at $141,000, and the fees and closing cost my extra 5% $6,000. Now, cost is at $147,000, and that is if everything goes as planned. Profit is under 10,000 dollars. The mistake was made at the purchase at the home, not the sell. Read more

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Back in Real Estate Investing 101, I briefly mentioned “Shifting Classes” after the Buy & Hold strategy. There are a few different ways to shift classes and uses that can build value for investors.

Residential to Commercial

One of the most common ways to increase value while shifting classes or use is to have a property re-zoned from residential to commercial usage. A property that is located on a busy street would be a prime example. The busy street lowers the value for a residential property because of the noise and associated traffic. It is even more true of a corner lot. So, this busy location is a detriment. Read more

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I used to own a house in Santa Teresa which is a neighborhood in San Jose, CA. Ever since I sold my house in 2005 I’ve been watching the market to see if I made the right choice. When I did sell it, I received twelve offers all of which were over asking price. Now looking at some of the current economic real estate data, I’m very glad I sold when I did.

Sales of single-family, re-sale homes fell 10% from July and were off 39% year-over-year. Year-to-date, home sales are off 23.6% in San Jose,CA and are at their lowest level for the past ten years. The median price for homes fell 0.5% from the month before, but is up 6.1% compared to last August. The average price fell 3.2%, up 2.8% year-over-year. Read more

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Digging a little deeper in Buy and Hold strategies

In Real Estate Investing 101, Part II, we covered buying and holding property for long term appreciation and wealth building. This is by no means a get rich quick scheme, but is one of the most proven ways to build wealth over time.

Finding an appropriate property

Just like with flipping, property is a required ingredient. In fact, the same sources will work for buy and hold strategies as for flipping. The primary difference is that buy and hold strategies are generally a little less stringent on cost control, as well as condition. One can be in the property for a little more money because there isn’t a short term margin to mind. REOs (bank owned property), pre-foreclosure, short sales, older homes needing updating and strong but ugly properties are still the best options. Read more

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Digging a little deeper into Flipping. In Real Estate Investing 101, Part I, we covered buying a house to resell for a short term profit. In this lesson, we’re going to delve a little deeper into flipping, run a scenario, and examine ways to maximize profit, while minimizing risk and making it happen fast.

Finding an appropriate property

Obviously the first ingredient in a profitable flip is the property. Despite what one may see on TV, it takes a little while to find good candidates. The various types of properties that may make good flip candidates are foreclosures or REO (bank owned properties), fixer-uppers, older homes that need updating, and ugly properties that are otherwise in good shape. Cost is obviously important, but condition is also very important. Read more

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