Three areas that can begin your journey to achieving financial freedoms.
October 31, 2008
l have heard that achieving financial freedom is like losing weight. It takes times, patience, consist action and it is a life long journey. It is hard to achieve because of our unpredictable life and not enough hard works. Another most common reason why people fail to achieve financial freedom is they are lack of motivation to take action. This can be overcome by having a plan and beginning with some baby steps. To come up with a plan you must sit down and start by surveying your current financial status. (more…)
Estate planning for everyone
October 30, 2008
Estate planning is a process that helps determine how individual’s assets will be managed during one’s lifetime, and their distribution after death. It is also through estate planning that an individual determines who and how health care decisions will be made in case a situation arises where one is unable to care for him or her self.
Estate planning is therefore much more than a will. A will is part of planning process whereas an estate planning will involve; tax, medical and business planning. The question for most people then is who needs an estate planning? (more…)
Tips to guide you in your rental property investment
October 29, 2008
Rental property investment can be a good source of passive income. This is by providing cash flow while building your networth. It is important to assess your financial requirements and goals. Do you need a steady stream of income from your rental or do you plan on selling it for a profit in a couple of years? If it’s the latter, look for lower priced property that you can fix up as you rent it out. Some tips for rental property investment include:
- Consider being a resident landlord by purchasing a multiunit property and living in one apartment. In many cases, the income from the other unit(s) will cover your mortgage payment, allowing you to effectively live for free. Being on-site has other advantages, including ensuring that the property is well-maintained.
- Decide if you want to do maintenance yourself. If you have the skills, equipment and temperament to deal with upset tenants and a backed up toilet at 2 a.m., fine. If you plan on hiring a property manager, add about 5 percent of gross income into your calculations.
- Choose the kind of property you want. Single-family houses are generally less expensive than apartment complexes because of pure size, but generate less income. Apartments, on the other hand, can require more upkeep.
- Choose property where people want to live, close to shops, parks and decent schools, and in a well-kept neighborhood. There’s nothing worse than owning a rental property without any renters. In addition, check out any restrictions on renting with the home owners association, which, if there is one, can have a say in any rental agreements.
- Search past records for vacancy rates over the last five to ten years as well as at present. If the building is occupied, find out how long the tenants have lived at the property. Long-term residents are valuable, but may also have been signed on at a lower rental rate.
- Plan on spending time and money advertising for and interviewing potential renters. Have a contingency plan in place if a unit remains vacant for a few months. Determine what a competitive rental rate is for your property by asking rental agents what they would expect to charge, by reviewing area apartment listings, and by personally visiting units available in the neighborhood.
various kinds of active income
October 28, 2008
Active Income is the income earned by performing services; this includes wages, tips, salaries, commissions and income from businesses in which there is material participation. Active income is similar to an investment portfolio where all money is held in one particular stock. Active income is earned through various activities this includes (more…)
The impact of financial regulation override
October 28, 2008
Financial regulation were not followed when the mortgage broker failed to follow requirements, restrictions and guidelines. This has had a global effect and in the U.S is now facing a recession .This financial regulations required that before a buying a house you had to have:
- down payment usually 20% is required
- proper documentation which was verified and
- low debt to income ratio.
Why were this financial regulation ignored? The banks did not care because they were going to sell these loans to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. In turn these entities did not care because they were going to sell these loans to Wall Street. The Wall Street did not care because they were going to sell these loans to investors, to pension plans and everybody throughout the worlds.
Everyone was involved at one level or another. As a result when the home owners got into trouble and stop paying the pyramid came trembling down. As every aspect was interconnected the housing industry was the first to feel the effectin form of foreclosures. Next came the stock market with all the national and international investor being affected. Hence the economy of our country and the world in general has been affected. This show that how pertinent it is to follow financial regulation<–>
how to flip houses
October 26, 2008
Flipping a house
Flipping a house also know as wholesaling is buying a piece of property with the intent to resale. The key to success in doing this is the adage that you make money when buying the house not when selling the house. This means that you have to find a bargain property that is, a property that is begin sold below what the market price is. This put you in a position where you can easily sell it to either another investor or who is someone who will actually live in it (end User).
Most investors begin their real estate career by flipping houses. This enables them to acquire cash flow and then be in a position to buy and hold the properties either for rental or leasing purpose. However they are other investors who specialize in wholesaling or flipping. They perfect this technique and make flipping their niche and make a living out of it. Either way they are great monetary rewards.
They are two main ways of flipping a house. One is to buy an underpriced house and quickly resell it, or to buy an underpriced house to repairs or cosmetic work then resell it. The major key is doing your market research and find out what the going rate is in that area. This allow you to know what people are paying for the houses in that area and what your bargain price will be. Then market this property and you will be on your way to making money by flipping houses.
how to avoid government foreclosure
October 25, 2008
Government foreclosure is a legal process wherein a mortgage lender insured through government-sponsored enterprises (GSE) or agencies earns the right to repossess or take control of a real estate property.
Defaulting on mortgage loan is not the only way to get your property foreclosed. In the United States, other overdue payments can give the lender the right to repossess property, including homeowner association fees, utility bills, liens and taxes. Federal agencies can also foreclose a property owned by a person or persons who violate the law. (more…)
The basics of creating a business site.
October 24, 2008
In today’s business world, having a business site is almost a requirement. With the world being global a business site helps with the internet marketing of products and services of a company. The recent increase in gas prices have resulted to people shopping and communicating more on the internet. They are some basics steps that can help one build a business site.
- Have a domain name.
This is your internet address in alphabetical form. It is your name of location in the internet. One resource which is great for domain names is www.godaddy.com. In here you can find out if your desired domain name is in use, and you can purchase this for minimum bucks (more…)
growing your investments through trust deed investments
October 23, 2008
Trust deed investments is a kind of investment that is lucrative and an easy means to grow investments . The basic players include the borrower, the lender and the trustee. The first basic player in trust deeds is of course the borrower, who is called the ‘trustor’. The trustor is called such because he or she would be the party who would get the loan amount. In return, the trustor would have to entrust a home or land title as a security or collateral for the loan amount. The second basic player in trust deed investing is the lender also called the ‘beneficiary’. You know that usually, beneficiaries include banks and financial institutions. Such institutions or lenders usually make a living and revenues from accruing interests from loan amounts provided to borrowers. The ‘trustee’ is the third party that mediates between the lender and the borrower.
To make a trust deed investment, you should direct your capital into trustees or trust deeds themselves. Trust deed investing would really make your money grow tremendously and robustly. That is because it is a common knowledge that trust deeds impose bigger interest rates than other forms of lenders. Trust deed investing is one way how anyone can earn interests from capital investments. Funding of trust deed investments is also an excellent investment alternative for individuals that are tired of stock market fluctuations or who would like to have income generating assets in their accounts. Trust deed investments and private money loans have become a large part of the industry, with tens of thousands of trust deeds and mortgages funded on an annual basis. <–>
Online and Offline marketing for Real Estate
October 22, 2008
As a real estate investor you must truly understand that you are in the business of marketing first and foremost. MARKETING drives the business. It is the fuel that produces the leads and prospects you need to sustain and thrive in your business. Without it you are like a car without gas, you are going nowhere .
Marketing strategies can be divided into either off line or online. There are a number of offline marketing strategies you can employ to encourage possible buyers and sellers of residential real estate to contact you. Some of the most common ones are:
-Bandit signs
-Radio & television ads
-Brochures, flyers, and billboard signs
However, to turn the corner with your marketing, you can really ramp up your offline marketing strategies by establishing yourself as a noted real estate expert within your local community. There are three great strategies for doing this:
-Local media interviews: The best way of getting your name in front of News Directors and Program Directors is by issuing pertinent press releases. They need to be well-written and they need to discuss newsworthy issues of importance to their viewers. Once you’ve begun to establish yourself as an expert in your field your phone will ring more regularly.
.-Seminars: Giving free seminars in a real estate-related niche can increase the size of your portfolio. As a residential real estate investor, you could give a free seminar about topics as wide-ranging as “How to Sell Your House for Your Price in a Down Market” to “How to Buy a House with Bad Credit. Show your clients what you know and how you can help them and they’ll gladly show you their money later on.
Public speaking: This may not seem like a natural offline marketing strategy, but it has potential you may not have considered. Most people aren’t natural public speakers; if this identifies you, don’t despair. Join your local Toastmasters club and learn the fine art of public speaking. While you’re learning, you’ll be exposed to business and community leaders (many with cash) who would be prime candidates as potential investing partners or sources of private cash for long term investments or down payment and rehab funds.
Online marketing strategies are like gifts that keep on giving because the overall costs are reduced. This allows you to cast a wider net and increase the area in which you invest. In addition, you’ll be able to build buyers lists and prequalify prospects without an investment of time, which is one of your most precious commodities. Your online efforts will generally revolve around two basic strategies:
-PPC: Pay Per Click campaigns are a good way of getting visitors to your real estate investing website. However, if you don’t carefully analyze your target demographic and get crystal clear about which words and phrases you wish to bid on, your expenses could explode and you’ll have nothing to show for it.
Google and Yahoo have helpful analytic tools that can help you determine what words and phrases make the most sense for driving paid traffic to your website. In addition, they also offer the ability to target traffic based upon geographic location of potential clients, so your ads would only be seen by those most likely to be good targets.
-Organic placement: This form of marketing won’t cost you a penny, but the competition for top ranking can be fierce. The key to achieving top ranking is by having content on your website that is relevant to the needs of your site ’s visitors. While SEO can play a role in your search engine rankings, you’ll have greater success by ensuring that your website has great content. Resources related to real estate investing; articles and ebooks about wholesaling, short sales, rent to own, or whatever areas in which you concentrate, can gain you improved ranking by the search engines. Concentrate on relevant, high quality written content and you’ll be rewarded with traffic.
The increased volume of traffic will mean you’ll gain more prospects, which will generally translate into more buyers and sellers for your residential properties.
While your online and offline marketing efforts will differ, in many cases you can tie them together for maximum effect. For instance, any offline marketing materials will have physical contact information. If you can include a catchy and memorable web address, you’ll increase your traffic to the website.
