If you’ve been investing in real estate for any length of time (or even if you’re just getting started), then you have undoubtedly faced frustration, hit some highs and then crashed into some lows! Ultimately, your goal as a real estate investor is most likely to generate immediate cash flow and long term wealth and increased net worth.

True financial success is achieved by combining these two elements - cash flow and wealth creation, or net worth. Cash flow is considered as the monetary profit that is earned every month to support your lifestyle. This can also be used to invest in assets that may later appreciate in value.

Three levels of real estate investors are as follows:

Level one Real Estate Investors - In this level, the investors learn the basic tricks of the real estate investment business, and they use it to make real estate investment a profitable venture. They learn this by making their initial deals profitable. Thus, Level One investors ensure that real estate is the path to economic success. They are aware that there is much to learn from this vast field, and they try to understand it. Real estate investors at this stage should spend time learning the business, evaluating the details of the deals, and make sound decisions. Often (more…)

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The following article comes from a situation that recently occurred with one of our own tenants. How would you have handled it? And really think about it as if you were in our shoes because it’s easy to say “Evict ‘em” when you’re on the outside looking in, but put yourself in our shoes and think about how you’d handle it and how you could prevent the situation from recurring in the future!

Here’s the Scenario:

08/01/2007 - Rent is due

08/06/2007 - Rent is officially late. When you finally reach the tenant, you get the sob story: “I had surgery. My mom went to the hospital. My dad panicked. My son’s trying to get me the money and I’m out of work. I promise to have the rent to you by Wednesday… Thursday at the latest”

08/09/2007 - Guess what? No rent check. The tenant’s willing to drive it up, but the funds aren’t in the bank anyways! Tenant promises AGAIN to call you right after ‘therapy’ tomorrow morning and get it straightened out. VERY, VERY SORRY! (more…)

by R. Preston Ely

Have someone else do it for you.

Short sales get dealt with just like everything else in my life that even remotely smells like stressful labor; they get delegated. Outsourced. Sub’d out. Avoided at all cost. The purpose of this article is to encourage you to do the same.

Life is too short to do things you hate. Don’t you feel the same way? Did you know you don’t have to do things you don’t like? You are not a prisoner. You’re free. I spent ten years of my life doing what the world considers “real” work. I’m done. Real work blows. Who is to say what is real and what isn’t anyways?

“Reality is an illusion. Albeit, a persistent one.” - Albert Einstein

Something wonderful clicked inside my head a few years back after my dangerous escape from Cubic-Hell. It’s weird because it just evolved kind of naturally. The only way I can describe it is a complete 100% aversion to doing anything at all that I don’t find enjoyable…and the ability to actually get away with it.How to outsource all your unwanted “duties” in life is the topic of another article. Let’s focus on the subject of short sales for now. (more…)

“Do NOT Make Your Buyers Feel Like Hairy Monkeys!”
by R. Preston Ely

Times they are a changin’.

Whereas in 2005 finding a buyer for your wholesale deal was as easy as Alyssa Milano in Poison Ivy II, we are now faced with a much more challenging predicament. I have personally coined this annoying situation as “Reality.”

“Reality” sucks. We all know this. Normally I can effortlessly bend it to my will, but it’s actually putting up a pretty good fight this time. You see, what I want it to do is put things back the way they were a couple years ago. A couple years ago, if I so much as sneezed I would have rehabbers (buyers) lined up around the block thinking that was a secret signal that “the deal was in,” or something. Here’s a typical scenario from “back in the day” (which was a Wednesday by the way):

Rehabber #1: He sneezed. It’s on!

Rehabber #2: Oh hellz yeah. It probably has at least $9,000 of equity in it just like the last one. I’m paying cash.

Rehabber #37: You guys are idiots. He has a cold. It doesn’t mean anything (as he secretly shimmeys his way closer to me while butting everyone else in line).

Rehabber #1: How do you have that much cash?

Rehabber#2: I refinanced my house and pulled the equity out. Duh. Where does anyone get money from these days? Idiot. I bought my house in 1999 for $125,000,and it just appraised for $750,000. I did a 125% LTV cash out re-fi with negative amortization at .0027% APR so my payment is only $1.75 a month. They wrote me a check for over $600,000. Cool huh? Have you seen my new boat? (more…)