Real Estate Investments… Professional Search

Most (but not all) of the asset building strategies that I share are pertaining to real estate in some way. Why? Because I really, really, really like real estate, and the real estate market is such a diverse market place that it allows some of the most creativity in generating win-win agreements. There are many more reasons in which I will expound on in the.

By the way…Yes, I’ve heard and do monitor all the media hype regarding the real estate market. Remember the media’s main objective is to sell stories, advertising and subscriptions (They are running a business. No sales = no revenue = no business.) The reporters reporting are not always digging far enough to unveil the complete story. Chances are if they did it may not be as negative and doom and gloom as it is portrayed, thus it would not be news that sells.

Yes, there has been an overall reduction in the real estate market and yes there is an affect on the economy. And there are still local areas in each general market area that are holding their value or appreciating. Realize these are the areas where you should begin your due diligence for real estate investments, but we’ll get to that at another time.

Real estate is everywhere so you can easily see with your own eyes what is going on in the market place. Better yet there are always several REALTORS^® available to speak with about the numbers in your local market. If you are looking for investments search for a real estate professional that also owns real estate investments.

As in any industry the people who know and understand what is really happening in that industry or market will almost always profit, whether that market is going up or down. I know of many investors who are buying, as prices are great to create some positive cash flow deals. Homeowners, banks and most anyone involved in the real estate industry are now ready to consider the not so ordinary transactions (short-sales, owner financing, carry backs, options, etc.). Obviously not every market in the U.S. is a great place to invest right now. But now is the time to be searching, and understanding your market.

In the event that your market is totally horrible you may consider other higher appreciating markets. (realmarketmastery.com)

When you are buying real estate for investment purposes (Most everyone who is buying for personal or investment reasons, is also concerned with the appreciation component of their purchase.), you should consider working with a real estate professional that is or has invested in real estate.

Think for a minute… would you buy stocks or ask a stock broker’s advice if they have never invested in a stock? Would you take financial advice from a friend who only has a net worth of $100. I think you get the point.

Action Required

In sharing the information with you that I think may be useful or beneficial you may begin to develop thoughts, ideas and curiosity which will generate some sort of action. If you’re like most intelligent people, the action generated leads to the researching of the information to determine how it can be applied to benefit you and your current situation to create a higher quality of life.

Realize that although I may present an idea, concept or strategy that you may benefit from, ultimately you are responsible for doing your own due diligence and research to determine if it is right for your particular situation (see the blog/website Terms of Use).

Covert Assets

Objective: To educate, provoke thoughts, and create curiosity to maximally utilize your available resources (assets) in accelerating your financial growth.

The information here is not about undercover CIA operatives or spies scattered through out the world.
It’s not about the subjects portrayed in movies like James Bond, Mission Impossible, or Jason Borne.  Nope, none of the high security clearance, top secret type of covert hush-hush information.

Although we’ll discuss many uncommon strategies, and opportunities that over time may be able to generate the kind of funding to allow you to operate like a undercover operative, obtaining the best high tech gadgets, the most exotic cars and travel around the world on adventures of your choice.

These covert strategies, “If you decide to accept the mission,” have the potential to fund your children’s college education, provide financial support for an elderly loved one, help you pay off your house within a short period of time, generate passive monthly income and fund a smoke’n retirement that generates money each and every month while maintaining the principle.

It’s time to live the lifestyle you have always intended to live.  You know… the life that works for you, instead of you working for it.

Using Housing Alerts As A Due Diligence Tool

Learn How to Increase Your Real Estate Investing Profits.

Previously we discussed what HousingAlerts Real Estate Market Technical Analysis (TA) software was (click here to view that prior post).

Now we will discuss how to utilize the software to maximally expand your utilization of automatic appreciation as it pertains to the real estate market place.

We realize that every industry has a market cycle.  There are times when business is booming and times when the business market contracts, and the real estate market is no different.  As we are currently seeing we are now in the down cycle of the market.  The main objective of HousingAlerts is to utilize accurate housing data to best predict these market cycles.

Knowing when the best times (high appreciation) occur in the real estate markets to buy a property is key to maximally utilizing the advantage of automatic appreciation.  It is also just as important to avoid those times when the market is significantly declining.

How many of us purchased an investment property and then watched as it began to decline in value with the next year?  If you look back at the losses you have incurred up to now, I wonder how much profit an analysis tool like HousingAlerts might have saved you?

You can significantly improve your real estate investing profit and success by simply knowing when to buy with high appreciation and selling at the times when real estate begins to depreciate, not just a pull back.

You may think by investing in this way you would be faced with short holding periods, or be in and out of the real estate market quite a bit.  In most cases when you compare the 30 year buy and hold strategy to following the HousingAlerts strategy it would require to buy and sell 1-2 more times during that same period. Six to eight years is still a longer term hold from my view point.

This whole discussion can become a bit confusing without pictures and graphs.  Email me (HA@RealMarketPros.com) and I’ll send you a PDF document which better demonstrates the potential benefits of using HousingAlerts to assist you in making informed decisions about your current real estate market.

To receive the maximum value of the HousingAlerts Analysis tool you first must know your real estate investing strategy is.

Are you taking the perspective of investing only in your close surrounding area (backyard investing)?  (For those of you with little or know experience this is usually the best place to begin your real estate investing activity.  Get familiar with the process of buying, selling and managing your investments.  Then when you’re comfortable consider expanding to areas that are further away.)

Using HousingAlerts in your local real estate market area can allow you to fully maximize your investment activity.  Just think about if you were able to buy prior to the high appreciating times in your market and sell prior to the high depreciation times in the market.  You would make a lot more money!

Or if you have a little more experience with real estate you can use the HousingAlerts analysis system to find the next upcoming potentially hot real estate market.

Kind of like using a fish finder to locate the best places in the lake to find fish before you put your fishing pole in the water.  Fishing in the part of the lake where there is a decreased probability in finding fish is just a waste of time and effort.

So we must consider HousingAlerts as one of the first and most important steps in the entire real estate investing process. HousingAlerts may be the most critical step in helping you create the best chance of a successful outcome during the real estate investment due diligence process.

Its value comes in to play way before you commit substantial resources (time, energy, money or opportunity costs) in locating or analyzing particular neighborhoods or properties.

Long before you start focusing on individual neighborhoods, you need to first identify which phase of the real estate market cycle your overall investment market is facing. Then (and only then) will you know which investment techniques and strategies are appropriate at the “neighborhood” level… providing you determine it is a market you want to be in.

Since the most significant aspect of creating real estate wealth is through capturing “Automatic

Appreciation” (view my previous post here) you need to focus on a few specific questions:

1) In which real estate market should I invest (and when)?

2) What strategies and tactics are best going to fit the current market cycle?

3) Should I buy, sell or hold?

4) What should my hold period be?

Getting it right (or wrong) at this early part of the investment process will have more impact on your ultimate success (or failure) than anything else you may do.

In Summary

For Local Market Investors (back-yard investors… or those interested in only a single market), following a few simple market timing indicators can mean the difference between huge success, mediocre success or miserable failure. Another key is to pursue the correct buying, holding and selling strategies tailored to the specific market cycle you are investing in.

For Total Market Investors (those wishing to maximize their real estate wealth, while at the same time reducing risk and effort by continually investing in only the most highly appreciating real estate markets) the key is to always be seeking HOT emerging real estate markets while avoiding dead or flat markets.

You can learn more about the HousingAlerts system by visiting RealMarketMastery.com.

Or email me ( HA@RealMarketPros.com) to request the PDF document I mentioned earlier to better explain the system with graphs and pictures.

More To All

Finding the Best Real Estate Investment Areas In Phoenix, Arizona

Searching for The Best Real Estate
Investment Areas In Phoenix, Arizona

All due diligence contains an element of market research.  You need to find a source or sources to at a minimum give you an over all view of the market place.

When considering real estate as an investment, whether it be a personal residence or an investment property, there are several key areas that you want to consider to maximize your future profits.

The qualities that make a neighborhood attractive to live in are also the qualities that often make a good neighborhood to purchase investment property in.

One of the best indicators of a good neighborhood is the school district that it is located in.  Most parents myself included intend for their children to excel and prosper in life.  A key part of that equation is sending children to excellent schools.  Public schools more than private schools will often attract parents to the neighborhoods in those excellent school districts.

The Phoenix area schools offer open enrollment.  This means that students can attend schools other than the district in which they live, as long as there is space in the school, and parents are able to provide the needed transportation.

Transportation is provided to the children residing within each school district. So even with open enrollment there may a slight advantage by living within the school district.

Investing in areas that are within an excellent school district, or in close proximity are good places to begin your real estate investing due diligence.

You can find school information located on the Due Diligence page of this website, or go directly to the website of the Arizona Department of Education. (http://www.ade.state.az.us/)

Crime is the next area that often defines the quality of a neighborhood.  Even though crime can happen in nearly any neighborhood, great neighborhoods often have low crime statistics.

Investing in areas with low crime rates is beneficial in several ways.  If you should have a short-term vacancy there is less of a chance of your property being vandalized while finding a new tenant?  People generally want to live in safe areas, especially if they have children.

You can find school information located on the Due Diligence page of this website, or go directly to the website

Amenities are also to be considered when researching a place to buy real estate investment property.  Locating areas that are close to grocery stores, malls, entertainment and other destination areas should also benefit your real estate investment in the long run.

Where To Live In Phoenix and the Valley of the Sun is a very good resource to begin your real estate research with.  This book contains descriptions of the all the areas I mentioned above plus many more details on the neighborhood specifics for the Phoenix and surrounding areas.

As the book indicates, it was created and designed for an individual or families with specific needs and desires in the area in which they would like to live.  It can assist you in asking more informed questions to help you match your needs and wants to specific neighborhoods, or cities.

The book is designed to go from general geographical areas of the Phoenix metro area and is then further divided into cities, towns and neighborhoods.  The editors also use a 5 star ratings system for each area detailed in the book based on desirability, home prices, personality and access to amenities.

So the benefit is that most anyone new to the Phoenix area has a good resource for learning more about the local areas and neighborhoods.

The added benefit is that real estate investors can also use the book to easily locate the areas that will most likely be good areas to purchase real estate. Remember what I mentioned earlier, places that are in demand to live in often are the same places that are good to invest in.

I have ready to go search parameters based on the editors 4 and 5 star neighborhood ratings.  This assists you in quickly and easily searching for real estate investment property in the potentially higher appreciating areas.

Email me (Searches@RealMarketPros.com) and I will set up a search with your specific criteria for the area you are interested in purchasing an investment property.  The search will automatically inform you whenever there is a price change or new houses come onto the market.

There is really no easier way to begin your real estate investment purchase research.

You can find a used Where To Live In Phoenix book at Amazon.com for under $5 bucks (shipping included).   Or you can buy it new for $24.95.  Either option will give you an excellent start to your neighborhood research and due diligence.

Check it out today!

Using The Housing Alerts Program To Predict Real Estate Market Cycles

Searching For The Next HOT Real Estate Market.

About a year ago I joined HousingAlerts, as a charter member.  After hearing a little about it, I did a little research and was very impressed with the potential of the system.

The HousingAlerts Analysis System was developed a Harvard University Graduate, CPA and veteran real estate investor Ken Wade.

He developed the system out of the frustration of not having an accurate way to analyze real estate markets. He personally funded the research and development of a system that could perform technical analysis and utilize standard statistical methods to assist him in predicting real estate market cycles.

HousingAlerts is a web based software program that uses the U.S. Census Bureau’s Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) Data as the basis for performing Technical Analysis (TA).

A MSA can be defined as: A core area such as a central city along with the counties economically and socially connected to it.

Technical Analysis is a very sophisticated market cycle prediction tool that utilizes past results, trends and cycles to anticipate future market directions. Most investors are familiar with the use of TA to assist them in making financial decisions related to the stock market.

The MSA data is generated quarterly by the federal government and then complex statistical methods are applied to the data by the Housing Alerts program.

The genius of the system is in use of TA applied to the MSA data to develop Moving Averages (MA) pertaining to local real estate market cycles. These MA can act as triggers to assist you in making a decision on whether to buy, sell or change your acquisition strategy, in a particular real estate market.

You may be more familiar with the many stock trading software programs in which a red line crosses a green line triggering a buy or sell signal. A similar approach has now been developed for the real estate market through the use of HousingAlerts.

HousingAlerts monitors actual home price movements for all of the 379 individual MSA’s, using the same standard of measurement used by the U.S. Census Bureau.

HousingAlerts is purported to be the only system that uses actual and repeat home transactions to track home value changes.

This is really the only way to obtain truly accurate home price data. The significance of this software and the data is that it is currently the most detailed house-by-house price change data available.

It opened my eyes to the power of automatic appreciating real estate markets and the ability to locate them in a somewhat predictable fashion.

To learn more about this program you can click here to visit the HousingAlerts Website.

In next session I will discuss where HousingAlerts might fit into your real estate investing activity.

More To All and Less To None

It’s Time To Appreciate… Appreciation

Learn How To Make A Huge Difference In The Size and Growth…

Of Your Real Estate Portfolio.

There are two basic types of appreciation (Forced Appreciation-the hard way involving a lot of work, learning new techniques, searching for motivated sellers, trying to find the same deals that everyone else is also looking to find.

And then there is Automatic Appreciation-the easy way, the automatic increase in value due to the normal market cycle).

Forced Appreciation (Skill, Hard Work, Risk, and Limited Upside)

This approach is what we, as “traditional” real estate investors were taught to focus on. Buy low and (hopefully) sell higher.

Most forced appreciation strategies rely on finding “motivated sellers” or distressed properties and people, as they represent the best likelihood of getting the best price and/or terms.

With Forced Appreciation, investors only make money on the “spread” – the upside profit is limited… you make your money by “buying it right” (presumably at below market prices or with terms).

Although Forced Appreciation is profitable, it is not the way to massive, auto-pilot riches.

Automatic Appreciation

“Automatic Appreciation is like the power of compound interest on steroids, because of the ability to leverage the asset”

Automatic appreciation occurs due to the simple economics of supply and demand. This type of appreciation is what most homeowners in many markets experienced before the markets changed.

The huge windfall profits happen simply because of owning property in the right place at the right time… and not from ‘hard work’ or special skills. I’m sure you know of the individuals that jumped on the bandwagon at the height of the market, held their houses for 6 months or less and then sold for a hefty profit.

Where all of those people skilled, or experienced? Heck no! They were the beneficiaries of a fast appreciating market.

YOU MUST REALIZE there are still real estate markets out there today that are appreciating at greater than 10%. The question then becomes…

“Do YOU Know Where These High Appreciating Markets Are?”

As I mentioned above you may have heard the saying, “You make your money when you buy.” The real secret is that you make your money WHERE you buy.

Location, Location, Location, is the mantra that seems to be the most associated with real estate. In the realm of Automatic Appreciation, location and timing are truly the keys to quickly generating wealth.

It’s Now Time To Choose.

1) Work your arse off finding motivated sellers, tying-up and improving properties, managing crews of employees, agents and contractors and spending lots of hard-earned cash, spending time away from family and developing an ulcer.

OR

2) Take A Smarter, Easier Route. Take just 7 minutes to learn the real secret to locating the best most profitable, highest appreciating real estate markets to invest in. It can be as easy as a GREEN LINE crossing a RED LINE. It simply doesn’t get easier .

By the way, you can still apply the traditional forced appreciation techniques in the hot markets and redline your wealth building strategies.

Visit RealMarketMastery.com to learn more about locating the best real estate markets, and open your real estate investing portfolio to a new level of appreciation.

Strategies To Reduce Your Real Estate Invesment Risk On A Vacant Building

In today’s market (or any market for that matter), we as Real Estate Investors and property owners can often find ourselves in the possession of a vacant building.

The vacancy may occur during the initial acquisition phase of the investment, when the fix-up and repairs are being performed, or simply due to tenant moving out of a single family residence.

Here are a few simple strategies that can help reduce some of your real estate investment risk created by a vacant unit/building.  Use the ones that seem to be most appropriate for your situation.

These strategies can be integrated into your real estate business policy and procedures manual to help reduce your risk or loss during a vacancy period.

• The first action you should consider is changing the locks, and while you’re at it make sure the windows are all locked tight.  This is simple and easy to do.

• Immediately purchase or change your property insurance policy if you anticipate the building being vacant for longer than a month or two. Insurance generally costs more for a vacant building, but is worth the extra cost if you should incur a loss of some sort.

• Having a standard homeowner’s policy may not cover the loss if the building is vacant.  Contact your insurance professional to help you determine what temporary changes need to be made or type of policy you need.  Consider having the insurance professional put their recommendations in writing indicating that you are purchasing the correct policy for your specific situation.

• You may also consider getting a “house-sitter” to reduce risk and cost of insurance.  Often you can find a responsible college student to perform this task.  They like to get paid while being able to study at the same time.

• Remember to turn off the water at the main water supply valve, as well as gas, and electricity (at the main circuit breaker switch box) on the day the building becomes vacant.  Imagine if you will the issue that can occur if a water leak is left unattended for several days or even weeks.

• If the area is subject to break-ins, consider having the windows boarded up and the doors screwed into the door frames. Also contact the local police department to put the property on their “watch” list.

• Post “No Trespassing,” signs at the building if indicated

• Work with the surrounding neighbors to help keep an eye on the property and notify the authorities, and yourself, if any unusual activity occurs at the property.

• With larger complexes or buildings, consider hiring a private security firm to watch it for you.

There you have it, a few simple common sense activities to help reduce your real estate investment risk when faced with a vacant building.

Onward

Real Estate Investing Policy and Procedures Manual

As a Real Estate Investor you should consider keeping a note book of your best practices.

There continually seems to be better ways of performing an activity.

An example may be your rental agreement. The process you currently go through to search for and find the best tenants for your properties may already work great.

But let’s say you begin a conversation with another rental property owner/real estate investor, and he tells you this story about the issue he had with his tenants.

He reveals to you how he went about taking care of the issue, although it cost him a couple thousand dollars to do so. He mentions to you how he added a one sentence phrase to his rental agreement and is now able to prevent the same thing from happening in the future.

In essence he has added that clause to his policy and procedures manual or the way in which he goes about doing his business.

You begin to think to yourself, I could just simply learn from his experience and prevent a similar situation from happening to me. You approach your legal advisor about adding the same or similar clause to your current rental agreement, and they agree it is a good idea.

Bam! Now you have addressed that particular issue and changed the way you go about doing your real estate investing.

The point I’m making here is that there are continually new ways to improve your real estate investing results. So increase your awareness and be in search mode for new ideas and strategies to incorporate into your own policy and procedures.

Being a member of a local real estate investment group or property owners group has many benefits in addition to the scenario above.

Benefits of having a policy and procedures manual:

1. You have a reference guide to address certain aspects of the business and do it in a consistent manner.
2. You may grow your portfolio to a size in which you would like to hand over some or most aspects of the processes to someone else. Having a policy and procedures manual will guide them in taking care of the processes in the same way you would do it.
3. If you should become ill and be unable to take care of the real estate business due this unexpected illness, you would have a reference guide for others to follow and keep the business running smoothly, until you recover.

So as you read through these blog posts consider copying and pasting some of the ideas into your own real estate policy and procedures manual.

A simple way to begin this process is to think about all the things you do when you are being active with your investment real estate and then make some subject headings regarding the major areas of the activity you do. Then record the appropriate information under each heading.

A few subject headings may be: Buying, Selling, Renting/Leasing, Hiring Contractors/Vendors, Move-out checklists, Move-in checklists.

Begin your manual today!

More To All and Less To None

Personal Real Estate Investor Magazine

Personal Real Estate Investor Magazine has been around since 2004. I first heard about it from a couple of real estate investor friends that were using it to advertise in.

I remember being in a title company waiting room and seeing a stack of them sitting there. With permission I snagged one to take home and peruse.

I later decided to subscribe to it, and have been very pleased with the tips, insights and investor strategies. I will most likely refer to it often in my posts and comments here as there are many useful tips and strategies contained in the magazine.

The magazine’s editor is Andrew Waite, who invests in real estate himself and seems to be quite knowledgeable about it. I’ve listened to him on several real estate related radio shows here in Phoenix, Arizona and he brings to light several issue that the major media providers seem to overlook when reporting on the real estate market.

The magazines single mission is:

“To help our readers make money! To reduce the costs, both initially and over the life of your investments. To help you get the most out of each transaction at each point in the total life-cycle—plus your investing lifetime (and even that of your heirs).

To help you invest smarter by finding, acquiring, improving, managing and trading—whether it’s turning over a single investment-grade property or building a portfolio of rental homes and apartments.

The process is not hard, though the market is potentially complex. That is why we are here: to reduce complexities, provide road maps, checklists, templates, visual aids—and an insider’s Rolodex.”

In short the magazine is about learning from others mistakes and maximally profiting form real estate investing.

Their mission statement is very similar to my objective in creating this blog. To assist others in making real estate investing easier and more profitable.

You can learn more about this magazine and subscribing to it at: http://www.personalrealestateinvestormag.com/

More To All and Less To None