Any experienced fly fisherman will tell you: You have to figure out what lures are making the fish bite. Fish are fickle, and their preferences can change from week to week and day to day. Fortunately, the tastes of the average homebuyer are a little more stable. As a real estate investor, you want to deal in the fat part of the bell curve in your market. . . .
Read more about What Homebuyers Want
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Real estate flippers operate businesses. But as a group, flippers are notoriously undisciplined about doing so. I would wager that outside of low-rent stockbrokers and part-time scented candlestick saleswomen, flippers have the worst market analysis disciplines and the sorriest set of books you’ll ever see. (Fess up in the comments if this is you, or share the tips you’ve developed if it isn’t!) The lack of discipline and organization is particularly damaging when you consider . . .
Read more about The SWOT Analysis
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I live in South Florida – the closest thing to “ground zero” for the real estate mess. When I drive around, I hear the radio ads all the time: “South Florida is the best place in the country for real estate investors right now! We’re looking for a few good people to make substantial profit on every trade, without using any of your own money!” They then announce a seminar at a local hotel, “free if you sign up now, seating is limited!” Let me tell you – Florida is famous for seminar marketing – and we have no . . .
Read more about Traveling Seminars
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For the first time in what seems like half a decade, housing inventories are down. Way down. In fact, according to reporting by the New York Times, citing the National Association of Realtors®, the number of homes currently for sale is the lowest it’s been since 1999. A surge in demand for single-family homes – fueled by rock-bottom interest rates on . . .
Read more about Flipping Properties in a Buyer’s Market
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Some people begin flipping properties for side money. Other people get pushed into it because of a job loss or other life-changing circumstance. In some cases, the temptation to raid a 401(k) or other retirement account is very strong. After all, for many workers, their 401(k) is the largest asset they have. It’s a ready source of capital – sort of. And when jobs are . . .
Read more about Using a 401(k) to Flip Houses
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Ask anyone who’s been in real estate for a while. They’ll tell you: They spend a bunch of time working with a buyer. They’ve identified their needs and wants, carted them around town, blown a couple of high-payoff Saturdays, and found a place they like – only to find they can’t qualify for a mortgage. That wastes agents’ time, it wastes your time, and . . .
Read more about Prequalifying Your Buyers
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After the mortgage bubble popped, financial institutions around the world were rushing pell-mell into a “risk-off” posture. That portion of institutional investment portfolios devoted to slow and steady money – a portion that was largely made available for home lending – went to Treasuries and other low-risk sovereign debt instead. At one point investors . . .
Read more about Getting a Loan
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The auction market is much more efficient than it used to be – and that makes things easier and tougher for investors. Not too many years ago, foreclosed properties frequently changed hands literally on the courthouse steps – or more commonly, in meeting rooms in courthouse buildings, and frequently with just a few interested bidders. Now, modern technology has . . .
Read more about Bidding and Winning at Real Estate Auctions
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Older properties offer some terrific opportunities for upgrades and flips – especially if you have some deep pockets. But use caution: Some investors have destroyed incalculable value in antique structures through careless rehabbing. In some ways, owning an antique structure is as much a labor of love as it is an investment project. But if you go in with . . .
Read more about Flipping Historic Properties
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Uncle Sam wants you … to flip houses. That’s what the Federal Housing Administration told the country at the end of November. On November 29, the FHA announced that it was extending the waiver of Regulation 24 CFR 203.37a(b)(2) for another two years. The waiver will allow the use of FHA mortgages to support the purchase of homes that are being . . .
Read more about The Waiver of the “Anti-Flipping Rule”
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