The first thing a real estate investor needs to decide, is what is your strategy?  Everyone hopes to buy low and sell high.  Few consider the riches available by investing in bare land.

 

The Land Geek, Mark Podolsky, shared his journey from a workaholic investment banker to a two hour per week passive income professional investor in bare land.  

 

Mark’s investment banker training taught him that a company with fifteen percent EBITDA was a good company.  When his new work colleague showed that investing in land he could make 300 percent, he had to see for himself.

 

Sure enough, when he took the three thousand he had saved for car repairs and turned it into nine thousand, in less than thirty days, he was hooked.  In just eighteen months of investing on the side, he was able to surpass his income as an investment banker.  

 

So, he traded in his one hundred hour work weeks, for what is now no more that two hours per week.

 

How Can You Make Money in Bare Land?

 

Throughout America, there are parcels of land owned by people who no longer value the property.  The clues are are easy to detect.  

 

Mark sends out twenty letters each day to the owners of these unwanted properties.  The letters are short and to the point and include the price he is willing to pay.  The response rate averages three percent reply, a success by direct mail marketing strategies.  

 

When he finds a willing seller, he can acquire the property in just seven days and resell the property in as little as thirty days for as much as three hundred percent return on his investment.  Sometimes, he makes more, upto one thousand percent.  

 

How can you make more in bare land?

The secret to making money in bare land is to make it more than just a transaction by offering seller financing.  These small value properties are not what banks are looking for, so the buyer will either need to purchase with cash, or be willing to agree to seller finance terms.  

 

Using a land contract and promissory note, you can get your purchase price back as a down payment, and offer terms for as long as you want.  The longer the term, the greater your return.  

 

Mark has figured out the pain points and automated whenever possible.  This includes payment collections.  His motto is if you only have one form of payment, you have none.  So, he makes it a practice to collect a primary and a back up payment, so that he never misses a payment.  

In 2016, Mark completed 192 deals using this system.

 

To learn more about investing in bare land and get your Passive Income Blueprint

Click: http://www.thelandgeek.com/

Winter is the season for property owners everywhere to experience property damage caused by weather; snow, ice, rain, flooding and landslide.   Unfortunately, almost fifty percent of businesses affected by a major loss, never reopen.  Failure to plan is a plan to fail.   In an emergency, you need help and you need it fast.   Emergency Ready Profile, click here. What can you do to make certain you stay in business after disaster strikes? To learn more about what can be done to prepare for an emergency, we spoke with Servpro representative Marla Rockhill.   Restoration contractors have the needed equipment and training to clean up the damage quickly and minimize your down time.   For a free Emergency Ready Profile, click here. For more information go to: Marla Rockhill 503-777-9739 marketingspswpdx@gmail.com https://www.servpro.com/  

Winter is the season for property owners everywhere to experience property damage caused by weather; snow, ice, rain, flooding and landslide.  

Unfortunately, almost fifty percent of businesses affected by a major loss, never reopen.  Failure to plan is a plan to fail.  

In an emergency, you need help and you need it fast.  

Emergency Ready Profile, click here.

What can you do to make certain you stay in business after disaster strikes?

To learn more about what can be done to prepare for an emergency, we spoke with Servpro representative Marla Rockhill.  

A good first step to reducing the property damage is to create an emergency plan.  The information contained in an emergency plan is easy to find on a normal day, but it can seem impossible to find in the face of an emergency.  

 

Essential information in an emergency plan include:

 

• Emergency Action Checklist

• Emergency contact info: Names and numbers of persons who can help in an emergency

• Fire, Insurance, Restoration Contractor

• Identify where power and utility shut off switches & valves are located

• Evacuation plan and meeting location for where the occupants of the building are to meet

Creating an emergency plan can be the difference between staying in business or not.

The water used to put out the fire becomes a potential mold problem.  Standing water will quickly seep into walls, floors & ceilings and create a mold factory which can lead to additional health hazards.

Most property owners facing a large loss, have no idea where to look for help.  Getting to know a restoration contractor before you need one is a good idea.  

Restoration contractors have the needed equipment and training to clean up the damage quickly and minimize your down time.  

For a free Emergency Ready Profile, click here.

For more information go to:

Marla Rockhill

503-777-9739

marketingspswpdx@gmail.com

https://www.servpro.com/

Site selection is a fundamental key to successful real estate investing, location, location, location! For retail there can be multiple reasons for failure; poor concept, product, planning, understanding who is the ideal customer, and lack of funding to name a few.  But assume that these are solid.  Could a poorly located business fail? Site Zeus was created by Hannibal & Keenan Baldwin, successful business entrepreneurs who suffered some unexpected failures.  When they compared the successes to the failures, there was one significant distinction between success and failure: poor site selection.   Additionally, SiteZeus is able to assess existing locations performance and provide feedback to owners to determine which stores do better or worse and why.    Current verticals SiteZeus has identified as potential markets needing its service include: Restaurants & Retail Convenience & Gas station local medical offices For more information or a free demo, contact: https://sitezeus.com/ Jim Hoff jhoff@sitezeus.com Tyler Carlson tcarlson@sitezeus.com

Real Estate Investors who chose B, C & D properties must know four things to save on insurance.   Systems that are not replaced present a higher probability of failure or breakage resulting in damage to the property.  This increased likelihood of damage reduces the number of willing insurance companies to cover the property and in turn reduces the competition for your business which ultimately leads to higher cost of insurance. How to Save on Insurance When Investing in B, C, D Properties There are four systems that insurance carriers care most about and investors need to pay particular attention to: Roof - The roof is the first line of defense against rain and keeping water out of the structure.   A roof in poor condition can leak and cause a host of problems like: stained drywall, paint, and the big bad mold, which is a health hazard. Electrical - The older the property, the more concerned you should be.   Plumbing - Aging supply lines can be prone to leaks.  Supply lines made of galvanized pipe or polybutylene are known to fail.  When supply lines fail, the damage can be significant if not recognized immediately.   Heating & Air Conditioning - Properties with older, higher quality heating systems powered by a boiler or forced air natural gas, oil or electric furnaces have an average life expectancy of 18 - 20 years. The life can be extended with regular maintenance.   For your 10 things to know about insurance before you buy a property click here.

Successful investing in real estate takes knowledge, guts and a leap of faith.  How much more is required to invest in long distance multifamily? What are the key indicators Reed looks for to be successful in long distance multifamily? His engineer training provided the basic analytic skills to establish minimum requirements for his  investments.  Here are the starting requirements he has established that must be in place in order to proceed: Metropolitan Statistical Area MSA must have a minimum of at least 350,000.  This establishes basic population that ensures there are people that need housing. Population growth: a positive trend for the past ten years Employment opportunities of at least three major employers.  Jobs for your tenants so they can pay your rent. Moderate CAP rates.  Ideally they are 8 or greater.  If CAP rates are compressed, it makes it very difficult to purchase a property with leverage. Rents as a percentage of average income.  If rents are 25 - 30% of average income, then there is typically room to increase the rents.  If rents approach 40 - 45% of average monthly income, the opportunity to increase rents is significantly reduced. Once you have your parameters set, Reed suggests you analyze at least fifty deals to gain the experience and local knowledge needed to recognize a deal when it presents itself. For more go to: http://www.rsnpropertygroup.com/ Listen to Investing in the U.S.  An Aussie’s Guide to US Real Estate  

Reducing taxable income through interest expenses and depreciation are the cornerstone to a Real Estate Investors tax return.  What happens if President Trump and the Republican Congress pass, “A Better Way” tax reforms?   Does a simpler tax code eliminate depreciation? What about repair regulations, cost segregation and the 1031 exchange? All of these are possible in the Republican Congress attempt at tax reform.   Jonathan McGuire, a real estate consultant at Aldrich Advisors, discusses all of these at length and provides examples of how the proposed changes compare to what the current tax consequences.   While the goal is to simplify tax reporting and collection, the pain of change may scare you at first glance.  The changes make the consequences more directly related to the transaction and eliminate many current record keeping exercises to calculate taxes owed. On a scale of one to ten, Jonathan believes that as much as sixty percent of the proposed changes will become part of the tax code.  The only certainty in life are death, taxes and change.   For more, email Jonathan at: jmcguire@aldrichadvisors.com https://aldrichadvisors.com/  

The new year brings a new opportunity to dominate your marketplace.    Rod Santomassimo with the Massimo Group is a CCIM, former Commercial Real Estate Broker, author of multiple books.  He works as a consultant to Commercial Real Estate Professionals to help increase their results. In order to produce consistent results, here are some suggestions Rod teaches to his clients. Before you set a goal, it is important to know where you have been successful first.  Who are your current and past clients.  What were the exact circumstances that helped you make the sale.  Also, what were circumstances of your failures.   Knowing this first is key to understanding who your ideal prospects should be going forward for your greatest results. In order to dominate your marketplace, you need to have a funnel full of opportunity.  If you have not created a presence in your market, this is where you start.  It takes a lot of work, but the reward is pipe full of opportunity and consistent results.   To fill your pipe, you need a marketing plan of action.  Rod suggests that brokers be very disciplined about establishing their presence.  This can only be done with regular communication with prospects.   Providing valuable information regularly to prospects will help develop rapport and trust with prospects and top of mind.  Meeting in person, leaving behind content with your brand and contact information and regularly communicating via email, or other digital platform. Regular activity will develop top of mind position over your competition. For more information go: http://www.massimo-group.com/ rod@massimo-group.com  

Let me tell you about my boss!  That’s not what the book titled, Why Leadership Sucks by Miles Anthony Smith is about.  Instead, the author shares experience and stories of what he has learned in over fifteen years as a manager leading multiple companies and nonprofits and the challenges leaders face. In light of the new year, I welcomed the opportunity to talk with Miles Anthony Smith about the challenges leaders face and what they can do to become better leaders. Most Real Estate professionals are able to go it alone and survive.  In order to push past the limitations of doing it all by yourself, you have to find help.  If you have no experience, nor clarity on the task or process you are expecting help with, prepare to be disappointed. Small business is full of owners who are excellent at sales, but have no clue how to lead others. My experience working for others has shown me that there are two types of Leaders: those with titles and threats to get what they want from others those who inspire and have true followers willing to do what must be done Leading others is not easy.  In order to be a great leader, one must invest time, and thought, to develop skills.  Skills that include analysis and communication.  If the job description is not clear it’s a pretty good bet that you will not get what you need, and end up with two frustrated people, you and those you are trying to lead.   Trust is a key ingredient for a successful leader.   For more goto: http://www.milesanthonysmith.com/blog  

It happened, our First Deal!   We listened and learned.  We asked questions, listened some more, took notes and did the exercises.  Today, I am happy to report, we bought a 12 unit apartment building. The First Apartment Building In December 2016, we purchased our first 12 unit apartment building.  The property is an older, well maintained two story block building that is not in a flood zone!  The rents are well below market, and we have a strategy in place to increase the rents to market and reduce a couple of expenses to improve the cash flow.   Goldilocks and the four properties This was the fourth property we had under contract, so if you are hunting for a property, don’t give up too soon! The first property we had under contract, the seller sold out from under the listing broker. The second property under contract, our broker walked through, and told us it was a piece of junk, thank you. The third property was a four unit vacation rental with less than two years of rental history.  The deal breaker was financing.  It qualified for residential financing, but got complicated.  A commercial lender offered a quarterly adjustable rate loan, which was no good.  The fourth property was just right.  The Seller had a prior sale fail due to financing.  So, before we made our offer, we engaged a lender and included a commitment letter with our offer.  It helped. If you are looking for your first deal, I’m here to cheer you on.   For more information go to: http://commercialrealestatepronetwork.com darrin@jdarringross.com