If you are new to real estate investing, you are probably wondering “where am I going to find my first real estate deal”? There are actually a number of very effective methods you can use. Below I will touch on 7 different methods to find deals. They are a pre-foreclosure listing service, major newspapers, post cards & fliers, bandit signs, MLS, a realtor, and a wholesaler.

Method one is to purchase a list of pre-foreclosure homes from a listing service. Here are just four such services: Foreclosure.com, RealtyTrac, Default Research, and ForclosureS.com. However, one of the drawbacks to a listing service is the cost. Also, be aware that some services have more recent information than others.

Another method would be to look into the classified ads section of major Newspapers. Their classified sections are on the web. You want to search the ads to find words such as “divorce”, “desperate”, “must sell” or “estate sale” to name just a few examples of keywords that indicate the seller is desperate. Think of some on your own and have fun with it.

Another method would be to send Postcards and fliers to targeted homes. However, it is highly advisable that you find someone who can do what is called good copywriting. Good copywriting is combining words, fonts, phrases, pictures, a call-to-action, etc. that will compel your potential home buyers to call your number. Make sure you do this type of marketing correctly otherwise you will be wasting your hard earned money.

Method number four is the use of bandit signs. A bandit sign is a small sign that is posted near major streets with a simple phrase to let home owners know that you buy houses quickly. Don’t forget to have your phone number listed in large letters, so distressed owners know who to call. Just be aware that in many places bandit signs are not allowed.

Another method that is more obvious is to look for a real estate investing deal is the MLS (Multiple Listing Service), however, you must be a licensed real estate agent in order to gain access to the MLS database. A word about the MLS, I know some real estate investors who swear by it and I know others who say it’s not worth your time. Who’s correct? Well, believe it or not, both are right. If you are a licensed agent who can jump on a property that is a good deal when it is put on MLS, you have a good chance to finds deals, otherwise, it will be more difficult.

Method six is to enlist the help of a realtor. If you don’t know anyone who is a realtor, you can find those who work with real estate investors, just by going to realtor.com. You will need to find a realtor who is willing to work with you and to email you a listing with your criteria. What sort of criteria do you use to search for a property? Again look for words like “divorce”, “desperate”, “must sell”, “condemned”, “gutted”, “mold” and any other word that would be undesirable for regular buyers, but a potential deal for a real estate investor.

Finally, there is another method that is simple, yet very effective. Get your deal through what is called a wholesaler. A wholesaler is one who controls or purchases a property at a deep discount and passes the savings on to you, the real estate investor. They typically send the deal right to your email box where you can read about the deal, do your due diligence and then make an offer.

So, as you can see there are various methods that you can use to find your deals. You may be wondering how may deals does it take before an offer is accepted? Well, I know many who say there is a 100-10-1 rule. It says it takes looking at 100 deals to make 10 offers to get one accepted. Choose a method or better yet, a set of methods that works for you and your budget.

About The Author

James O’Bannon is a real estate investor who is committed to finding the best real estate training for investors. You can learn more about his free training offers, as well as receive a free report on real estate investing secrets by visiting www.GreatDeals4Buyers.com. Author grants full reprintrights to this article. You may reprint and electronically distribute this article so long as its contents remain unchanged and the author’s byline remains in place.

Post bubble recessionary real estate investing in a networked world pretty much nails this discussion, grab your web surf board and enjoy the ride.

In this article, I show you what is working in real estate today and how to use the web and automation to create stimulus you can immediately use to ride the crest of real estate investing opportunities today. You’ll be shown how to find, fund and market hot properties while generating large buyer and seller lists using the internet to do some of the critical heavy lifting for you.

There are a variety of reasons why the following types of property are hot, just know that single family homes (SFH), condo’s & town homes, apartment houses (Multi-Units), mobile homes & parks and vacation homes in many markets are on sale now. A few methods of finding and controlling these assets are: wholesaling, rehab & retail, buy, hold & rent, lease w/options to buy, assumption of existing mortgages, taking subject to existing mortgages and working the probates, auctions, foreclosure’s and short sales. (Buying bankruptcy, foreclosure, probate, tax lien, eviction and divorce lists works well too)

Granted it takes education, knowledge, research, follow through, strategy, funding sources and various alternatives to control these assets but these are all easy pieces of the puzzle when a guy like me is willing to help. Researching, locating, analyzing, negotiating, buying, selling or holding techniques can all be taught and their not that difficult to understand, it’s just a matter of getting good information and actually using it to do the deals.

Everyone knows that getting a mortgage is funding method number one for most but what about using 2nd & 3rd position notes, rehab loans, lines of credit, government stimulus programs, grants, private money, fellow investors, partners and owner/seller financing or maybe just using options to control without using any money for starters, this can all be taught so fear not weary credit crunched investor, I’m here to help!

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here, it’s nice to have funding alternatives in place but you still need to find the deals and most often you had better find them at no more than 65% of value or .65 cents on the dollar if you hope to be successful in selling them to the next buyer for more.

These days you have a serious and very versatile tool at your disposal and that is the internet, the net allows you to market globally, capture and track leads 24/7, drive virtual traffic through your online front door, pre-qualify leads, post property, reports, whitepapers, articles, video’s and so much more. Getting a website up and running is easier than ever and creating an opt in box for the name and e mail capture of your visitors is a snap too, just know that these aren’t obstacles to your progress, it can all be outsourced very inexpensively, again using the web to do it.

Once you have a simple website with squeeze page (lead capture) set up then you can direct all your lead generating activities for buyers and sellers to it by putting your web address (URL) on your bandit signs, classified ads, flyers & newspaper inserts, direct mail letters, business cards, answering machines, for sale signs and so forth. I actually have a friend who will give you 10 websites a month for $27! Websites are easy. Get one or many!

Now that you have that virtual real estate property in place (your website) you should sign up at a few of the better known and highly trafficked social websites like: Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn along with a few real estate networking forums, these allow you to spread the word regarding what you do. Backpage, Craiglist, Kijiji, and other free classifieds posting sites let you tell people what you have; there are thousands of places on the web to post your message once you have a place to bring them back too.

Extra credit: Always carry a small pocket video recorder with you to capture, property, people, places and events, the Sony DSC-T700 is perfect for creating short videos to post on your website, Youtube, Facebook and property listing sites, people do business with people they know, like and trust, let them see you on film to help build those relationships over the web.

The internet allows you to set up systems and outsource just about everything that needs to be done allowing you to focus on the core money making aspects of finding great deals and selling those deals to others for a little bit more than you paid, even dead leads are worth $450-$500 each when you know where to sell them.

I briefly mentioned the reasons for having a website above now let’s get into the nuts & bolts of technology to lighten your load while your leads explode. First off I’ll ask you to take some type of action once you’ve finished reading, doing it now will create momentum and stop procrastination and fear dead in it’s tracks.

Let’s look at what a well planned out website can do for today’s busy real estate investor.

First off technology is great at automating routine tasks and initial follow up, web forms can automate distribution, marketing, contact management and customer service for starters, allowing you to use your website to explain, tell and sell 24/7.

By setting up informative articles banks, email auto-responders, frequently asked questions banks (FAQ’s) you can answer a lot of routine questions on autopilot. Now you have more free time to network with other investors, market deals, mentor new team members while you personally maintain contact with your bird-dogs and other support people.

When considering a website you should begin by asking yourself some questions:

• What is the purpose or desired outcome that I want from my website?
• What will visitors be looking for when they arrive?
• What type of pages will you want to have on your site?
• What will be some of the major features of your site?

Are you trying to attract buyers, sellers, distressed owners, other investors, trainees, bird-dogs? Consider the following as a basic outline from which to begin thinking about:

• Home page
• About us page
• Contact us page
• Available properties page(s)
• Articles page
• Newsletter & product sales pages etc…

Features may be:

• Seller information forms
• An online forum or bulletin board
• A live chat room and member area

This next tip will save you a lot of time, trial and error: Go look at other existing websites that are currently ranking high for the specific search terms of what you want your website to do! This is competitive analysis and it will show you the best of what is currently working now! Save those URL’s so you can show your future webmaster examples of how you want YOUR website to look like and do.

Here are few ideas on what you may consider outsourcing to other specialists who can assist you in the tech sector:

• Website development and updating
• Contact management and auto-responders
• Social book-marking, adding friends and videos
• SEO using articles, blogs and videos
• Database management, adding products and information
• Building landing pages and squeeze pages
• Graphic design and copywriting

It’s best to start with outsourcing the things that you do not know how to do, then begin outsourcing things that you do not like to do. If you want quality people you can trust at very good rates touch base with me and I’ll put you in touch with the people I use.

Hopefully you’ve picked up a few nuggets from the “Be A Real Estate Heavy Weight” series, feel free to Google that phrase to get all the in-depth answers you could ever want regarding what we’ve briefly discussed here today. Take action and you’ll succeed.

About The Author

Please visit www.bearealestateheavyweight.com for further information and resources from your buddy Dan.

Thinking of Investing in Residential Real Estate: It’s Still Location, Location, Location

Remember this: land is the element of real estate that appreciates. Man-made structures begin depreciating from the day they are constructed.

Think schools first.

Schools are often the first consideration for first time home buyers and renters – at least 80% to 90% of the time in my experience. These folks are most likely your biggest target market in your exit strategy for the investment properties you acquire.

Contact the main office of the district(s) serving the neighborhoods you’re interested in. Check the standardized test scores for the district. Obviously, the higher the better as an indicator of how well the district is perceived to be doing. You may be able to find the scores on line too.

Study kindergarten – sixth grade enrollment statistics (also available from the school district). Try to go back as far as ten years. You’re looking for growth in elementary school enrollment. Lots of growth equals desirable neighborhood.

Stay close to home.

Many books and courses advise you to purchase investment property located within a thirty mile radius of your personal residence. I say that’s still too far. Shoot for twenty miles, preferably fifteen.

Here’s what happens with too much distance between you and your investment. It will suffer from your neglect. An extra fifteen miles and minutes is enough to keep you away when an on site visit might really help.

Analyze the neighborhood.

Profitable neighborhoods have a common characteristic; people who can qualify for bank financing (now or in the near future) want to live there.

Ideally you’re looking for entry level to lower mid-range housing, 15 – 50 years old. It’s OK if the area is a little blighted as long as things are on the upturn. Look for visible signs of redevelopment.

Get acquainted with a competent real estate agent that does a lot of business in the neighborhood you’re investigating. Have him or her search the local Multiple Listing Service database and pull up “active listings, pending sales, and sold comps” for the area. If you plan to flip you want an active market – one, it makes it easier to estimate a final retail value for the properties you’re considering buying and two it shows that there are active buyers in the market now. Even if you plan to rent you still want to own in a location that is in demand.

Here are some things your real estate agent can help you sniff out.

• Look for closed sales transactions. There should be a healthy number. A lot of active listings and few closed sales is not a good omen for you.
• At least 70% – 80% of the closed sales should be to owner occupants – not investors buying rental units.
• The majority of buyers are purchasing with conventional bank financing, not various forms of owner financing and other creative methods.

At any rate, stay away from “war zones” with large tracts of run down, vacant houses, high crime rates, etc. These areas can be tempting because people do live there (generally renting) and the ratio of rental income to property values provides the landlord with a much nicer “spread” than is achievable in nicer areas. Some investors literally make a fortune in these neighborhoods. However, it’s probably the toughest segment of the business to operate in. And, alas, 90% of us cannot pull it off.

And now a few last thoughts about the layout and placement of the lot. If any of the following are present, I suggest you pass and move on to the next candidate. These kinds of functional negatives are either impossible or just too hard to overcome and in anything less than a red hot market they will significantly lengthen or kill your exit strategies for the property.

• The lot sits on a hill of any kind.
• The driveway or yard slopes toward the house.
• The lot is located in a flood plain, a valley or sits lower than the properties around it.
• The lot is close to a large stream or drainage ditch.
• The lot is on or backs to a busy or noisy high traffic, street.
• The lot adjoins commercial property or is in a commercial area where traffic, noise, lights, etc. might interfere with quiet enjoyment of a residential property.
• Any land that you know has formerly housed a manufacturer, dry cleaner, gas station or landfill.

Good hunting and choose your location carefully – a bad one can make your investing life miserable.

About The Author

Jim Howard is happy to share his love of real estate with you at realestateshelf.com. Jim’s experience with real estate spans 24 years, during which he achieved the Certified Property Manager designation through the Institute of Real Estate Management while throwing in an MBA along the way. His range of real estate experience includes managing and leasing industrial, retail and office properties as well as managing is own portfolio of residential investment properties. Jim is a licensed real estate broker in the state of Missouri.  http://www.realestateshelf.com

Real estate investing is a wide area of learning as well as practical application of techniques in the market. You might be an experienced real estate investor but every time you realize the fact that there is still something to learn further and further. Then after a commitment of a small mistake, we repent on the fact that why somebody had not taught me about this. Hence we move on to the same topic that real estate investing scenario is a big field that cannot be mastered within one day. But there are a number of webinars, seminars and online options that are available these days and it is upto us how we select them. This article will provide you with some of the basics that should help you in not regretting on the fact “why didn’t I keep myself updated on this”:

We all think that real estate is about properties, deals, financing; but as such we need to understand that no business merely exists with the things that are required for its mere functioning. What it involves is more than all these specified things are people.

Real estate investing cannot be learnt by merely our own actions, but we also need to understand from the actions of our competitors also. Like a child learns from his own mistakes, but for real estate investing you surely need to learn lessons from your mistake as well as be alert about what is happening with the competitors also. Learn from their mistakes also, so that you can have an overview about the mistakes that have to be avoided.

For instance let’s consider, a real estate investor made the first deal of his house. The house owner was an old woman whose husband had passed away recently and she wanted to move from state urgently to live along with her daughter and grand children. Her property was more than $15000, but she just directly stated that she merely wanted the balance of the property loan amount and $1000 to move out of the state by the end of the month. There were hundreds of real estate deals which had to be provided the right direction by the real estate investor, but the woman in this deal was just expecting speed in her transaction.

The woman made the real estate investor realize that real estate is not merely about properties, finance but it was about people. People do not necessarily want what the investor’s thinks they want. Hence, it is important that we ask them what are there expectations rather than just making assumptions on our own. The woman’s house was in a very good shape, she could have vacated the house after selling it for full value within two months. But what the woman was not motivated by money but what she wanted a very fast transactions. She just wanted to back the property behind her and move to someone dearer to her. We know that people are quite funny but we need to understand the fact that rather than simply making own assumptions, it would be beneficial to know what they want rather than our own assumptions. Then mutual consent could be reached after negotiations.

About The Author

Sharon Samraj is an expert author, who is presently working on the site Jeff Adams. He has written many articles in various topics like real estate investing.  For more information contact jeff adam, real estate millionaire.  http://www.realestatemillionairecode.com/

Story Updated: Dec 17, 2009

When you are ready to make the dream of owning your own home a reality there are a few things you should know.

First, get a copy of your credit report and work on improving it. Your credit report is an important tool used in getting a loan from the bank.

Second, go to your bank and talk with a loan officer about purchasing a house. They will have you fill out an application and a Pre-Qual Letter. There is likely to be an application fee of $40 or so to the bank for this service.

Third, find a Realtor. Realtors can help you find the best piece of real estate to fit your needs.

They are also beneficial because they know what is available on the market and have friends within the industry. The seller pays the commission to your Realtor, so it costs you nothing to have one.

In theory, a Realtor should help you get the best price. Keep in mind that the more you pay for the house, the more the Realtor makes in commission. Choose one wisely and ask opinions from friends and family before settling on one because you want one that you can trust.

Fourth, determine the major features you are looking for in a home. This would include what part of town you want to live in, what style of house you want, and how much the bank is willing to loan you. Then, you or your Realtor should compile a list of houses that match your criteria.

After you compile the list you need to go through the homes. Take the time to visit each home and have a walk-through with the owner. Ask any questions you have.

Fifth, when you settle on a house get the disclosure from the seller. The disclosure is a list of any problems the house has that the seller is aware of. If after seeing the disclosure you still are interested in the house, you need to determine how much money you are willing to offer on the home.

Get a list of comparable homes that have sold recently in the same area so you can get an idea of how much the house is really worth. Keep in mind that it is rare to accept the original price given by the seller usually you’ll offer slightly less than they are asking.

Sixth, have the house professionally inspected. You generally have to pay for this and it will cost $350 or so.

If the inspection reveals problems not listed on the disclosure you can try to get the seller to lower the price or fix the problems before the sale. If it is not worth it to you, walk away from the deal if your contract allows.

Seventh, make an offer on the home. Making an offer is not just an exchange of words, it means signing a contract. If the seller accepts the offer then they will be willing to sign too.

At this point you’re generally obligated to buy the house and the seller is generally obligated to sell, though depending on the wording of the contract you and the seller have the right to walk away from the deal under certain circumstances.

Eighth, the bank will have the house appraised. This process will ensure that the property is worth what you’re paying for it.

Ninth, get homeowners insurance. It is highly recommended that you price shop, in other words get quotes from several different businesses. The cost of the insurance will be added to your closing costs.

Tenth, close on the home. Meet with the title company or an attorney and officially sign the paperwork.

There are many cities that have rapidly been selling real estate. One of these is Park City, Utah.

This quaint mountain city is famous for its charming and often astounding houses, great shopping, snow and great resorts, and other mountain recreational activities. It even features some of the event sites for the Olympic world games that were hosted by Salt Lake City in 2002.

As you follow these basic steps you can make the process of buying a home easy and buy the home of your dreams.

This is a Guest Post from successful Real Estate Investor and Social Media Blogger, Chris Record.

Recently he has spent some time researching statistics related to mortgage origination, foreclosures, and our economic climate as it regards to investing in real estate.  Based on all of his research he is convinced that we are going to see a massive increase in opportunity in 2010 and he is excited to help people position themselves in front of these trends to capitalize on them!  This article is a summary of some of his findings…

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Foreclosures have been booming around the country, and with the limited ability to get funding we have seen a surge in creative real estate investing. We have also seen the average investor lay low because of the difficulty of today’s real estate market which has presented even more deals and opportunities for sophisticated investors who know how to negotiate and move properties.

Here is a summary of reasons why I feel that 2010 will be the year that sophisticated real estate investors create a tremendous amount of wealth…

SUPPLY AND DEMAND

As the population goes up, the demand always goes up as well. Many amateur investors are focused on where the market is today, rather than looking at the past to recognize trends for the future. Supply and Demand always rules but only savvy investors allow logic to lead over emotion. Remember these three words: “Numbers Never Lie”.

Currently the population in the United States is soaring and according to an article in USA Today, we are projected to reach over 400,000,000 people by 2042. According to the US Census Bureau we are gaining a new person every 11 seconds (one birth every 7 seconds, one death every 13 seconds, and one international migrant every 31 seconds). We are also seeing record numbers of births as more babies were born in the United States in 2007 than any year in the nation’s history, topping the peak during the baby boom 50 years earlier!

Soaring Population in the United States

In order to become a more sophisticated investor, it is important to understand population trends related to your local market that you are investing in as well. Use this tool to compare population growth of the states you are investing in to get an idea of whether your market is growing or not. Here is an example of the DC Metro population growth comparing Virginia, DC & Maryland.

Population Growth in Washington DC, Maryland & Virginia from 1979 to 2000

So as you can see from this graph, DC has maintained it’s population while Maryland and Virginia have shown tremendous growth. Also take into consideration that this date is only up to the year 2000.

Understanding supply and demand truly helps separate the sophisticated investor from the average investor. When we take a look at the rolling 12 month single-family permit activity across the nation, it become pretty evident that we are ready for a rebound in permit activity in 2010 and many educated investors believe that we will start to see this turnaround in 2010 for a variety of reasons.

Rolling 12-month single-family permit activity from 1960-2009

REAL ESTATE IS ON SALE

When we look at the cost of housing compared to family incomes we can see that today’s down real estate market is completely different from the real estate market of the 1980’s when the ratios reached as high as 60%! From this chart we can easily identify that real estate is on sale and is very affordable for the average family. We are currently seeing a 25% affordability ratio on homes nationwide which allows investors to move properties much faster as their are more able buyers out there.

National Housing Cost/Income Ratio 1971-2009

MONEY IS ON SALE

Next we take a look at the 30-year FRM rates vs. Prime Rates from 1971-2009. I remember back in 2004 when every loan officer and mortgage broker was urging everyone to refinance and lock in low rates before they catapulted back up to over 10%. Of course we all believed the could not possibly stay that low so record numbers of refinances started happening and people were happy they locked in such a low interest rate. However, here we are several years later and interest rates are still unbelievably low! In a traditional real estate bubble you would expect rates to jump up as high as 15-20% but we are in a fortunate situation where rates have stayed low and money is still on sale!

30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage Rates 1971-2009

When you take into consideration that money is on sale and real estate is on sale it starts to really become clear why NOW is such an ideal time to become an investor. I.D.E.A.L. is actually a great acronym for real estate investors because real estate can provide:

• Income
• Deductions
• Equity
• Appreciation
• Leverage

FORECLOSURE BOOM

According to My Budget 360 the foreclosure filings nationwide have risen from 100 million to 300 million in the past few years alone!

Foreclosure Filings Nationwide

There are countless reasons as to why our country got itself in this mess, and it is incredibly sad for many people that are facing foreclosure, faced with losing their homes, their dignity, their equity and their credit. On the other hand if you are someone that is looking to purchase a home, the opportunity has never been better!

in 2001 only 1% of all mortgage loans originated were interest-only or neg-am loans. By 2006 that number had reached nearly 30%! The first graph below shows the Option ARM (adjustable rate mortgages) reset schedule, totaling hundreds of billions of dollars in the next two years. The next graph is the interest only and negative amortization share of total mortgage purchase origination’s for 2000-2006. Keep in mind that “73 percent of homeowners with ARM’s don’t even know how much their monthly payment will increase the next time the rate goes up.”

Option Arm Reset Schedule 2008-2012

Interest Only and Negative Amortization Share of Originations from 2000-2006

My reason for sharing these graphs with you is to help you understand that we are getting ready to see another wave of foreclosures come in as a result of the ARM’s resetting and people not being able to afford their new payments. When I really started diving deep into these statistics it became clear to me that 2010 would be a great year of investing, but that it would require becoming a sophisticated investor to take advantage of it.

• I believe that we will start to see a turnaround in the single family permit activity in 2010. Most of my professional contacts in the construction industry share this opinion with me as well.
• I also believe that we will continue to see a steady flow of foreclosures that won’t stop anytime soon. This provides a great opportunity to pick up properties at deep discounts either directly from homeowners in the pre-foreclosure phase, or from auctions and banks after they have been foreclosed.
• Due to the difficulty in getting traditional financing, the majority of these properties are going to be picked up by sophisticated real estate investors using creative acquisition strategies.
• Since real estate and money are both on sale, now is the time to take advantage of these trends and opportunities.

So in summary, I would encourage any would-be real estate investor to start studying pre-foreclosure investing as well as auctions and REO’s. There are opportunities in today’s market to pick up properties for 50% of the appraised value when you know what you’re doing and there is an influx in hard money lenders and private investors out there that are looking for better returns than they have been getting in the stock market lately.

The key to becoming a sophisticated investor to take advantage of this perfect storm in 2010 is to first get educated. Learn about Subject-To as a technique to pick up properties with no money and no credit. Learn about Wholesaling as a way to move these properties quickly to other investors who will fix them up and retail them. Learn about Hard Money Lending and how to raise private capital by helping people self-direct their retirement plans. And most importantly get connected with other local sophisticated investors in your area that you can do deals with and partner with to help ease your learning curve.