Tips to Success in Real Estate Investing

By Jamel Gibbs

Flipping Houses is the best way to build fast cash in real estate investing. An estimated 90% of the world's millionaires made their money through real estate investing. But how can an ordinary individual flip houses and make a substantial amount of money in real estate investing? What are the main things you need to understand before going to invest in a house? And why is it important to educate yourself before real estate investing? In this article I will go over several ways that will assist you in your real estate investing venture.

Step 1: Find Your Buyer

In order to make money in real estate investing, it makes sense to first find your buyers. You can do this by calling we buy houses signs, building a buyer's list, attending auctions, working with real estate agents and using the MLS as well as other simple strategies and tactics. The best strategy to use if you ask me would be to target buyers that have a history of purchasing properties for cash.

Action Step 3: Gather the Information

After you find the buyers the next thing you need to do is find out what your buyers want. You can do this by asking them what areas of town they are investing in. How much they are looking to spend on their ideal property? What type of property they are currently buying? And how fast they can settle? Getting these questions answered will give you an idea of what to approach your buyers with.

Tip number 3: Find motivated sellers

In order to make money in flipping houses you have to understand how to work with motivated sellers. A motivated seller can be anyone who is in distress financially, or physically. An example of a motivated seller is someone who is getting a divorce, going into foreclosure, paying 2 mortgages, need to rehab their property but don't have the cash, going bankrupt, and so on. Therefore, in order to get a great deal when real estate investing you have to find someone that falls within this category. You can find these sellers using various forms of marketing.

Action Step 4: Screen the Motivated Seller

When your advertising is working and the motivated sellers are calling, in order to really get a good investment property deal you want to get as much information from the seller as possible. You can do this by asking the seller for information on their house. You want to find out what type of condition the house is in as well as the asking price of the property, but the most important question you need to know is why the seller is determined to get rid of their property.

Step 5: Getting Comps

Once you receive the information from the prospect, the next thing you need to do is run comparable sales to see if the deal will be a good house flip. You can do this by going to sites like Realquest.com, Zillow.com, Bank of America has a home value estimator and you can find it by going to Google.com and punching in Bank of America Home Value Estimator. You can also use sites like Eppraisal.com, or consult with a Realtor. There are many ways to run comps when you're looking to find out what a house is truly worth.

Step 6: Work the Numbers

After you get the comps for the house the next thing you need to do in order to flip a house is work the numbers. You can do this buy understanding the MAO formula. The MAO formula is as followed: You take the ARV (After repair value) and you multiply it by 65% and that leaves you with the amount that you're willing to pay for the house. Then you subtract the rehab cost, closing cost and overhead and that leaves you with the MAO or (Maximum Allowable Offer) that you can make on the house.

Action Step 7: Getting your Offer In

Once you have the Maximum Allowable Offer the next thing you do is make the offer. Your offer should be less than what your MAO is. The best thing to do in this case is to subtract and additional 10% off of the MAO and start you're bidding with the motivated seller from there. Negotiating is critical when it comes to real estate investing so make sure that you're sincere and very clear with the seller from the very beginning.

Tip number 8: Make Money

Once you get all of this done, you need to approach your buyers list that fit the criteria of the particular property. Doing this will allow you to sell the property rapidly, being that you have pre-screen the buyers and you know that they can close fast! Once you have solid buyer then all you need to do is send the contracts over to the title company and wait for your check to come in the mail. The best strategy to use in real estate investing would be to sell the property for less than the market value without rehabbing it. This is called wholesaling the property.

Copyright 2010 Jamel Gibbs

All Rights Reserved - 31864

About the Author:

Learn more about Real Estate Investing. Stop by Jamel Gibbs' site where you can find out all about Real Estate Investing and what it can do for you.

Rehabbing a Home? Here Are Some Skills You Need To Know

By Erin Cureton

Drywall/ Plaster Repair - When rehabbing old houses, cracks and holes in the plaster are common. Often, holes in ceiling plaster are the result of water infiltrating either from the roof, or from a split plumbing line. Holes in walls are often the result of vandalism, but could be the sign of more serious foundation issues. Once the root cause is fixed (see basic water repair section) cut a square area and replace with inch drywall. Once your piece is cut, secure it with multiple drywall screws, mud the gaps, tape, re-mud then sand to a smooth finish. In underground floors if Basment Waterproofing is required call a professional like Basement Doctors before you Repair the walls

Basic Water Pipe Repair Usually the hardest part of water pipe repair is finding the leak. You do this by turning on the water, listening for falling water, then visually inspecting where the water is coming from. Once you find the leak, cut out the old section of pipe and cut a section of new pipe to replace it. It is very important to dry the ends of the pipe and rough up the end of the old and new sections of pipe with your sandpaper. Apply flux to each section of pipe and to a coupler that will be used to join the pieces. Put the new section in place. Heat the coupler with your butane torch and apply solder around the edges of the coupler. Once it is sealed all the way around, allow the solder to dry and move on to the next leak.

Drain Repair Drains work by using the force of gravity to expel waste water down and out of the house. Improperly working drains can be the result of improper pitch in the drain line or a clog. Clogged drains are a very common problem. When a working drain gets clogged, Draino or a quick snake will often do the trick. If that doesn't work, unscrew the drainpipe and inspected for clogs. If a clog is found in there, simply remove the clog, replace the drain and test the drain. In a vacant house, a clog can become impenetrable. If you encounter such a clog, you need to cut it out and replace that section of drain. Using a saw or grinder cut out the clogged section of pipe. Once the clog is cut out, cut a similar length of PVC pipe to replace it. Either connect the new pipe to the old with PVC connectors or with a fernco connector. If you use the PVC connectors make sure that you clean the old pipe thoroughly and apply PVC cement to ensure a proper seal.

Replacing Light Fixtures Be sure the power is off to the fixture by checking the wires with a voltage meter. Remove the old fixture. Strip off a section of the wire casing and attach your new fixture with wire nuts and electrical tape. Insure that no unexposed wire remains. Since each fixture will come with its own set of instructions, be sure to read those instructions thoroughly to insure proper installation. Electricity can cause severe injury if you do not follow instruction implicitly.

Window Installation Carefully remove the old window, making sure not to damage the wood frame. Once the window is removed place wood shims on the sill and level the shims. Once the shims are level secure them in place with screws (drilling pilot holes will keep the shims from splitting). Put the new window in place. At the sash, place more wood shims between the wood frame and the window to fill that gap, and then secure the shims in place by screwing through the window frame and into the wood frame. Repeat this step about six inches from the top and six inches from the bottom of the sides. Once the sides are secure, make sure you can easily open and close the window. Fill the gaps around the window with expanding foam insulation.

Refinishing Wood Floors First remove the old carpet. Then remove all of the tack strips, staples, nails and quarter round molding. Once the floor is clean, run your drum sander with the grain of the wood. It is very important that you keep the drum sander moving at all times though. If you leave it sit it will quickly eat into the floor, leaving the finished floor wavy looking. Start with 36-grit sandpaper, then 80-grit, and then 100-grit. Once the main body of the floor is sanded, do the edges with an edge sander using the same grits of sandpaper that you used on the main floor. When all the sanding is complete, sweep the floor, and then vacuum the floor. Apply your choice of stain or apply polyurethane directly to the wood. Finish with 2-3 coats of polyurethane. Replace the trim molding along the floor.

Laying Tile The key to a good tile project is a good foundation. Whether you are tiling a wall or floor, the foundation must be plumb or level and the surface must be flat. Once the old covering has been removed lay a product like Hardi-Backer, an extremely durable cement-based product. Begin tile installation by troweling on a thin application of mastic over a three to four foot area. Set the tile in place and push gently to secure the position. Place a spacer next to the tile and position the next piece. Continue in this fashion until the tiles are all in place. Allow the mastic to dry for 24-hours before grouting. If you are laying a natural stone tile (travertine, slate, marble) be sure to seal the tile prior to grouting. If you don't, the tile will appear hazy. Remove all tile spacers. Mix a grout color of your choice, push the grout between the tiles with a rubber float and clean up all excess grout.

Texturing a Ceiling Texturing a ceiling is one of the simplest jobs you will do on a home, yet it gives the room a finished look. Dip a texturing brush with a long (4 foot) handle into a bucket of top-coating mud. Push the brush into the ceiling in a random pattern. After it dries finish by painting with a white ceiling paint. (Note: This project can be messy. Either do it before you put your floors in or cover them completely. )

Painting a Room Two tools that will make painting a room faster, easier and produce a better result are an orbital sander and a power sprayer. Use the orbital sander to smooth out any surface imperfections. Once the walls are smooth, start spraying. First, spray the walls, and ceilings with a coat of latex based primer. Next spray your ceiling with a white ceiling paint. Then spray your walls with a flat paint. Flat paint is the best choice for hiding small imperfection in your walls surface. Be sure to follow the sprayer with a roller to produce the best results. For a great finished look, be sure to apply a fresh coat of white semi-gloss paint to all trim.

Landscaping The exterior is the first impression people will get of your house. Take time to remove all the overgrown 1950's era plants and replace them with smaller more modern looking plants. After removing the old shrubs, cultivate the bed and mix in organic materials like manure, compost or peat moss. Arrange your new plants on top of the beds. Once you are happy with the arrangement, remove any burlap or plastic and plant them. Be sure not to bury the root balls of shrubs. You want to plant the shrub with just a little of the ball showing above the ground surface. Follow spacing instruction on the containers so that your new landscape doesn't look like overgrown in two years. After planting the large landscape in this fashion, take time to plant flowers around your new plants and enjoy your new look. - 31864

About the Author:

Erin Cureton is the lead partner of Cureton Property Alliance. Erin is also a leading fundraiser for the Medina County St. Vincent DePaul Society. He highly recommends Carpet Cleaning Cleaveland

Estate Agents Nottingham

By Teresa Butor

If you have ever used the services of an estate agent then you will probably have suffered some frustration with their service. Selling your home is one of the most important things you will do, and as we all know moving home is considered one of the most stressful things you can do. Now a new estate agent in Nottingham is trying to raise the game to suit the current housing market and raise the bar on customer service to get your property sold at the right price in the right time.

Elite Homes concentrate their efforts on offering a consultative approach to selling your property, and are ideally placed to sell or let particularly high end properties.

They offer residential house sales and lettings in Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and parts of Lincolnshire. They are already making a name for themselves, and we asked them to tell us the most common questions they are asked and then give us their answers.

Why are you different to other estate agents when it comes to selling my house? You should really give us a call to find out why - there are too many reasons to go into here. Basically though, we use professional services to make sure our marketing stands out and therefore your property does too. One thing we will point out here is that we focus attention on selling YOUR house, not just selling one from our books.

How will you keep me informed? Many customers of estate agents are frustrated by the lack on feedback and information coming from the estate agent. When you consider how busy people are these days in can sometimes be difficult to get in touch. So we do the usual contacting methods, but we wipe out all communication problems by offering you a dedicated web page you can log into and get access to your notes at any time.

What is my property worth? Many customers want to hear higher prices, and estate agents want to give a high price to get your business, and make a larger commission. Often, this ends up with an inflated price. Elite Homes will always do their best to get the best possible price, but will give you a fair market valuation. Where they do stand out is that can offer a House Doctor Service free of charge, where they can make recommendations to realistically increase the value of their homes. - 31864

About the Author:

Elite Homes UK would love you to be their next success story, whether you are buying, selling or renting. If you have a home for sale / rent then visit their website at estate agents Nottingham.

Estate agents in Nottingham

By Terry Webber

Elite homes are a new kind of estate agency in Nottingham that cater for expensive properties. If you are looking to sell your home and it is above 350,000 they can give you a service that is more likely to sell your home.

When you call out their agency to value your home they will give you a fair valuation rather than an inflated one just to get your business. Where they are different though is that they take a consultative approach to selling your home and they will offer a home staging service free of charge to all of their vendors.

The service can be made available free of charge to all of their vendors in an attempt to present the property at its best to match buyers requirements, increase the value and hopefully ensure a swift sale.

Their marketing is different to the other estate agents in Nottingham. As they are geared up to sell more expensive properties they have to raise their game, and therefore they use professional photography - no quick snaps with a cheap digital camera.

They also use professional graphic design agencies to design the layouts on brochures and other literature. Where they really shine is with the listings on the Rightmove website. This helps your listing with them really stand out against all of the other properties.

Once you have a Rightmove listing and a listing on their site - www.elitehomesuk.co.uk then they contact their well maintained database of potential purchases to generate more interest.

Have you ever used the services of a Nottingham estate agency only to have them not keep in touch with what it going on with your property? This can be really frustrating, so Elite Homes have found a solution. They do in fact call you weekly to let you know what is happening, but with peoples busy work schedules phone calls can often be missed, and texts and emails don't always go into enough detail. So at Elite Homes you get your own password protected log in page so you can see any and all notes concerning your property.

As Elite Homes estate agency are based in Nottingham don't be put off if you live somewhere outside the area. They cover Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and even parts of Lincolnshire. Even if you live further away but have an exclusive property then it may still be worth calling them to see if they can help. - 31864

About the Author:

Elite Homes are a new estate agency in Nottingham that are making a name for themselves in the Nottinghamshire area to rent houses that are more select. See their service at Nottingham Estate Agents.

How To Determine The Value Of A Property When Flipping Real Estate

By J. P. Turner

The key to succeeding at flipping real estate is to purchase properties for the right price so that there is room to make a decent profit. You will not be able to do this is you don't have a good understanding of the property values in your area. Here are some tips to assist you in determining the value of the properties you are thinking about buying.

The price of real estate varies quite a bit from one area to another, even from one neighborhood to another within the same town, so it is impossible for any article to tell you the value of a house. It is possible to tell you how to figure it out for yourself though.

One of the biggest things that can impact the value of a home is the school district that it's located in. A house that is in a good school district will be worth more than one in a poor district, even if they are right next door to each other. Property values are also affected by things like crime rates, the way the neighborhood looks and the average wages in the area.

If you are working with a real estate agent, it should be easy to get comps for a house you are considering purchasing. All you have to do is ask. These comps, or comparable properties, will give you an idea of what similar properties have sold for in the area recently. You can use this information to make an educated guess about the price you will be able to get for the home when you are ready to sell it.

Getting an accurate estimate of the cost of repairs is a very important part of valuing real estate. When you are new to rehabbing, you should ask two or three good contractors to inspect the property before you make an offer. They can give you an idea how much it will cost to get the house ready to re-sell. After you have been doing it for awhile, you should become familiar enough with the costs of various repairs to do the estimates yourself. When buying a fixer-upper, it is usually recommended that you allow room for at least $25,000 in profit.

When you buy a house with the intention of flipping it to another real estate investor instead of fixing and selling it to a homeowner, you must allow extra room for profit. Think about it, the person you are selling it to wants to make a profit too, so you have to buy the property cheaply enough to satisfy both of you.

If you follow these guidelines for determining property values, you will be well on your way to a successful career as a real estate investor. Remember, the amount of money you make on a deal depends on buying it for the right price. If you pay too much for a property, you won't make the profit you expected. Worse yet, you could end up losing money. - 31864

About the Author:

If you have access to transactional funding, you get real flexibility to flip nearly ANY deal you want to do, including profitable pre-foreclosure deals. You can get all these crucial answers by going here Flipping Real Estate.

Flipping Real Estate - Not For The Newbies

By J. P. Turner

Up until a few years ago when the financial and housing crises hit most of the US like a brick, people were getting rich flipping real estate at all price levels. Reality TV shows popped up all over showing the rags to riches stories of entire families who started small and ended up running large interstate companies flipping homes and teaching others how to do it.

Those days are pretty much over, but not completely gone for good. If you know how to choose the right properties, and if you can get financing - or use your own resources - there are still good deals to be had, and money to be made.

In reality, this is probably the best possible financial climate in which to buy a house you want to flip. With foreclosures and short sales available on almost every block, it isn't too far fetched to believe you can buy cheap, invest a little, and flip for decent if not big bucks.

If you're determined, first you need to find a house that needs repair, that is being sold much lower than market value, and a house that has repairs that either you can do yourself, or get done at a reasonable cost. (Is your brother a plumber? Can your father put down tile?)

A good deal is to find a home that needs work. Don't buy a good home thinking you're going to just redecorate it and sell it for a profit. That's not the purpose of a flip, and that's not how you make money.

Good "flips" aren't always in good neighborhoods. Drive around to some low income neighborhoods. Find homes that have been neglected, left empty, or even totally vandalized. These can be found for pennies on the dollar. No matter what repairs you make, you'll be able to turn a profit at the sale. Just make sure you are making improvements consistent with that neighborhood. For instance, adding a pool in a neighborhood where most homes don't even have garages is just a waste of money.

There are still some cities where flips are almost impossible. Even the homes that are selling for less than a few years ago are still too expensive for many people to buy. Add thousands in improvements, and you just further priced yourself and potential buyers out of the market. - 31864

About the Author:

Get an automated system that finds profitable pre-foreclosure properties that you can buy for pennies on the dollar right here at: Flipping Real Estate.

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