Author: Joel Teo

Success in real estate investing is all about knowing what to buy and how you approach the deal. Real estate investment therefore requires some specific skill sets that can be developed and honed. This article highlights three skills that you might want to develop to be more successful in your real estate investing business.

Firstly, interpersonal skills are important in real estate negotiations. What breaks or makes a deal usually is whether you have good interpersonal skills and are able to make the other party trust you. Spend time establishing rapport when you meet prospective sellers and then try to apply the win win formula so that they feel the value in doing a transaction with you and maybe recommend their friends to sell property to you in the future.

An example of this was when John talked to the seller of a large factory, the boss told him that what they needed now was cash flow and they did not want to move out of the property. So John did a sell and lease back transaction with the boss and today he has a good tenant and owns a factory building which he bought at a reduced rate.

Secondly, to be successful in real estate investment, you need to be able to do simple maths analysis of the monthly cashflow and analyze the longer term appreciation prospects of the real estate investment property that you are interested in. Spending time to analyze your buying price relative to similar units in the area is important and buying
it at an under value is always good.

Alternatively, when buying properties that you want to improve, always spend time doing the sums on how much the repairs and renovation will cost and if you are new to the fix and flip real estate sphere, bring your contractor and architect along to ascertain whether the deal is feasible.

Thirdly, real estate bargain hunting requires persistency as you might have to look at hundreds of properties before you find a property that you think can yield good rental returns and is suitable for you to buy. Remember that similarly, not all foreclosure and auction sites represent bargains. Make an appointment to go down to the property and physically examine it to satisfy yourself that it meets your requirements. Staying persistent in your search for the right real estate investment is thus key to making a good real estate acquisition.

Author: Joel Teo

Whether mortgage refinancing is a good thing or bad thing, to borrow rich dad poor dad’s terminology depends on whether you know how to utilise debt. Debt when utilised properly with proper cash reserves built up to withstand months when you cannot find tenants for your property will enable you to own more property than you can do so on your own steam. Real estate magnates like Donald Trump used leverage and so should you.

This article assumes that you have paid up your first property that you are staying in and have paid up your second property partially and you are looking to refinance your real estate investment so as to take some cash out to purchase a third property and highlights three good reasons why you should do that.

Reason #1- Monthly Cash flow
I know of some people who are very contented with just one fully paid up property, but there is a problem, they are asset rich but cash poor. This means that they have no cash flow but they have lots of money locked up in their real estate holdings. By taking some money by refinancing your loan out of your second property, you can invest your money into a third property and increase your monthly cash flow.

Reason #2- Lower interest rates
Spend some time looking at interbank interest rates and the Federal Reserve Interest Rate over the years to determine what way it is going and then aim to refinance in years where interest is lower. This would result in you having to spend less money all in all and save you a lot of money. Now with the lower interest rates, take the extra cash flow and save it and then as above, use it to invest into another real estate.

Reason #3- Combine properties
To bring your real estate investments into the next gear, then refinance both your properties and take the money and purchase a third property. Note that you should have a built in savings in your calculations as mentioned above to hedge against a market downturn in rentals or an inability to get tenants. After your properties increase many fold, you might want to follow the gurus advice and then start combining the total value of all your properties and then purchase a larger commercial building.

In conclusion, refinancing frees up much needed cash that you can use to purchase other real estate to generate even more monthly cash flow. Take massive action today and spend time writing out in paper your investment strategy and implement it and you will start seeing your real estate investment portfolio start increasing.

Author: Casey Yew

For most people, joining the real estate investment world is basically a dream. They consider investing in real estate to be an opportunity for a better future. Knowing that if done correctly, real estate investing can be profitable, the individual craves the life that a successful venture in real estate can bring.

In order to be successful, however, you need to understand the different types of real estate investing. The following information is a very basic real estate investment guide for long-term and short-term investments.

When you decide to invest in real estate, one of the first things you will need to do is decide whether or not you are investing to get cash immediately or to get cash later. Do you want to purchase a property and rent it out to get a monthly income or would you rather purchase a property and fix it up and resell quickly to get your profit immediately?

A short-term investment is when you want to get your profit from the property as soon as possible. There are a couple of different methods you can use. This real estate investment guide to short and long-term investments will just touch on these briefly but you should come away with a better understanding of what you want from your investment.

One of the ways to invest short-term is to purchase a property at a low-cost and then sell immediately at a low, but higher-cost. For example, if there is a home on the market that is listed for $90,000 but has a current market value of $115,000, you can purchase at $90,000 and sell it quickly for $110,000. You will need to subtract all the expenses for purchasing and selling in order to figure out your potential profit.

If it cost you $5,000 in closing costs and it will cost another $5,500 to sell your property through a real estate agent, you’ve deducted $10,500 from the $110,000. This leaves you with a profit of approximately $9,500.

If the whole process between the purchase of the property and the resale of the property took you three months, you’ve made this money within a three month period. This process is known as flipping properties and many often flip houses in a time period of much less than three months. This is quick money and what is considered a short-term investment.

Another type of short-term investing is to purchase a property and repair and renovate to sell at a later date for a much higher price. For example, if you were to purchase a fixer-upper at $80,000 and invest approximately $40,000 in renovations, you may find yourself able to sell that same property for as much as $160,000 or more, depending upon the appreciation and what the current market trends are.

Deduct all of your expenses and you could find yourself with a profit of $25,000 or more in a four to six-month period or less. Again, this gives you cash quickly and if you were to purchase three or four properties a year, you could end up with well-over $100,000 or more in profits annually.

Long-term investments involve rentals. These give you monthly income from the rents you will collect. Many find this is area they wish to pursue as it generally does not require one to invest any money into the property beyond the closing costs. Before you purchase rental properties, however, make sure you determine whether or not it is a solid investment by researching the rental history of the property and all the expenses associated with it.

Author: Joel Teo

Most people tend to take the all benefits are mine approach when they do real estate investment negotiations. However, it is submitted that a win win approach would take you further and help you close more deals than if you adopted a one sided benefits negotiating stance. This article will highlight three reasons why you should adopt a win win negotiating stance in real estate investment negotiations.

Firstly, you can get more referrals both in terms of deals when you are known in the industry as a win win real estate investor. By now aiming for one sided deals in real estate investment, you are therefore seen by the real estate brokers as a fair and serious real estate investor and when they spot a good deal, guess who they will be telling first. If you are into commercial real estate investment property, the previous owner may also tell his other property owner friends to consider selling to you if they should ever want to sell. Thus you get more goodwill by adopting a more win win negotiation stance and more referrals.

Secondly, like the famous saying by Zig Ziggler when you help people get what they want you get what you want. Spend some time in your real investment prospecting for your next property finding out what exactly the seller wants from the sale. Some real estate owners may want immediate cash, others may want to stay there and rent it back from you. Thus if you meet their needs, they are more likely than not to sell the real estate to you. You may end up with a better deal than what you had anticipated from the resultant good will from this transaction.

Thirdly, adopting a win win negotiating stance helps you learn and understand people better. By adopting a win win strategy you naturally spend more time listening to your tenants and sellers and will learn more about what they need and want and provide it for them. Imagine learning about what a commercial factory owner would need and being able to present to other factor owners that your building has everything they need at a competitive price. You have therefore in the process developed the competitive advantage over other real estate investors who merely look at driving a hard bargain.