Real Estate Investment Articles Submit Articles

I thought that I was only going to make $20,000 and by accident…opps, I made $55,000 more than I planned to. To top it all off, the seller was thrilled, and I’m still in shock. Honest, I rechecked it all three times and…yes, it’s correct, and the money is all there. Holy cow…how did that happen?
I got a call from a property owner who had lost his job, his spouse left, and soon to be, his home. It all happened at once, and he was beside himself.
No money to pay the bills and they were threatening to foreclose on his home. He had been trying to sell it, but it needed some repairs and he actually owed much more than it could be sold for. He just wanted out and wanted to save his good credit. He tried selling himself and for a period of time with an agent, but no interested buyers. Daily calls, increased frustration and rising blood pressure. By the time we talked, he was really motivated, and wanted to sell fast.
I had done some preliminary homework prior to our meeting and had a rough idea of what I thought that his home was worth subject to its condition. I met and talked to the seller and previewed the property, and discovered why that it wasn’t selling, besides being overpriced.

It needed lots of repairs and had not been updated in over twenty years. I knew that I had a challenge here. He told me what he owed, and I almost fell on the floor in disbelief. He had refinanced several times to payoff credit cards and to put his kids through school. The plain truth…he was upside down, big time. We agreed that he would not be able to get what he owed and asked me what alternatives that he may have. Other than losing it to foreclosure, I would talk to his bank about doing a short sale. I fully explained it all to him and presented him with a very, very low price offer subject to getting approval from his bank.

We signed the agreement and I gave him $10 as a deposit with my offer. I could see some type of relief in his eyes already. He looked 10 years younger. I gathered all his financial data, along with some other required paperwork. I made a detailed list of all the repairs and improvements that the home needed along with measurements and photos showing the run down condition. I got back to my office and put together a complete package and forwarded it all to his bank. In the interim, I called a few investors, put a sign in the yard and placed an ad in the newspaper and also on line.
You are not going to believe this…it wasn’t even three days later that the phone started ringing…and I mean ringing. I set up a time and invited all the callers over to look at the home. What a feeding frenzy…almost like a minnie auction. I’m just interested in getting my price and selling it quickly.
I got several pages of names. Several looked really good and many others as backups. I explained that I was waiting from the bank and would let them know as soon as I did.
About a month or so later, the bank accepted my really low offer, which really surprised me. Hey, if you don’t ask, you will never know. Long story short, one of the first buyers was very handy with his hands and welcomed the idea of fixing up this home. It was exactly what he was looking for and was in the tight area that he most wanted to be in.

Indeed a happy ending for all parties involved. The seller was so relieved to have this major debt finally paid-off so he could move on in his life. The buyer was able to realize the dream for his family, and me…$75,000 made me smile…big time. Oh…and there’s more. All those buyers that had called on this home…well most were upset that someone else got the home. But…I saved the names and found several other motivated sellers, and…made a bunch more people happy.
To learn more about this amazing but common transaction…please visit my website for more details on this and other similar stories. Learn how you can put smiles on other people faces…including yours.

James Clinton is a renowned national expert and guru mastering in real estate investing and creative real estate solutions. James is also a national award winning builder, remodeler and developer with over forty years of successful business operations. Married and a father of two grown daughters and two cats.

James has authored several books and has created, written and implemented many proprietary forms, agreements and exclusive paperwork for all his business ventures. An author, writer, reader, teacher, developer, trainer and lecturer complimented with a very expansive and extensive collection of true and real life experiences. http://www.truthofrealestate.com/profits

Bellevue is located in the state of Washington. The city is ranked as the fifth largest city in the state and is the proud winner of being the largest city in the Eastside of King County. The name Bellevue is from a French term which means “beautiful view” and there is no dening that for Bellevue as it is indeed a very beautiful and scenic city. With Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish passing through, the place is one of a kind to the nature lovers.

If you have decided to buy a home in Bellevue, you have made the right decision. What is popular in Bellevue? In sports, it has basketball team, the Bellevue Blackhawks. Bellevue is also popular for its annual Bellevue Arts & Crafts Fair. People visit this fair from all over the country so at that time, Bellevue is buzzed with tons of people. Other Bellevue attractions include Bellevue Botanical Garden, Bellevue Square, Bellevue Place, Bellevue Downtown Park and Lake Hills.

Without a doubt, Bellevue real estate is flourishing. There is more real estate development to cater the needs of providing more homes to the people. Bellevue is also a perfect location to invest in the real estate. There are many people who get a second home here because they “can never get enough of Bellevue”. To get a real estate agent in Bellevue is quite easy as there are too many good looking homes here that you will have a tough time choosing from. If you log into http://bellevue-real-estate.com/, you will get all the information about Bellevue real estate market. Furthermore they will guide you through in buying your dream home.

Education is very important. The city of Bellevue knows it. The city is the host of Bellevue School District and has a community college by the name Bellevue Community College (BCC). Apart from that, there are four public high schools namely, Bellevue High School, Interlake High School, Newport High School and Sammamish High School. There are Waldorf Education and Montessori schools available at elementary level. Believe it or not, Bellevue has the third largest institution of higher education in the state of Washington. If you are living in Bellevue, there is sure a place for your children’s education. No kids are being left out of the education system.

If you live in Bellevue, you will find celebrities as your neighbors. For instance, Jeff Probst from the Survivor series as the host of the reality TV show lives in the city. Apart from him, you get Stone Gossard from Pearl Jam and also Martin Harrison, former NFL player living in the city. With celebrities among the residents in Bellevue, this city is shining with fame and glory of its own.

Experience yourself the life of Bellevue. Get a Bellevue real estate agent and perhaps you can get yourself a house next to Jeff Probst, who knows! Just log into http://bellevue-real-estate.com

Lee Gerchow is author of this article on Bellevue Real Estate Find more information about Bellevue Properties here.

When famous Hernandez de Cordoba dropped his anchor at the shores of this part of the world in 1517, he encountered Mayan population of this region. Eventually, all communication broke down between the two peoples largely due to the language barrier. Hernandez de Cordoba mistakenly named this region “Yucatan”, thinking that this is the actual name given to the peninsula by the Mayans. Today, Mayan is still the first language of peninsula’s inhabitants who have learned Spanish as a second language.

Indigenous religious practices continue to persist within the region intertwined with some form of Catholic rituals. The Mayans dedicate themselves to corn production, fishing, hunting, farming and hammock-weaving, but most recently, and in great numbers, Mayans have joined the ranks of the tourism industry/development. Starting in the 1960’s Mexican government initiated a transformation of Yucatan peninsula into a main tourist destination. The Yucatan Peninsula’s eastern coastline spreads over two hundred kilometers, inviting the tourists to enjoy crystalline turquoise waters of the Caribbean. The Mayans support the tourism industry in Cancun, Mayan Riviera, Playa del Carmen, and Cozumel among other destinations in Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico by working in restaurants, hotels, and providing services as multilingual guides at archaeological sites.

The foreign and Mexican developers continue to expand through the construction of hotels, condominiums, commercial and residential investment properties along the Yucatan coast in efforts of transforming the “wild tropical forest region” into a luxury destination. The peninsula is divided by the following interstate borders; Quintana Roo is on the eastern coast and the state of Campeche looks towards the Gulf Coast to the west.

This part of the region is very abundant in limestone deposits and cenotes (freshwater underground rivers enclosed by naturally forming underground caves). There are no above-ground rivers in Yucatan peninsula because of limestone deposits which easily allow the water to pass through to the lower levels of earth. This suggests that due to poor water retention in the above layers of earth farming is difficult; the main produce grown in this part of the world is maize. Because of such poor water retention, the rain god Chac, was one of the most important Mayan gods. The rain season extends from May to late summer (October); when the rains don’t fall, the temperatures of the ocean water rise and tropical rainstorms and tornados are created. Such occurrences are more common now due to global warming and el niDo and la niDa effects of currents on the ocean.

Yucatán’s history, great climate and many wonders bring magnitude of tourists each year whose intentions are to enjoy the beach, explore colonial towns and jungles, caves full of cenotes, and Mayan ruins (main attraction is Chichen Itza) which are spread all over the Mayan Peninsula.

In my next articles, I will talk about Campeche and its place in the Yucatan peninsula; followed by my personal conquest of the tourist roads leading from Merida through Chichen Itza, through Coba, through Cancun, through Tulum, through the Mayan Riviera, to the famous strip of Cancun. I will describe the trips and events which might be pursued on your own or through organized trips.

There are many investment opportunities to own a piece of this paradise along the Caribbean Coast in Riviera Maya, Mexico as well as other destinations.

Tomek W.

Copyright ©

My name is Tom Witek. I have completed Bachelor of International Business and Master of Arts degrees from Carleton University. I participated in various university exchanges which enabled me to travel and admire many places in the world. I, especially, have a high regard for the history of Mexico. I have visited many cities and beaches in Mexico. I currently work in real estate, selling residential and condominium properties in Ottawa and Mexico. I currently live in Ottawa, Canada.

For more information about possibilities to own properties in Mexico or Ottawa please visit: http://www.ottawa-sellers-buyers-residential-homes.com

I want to walk through subject to investing just to make sure everyone understands that this is your best strategy for making money investing in real estate in today’s market. Ok, first off let me explain exactly, what is subject to. Subject to is taking over the existing loan without paying the underlying loan off. When we take over loans subject to, the loan stays in place and the seller stays on title until we’re able to sell it sometime in the near future. Now, most new investors will ask how can you take over an existing loan that way and leave it in the sellers name when all loans nowadays have a due on sale clause?

I get asked all the time…Won’t the lender call the loan due? Well, my answer is they certainly can. Will the lender call the loan due? Not likely as long as the payments are being made. The banks don’t want houses they want payments and as long as they have a performing asset they are not going to call the loan due in order to have a non performing asset. Just to give you an example of this. I was doing a short sale on a property here in Orlando last year. I only had 2 weeks to get this short sale completed before the first lien was taking the property to the court house steps for auction.

The second lien holder had no problem discounting their inferior lien, to where I was willing to pay them off at closing. I got all the paperwork in place to bring the first current. I sent in the paperwork to the first lien holder and it came back to me in the mail because I forgot to write the loan number on the check. Needless to say the property went to the courthouse steps to be auctioned. Fortunately nobody bid on this particular property, so the bank called me back to see if I was still interested.

I told the bank that I was, but I wasn’t willing to pay cash. I asked them, would they be willing to let me take over the existing loan and bring it current. I thought for sure they’d say NO, but she told me, she would have to check with her supervisor first. She called back the next day and said yes, they would, but they needed the payment within 5 days. I said Great send me a reinstatement figure. I then called the second and paid them off and sent the check to the first to take-over the existing loan with their permission.

Now everyone I told that story to, said well wasn’t the second lien already cleared off when the first foreclosed. To be completely honest I don’t know and I didn’t care. I had a property worth $235,000.00 dollars with an existing first lien of $119,000.00 and a second worth 93K. I got the second to take 5K for a full pay off. So I had well over 100K dollars in equity. I’m telling you the story because banks don’t want property they want payments and the bank proved it when they agreed to let me take it over. So you should always make sure you’re never putting yourself in a position to lose. If the lender decided to say NO to my offer, what’s the worst that can happen? I would have lost nothing but a really good deal and a little bit of pride because I screwed it up by not having the loan # on the check.

OK, let’s get into the paperwork needed to accomplish a subject to.

Number one. You need a motivated seller. They must need to sell, and have a reason why. Their facing foreclosure, their being relocated, the house is in bad condition, they’re getting divorced or they can’t afford the payments any more. These are folks who need to sell, not want to sell. You should now the difference.

Number two. You must get a purchase and sale agreement signed by the sellers and an authorization to release lending information. You’re also going to need the seller’s last statement from the lender so you can call and get information on the loan. Whether it’s to bring the loan current, make sure the loan doesn’t have a pre-payment penalty on it. To see if it’s a fixed or adjustable rate mortgage and what the length of the loan is 15 years 20 years or a 30 year loan. You’ll also want to know if the loan includes taxes and insurance.

Number three. Call the bank and tell them that you are a third party trying to get information on a loan. Ask them where you fax the authorization to release lending information and how long before the authorization is in the system. It’s usually within 72 hours. Call back and get the information you need. If the property is in foreclosure you’re going to have to get the phone # to the loss mitigation dept and refax the authorization to them specifically.

Number 4. You or your attorney must also get the sellers to sign these basic contract forms. If you don’t have them, their in the back office of the website and in you buying houses manual as well.

OK, number 1 · Disclosure letter- this document lets everyone know that the seller is completely aware of the due on sale clause and that you’re not making any promises. · Power of attorney- this gives you the right to sell the property or do anything you need to do specifically with this property only.

· Escrow letter- If the seller has their insurance escrowed the lender will apply it to the loan balance when you sell the property.

· Change of address- This lets the lender know where to send the payments.

· Assignment of beneficial interest- Seller signs this giving you their total interest in the land trust. You are now the owners of the property.

· Trustee’s deed- places the property into a land trust.

· Notice to lender- lets the lender know that the property has been put into a land trust and states the law that allows it along with new instructions on insurance and payments. Getting these forms signed places the property into a Land Trust.

Let me explain. When the sellers sign a Trustee’s Deed, that document is placing the property into a Land Trust, which gets recorded into the courthouse records. Then the assignment of beneficial interest gets signed by the seller giving you all interest in the property that you’ve taken subject to.

If anyone was to look up this property in the court house records or online they would still see the original owner on title. They’ll never see who the real owner is without a court order. Now if someone does a title search on the property they will know that the property is in a trust but they won’t know who holds the interest in the trust until you sell the property. That’s the power of the Land Trust. You should never buy a property without using a Land Trust.

Ok, next you’ll want to make sure you fill out the Declaration of Trust. This has nothing to do with the seller. The Declaration of Trust explains who the Trustee is and who are the individuals who own the interest in the trust and how much interest each individual has. This document never gets recorded and no one but the Trustee and the interest holders see this document.

Ok, now you need to put insurance on the property in your own name. If the sellers insurance is escrowed you need to have the seller cancel the insurance after you have put a new policy in place. The insurance policy should read as follows. Insured… 1324 Greensboro Road Land Trust. Do not let your insurance agent put your name on the insurance policy. If you have a problem with your insurance agent tell them that you’re insuring the trust. Make sure you send the “notice to lender” document explaining that the property was put into a land trust and exactly where you want the payments to go. It’s usually your address so you can make the payments on the property until you sell it.

All properties are allowed by law to be placed into a Land Trust. The law is the Garn St. Germains act of 1982 which allows any homeowner to place their property into a land trust for estate planning purposes. If you’re refinancing a property that’s in a land trust you are in most cases going to have to remove it from the land trust and then put it back in its no big deal it’s only one piece of paper to be filed and your attorney will do it for you. There you have the basics of a subject to. I can spend one full day teaching every aspect of the subject to but if you let your attorney do all the paperwork then you really don’t need to know much more. If you’re doing these on your own then you’ll need to get familiar with all the documents it’s not hard you only need to do 3-4 before you get the hang of it. Make sure when you’re dealing with your attorney, that you send them the paperwork you want filled out and they will do for you. Most attorney’s will not have all this paperwork readily available, so if you e-mail the documents to your attorney or title company and let them know you want the seller to sign these particular papers at closing, they’ll make it happen for you.

Now! I want to drill into you, why you must never pay cash unless the deal is so good that you can’t pass it up. If you’re going to go down and get loans from a bank you’re going to need to put at least 10% - 20% down on an investment property. Their will be no more 100% financing the banks want you to have some skin in the game.

When you take over properties subject to, you can get in with little money down. And if you’re doing it right it won’t be your money. You should always be looking for private lenders. The worst number as I’ve said before is the number one. If you only have one way to market, one way to buy property, or one funding source, your business is built on a poor foundation, and it’s only time before it comes crashing down.

If you come across a property that has little equity but the payments are low enough to make at least 100.00 dollars net cash flow then just do a lease option on the property where you’re at no risk whatsoever. I see to many investors trying to find the perfect deal.

Let me share this secret with you. “The perfect deal doesn’t exist”. You should be educated in the 5 profit centers in real estate investing and you should be able to put together offers that solve the seller’s situation. Every time a deal comes across your desk you should automatically say to yourself… Self, can I wholesale it, retail it, take over the payments, lease option or option it.

If you’re sitting around waiting for the perfect deal to fall in your lap, you mine as well go down to your local grocery store and buy all the lottery tickets you can, because it’s the same thing it’s called gambling. I see investors all the time sitting around waiting for something to happen.

I can almost guarantee them something will happen, It’s called “bankruptcy”. You need to get off your bum and make something happen nobody is going to hand you anything and remember this… if it is FREE; it’s usually worth exactly what you paid for it…NOTHING!

Success is never cheap let alone FREE. If it were free, everyone would be making 7 figure incomes. I’ve always preached, look at what everyone else is doing and do the complete opposite. Why you might ask, because we know for a fact that the top earners in our country are made up of only 5% … and the rest are made up of 95%, so doesn’t it make sense to look around to see what everyone else is doing and do something different, If you do you’ll soon be in the top 5%. The 95% think because they made it through high school or college that their education is over, while the 5% make it a daily habit of reading and educating themselves in their chosen field. I just read a staggering statistic last week.

67% of Americans do not read one book per year. So, It’s not hard to figure out how to get into the 5% if you so choose to. I personally read more than 100 books per year and I can say emphatically that it’s changed my life forever. Ok, I just want to touch on lead flow for a minute because I know that this was a problem for me when I first started. If you’re marketing your business properly you should at least have 1-3 leads coming in each day. If you don’t sooner or later you’re going to try to make chicken shit into chicken salad and I can guarantee you that you won’t like it. So keep marketing because your leads are your life line to success.

http://www.Realestateinvestingeducation.info

Glen Andrews is an Author, Coach, Teacher and Marketing expert to real estate Investing Students around the world. Glen has been Investing in Real Estate for 13 plus years and has bought and sold well over 200 properties. Glen still buys properties today but spends most of his time helping students reach their financial goals. You can see and read more on Glen at http://www.realestateinvestingeducation.info

Do to the credit crisis foreclosures have been on the rise since 2006. If you’re doing any marketing whatsoever you’re going to run into sellers who are facing foreclosure. You must know how to do short sales in order to take advantage of this ever growing market. There are huge paydays if you understand and know how to get short sales completed.

So let’s start out with what is a short sale? A short sale is when a lender agrees to accept less than what’s owed in exchange for a full payoff. This is what’s called a short sale. In order to get a short sale on a property the seller or homeowner must be in foreclosure or at least several months behind before a lender will consider doing a short sale.

Our best prospects obviously are people in foreclosure. I’ve also had lenders except short sales on properties that were behind on payments and not yet in foreclosure. But most lenders will not speak to you about a short sale unless they’re in foreclosure. OK, what exactly do you need to get a short sale excepted? First off… there’s nine must get documents that we’ll cover.

Number 1… you need to get 2 purchase and sales agreement signed by the seller. Why 2 purchase and sales agreements? Because one is between you and the seller and the second one is between you the seller and the bank. I know this can be a little confusing so let me explain.

One contract is signed between you and the seller. The second contract is a blank contract that you also get the seller to sign. You’ll fill it in when you figure out what exactly you’re willing to pay for the property. Just tell the seller that you don’t know what the bank will except yet that’s why this paperwork is blank.

The seller signs this blank contract and then you just fill in the numbers when you know what you can pay to make this a good deal for you, the second contract goes to the bank only.

Number 2, you must also get an authorization to release lending information signed. You must get this signed and fax it to the lender so that you may speak to them about this property. If you don’t get this signed the bank will not speak to you. When you contact the lender you want to ask for the loss mitigation department. Tell them that you are a third party trying to fax in an authorization to release form. Ask them what fax number they’d like it faxed to, and how long it will take to get this in the computer system.

It’s usually within 72 hours. Some are quicker some are slower.

Number 3, you must get the sellers last payment coupon or most recent loan statement so you can get the phone number to their lender. If you forget to get this from the seller you have no way of contacting the lender to get a fax number to send in the authorization to release lending information.

Number 4, you need to get a hardship letter from the seller. The bank will want to see this so they can determine if there is any reason for the short sale. They will also take this into consideration, if they decide to hold a deficiency judgment against the homeowner. They want to know that there is a good reason for them to do a short sale and not hold a deficiency judgment against the seller.

The hardship letter should state why the seller was unable to make the payments on the house. Like… job loss, Divorce, Illness, any unforeseen circumstances that might have occurred to cause the sellers to be delinquent.

Number 5…. You need to get the sellers last two months bank statements.

Number 6… You also need to get the last 2 months pay stubs.

Number 7… You must also get the last 2 years w-2 tax returns. It’s the first page of the tax returns not the entire tax return.

Number 8… You may or may not have to fill out an asset sheet. If the bank requires it, they will send you one to give to the seller, to have filled out.

Number 9… You need to send them a Net sheet. Your Title Company or Attorney will supply this to you.

The lender wants to make sure that the seller is not receiving any money at closing from the property.

Any of the above 8 documents that the seller can not provide, needs to be explained why in a short letter and sent in with the rest of the paperwork. For example… if the seller can not produce the last 2 months pay stubs because their unemployed then you need to state that in a short paragraph and send it in with the rest of the paperwork.

Lets talk a little about talking to sellers in foreclosure.

When I speak to a seller on the phone and I immediately know this is not a deal unless I can get a short sale on the property. I ask the seller if they’ve tried to list the property with a realtor. If they tell me they don’t have enough equity then I’ll ask them what they were hoping I could do with the property if there isn’t any equity.

Shut up and listen…then I tell the seller that I might be able to do a short sale, meaning the bank may except less than what’s owed in order to stop the foreclosure. The bank doesn’t want your house they want the payments. I’m always up front and honest, so then I ask the seller… If I can’t work out something with the bank what will you do with the property? The seller says in most cases… I guess it’ll go into foreclosure.

I then say well the bank can still come after you for a deficiency judgment. What is a deficiency judgment? A deficiency judgment is the loan balance minus what the bank excepts as a short sale. Let me give you a quick example. If there’s 100 thousand dollars owed to the bank and they agree to take a short sale for 70 thousand dollars then there is a thirty thousand dollar deficiency owed to the lender. Some times the lender will want a deficiency and some times they won’t, but it is up to the lender.

So I then say to the seller, If I can get a short sale excepted they can also hold a deficiency judgment against you. The reality is the bank can hold a deficiency against you no matter what you do. We always ask for a full release but it is the lenders decision. I can try a short sale if a deficiency judgment to you is better than a foreclosure.

If the deficiency judgment is a problem and you’d still like me to do all the paperwork and submit it. I will do it for $500.00 dollars. I will let you know what they decide about the deficiency judgment. Then you can decide for yourself if you want to proceed any further or just let the bank foreclose on the property. “I’m sorry to say, but I can not spend all those resources on getting a short sale excepted and then have you say that I’m not interested any more”. That’s what you’re going to explain to the seller.

I lost so much money doing short sales. That one paragraph is going to save you a lot of wasted time and money. If the seller is worried about the deficiency you mine as well know now before you do all the work to submit the paperwork and then have them say… I think I’ll let the property go to foreclosure. Just make sure you get the 5 hundred dollars up front before you do any work period.

Once you’ve decided to make an appointment to see the property make sure you tell the sellers that you will be collecting this information when you come out to view the property. (that information would be the 7 documents we mentioned above) Make sure anyone on the original loan documents signs all the paperwork.

If you’re getting them to sign the deed over to you at the kitchen table you must have a notary to witness the signatures or go down to a bank, were they have a notary. You must get the entire deed package filled out and notarized. Most areas have a traveling notary. I used one on several occasions for $50.00 dollars. After you’ve collected all the paperwork. You then will call the bank ask for the loss mitigation department and get their fax number. Fax all the documents. Make sure you put the loan number on all documents that are being faxed. Follow up within 7 days to find out if they received the paperwork.

After the bank reviews the information they will set up a BPO or what’s called a brokers price opinion. The broker will contact you to gain access to the property. The broker will come out to take picture of the property and also to do a comparable analysis of the neighborhood. If you know of anything that might affect the value of the property let the broker know. Make sure he/she sees all the problems with the property. I’ve had some brokers who just wanted to do a drive by appraisal. If the house needs work make sure they walk through and submit pictures to the lender.

This will give you your best chance of getting a great deal. By any chance the seller is receiving money from you at closing. The only way that a seller can receive money from you is by way of a “Bill of sale”. This allows the seller to sell any personal property that is their’s like a lawn mower, refrigerator, the corvette in the driveway, the motor home or anything else you see of value.

Lets move on to what are the best candidates for a short sale. The best short sales are the ones with first and second liens. Why, because you can takeover the first mortgage and payoff the seconds for pennies on the dollar. I’d much rather pay 5K - 10K thousand dollars at closing to take over the first mortgage then to have to pay off a first mortgage all cash. Let me explain… When you find sellers in foreclosure with only a first mortgage, if you short sale the first mortgage you have to bring all cash to closing. Let me give you an example. Let’s say you have a seller in foreclosure with a loan balance of 100 thousand dollars.

You get the bank to except 70 thousand dollars. You either need to wholesale it to another investor or you need to come to closing with 70 thousand dollars out of your pocket or someone elses. Now if you had the same 100 thousand dollars with a first mortgage and a second mortgage. The first being 70 thousand and the second being 30 thousand. You would only need to short the second lien holder down to 1-3 thousand dollars. Bring the first current and only be out of pocket 5-10 thousand dollars, depending on what kind of work need to be done to the property.

It’s easier to find private lenders willing to loan you 5-20 thousand dollars than there are people willing to lend 100 thousand dollars. Second mortgages are easier to negotiate. If the first mortgage is foreclosing on a second mortgage, the second mortgage gets nothing in their inferior position. That’s why they’ll always take some money instead of no money. That’s why I prefer only shorting second mortgages and taking over firsts. Your benefit is that you can sell it several different ways and make money with little at risk.

When you short sale only first mortgages you have to pay all cash. Would you rather pay 70 thousand dollars for a property worth 100 thousand or pay 5-10 thousand for a property worth 100 thousand. It’s a pretty easy decision I hope. You can short sale residential or commercial it doesn’t matter. If you come across properties in foreclosure that have multiple liens you can discount them as well if you can locate the lien holders. Short Sales are huge money makers for the select few who know how to do them correctly.

If a lender says no to your offer be it a first or second mortgage holder the only thing you need to do is show the bank how you came up with those numbers. If they still don’t want to work with you move on. In most cases they call back right before the auction date to see if you’re still interested. Let me warn you. If you only have a few leads coming in a month, sooner or later you’re going to pay to much for a property that you shouldn’t have. If you keep plenty of leads coming in, you get to pick and choose the best deals that will make you the most money.

My final and maybe the most important thought on short sales. If you’re not closing these through an attorney you had better get title insurance or at least a preliminary title search to make sure there are no more liens on the property. You had better do this before you bring it current.

http://www.realestateinvestingeducation.info

Glen Andrews is an Author, Coach, Teacher and Marketing expert to real estate Investing Students around the world. Glen has been Investing in Real Estate for 13 plus years and has bought and sold well over 200 properties. Glen still buys properties today but spends most of his time helping students reach their financial goals. You can see and read more on Glen at http://www.realestateinvestingeducation.info

Have you ever wondered why some investors have more deals coming in than they can handle while others struggle to pay the bills? If you’re struggling in this business it’s one of two things…

• You’re NOT properly educated in the 5 profit centers of real estate investing.
• You’re not marketing your real estate business properly.

The biggest mistake you can do is to market your business like everyone else. What do I mean by that? You have to create a unique selling proposition that allows you to stand apart from the “We Buy Houses” ads signs and letters. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that using the we buy houses ads, signs and letters doesn’t work, because they do to a certain extent.

I’ll also tell you that by lumping yourself along with a hundred other we buy houses ads, signs and letters is a wasteful expense of your marketing dollar. Your marketing must be unique in a way that stands out among all the other copy cat marketers. How would you feel if you received 4 letters that basically said the same thing? How would you determine who to call? How about if you received 4 letters that were basically the same and then received a fifth one that was completely different? Which one would stand out and have staying power?

If you never want to worry about competition again, you must come up with a good reason as to why a seller or buyer would want to deal with you over every other option available to them. It’s what we call a U.S.P. (Unique Selling Proposition) Sellers want to know what’s in it for them. Not how good you think you are or how special your service is over everyone else. So here’s the 7 basic secrets to creating marketing that gets results.

• A powerful headline… The headline must be a benefit to the reader in order for the reader to want to continue to read. Otherwise your marketing dollar just went into the circular file. (Garbage Can)
• Personalized… Your letters should all be personalized. Personalized letters pull 3%-5% better than a letter Not personalized.
• You must state the problem and agitate the reader so they feel a strong need for what it is you’re offering.
• You must create a solution to their specific problem with benefits of how you can help. Try to create vivid word pictures that appeal to the senses. This is also known as an Irresistable offer.
• You must have a call to action. What do you want the reader to do. Call this number or go to this website or fax in you information to this number. Make sure your call to action is precise and crystal clear.
• You should have a P.S in every letter or postcard. The P.S. is the first thing most people read when they look at a letter or a postcard. The P.S. should also re-state the benefits to the reader.
• You should have a deadline in your letters and postcards as well. A deadline gives the reader a reason to act NOW!

If anyone needs more help with marketing you can go to www.realestateinvestmenteducation.info on up coming events.

Glen Andrews is an Author, Coach, Teacher and Marketing expert to real estate Investing Students around the world. Glen has been Investing in Real Estate for 13 plus years and has bought and sold well over 200 properties. Glen still buys properties today but spends most of his time helping students reach their financial goals. You can see and read more on Glen at http://www.realestateinvestingeducation.info

New Jersey is one of the best places to buy real estate. Located along the East coast, there are few places as friendly, beautiful, and exciting as New Jersey. Many people travel to New Jersey to stay in their beautiful resorts across the Atlantic coastline.

In history, New Jersey was fought for during the American Revolution due to its key location between New York and Philadelphia. Our forefathers knew the wealth of this state, and the opportunities of New Jersey still live on today.

There are many tourist areas in New Jersey such as gambling in Atlantic City, the Delaware Water Gap, Liberty State Park, Jersey City, and the Edison National Historic Site. New Jersey is booming in tourism as well as real estate options.

Whether you are looking to buy a home, a hotel, or a company, New Jersey is the right place to do it. New Jersey is land of production. From farmlands to pharmaceuticals, many important products are produced and manufactured in New Jersey.

New Jersey is known as the Crossroads of the East because of its wide industrial diversification. So many items are manufactured and produced in this great state. From over 15,000 factories, products can be delivered to 60 million people in 12 different states overnight! The opportunities for business and real estate are unlimited.

It only makes sense to buy real estate in New Jersey. With the beauty of the ocean, and the great business potential, this state is one of the hot spots in profit and prosperity. NJ real estate is the land of tourism and production, and where people go to visit, people will go to live and work.

Remax of New Jersey (http://www.remax-nj.com/remaxnj) specializes in finding you the perfect piece of NJ real estate The author, Billings Farnsworth, is a freelance writer.

Although I hated you for pushing up oil prices causing me pain at the pump, I forgive you because you’re on my side now, pushing prices lower and relieving my pain. (See my closing comments for more on this).

Talk about a trade “unwinding”! The darling investment of the year is getting trounced, just at the time it was supposed to rise to $200 per barrel. And just as the media talking heads could blabber about nothing else.

Let’s look at the numbers. Oil Futures hit a high of just under 146 on July 14 of 2008.Last Friday the contract reached 115. A percentage decline of 20%

Let’s go back to the beginning of the year to get whole story. On Jan 1st this year, the black stuff traded at 92. If we calculate the rise to 115, the price is up 27%. That’s a very good rate of return, wouldn’t you agree? 27% in 8 months?

Those lucky (or savvy) investors who owned oil in January are up 27% -even though they were up 57% at one point. Still, I’m sure you agree, a very nice profit. So, why not take that profit and go home. I would do that, wouldn’t you? Well, that’s exactly what they’re doing.

But there is more to this tale. Not everyone got in at the beginning of the year. As a matter of fact, there are an awful lot of investors and speculators who got in pretty late. I even think there were a slew of investors (suckers) who got in right near the high of 145. What has happened to them?

Many, as I will explain to you, have been slaughtered. You see, for many people, investing in oil means purchasing contracts for its future delivery. In order to purchase these contracts, you need only to put up some collateral which then enables you to make your best bet. You use this collateral, say treasury bills, to buy as many contracts as your collateral will allow, generally at a ratio of 10 to 1. 10 to 1 is a very extreme amount of leverage. Because of the danger, it is mostly a game for professionals but a lot of non-professionals get involved because they believe it is a quick road to riches

Here’s how you make or lose a fortune. Say you put up enough money to buy $100,000 worth of oil, generally $10,000 worth of collateral. Remember, you don’t have to put up any cash, just the collateral. If your contract goes to $145,000 you will have in effect, earned a return of 450%. ($10,000 turned into $45,000). Big investors like hedge funds will make much larger bets because they are managing millions and billions of dollars for clients and need to make larger bets to make serious amounts of money.

I have just described the upside. What if you bought the oil contracts for $145,000 and put up $14,500 (10%) and low and behold, your oil contract declines to $115,000. In this case, your loss is $30,000 ($145,000 - $115,000). This means that in addition to losing your $14,500 you now owe your broker and additional $15,500. The broker will politely and quickly send you a notice at the end of the day demanding you add money, bring in other securities, or else it will redeem your collateral to get its money. This loss of $30,000 is as real as it gets. Multiply this by 100s of millions and you can see why the price of oil has been going down 4 or 5 dollars each day.

Thank you, Mr.Speculator!

So what is the take-away from all of this?

This is a constant theme from me and it ties into 2 important rules investors should always remember.

Rule #1) If a sector or particular type of investment (think internet stocks, real estate) is the topic of continuous conversation on TV or in print (especially magazines like Money) it’s too late to get involved. The big money has already been made and you are the guys they’re selling to. If no one’s talking about it, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good investment, but you can look closely at it with the knowledge that while the price may or not be high, it’s hasn’t been driven up artificially by the media.

Rule #2) Know what you own. Do you really understand the dynamics of investing in oil?
Why is it rising? Why did it rise so much? What are the factors governing the laws of supply and demand? Who are the important players?

One last thought on speculators… When the price of oil was rising day after day with no end in sight, there was a lot of talk about limiting the role of speculators in the market. This is a big mistake and here’s the reason. Yes, it hurts us when they push prices too high, but we need them to get crushed when the market turns against them. We need the same volatility on the downward move that we had on the up move. We have got to let the free market do its thing. Speculators have their place. They provide needed liquidity into the market- helping to insure that there’s a buyer for every seller and seller for every buyer.

I hope this helps you understand some of the characteristics of the investment world and keeps you from making some serious mistakes.

Visit http://onthemoneyradio.org for weekly commentary and money advice that covers the entire financial spectrum which also airs on my weekly radio show, “On The Money!”

Also visit http://blog.slpomeranz.com and SUBSCRIBE to my weekly commentary via Email and SUBSCRIBE to my weekly podcasts on itunes!

There are many benefits to having an offshore bank account, especially if you travel a lot for business. Many businesses utilize offshore bank accounts because placing their money within another economy can have some tax advantages. It also allows a business to have money in a different location in case they need it for a specific reason. Otherwise, they are able to have money housed somewhere else where it cannot be touched by anyone that doesn’t have the authority to touch it. Security is tight when it comes to offshore bank accounts, so many businesses and individuals are able to enjoy the benefits of knowing their money is safe. Because businesses trust their money in offshore accounts, it does not hurt for you to do the same because you never know when and how you’ll need to access that money.

In terms of business travel, it is very beneficial if you have offshore bank accounts in the countries that you frequent. If there are certain cities that you frequent, then banks in those cities are going to prove even more beneficial for you. That means you’ll have money at your disposal in case you need it. You just never know when something is going to happen that you need to access your funds quickly.

Things do happen

Let’s just say that you travel frequently to Geneva, Switzerland. You may want to consider opening an offshore bank account in Geneva because the money will be there in case you need it. You just never know when something such as a credit card is not going to work or ends up being lost. Loose things such as cash and credit cards can easily disappear and you do not want to be in a situation in which you have to call your business to wire you money because you’re stuck. Then there is always the fact that your company may not be able to bail you out. You don’t want to have to call family members or friends to send you large sums of money to get you through the rest of your business trip.

By having an offshore account in the countries and even the cities you visit means you’re going to be able to walk into the bank, show ID, and have immediate access to your money. That means the only thing you’re going to have to do is report your credit card lost. If you’ve lost cash, you’re going to feel terrible, but you’ll know to be a bit more careful with the cash that you have withdrawn from your offshore bank account. It’s just good to know that it is there when you need it. Had you not thought of opening an offshore bank account in the cities and countries that you frequent, you would have been in a bad situation. It never hurts to be prepared.

Opening the account

Depending on which countries you frequent is going to determine where you open the accounts. Many offshore banks have online applications that you fill out. You then fax them a copy of your ID and an existing bank statement. They may require additional information, but that is going to depend on the type of account you’re opening and the bank you are opening it with. Each bank has different requirements, so it is good to see what those requirements are prior to opening your account. You want to make sure you can provide everything they need in a timely fashion. Once everything is provided, you simply arrange a wire transfer to the new account and you are finished. You are then on your way to having secured money that is available when you need it.

Financial Services Firm offering offshore investments with offices in Bermuda, the Bahamas, Grand Cayman and London. For your offshore account needs, consider The LOM Group.

The most secure of investments are banking investments. Banking investments encompass many different types of investments, none of which yield high interest rates. Although, with compound interest rates, they over a period of time will continue to rise steadily.

Most people who have an investment portfolio know to diversify their portfolio so that they have some high risk investments such as stocks, and some secure investments such as banking investments. When you first start out investing, you should have more of a risk in your investment portfolio. As you get closer to retirement age, you should have less of a risk.

Banking investments include money market accounts, certificates of deposit, savings accounts and even IRA accounts. Certificates of deposit generally have the highest rate of return. The longer you agree to keep the certificate of deposit in the bank, the more of an interest rate that you will earn. Right now, the interest rates are very low when it comes to banking investments so it is not a good idea to lock in for a long time. When interest rates were 17 percent, it was a good idea to invest. Although when interest rates were 17 percent, few people had any money.

A money market account allows you to have the flexibility of taking your money out of the account when you need it but still earning a higher interest rate than a regular savings account. The difference is that the regular savings account will have a lower minimum balance than a money market account. There are some money market accounts that are available for $1,000 but most want a minimum balance of $10,000. Savings accounts, on the other hand, have a minimum balance that varies. Some banks will open up a savings account for less than $100.

If you are self employed, you can use banking investments to save for your future. Most banks have financial advisors that you can use to help you make investments, including IRA accounts. IRA accounts are a tax deductible which means that every time you put money into an IRA account, you can make a tax deduction on your income tax. You can put in a certain amount each year into an IRA account and it earns you tax deferred interest.

After the depression, many people distrusted banks. This was because during this time, many banks failed and people lost their money. But today the banking investments are guaranteed by the federal government. Today, because we have access to the internet, we are able to make banking investments right online. You can even open a money market account online without having to take a trip to the bank. And if you want, you can open up banking investments in an offshore account. When you open up an offshore account, the interest that you earn is tax free as it does not get reported to the IRS. For this reason, many people who want to open banking investments, do so with off shore accounts.

David Spicer is a very successful investor. David has put together a YourGuideToInvestments.com to advise newbie investors and help people to make their money work for them. If your looking for investment strategies, investment basics or types of investments you should check out his site today.