Saturday, January 5, 2008
How Far Might Housing Prices Fall?
How Far Might Housing Prices Fall? (Barry Ritholtz in Seeking Alpha, Jan. 4th): "WSJ: "Federal Reserve Economists study: U.S. house prices "likely would have to fall considerably" to return to a normal relationship with rents... Prices would have to fall 15% over five years, assuming rents rose 4% a year. House prices would have to fall further if the adjustment took place more quickly... That means the rent/price ratio is about a third below its long-term average. To return to normal would require some combination of falling prices and rising rents. The paper suggests house prices would need to fall about 3% a year, if rents grew in line with their 4% average annual growth this decade." That's a pretty hefty pull back over time, especially on an inflation adjusted drop."
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Your Credit Score
As a real estate investor, it is important to keep tabs on your credit score. When you are obtaining financing for your investor loans, your score will play a significant role in your approval, and very importantly your interest rate and program you will qualify for.
Currently, the highest credit score is 800.
Ideally, as an investor you want to have a credit score above 700. We’ve found that 730 gets you the best deals.
If you don’t have great credit, that’s okay, getting your debt under control and making on time payments will help get you back on track.
Some of the things that will affect your credit score are: late payments, the amount of recent inquiries, the amount of revolving credit you have, the length of time you have had accounts outstanding in good standing.
Any late 30 day marks will have a negative affect on your ability to get a loan. Loan underwriters are looking for people who pay on time. When a loan is not performing, it affects the bank’s portfolio.
If you have had many hard inquires on your credit, meaning credit checks from companies you have actually applied for, your score goes down. This is because a red flag goes up as companies are not sure why you needed to apply so much, and they are also not sure how much new credit you may be approved for.
The actual amount of credit you have available to you may affect your credit score. Leverage is a good thing, but if you have too much of it available to you, the banks see you as a potential risk if you were to max out the entire potential credit available and run into truouble.
What banks like to see is regular, on time payments. A healthy amount of extended credit, with balances is also a good thing banks like. They are, after all in the business of making money, so they like to see a balance that you are paying interest on.
Lastly, your credit score is an average of the 3 credit bureaus. It is known as a Trimerge. The three companies are Trans Union, Experian, and Equifax. Each has it’s own score. What you need to do as an investor, and savvy consumer is know what your score is, and know what kind of activity it is getting. You’d also be surprised at the errors that you could find on your report.
In order to keep track of your score, you can order a report one time, or you can order a membership to a site that allows you to pull unlimited reports to keep track. Services also provide tips on credit improvement, and updates when your someone inquires on your credit. Experian is seen as the big daddy of the big 3 agencies. You can sign up for a membership and keep track of your score. Click here to visit the site.
As a real estate investor, it is important to keep tabs on your credit score. When you are obtaining financing for your investor loans, your score will play a significant role in your approval, and very importantly your interest rate and program you will qualify for.
Currently, the highest credit score is 800.
Ideally, as an investor you want to have a credit score above 700. We’ve found that 730 gets you the best deals.
If you don’t have great credit, that’s okay, getting your debt under control and making on time payments will help get you back on track.
Some of the things that will affect your credit score are: late payments, the amount of recent inquiries, the amount of revolving credit you have, the length of time you have had accounts outstanding in good standing.
Any late 30 day marks will have a negative affect on your ability to get a loan. Loan underwriters are looking for people who pay on time. When a loan is not performing, it affects the bank’s portfolio.
If you have had many hard inquires on your credit, meaning credit checks from companies you have actually applied for, your score goes down. This is because a red flag goes up as companies are not sure why you needed to apply so much, and they are also not sure how much new credit you may be approved for.
The actual amount of credit you have available to you may affect your credit score. Leverage is a good thing, but if you have too much of it available to you, the banks see you as a potential risk if you were to max out the entire potential credit available and run into truouble.
What banks like to see is regular, on time payments. A healthy amount of extended credit, with balances is also a good thing banks like. They are, after all in the business of making money, so they like to see a balance that you are paying interest on.
Lastly, your credit score is an average of the 3 credit bureaus. It is known as a Trimerge. The three companies are Trans Union, Experian, and Equifax. Each has it’s own score. What you need to do as an investor, and savvy consumer is know what your score is, and know what kind of activity it is getting. You’d also be surprised at the errors that you could find on your report.
In order to keep track of your score, you can order a report one time, or you can order a membership to a site that allows you to pull unlimited reports to keep track. Services also provide tips on credit improvement, and updates when your someone inquires on your credit. Experian is seen as the big daddy of the big 3 agencies. You can sign up for a membership and keep track of your score. Click here to visit the site.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Marketing for Success-Business Cards
Marketing is the key to your success as a real estate investor. The only way you are going to find leads, people to wholesale to, and private investors is to get the word out!
It is important to keep an eye to costs, as your marketing dollars need to fit into your budget.
One of the first things you should have as a real estate investor and business owner is business cards.
They should be professionally done, not on a inkjet printer with the tear perforation. Your image needs to be professional. The cards should serve not only as a piece for contact information, but also as a marketing tool.
Consider placing a teaser line on the back of the card that says, "Want to earn and extra $500? Contact me for more information." People call you and tell them that you pay on successful close on leads. Now you have a new Bird dog.
When I go out, I always leave a few cards around for people to find. In fact, a colleague I know puts his card in the slot at gas stations where you put in the credit card at the pump. He gets call from that!
You can have cards made locally or use can get great deals on the net. I use Vista Print for my cards, because they offer great deals, and they even have free cards for those of you getting started with tight funds.
Check them out, they have a really easy to use template that you can use to create very professional looking cards, even with gloss! 75% Off Premium "Custom" Business Cards at VistaPrint.com!
It is important to keep an eye to costs, as your marketing dollars need to fit into your budget.
One of the first things you should have as a real estate investor and business owner is business cards.
They should be professionally done, not on a inkjet printer with the tear perforation. Your image needs to be professional. The cards should serve not only as a piece for contact information, but also as a marketing tool.
Consider placing a teaser line on the back of the card that says, "Want to earn and extra $500? Contact me for more information." People call you and tell them that you pay on successful close on leads. Now you have a new Bird dog.
When I go out, I always leave a few cards around for people to find. In fact, a colleague I know puts his card in the slot at gas stations where you put in the credit card at the pump. He gets call from that!
You can have cards made locally or use can get great deals on the net. I use Vista Print for my cards, because they offer great deals, and they even have free cards for those of you getting started with tight funds.
Check them out, they have a really easy to use template that you can use to create very professional looking cards, even with gloss! 75% Off Premium "Custom" Business Cards at VistaPrint.com!
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
New Real Estate Investor-Commit to Taking Action!
Well, it's a new year!
You have 12 months, 365 days...so what are you going to do with it? Commit to taking action!
Make the decision to take action today! Set you plan, and then follow the plan!
Don't be someone who sits on the sidelines. Get in the game!
Decide right now to do something every week, and don't stop until you've reached all of your goals!
Ever watch ants? I love to watch them. Ever notice that whenever they come up to a barrier, they try to go around it. The never stop until they get to where they are going. You could learn a lot from ants. Pick up an ant mentality.
To your success.
You have 12 months, 365 days...so what are you going to do with it? Commit to taking action!
Make the decision to take action today! Set you plan, and then follow the plan!
Don't be someone who sits on the sidelines. Get in the game!
Decide right now to do something every week, and don't stop until you've reached all of your goals!
Ever watch ants? I love to watch them. Ever notice that whenever they come up to a barrier, they try to go around it. The never stop until they get to where they are going. You could learn a lot from ants. Pick up an ant mentality.
To your success.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Happy New Year!
As this year comes to an end, and we open the pages of a fresh, new chapter in your life, have you taken the time to really ponder your results in the last twelve months, and planned out and designed your life for the next coming year?
So often we tend to live life by default, taking what comes.
Make the next twelve months the best ever! To your Success!
Here's a great article from one of the masters of personal development, Jim Rohn:
Goals/Goal Setting
The major reason for setting a goal is for what it makes of you to accomplish it. What it makes of you will always be the far greater value than what you get.
When Andrew Carnegie died, they discovered a sheet of paper upon which he had written one of the major goals of his life: to spend the first half of his life accumulating money and to spend the last half of his life giving it all away. And he did!
Some people are disturbed by those tough days because all they have is the days. They haven't designed or described or defined the future.Goals. There's no telling what you can do when you get inspired by them. There's no telling what you can do when you believe in them. And there's no telling what will happen when you act upon them.
We all need lots of powerful long-range goals to help us past the short-term obstacles.The ultimate reason for setting goals is to entice you to become the person it takes to achieve them.Don't set your goals too low. If you don't need much, you won't become much.
If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us.We all have two choices: We can make a living or we can design a life.
So often we tend to live life by default, taking what comes.
Make the next twelve months the best ever! To your Success!
Here's a great article from one of the masters of personal development, Jim Rohn:
Goals/Goal Setting
The major reason for setting a goal is for what it makes of you to accomplish it. What it makes of you will always be the far greater value than what you get.
When Andrew Carnegie died, they discovered a sheet of paper upon which he had written one of the major goals of his life: to spend the first half of his life accumulating money and to spend the last half of his life giving it all away. And he did!
Some people are disturbed by those tough days because all they have is the days. They haven't designed or described or defined the future.Goals. There's no telling what you can do when you get inspired by them. There's no telling what you can do when you believe in them. And there's no telling what will happen when you act upon them.
We all need lots of powerful long-range goals to help us past the short-term obstacles.The ultimate reason for setting goals is to entice you to become the person it takes to achieve them.Don't set your goals too low. If you don't need much, you won't become much.
If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us.We all have two choices: We can make a living or we can design a life.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Have you considered using the internet for finding leads?
If someone is going into foreclosure, and it's 2am in the morning. Where do you think they are going to see what they can do? ONLINE. They go into Google and type in "foreclosure help", or "sell my house," or "need to sell fast." Imagine if you had a website online and it pops up. They fill in that information and you get the lead!
How about finding a way to attract private investors?
You see how powerful the internet can be as another tool in your Investor Tool Box?
You are a real estate expert. What if you were to build a site devoted to helping others become investors? Could you find a way to make money from that?
Market for leads, Market for Private Money, Market for other investors!
You can get someone to build you a site, or you can buy pre built sites.
My recommendation is to learn how to market on the internet first. That puts you in the drivers seat.
for more information on my recommendation for the best learning site, check out this link.
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