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Renters Beware: Double-digit Rent Hikes May be Coming Soon!

Real Estate Wealth Mike — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 17:01:00 GMT

(CNNMoney) — Renters beware: Double-digit rent hikes may be coming soon.
Already, rental vacancy rates have dipped below the 10% mark, where they had been lodged for most of the past three years.

“The demand for rental housing has already started to increase,” said Peggy Alford, president of Rent.com. “Young people are starting to get rid of their roommates and move out of their parent’s basements.”

By 2012, she predicts the vacancy rate will hover at a mere 5%. And with fewer units on the market, prices will explode.

Rent hikes have averaged less than 1% a year over the past decade, according to Commerce Department statistics, adjusted for inflation. Now, Alford expects rents to spike 7% or so in each of the next two years — to a national average that will top $800 per month.

In the hottest rental markets, the increases will likely top the 10% mark annually for the next couple of years, according to Lesley Deutch of John Burns Real Estate Consulting. In San Diego, she anticipates rents will rise more than 31% by 2015. In Seattle rents will climb 29% over that period; and in Boston, they may jump between 25% and 30%.
This is a sharp change from the recession, when many Americans couldn’t afford to live on their own. More than 1.2 million young adults moved back in with their parents from 2005 to 2010, said Deutch. Many others doubled up together.

As a result, landlords had to reduce prices and offer big incentives to snag renters.
We paid cash for our million-dollar home

Now that the recession is easing, many of these young people are ready to find new digs, mostly as renters, not owners. Plus, the foreclosure crisis continues unabated, and the millions losing their homes are looking for new places to live.

Apartment developers many not be able to keep up with this heightened demand, which will force prices upwards, according to Chris Macke, a real estate analyst with CoStar, which tracks multi-family housing trends.

“There will be an envelope of two or three years,” said Macke, “when the rise in demand for rentals will exceed the industry’s ability to meet it.”

Plus, Alford added, “there’s been a shift in the American Dream. We’re learning from our surveys that a huge proportion of people are choosing to rent.”

They’ve experienced the downsides of homeownership — or seen friends and family suffer — and don’t want to take the risks or pay the higher costs of homeownership.

Where homeownership costs are particularly high, there are many more renters than owners. In Manhattan, for example, only about 20% own their homes; in San Francisco, about of third of the population does; in Los Angeles, less than 40%; and in Chicago, about 44%.

There’s one factor that could rein in rent increases: the huge number of foreclosed homes that could hit the market over the next few years.

In many markets, like Phoenix and Las Vegas, there are neighborhoods filled with recently built, single-family homes going for fire-sale prices. When the cost of owning homes falls well below the costs of renting them, more people will buy.

“That’s always been the biggest competition for rentals,” said Deutc

Three common sources to find your private lenders

Real Estate Wealth Mike — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 15:11:00 GMT

Three common sources to find your private lenders

Author: Alan Cowgill
There are a number of candidates out there for your private lending needs. I have a thorough description of how to make it happen in other books and products that I have available

But just briefly, it could be people who have bought a bank CD. They probably won’t need that money for a while and you can show them that there is a better possible performance by investing in you.

There are people who have lost their job and have an old 401k that can be rolled into a self-directed IRA. That can then be sent into a private investing plan with you. Most people don’t have any knowledge of self-directed IRAs. You can really impress them with your knowledge of this investment product.

There are people who have an IRA that has been through a world of hurt in the stock market. These people would love to have an investment that earns them some money. If you can explain how private lending can make them money, you’re probably in.

There are also people who are selling an extra house. Some of them got the house through an inheritance or a rental that they don’t want anymore. What are they going to do with the proceeds? They probably don’t know. You can guide them buy showing them the possibilities you have for their money.

Once you get a private lender or preferably a team of private lenders, you have to start investing the money wisely in the right real estate properties.

In this market, it is easy to buy low, fix up and sell high. Many of these private lenders want to get into real estate investing but don’t want to do all of the work they believe they would have to do.

Your plan needs to be easy for them and they don’t have to do much of anything. They can tell their friends that they are doing real estate investing and wow them.

This is good news for you because those friends can become referrals.

It is much easier than it seems. About the Author
E. Alan Cowgill is the owner of Colby Properties, LLC. and President of Integrity Home Buyers, Inc. Since 1995, Alan has bought and sold hundreds of single family and/or small multi-family investment properties in Springfield, Ohio. Alan uses Private Lenders, not banks, to fund his real estate purchases. By doing this, he has created his own private bank of $2,000,000 in funds. Alan looks for situations where the seller, the lender, and the eventual homeowner can all "Win". He is not a Realtor, but a Private Investor, author, consultant and national speaker. He has been asked to speak on the topics of ‘Investing for the Beginning Investor.’ and ‘Finding Private Lenders.’ His home study system, ‘Private Lending Made Easy’, shows new and seasoned real estate investors how to find private lenders for their own real estate business.

Real Estate Investors - How to Find Lists For Mailing Postcards to Potential Sellers

Real Estate Wealth Mike — Sun, 02 May 2010 19:51:00 GMT

Two Types of Lists

Let's talk about the list. The list is important. We've talked about two kinds of lists. One would be a group of houses in a particular area that you would designate. Two would be a demographic - what type of person - meaning people where the tax bill goes to a different address than the home address.

Those are two types of lists that you can acquire. They're certainly not the limit. There are dozens of other ways you can slice and dice this. You could get homes worth a million dollars or more. You could get homes worth $100,000 or less. You could get multi-family properties. You could say, "All I want is multi-family properties." You can get businesses if you want. Invest in shops and retail things of that nature. However you want to do it, whatever list you want.

Ways to Find Lists

What I would suggest is there are a couple of different ways you can get lists. You can go out to a list broker. There are two that I recommend. First is Info-USA and the second is Melissa-Data. Both are national list brokers.

I suspect that if you went to both of them and asked for the identical list you'd find that they'd be relatively close in cost. I don't know that for certain, but they compete head-to-head all the time so I'd gather that their prices are fairly close.

I would suggest you pick one of these, pick which one you like best, and go with it. It's always best once you've identified one of them that you get used to their website. Spend some time and get used to things.
You can call them on the phone or do it over the web. Tell them what you're looking for. They will call you or give you an estimate of how many people would be on the list.

That amount may be too many and you may need to use a smaller space or a smaller area. That's up to you guys. If you're looking for a list of 1,000 people and the first criteria you give them comes back with 5,000, then you may have to shrink down your criteria. You can play with that.
You can also go out to Google and search "list brokers." I'm sure there are dozens of others that would show up.

I invite you to learn more about Real Estate Investing and become a member of our FREE weekly tele-seminar class where we teach tips and strategy on how to grow your real estate investing business and how to raise Private Money by going to http://www.realestatewealthtoday.com/TuesdayTipsSignUp.html.

Mike Lautensack is a full-time real estate entrepreneur, coach and mentor in Philadelphia, PA and creator of the Private Lending Presentation Kit. This powerful done-for-you kit is loaded with tools and techniques to attract and develop a consistent stream of private investors into your real estate business. To learn more about this kit and receive your FREE eBook go to Real Estate Investing.

Real Estate Newbies - A Simple Way to Start Real Estate Investing Without Money Down

Real Estate Wealth Mike — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 23:36:00 GMT

The popular notion that it is imperative to invest a great deal of money in order to make profits in real estate business is simply not true. The same goes for a credit or financing facility. There are many ways which can be applied for making real money in real estate business without investing your own money. The idea that I am going to put into words below is not an on-time quick-rich formula. It's a genuine real estate activity. One, which can be adapted as a career. The idea is called bird-dogging.

Bird-Dogging defined

Bird-dogging simply means locating and selling a property to a potential customer. The bird-dog finds a suitable property, locates its owner and convinces him to sell. If the owner agrees to sell, the bird-dog finds an investor who is ready to buy that particular property. The investor buys the property and pays a certain amount to the bird-dog for the services rendered by him. The bird-dog does not need to invest a single penny of his own in the whole transaction. Yet he gets away with a hefty sum.

How to become a bird-dog

The first step in this regard is to find an investor who enjoys good reputation and with whom you will feel comfortable. You can also seek a company that specializes in buying and selling properties.
Ask the investor or the company to register you with them. They will usually assign you a certain area to work in. It is your job to look out for suitable properties in that area and make contact with the owner, and then inform the company or the investor about that property.

What do you need to become a successful bird dog?

There are many attributes that are necessary for you to become a successful bird-dog. Fortunately, you don't have to be born with them. A little time and effort is needed to cultivate such properties. Some of them are noted below.

A knack for properties

You must train yourself to be on the constant look-out for available properties. You must keep your eyes open all the time even when you are driving in the neighborhood or going to the gym.

Moving in the right circle

If you want to be a bird-dog, you must move in the right circle. Your acquaintances must belong to the real estate community so that whenever a particular piece of property or an opportunity arrives; you are first one to hear about it.

Impeccable interpersonal skills

This is the key to success. The bird-dog is like a double agent. He has to convince the owner that the deal he is offering is good enough for him. At the same time he must convince his investor or principal that the deal is good for them too. The activity needs a cutting edge sharpness of mind and impeccable negotiating skills. Fortunately, this is something that you can achieve after spending some time in the field.

If you would like more information on this topic or to learn more real estate investing tips, ideals or "real world" investing strategies please go to my blog at http://www.learnrealestateinvestingblog.com/.

Mike Lautensack is a full-time real estate entrepreneur, coach and mentor in Philadelphia, PA and creator of the Private Lending Presentation Kit. This powerful done-for-you kit is loaded with tools and techniques to attract and develop a consistent stream of private investors into your real estate business. To learn more about this kit and receive your FREE eBook go to Real Estate Investing Blog.

Have you ever thought that with a little help from a experienced coach might help your real estate investing business take off? Consider a mini-coaching session by going to http://www.realestatewealthtoday.com/MiniCoaching.html

Why Today is The Time to Start Real Estate Investing and How to Finance Your Deals

Real Estate Wealth Mike — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 01:06:00 GMT

o you think the real estate market is finally starting to go up and NOW is the time to start investing. Well you may be right but here is the hard part: how do you pay for your investments. This is THE issue that makes or breaks your ability to be a real estate investor. Prices are down as much as 30% in some areas and opportunities are available in every neighborhood, but without money you cannot take advantage of these great prices.

Unless you are going to owner-occupy a property, you will be required to bring 30% to 50% as a down payment to closing. Do you have that kind of cash? The days of 5% to 10% down payments are gone. This is the new realty of today’s’ real estate market.

Additionally, most of the great deals today involve distressed properties that may need work. This work also cost money and you have to be prepared to fund these extra costs. These may included small repairs, fresh paint throughout, new kitchens or bathrooms or new carpets. All these cost money.

If you want to buy a $100,000 deal you will need $30k to $50k upfront. Then you will need at least $10k to fix up the house with fresh paint, carpet and small repairs. Can you afford this?

So now that you know how much you will need to purchase your real estate investment the question is how you are going to finance this amount. Here are a few options in the current market:

Traditional financing: Local and national banks, as well as mortgage brokers, are still going to be the best source for large-sum and long-term lending on anything four units and under. Expect to pay around 25% down, but interest rates should continue to be well under 7% for the foreseeable future. Make sure you talk to at least one mortgage broker and as many small local banks as possible before settling on a lender.
Lines of credit: Pulling out equity from your home or other investments should be done with caution, but is a great way to free up funds. Many investors buy and repair properties with cash from a line of credit, with the intent of financing the finished product six months or so after purchase. You should always check with your lender before taking this route, but it can be a great path to affording multiple properties in a short period of time.
Hard money lender: If you are looking for short-term money to leverage a property while you do repairs, this remains a viable option. Interest rates and fees are generally higher and hard money is currently less available than in years past, but if you develop a successful relationship with a hard-money lender it can really add a lot of flexibility to what kinds of projects you can take on.
Private lending: Technically, most hard money lenders are private, but I am referring to the type of money that comes from a less seasoned source. Someone like a family member, friend, or even an acquaintance with the desire to invest their money. This kind of money relies mostly on your own personal network, but if you can find a backer with deep pockets, you can both benefit greatly. Since you are generally not competing with other investors for these funds, this money can be more reliable and flexible as well.
Partnership: In many ways a partnership is a more formal and permanent form of private funding. Instead of just borrowing money under certain terms from someone, they actually have a stake in the property itself. Whether you split profits 50/50 or 75/25, if you need help with managing your investments and/or paying for them, finding a partner can be a great way to open up your options.

As the real estate market continues to improve more and more people will start to come back into the market and as a result prices will start to go back up. Now is the time to get into this market before that happens. These future price increases should be your equity. But you need to get over the financing hurdle.

If you would like more information on this topic or to learn more real estate investing tips, ideals or "real world" investing strategies please go to my blog at http://www.learnrealestateinvestingblog.com/.

Mike Lautensack is a full-time real estate entrepreneur, coach and mentor in Philadelphia, PA and creator of the Private Lending Presentation Kit. This powerful done-for-you kit is loaded with tools and techniques to attract and develop a consistent stream of private investors into your real estate business. To learn more about this kit and receive your FREE eBook go to Real Estate Investing Blog.

Have you ever thought that with a little help from a experienced coach might help your real estate investing business take off? Consider a mini-coaching session by going to http://www.realestatewealthtoday.com/MiniCoaching.html

Real Estate Investors - The 9 Top Ways to Find Private Lenders

Real Estate Wealth Mike — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:20:00 GMT

I a sure you are aware the mortgage market in this country has collapsed. I do not mean "it is slow" or "down slightly", I mean it has COLLAPSED. It is almost impossible for a home owner to get a mortgage and down right impossible for real estate investors to get traditional mortgages.

The solution for the next couple of years will be private lenders. But how does a real estate investor find private lenders. Well, finding a private lender is not nearly as difficult as people think. Here are the top 9 ways to find potential lenders for your real estate investing business.

Elevator Speech: Prepare a "60 second" elevator speech and network with everyone you know including friends, family and business associates. Spread the word you are looking for investors.
Real Estate Investment Clubs: Join your local REI group and network and spread the word you are a real estate investor and looking for private lenders to invest in your deals.
Join professional networking groups: You can join networking groups like BNI and be sure to join and deliver your "60 second" elevator speech at opportunity.
Postcards: You can purchase lists of high net worth individuals and send a postcard inviting them to call you to get free information form you or attend an informational seminar about your real estate investing business and private lending.
Letters: Send letters to a high net worth list as above or send it to people that have already called or emailed you from your postcards.
Small Local Newspaper Ads: You can place ads in small newspapers offering the reader to attend an educational seminar or request a free report.
Flyers: Post flyers at senior centers and areas where high net worth people attend and traffic.
Speeches and Presentations: Offer to give a 30 to 60 minute educational presentation about real estate investing and private lender.
Internet: You can spread the word through social networking sites like Twitter or Facebook. However, I strongly urge you to simple offer to provided educational information and do NOT make an offer to borrow money through internet sources. Advertising directly through the internet will attract attention form your state SEC department and I assure you that this is not the attention you want to attract.
BONUS -- Talk, Talk and More Talk: Talk to everyone and spread the word about what you do and what services you provided.

So You Need Money For Real Estate Investments - Here is How to Use Private Lenders For Money!

Real Estate Wealth Mike — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 19:42:00 GMT

If you have tried to get a traditional mortgage, or even a hard money loan, to finance your real estate investments you know how hard it is to get loans in today's post-credit bubble market. It is even harder to get "no money down" loans for your real estate investing business. If you are using traditional mortgage or hard money loans they can take two or three months to close. The problem you will quickly discover is that sellers are not willing to wait that long and get angry at having to continuously extend their contracts or wait for your loan approval.

Banks and mortgage lenders view mortgage loans to real estate investors as a higher risk than loans to home owners. They believe if the home owner is not living in the property and if trouble hits an investor will opt to pay their own home mortgage first and only pay for the investment loan if they can afford to make the payments. This puts the bank in a very poor position. As a result, most banks are looking for real estate investors to put up 30% to 50% down payment to protect their interest in time of trouble. VERY few investors have this kind of cash so it is very difficult or impossible to do deals with traditional mortgage or hard money loans.

Real estate investors still are not advised to use their own money to do their deals. Even if you have 30-50% saved for a down payment on your investment property, most real estate guru's warn, NEVER spend your own money on real estate investments. Most beginners start their investment career saving up for a down payment, but the fact is, serious real estate investors do not use their own money to do real estate deals.

So how do you buy real estate investments if it is so hard to get a loan and you do not want me to use my money to apply to a down payment?

Buying real estate without using your own money IS possible, and it's not difficult. With the right kind of deal, investment property can be purchased without a single penny of your own money.

Enter the world of Private Lenders... Private lenders are individuals with money to lend for investment purposes. They may or may not be wealthy, but they do have excess cash or assets available over and above what they need to live on. These individuals are willing to lend for a higher return than they can get with bank CD's or money markets. There are no limits on the number of private lenders you can have or the number of real estate deals you can do using private money.

If you would like more information on this topic or to learn more real estate investing tips, ideals or "real world" investing strategies please go to my blog at http://www.learnrealestateinvestingblog.com/.

Mike Lautensack is a full-time real estate entrepreneur, coach and mentor in Philadelphia, PA and creator of the Private Lending Presentation Kit. This powerful done-for-you kit is loaded with tools and techniques to attract and develop a consistent stream of private investors into your real estate business. To learn more about this kit and receive your FREE eBook go to Real Estate Investing Blog.

Have you ever thought that with a little help from a experienced coach might help your real estate investing business take off? Consider a mini-coaching session by going to http://www.realestatewealthtoday.com/MiniCoaching.html

3 Simple Ways to Start Investing in Real Estate

Real Estate Wealth Mike — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 01:41:00 GMT

The internet is awash with creative and non-traditional ways of real estate investment. Reading one of them makes you feel that it is very simple and workable. Then you begin to doubt whether all of them actually work. The truth is they do. All these techniques have been used by someone, somewhere at some point in time. The possibilities of using these techniques are limitless. Once you start putting them into practice, you will find out that they can work wonders for you. Some of the creative methods of real estate investments that you can put into practice are as follows:

Finding money lenders

There are people, even in this slowdown, who are loaded with cash. These people extend short-term loans to their customers with a little higher interest rate than the conventional lenders. You can secure such a loan from a lender and use this short -term facility to invest in your real estate business. You can use these short term loans for flipping houses or any other short term real estate activity. The profit from the business can take care of the mark-up.

Simultaneous buying and selling

The method, though creative and workable needs a lot of hard work and quick wittedness. The phenomenon works like this: You buy a property from an owner and request him to defer the payment to a future date. Within that date you find a buyer for the same property. You ask the buyer to make immediate payment. When the buyer gives you money, you use that money to pay the owner from whom you have bought the property. So what's in it for you? Of course, you are not going to sell the property exactly at the same price at which you bought it. The difference between your buying price and selling price is your profit.

Though seemingly, the idea is simple enough, in reality it is a little bit complicated. First you need to find a motivated seller and convince him to sell his property at deferred payment. Then you need to find a buyer of the same property and convince him to make immediate payment to you. If you decide to start such a venture, it is highly advisable that you have a buyer already lined up before you make the purchase so you do not get stuck with the property.

Assuming mortgages

Another creative method for investing in real estate business is to assume mortgages. The idea is to take over the existing mortgage on a property. In addition to taking the mortgage on the property, you can also get another mortgage for the payment to the seller. The phenomenon is very much feasible since the seller gets higher interest and receives his payment in relatively shorter period of time. But, before you indulge in this activity, you must make sure that the original lender agrees to your assuming the mortgage because his consent is imperative. Also try and make yourself familiar with the local laws of the state in which you wish to operate since the laws differ from state to state and if you are not aware of the existing laws.

If you would like more information on this topic or to learn more real estate investing tips, ideals or "real world" investing strategies please go to my blog at http://www.learnrealestateinvestingblog.com/.

Mike Lautensack is a full-time real estate entrepreneur, coach and mentor in Philadelphia, PA and creator of the Private Lending Presentation Kit. This powerful done-for-you kit is loaded with tools and techniques to attract and develop a consistent stream of private investors into your real estate business. To learn more about this kit and receive your FREE eBook go to Real Estate Investing Blog.

Have you ever thought that with a little help from a experienced coach might help your real estate investing business take off? Consider a mini-coaching session by going to http://www.realestatewealthtoday.com/MiniCoaching.html

Real Estate Investors: How to Get Motivated Sellers Calling in Droves Using Post-It Notes

Real Estate Wealth Mike — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 13:55:00 GMT

Outside Company Distribution

There are companies out there that do distribution of post-it notes. There's a company called Markot. I 'm not going to recommend them because I tried them and I was not particularly happy. There are others and you can look them up on Google under "post-it note distribution" and your city name. Try one and see how they perform with small batch before you give them more business.

You tell them what neighborhood you want, you give them the post-it notes, and they'll go out and distribute them on each and every door. They'll walk up and down the neighborhood and put them on the doors.
I had some problems with one of my vendors. First, was they'd tell you they were delivering them this week, and then something would happen and it would be next, and then the following week. I had some problems getting them to deliver them on the dates they chose.

Second, I was always concerned when they did finally get around to it, because it seemed like my response was fairly muted compared to when I would have the post-it notes delivered myself by my people I trusted. It always made me wonder if they were getting out there in the exact number they stated.

Hire Someone to Distribute

Again, there's nothing wrong with paying somebody to do it. In fact, that's what I recommend, that you eventually get somebody to hire to go out and put them on doors. It's very easy if you know some people - some young kids, 15 year olds or something like that. You can pay them 10 or 15 cents per post-it note to deliver. They can do it after school or on the weekends. It's a nice part-time job for a kid.

For the most part, if you know the kid and you can trust they'll actually deliver them and they count how many they delivered - you pay them after they're completed. You should know when they're being delivered almost to the moment they're being delivered. That's how often you'll get calls.

If they start delivering them on a particular street at 4:00 in the afternoon and they deliver 300, 400 or 500 of them, it is almost inconceivable that you wouldn't get a couple of calls. That's how effective these are.
Some of these calls might not be very productive. You might even occasionally get a cranky person calling to complain. Tell them you're sorry, apologize, and maybe you'll have the kids run over and pull theirs off the door of something. Just deal with the cranky calls.

You will be getting calls almost immediately so you will know that they're being delivered. I know for sure the date they're being delivered because I get calls. If they deliver on Tuesdays and Thursdays, then I get calls on Tuesdays and Thursdays. If they don't deliver on Wednesday then maybe the phone is quiet on Wednesday. That's how effective these are.

If you would like more information on this topic or to learn more real estate investing tips, ideals or "real world" investing strategies please go to my real estate investing blog at http://www.learnrealestateinvestingblog.com/.

The Pros and Cons of Renting to Section 8 Tenants?

Real Estate Wealth Mike — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:09:00 GMT

You may be a brand new investor or a seasoned investor looking for new ways of increasing your income. Some of the real estate guru’s have made big money selling real estate investing courses touting the benefits of government programs, specifically Section 8 housing, and how you can make money hand over fist. Others take a more cautionary approach, essentially arguing just the opposite.

With two opposing views, who’s right, who’s wrong, and what’s the difference?
There are a couple of Pros to Section 8 investing. But as you will quickly see the list of Pros is much shorter than the list of Cons.

First, if you rent to Section 8 tenants, you know you’re going to get your rent money. As a general rule, it’s going to come in like clock work. You’ll have your money each and every month, conveniently deposited into the bank account of your choice.

Second, if you advertise the fact that you accept Section 8 tenants, you will have no shortage of prospective tenants lining up with a housing voucher ready to move in on a moment’s notice. When tenants are hard to come by, say in a strong housing market, it’s an excellent way of guaranteeing a steady flow of renters willing to be your tenants.

Unfortunately, this is where the list of positives ends.

Section 8 tenants can present a host of challenges and problems to you from a variety of angles.

First, as a property owner, you may be lured by the easy money that renting to Section 8 tenants can generate, but if you think the Paperwork Reduction Act applies to Section 8, you have a lot to learn.
Whenever you deal with any government bureaucracy, there are massive paperwork considerations. If every I isn’t dotted and every T crossed on every form the government throws your way, you’re in jeopardy of not being paid, having your payment delayed or even worse being declared a slumlord.

We have also seen when all the paperwork and other delays can take anywhere from 3 to 5 months to complete. During this period your property sits empty with no income.

Second, Section 8 requires property inspections. In order to participate in Section 8 you first have to qualify as a property owner, which means an inspection. If the inspector finds deficiencies of any kind, they have to be corrected on the government’s timetable. Once you’ve met the timetable, you have to repeat the inspection process. When you’ve waded through all the red tape necessary to accept tenants, you really get into the heart of the problem of the Section 8 program dealing with tenants.

Third, there are Section 8 tenants who are attentive to your rules, but there are plenty of bad apples. If you have a troublesome renter one that can’t/won’t pay their rent on time or is a constant troublemaker, your inclination is to give them their walking papers (i.e., eviction). But if the individual you’re trying to evict is a Section 8 renter, you have to follow due process rules that are stricter than any state laws anywhere.

Once you’ve begun eviction proceedings, Section 8 tenants are entitled to free or very low cost legal assistance. Once an attorney enters the picture, this turns into an expensive, time consuming process. You need to ask yourself at what point does a guaranteed rent payment become not worth the hassle, the expense and the headache?

Fourth, we generally see that Section 8 pays about 70% to 80% per month of what you might get for normal tenant. So you need to make decision as to whether this discount is offset by the consistent payment source.

Fifth, Section 8 renters aren’t famous for taking care of your property. So unless you’re willing to entertain the thought of having to make extensive repairs with little hope of recovering damages it is probably in your best interest to not involve yourself in the program to begin with.

As you can see the Cons of Section 8 investing outweigh the Pros. Our experience is the program has many problems and we rarely recommend Section 8 investing.

6 Steps to Develop a Private Lending Program For Real Estate Investors

Real Estate Wealth Mike — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 02:10:00 GMT

Wow, has the real estate market changed in 2009! Real estate investors have been shut out of traditional mortgage money unless you have a 9000 credit score and a 50 year work history without missing one day of work (ok enough of the weak humor but you get the idea). Even hard money loans are HARD to get as they have all gone out business.

But just as the mortgage market is shunning the real estate investor - we are starting to see signs that the real estate marketing is starting to bottom and home prices have even gone up in some markets.

So how do you take advantage of this buying opportunity if you can not get mortgage money from traditional sources?

Private lending is the answer. You can start borrowing money from private lenders to fund your real estate investments. Raising private money allows you to take advantage of the low prices without ever using any of your own cash or personal credit.

There are several significant benefits and advantages of private money lending compared to mortgage money or hard money lending.

First, you can begin buying more houses for "all cash" offers and drive significant discounts from sellers who are highly motivate to get cash versus waiting and hoping another buyer will get a mortgage approval.

Second, very simple paperwork with a typical private lender transaction only requires 3 or 4 documents with less than 20 pages.

Third, you control the terms and conditions under which you will borrow money and the lender will lend. You tell the lenders what rates of interest you will pay, how long the term is and all the other conditions are set by you not a bank or hard money lender.

Finally, you can turn many non-deals with no equity into super profitable deals with substantial equity by paying off existing debt at a discount... using private money.

Six Steps to develop a private money program for real estate investors:

Develop your private lending program and the terms and conditions under which you will borrow money and repay your lenders
Build your info/credibility kit to establish yourself as real estate investing expert
Create a marketing plan with 5 to 10 different marketing techniques to attract potential private lenders
Create your group or one-on-one presentation
Schedule group or one-on-one meetings and follow-up with potential lenders
Present and close deals with your potential lenders

Given the new market realities, private lending may be the only option if you want to buy and own real estate investments and take advantage of the low prices.

I invite you to learn more about Private Lending and get my new FREE 20-page ebook titled "Discover the Secrets of How to Fund Your Real Estate Deals with Private Lenders!" by clicking here http://realestatewealthtoday.com/FREE-eBook.html

Mike Lautensack is a full-time real estate entrepreneur in Philadelphia, PA and creator of the Private Lending Presentation Kit. This powerful done-for-you kit is loaded with tools and techniques to attract and develop a consistent stream of private investors into your real estate business. To learn more about this kit and receive your FREE Real Estate Wealth Newsletter go to Private Lending Presentation Kit

Discover How to Use Post-It Notes to Get Sellers Calling in Droves

Real Estate Wealth Mike — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:44:00 GMT

As we talked about, post-it notes come in two sizes - large and small. They are different style templates. One is landscape and one is portrait, so you get a sample of both.

Importance of the Headline

The headline is "Attention Homeowner." It's got a big notice going the opposite way. Again, that's the FedEx and UPS concept. I don't have the word FedEx or UPS on here. We're not going to get in trouble with those organizations. If you look at this from afar I guarantee that's the first thing you're going to think that you've got a FedEx package.

The headline says, "Our Company is seeking to purchase several homes in your neighborhood..." That leads them on to read. "Are you looking to sell soon? Your home has been identified as a good candidate for our real estate buying needs.

Why the Seller Should Work With You

"When we become your buyer we can buy your house as-is for a fair price on the date of your choice. There are no commissions to pay. You'll get immediate debt relief. You'll get fast cash and a hassle free sale. You're putting your house on the market without fixing it up. We're professional home buyers. We're not listing with an agent. We can work with existing loans and we have private funds that require no bank financing. This allows us to offer you a quick and easy sale."

How to Get a Response

Then you are into the response mechanism. "If you would like to listen to a 24 hour recorded message, here's the number to call." Guys, the very first call we want is into pre-recorded voicemail, so you should have that. They can choose to go to my website and get a free special report, and that can talk about some of the special benefits. That's one of the post-it notes.

The other one is more of a bullet point style instead of paragraph style. It has "We buy houses fast, all cash, as is, if you need to sell quickly, behind on payments, facing foreclosure, divorce." It gives a series of bullet points and then, "You can get more details at..." and your phone number there and a website.

Printing

What you would do once you've picked a printer and have changed these around, you would upload these to your printer. Different printers have different ways, but there should be a way to upload these onto the printer site. Be sure you've proofed it and made sure it's right, fits, and all that.

Typically at some point they will ask you to initial a proof and then you would order your 20,000, 25,000, or 50,000 post-it notes. They'll come to you a few days later in a box with packets of 50 to 100 post-it notes per pack.

Once you've got them, you can start thinking about distribution. You don't have to distribute them all immediately. You can do them in segments. You can do 1,000 a week. Have one or two kids go out and distribute them at 1,000 per week.

I invite you to learn more about Real Estate Investing and become a member of our FREE weekly tele-seminar class where we teach tips and strategy on how to grow your real estate investing business and how to raise Private Money by going to http://www.realestatewealthtoday.com/TuesdayTipsSignUp.html.

Mike Lautensack is a full-time real estate entrepreneur, coach and mentor in Philadelphia, PA and creator of the Private Lending Presentation Kit. This powerful done-for-you kit is loaded with tools and techniques to attract and develop a consistent stream of private investors into your real estate business. To learn more about this kit and receive your FREE eBook go to Real Estate Investing Blog

Real Estate Investing and the Advantages of Private Money

Real Estate Wealth Mike — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:44:00 GMT

With traditional mortgage and hard money lending getting tighter and tighter for most real estate investors - private lending is fast becoming the only option to finance your deals.

What is private lending? Private money is a type of creative financing that is usually provided by private individuals who have excess money that they are willing to lend at higher rates than they could get at banks or CD's. Their investment is usually secured by the property you are buying and NOT by the borrower. Unlike traditional mortgage lending, the terms and conditions will vary from one lender to another and they usually depend on the agreement between a you and the private lender.

Borrowing money from private money lenders is much easier compared to traditional banks and hard money lenders. Because a borrower only needs the approval of a single person, he doesn’t have to deal with 4 inches of paper work and a 3 to 4 month approval process only to get reject after a long waiting period. In addition, he doesn’t have to present lengthy documents and other credentials because private lenders are not interested with such things. Private lenders first want to know the real estate investment makes economic sense first before they worry about other issues.

Because of such a scenario, real estate investors with poor credit scores can still borrow money from private lenders if they are prepared and the deal makes sense. However, they must be able to show that their real estate investment makes sense and will generate enough rent to cover their interest payments and the property collateral is worth more than the loan amount. Therefore, if an investor wants to borrow $125,000 from a private lender, he has to make sure that the collateralize property’s market value will hit the $175,000 with an appraisal once repaired and renovated.

One reason why many real estate investors prefer private money over looking for a business partner who will finance a project is that they can earn bigger profits. Most private lenders ask for interest rates of 8% to 15% range while business partners are likely to demand a larger portion of the profits when you sell a property.

The key to getting private money is to be prepared and have a well thought out business plan and credibility kit. Without these two items in place it is hard to image a successful business person giving you money if you do not impress the person with your well thought out business plan. Take your time and be prepared to answer all the questions about the property such as what are the value of comps, what are rents in the area and what are the cost to fix up the property. Also spend some time to develop your credibility kit to show your experience and knowledge as a real estate investor.

I invite you to learn more about Private Lending and get FREE instant access to a 60 minute audio and 20-page eBook titled "Discover the Secrets of How to Fund Your Real Estate Deals with Private Lenders!" by going to http://realestatewealthtoday.com/FREE-eBook.html.

Mike Lautensack is a full-time real estate entrepreneur in Philadelphia, PA and creator of the Private Lending Presentation Kit. This powerful done-for-you kit is loaded with tools and techniques to attract and develop a consistent stream of private investors into your real estate business. To learn more about this kit and receive your FREE Real Estate Wealth Newsletter go to Private Lender Money Kit .

Real Estate Investors - How to Sell Your Property Before You Buy the Property - Build a Buyer List!

Real Estate Wealth Mike — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:20:00 GMT

With your real estate investment business what is at the top of your "frustration" list?

Could it be trying to determine if a certain property is a good deal not? Trying to determine if your offer prices is "low" enough for you to make a profit in this market place.

For most real estate investors, this dilemma causes a lot of confusion and frustration. This is may be because your definition of a "good deal" may be skewed.

What makes a property a good deal? The answer is: one that has a ready buyer at a profit.

As long as you have a buyer ready and willing to buy that property and there is room for your profit, then you have a good deal on your hands. You can actual predict what your profit will be with the knowledge of the buy and sale price.

For example, if you know you have a property under contract for $120k and you can have a ready buyer lined up to buy from you at $130k you have a $10k profit locked in.

But the obvious question is how do you get a ready buyer?

You do this by building and maintaining a "buyer list". Building a list of ready buyers is the key. If there is a buyer from your list of buyers, who is in the market for the property you are looking at - then voila you have a good deal!

The way to build your buyers list is through aggressive marketing and here are 5 simple ways to start your list:

Post an ad on Craig's List, Backpage.com and other local internet bulletin boards with ads like "I sell ugly houses" or"Fixer Homes Avaialble". Do this once per week and be sure to capture everyones email address for future follow up.
Write down the phone number when you see "I Buy Houses" signs, ads, and websites. Call these investors and get their info, and let them know you're an investor and would like to bring them properties that are available. Add them to your list, and don't forget to get their e-mail address for when you automate!
Hand out at least 24 business cards at REIA meetings and be sure to go to as many REIA meetings as possible. If you not sure about where meeting are go to Meetup.com and search your local area for real estate investors.
Talk to everyone and tell them what you do and ask them to spread the words to their friends, family and coworkers.
Advertise in small local newspapers that you have "Fixer" homes available for sale and provided a phone number and email address.

Real Estate Investing - Learn How to Make Money in Real Estate Without Cash

Real Estate Wealth Mike — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:39:00 GMT

It is a widely held belief that if someone wants to invest in real estate market, he must be loaded with cash. The idea is not entirely true. If you don't have enough money you can still invest in real estate. The notion seems unbelievable at first glance but it's true. Real estate investing with no money to put down is a viable option.

In order to invest in real state without down money, you must be creative in your approach and devise various methods for utilizing other people's money to finance your transactions. Some of those innovative methods are listed below:

Use Double escrow

If you have a finance background, you must have heard of the escrow account. There is such a term as double escrow. Double escrow means buying and selling property at almost the same time. The money received from sale is utilized to pay the purchase price of the property. The sale price is a bit higher then the purchase price which is your profit. In a double escrow, profit is realizable only after both part of the transaction are simultaneously completed. Before going into this kind of transaction you must first secure both ends of the deal or you might end up in a jam.

Use seller's financing

Usually a property owner already has one or other lending facility. What you have to do is convince him that you are going to take over his mortgage for a specified period of time until you can find a suitable buyer for the property. When the property is sold, the sale proceeds of the property can be used to pay off the mortgage. The difference amount is your profit.

Mortgage Take Over

There is a paragraph in virtually all loan agreements which is called "due-on-sale" clause. This clause stipulates that when the title of a property is transferred, the lender has the right to demand full settlement of his loan. According to this clause it is the lender's prerogative whether or not to demand full settlement of loan. If you take over a mortgaged property and make timely payments there is every chance that the lender will not exercise his right of "due-on sale". This way you can buy properties without having to go through a credit check. The properties can later be sold to prospective buyers.

You might be discouraged in the beginning when you go and try out any of the above mentioned options. But there are great opportunities of making money in the real estate market without down money. The key is to build a workable real estate investing strategy and not get discouraged by early failures.

Residential Property Management: Tips on How to Find Renters Using Newspaper Advertising

Real Estate Wealth Mike — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:59:00 GMT

Importance of Headlines

Particularly with newspapers you don’t have a lot of space and it’s expensive, so you’re going to have maybe a headline, one or two bullet points, and then a phone number or website. You don’t have a lot of space so you’ve got to make sure that you do it the right way. Your headline has to be appealing.

Let’s use Louisville as an example. You don’t need to put Louisville in your headline. Everybody knows it’s a Louisville newspaper. You’ve wasted your space. We see that mistake a lot.

Putting irrelevant words in your headlines doesn’t mean too much. Make sure your headlines have relevant words. If it’s a particular neighborhood or section of town, if it’s a well-known area, make sure you put that in there, but not the town.

Be Concise

Be very concise. If you can drive them to your voice mail system or your website, that’s the best way to do it. They would go there and find out if they have some interest. They would see some photos or the video and would kind of screen themselves out and save you a lot of time.

Be Careful of Fair Housing

One thing you’ve got to be careful of is violation of Fair Housing when you advertise. Remember people are going to look at your ad and claim somehow that you’re being in violation of Fair Housing rules. This is a whole subject by itself. We can spend a whole night talking about this. You have to be careful about the words you use.

You can’t use words like church – even if it’s right next to the biggest church in town, or directly across from the biggest church in town. You can’t mention that church. That is a violation.

You can’t mention any sort of family – “It’s a family neighborhood.” If you say the words “family neighborhood” in theory you might be implying that single people aren’t welcome so you’ve got to be careful.
Or vice versa, if you use “apartment designed for singles,” it might be construed as excluding families. Be careful about the words you use. Think about them a little bit.

One of the things I’m going to do on the checklist you’re going to get from me is there are a lot of things in there in terms of words to use and then alternative words to use, particularly if you want to write an ad and you want to use the word fantastic three times.

It will give you fantastic and then give you two or three alternative words to use to try and mix up your words. My template ads are on that checklist. You’re going to get those as part of this program.

Be careful of Fair Housing. If you want HUD offers, in most areas a one day course doesn’t cost much, say $25, where you can take a Fair Housing course. You can learn all about the rules and regulations of Fair Housing. If you’re a serious property management I would do that. Go and spend a Saturday or whatever day they offer that course, take it and learn those rules and regulations and keep yourself out of hot water.

I invite you to learn more about Property Management and get a free 60 minute audio titled “Learn the 10 Success Secrets of Property Management Every Real Estate Investor Must Know to Maximum Profit and Avoiding Tenant Headaches” by going to http://www.realestatewealthtoday.com/PMS.html.

Mike Lautensack is the owner of Del Val Property Management LLC, a FULL service residential property management company located in Philadelphia, PA.

Learn How to Collect Rent and Deal With the Eviction Process Without Attorneys

Real Estate Wealth Mike — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 20:30:00 GMT

Collecting rent is one of those situations where I have to use some rules of thumb, some feeling, some gut to try to figure out whether it's time to go and do the eviction or do we try to work with the tenant and see if they can get caught up. Maybe it's a temporary problem. We can do a weekly or monthly payment plan and maybe we can get them back on paying again.

In the same token, if I don't feel it's going to happen, we have to go to eviction quickly. There's no point in waiting and spending two or three months waiting around for something that's not going to happen. That takes some gut feel and experience.

Know the Rules for Eviction

We'll talk about the eviction process. There again, just like the rules and regulations, you've got to be smarter than your tenants. You've got to know the rules better than they do, because if you don't, I guarantee you they will take advantage of you. They will tell you things that are not accurate and if you buy into it you're going to end up being their whipping post.

Now every state might be slightly different and I recommend you go to Google and search for your sate and landlord regulations and study them front to back. Knowing the rules and then enforcing them is the single most important thing in terms of collecting rent.

Should you use an attorney for evictions? You guys can do it better than an attorney can. They will do almost nothing for you except the fact that they're attorneys and they'll charge you $250-300 an hour.

I can probably out perform any attorney in this area and I can do it for $50 an hour for my clients, probably one sixth of what they'll pay an attorney.

How to Retain Tenants

How to work with tenants and try to encourage them to stay tenants, making sure that you're resolving issues with them in a friendly and professional way so they say, "Hey, yeah, I want to stay another year, two years, three years whatever."

If you are late with doing maintenance, you drag your feet, you try to find excuses why not to do it every time they call you, you don't return their calls, they got a little drip here and there, you don't fix it, do you think they're going to stay that second year after that lease runs out? I don't think so.

Again, you want to keep at it. You want to work within trying to keep the tenants as long as possible. Also, we have little things in our lease that encourage tenants to sign a new one-year lease. They can go month-to-month but there are some penalties - I wouldn't call it that - but just some things in that lease that make it more onerous on them as opposed to coming back to me and saying, "I'd rather have a new one-year lease than go month-to-month."

We probably have 75 to 80% of our tenants come back to us for a new one-year lease as opposed to remaining month-to-month. It's hard for you as landlords and owners to manage if you don't know beyond 30 days whether your tenant's staying or going. It's much nicer to have a one-year lease and you know that for the next 12 months at least you're going to get rent, so we'll talk about that.

I invite you to learn more about Property Management and get a free audio titled "Learn the 10 Success Secrets of Property Management Every Real Estate Investor Must Know to Manage Your Own Investments Properties for Maximum Profit and Avoiding Tenant Headaches" by going to http://www.realestatewealthtoday.com/PMS.html

Mike Lautensack is the owner of Del Val Property Management LLC, a FULL service residential property management company located in Philadelphia, PA.

The Advantages of Professional Property Management Vs “Mom and Pop Management”

Real Estate Wealth Mike — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:30:00 GMT

One of the things we’re going to focus on is what is professional management versus mom and pop management. Now many of you may have a couple properties. Maybe you’ve read a book on property management, I don’t know, but if you ultimately want to make a business and to grow wealth and to be a serious real estate investor, you need to become a professional property manager.

That is you’re better at it than most people. You’re better at it than nine out of 10 investors. You take it seriously because you’re investing a lot of your own money in these properties, a lot of your time and a lot of your energy, and you want to get the most you can out of it.

That’s where the money is, because if you don’t manage it properly, the value of that asset declines rapidly. I guarantee you, if you’ve bought a property, put a bad tenant in there and they destroyed your property, you’re looking at $5,000, $10,000, $15,000 of damage. Not that property management can totally eliminate that possibility, but certainly professional management versus mom and pop management makes a huge difference.

Advantages of Property Management

We’re going to go through that and understand that process. We’re going to go through the advantages of property management. Why is it worth you getting on this call for two hours for a series of four calls? What are the monetary advantages of doing it? Are there monetary advantages to it? Why not just read a $12 book?

Sure, you can do that, but everybody knows reading a book is a hard way to learn. It’s not interactive. You won’t have the ability to fire questions at me. Maybe you’re pretty good at property management and you have a couple areas you’re weak at. You won’t have the ability to fire questions at me.

Again, filling a rental. Let’s say we had a $900 a month rental. Filling it 30 days earlier than you would otherwise puts $900 in your pocket. So the monetary issues here are tremendous. Keeping a tenant a second year as opposed to losing them because you didn’t treat them right or you didn’t fix the property right or whatever, reselling a vacancy is tremendously expensive.

You could be looking at two months vacancy, $900 per month, and costs you have to pay to maybe carpet in between tenants, so maintaining a tenant is again a huge monetary issue. So there are clearly some monetary issues here that can be quite overwhelming in terms of cost savings.

We’re going to talk about the importance of education, these kinds of calls tonight, the importance of doing it on a continuous basis, meaning joining your real estate clubs, looking for other resources, maybe join my coaching program at some point down the road, but continue to educate yourself further and more completely as time goes by.

Again, a professional real estate investor continues the education process and never stops. A mom and pop learns a couple things and then stops. We’re going to talk about the difference between the two. How to do things like develop contacts and network, how to work with contractors.

I invite you to learn more about Property Management and get a free audio titled “Learn the 10 Success Secrets of Property Management Every Real Estate Investor Must Know to Manage Your Own Investments Properties for Maximum Profit and Avoiding Tenant Headaches” by going to http://www.realestatewealthtoday.com/PMS.html

Mike Lautensack is the owner of Del Val Property Management LLC, a FULL service residential property management company located in Philadelphia, PA.

Real Estate Investors - Learn the Most Important Element You Must Have to Make a Successful Offer!

Real Estate Wealth Mike — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 21:29:00 GMT

The first step in the instant offer system is simply to build rapport. This is a fundamental building block to any offer. You cannot develop a deal with a seller if you're not in rapport.

What is a Rapport?

What is rapport? It's hard to define. It's not necessarily being friends. It's not necessarily having a long relationship. It's not that. It's a sense that the two of you are on the same page. There's some comfort between the two of you.

There is starting to be a sense of trust that you're comfortable with each other. You have a sense that the other person and you are kind of moving in the same direction that both of you want to go.
If you don't have rapport you cannot move forward in this system. It is absolutely the most essential of the five steps. If you do not have rapport then really the process is over.

The Importance of Rapport

If you go talk to a seller and the first couple of minutes are very awkward, maybe very argumentative or you say something that the other person doesn't like - it gets their back up a little bit - the offer process is really over at that point. It really can't proceed until you come back and you develop that rapport.

It doesn't mean you can't come back and get it, but at that point you've got to take a minute and build rapport.
How to Develop a Rapport

One of the best ways to develop rapport when you walk into somebody's home is to start to ask questions and take a little tour of their home. Make comments about some of their belongings in the house.
Maybe they've got sports memorabilia and you can make a comment about it if you're in a sports town. You can talk about the great game a couple of years ago, the Superbowl, World Series or whatever. You're developing some rapport. The two of you are developing some commonalities. You're starting to understand each other.

If the person has pictures of their kids or something of that nature you can make comments about that. If there's something about a college, maybe you can make some comments about that - you or somebody you know has been there.

Basically you want to walk through the house with that individual, spend a few minutes and just chat about relatively minor things - nothing important. That is the rapport building process. You can compliment the house. If it's decorated nice or there's something you particularly like about the property, a compliment is obviously a process of building that rapport. It's important that you go through this step. It's important that in your mind you take some time.

I know everybody wants to jump to the table and start making the offer, but this process needs to take its time. Let it build and develop naturally. If this walk through takes half an hour, let it take half an hour. Don't try to force it. Again, the rapport will happen naturally if you allow it to.

I invite you to learn more about Real Estate Investing and join our FREE weekly tele-seminar class where we teach tips and strategy on how to grow your real estate investing business and how to raise Private Money by going to http://www.realestatewealthtoday.com/TuesdayTipsSignUp.html

Mike Lautensack is a full-time real estate entrepreneur, coach and mentor in Philadelphia, PA and creator of the Private Lending Presentation Kit. This powerful done-for-you kit is loaded with tools and techniques to attract and develop a consistent stream of private investors into your real estate business. To learn more about this kit and receive your FREE eBook go to
Real Estate Investing Blog.

Real Estate Investors – Learn the 5 Key Elements You Must Have to Make “No Money Down” Offers

Real Estate Wealth Mike — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 22:30:00 GMT

I would like to talk about what I call the “WOWWW” formula. It is a simple formula that you’ve got to understand and incorporate into your business if you are serious about real estate investment.

There is simply no way that you can structure a truly no money down and creative offer if you don’t understand this formula. There are just five pieces to it. Four of which are “W’s” and one of which is an “O”. The five important elements to working with a seller before you can structure an offer you must know these five pieces of information.

“W” When

You must know when. That is basically when do they want to sell? You want to understand their sense of urgency, their motivational level. If they want to sell months from now, they’re not very urgent. You’re not going to get a very good deal, and it’s really not something you should be spending much time on.
I’m not saying you don’t capture that person’s name, email and phone number, and put it in a database somewhere and follow up with them on a regular basis through postcards and what not. But they’re not going to be a deal this week or next month. They’re simply not.

If they’re not properly motivated, and the when is motivation, if they are going to be doing a deal in the next 30 days because of a foreclosure, they’re moving out of state, or they’re out of state or about to miss a mortgage payment because they’ve been trying to sell it for a year and they can’t sell it and they’ve run out of money, then their ‘when’ has really shortened up.

“W” What

What is their situation? That’s kind of related but you need to understand what’s going on with them. Why do they need to sell? Is it a foreclosure or pre-foreclosure? Is it a divorce? Is it a sale where they can’t get it sold? Is it that they bought it to flip?

We’re seeing a lot of this. People have bought things to flip them, went in and rehabbed it – spent a lot of money – and they were hoping to sell it but the market turned on them and they got stuck. So you need to understand what their situation is. That’s an important element of this.

“W” What Is the House Worth

Worth is always difficult to nail down, but you should do your homework and figure this out. You should look at comps or appraisals or whatever other sources of information you want to try to figure out what the properties worth fixed up.

It may be worth $150,000, $200,000, $300,000 or who knows. You should have some sense of what the property’s worth to make an offer.

“O” Owe

You should know what the person’s owes on the mortgage or mortgages. This is a critical element and something a lot of people don’t understand. You cannot make an offer through the MLS system if you don’t know what the other person owes. It’s very hard to make a creative offer if you don’t know what they owe.
If the property is free and clear and there’s no mortgage, then that will dictate a completely different type of offer. If they’re completely under water and the house is worth $130,000 and the mortgage is $150,000 that will drive a completely different type of offer. If they owe $90,000 that will drive the ultimate offer.
You cannot make quality offers to sellers if you don’t understand what they owe. It’s absolutely critical. All five of these are critical.

“W” What They Want

Probably the least important is what they want. That will change over time. If they’re not motivated and don’t need a quick sale – one and two aren’t really in place – most likely they’re going to want a high price. They are not truly ready to do a deal. They are not where you need them to be to do a deal.
What they want first all changes over time. It’s also probably the least important of the five items. However, you do need to know what that is. If they want some outlandish number, you don’t want to spend a lot of your time and effort on it.

That is the WOWWW formula. Use it on every deal and make much better offers.

I invite you to learn more about Real Estate Investing and join our FREE weekly tele-seminar class where we teach tips and strategy on how to grow your real estate investing business and how to raise Private Money by going to http://www.realestatewealthtoday.com/TuesdayTipsSignUp.html

Mike Lautensack is a full-time real estate entrepreneur, coach and mentor in Philadelphia, PA and creator of the Private Lending Presentation Kit. This powerful done-for-you kit is loaded with tools and techniques to attract and develop a consistent stream of private investors into your real estate business. To learn more about this kit and receive your FREE eBook go to
Real Estate Investing Blog.