Finding Great Deals Through Real Estate Agents
November 20th, 2008In your search for great deals, you are probably utilizing all of the resources that you know of to find the next deal worthy of your investment time and money. This probably includes scouring craigslist ads, calling on FSBOs, and following up on your own marketing if you have any out. You may also be using a real estate agent as a source for deals. As the number of bank owned properties on the market increases, real estate agents are especially useful as sources to find and negotiate these types of deals.
However, you may need to train your real estate agent to cater to your particular needs as an investor. While there are some great investor friendly real estate agents out there, there are also many agents with little experience dealing with investing or dealing with investors. These agents can still hook you up to good deals, but
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Getting Your Houses Rented - Effective Marketing for Your Rentals
November 19th, 2008If it's time to fill a vacancy for one of your rentals, you will want to get the maximum marketing exposure possible. Chances are, that if you are reading this article online, you already understand the value of the internet. Three lines of description in your local print newspaper is no longer enough to get the phone ringing with enough interested renters in most markets.
With the widespread availability of the internet and the ease of accessing information on it, most of your potential tenants expect much more than a brief description of the raw data of their future dwelling – i.e. beds, baths, square footage and rent. Instead of spending all day on the weekend driving around looking at potential rental units, most of your tenant pool will prefer to browse through full color photographs of available rentals from the comfort of their favorite computer station. Many internet sites even offer virtual tours of available units, so to be competitive in our current marketplace, you need to make sure that you have the marketing out to reach all of these internet-surfing apartment hunters.
In addition to posting ads with full color photographs on popular sites like Craigslist,
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1.2% Appreciation in Colorado Springs?
November 19th, 2008We just had a researcher submit some very basic information about a house for sale in Colorado Springs to us and I wanted to share that with you. From time to time, I'd like to take a property submitted to us by our users that is for sale and show you how changes in one (or more factors) can affect various aspects of your investing. This particular property submitted for Colorado Springs, Colorado Real Estate Resources is located at 1515 Purple Sage Ct, Colorado Springs, CO 80906.
In the table below I show what happens to the value with a modest appreciation rate. Can you have years where this (or any other property for that matter) go down in value? Yes. Might it not go up by as much as we are estimating? Yes. Can it go up by more? Yes. Only time will tell what will happen.
| Years From Now | Value |
| Assumed Appreciation Rate: 1.2% | |
| At Purchase | $172,040 |
| Year 1 | $174,104 |
| Year 2 | $176,194 |
| Year 3 | $178,308 |
| Year 4 | $180,448 |
| Year 5 | $182,613 |
| Year 6 | $184,804 |
| Year 7 | $187,022 |
| Year 8 | $189,266 |
| Year 9 | $191,538 |
As you can see from the table above, if we assume an appreciation rate of 1.2% per year, then the property value eventually reaches $191,538 after 10 years.
No real estate investor can hope to be successful without knowing how to find deals, and the key to finding great deals in Colorado Springs is finding motivated sellers. Here's an audio CD that lets you in on some of these secrets: Drink From The Fire Hose of Motivated Sellers: Deal Finding. In it, you will be reminded of the importance of being on the right side of the desk and will learn about key marketing strategies to get sellers calling you.
Sincerely,
James
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6.3% Appreciation in Colorado Springs?
November 19th, 2008Here's another Colorado Springs property that was submitted by a user that we will use as a teaching tool for our Colorado Springs, Colorado Real Estate Resources real estate investors. The property address, in case you want to look into it in more detail is: 8015 Essington Dr, Colorado Springs, CO 80920.
In the table below I show what happens to the value with a modest appreciation rate. Can you have years where this (or any other property for that matter) go down in value? Yes. Might it not go up by as much as we are estimating? Yes. Can it go up by more? Yes. Only time will tell what will happen.
| Years From Now | Value |
| Assumed Appreciation Rate: 6.3% | |
| At Purchase | $154,985 |
| Year 1 | $164,749 |
| Year 2 | $175,129 |
| Year 3 | $186,162 |
| Year 4 | $197,890 |
| Year 5 | $210,357 |
| Year 6 | $223,610 |
| Year 7 | $237,697 |
| Year 8 | $252,672 |
| Year 9 | $268,590 |
As you can see from the table above, if we assume an appreciation rate of 6.3% per year, then the property value eventually reaches $268,590 after 10 years.
If you have marketing out and know that soon you will be talking to real, live, motivated sellers in Colorado Springs, you probably want to have a plan in place for how you're going to handle these calls. You may find it useful to listen in as Jassen and Jamie role play through a series of scenarios that will help you get prepared for asking your motivated sellers those tough or sensitive quesitons. Check out How to Talk To Motivated Sellers: Role Playing Volume #3 to gain the confidence and knowledge that you need.
Until next time,
James
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Tracking Your Rentals - The Importance of Monitoring Your Escrow Accounts
November 18th, 2008Unless you own all of your rental properties free and clear, chances are that you have some escrow accounts with your lenders. These escrow accounts are fed every month from your mortgage payments and this money is supposed to be used by the bank to pay your annual property taxes and insurance premiums. While it is tempting to let this system run on autopilot, you really shouldn't rely on your bank to get this right. Banks do make mistakes, some more frequently than others. While I personally may just have bad luck, I have had more than my fair share of challenges with different banks messing up my insurance payments over the years.
Of all the bizarre things that I have seen happen to my escrow accounts over the years, recently one of my lenders paid someone else's premium from my escrow account. Needless to say, after receiving telephone confirmation that this issue has been resolved, I am monitoring my escrow account very closely to make sure that the premium is returned to my account.
Most of the time though, when your bank messes up, it is just an annoyance that requires some extra time on the phone.
Here are some of the things that can go wrong when your bank doesn't pay your insurance premiums:
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