Still More Thoughts About real Estate Investing for Beginners

Thoughts About Real Estate Investing for Beginners - Part 3

You have probably noticed from previous posts that there are a myriad of ways to get involved in real estate. Different methods require different skill sets. As a beginner you need to identify what method best suits your skill set as well as your particular interests.

In this post I'm going to continue to highlight some more methods that a real estate investor might use.

Let's get started. Tax lien certificates are instruments that are sold by county property tax authorities. Not every state sells tax tax lien certificates. As investments vehicles certificates are solid, secured by real estate and backed by the government. When property owners fail to pay their property taxes, the county places a lien on the property and sells a certificate to an investor. If the taxes are not paid by the property owner after a certain amount of time then the holder of the tax lien certificate receives the property. If the taxpayer pays the taxes then the certificate holder receives the money paid including an amount for interest.

Tax deeds also involve delinquent property taxes. In this case, after a certain amount of time that the taxes are late, the county will auction off the property to the highest bidder.

Flipping real estate involves purchasing a property at a price substantially under market and immediately selling to someone else for a profit. There are several different ways to accomplish the desired outcome - profit! You can flip a contract - in other words get the deal under contract and then flip it to someone else for a profit. Or you can flip the property itself to someone else.

Rehabbing is popular the "handy" crowd. It's a good way to get started and you can create substantial equity through your own sweat. You can also approach it in a more business like manner especially if you happen to be a contractor. Contractors have the benefit of know how and the manpower available to take on a project.

Developers take raw land and add value through various means. Some developers take a project from conception through to completion. This could be a single house or whole housing development. Others take the raw land, rezone and/or obtain approvals and then sell the project to builders. Still others actually install the infrastructure and sell to builders. As you can see there are a lot of ways to add value to raw land.

There are so many ways to get involved in real estate that surely one or more methods will meet your specific needs. You're really only limited by your imagination when comes to real estate investing.

Educate yourself, find a niche and a mentor and get out there and find a deal. Have an open mind and think of creative ways to solve problems. It takes work but where there's a will there's a way!

Until Next Time

More Thought about Real Estate Investing for Beginners

Thoughts about Real Estate Investing For Beginners - Part 2

Ok so in the last post on Real Estate Investing for Beginners I covered foreclosures, pre-foreclosures, short sales and REO's. Now I'm going to get into some additional real estate investing methods that are used. I know I said it before - but I want to say it again, as real estate investors our primary goal is to be problem solvers.

Moving along, let's talk about some more techniques that you can add to your toolkit along with the ones from prior posts. Today the theme will be how to start investing in real estate with little or none of your own capital. You're probably thinking how in the heck can I invest without money? Believe me, it's possible. I know because I've done it!

One way to get involved in Real Estate with no money of your own is to identify or "bird dog" good deals. There are investors out there that have the money but don't have the time or expertise to dig up good deals. If you can find a real estate money maker there will be people more than willing to pay you for finding it for them. Join some real estate investing forums and see what people are talking about and what they are looking for. Then go find it!

Investing in real estate notes or mortgages provides another vehicle for starting out. Holders of private real estate notes are sometimes willing to discount the note in order to raise quick cash. The more motivated, the bigger the discount. If you happen to have the cash this is a good way to earn above average returns. If you don't have the cash you can pass the deal to a real estate investor for a "finders fee". Go ahead and Google "investing in notes" to find forums specifically on the subject.

Keeping with the theme of little or no capital investment, obtaining an option to buy a property is a powerful tool that limits your financial risk. By the you can do options with no money out of your pocket and I'll tell more about that in a future post. An option is a contract that gives you the right to purchase real estate at some time in the future for an agreed upon price. Note it gives you the right but not the obligation. Typically you will pay an option fee up front for the right. Your risk will be limited to the amount of the option fee. Should you decide not to purchase the real estate you can simply walk away and you loss is the amount of the option fee paid in advance.

Lease options are similar to options but with the addition of a lease. Lease options are two separate and distinct contracts. One contract for the lease and a separate one for the option.
The lease contract simply means you are entering into an agreement to occupy the property in some form or another. For instance, on a single family home you would probably be living in the home. The option gives you the the right to buy the home in the future.

I'm just scratching the surface of investing in real estate with overviews of just some of the more popular methods but stick with me, I'll get to the details in depth in future posts. Thanks for visiting Real Estate Investing for Beginners and feel free to ask questions.

Thoughts About Real Estate Investing For Beginners

Some initial thought about Real Estate Investing for Beginners

Real Estate Investing has undoubtedly created many of the largest fortunes ever amassed for the worlds wealthiest people. Wealth creation using Real Estate Investing as the vehicle has no equal.

Now I know there is an awful lot of hype surrounding the business of real estate investing. Investing in real estate is not a get rich quick scheme. You can attain fabulous wealth, but it won't happen overnight! As a beginner , you may be overwhelmed with information overload not knowing where to start. My goal with Real Estate Investing for Beginners is to help you sort through all the hype. To help you identify a method, set some goals and create a road map for your future real estate investing. Not everyone will have the same road map. There are literally dozens methods, techniques and business plans within the exciting world of real estate investing. Your goal as a beginner should be to identify the method that best suits your needs, circumstances and skill sets. As they say "there's more than one way to skin a cat".
So it is with real estate investing, there's more than one way to invest.

I want to start with an overview of some of the methods or techniques that a real estate investor might use. Before I get into the methods, let me say that our job as real estate investors is to solve problems. The circumstances of the deal will dictate the method. I won't go into detail about the methods in this post. I simply want to get you thinking about them and how each method might be utilized. The list won't be exhaustive at this point, but we will continue to cover various methods in future posts.

I guess it would be fitting to start with foreclosure investing given the current market that we are experiencing . Investing in foreclosure real estate in simple terms, is going down to the courthouse steps and bidding on a home at the foreclosure auction.

Now I'll back up a little with pre-foreclosure investing. Investing in pre-foreclosure real estate is when you buy a property that is in default, before it actually goes to auction.

Moving ahead, an REO or "Real Estate Owned" are properties owned by the bank. The bank ends up with the property when they don't sell at the auction.

Short sale real estate are properties that are sold for less than what is owed on the mortgage. Banks are willing to accept less than the amount owed under certain circumstances. It just so happens that the particular set of circumstances are occurring at this moment. A huge inventory of homes has placed downward pressure on home values. Many homes are now worth less than the mortgage owed. A large percentage of homes purchased in the last 2-5 years were financed with variable rate mortgages. These mortgages are resetting, borrowers can't afford the payments so more homes are being dumped on the market creating further downward pressure on prices. A viscous cycle in the real estate market for sure!

I need to wrap it up for now but there will be plenty more to come. Thank for visiting Real Estate Investing for Beginners. In the next post I'll cover some more techniques for investing in real estate.

Until next time

Welcome to Real Estate Investing for Beginners

Welcome to Real Estate Investing for Beginners. This site provides tips, methods and information on various techniques for beginners in real estate investing. Feel free to post questions about anything related to investing in real estate.