May 28th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
As the housing market continues it’s downward spiral. Those home owners that have no choice but to put your house on the market there are still many things you can do to gain the advantage on other home sellers. On of the most influential things that you can do that is relatively cheap is staging your home. So be sure to watch the following video clip about staging a home in preparation to sell. Also be sure to check out the article discussing the seven key ingredients to staging a home in this volatile real estate market. Also please share your comments after the article.
Barb Schwarz - Home Staging on the Today Show
Technorati Tags: Real Estate, Home Staging, Home Repair, Staging, Buyers, Sellers, Staging Your Home
Home Staging: 7 Tips for the Hopeful
Home staging is creating a fantasy world for prospective buyers. You want people to come into your house and be able to imagine how the house would look if it were theirs. To do this, you have to remove your personality from the house so that it’s easier for a purchaser to see themselves living in your house. Sometimes it’s hard, but when you talk in dollars, you can make thousands more and sell your home sooner. With these 7 tips, you can make your home look even more attractive to buyers.
1. Declutter
All those books that have been holding up the dining room table? Put them back on the shelves and toss the table out or repair it. Items that are extraneous should be stored out-of-the way while people are touring the home. Continue Reading »
April 22nd, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Realizing the value of automation in your business can have a huge impact on your profit margin. A value that you may not truly realize until you look back at the automated process that you have put into place. Seeing what else you can accomplish in place of those task that used to take you hours or even days. With that said automating your real estate business in this up and down market can be the edge you need to keep you up in a down market. Read the following article on the importance of automation and leave your comments at the end.
Technorati Tags: Real Estate Investing, Real Estate Tips, Real Estate Strategies
The Importance of Automating Your Real Estate Business
The pattern followed by successful entrepreneurs in real estate or any industry is to begin by learning the process hands on and taking responsibility for every operation, then to automate and delegate every part of the process so that it happens with less and less help from the entrepreneur. All real estate investors wear many hats when they begin, but eventually find ways to replace their own labor and free up their time.
One element available to allow you to free your time is technology. Real estate is an information business, and a few common and inexpensive pieces of equipment and software today can allow a single person to accomplish informational feats that used to require a fully equipped office and a secretary. The technology associated with the internet, like email, websites, and auto-responders, allows for mass marketing from your PC (or Mac).
Many of the functions necessary to run a real estate business can also be provided by other business that perform these services. Think beyond the conventional real estate services: agents, appraisers, brokers, contractors. Think of list brokers that compile lists of leads for you, mailing houses that distribute your direct mail campaigns, mailbox services that receive and automatically scan and upload incoming mail, virtual closing coordinators that handle closings, and more. They all exist.
And for functions of your business that are not preexisting services provided by a company or professional, there are still at least two more possibilities: virtual assistants and freelancing. Virtual assistants can be given detailed instructions and collect pay by the hour as a vendor, not as an employee. Projects or ongoing work of almost any sort can be hired out to freelancers, who provide professional services of all sorts.
The lone entrepreneur is a myth. Even a successful one-person business will interact with people in other businesses in the types of ways mentioned above. But there are at least four ways to work with other people in your business as well.
If you have a job for somebody to do and the resources to support it you can employ someone in the traditional way, as a W-2 employee. Or you can hire someone on a contractual or commission basis as a 1099 employee (freelancers, mentioned above, would fall under this category, for example, as would commissioned salespeople).
Besides hiring employees you can work in cooperation with another person to split profits. This can be done in an independent manner by splitting profits from specific transactions, for which a joint venture agreement is useful. It can also be done by teaming up with someone to become equity partners in some fashion, where you share control of your business. All of these arrangements can be beneficial under the right circumstances.
Perhaps the most classic ways to automate a business are by referrals and mentorship. The most successful real estate investors have put in the time and organization to develop a referral network that keeps a steady supply of deals moving towards them. This is the easiest way, over time, to keep a business going and growing. Many also follow a model of mentorship, helping other investors with information and coaching in exchange for bringing business or supplying leads.
The aim of automating your business is not just for the sake of more profits, but for the sake of your personal freedom and the success of your business. Ideally you would probably like a business that keeps working and growing long after you are ready to do something else with your energy.
About the Author:
Omar Johnson is a successful real estate investor and author of the home study course “Secrets To Making Big Money In Real Estate With Little Cash and No Credit” For more info visit http://www.gettingrichinrealestate.com
March 17th, 2008 at 10:49 am
This posting is about investing money in your house during this record
housing market slump. Please share your thoughts at the end and leave a comment.
Investing Money Into Your Home- Will I See A Return On My Investment?
With the housing market in a record slump,
one of the biggest questions I get from people is how much is too much to spend
on a renovation and will I see that money back when I go to sell my
house?
While it is a common belief that any money you put into your house
will add value to it, this is not always the case. There are really two
different categories that you put home renovations into- General
Maintenance/Upkeep and Visual Improvements.
1) General Maintenance- Projects
like replacing your hot water heater, patching a leaky roof, repairing damaged
siding, or sealing up cracks in the foundation are not going to show you a
return on your investment but they are going to be required to keep up the
overall condition of your home.
Regular maintenance can help extend the life
of your home but at some point there are things that are going to be replaced.
By avoiding repairs or maintenance on items like this will just make the
condition worse and will result in even more money being needed for
repairs
2) Visual Improvements- While that sounds very vague, this would be
anything that is not structural in nature or not necessarily required. This is
where investing money into your house is
going to pay off. Projects like renovating a bathroom or a kitchen, finishing
off a basement, adding a deck, or even landscaping the yard will not only spruce
up your home but they will also add value
That being said, not all of these
projects will yield the same return. For the same amount of money, finishing off
a basement might yield a 20% return on your investment while renovating your
kitchen or bathroom could yield a 75-90% return on your investment.
Even
though the rule thumb says that you will see a return on your investment by
renovating a kitchen or bathroom, or by finishing off a basement, that is not
always the case. If you are planning on selling your home in the immediate
future or down the road, putting too many personal touches on a space can
actually have a negative affect.
The same thing can be said for spending too
much on a given space. If the average kitchen in your neighbor is estimated at
$25,000 in value and you spend $60,000 on your kitchen, odds are you will have a
hard time convincing buyers that the house is worth that much more than your
neighbors.
Adding additional bedrooms or an extra bathroom is always a good
investment provided it is not taking space away from other usable space. Be
careful when taking usable space to create two spaces. Sometimes taking a
bedroom and cutting it in half will actually take value away from the house if
it wasn’t big enough to start with. It is always a good idea to have a real
estate agent give you some advice as to the impact a renovation will have on the
value of your home.
By investing wisely, you can see some significant returns
on your investment, whether it is a more comfortable living space for years to
come or a more attractive home for potential home buyers.
About the Author:
I found a way to save thousands on kitchen cabinets. Find out my secret to high
quality cabinets at 30-40% below retail prices.
Technorati Tags: Real Estate, Investing, Home Improvement, Home Renovations, Kitchen Renovation, Building Equity
February 25th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Heard the news..? Wall Street is down. And it’s been caused by the U.S.
housing slowdown! Here’s what this means for Real Estate investors, millions of
Americans are trying to sell their homes, and the latest news from the Mortgage
Bankers Association (MBA) isn’t good. The MBA sees sharp drops in sales of both
existing and new homes this year, with mild rebounds expected for
2009.
Buyers, on the other hand, couldn’t ask for better news, earlier
projections that had the housing market recovering early in 2008 would have left
buyers scrambling to take advantage of the busy spring sales season, potentially
leading to increased competition and driving up prices.
With slow conditions
expected to continue throughout the year, however, buyers can go through the
process at a more deliberate pace without fear of missing out on the best
prices. The MBA believes median home prices will fall about 2% in 2008 but
regain most of that entire drop in 2009.
So how do you take advantage of all
this? It’s simple, buy low and sell high. While the media continues to make
“generalizations” about the real estate market, there are
investors quietly buying up bargain properties in emerging markets.
There are
different strategies for investing in real estate and specifically in
foreclosures. People should stick to the one that most reflects their investment
goals. When scouting the market for foreclosed homes there are many resources
that you can rely on, some free and some costly.
One option that foreclosure
investors have is paying for a foreclosure listing service; many websites offer
these for a low monthly fee. However, since this information can be obtained for
free many investors choose to do their own legwork and get these lists directly
from lenders or county record offices.
For the most part the results are the
same, although if you do get a paid listing service make sure to research the
company as some have more up-to-date lists than others. Another great resource
is a local Realtor, if you have the option cross reference your lists with the
Realtors knowledge of neighborhood statistics.
They can help by telling you
valuable information such as what price ranges houses have been selling at in
specific areas. Also be sure that the person you are working with has your best
interests in mind and not their own.
Overall, buying and selling foreclosed and pre-foreclosed homes
can be lucrative investments. Just make sure to take your time and research any
opportunity before you commit to a project that you might not be able to handle.
About the Author:
Learn how to profitably invest in real estate from one of the most successful
foreclosure investors, authors, and trainers Alexis McGee. Steve Albright is the owner and chief editor of a
Home Business
Opportunity Reviews website.
Technorati Tags: Buying Foreclosures, Foreclosure Investment, Foreclosures, Foreclosure Deals
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