Real estate is like a box of chocolates

Real estate is like a box of chocolates. There are a lot of different places that you can purchase very reasonably priced investment properties. The key is to know what is good deal and ones that are not.

You first need to know that homes versus multiplex's have some differences. As I'm sure you know multiplex's make more money per month...........on paper anyway. There are two key things to look at.
1. The quality of tenants that will be living in your property. Homes usually have way better quality of tenants then multiplex's. The tenants stay in the homes longer than tenants in multiplex's. So make sure you take that into your profit assumption. For example our company knows that a tenant stays in a home on average 12-24 months. In a multiplex it's 8-12 months.
2. The neighborhoods are important for two reasons. You get higher rents and they are easier to sale when you decide to do that.
3 You can run ads on some sites to see what rents are in the area. You can pick a property that you like and run ads for rent before you purchase it and confirm the projected rent!

Another key point to look at is the state it's in. Is it hot their? Cold? Hurricanes? Floods? Major issues that may effect your total profit and insurance cost. Just think of all the people that effected this year! Also air conditioning is a major expense, that can really wipe out your profit. I know I have a few in Phoenix, Arizona area.

You also need to look at the size of the area(I like a million plus) your buying in. Is their a steady supply on potential tenants? What is the percentage of renters to buyers in the area your looking at. For example in the Cleveland area 40% of the population rents.

The last thing I want to talk about is still the size of the area your looking to buy in. I like at least 1 million in the area and surrounding area. The size of your area will effect the cost to maintain your property. Smaller areas have fewer qualified people to do your work, that means it's going to cost you more to maintain your property and harder to find qualified people to do your work too. That's why I like 1 million or more in the areas I buy in.

Real estate is a box of chocolates and you need to make sure the one you pick has the right taste and fell for your portfolio. Brett Young Rooftopvideo.com

Avoid the costly mistakes in real estate investing

I see a lot of investors and talk to them a lot. One of them called me this week and told me of an investor that had purchased 15 homes for $300,000(homes worth between $1,000-$5,000). They were all over the place, but most were in the Detroit Michigan area. I have drove through that area and decided to pass on buying investment real estate their.

After the investor purchased the homes he was left with finishing them. The company he was using left the deal high and dry. There was still rehabbing and getting the properties cash flowing. The areas he bought had a very high crime rate and that would add on to your rehab cost. Things tend to get stolen in those type of neighborhoods.

The other problem was the neighborhoods they were in. They were awful neighborhoods and need a lot more attention. When your looking at investment real estate make sure your neighborhoods are solid. You can do this by looking at the area or seeing the type of rents that people are paying in that area. In our area for example if a home is less then $750 a month red flags go up. That may not be all that good of area.

When your spending your hard earned money make sure you check out what that company has already done in real estate properties. I had a client fly in this week and spend a couple days looking at our portfolio(we encourage it) and the neighborhoods. He was very happy at what he saw, after seeing the areas he put a 5 bedroom home under contract for $26,500. It will cash flow $700+ a month.

Always remember that the real estate investment game takes some investigation on your part. Just because you find a cheap home doesn't always mean it's really that cheap. Check out some areas I like and see what you think? Click here to view Brett Young

Look at this great property we did in Unversity Heights

We can get these homes bought and rehabbed for $50k-55K. Enjoy

Riding on the right investment real estate train

If your looking at a real estate investment company to find some cash flowing properties, there are some things you should consider before deciding.

The first thing to look for is their track record. What have they've done and what are they doing now. Check what kind of cash flow their clients are getting. Make sure they have history in the business. In today's market you need to make sure they are adapting to it's standards. Also want to make sure they have a lot of examples to see of their past work.

The second thing I would look at is the organization itself. How big is their staff and can they handle all the properties you want. For example are they going to be able to grow and deal with all the new obstacles it brings. Our company just had a full training on Lease Options and how to sell them. We also thoroughly go through the properties and mark the upgrades and the main reasons someone would want those homes. This ensures the property will get the most money.

The third factor would be how much do they know the areas your interested in. The company you pick should have that rolling off their tongues. I had the chance to talk with another investment company and noticed that they didn't like that many areas. They had decided that certain parts of the city was not good enough for them or their clients. This type of attitude could loss you a lot of real estate that would not be presented to you. In defense their are some areas not to invest in, but don't be so critical that you miss out on some really good areas that have great deals.

You want to also make sure that they have a maintenance and construction team that sees to all your details and gets the property ready in a timely matter. You don't want a property taking to long to get rehabbed. Example on a home that needs rehabbing, even if it needs electrical and other major maintenance issues should take between 3-6 weeks tops. Our company regularly audits each home to ensure that the time line is being met. If it is not then we call the client and explain the reason why(95% of our homes get done in this time line). Remember time is money and the longer it sets the less you make.

The last thing you need to look at is the finished product. You need to physically see the property or at least pictures or video's of it. We have clients all over the world that need to see their finished product. We set up a website just for that www.Rooftopvideo.com. That site is for our clients to look at their finished property and all the others we have done and are currently doing. We like our clients to see all our work.

So if your looking at getting into the real estate investment game make sure you understand the real estate investment company your going to spend your hard earned money with. Brett Young Rooftopprofitmax.com

Financial Freedom Act

I believe you can make a lot of money in this market. Some say this down market has a long way to go. Does it? 1 year ago 30 day late foreclosures were 16% of the market. Today it is 8% according to USA Today a story by Julie Schmit.

Her analysis says that delinquent homes are basically all down. What does that say to an investor or should say anyway, is better get going. Some people look at this market as awful and hopeless. As an investors we should look at it as an opportunity. Buying investment real estate has never been so affordable.

People need a place to live, that's why real estate is always a great investment. Real estate is really a commodity that you can purchase without any time limits. You can lease option it or rent it until the values start going up and then you can decide to sell or keep cash flowing. Like a commodity there are two things that need to happen before prices can go up.

Lending must be more available to good credit people. The mortgages have to be reasonable rates and reasonable down payments. In my opinion the rates need to stay under 8%-9% and allow buyers to put down 5%-20%. The higher rate will be OK because of the decrease of values on residential homes(the payments will still be reasonable). Homes that were $100,000-$250,000 are now a lot cheaper than the peak of the market, in some cases over 50% cheaper. The higher rates will bring in more investors into the market, that would want to get back into the mortgage game with those higher returns. So all in all a win win for the market more money more loans and better returns for lenders.

The second thing that needs to happen is the inventory of homes needs to decrease to the buyers in the market. The buyers need to have fewer options and have to make decisions to buy or start losing the good homes. Basically the days on market to sell a home will be 30-60 days at that point. In the peak of the market most homes would sell in 30 days or less. In a normal market 30-60 days is great. You say how will I know when inventory starts going down? Watch days on market. When it gets to 90 days or less the home market will definitely be on the up swing.

I know what your thinking what about the investors? What will they do when the market changes? Being a investor myself I would only say stay tuned to the market, and investors will always be in it.

I also want to share with you my new videos on Financial Freedom Act. Just click on the link and watch the different things you need to know to be a solid investor.

Thanks Brett Young www.Rooftopprofitmax.com