how to make money in real estate

I know hear = here

I didn't edit in time

what do you think about buying property in hawaii?

First off, how many different properties do you own? How many living units? What's the overall value of said properties?

I would understand if you didn't want to answer, but it kind of needs to be asked to help gauge how much you do know.

I dont' hear much about people buying out there unless they are rich
have seen some recent news showing only a few foreclosures in that area
also I think it's the 3rd richest area of the country the wealthy buy in.


I should say I am here more to talk about the ideas of real estate

What people don't understand about real estate investing

is that the money is in the creative ideas of real estate
the 100's of ways to structure deals and negotiate

when you try to just pick a hot market for a year or two
that's speculatiing, like daytrading, most would not consider this investing at all, but speculating, and also many consider it risky

I know what you are getting at
without getting too much personal let me answer it like this


6 properties in my name, 2 in an LLC and a couple more I may pick up this month
honestly I could buy a property every other day if I wanted
I don't enjoy tenants that much, and the property managment does take a little away from my businesses.

I have really spent the last few years developing a network of a couple of thousand 1-5 year investors in real estate to network with, I am training my 6 employees, trying to build my offices, and companies.

Simply buying houses is not my main focus

I like to wholesale properties that's what I do

I probably wholesale
5-7 properties per month
with the potential soon to wholesale 10-15+ per month
meaning getting other investor friends to buy them up
and I get a cut off the price.

You have to spend a good deal of your time still generating income

buying a house to me now is actually more comfortable then making a car purchase

probably not as comfortable as a computer purchase


rent offsets houses
negotiating houses, doing the paperwork, buying on terms, and doing it without closing is easy, and getting renters in our market is ok, it's not too easy but doable.


The way most of you feel about throwing a nice solid 7 page tour of a paysite

I would say buying a house to me is equivalent or less stressful, once you know the questions, negotiation tactics and exit strategies , and the overall picture it's just a matter of controlling from beginning to end

I also have my brokers license

Real Estate is where the money is at. I'm flipping 3 condos as soon as they are built and ready in September. After that...I think I'm going to take a long vacation in Europe.

We have a mortgage license and a real estate company so we don't pay anything out of pocket....ever.

BTW anyone have quality Massachusetts mortgage leads hit me up via ICQ.

I am glad you are doing well with the condos
you can't do that in my state
the appreciation isn't there


when you really get into investing
the term flipping is the equivalent to the term lolita

you would try not to use it
as it has a bad connotation

What's your take on the slow down in the RE market lately? Don't you think now is a poor time to invest in RE? Isn't it better to wait a few months, or perhaps a year for prices to drop? The rule of investing is buy low, sell high, if you buy high (like it is now) aren't you asking for trouble?

I don't want to jump in to this dudes thread...but....there is no slow down as far as I can see. Business is as steady as ever here in Boston.

Condo's will drop before houses do. IMO

I luv my real estate domains.

RE Rocks!!

Here is a question:

I don't have a lot of money. But, I would like to make money with real estate. How do I do this?

My market is 7% appreciation, it feels like a huge slow down
I can buy $30k-$40k discount on $200k houses all day long

I can get $100k discounts on $500k houses all day long

I can get $400k discounts on $1.5mil houses all day long


When you learn really creative real estate how the market is doesn't matter that much, I have known of people who have made millions rehabbing houses in a market that didn't appreciate at all in 10 years

I know of another guru that saw almost no appreciation for a long long time.


Let me give you 1 example of a deal in 3 minutes
by the way, when you learn this business what I am telling you is really not hard at all, it's like throwing up a paysite, just takes a little longer.

Let's try a medium appreciating market


$200k advertisement

Buy for $185k no work needed
sell on a lease option to someone with average credit
for $225k on a 2 year lease option (rent to own)
get $5k non refundable option money

Seller owes $150k on the house, you get them to deed you the house, and they take back a $35,000 2nd mortgage for 3-5 years.

1 week before you close let's say 12+ months from now, with the tenant you call up the seller tell them you are coming into some money if you pay off the 2nd mortgage this week can you get a discount on the $35k
you may be suprised to only have to pay them $20k for money now.


let's recap
you got the place at $185 sold for $225k
that's 40k, + 5k option money you credit you can to use for awhile
and also you get a $15k discount on the 2nd mortgage

That's $55k

believe it or not their are experts out there with more than enough of these deals they can do, not enough time to do them all, and also some can do this with 6-8 hours total invested over 12+ months
hard to believe but true, the tenant keeps the house in good shape.


Lease options aren't legal in Texas FYI


so let's recap

You want to get into what's called birddogging or later wholesaling

you research do legwork for other investors and they pay you for a deal
for example you find a house worth $180k fixed up, needs $20k in work and you find it for $125k you get $3-5k for finding this, and give it to a rehabber, he will pay you for these leads.

Do a couple a month, it will get your feet wet.

You'd be surprised that even people without much money can get many houses with great credit 680+ credit score.

Also go find a good credit or money partner, and you do the legwork and find the houses.

What domains do you own for RE

Looks like a slow down to me:
- number of houses sold in feb was lowest level in the past 12 months
- and number of houses for sale in feb was highest level in past 12 months

http://www.census.gov/const/newressales.pdf

yes I have seen reports of the slow down

you have to realize this is not bad though

It means new investors or or speculators get into trouble

do you know how many investors own vacant houses in Arizona and Las Vegas?

I've heard up to 36-37% is investor owned


Did you know up to 51% of loans recently that have been processed in the whole US are non owner occupied homes.


Foreclosures are tripling faster and faster, it's bad news for some

but great news for very educated investors

How do you feel about the risks of the fed raising interest rates a few more points above and beyond what people are expecting right now?

Well it's bad news for a few reasons

A lot of appreciation with existing homes is due to
what's called "affordablility factor" I've once heard
every +1% the interest rate goes up $2milllion more people can't afford
the home.


Do keep in mind just 10-15+ years ago we did have 20% interest rates
we had 15-18% for many many years a long time ago

so even 9% wouldn't be that high.

You could always put down more money to offset the higher interest rates, you really should only buy what you can afford anyways.


I would be more concerned about all the 2-3 year ARMS
that are about to come due
here is the scary thing here for example
back years ago
if you had a 12% mortgage and it went up 3%
that's 25% increase in your payment, it hurts sure
you most likely take on as much home as you can, many do this.

Ok but how about these days where people have 5% mortgages
going up to 9%, that's an 80% increase in payments
do you think most people are going to default and foreclose?

you better believe they will

The loans that the mortgage business have been writing for the last 3-4 years are incredibly insane, it's like putting

6 check box upsells on a paysite, people don't know what they are doing, and later on they find out and here come the chargebacks (foreclosures)
in big herds.

Interest rates going up is not great news, but do keep in mind people still have 6% loans on homes you could assume

There are people that have $300k homes they own free and clear, and they could sell it to you on a 4% contract for deed (land contract)
it's still twice as much as they would get from a CD at the bank.

1 simple thing happening in real estate doesn't really matter
there are too many other ways to make money in real estate
you simply just adjust and play the game a different way, it's not a big deal.

Mortgage people will tell you that the refi boom went away a long time ago

Yup but in Boston its business as usual. Which is the only thing that matters to me.

Any other questions?

I'm not on here very often

I'm just here to help

Good thread

1) This sounds stupid but do you know any books or groups of ppl doing this kind of thing in Australia?

2) What are your top 5 books on property investment strategies?

Too many books to mention
drop me an email
and I'll give you my list of everything I've ever read


closest I know is Dolfderoos.com
he is from New Zealand
and very very smart when it comes to investing

Thanks for the tip

I will email you in a bit. Would love to see that list.

do you recommend buying real estate in south east asian countries?

I am a former RE broker who lives near Newport RI.

RI has some spectacular waterfront RE, at much better prices than California or nearby Massachusetts.

I am interested in working with deep pocket investors, bird dogging deals for a small cut. Email me to discuss further.

EMAIL
[email protected]
Where X= DaddyHalbucks
And =CS

I guess I am not an expert in International or every market in the US

I am more of an expert in the ideas of creative real estate

how to structure deals


I don't know Asia or Rhode Island
so that means I can't say what to do in regards to real estate there