Archive for the 'Pre-Foreclosures & REOs' Category

Investing in pre-foreclosures is one of the most effective ways to get started in real estate investing and to begin accumulating real wealth; however, when you’re going to be investing in pre-foreclosures, it’s important to take a look at what you can do to identify the best opportunities available.

(source). . .investing in pre-foreclosures can provide excellent profits but it’s always important to remember to do your homework before buying. Finding the right property is the right way to get started. It’s important to understand that even in a distressed market like today, motivated sellers are aren’t going to magically appear and speak directly saying, “I need to sell my house to you and you only.”

In order to ensure that you’re finding the right opportunities to invest in pre-foreclosures, you’re going to want to do a number of things:

  1. Get your name out there. In order for you to benefit from pre-foreclosure investments, you need to make sure that your business has a presence; while the best opportunities still won’t come to you, you’ll still be in a position to learn of them faster.
  2. Network with bankers. After establishing your real estate investment business, it’s a great idea to look at the connections that you can make. By networking and establishing relationships with those at the banks, you’ll be in a position in which they are more willing to work with you - which can help you to get ahead with future pre-foreclosure properties.
  3. Market yourself as an investor. Will motivated sellers start seeking you out? Not right away, but over time you’ll find that there may be some who approach you.

In addition to establishing your real estate investment business, you’ll find that by keeping an eye out for great properties to become available, you’ll be in an increasingly better position; a position that ensures your success.

Below is just an exerpt of the first assignment given to new ForeclosureMillionaireClub.com members.

I am using this particular one because I think this new real estate investor is starting off on the right foot - - with a very successful principle.

“It is not enough to do your best; You must know what to do, and THEN do your best.” - W. Edwards Deming.
_______________________________

Michelle, I’m turning in my first assignment. I’m new to real estate investing. Haven’t gotten my first deal yet, but I’m marketing to pre-foreclosures to get my first deal. Here are my answers to the assignment:
 
1. My goal over the next 6 months is to complete at least 6 profitable RE investment transactions. My goal over the next 12 months is to make at least $250,000 profit from my RE investment transactions. This will allow me to seriously look at quitting my full-time job and go full-time in real estate investing.
 
2. I have not closed my first real estate investment deal yet. I’m currently marketing to pre-foreclosures to fill my pipeline with potential RE investment deals.

3. I have not made any money in real estate investing yet. I’m actively working to change that everyday.
. . .
6. I’m currently generating my leads through a post card campaign to pre-foreclosures.
 
7. With one-on-one mentoring I’d like the mentor to give me the things I need to be doing on a daily basis to acquire my first RE investment deal and more deals after that. I’ve been in at least one mentoring program and realized I wasn’t being told about the things I needed to be doing everyday to land my first deal. I was being trained on stuff to do after I land a prospect. I’m learning though….

Alan,  Michelle here.  Wanted to let you know I have received, and read your homework.At first blush, I have to say, your ‘goals’ are very realistic.  Which means to say that you have come to them with some thought.While I realize that at this point you haven’t had the chance to digest all the information in the members area, I want to acknowledge you for getting out and prospecting already  - - -  even though you’re not sure of your step-by-step.

I would add for sure that your ‘prospecting’ or ‘marketing’ to sellers in pre-foreclosure  should be beefed up.  You will hear me say quite a lot that sending out only postcards, even if you send it out more than once, won’t get you the “response rate” you want.  A solid 5 -7 or even 8 or 9 piece campaign is ideal.

I have talked about this a great deal in our ForeclosureMillionaireClub.com sessions.  Depending on where you live, you may or may not have that kind of time to stretch out that many pieces.

If you want to get a jump on this, go to the Marketing Section of the Members Area and begin to listen to the all the sessions you can.  We have evaluated different types of marketing materials AND different programs.

Not to worry though, this is a topic that is so important, we will continue to hash through the challenges that everyone comes up against – not the least of which is budgeting/planning your marketing - - getting the most ‘return’ (leads) for your marketing dollars.

See you in tonight’s session.

When it comes to real estate investing, it seems that everyone thinks that they need to have a surefire “in” - a way of getting started that won’t involve all that much of a risk or a great deal of financial backing. It may even be fair to say that one of the things that many would-be real estate investors are looking for a way of testing out the process to see if everything that they’ve heard is true. For them, the best plan may be to invest in pre-foreclosures.

The home, when you start looking into it, is in a state of default: the bank has filed the initial foreclosure papers, but the full on foreclosure process hasn’t happened yet.When you make the choice to invest in pre-foreclosures, you’re the one who is able to negotiate the sale - with both the current homeowner and the bank.

Additionally, when you look into investing in pre-foreclosures you will find that you’re able to follow two key rules of real estate investment success:

  1. You will be able to have a defined niche for your business rather than trying to get a feel for a wide variety of investments;
  2. You will be working with motivated sellers when you focus on pre-foreclosures.

The key path to success in real estate investing involves those two key rules. When you’re trying to do a little bit of everything it’s difficult to do it all well; when the homeowners are motivated to sell, the work goes far more smoothly. As a result, if you’re looking to get started in real estate investing, you just might find that investing in pre-foreclosures will be the path to your success.

When buying property is about making an investment rather than purchasing a home, it’s essential to understand the ins and outs or getting the best deal. While some people will tell you that the best way to make money in real estate is to watch for foreclosures, the reality is that there are more advantages to finding pre-foreclosures.

The primary advantage that you’ll discover when you seek out pre-foreclosures is that there is little competition on the market. When you’re able to locate a property owner who has been told that their home will soon be fore-closed upon, you’ve got the opportunity to negotiate with the homeowner; you’ll have the chance to make an offer.

That puts you in control of the process. You won’t be forced to be negotiating the sale at the same time as everyone else who receives the foreclosure list. You won’t find yourself going to auction and bidding for the property. More importantly, you’ll find that negotiating pre-foreclosure allows you to work with the homeowner and to focus on helping him or her to avoid even more damage to their credit.

Most importantly, however, when you seek out pre-foreclosures and take control of the process, you will find that you are able to stay relaxed. With less competition and the chance to get a far better price, you’ll be able to stay calm throughout the process - and that puts you in a position in which everything seems to go more smoothly.

The ‘buzz’ of investing in real estate always has some key ‘hot topics’ associated with the conversation:  ‘long term wealth’, ‘great cashflow’, ‘financial freedom’, and ‘cash in on the foreclosures of the mortgage meltdown’ just to name a few.

Then there is the reality about it all - - (1) Absolutely you can gain and secure long term wealth, (2) depending on how you evaluate the deals before you do them – you will get great cashflow, and (3) financial freedom is the ultimate goal, however, if you do not treat, and respect, the real estate investing business, AS A BUSINESS, what you will have is a job-like experience with that ultimate goal not getting any closer to you.

I really encourage you to listen to this teleconference I did with Charles Petty (the Audio MP3 Play Now link is at the end of this post here).  It will truly open your eyes to new possibilities and to the ‘business’ of making $10,000 or more in the next 30 days – and doing it consistently – and having time for your family, hobbies, AND vacations.

By the way, at the end of the teleconference, Charles mentions a money-making opportunity that you can still take advantage of here on InvestorWealth.com because you listened to it here. 

You can Find out more information about this program,
Or
You can GO NOW to the ORDER-IT-NOW Page.

Best regards, - Michelle  - -

 
icon for podpress  Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I remember when Richard & I began our real estate investing business – now seven years ago, one of the first seminars we attended was one exclusively on marketing. We learned twenty ways from Sunday how to do business cards, even more on bandit signs, thirty different newspaper ads, post cards, letters, flyers . . .. We were ready to go!

First of all we were both still at our full-time jobs so we opted for ‘newspaper ads’. Most of you know we live in Atlanta so our only logical option was the Atlanta Journal Constitution. MONEY WASTED! No responses that brought us anything that even resembled a motivated seller.

Next we decided to do the ‘work all week and then spend our weekends putting out signs’. The signs seemed reasonably priced, we felt good about the size, color, website, etc. AND we actually got phone calls from them. However, after the first 10 calls or so we then realized we needed to organize all our prospects. We then ‘thought the next important thing to do’ was to get a handle on which signs (street corners) produced the most calls so we could ‘target our marketing’.

(more…)

Honing the skill of a successful, short sales real estate investor begins with knowing your ‘market’ and knowing the best ‘marketing approach’, and planning your marketing campaign. That begins with knowing what the heck the game is in your state.

What If your list source is made available to you only 21 to 30 days BEFORE all the properties on the list go to sale – what’s your best marketing plan?

For Example:

(more…)

A Short Sale is when the ‘bank’ (lender) agrees to take less than the amount actually owed by the ‘mortgagee’ (the home owner, the debtor). 

Now there are some disctinctions here you should know - A ‘Short Sale’ is not the same as ‘Buying the Note’ at a discount.  When you are going after the Short Sale, your intention is to either (1) Get the property to hold and rent or lease option, or (2) Do what is called a ‘Quick Turn’ of the property (sell it to a new family OR another investor who will be; rehabbing to sell retail, or renting out).  In other words you will be expecting to realize your profit sooner rather than later.

Discounting the Note, makes you the new ‘bank’.  We can talk in depth about this in another entry here but suffice it to say for now “as the bank” you get the payments over time making ‘allota’ money on your money invested in the note AND/OR continue the foreclosure if that is why you found the note to begin with.  (I promise, more later on this . . .).

If you are interested in learning more about short sales and shifting your focus to this niche specifically, contact Peggy in my office about our mentoring programs.  Our office hours are 10a - 5p Eastern Time and our phone is 770-338-2797.