dealing with tenants

If you are not going to hire a property manager to handle your real estate investments, you will be taking on a lot of responsibility. And one of the biggest responsibilities is dealing with tenants. This may not be something that you think about early on when you are buying a property, but soon enough you will be faced with this situation.

When it comes to dealing with tenants, you never know what type of situation you are going to run into. There are a few common occurrences that most landlords are used to, but as you can imagine, this industry is one that never stays the same. No matter how comfortable you are with your tenants, you never know when this is going to change in the future.

Here are three common things that you will be dealing with as far as your tenants are concerned.

1. Since your tenants are paying rent, they are going to expect everything to be in good working order. If nothing ever breaks you will not have to worry about this. But guess what? The second that something goes wrong is when you will get an immediate call from your tenant. If you know what you are doing, you may be able to fix the problem on your own. But in many cases, this is something that you will have to pay for. Just make sure that you are ready to deal with this from time to time.

2. Rent is another huge sticking point when it comes to landlord – tenant relationships. The lease that your tenants sign will outline how much money they are supposed to pay as well as when they are supposed to send it to you. But as you can guess, this does not always work out easily. There are going to be times when you are less of a landlord and more of a collection agency. This can be annoying, but remember, it comes along with the territory. If you do your research before letting a tenant move in, you should be able to avoid people who are not going to pay you what they owe on time.

3. Even though you may hate to think about it, some tenants will try to take you to court if something goes wrong. This is far from common, but often times small disputes can lead to larger issues that can only be settled in court. You will want to do whatever you can to keep your tenants happy at all times. This does not mean that you should let them push you around, but a mutually beneficial relationship is very important. This will help to ensure that your problems never go beyond anything minor.

You should not let dealing with bad tenants scare you away from getting involved with investing in single family homes. When it comes down to it, most of the tenants that you lease your property to will end up working with you just fine. But of course, there are always times when this does not happen.

The way that you deal with tenants will have a lot to do with how successful your real estate properties become. Once you have one investment property in the pipeline, you will begin to gain experience with tenant relations. From there, you will not run into any issues that you cannot handle.

Overall, making sure that your tenants are happy is very important. And remember, you want to be happy yourself. When both parties are feeling good about the deal at hand, there should never be too many irresolvable issues.

Setting up a Lease Agreement

Renting out single family homes is a great way to make some extra money. And in many cases, if you have enough properties you can make a good living this way. But before you start renting your homes without a contract in place, you need to think again. Each tenant that you deal with should be required to sign a lease agreement. This will not only help to protect you, but it will do the same for the tenant as well.

Setting up a lease agreement is something that new real estate investors often times have trouble with. After all, this is bit different than most agreements that beginners are used to dealing with. The good thing is that once you settle on one basic lease agreement, you can use it time after time.

When setting up a lease agreement you need to make sure that you have all of your bases covered. Remember, if you make even one mistake it could come back to harm you later on down the line. You would be much better off doing everything right the first time so that you do not have to worry about future problems.

There are many websites that offer basic lease agreements that you can print out, customize, and use with your tenants. If this does not suit your needs, why not look into talking to a lawyer about this? They will be able to draft an agreement for you to use. You may have to pay them for this service, but it will surely be well worth the time in the long run.
Once you have your lease agreement in place, the next step is to present it to potential tenants. In many cases you may need to make some changes here and there. Just because you think that your lease agreement is perfect does not mean that the tenant will like every last detail. But before you go ahead and change just anything, make sure that you know what you are doing. After all, if you plan on making changes on the fly, what was the point in having a professionally written lease agreement in the first place?

As you can imagine, you will want to make sure that the lease agreement suits the needs of both you and the tenant. If you attempt to force them into something that they do not want to do, you are just going to make problems for yourself in the long run. And of course, if you make too many changes to suit the needs of the tenant, this could once again cause issues. Your main goal should be to draft a mutually agreed upon lease agreement.

Customizable fields in any lease agreement include things such as the length of the lease, utilities that need to be paid, price, etc. This is all based on the type of property that you are renting, what you are trying to accomplish, and what you and the tenant are comfortable with.

Overall, setting up a lease agreement is one of the most important aspects of investing in homes to rent out. If you skimp in this area you are tempting the real estate gods. Instead, put together a solid lease agreement from day one, and use this time and time again as you rent out your properties. Even though you will have to make changes along the way, once you have a basic format in place, you will never again have to stress out over this. And as you can imagine, keeping stress and potential problems to a minimum is very important when it comes to real estate investing.

Finding and Hiring a Qualified Property Manager

If you need to hire a property manager it probably means that you are doing quite well with your real estate investment business. And if you want to continue with this success, you need to make sure that you hire a qualified property manager. After all, there is nothing worse than working with somebody who is not trying to achieve the same goals as you. Luckily, most property managers are more than capable of doing a great job. You just need to make sure that you get in touch with one who is going to work with you to achieve success.

Here are a few tips that you should consider if you are interested in hiring a property manager.

1. You need to hire a property manager who shares the same goals as you. If you are attempting to do one thing, while your property manager another, you are going to conflict more times than not. This is something that you should discuss with potential managers before you ever hire one. It is very important to clearly outline your goals, and then make sure that your property manager is willing to work with you in order to meet them.

2. No matter where you live, you should be able to find plenty of available property managers in your area. In fact, many big cities have an abundance of these professionals. After all, the real estate industry is one that is growing quickly. This is not to say that it will always be hot, but as of right now, there are plenty of people who are hoping to get involved. Additionally, you may be able to find a property management company that will be easier to work with. In many cases, hiring a company is much better than a single person.

3. Just like with your tenants, you need to have an agreement in place with your property manager or management company. In other words, you need to know what they are going to do for you, and they should know what to expect at the same time.

4. Talk to several property managers before you hire one. Going through an interview process with each one is the only way to ensure that you make the right hiring decision in the end.

5. Payment is something to consider when hiring a property manager. Even though you will find that there is an industry average, some property managers may ask for more, whereas others will do the job for less. Make sure you know your budget as well as what the going rate is. Once again, the only way that you can do this is through properly communicating during the interview process.

The five tips above will help you when trying to find a property manager. Additionally, you should be able to use these tips to hire the right person for the job as well. This is a very important decision to make if you are getting involved in the real estate investment industry. If you end up hiring the wrong property manager, it is safe to say that you have caused extra work for yourself. Not to mention the fact that you will probably lose some money along the way as well.

Overall, if you need to hire a property manager, do whatever it takes to make the right decision the first time. This will allow you to rest easy, and know that your rental properties are in good hands.

Do You need a property Manager ?

Do you need a property manager? This is a question that a lot of new real estate investors struggle with. While there are some people who think that a property manager is a necessity, others will tell you that this is nothing more than an added expense. The fact of the matter is that you need to make this decision on your own. It is up to you to decide whether or not hiring a property manager would help your situation, or do nothing more than get in your way. Either way, you need to make your mind up on this as soon as possible.

In most cases, the investors who need a property manager are the ones who own more than one property. After all, trying to keep all of your investment homes organized can be difficult to do. But with the help of a property manager you will always have somebody on your side to lend some assistance.

Of course, even if you only have a couple of rentals you can still hire a property manager to work on your behalf. But remember, you will have to pay him or her to do the work for you. This means that your profits are going to be cut into before you know it. To some people this is well worth the money because it saves them from having to deal with the day to day grind of staying up to date with investment properties.

So what are some of the things that a property manager can do for you? All in all, their main goal is to manage your property on a daily basis. Managing real estate means doing everything from collecting rent to answering questions about repairs and maintenance. Are these things that you would rather not handle on your own? If so, it is time for you to consider hiring a property manager. For the most part, you can tell them what you need done, and if you find the right person they can help you out with every last task that comes up.

A property manager can also be a major asset if you are thinking about expanding your portfolio of real estate properties. Remember, as you buy more and more homes your workload is going to increase. So even if you are handling one or two homes just fine, if this number increases to three or four you may begin to slow down quite a bit. This is when a property manager can move in and really take over all of the day to day tasks that have been holding you back.

Finally, an experienced property manager can also help you with any questions that you may have. And as a new real estate investor this is very important. When you hire somebody who has been around the industry for a while, it is safe to say that they have seen just about everything. Not only will this help you, but it will do the same for your tenants. For this reason, you need to hire a property manager that knows a bit about the area you are located in.

Overall, the decision to hire a property manager is up to you. If you are getting along fine without one, you may want to keep things this way for the time being. But if you are struggling to keep up with all of your work, what is the point in waiting? You would be much better off hiring a property manager that knows what they are doing. You will have to pay them for the services that they offer, but it will go a long way in helping to keep all of your properties organized. And when you are organized it is safe to say that you are going to have a better chance of growing your investment business in the future.

The First Weekend

Buying an investment property can be a lot of fun. After all, this is not only a great way to spend your time, but it can earn you some money as well. But before you start your search for tenants, you are going to have to get your property up to par. When it comes down to it, the real estate market is quite competitive. To beat out the competition you need to make sure that your property has more to offer than the rest.

To get started moving in the right direction, you need to use the first weekend in the home to your advantage. Remember, the more time that you waste, the more time it is going to take for you to see a profit. And since you have another job to tend to during the week, the weekends are when you need to make your hay. Unfortunately, many investors slack off during this time, and find that they are way behind schedule.

There are many things that you can do the first weekend in a new investment property. Once you have a plan in hand, which you should have put together on day one, you will be ready to go.
Arrive at the home early Saturday morning so that you have the entire day to get to work. If you are going to be doing any major renovations, these are what you need to take care of before anything else. This means that you should complete all demolition before you start with repairs. Remember, demolition can make a huge mess. If you fix something before you demo something else, it is safe to say that you may undo all of your hard work.

As you continue to work throughout the weekend, take the time to update your to do list along the way. This will help to make sure that you do not duplicate any tasks, or waste any unnecessary time.

By the time Sunday rolls around you should have a much better idea of where you stand. If you can take care of the demolition process on Saturday, the end of the weekend is when you can start making repairs. As a general rule of thumb, you should never start a large project that needs done in one day unless you have the time for it. Many new investors start big projects on the first weekend in the home, but end up running out of time before the work week begins. This can lead to a lot of lost work, or worse yet, having to work the wee hours of the morning. You want to avoid this because you do not want your investment home to get in the way of your actual nine to five job.

Once the first weekend is over, you will have an idea of what you have gotten yourself into. Hopefully you will have realized that you have a real gem on your hands, and that you are nowhere close to being in over your head. But remember, it is natural to feel a bit overwhelmed once you begin to work on an investment property. You may feel anxious to get things done, or in many cases you may start to second guess yourself. As long as you keep on schedule you should never begin to feel overly stressed.

Overall, the first weekend in an investment home is one of the most important. This is when you will decide whether or not you are going to get off to a good start. When you begin to move in the proper direction from the first weekend, you will have a much better feel for the job as you move forward.

The First Day

So you have invested in a home? You are ready to turn it into a money making machine by renting it out to tenants, right? If this sounds like you, the first day that you have access to your property can be a difficult one. After all, you need to make a decision on what you are going to do first. And this is not always easy to do since every piece of real estate is different.

The first thing that you need to do is decide on what type of home you have on your hands. In other words, are you going to have to make a lot of repairs? Or should you be able to get by with a few minor fix ups here and there? Believe it or not, the condition of your property will sway the direction that you take on the first day that you open the door.

If you are faced with a fixer upper, you will want to draw up a plan for getting the job done as quickly as possible. In fact, this is a great way to spend your first day. Instead of diving right in and hoping that you get everything right, have a plan that will give you direction starting from the first day. This way you do not find yourself completing jobs out of order, and in turn making more work for in the long run.

On the other side of things, if the home you purchased is in good condition, the first day may be chalked full of minor fixes to get it market ready. Once again you should take the time to make a list, but it will not be nearly as long as a “fixer upper” list. Now that you know what you need to do, you can then get started.

Many people like to dive right into things on day one without ever making a plan. Do you know what this leads to? A few days later they have found out that they missed something, and the backtracking begins. All in all, when you rush ahead on day one you may be making more work for yourself in the end. With a good plan in mind, the first day in your investment home should not be full of stress, but instead full of preparing for the work to come.

Your Down Payment

Buying any type of real estate means that money will be transferring hands. But as you probably know, the amount of money that you pay for a home will vary. Not only will you negotiate down the listing price of a home, but adding a down payment will also change things quite a bit. There are many details that you need to keep in mind when you are dealing with the down payment on an investment property. Here are three of the most important.

1. You do not always have to put money down on a home that you are buying. There are many lenders who will be more than willing to loan you 100 percent of the purchase price. Of course, you usually need great credit in order to get this kind of treatment from a lender. Keep in mind that if you do not put down at least 20 percent you will have to pay private mortgage insurance. As an investor, this is an expense that will cut into the profits that you are set to make each month.

2. Generally speaking, the more money that you can get together for a down payment the better. What is the reasoning behind this, you may ask? Simply put, when you have a large down payment the amount of debt is going to be much less. In turn, this means that you will begin to turn a profit sooner rather than later. Additionally, a down payment will put you in a much safer position in the long run.

3. A down payment will help to lower the cost of your monthly mortgage payment. When you do this, you will then be able to profit more on the rent that you charge. With a large down payment the amount of profits that you make on rent will be much more substantial.

As you can see, you do not necessarily have to put any money down when buying a real estate investment property. But all in all, this is probably in your best interest. After all, you can better your situation and potential profits by using a down payment. Even if you only have a few thousand dollars, this is usually better than nothing.

How to form a Counter Offer

Forming a counter offer is part of buying a home. This holds true no matter if you are buying real estate to live in, or if you plan on using it as an investment. The fact of the matter is that the counter offer you make will have a lot to do with whether or not you get the home that you are interested in.

There are many steps that go into efficiently forming a counter offer. You may think that there is no art to this, but nothing could be further from the truth. When you deal appropriately with a counter offer you will have the best chance of closing a deal in the end.
Here are three steps to consider if you are faced with putting a counter offer together. By following these in order, you should have no problems having something to send back to the seller.

1. Before you do anything, consider the offer that the seller came back with after your original. In many cases you may find out that this offer is good enough to make a deal. But remember, you should be 100 percent comfortable with this before you decide to accept it. After you sign your name on the dotted line there is no opening discussions back up.

2. When forming a counter offer you want to remember that insulting the seller is a bad thing. Luckily, if they have already countered once, you know for sure that you are at least in the ballpark. For instance, if the list price was $115,000 and your original offer was $100,000, the seller may come back to you with a counter of $110,000. It is now your job to choose a number in between that you think is fair. Most people will agree that countering a bit more than the halfway point is a good idea. In the above case this would be an offer in the $106,000 range.

3. If you are tired of negotiating, and have done everything possible, you may want to consider a “take it or leave it” counter offer. In other words, you will counter with a final number while telling the seller that you cannot do any better. There is nothing wrong with doing this, but remember that you may get turned down. The seller has every right to say thanks but no thanks to a take it or leave it counter. As long as you are prepared to possibly lose the deal, you will not have any problems doing this.

As you can imagine, you do not have to follow the above steps in order when forming a counter offer. You may want to start out thinking about a take it or leave it offer; especially if you have gone back and forth with the seller on several occasions.

No matter what you do, make sure that you keep two things in mind when negotiating via counter offers. First off, you need to respect the seller at all times. They are going to try to get the best deal, and so are you. Additionally, you want to make your counter offer with mutual negotiations in mind. This means that while you want to get the lower price, you will still want to do what is best for both parties. In other words, try to be as fair as possible without compromising your position.

Overall, the counter offer that you make on a piece of real estate will determine how much money you ultimately pay. In turn, this will have a large effect on how long it takes you to profit on your investment.

Be willing to Walk Away

When negotiating a real estate deal there is one very important thing that you should keep in mind: you need to be willing to walk away at any time. If you get so attached to a property that you will do anything for it, guess what will happen? You will give up all of your negotiating power, and the seller will then be in the driver’s seat. When the seller knows that you will do anything for a home, they will then be able to put the screws to you time after time. But if you are perfectly willing to walk away from a deal, you then have the seller in a position where you are at least sharing the power.

There is a big difference between being willing to walk away, and actually doing it. In most real estate deals if you want the home you can go ahead and make it happen. But just because you can make a deal happen does not mean that you should actually do so. If you do, there is a chance that you could end up regretting it in the long run.
There are several reasons that you may want to walk away from a home that you were going to buy. Here are just a few of the more common reasons.

1. If the seller is not working with you on the price, you may have to walk away. This is the biggest reason that a real estate deal will turn bad. When it comes down to it, this is where mutual negotiations are very important. If you and the seller are willing to work together to find a fair price for both parties, it is safe to say that a transaction will occur sooner rather than later.

2. There is a chance that you may get cold feet as you continue to get deeper and deeper into the deal. While this is something that you should be able to avoid, you never know what is going to creep into your mind. You should make sure that you are 100 percent ready to buy before you start negotiating. This will go a long way in making sure that neither you nor the seller wastes any time. But remember, if you want to walk away you should do so. This is much better than buying a home, and finding out later on that you were pressured into it.

3. If the inspection does not go good you may have to walk away from the home you were going to buy. Some sellers expect you to get so attached during the process that even a bad inspection will not put you off. But you cannot let this happen to you. If you buy a home that failed its inspection you are not doing yourself any favors. And of course, you are going to have a hard time turning this into a money maker.

These are three of the most common reasons for walking away from a real estate transaction. You should not go into negotiations thinking that you are going to walk away, but all in all, you need to be prepared to make that type of move.

If you are a lucky investor you will be able to close every real estate deal that is of interest to you. But guess what? There are only a handful of people who get this lucky. You need to do your best to close out every deal, but at the same time, walking away if things are not working out is not a crime. In fact, you are doing yourself a service if you are not forced into buying a property that you are not 100 percent sure of.

Overall, investing in real estate is not the easiest thing to do. And the same thing holds true for walking away from a potential transaction. But as you can see, this is something that you need to learn how to do over time.

Mutual Negotiating

When buying real estate you need to be aware of what “mutual negotiating” is all about. Have you ever heard this phrase in the past? If so, it may have been at your place of work. After all, the real estate industry is not the only place where mutual negotiating should take place. Anytime there is a sale being negotiated, making sure that both parties are happy is very important.

Mutual negotiating is when both the buyer and seller are happy with the end result. This is the best type of real estate deal because both people will walk away feeling that they have done just about as good as possible. Think about it this way: if you were to rip off the other party and get a great deal, you would probably feel pretty good about yourself, right? If so, nobody could blame you for this. But what if you were on the other side of this deal? What if you were the person who was getting the bad end of things? This would not feel good, and you would walk away wishing that you had never got started. This is why mutual negotiating is so important.

During negotiations you should make it known that you are hoping to do what is best for both parties involved. If the other person knows that you are trying to do this, they will be more so inclined to work with you in a reasonable and professional manner. The main reason that real estate deals go sour is that one party, or maybe even both, are scared that they are going to get the shaft. In turn, this forces them into a defensive position which can then cause many problems. But when mutual negotiating is taking place this is anything but the case.

The key thing to remember is that mutual means beneficial to both in this sense of the word. That means that when you are negotiating you need to not only think about what is best for you, but what the other person is thinking about as well. This can be hard to do, but something that you should try nonetheless.

Finally, with mutual negotiating you have a much better chance of doing business with the same person in the future. This may not sound like a huge deal to you, but you never know when this is going to come about. Even if you think that you are never going to see the buyer or seller again, you never know what can happen. This is especially true if you are an investor who is always making rounds throughout the real estate industry. Remember, investors and developers run into each other time after time. When you begin to make friends, buying or selling in the future will be much easier on you.

This is not to say that mutual negotiating is easy to do. Human nature will tell you that you should try to get the best deal possible; and this is true. But at the same time, your moral obligation is to make sure that you do not take this too far. There is a happy medium for both buyers and sellers, and when this is found, mutual negotiating is what will come forth.

No matter what side of the table you are sitting on during a real estate deal, keep in mind that everybody should go home happy. When this happens, you will feel good about the deal you made, and the other party will feel the same way. Not only will this do a lot for you at the time, but it will also help you negotiate future deals. Even if you never run into the same buyer or seller again, when you practice mutual negotiating you are definitely doing yourself a favor.

Negotiating a Deal

Investing in real estate is not all about buying, and then making money immediately. There are many details between the first step and profits, and you need to be aware of these. One of the most important details is the art of negotiating a good deal. If you overpay for a property you are not doing yourself any favors. All this means is that it is going to take you longer to earn your money back. And who wants to wait longer than they should to see profits?

When negotiating a real estate deal there are several things that you should keep in mind. Here are three of the most important aspects of negotiating with a high level of success.

1. When negotiating a real estate deal you should never insult the seller. Some people think that they know so much that they really insult the seller during the process. If you do this, there is a good chance that the seller will pull the plug, which means that you will miss out on a potentially profitable deal. Even if you are not being treated greatly, during negotiating you should always respect the other party. It will get you what you want in the end.

2. Even though you want to get the best deal for yourself, you need to realize that the seller is trying to do the same thing. Your goal should be to agree on a price that is mutually accepted. If you feel that you are being ripped off you will not want to go through with the transaction. And guess what? This same credo holds true for the seller. This is why you need to negotiate with a win-win situation in mind. When you do this, both parties will be happy with the end result. You will be surprised to find out just how much easier things will be if you work to find a mutually agreed upon price.

3. Never feel that you have to make a deal. Until you sign on the dotted line you are not obligated to do anything. There may be times when you think that you are negotiating a good deal, just to get cold feet at the end of the process. If you run into this situation, take a step back until you get in a better position. You should never purchase real estate unless you are 100 percent sure of what you are doing. If you do, this could end up as a huge mistake that could cost you a lot of money.

There is no way of knowing what you will run into when negotiating a real estate deal. Sometimes the negotiating process will go quick and easy, but other times you will be dealing with a difficult seller who is making your life miserable. You need to be prepared for every situation that you come across. When you are ready for anything, you will find that negotiating turns into one of your strong points. And as a real estate investor this is definitely a good thing.

Finding a Property to Buy

Before you can invest in real estate you need to know what type of properties are available. For many, this means purchasing a single family home that they can in turn rent out. But once again, this is easier said than done. You need to know how to find a property before you can actually purchase one. This may sound easy enough, but if you have ever been part of the real estate game in the past, you know that this is anything but the truth.

Finding a property to buy can be difficult, but at the same time if you are willing to look around you will find something that suits your needs. For many investors, it seems that the best properties always fall onto their lap. But guess what? This is not the case. They have to do a lot of work in order to get put in the right position to succeed.

Once you invest in a few properties there is a very good chance that you will make some friends. If they are also involved in the industry they may be able to act as your eyes and ears. In other words, they will tell you when a great property is heading on the market. This way, you can get your hands on it before anybody else. These connections are a great way to get a jump start on the buying competition

Of course, you can find properties in more traditional ways as well. No matter if you are a full time investor, or dabble in real estate on the weekends, the internet is a great way to find properties. No matter if you are searching in your local area or out of town, the internet will give you guidance.

Do not overlook the newspaper when searching for properties to invest in. Remember, some people do not take the time to use the internet because they have no idea what they are doing. Check the big newspapers in your area as well as smaller community publications. You never know when you are going to find a diamond in the rough. And when you do, this will turn into big profits for you sooner or later.

Finding a property to buy is pretty much the most important aspect of investing in real estate. If you cannot find something that suits your fancy you are never going to be able to invest with success. So before you do anything else become familiar with the ways that you can locate the best properties.

Set Progress Goals

Have you recently purchased a home that you plan to rent out? If so, this is a great investment in your future. There are many people who earn a full time income in this manner. If you want to be one of them, buying an investment home is the first step to getting started. But before you jump ahead of things, you need to set goals that will push you along in the right direction. Even the most experienced real estate investors set progress goals so that they do not get off track during a project. If you think that you can do a good job without having goals in mind, you are sadly mistaken. It takes progress goals to not only get started, but to stay on track until you begin to receive rental checks from tenants.

Here are three things that you should keep in mind when setting progress goals. These tips should make it easy for you to set goals the second that you close on your new property.

1. Progress goals do not have to be as complex as some people make them out to be. In fact, they can be nothing more than a list of things that you want to accomplish in a certain period of time. There is no reason to go over the top when setting these goals. Many real estate investors will tell you that simple and easy to understand goals are much more efficient and helpful than those that are overdone.

2. When you set goals you need to write them down on paper. A lot of investors are so psyched about getting started, and of course making money, that they do not take the time to write down their goals. You may think that you have your goals in mind, but once you begin to work on the home, things are going to change. If your goals are on paper it is very difficult to get around them. But guess what? If they are only in your mind all you have to do is ignore them. Do yourself a favor and write down your goals. From there, post them in an area that you frequent on a regular basis. This will definitely help you to stay on track.

3. If you need help setting goals, by all means go and find it. Like most investors, help is something that you are going to need along the way. There are some people who like working on their own, but even then, getting help is inevitable. Make sure that you have a person to sound off to as well as somebody who can help you to put your goals on paper. If you have somebody who can help you in this capacity, it is safe to say that they will also be able to help you reach your goals. It is always nice to have another person on your side; even if they only assist you from time to time.

Now can you see why setting progress goals is so important? If your goals are on paper, you can do whatever it takes to reach them. Plus, when you have goals there is a much better chance that you are going to realize profits when you would like to. You will be working much harder if you know there is money at the end of the rainbow. For instance, if your goals say that the job will be complete in two months, you can be rest assured that two months from now you will be close to making money. It is this type of motivation that will help you to succeed when investing in real estate.

Overall, to make money with real estate investing you need to set and follow progress goals. There is no way around this if you want to be a success. Start off with a set of basic goals in mind, and then follow through with them as the days go by. Remember, you can change your goals along the way, but always make sure that you are reasonable and do your best to reach them.

What makes a Property worth Buying?

When buying a real estate property you need to know what is important to you. In other words, you need to answer one very important question: what makes a property worth buying? If you can answer this, you will have a very good chance at success in this industry. But remember, this answer is different for every investor. While you may think that one benefit stands out above the crowd, other investors may not feel the same way.

Generally speaking, here are three things that make a property worth buying. These are specific to those investors who are interested in renting single family homes as an additional income. But of course, other types of properties may fit these criteria as well.

1. If you are looking for rental properties, you obviously need to buy the ones that are going to yield the highest profits. When looking for properties you will want to consider the ones that will be most beneficial in the long run.

2. A property that is in a good location is always worth buying; within reason of course. If you think that you have found a good deal, make sure that you check up on the neighborhood before buying. Location is very important in the real estate game, and this holds true even if you are only buying to rent.

3. When looking to buy real estate you should search for properties that are priced below market value. While these may be hard to find, a bit of persistence can go a long way. This is why so many investors keep an eye out for foreclosures.

Most of these properties are priced low, which in turn allows them to get a good value.While there are other reasons to buy a property, these are three of the best. As an investor, you should have a list of reasons for buying real estate. Then when you are shopping around you can keep all of these in mind. As you can imagine, if you find a property that suits all three of the criteria above, it will be well worth buying.

How to Value a Home

What do you look for when searching for a home to invest in? If you are new to this industry you may not have any clue. But when it comes down to it, you need to know how to value a home if you are going to be a success. Luckily, as you become more and more skilled at buying investment properties, you will learn what it means to put an accurate value on a home.
Here are three details that will help you to better value any home that you are interested in buying. When you look for these things you will have a much better chance of getting a home that will allow you to become immediately profitable.

1. The neighborhood that a home is in has a lot to do with its value. While this may not be a big deal to you, it is safe to say that potential tenants are going to consider this; especially if they have children. This is not to say that you should only buy homes in the best areas, but you do need to consider the neighborhood, its reputation, safety, and much more. Do not make the mistake of buying a home in a bad neighborhood just because the price is a bit more manageable. You would be much better off paying more for a home in a better neighborhood. It may stretch you up front, but in the long run you will make much more money.

2. When buying a home to rent out as an investment, you need to consider what potential tenants will be looking for. In other words, what features make the most sense for a home to offer? For many investors this means an above average kitchen, more than one bathroom, and depending on the location, three or more bedrooms. As you can imagine, this is going to change based on the type of property that you are interested in buying. With that in mind, you need to have a checklist of high value features that you are interested in finding when buying an investment property.

3. Compare the price of the home you are looking at to other ones in the area that have recently sold. By doing this you will find out right away if you are getting a good deal, or if there is a lot of room to negotiate. Make sure that you are comparing like homes so that you can get a solid idea of what you are up against. If you are thinking about buying a two bedroom ranch, compare this to other two bedrooms homes in the area. You want to compare apples to apples so that you are armed with the best possible information.

Being able to successfully value a home is something that comes with time. On your first real estate investment you may find that you made a few mistakes along the way as far as valuing with accuracy is concerned. But as you do this more and more, you will have a better idea of what to look for. The three details above will give you a good starting point, but you really need to get the feel for the search and value process through first hand experience.

Overall, when you know how to value a home it will directly translate into success during negotiations. And once you are done with this, you will notice that a proper valuation will help as far as becoming profitable is concerned. Take your time when trying to determine the value of any home that you are interested in buying. This will help you to stay on track, and also give you time to compare every last feature that is important. Remember, you are going to make mistakes, but in the long run you should be able to learn how to properly value a property.

The First Day

So you have invested in a home? You are ready to turn it into a money making machine by renting it out to tenants, right? If this sounds like you, the first day that you have access to your property can be a difficult one. After all, you need to make a decision on what you are going to do first. And this is not always easy to do since every piece of real estate is different.

The first thing that you need to do is decide on what type of home you have on your hands. In other words, are you going to have to make a lot of repairs? Or should you be able to get by with a few minor fix ups here and there? Believe it or not, the condition of your property will sway the direction that you take on the first day that you open the door.

If you are faced with a fixer upper, you will want to draw up a plan for getting the job done as quickly as possible. In fact, this is a great way to spend your first day. Instead of diving right in and hoping that you get everything right, have a plan that will give you direction starting from the first day. This way you do not find yourself completing jobs out of order, and in turn making more work for in the long run.

On the other side of things, if the home you purchased is in good condition, the first day may be chalked full of minor fixes to get it market ready. Once again you should take the time to make a list, but it will not be nearly as long as a “fixer upper” list. Now that you know what you need to do, you can then get started.

Many people like to dive right into things on day one without ever making a plan. Do you know what this leads to? A few days later they have found out that they missed something, and the backtracking begins. All in all, when you rush ahead on day one you may be making more work for yourself in the end. With a good plan in mind, the first day in your investment home should not be full of stress, but instead full of preparing for the work to come.

Never Settle when Negotiating

Negotiating a real estate deal is where you will make or break future profits. The less money that you pay for a home, the more money you are going to make when you begin to rent it out at a later date. But with that being said, negotiating is not quite as easy as it sounds. Sure, you are going to do your best to get a low price, but guess what? The seller is going to be working hard to get the most money possible as well. To get past this, you should strive to strike a deal that suits both you and the seller. When both parties mutually agree upon a deal, it is safe to say that you will get what you want while the seller will as well.

The biggest mistake that you could make when negotiating real estate is to settle on something that you are not comfortable with. In other words, you do not want the seller to pressure you into doing something that does not suit your buying power. Instead, you should have an idea of what you want to do in your mind, and then stick to this no matter what.

So what does it mean to settle when negotiating a real estate deal? Simply put, if you do something that is not what you want, you are settling for the sake of buying the property. This may end up working out for you in the end, but at the same time, it could end up being a mistake that you regret.

Is settling always a bad thing? This all depends on how bad you want to buy the property. Do you think that you can make a good profit even if you do settle and end up paying a higher price? If so, you may simply want to bite the bullet and move forward.
Before you decide to settle and more or less give into the seller, you will want to take one last crack at bringing the price down. Try something to the effect of, “if you take $1,000 more off the price we have a deal.” This will usually show the seller how close you are as well as how serious you are about making a deal. More times than not, if you make an offer like this, you will close the deal.

Do not settle when buying real estate unless you are 100 percent sure of what you are doing. You never want to regret your purchase at a later date.

Why Single Family Homes make Good Investments

Investing in real estate is as popular today as ever before. Even though the market has cooled down a bit on investors, this is no reason to walk away before giving it a try. As you can imagine, there is a lot of money to be had if you can put your skills to good use in the real estate market. But before you can do this, you need to know what type of properties make the best investments. Many people will agree that single family homes are investments that should be taken very seriously. Not only can they help to make you the most return on your investment, but they are the most readily available investments as well.

The number one reason that single family homes make good investments is that you can find them all over the country. There is no searching long and hard to find one of these properties for sale. Of course, you will want to keep an eye out for the best deals. After all, if you can purchase a property at a low price you will have a much better chance of turning it into more immediate profits.

Another reason that single family homes are good investments is that there are many foreclosures which can really do you well in the long run. When you find a foreclosure you will be able to purchase it for well below market value. In turn, as mentioned above, your return on investment will come about sooner rather than later.

Finally, single family homes come at different price points and in a number of different forms. For instance, you can find lower cost homes in lower income neighborhoods. Or you can opt for something that is a bit more expensive in a middle class area. The choice is yours based on your available money, and what you are trying to accomplish with your investment.

Single family homes have always made good investment properties. Taking the time to look into the benefits of these is well worth it. Many real estate empires have been built through buying and renting single family homes. While the competition is more fierce than ever before, the opportunities for success are available.