Commercial Real Estate Investment Articles

I don’t know how popular this idea is or if it has been discussed before–or if it would even work in other areas of the country. However, I do have an idea for making money in rural areas.

I see this question asked a lot on the Main Real Estate Forum. Here are some of my ideas on how to locate the owner of an abandoned property.

I do rehabs in Baltimore and have done about seventy in the last six years. I read Jonathan Mednick’s Rehabbing Houses Top Ten Tips, and thought I’d chime in with my perspective. It was generous of him to take the time to share his views.

So you wanna be a rehabber? Before I give you my Top 10 List, I want you to know that I have been an active real estate investor for only two years. I started by visiting Creative Real Estate Online. It has been crucial to my success.

33 Ways to Find Motivated Sellers

If you are new to real estate investing and considering buying foreclosure properties, you need to be realistic about what you are facing. If you feel more sober about foreclosure investing after reading what I have written below, I will have accomplished my goal.

Looking for private investors? It is not easy, but it is completely possible. Private money is an amazing thing, and it will make real estate investing so much easier once you find it. If you find a deal–I mean a real money maker, the money will always be there.

Okay, here it is. Now get ready to laugh your butt off. I’m a foreclosures expert, right? So I’m asked to speak to a group of recent seminar graduates who, after finishing the program, really don’t know all that much. The chairperson of the group asked me afterward if I would be interested in going in with her on two real estate investments that she had found. I would put up the money, and she would do the rehab work.

In Part 1 we talked about some of the things that make manufactured home communities ideal investments and the different types of communities we’re liable to run into. In Part 2, we discussed how community values are determined using the income valuation approach, how the NOI, (Net Operating Income) is arrived at, and the basic premise behind the Cap (capitalization) Rates.

My partner, Rick Vesole, and I do a lot of lease option type transactions. I recommend that you always record every such real estate transaction you enter into on tape. Real estate is generally thought of as the most expensive thing people will buy in their lifetimes. As such, people tend to get skittish afterward. It can save you thousands of dollars if you have “proof” of your intentions and theirs.

I own an active business, plus I own rental properties. We have over 300 bills to pay each month between the two. While I was employed, my wife stayed home and took over the bill paying. She didn’t keep on top of it, and it got totally out of control

Here are four rules that have been very helpful to me in both my business and personal life. They were told to me by a long-time real estate broker and investor in California years ago.

After being in the single-family house business for the last 28 years, I was looking for a way to make my operation more efficient. And along came the Internet. WOW, what an improvement to my business! Here is what we did.

Five years after buying and giving back about fifty units–and newly penniless, I discovered this thing called creative real estate. Control without ownership, solving people problems, use your brain to buy property–not your cash.

Here’s a crash course in commercial real estate terms.

These are classic, overgrown grass, and broken window situations. I am now on my third deal in three years buying a “mom and pop” roadside motel (less than 15 units each) in a rural area for less than 50% of market value. In every case, I bought these deals for no money down with cash in pocket at closing.

In real estate investing, as in many aspects of life in general, we are salespeople. Learning sales techniques can increase our ability to produce a better income for ourselves by allowing us to make better deals, whether buying or selling.

Here is a great tool that works for buying and selling, but we’ll concentrate on just the buying side.

At the recent Creative Real Estate Online Convention, I visited with several new found friends who wanted to learn how to figure out what a particular manufactured home land lease community was worth. After repeating our story and the basics of the business several times, I thought I’d reproduce some of those cocktail napkins for the benefit of those of you that may have liked to see them.

You’ll always make money when you are buying a property cheap, cheap, cheap. Depending on the economy, it may not be as easy as it sounds, especially in the beginning.

In part 1 we talked about some if the things that make manufactured home communities ideal investments and the different types of communities we’re liable to run into. Now let’s look at placing a value on them.

As far as advertising and promotion goes, I have my own radio talk show called “RENT TO OWN.” In fact, it is also a small radio network. At various times I can be heard in six metropolitan areas in Florida, broadcasting on four radio stations.

Reading recent articles about lease options reminded me of not only the lease option buying that I have done over the years, but also of the tremendous advantages of selling on a lease option. My income increased dramatically when I discovered the benefits of selling on a lease option.

I’m very new at this game so I’m not sure if anyone has done this. I just bought my first property (big ol’ home) that needed quite a bit of cosmetic work: paint inside and out, new carpet, new tile, landscaping–you get the idea.

Fire-damaged homes offer great profit potential but also pose special concerns and hidden risks for investors. I would not recommend a fire project for the first time investor, but I would suggest that experienced investors and renovators should not overlook an opportunity that has few competitors.