Archive for May, 2010
One of the most common finance goals out there is to get out of debt. The truth is that if you’re in debt, you will need to take many steps in order to truly get out of debt and take control of your finances for good. The truth is that it’s easier to do than you think, but you will have to make sure that you’re ready for the commitment.
The best thing you can do is to make sure that actually know what’s part of your financial history before you can really build a plan to pay off your debt. Often, we think that our credit history is fine when there could be errors lurking that are actually costing us a lot of money over the long run.
Indeed, if you’re serious about getting ahead financially, then you really will want to get the most accurate record of your financial history. The best way to do that is to get a free credit report online. The rise of the Internet has given way to more options than ever before to get your free credit report, along with features that are designed to really make sure that you can stay on top of your financial history.
For example, if you pull your free credit report online and find errors, you can actually take steps to get those errors removed which will actually raise your credit score.
It’s a fact that the higher your credit score, the higher your chances are of getting the best interest rates on credit-based products. If you’re looking to buy a new car or even buy a new house in the future, you will definitely want to start now by taking control of your finances for the long term.
Overall, getting a free credit report isn’t difficult at all, but you will need to start today to get the benefits that are just waiting for you!
You now have a wealth of data about local foreclosures and about yourself which you accumulated using the tips just given. You’re ready to mine the golden lode of the world of foreclosures. Your success formula should give these key numbers for every property you’ll consider:
1. Pick a price level beyond which you will not go. You must control your investments so you have a secure future. You’ll often hear stories of how people broke the rules and made millions. But, you must follow the rules until you’ve built a strong feel for properties you can easily sell quickly or rent at high levels in just days. The best guarantee of success for you is to plan and carefully follow what has worked for thousands of others buying foreclosures in their spare time.
2. You must get an income from your foreclosure properties. If you don’t, there’s no point in buying them. Your income can be either in the form of rent from units you lease to tenants or in the form of profit you derive from the sale of units you take over in foreclosure actions. Either way, you must come away from each deal with profit that you can spend for yourself and loved ones, invest in other properties, or save for the future. Remember that real estate is a business and as such, it must give you an income. If it doesn’t, get into another business!
3. Every property you deal with that’s in foreclosure will have expenses associated with it. It’s rare that any property will have all possible expenses. But most will have some so you must be ready to pay them. And the way you get ready for those expenses is:
a) Know how much you can afford to spend on your investments and,
b) Analyze (in advance) your probable expenses. While this may seem like work, it really is fun, especially when you go to the bank to deposit your income or profits checks!
3. You must have a positive cash flow from every rental property you own, no matter how you bought it. People sometimes think that if they get a property for a low price, it doesn’t need a positive cash flow to make money for them. Not so! You must have a positive cash flow for every property – even if it costs you only $25 to take over. Why? Because a negative cash flow property can drain your resources, leading to financial ruin. So avoid such properties like the plague. It’s better to take longer to find the right positive cash flow property than to jump into an investment that gives you nothing but grief.
1. Find out who offers foreclosure properties in your investment area. Contact each of the following: (a) Banks offering real estate loans. They will usually have foreclosures they want to put in the hands of ambitious people such as yourself; (b) Your County Clerk’s office where they usually have foreclosure properties listed for sale, and; (c) Federal Government offices (IRS, FHA, VA) that have foreclosure properties you can acquire at low cost.
Get all the free information from these organizations that you can. They’ll be glad to put you on their mailing list, plus they’ll supply you with a packet of their current data. Study what you receive – it could give you a quick “college education” in the foreclosure situation in your investment area.
Since there is a wide range of quality of foreclosure properties, you must develop a sense for the good vs. the bad. Do this by visiting a number of foreclosure properties offered to you. Make notes about each. Be completely frank with your notes because they’re for only your eyes – no one else’s. If a property is in awful condition, make a note of that. If a property is in superb condition, note that also. You’ll soon know the good from the bad!
2. Work with foreclosure sellers who will pay all closing costs for you while providing the needed legal counsel free. Banks often offer to pay all your closing costs while having their attorney act as your counsel. You can trust such an offer because the bank does not want the property back. Instead, the bank wants to see you successfully operating the property and making your mortgage payment on time, once a month. If you’re nervous about the bank’s attorney representing you, hire your own attorney to check the work done by the bank’s counsel.
In general, your attorney will approve the bank attorney’s work. And the fee your attorney charges you will also be small – say $100 to $300 – because no new original work is being done. Taking over foreclosures from banks can get you started in real estate on almost zero cash.
3. Learn bidding techniques before you make an actual bid for a property. You will have to bid on foreclosures offered at County Clerk sales and Federal Government (IRS, FHA, VA, etc.) sales because their rules require public open bidding. In making a bid you will usually be competing against others who also want to buy the foreclosed property that appeals to you. Since open bidding is based on raising the price of the offered item to the highest level possible, you must be careful not to over-bid by getting caught up in the give and take of the process.
4. Flip your foreclosure properties to make fast money without owning the property too long. You can of course hold onto foreclosures and rent them out. But many times you’re better off flipping foreclosures – that is, selling them for the highest price you can get, shortly after you buy the foreclosure. Why is this? Because many foreclosures will require repairs and cosmetic work before they are suitable as rentals.
Buying a house is one of the most precious lifetime goals and requires a large sum of money. That is why real estate has always been a serious business especially now that the values of real estate properties rarely depreciate. In turn, most real estate buyers are now more prepared mentally and financially.
For this reason, most realtors know that they have to do their best to attract more clients and to keep up with the growing competition in the market.
In one aspect, realtors value their leads the most. They know that real estate leads are the primary source to their success. They know that without leads, there would be no deals. And without deals, there will be no sales. That is why they try to find ways on how to generate more leads and boost their sales.
Consequently, with the advent of information technology, the Internet has always been the primary source of effective marketing tools and strategies. This is because the Internet has a wider reach that can generate millions of people in just one sitting.
Hence, experts contend that realtors must conform to the growing trend of marketing today, wherein most salespeople generate their leads using the Internet.
And how is that? They build their own web sites.
Alternatively, in a recent study, the demographic profile of the Internet users showed that 50% of it have college degrees, the typical earnings of Internet users is $52,500 and almost 42% earn beyond that, and the total frequency percentage rate of Internet users on a daily basis is almost 88%.
This goes to show that more and more people are using and accessing the Internet. And with the average income of most Internet users, the National Association of Realtors contends that 96% of the Americans who would buy houses will access the Internet to find their dream houses.
These facts, in turn, require a realtor to create his or her own web site to gain the profit they wish to obtain. Most realtors just do not understand the potential of the Internet in generating the sales that they need. They do not realize that the generation of leads through the Internet can significantly increase your sales.
However, creating your own web site is a lot of work. There are a lot of various expertise and flairs that need to be mastered especially if you do not have a basic knowledge on web designing and developing. It entails the use of graphic designs, programs, search engine optimization tools, different software, etc.
On its total concept, it is really hard to incorporate all of these things on an instant. Actually, it is not a requirement that you have to create superfluous designs and features on your web site, but keep in mind that the Internet market has more fierce competition when compared to the outside world.
Hence, it is relatively important that you pay attention to your web site and come up with something that will generate leads for your business. The trend of the market today is based on the fact that the more proficiency and skill you can incorporate on your web site, in any aspect, the tougher your competitive spot in the market.
Therefore, the important aspect that you should focus more when creating a web site is on how you can generate your leads, work on it and turn it into prospects, and convert prospects into deals. That is basically how you can generate your income.
Here is a list of some of the benefits you can derive from creating your own web site:
1. You get to connect with other web sites that have greater flow of traffic where they generate almost 60,000 of visitors a day.
2. You get to create your own listings, which can significantly add usefulness to your website.
3. You can use email marketing to get hold of individuals in the target market, who are more than willing to gain updated information on real estate listings.
4. You can participate on virtual tours such as Yahoo virtual tours and on other web sites and provide links that can generate traffic to your web site and generate your leads.
5. You get to advertise your properties without the expenses that the typical advertising can give.
Indeed, creating one’s own web site should be the primary marketing tool of every realtor. Realtors should grasp the growing potential of the Internet in increasing their sales. The drift of the market today is based on the fact that the money is in the Web.
If you’re a real estate agent, you must have said this more than once: “There has got to be a better way for finding leads”.
And you are not alone. Every single agent’s mind has crossed this idea for the simple reason that looking for leads is about the most tedious task there is in the real estate business. Unfortunately, it is also the first step in getting any business. Without leads, you would have no business at all.
You probably have had more than your fair share of frustration in building your network and exhaustion in creating as much connections to as many people as you can. You also probably worry over avoiding the $11,000 penalty that comes with the “Do-Not-Call” Rule. With this new rule alone, you’re probably asking yourself, how can you possibly find leads then, let alone viable ones?
Fortunately, there are solutions that address these concerns. They help you build an extensive network, maintain your contacts and save you from the DNC rule while getting you reliable leads that are a stone’s throw away from a closed deal.
This is called response marketing, which is getting buyers/sellers to respond to an ad you placed and having them initiate contact with you.
The fact that these buyers/sellers are responding to your ad puts them in a mindset ready to do business. This is a huge difference from cold calls where it’s usually a hit-or-miss when it comes to whether they want to do any business at all.
Another plus is that since these leads made the first contact, you are free to call them without having to worry about the DNC rule.
How Does It Work?
You start off by placing an ad that’s designed to make prospects want to respond to it. (More on this later.) You then provide a means for these prospects to contact you, usually in the form of toll-free numbers.
“Wait a minute,” you may ask. Will I be the one to answer each and every call that’s made? Wouldn’t I have to hire a whole lot of representatives to answer these calls for me?
The answer: Yes and No. The person who will answer the phone every time an ad respondent calls will be you – in the form of a recorded message. It is personal in that it is your voice the respondent hears. But it is detached enough to make it comfortable for the prospect since he/she does not have to worry answering probing questions during the first contact.
The respondent has the general options to leave you a voice message or even calling you directly through a call transfer feature. Should they want more to know more before they call you, they have immediate access to information you want to share through a fax-back option. This feature is particularly useful in sharing documents like company/personal profiles, floor plans, brochures, maps and even helpful tips in doing business in real estate.
By allowing your prospects access to such information at this level of ease makes them more inclined to do business with you. Experts and consultants in the industry have noted that nearly 75% of prospects end up transacting business with the agent they made first contact with. For an agent, that means doing what you can to make sure you’re the first person a prospect would call.
Every time a prospect calls your hotline number, you are notified right away of the call through your fax, email, cell phone and/or PDA. This immediate notification is essential since as mentioned before, leads will most likely transact with the first agent they come in contact with. The sooner you make your own response to theirs, the sooner you establish rapport, the more likely you will be able to close a deal.
And Now, Some Words About Your Ads
The ads you place must be designed to compel a reader to call you first. You do this by offering something a prospect wants to have. The nature of being a prospect shows that they are interested to know more about the real estate business. So why not offer information you feel they need to know?
Also, make it clear how you can help your prospect. They’re more interested in that than reading about how you are one of the top sellers in your district. Showing that you can and want to help makes you more inclined to be called.
Same Business, Some New Tools
The things mentioned above do not in any way replace the trusted methods of establishing rapport, conscientious follow-up and genuine character building. In the bigger picture, this accounts for the closing more than any other fancy tool.
Finding leads through these means simply save you the time and the effort in mining for new leads and allows you to devote your energies to more enriching tasks both for yourself and your prospects.