DEAN GRAZIOSI: DEAN GRAZIOSI REVIEW – REAL ESTATE FEED BY DEAN GRAZIOSI

Many people jump into real estate investments without a real plan in place. Real estate investments, other than your own home, should be made with a goal in mind and a plan in place. You should know exactly how the investment you are looking at making will impact your ultimate goal. If it doesn’t, you should pass it up and look for a better deal.

Many people underestimate the power of planning. Planning ahead and making sure that each deal you make fits into that ultimate plan is what will make you successful as a real estate investor. A lot of people think that the more deals they make the more money they will have, and therefore the more successful they will be. However, success isn’t all about the money, and people who just make one deal after another with no goal in mind could find themselves with tons of properties and debt and no way to unload it all.

The first step in making a plan is to consider your financial limits. You need to have a full understanding of how many deals you can afford to make at one time. You also need to know how you are going to get your money back on the deals you make. Are you going to buy repossessed properties and flip them for a profit? Or are you going to buy up properties and rent them out for a profit? Whichever the case may be, you will want to make sure that your plan allows you to have positive cash flow.

The next step in making a plan is to consider your goals. What are you trying to achieve? Don’t just put dollar signs on your goals. You want to achieve real success, so what does success mean to you? Start small and work your way up. Change your goals as your plan progresses so that you are constantly striving to achieve something. For example, your first goal could be to own the house you live in outright, with no mortgage. Once that goal is accomplished, you might make a new goal to buy a bigger or better house in a nicer location.

Finally, you have to stick to your plan. If you have done it right, your real estate investing plan will be a detailed map of how you are going to achieve your goals. You have to stick to that plan, or whatever looked good on paper will never be a reality. It is important to be flexible as well, however, as some deals may not go as planned. You cannot always control all factors in an investment opportunity. Therefore, some flexibility is required. Keep this in mind when making your plan, especially when considering the financial ramifications of deals gone wrong.

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Suppose that you get behind on your mortgage payments and your lender threatens foreclosure. If you do not have access to enough money to catch up, it is a time of uncertainty, stress and worry. You do not know what will happen at this point. A deal may be in the works for a short sale or repossession. In the meantime, you have to face the practical aspects of your life.

You cannot face the day-to-day effectively if you are stressed and anxious. You need to do things to calm that anxiety. It is natural to let your mortgage crisis take over every moment of your thinking and being. Instead, take back some of your time for family moments, simple activities or meditation. You will be much better equipped to make the decisions you need to make.

It is also difficult to manage your life if you let your health go. It is easy to fall into poor health and fitness habits when you are consumed with thoughts about losing your home. Take the time to plan nutritious meals and eat at home. Exercise by jogging around the park or lifting those weights that are sitting in your closet gathering dust. You will not spend any more money, and you will be stronger and more alert to face whatever you have to do to address your mortgage problems.

Sleep is essential. Making decisions and filling out paperwork on no sleep is a good way to give up any rights or advantages you might have. Do what it takes to sleep regularly and adequately. Many people find that it is helpful to write lists of things they need to do about the impending foreclosure. Some write in journals to express their feelings. These two activities often release tension and allow the people to drift off to sleep much easier.

Be positive. It may sound impossible, but there is rarely if ever a time when being positive will not help you. Certainly look at the process you going through with clear vision. Be aware of the seriousness of the problems you face. However, do not let the negative aspects of the situation overwhelm you. Make a commitment to resolve the matter in the best possible way with the most advantageous outcome possible.

Living a grounded and healthy life will keep you prepared for everything that is happening and yet to come. At the same time, be proactive about the process you are in. Do research to learn more about your situation, and if you do not understand something, find someone trustworthy and knowledgeable to ask. Stand your ground as long as you can, wherever you can. Make the most of a bad situation. If you do, you can recover and eventually bounce back.

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One of the biggest concerns for property owners and real estate investors is how to secure a property that is vacant. There are a great many things that can happen to an unoccupied property. And, if that property is on the market, you want to make sure that none of those things happen in order to keep the property ready for a sale.

The most common things to happen to vacant properties is that people will break in and use the property as a squatter. Even if it is only for one night, these individuals will undoubtedly do damage to the home. There will be damage from the forced entry, as well as liter and possibly other damage in the home.

Another thing that commonly happens today with unoccupied homes on the market is that people will break in and tear into the piping or wiring in order to harvest the copper from them. This has become more common in recent years. It is highly damaging to a home, and could be extremely costly to repair.

Finally, you have the average vandals who cause property damage simply because they think they can do it and get away with it. This could be troubled teens or older drunken groups. Whatever the case, vandalism can also be expensive, and can greatly hurt your chances of selling a home.

So how do you protect the unoccupied home on the market from these disasters? There are several ways you can increase security for unoccupied homes to make sure that these things do not occur.

The first thing that you should do is visit the property routinely. If people see that someone is routinely at the property, they will be less likely to do anything to it or break in. Another thing you can do is get to know the neighbors on either side and across the street from the property. This will allow you to get some more eyes on the property so that if anything does happen police will be notified sooner rather than later, decreasing the amount of potential damage.

Finally, if you are really concerned about security, you can ask the local police to patrol the block your vacant property is on during the night. This will deter people from messing with the property. Alternative, if the police will not oblige, you can hire a private security company to do drive bys occasionally so that people are less likely to break in or vandalize the property.

Overall, there is not too much you can do about securing an unoccupied home on the market without installing a security system. This is of course another option, although a costly one. However, you may get the money back from the investment due to the increase in value of the house with the system installed. 

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For a few years now real estate agents have been feeling the pinch in the housing market. Many have left the field entirely. Those who have stayed have only been able to do so my reevaluating their techniques and passion for real estate.

The drop in home prices has affected real estate agents in probably a more direct way than any other segment of the population. It is not a pleasant fact that this affect has been negative. What does this drop in home prices mean for real estate agents.

First, it means that real estate agents need to work harder. They are going to have to be more aggressive in finding homes to sell and connecting buyers with those homes. It is a tough market but this is an opportunity to take advantage of agents who are leaving the business. By cultivating good relationships with their peers, real estate agents will be in a better position to take over any accounts in the event someone does leave to search for a new career.

Working harder is not going to be enough though. Real estate agents need to learn to work smarter. This will look different for everyone. For some it will mean investing in technology to reduce the time it takes to complete certain tasks. Yes, invest. It might seem counter intuitive to spend more money than is absolutely necessary right now, but one has to spend money to make money. A smart phone can help agents get to where they need to be faster. Even better, an iPad can act as a real estate portfolio for agents to show off to clients as they consider which home to visit next. Real estate is one of the fields best suited to using the newest tech gadgets to improve ROI (return on investment).

With a slower economy, now is an excellent time for real estate agents to consider additional education. There are many, many different areas of real estate that can be explored and the more one knows, the further their career can go. Specializing in foreclosures or short sales is especially germane for 2012 because the number of homes coming back onto the market after a lengthy foreclosure season will jump dramatically as courts clear up back logs of cases.

The economy might also be a chance to branch out of traditional real estate roles. If an agent has extensive experience in a growing, relevant topic, then they might be able to make additional money by teaching classes to younger or less experienced agents. Sharing knowledge is a great way to strengthen one’s knowledge.

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