By D.C. Fawcett, Business Building Coach to the Foreclosure Industry

It’s no secret that the business of real estate is a proven winner and especially so in today’s economy. Where do most investors start when they seek opportunities in buying foreclosures? They might start working with a realtor to find bank owned foreclosures. This side of the business is highly lucrative in today’s market.

Another option that is also very relevant to investors is the short sale, where investors negotiate discounts on properties before they are foreclosed. This can also be highly lucrative and the key to success here is to educate yourself properly. Free foreclosure investing courses are out there, even in your area or certainly online, and everyone has to start somewhere. Every investor needs training and free foreclosure investing courses can be great tools in learning how to successfully complete short sales.

I think buying foreclosures can be risky for the investor because, without some sort of education (including free foreclosure investing courses), you run the risk of not really knowing what you are doing. Profits can be lost and so too can opportunities from buying foreclosures when you fail to pursue the free foreclosure investing courses that exist. Start today by doing an Internet search to see what free foreclosure investing courses are out there. What do you have to lose?

In today’s market, there are indeed unlimited deals to be found within the realm of buying foreclosures. Whether you’re just curious how to make a little extra money with buying foreclosures or really want to pursue a serious business, you owe it to yourself to seize the current opportunity and pursue it. Free foreclosure investing courses are there for you and can help make this happen!

While more comprehensive training programs are recommended, take advantage of the free foreclosure investing courses that are out there because the deals are also out there waiting. I highly recommend that you commit yourself to your own real estate education. In this vein, a free foreclosure investing course is a great place to start, requiring no out of pocket expense and allowing your pursuit of buying foreclosures to be more productive and more rewarding. I wish you the very best in success in all of your investing pursuits and in business as a whole.

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Flipping real estate properties is not for everybody but it is the fastest way to make a buck in the real estate business.

Most everybody has heard of someone buying a “run down” house for a good price well below market value, fixing it up and selling it at a fair market price. Flipping a “fixer-upper” is definitely one way to turn a reasonably quick profit. I know some people who do it this way but they are more into the contractor and renovation business than they are of the investor mindset.

Some of these “fixer-upper” properties are in need of extensive repair and will involve electrical work, carpentry work, etc. If the investor gets involved and does some or all of this work then there could be enough profit there but if the investor farms out the required labour, profits could get eaten up quickly. For these types of flipping real estate investments, the purchase price needs to be at a huge discount and normally would be found somewhere in the foreclosure stage.

For the person that is in the mindset of investing rather than being in the renovation business then flipping real estate will only involve flipping the paper contract of the property without even taking possession of it. You can flip by entering an agreement to buy a property then sell the contract to another investor before close of escrow.

Using this technique won’t even require you to put your name on the title. Profits will generally be less than the fixer-upper investor but involves much less work and the whole process is much quicker. A fixer-upper investor would not be happy in making a profit of a few thousand dollars for a few months work on renovations but an investor that can just flip a contract for a few hours or days work would be.

Avoid disclosure of your profits to the new buyer by using a double closing.

After making a sweet deal and flipping a contract involving a juicy profit you may not want all these details to be revealed to your buyer. The solution is a double closing, transferring the property to you initially and then reselling immediately at the same lawyer’s office just an hour later to your buyer.

There is a drawback here and that is a double set of closing costs so you would have to weigh it out to see if it’s worth it to your particular situation or not. Further, you can use a title insurance company for the actual closings. For the issuance of the title insurance policy, the title insurance company will prepare the closing documents and close the transaction usually without an addition charge.

john ferreira
http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/flipping-real-estate-or-flipping-paper-133606.html

Located on the coast of the Mediterranean South of Spain, lies the region of the Costa del Sol; whose name roughly translates into the English “Coast of the Sun”. Comprising of literally hundreds of towns and villages, the Costa del Sol is a very popular tourist destination and the number of Britons investing in property in this Spanish region has been steadily increasing each year.

That was until the global economy fell and just about everything from the monthly gas bill to stocks and shares has been badly affected since. Of course there are those with an income so high as to not feel the effects but it’s wise for consumers to button their wallets and save, save, save in the upcoming months. What this now means for the Costa del Sol is that Western property owners are stuck with the dilemma of whether they can afford to keep their holiday home on the southern coast of Spain, or whether they should sell it on and save the money for a potential economic crash.

Instead of being stuck in the middle of a very hard decision, many Spanish property owners located in the Costa del Sol have actually chosen to rent out their property, rather than selling it on or keeping it empty during the year for use in the summer. While it might mean a lot of paperwork, it actually brings in steady money to keep the family afloat in times of possible crisis. After all, if there’s a beautiful Spanish property laying empty in the centre of affluent tourist area Costa del Sol then why not take advantage of the market and rent it out?

Luckily for owners who are choosing to rent out a room or the whole property, the tourism industry remains largely unaffected by the ever menacing credit crunch. Experts claim that due to the colourful ideas that travel entrepreneurs come up with, and the growing need for people to ‘get away’ from their financial stresses, the number of people taking holidays won’t be too badly affected.

What it also means is that rather than blowing a fortune on a cruise to Barbados, many families, couples or groups of friends might settle for a fortnight in the Costa del Sol instead. It is an area not too expensive to vacation in, yet one that is just as idyllic. Take Nerja for example; this autonomous coastal town oozes Mediterranean luxury and Spanish culture. Couple that with its ideal location not far from the large city of Malaga and at the other side the Sierra Nevada mountains where tourists love to ski.

Perhaps what isn’t quite clear in the process of renting out holiday properties rather than selling them on is what the future intentions of the property owners are. The majority are looking for some financial security in steady income for the short term, and in the long term are simply hoping that the global property market will pick up. Rather than sell their favorite and most expensive asset, they’re looking to hold onto it either until they are financially comfortable and can retire to the Costa del Sol, or so that they can sell it on for a much higher price. Makes sense, right?

At the moment the market for vacation or holiday property anywhere in the world is very illiquid. That is to say, the market’s assets (the properties) cannot be sold at a price equal to the one they were bought for. This is a great problem for the property owner as the whole idea in getting onto the property market is to make a return on the initial investment (otherwise known as ROI). If this isn’t done, then a great loss has been made. Now that the economy is in such trouble due to the Credit Crunch, the property market is nose diving and owners are biding their time until the average sale price rises once again.

So what should you do if you’re a Spanish property owner, particularly in the Costa del Sol? The answer is, sit on your investment and get all you can from it; whether that’s enjoying it yourself or by renting it out to other keen travelers to gain some extra income. Every penny counts at the moment!

Lucy Wallace
http://www.articlesbase.com/real-estate-articles/costa-del-sol-holiday-rentals-why-owners-have-turned-to-renting-their-properties-671921.html

In part one of “Abandoned Properties, One of the Best Kept Money-Making Secrets”, we explored the great profit potential in this unique real estate investing niche. Although some of these properties might be the result of a foreclosure or other distressing event, remember that we’re helping the owner with his/her “house headache” when we invest in an abandoned property.

How Do We Find Abandoned Properties?

Here is one of the easiest ways to find abandoned properties. The first thing to understand is that the more affluent the area is, the fewer the abandons you will find. The less affluent the area, usually the more abandons you will find. I encourage you to find an area somewhere in between the two extremes.

If you keep your eyes open, you will find properties that might have the windows broken out, they might be boarded up, you might see the grass and shrubs overgrown, you might see trash, handbills, newspapers and other signs that this property might be a good candidate for a profitable abandoned property.

Keep a pen and a pad of paper with you at all times. I teach my students to take different routes to and from their normal destinations and write down the addresses of any properties that might be abandon property prospects. This might require that you leave home a little earlier than usual, but it is certainly worth it if it brings you just one abandoned property deal.

Using A Little Known Government Program With An Abandoned Property

Several years ago, I was taking my aunt to an appointment with a dialysis center when I came across an abandoned four unit building. This property showed all the classic signs of abandonment: boarded up windows, tall grass, trash and such. I wrote the address down and called my title company as soon as I got a chance. I gave them the address, and they gave me the owner of the property and the mailing address. I wrote an offer and bought the property for $82,000. We fixed the property up using a little known government program called the Rental Rehab Program to maximize our profits.

This program provided a 3 to 5% loan when the prevailing interest rates were 12% The program also allowed any qualifying tenants to drastically reduce the amount of their out of pocket monthly rent by going on the Section 8 Government Subsidy Program after the rehab was complete. The average wait for the Section 8 Program at the time was 6 to 8 years. This was truly a win-win deal for everyone involved. We kept the property for a number of years, putting a positive cash flow in our pockets every month. We eventually sold the property and made a lot of money.

The Best Financing In the World

With the property needing as much work as it did, it would have been almost impossible to get a conventional bank loan to finance it and, at the time I was in no position to pay all cash. So, what is the solution? As I mentioned before, seller financing is the best financing in the world. The seller of the property financed the entire deal for us.

Here is the point: Abandoned properties are one of the best kept money-making secrets in our industry. They are very good candidates for many of the government loans and grants that can super charge your profits. Tap into this area of real estate and watch your profits soar.

Reggie Brooks
http://www.articlesbase.com/real-estate-articles/abandoned-properties-one-of-the-best-kept-moneymaking-secrets-part-2-741187.html

If you are interested in investing in foreclosures you can make a lot of money.

This is one sector of the real estate industry that can be quite profitable if you know what you are doing.

But before you can start to invest in foreclosures you need to know where to find them.

Even though this may sound easy, in some cases you may run into problems. After all, finding foreclosures is not quite as easy as finding homes that are for sale by a real estate agent.

But with that being said there are many places that you can search in order to find foreclosures in your area.

The most common place to check for foreclosures is in the newspaper. Even though you will not find a large selection of foreclosures in the newspaper, you can find a few good properties every so often.

If you are going to search for foreclosures be sure to combine it with another method as well. This way you will be ensured of finding what you want.

Another common way to find foreclosures is to sign up for an online service. For a small fee an online service will allow you to search their database of foreclosures 24 hours a day.

The great thing about foreclosure databases like these is that you can find properties from one side of the country to the next. Just make sure that if you are searching for foreclosures through a service that you are getting what you expect.

There are services out there that do not update their listings regularly. If you are a member you are getting nothing more than old properties that have probably already been sold.

Finally, if you want the best foreclosure listings you should go to your county recorder’s office. Here, you will find information on foreclosures that is updated everyday.

If you are serious about foreclosure investing you will want to make it a habit to head to the county recorder’s office on a regular basis. This way you will find out about foreclosures before the rest of the world. And of course by doing this you give yourself the best chance to make money.

Finding foreclosures is not difficult to do. If you keep an open mind and search all of the options you should not run into any problems. Remember, the more foreclosures that you find, the better chance you have of getting one that best suits your needs. And buying the foreclosures that are best for you is one sure fire way to make more money.

Gerald Mason
http://www.articlesbase.com/real-estate-articles/finding-real-estate-foreclosures-81702.html

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Without them, our endeavors would all be in vain as we sit idly by and watch our interests stagnate.

In the world of real estate investing, goals are extremely important. Every investment opportunity requires several goals pertaining to scheduling, budgeting, construction, and marketing. If you are to make money in real estate, you have to stick to your plan and achieve the goals that you have made for your project. If you fail to do so, you could sacrifice a great deal of your profit or ultimately see your investment fail.

The first step to setting goals in real estate investing is that they have to be realistic. Don’t try to cram 8 weeks of construction into 4. If you really want to complete construction in 4 weeks instead of 8, trim away excess and unnecessary renovation projects rather than try to work quickly or around the clock. Setting unrealistic goals only sets you up for failure, and a sense of failure can ruin the entire outlook and motivation for a project.

Goals of the financial variety are also extremely important in real estate investing. In any sort of money-making venture, you need to know how much money you are going to invest and how much money you would like to make in the bargain. But more important than these short-term financial goals are the long-term goals.

These goals center on how much money you want to invest over a long period of time with what results. For example: You may have made your first investment with a small sum of money, and part of this money may have been financed through an equity loan, personal loan, by other means, or through a combination of sources. If you continue using these same sources of funding without upping the ante any, you will not move forward in your investing business. This is where long-term goals come in.

Long-term financial goals do not focus on your immediate real estate investing project. They instead look to the future. A great example of this type of goal would be having your loans paid off and be investing purely with profit after your third investment. Another example would be to be able to purchase more expensive properties or multiple properties instead of focusing on just one low-budget project at a time.

When setting your goals, keep in mind that no two investors will have the same goals. While you can draw inspiration from your peers, don’t try to absorb their business strategies as your own. Instead, look to your own future and set goals that will lead your real estate investing ventures in the direction that you wish them to go.

James Klobasa
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/your-guide-to-setting-real-estate-investing-goals-99266.html