I have been very lax in posting to my blog and for that I apologize. I have been very busy with business and working on getting new private investors for one of my really cool new programs.
As I mentioned in April, it is becoming more and more obvious that REO’s offer some great opportunities. The banks are seeing a huge increase in inventory and are working hard at trying to cut it back. There are numerous REO auctions taking place around the country and some serious deals are available. Not only that but banks are starting to negotiate more realistically on the REO property that they have listed on the MLS. You need to tune up your offer machine and start submitting offers to the banks and you will be surprised at some of the deals you can get.
By the way if any of my readers are interested in discussing a great passive opportunity for private lenders, drop me an email. We have a really good new program with very low loan to value first mortgages.
This blog has discussed short sales for several months. If you are tired of the hassles provided by overworked loss mitigators you may want to start looking at REO (bank owned) properties as a viable addition to your investing arsenal.
The proliferation of foreclosures is translating into a large increase of REO opportunities. As the level of bank owned inventory continues to increase their willingness to negotiate is beginning to become more evident. In fact, the bank may even finance the property for you.
Countrywide Mortgages Foreclosure Blog indicates that they currently have over 14,000 properties available and they are just one of may lenders. This is a huge pool of potentially well priced property.
Our latest plunge into REO investing has returned a very nice profit and we will continue to look for more inventory. Perhaps you should too.
Real estate investing is one of the most stimulating and dynamic businesses that exist. You have the ability to take nothing and turn it into a hugely successful endeavor. The late night seminar hosts like to tell you that you can do it with no money and no credit.
No credit I can buy but no money? That is somewhat questionable. Successful real estate businesses are built on four basic pillars. The first pillar is the marketing pillar.
No matter how much you know or how personable you may be, unless someone knows you are there to solve their problem you will not have a business. This is the purpose of marketing. To let people know you are here and in business to solve their problems.
Marketing is not always expensive but it is rarely if ever free. If you want to get a quick start in the real estate investing business, I strongly suggest that you bring some money to the party. If you have to save up some cash reserves before you start that is better than trying to get started with no cash or reserves. The latter is a sure formula for failure.
You may have been told that you will see immediate cash flow and that no cash is needed but this is not true. You may be one of the truly fortunate and start making money immediately. If you do get lucky I suggest that you immediately put most of the income back into your business and beef up your marketing.
We will discuss some of the other pillars in the very near future.
Yours In Success,
Dick Weiss
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Bob Dylan was not wrong back in the sixties. Once again the “times are a changin”. If you really want to succeed in the real estate investing business you need to keep your business model flexible and dynamic.
Markets are in a turmoil and turmoil will create opportunity for the observant investor. I am currently seeing a shift in banks positions on their REO property. The banks are getting overloaded with inventory and are beginning to see the light.
The proliferation of short sales has jammed up the short sale process and the time it is taking to successfully consummate a short sale is growing. The amount of time eaten up in communicating with the bank is increasing. All of these factors are making short sales more cumbersome to do yourself.
We have started to outsource our short sale processing with good results. We are able to have many more deals in the pipe line without the breakdown of our system. More importantly it has freed us up to look at other aspects of the market.
We are beginning to look hard at starting to purchase REO properties now that the banks are starting to come to their senses. I am not sure that all areas of the country are seeing the kind of opportunities we are getting in South Florida but I would be very interested to hear from other readers.
In the next few months I will keep you informed how this change in strategy is working.
Richard Geller has hit the nail on the head. I don’t know about you but I have had lenders reject perfectly realistic offers on short sales and REO over the last year. It made no sense.
Richard has written a blog entry that really hits the nail on the head. Check it out at
My previous post dealt with how to use IRA’s to passively invest in real estate. But, why would you want to do that now that the boom is over and the market is in melt down?
Simple, this is the beginning of the best buying opportunity in the last 50 years. In my market, South Florida, I am starting to see movement. There are purchases that are closing but they are very well priced properties not just anything with a sign on it.
Of course, the media have not picked up on this yet. The reason for this is that a market upswing is good news and we all know the good news does not sell papers. They are still pounding on the good old standards, foreclosures growing, gas prices soaring and business in the toilet.
For you savvy investors out there, now is the time to sharpen your pencil and start looking for the deal of a lifetime. I assure you that they are out there and there will be more to follow.
Remember if you have an IRA or 401K that is not self directed, we can show you how you can put those funds to work for you. Perhaps you would even consider partnering with us. We are actively looking for new private investors to participate in our transactions. We have more deals than we can fund. Contact me if you are interested.
Here is an opportunity to create a truly self directed IRA or 401K to take advantage of the current real estate meltdown. Tremendous investment opportunities are available. Watch this video and contact me if you have an interest.
I read an interesting article today on Bloomberg.com. Big investors are finally starting to see the upsides to the mortgage crisis. Vulture funds are beginning to see ways to make huge profits from the current mess. The perspective of this article was unique in that the investors are purchasing delinquent mortgages at big discounts and renegotiating the loans with the delinquent homeowners.
The fact that the large vulture funds are seeing the opportunity in the mortgage crisis means that things will heat up very rapidly. Some groups are still on the sidelines but many are starting to jump in. The next six months are going to be really interesting.
We, as foreclosure investors, have a tremendous opportunity available to us. The window of opportunity will not be long, 12 - 24 months but it is here now. Step out and take advantage of this opportunity. Be creative and get outside of the box and create your own niche withing the market.
Who makes the rules when you are doing a short sale? The lenders make the rules. They write them and they can use them against you. But, do you know the rules?
The first thing you need to realize is that you are dealing with a person who can have between 150 to 200 plus files on his desk. What do you think is going through his mind?
“I am way too busy to deal with you. I don’t care if you are the President of the United States. If I here one more complaint from you, your file is going to the bottom of my pile.”
That’s what is going through his mind. So, how do you deal with these people and get them on your side? That is the missing piece to most short sale puzzles.
Some handy hints:
1. Keep all your conversations short and to the point.
2. Make sure that all your packages are perfectly put together, short and to the point.
3. Speak their language. Know what your are talking about and get to the point.
4. Remember that he who gives up the first number is usually the loser.
5. Have your offers make sense.
If you abide by these five rules you will be able to complete many more successful short sales and also have a better relationship with the loss mitigator.
Talk about an oxymoron. The Feds are proposing a a new rescue plan called “Project Lifeline”. They are planning on letting six of the biggest banks, Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Countrywide Financial Corp., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Washington Mutual Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. — all members of the so-called Hope Now Alliance over see the plan. Talk about letting the fox in the hen house. See this article
This beneficent group are the same people whose greed and over site caused this crisis in the first place. The government is pushing this program to “help” those in default. At the same time the government is encouraging legislation to make it more difficult for the “evil empire of foreclosure investors” to help these same people.
My feeling is that there is soon going to be a witch hunt in this country to uncover the evil investors that actually purchase homes from these stressed out people who have been living on the equity they have stripped from their homes over the last five years. We are the same evil investors that are defrauding the banks by doing short sales and making a profit when we sell the homes.
What has happened to the free markets and the entrepreneurial spirit in our country. If the government comes to the rescue like it did with the RTC then many billions of dollars will be up for grabs, especially by those that have an inside track with our legislators.
Sometimes I get a little wound up about the goings on of our elected officials. Sorry about that but I would love your feed back.
