Real Estate Investing

A few days ago, I promised to tell you how to buy a home to pay for college on behalf of your children and grandchildren.  Before giving you these tips, however, please visit the website for the College Savings Plans Network of the National Association of State Treasurers.  A lifetime ago, I helped to establish this organization as the lead staff member so I’ll always be a proponent of planning ahead for college funding.  The states do offer wonderful savings options where the earnings are exempt from federal taxation. Why is it important?

College is an investment for a lifetime - the gift of a college education can open the door to a world of opportunity for your child or grandchild. Saving, even a little at a time, can make a big difference down the road. With the cost of a college education continuing to increase, the key is to start saving early and regularly.

In addition to the prepaid tuition and college savings programs, investing in real estate is another way to save ahead for a higher education on behalf of your children or grandchildren.  Here are 10 tips for creating a savings option for future education.

1. Buy residential properties - houses and condos. Stay away from land and commercial real estate unless you are an experienced investor or are buying as a business “user.”
2. Buy “mainstream” houses and condos. Buyer properties that are at or below the average sales price. Buy properties that appeal to most buyers. Avoid high priced or unusual properties. Buy houses with at least three bedrooms and condos with at least two. If possible, buy properties with a garage.
3. Don’t buy with partners, unless you have to. If you have to have partners, make sure they have the same goals and values, are of similar age, and have job, geographic, and marriage stability.
4. Believe in the long run.  Real estate markets are cyclical but the long term trend has been up. Hang in there for the long run. The great investor’s lament is “I should never have sold that property.” The other investor’s lament is, “I could have bought that property for $xxx!”
5. Take care of your property and it will take care of you.  It’s your “golden goose.”  If you don’t like property management or are too busy, either hire a professional property management firm or buy condos or townhouses. They take a lot less management. The homeowner’s association takes care of most of the property maintenance.
6. Get started early.  Put time on your side. Albert Einstein was once asked what he thought was the most powerful thing in the world.  His reply, “compound interest.”  Don’t wait to buy real estate.  Buy real estate and wait!
7. If you don’t have the money, make a plan and commitment to get it.  Consider borrowing your investment money out of the equity in your personal residence.
8. Know your “enough.”  How much investment money do you need?  Know when you are ready to stop accumulating property and start paying off what you have - and enjoying life!
9. Work with knowledgeable people. Pick Realtors, accountants, attorneys, and property managers who know what they are doing.
10. Have a goal and a plan. Contact your agent and begin to develop a customized plan to start creating investment wealth.

Even if your child or grandchild does not go to college, you have still created investment wealth for your retirement.

Source: Butch Roth, friend and fellow-Realtor.Prendere le storie di mano quando i giocatori di party casino online non mostrano il loro al fiume - il Grande trucco di party poker che sono sicuro che molte persone hanno scoperto.

Craigslist, a legitimate online classifieds site, can be a great place to find landlords, tenants, pre-foreclosure deals, investment property, roommates, vacation rentals or simply a really great home. This blog has recommended the site many a time. However, there are vultures lurking, ready to pounce on the innocent and trusting, and vigilance is required.

In 2005, Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster told MSNBC that fraudulent postings made up only one-tenth of one percent of the site’s overall listings. The site has a very well-established method for users to “flag” posts for removal if they are posted in the wrong area or posted too often, etc. (signs of fraudulent activity). Furthermore, Buckmaster said the company was considering charging landlords to post property rental ads on the New York message boards, in the hopes of discouraging fraudulent real estate postings in the area where such activity apparently posed the biggest problem in 2005.

Not sure if they actually implemented such a policy, but it sounds like a reasonable one to implement nationwide because three years later, the problem persists. KGET 17, a Bakersfield, California news station, reported yesterday that a local woman was prey for an online real estate scam artist. As it turns out, the property photos and description that were so appealing to Tiffany Llamas were actually ripped verbatim from a listing handled by a legitimate realtor — the same one who happened to be working to help find Llamas a home. According to the KGET web site:

“The return email read: ‘I and my wife came over to the U.K. for missionary work, so I hope you will promise us that you will take care of our house.’ Llamas said, ‘That’s great but I still want to see the house first, and when he told me send $2,400 via Western Union and then he would, you know, send the keys to me.’”

Llamas didn’t fall for it, but such predators persist on a variety of Internet networking sites hoping that someone will fall for it. Apparently, tenants aren’t the only ones being preyed upon either. This is undoubtedly occurring in the property resale market as well. The Real Real Estate in Connecticut blog points out what can happen to landlords and (in the comments section) what can happen to those seeking roommates on Craigslist.

The blog points out some red flags to beware of with Internet dealings. It may sound biased, but the following qualities are true in the vast majority of cases:
-Poor English, i.e. broken sentences, misspellings and bad grammar.
-Asking questions about details you already gave in the advertisement.
-No direct contact information.
-The writer is overseas. Many of the scams are from people claiming to be in other countries.
-Very often, these people represent themselves as high-income individuals, like doctors, lawyers or professors.

Again, Craigslist itself is not bad, but the way it works has the potential to introduce a lot of people to a lot of scam artists. Never, ever give anybody cash, check, bank account information, etc. without having first met with them and thoroughly checking out the situation. Follow your gut instinct, and above all else, the old rule applies — if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

“And the rich keep getting richer,” so the old saying goes. It seems now is one of those times when the saying is true. About 77% of the wealthiest people in America think the current state of the real estate market presents a “real opportunity,” and 40% plan to capitalize by purchasing real estate within the year. The group surveyed in American Express Publishing Corp.’s Annual Survey of Affluence in America is defined as households with discretionary income in excess of $500,000 per year.

Other groups included in the survey ranged from “upper middle class,” with incomes between $100,000 and $149,000, and “super affluent,” with incomes between $250,000 and $499,000. The vast majority of all income brackets agreed that now is the time to seize the day in the real estate world. Still, only 17% to 26% were committed to buying real estate within the year in those income brackets, nowhere close to the 40% in the wealthiest category.

This should come as good news to the 14% of homeowners who expressed concern they might miss payments in the next six months, according to the AP-AOL poll released Monday. As for average citizens, 60% stated they would definitely not buy a home in the next two years and only 11% expressed certainty that they would do so. Maybe we average citizens could delve into the real estate market if we go rob a bank play the stock market buy lottery tickets.