Articles
Ready to get your read on? Dive into the article archive to help you build wealth through real estate investing. We feature top subject matter experts exploring every facet of the industry.
Articles
Ready to get your read on? Dive into the article archive to help you build wealth through real estate investing. We feature top subject matter experts exploring every facet of the industry.
I Want to Invest in Real Estate, But Now What?
“OK, I know I want to invest in real estate—but now what?” That’s a question that every real estate investor—whether full-time, part-time or just thinking about it—has asked himself or herself at some point. And that leads to a whole bunch of other questions, including: What do you do? Where ...
Nationwide Foreclosure Activity Drops to Lowest Level in More Than Nine Years
RealtyTrac’s just-released Q1 and March 2016 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™ shows first quarter foreclosure activity was below pre-recession levels in 78 out of 216 U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (36 percent) analyzed in the report. Nationwide, the report shows foreclosure filings—default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions—on 289,116 U.S. properties in ...
Homeownership No Longer Has Tax Savings
We believe we have found one of the primary reasons why entry-level home buying has not recovered—and why homeownership has been plunging. For decades, homeowners benefitted from both the financial and psychological benefits of paying less taxes. Homeownership came with income tax savings because mortgage interest plus property taxes easily exceeded ...
7 Common Landlording Mistakes to Avoid
In the landlording business, we make lots of mistakes. Indeed, there would be no successes if we did not encounter some mistakes along the way. It is these mistakes that cultivate our systems for success. The idea, of course, is to run a profitable, stress-free business. We take what works ...
Understanding Equity Real Estate Investments Through Direct Participation Vehicles
By Lawrence Fassler Some real estate crowdfunding companies offer equity real estate investments through “direct participation” investment vehicles such as limited liability companies (LLCs). These entities, together with similar vehicles at the property title-holding level, allow for the “pass-through” of depreciation, interest expense and other deductions that can reduce or ...
The Essential Commercial Property Checklist
When it comes to successfully investing in real estate, due diligence and proper research are strongly required and an investing checklist is invaluable. No. 1 – Population Growth and Diverse Economic Activity My goal is to invest in areas of strong growth. We never want to invest in unstable or ...
Seattle Again Tops List of “Hottest” U.S. Single-Family Markets
By The Editors Seattle, Portland, Nashville, Palm Beach County and Fort Lauderdale took the top spots on Ten-X’s recently released Top Single-Family Housing Markets Report for Spring 2016. These markets have displayed the most consistent combination of rising home prices, home appreciation, favorable affordability and excellent economic and demographic conditions ...
Create Your Own Lifestyle and Succeed On Your Own
In my experience as a real estate investor – first starting out part-time while pursuing a corporate career, and now as a full-time investor and HomeVestors franchise owner in Dallas – I have observed one underlying trait in those who succeed and stick with real estate investing. And this applies ...
Big Rocks or Small Stones: Where to Focus Your Real Estate Investments
Should you focus your attention on big deals or smaller ones? This is a question that applies not only to part-time real estate investors, but full-time investors as well. Let’s take a look at how you can determine which one is best for your circumstances. To provide some perspective, I’d ...
Real Estate Roller-Coaster Expected to Keep Heading Up in 2016
To say the housing market has seen a few ups and downs over the past decade would be an understatement at best. Even with a couple of good solid years under the belt in 2014 and 2015, many people are still feeling a little uncertain when it comes to the ...
The 20% of Investors Who Succeed Do So by Learning From Those Who Went Before
Did you know that 20 percent of investors succeed while 80 percent do not? So says the Pareto Principle, commonly known as the 80-20 rule, and it applies to everything we do in life. For example, do you know that you wear 20 percent of the clothes in your closet ...
Selecting Your ‘Dream Team’ to Support Your Real Estate Investing Business
Here it is, mid-March of 2016, and right around the corner is next month’s NFL draft. You have owners, coaches and managers working diligently and strategically to pick their team members for the upcoming fall football season. The level of intensity and effort and diligence that they use is no ...
3 Reasons Why You May Want to Buy Property from a Passive Investor
Over the years I have been involved in hundreds of investment property purchases, which prompts a lot of how-to questions. Perhaps the most highly sought-after answer is to the question of where to find the best properties. Wow, that question has lots of different answers, but there is one that ...
Real Estate Investing is a Business, Not a Hobby
As you hear so often—and you’ve heard it from me, too—in order to be successful in real estate investing, you have to treat it as a business. But what exactly does that mean? From my experience as a real estate investor and a HomeVestors franchisee in Dallas, I’ll share some ...
U.S. Home Sellers In 2015 Realized Biggest Price Gains Since 2007
RealtyTrac’s Year-End 2015 U.S. Home Sales Report shows that U.S. home sellers in 2015 realized an average price gain since purchase of 11 percent ($20,378), the biggest average price gain for U.S. home sellers since 2007 — an eight-year high. The 11 percent average price gain in 2015 marked the ...
Using IRAs to Invest in Real Estate
Your Self-Directed Retirement Account Albert Einstein is quoted as saying “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it ... he who doesn't ... pays it.” At Think Realty, we celebrate real estate investment as an asset class that embodies appreciation or compounding value ...
Street Smart: Why Use Professional Property Managers?
Thoughts from pros in an age where a disgruntled tenant and a premises liability lawyer could cost you more to prove your case than your property is worth! Kimberly Smith CEO/Founder, AvenueWest Corporate Housing 800-928-1592 Yes, we can all manage our own rentals, but will this make us the most ...
Street Smart: Why is Integrity an Issue in Personal Real Estate Investing?
Nate Armstrong Founder, Calhoun Ventures 651-789-5386 The truth is, there is plenty of room in my business for unscrupulous people to make a quick buck. I must emphasize, though, that a quick buck can only be made once. We live in a world where people know what Kim Kardashian ordered at ...
5 Things To Do To Make 2016 Your Best Investment Year Ever
In the fourth quarter of the year, I always hear investors talking about closing the year’s investments strong and wondering what the next year will have in store for them. This reminds me of a consultant friend of mine who said, “Predict the future by creating it.” Wise words indeed ...
A number of active real estate investors have developed lucrative careers by investing in less-than-perfect residential properties, renovating them and re-selling (or renting) them for a profit. The real estate market has now turned around, and although foreclosures are on the decline, good fix-and-flip deals remain available. From my vantage ...
Remodeling spending expected to increase in 2016, Harvard study says
Spending on remodeling and home improvement show more optimism going into next year and are projected to more than double in 2016, according to a study from the Joint Center for Housing at Harvard. After several quarters of slackening growth, home improvement spending is projected to pick up its pace ...
Foreclosure starts jump 12% in October, largest month-over-month increase since August 2011
Foreclosures were started for the first time on 48,605 properties in October and there were 36,582 properties repossessed by lenders in October, according to a new report from RealtyTrac. The report shows: U.S. foreclosure starts increased 12 percent from the previous month – the largest monthly increase since August 2011 ...
The 7 Best Renovations for Rental Properties
Here are a number of renovation suggestions designed to help ensure that a prospective tenant will choose your rental. When dealing with rental-property ownership, two of the biggest variables are dealing with vacancies and the length of time it takes you or your property manager to re-rent the property. Marketing ...
New study says owning costs more than renting
By Erik Franks John Burns Real Estate Consulting In most areas of the country, homeownership costs more than renting. Many economists with calculators claim the opposite, but the calculations and conclusions are often highly misleading. As is often the case, the devil is in the details. We recently reviewed one ...
Median home price in July at highest level since September 2008 new study says
Sales of properties in-foreclosure and cash sales were down from a year ago to multi-year lows while year-to-date U.S. home sales in 2015 are at an eight-year high, according to a new study from RealtyTrac.com. Data also showed the U.S. median home price in July was at an 82-month high ...
