Knowledgebase
All of Think Realty's extensive content archive is at your fingertips. Filter by media type and keyword to hone in on exactly what you need.
Knowledgebase
All of Think Realty's extensive content archive is at your fingertips. Filter by media type and keyword to hone in on exactly what you need.
I need money for my real estate investment property financing – but what kind?
As I discussed in my most recent article, there are plenty of reasons why real estate investors may use “leverage” – other people’s money – to earn a higher return on their own investment. There are a lot of different potential routes to take, though, when one is trying to ...
If we are lucky the Fed will acknowledge “normal” is a lot lower than it used to be
Oh, boy. Here we were, minding our own business, finger-thrumming at desks while waiting for the Fed to begin “normalizing” next month. Then, China. Cut to the chase and then try to explain it. Stick with Clinton’s Law: “It’s the economy, stupid.” Currencies and central bank actions are effects of ...
Home loan originations up 23 percent year over year new study says
Home loans originated on single-family homes and condos in the second quarter of 2015 were up 23 percent from a year ago, to the highest level since the third quarter of 2013, according to a new study from RealtyTrac.com. Highlights report show the loan types and how much each one ...
Real estate investors and real estate agents: a Win-Win for both
By Doug Clark Zillow for Pros Blog There are two groups of real estate professionals out there who might not realize how mutually beneficial their relationship can be: Agents, who are skilled at helping clients navigate all aspects of the buying and selling process, and investors, who are skilled at ...
Apartment investing with NO heavy lifting?
Not every investor wants to blaze a trail… Let me clarify. You frequently hear me talk about taking massive action. But this doesn’t need to mean getting down and dirty. Multifamily investing is fundamentals-based investing. My real estate investment business, URS Capital Partners, is modeled after what other successful real ...
What serious real estate investors do that average investors do not
Most everyone I talk to about real estate investing has a desire to build a nice investment portfolio. The interesting part is few people actually talk about the journey or the desired destination. Most simply talk about the immediate deal they are looking to invest in with little thought into ...
Is owning a rental property worth the headache?
Q: Real estate investing: Is owning a rental property worth the headache? Especially if you aren’t a do-it-yourselfer? A: From Linda Day Harrison: Everything we do to build wealth should be analyzed using a cost/benefit analysis from an opportunity cost perspective, not by asking yourself whether the effort will be ...
How do you use your part-time real estate investing to create full-time freedom?
It is critical for you as a part-time real estate investor, or weekend investor, to have goals or begin with the end in mind. Investing in real estate is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. It requires patience, diligence, planning and persistence. I know this is all very contradictory to ...
The question for housing: Why are long-term rates falling?
The Fed is coming. Another reasonable payroll report Friday gives the Fed all the cover (if not justification) necessary. Expectations are so high that it would be odd if the Fed did not lift from zero next month. Even odder, in response to heightened Fed probability, long-term rates fell Friday. Again ...
The number of home flips is declining as available foreclosures decline, but profits are increasing, along with the time it takes to complete a flip, a new study from RealtyTrac.com shows. “Despite the rise in flipping returns in the second quarter, home flippers should proceed with caution in the next six ...
By John Burns Real Estate Consulting Builders and developers will now start building more detached homes for rent. For years, home builders have ignored 10 percent of housing demand, allowing resale homes to fill the demand. As shown below, 12.7 million of today’s 120 million households rent a detached home ...
The 7 truths of buying with no money down
"What do you have available for no-money-down deals"? This is a sensitive topic that comes up when talking with investors. I tense up when I hear the question and reply with a question of my own, “How long have you been investing?” The reply about 99 percent of the time ...
4 Reasons Investors use Debt to Finance Real Estate
“Neither a borrower nor a lender be…” How could Shakespeare be wrong? Why should anyone take out debt, or other financing, on their real estate investments? Well, the quote from Hamlet is that of a father warning his son about the dangers of lending to friends, since hitching debt onto personal ...
Long-term rates are going to stay down – which should be a warning to the Fed
Whither long-term interest rates? Everyone building a new home, or thinking of buying anything wants to know. What is the up-side risk, Fed on the warpath? Long-term rates rose in anticipation of the Fed meeting concluding on Wednesday. Markets got the hawkish post-meeting statement they expected, but since mid-morning Thursday ...
Underwater homes have hit a plateau of 13 percent as home price appreciation slows
There were 7,443,580 U.S. residential properties that were seriously underwater — where the combined loan amount secured by the property is at least 25 percent higher than the property’s estimated market value — at the end of the second quarter 2015, according to a new report from RealtyTrac.com. This represents ...
A 5-step strategy to sell a real estate investment portfolio
Reader Question: My dear wife and I embarked on our real estate investing career in 2009 in Central Maine, and over the course of three years amassed 13 buildings totaling 51 units. We turned a slew of low-quality, run-down buildings into desirable blue- and white-collar communities. Now our properties have ...
How much “hassle” is it owning rental property?
Real estate investing question of the week: How much “hassle” is it owning rental property? Answer by Kenneth LaVoie: This is a little more than needed to answer your question. It is basically my story, and what I'd do differently. To answer your question simply, "The amount of hassle is ...
It’s not all flip-flops and T-shirts – at least, not at first – 4 keys to success for investors
As a former part-time and now a full-time investor, I have seen investors come and go. They have been friends, acquaintances and business partners. I have seen some succeed and some fail, some prosper while others struggle. And I have learned from all of them. 4 keys and characteristics to ...
Dear Fed: Do you really want to tighten rates here while others are cutting theirs?
We have a large and widening divide between U.S. economic data and the rest of the world, and to spice things up we have no experience with a situation like this -- “we” being the Fed, other central banks, all governments, and certainly analysts. Experienced or not, markets are moving, ...
7 signs you may be dealing with real estate gurus
No money down! Make your fortune in real estate! Start living your dreams today! We’ve all heard the sales pitches from gurus for worthless real estate investing programs and scams. Sometimes, it’s easy to identify the crooks and con artists; other times, not so much. How can you separate those ...
Investor-driven sales continue decline as traditional buyers join the market
Distressed sales, cash sales and institutional investor sales in June were all down from a year ago to multi-year lows even as sales to first-time homebuyers and other buyers using FHA loans increased compared to a year ago in June and reached a two-year high in the second quarter, according ...
How can a Realtor get started as a real estate investor?
Reader Question: I'm a Realtor, and I'm interested in becoming an investor in the next two years. How can I find and work with trustworthy investors to help find distressed properties to purchase, fix up and resell? Thanks! — Xavier Monty's Answer: Hello, Xavier, and thank you for your question ...
5 things I would tell my younger self about real estate investing
Driving down the road yesterday, I was heavy in thought about the investment properties I had just been looking at when the song, “If I Could Turn Back Time,” by Cher, came on the radio. While the song is more about relationships, the title and lyrics “If I Could Turn ...
The Fed is going to pull the pin on the quarter point rate increase
Chair Yellen gave her semi-annual monetary testimony to Congress twice, to the House and Senate separately, and continued her chant: “If the economy performs as we expect, then we will begin to normalize policy in 2015.” Threats and threats... and interest rates fell. The disconnect between the bond market, Fedspeak, ...
Foreclosures fall to 10-year low, but some markets still slow to work through the system
Foreclosures continued to fall in the first half of 2015, dropping to a 10-year low across the U.S. and further tightening available housing inventory, according to a new study from RealtyTrac.com. While foreclosures are now in some cases below pre-housing-crisis levels, some specific markets still have a higher than normal ...
