Topics Archives

How one couple chose to invest $1 million in cash

22 Jun 2015 | Larry Arth | Article, Topics

The couple was a farming family from just outside the city limits and had received an offer to purchase their land from a single-family-home developer. They had called ahead and wanted to sit down with me to discuss how to best invest their million-dollar windfall. As a real estate investment ...

Buying a house 'subject to" - the art of the deal blog by RJ Palano for Personal Real Estate Investor Magazine

Buying a house “subject to the mortgage” could be a home run deal

22 Jun 2015 | R J Palano | Article, Topics

How would you like to come up to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning, with two outs and with the go-ahead run on third? Every young baseball player imagines being in that position, or in a position to win the World Series. It’s like that in the real ...

Is a condo a good purchase for a first-time real estate investment property - The weekend real estate investor

Is a condo a good first rental property investment?

19 Jun 2015 | Kevin Guz | Article | Investment Strategy, Operations

There are many, many condos out there. As an investor here in Dallas with HomeVestors, I believe they are a viable option for any investor to consider, not only here in Dallas, but across the U.S., but they do have some unique aspects that the investor must consider and understand ...

Is a condo a good first rental property investment?

19 Jun 2015 | Kevin Guz | Article, Topics

Lou Barnes’ analysis: The uncertainty list that is driving the economy right now

19 Jun 2015 | Danny Johnson | Article, Topics

Long-term rates have stabilized, maybe a bit better than that, the 10-year T-note Friday breaking below 2.31% resistance, but mortgages still above 4.00%. Rates have jumped a half-percent in sixty days and were due for a breather, but all should expect outsize volatility ahead -- true upping and downing. Since ...

Bank repossessions fuel foreclosures to the highest level in 19 months as people continue to lose their homes says Daren Blomquist of RealtyTrac

Foreclosure filings by banks jump to a 19-month high

18 Jun 2015 | Editorial Staff | Article, Market & Trends

Foreclosure filings were reported on 126,868 U.S. properties in May 2015, up one percent from the previous month but up 16 percent from a year ago to a 19-month high, according to a new report from RealtyTrac. The U.S. foreclosure rate in May was one in every 1,041 housing units ...

Stan Humphries, chief economist for Zillow, says more low-end homes will come on the market in 2015.

Logjam at the low end of the housing market is caused by negative equity that is too deep

15 Jun 2015 | Editorial Staff | Article, Market & Trends

While the U.S. negative equity rate is dropping, more than four million homeowners still owe the bank at least 20 percent more than their homes were worth, according to a release of the latest report from Zillow real estate research. "It's great news that the level of negative equity is ...

How to use the investor “3 step” to build wealth

15 Jun 2015 | Larry Arth | Article, Topics

I received an interesting call some time back from a real estate investor who was vacationing here in sunny Florida. Knowing I lived in Florida, he asked how far I was from Clearwater beach and if it was possible to meet for coffee? I never turn away a reason to go ...

3 steps to prepare your property for the rental market

15 Jun 2015 | Kevin Guz | Article, Topics

I’ve learned many lessons in my real estate investing career through “the school of hard knocks,” and by sharing them, I hope I can save you some time and headaches as you purchase your first property and prepare it for tenants. Even if you already have a rental property, these ...

urban infill study for real estate investors by Pete Reeb, John Burns Real Estate Consulting

High-density detached urban infill is a booming real estate business so what are the challenges?

12 Jun 2015 | Editorial Staff | Article, Market & Trends

By Pete Reeb John Burns Real Estate Consulting Our urban infill feasibility business is booming, thanks to a confluence of trends that are creating heightened interest in high-density single-family detached urban infill housing deals: Gas expense. Uncertainty over gas prices and a growing desire for shorter commutes Time savings. Re-prioritizing ...

Mortgage rate increases may be an overreaction and not a sustained swoop-up

12 Jun 2015 | Danny Johnson | Article, Topics

Long-term mortgage rates have run up again, now to levels of last fall: mortgages are close to 4.25%, the 10-year T-note cresting Wednesday just under 2.50%. Friday, 2.36%. Possibly fatal stubbornness, but I think most of this up-lurch is a correction from overreaction last winter, not the threshold of a ...

5 secrets to successful buy to rent real estate investing by Lori Greymont

Buy-to-Rent Series: 5 secrets to successful buy-to-rent real estate investing

11 Jun 2015 | Editorial Staff | Article, Topics

By Lori Greymont When I first started investing, I was taught to buy real estate is about three things: location, location and location, and not the advantages of buy-to-rent But over the years, I have learned there are other criteria just as important and often more important than location when ...

how to evaluate if a buy and hold real estate investing strategy is right for you

Buy-to-Rent Series: How to evaluate a buy-to-rent strategy that is right for you

11 Jun 2015 | Editorial Staff | Article, Topics

By Brad Sumrok Some of the top questions to ask when evaluating what type of buy-to-rent strategy fits best for you and some of the answers that may be helpful to your strategy: How to evaluate if a buy-to-rent strategy is right for you Q. Does single-family housing or multifamily ...

is a buy to rent strategy right for your self-directed IRA

Buy-to-Rent Series: Is buy-to-rent real estate investing a good self-directed IRA investment?

11 Jun 2015 | Editorial Staff | Article | Topics

By Tom Anderson Investor James Mann was frustrated with the lack of appreciation in the stock market and decided it was time for a different approach. So he took a rollover IRA from a former employer and put it into a self-directed IRA to buy something “I could see and ...

Buy-to-Rent Series: Is buy-to-rent better than buy-to-flip?

11 Jun 2015 | Editorial Staff | Article, Topics

By Mark Bloom An investor is better off, over any medium- to long-term investment horizon, to hold a real estate asset as a rental rather than flipping or selling that asset, so long as the following are in place: The ability to obtain credit and withstand outlays for occasional, non-reoccurring ...

Zombie foreclosures down overall but still up in half of the metro areas surveyed says Daren Blomquist of RealtyTrac

Zombie foreclosures down overall, but still up from a year ago in half of U.S. metros

10 Jun 2015 | Editorial Staff | Article, Market & Trends

A new report shows that in the second quarter of this year there were that 127,021 homes actively in the foreclosure process had been vacated by the homeowners prior to a completed foreclosure, called zombie foreclosures, representing 24 percent of all active foreclosures, according to RealtyTrac. These owner-vacated foreclosure properties ...

Why you cannot quit after one rental property blog by Kevin Guz for Personal Real Estate Investor Magazine

Why you cannot quit after just one rental property

8 Jun 2015 | Kevin Guz | Article, Topics

I bought my first rental property more than 10 years ago, as we have discussed before. I was a part-time investor—or, in my case, a “lunch hour” investor. I was very excited, and I made the leap, and I purchased that first property successfully. But here’s what you are going ...

7 things if only I knew...or they don't tell you where the problems lie blog by Larry Arth for Personal Real Estate Investor Magazine

7 things if only I knew…what they don’t tell you is where the problems lie

8 Jun 2015 | Larry Arth | Article, Topics

What they don’t tell you is where problems lie Have you ever evaluated an investment property and were very excited about the purchase? Everything looks great on paper. The property looks good and talk of “hurry, before it is gone” prompts you to make an uneducated decision. I hope you ...

Where is one to invest in this market real estate investor question of the week for Richard 'Monty" Montgomery for Personal Real Estate Investor Magazine

Is shadow inventory a problem for real estate investors?

8 Jun 2015 | Dear Monty | Article, Topics

Reader Question of the Week: Where is one to invest in this market inclusive of the banks shadow inventory? A good example is Clarksville, Tennessee which appears to be an excellent opportunity, however if you consider Housing and Urban Development (HUD) unoccupied housing information, it paints a very different picture Monty's ...

What the kitchen faucet taught me about how to keep great tenants

8 Jun 2015 | John Triplett | Article, Topics

As a small investor focused primarily on single-family home investing, I stay very close to my business and the issues that come up with the tenants. From time to time in this blog, I will share a story or two from my business and tenant relationships that I hope might ...

The jump in rates continues up, and with it economic confusion writes Lou Barnes in his blog this week for Personal Real Estate Investor Magazine

The jump in interest rates continues up, and with it, deepening economic confusion

5 Jun 2015 | Danny Johnson | Article, Topics

Last week I thought the rise in long-term interest rates was overdone and had a chance to reverse. Oops. The jump in rates has continued, and with it deepening confusion. In just six weeks, the 10-year T-note has moved from 1.90% to 2.40% , mortgages from 3.75% close to 4.25%. News media ...

Down payment averages drop to 14 percent on new home purchases RealtyTrac report says

Down payment average for home purchases drops to 14.8 percent, a three-year low

4 Jun 2015 | Editorial Staff | Article, Market & Trends

The average down payment for single family homes, condos and townhomes purchased in the first quarter was 14.8 percent of the purchase price, down from 15.2 percent in the previous quarter and down from 15.5 percent a year ago to the lowest level since the first quarter of 2012, according ...

My success in real estate is due to copying the right cat

4 Jun 2015 | Engelo Rumora | Article, Topics

G’day, everyone! It’s your favorite Australian and The Real Estate Dingo, bringing you another great blog about the KEY strategy that I used when I first started out in real estate and that I continue using to this day. As many of you may know, I’m a huge believer in working ...

Rental growth where you least expect it: single-family homes

1 Jun 2015 | Editorial Staff | Article, Market & Trends

By David Guarino Senior Research Analyst John Burns Real Estate Consulting Take a drive through the urban portion of any major city and you will likely see cranes and construction crews dotting the landscape, building what appears to be an endless supply of apartment units. Your eyes are not deceiving ...

Real estate investor question of the week: Is there a dark storm on the horizon blog for real estate investors by Lou Barnes

Real estate investing question of the week: Is there a dark storm on the horizon?

1 Jun 2015 | Danny Johnson | Article, Topics

Mr. Barnes, Good morning. I am a full-time real estate investor who subscribes to Personal Real Estate Investor Magazine, and I am fortunate enough to read your articles on a regular basis. I have become a fan of your reporting due to your straightforward, no-spin and non-partisan articles. They are ...

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