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.
Lou Barnes’ real estate investor advice and view on deflation
Quiet on the surface, anything but quiet underneath. And “over there”... oh my. The most important single datum for the investor: the Treasury last week sold at auction $70 billion in new long-term bonds for the first time in six years without the Fed as a QE buyer. The auction ...
3 property classes to remember when you invest
Real estate experts and investors share many different views when it comes to ranking property and area classes. Most will rank them on a general scale of Class A through Class C. Others will be a bit more particular and grade them from Class A through Class F. I prefer ...
9 key ways to build equity in real estate
Working with investors from many different countries, I have uncovered more reasons for investing in real estate than I could ever have imagined. Beyond the common goals of cash flow and a forced savings plan are objectives like looking for a safe haven for their money, sheltering income and assets ...
How 3 homes I bought turned into one of my best deals ever
After I had purchased a home as a rental, cleaned it up and started the leasing process, I met a single mother with two young daughters, coming off a broken marriage, desperately in need of a place to live for her and her two daughters. She wanted our rental and ...
TV makes it look too easy: Flipping properties is speculation and 9 other investor mistakes
Many people have learned that investing in real estate is not as easy as it seems. At least that is true for investors trying to get a fair deal. For those of us who have been investing for years, and learned many hard and expensive lessons, here are issues you ...
As any investor knows, if you have not made any investment mistakes you probably have not made any investments. Learning from these mistakes so you can master your investment business is the key to your success. You can learn from other people’s mistakes, so I would like to share mistakes ...
Lou Barnes’ economic analysis for real estate investors
Last week’s top economic stories are two processes underway which no one understands. In lesser matters, mortgage and long-term rates remained steady. The election will alter discussions in Congress, but danged if I can find an economic event. The first unknown: how long can hiring continue and layoffs fall before ...
5 practical ways to improve cash flow on your rental properties
First off, when thinking about real estate investing, a lot of people think about buying properties and reselling them for profit. And that is a fundamental aspect of real estate investing. Another key aspect: You have to buy it at the right price to sell it at the right price ...
3 tips for building your brand in real estate investing
This week I want share with you some ideas on brand building. You may say that you’re an individual and don’t have a brand, but that is not the case. I assure you that you do. Whether we have a company structure or work alone, each of us has our ...
7 questions I get every week from real estate investors
I talk with dozens of real estate investors every week, from new investors to seasoned investors to foreign investors. What is good for one investor’s objectives and long-term goals may be different for another. However, there is a common set of questions by those seeking long-term real estate investments: ...
Contagious diseases, hazmat, ebola and your real estate responsibility as a landlord
Before you read the rest of this blog, make sure you have the answers to these questions: Have you ever done a hazardous materials cleanup? Do you have a hazmat cleanup company on your vendor list? Does your insurance cover the costs of a hazmat clean? Does your loss-of-rent insurance ...
Lou Barnes’ weekly economic advice blog for real estate investors
Mortgage and long-term rates are still near their lows -- reassuring, considering everything else has lost its marbles. Or perhaps bonds are doing well because everything else is nuts... a fair proposition to which we’ll return. Aged about 12 I got to see the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey ...
Should you buy a rental home for your college student?
Many issues come along with owning a student rental and you should really think them through before you get a tough and expense college lesson of your own Many parents who are interested in real estate investing might consider buying a property for their child to live in during college ...
Home prices continue slow down through August
Data through August 2014, released today by S&P Dow Jones Indices for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices continue to show a deceleration in home price gains. The 10-City Composite gained 5.5% year-over-year and the 20-City 5.6%, both down from the 6.7% reported for July. The National Index gained 5.1% annually ...
How to manage tenants who eat and smoke marijuana in your rentals
As most of you know I live and work as a real estate broker in Colorado, and everyone asks about marijuana. Our first course of action, after recreational use was legalized, was to amend our leases to make sure the no-smoking-clause also included a no-smoking marijuana clause. The reality is, ...
4 key traits every genuine real estate investing company should possess
There are many different real estate investing companies that offer a variety of products and services, such as turnkey operators, wholesalers, commercial brokers, property managers, etc. Some of these companies may even promise skyrocket rates of return. I have witnessed on numerous occasions investors who are solely focused on purchasing ...
5 discoveries changed the way I invest
Every investor has some successes, and boy do they like to share them. You can learn a lot from these successes. And, if they are tried and true, by all means you want to duplicate them. However, I believe far more valuable lessons come from mistakes that are made. If ...
Texas wins in the top markets to watch in 2015 for real estate investors
A new survey, looking at the top locations for real estate investment prospects in 2015, has Texas cities topping the list, according to 1,000 leading real estate experts, investors, fund managers, developers, property companies, lenders, brokers, advisers, and consultants who participated in the study. According to Emerging Trends in Real ...
Lou Barnes’ economic advice to real estate investors: Mortgages easier now?
Financial markets have stopped their hysterics for now, so let’s get some other things straight. Things about mortgages and other credit. Simple things. FDR’s first fireside chat in 1933 was devoted to simple explanations of banking. The next day Will Rogers said the president’s words were so simple that, “Even ...
5 mistakes I will never repeat as a real estate investor
Boy, I tell you, I have done a lot of deals and made a lot of mistakes as a real estate investor. It is hard to pick the first one I will never repeat. In my world you win some and you learn some. Real Estate Investor Mistake No. 1 ...
Tight credit supply for borrowers will be fixed, Watt says
Mel Watt, federal housing financing agency director, said in a speech Monday that Fannie Mae , Freddie Mac and lenders had reached an agreement in principle that could expand access to mortgages for many Americans which is good news for real estate investors. Meanwhile mortgage data and analytics firm RiskSpan ...
How I created a great deal from a property that was not even for sale
I was having a conversation with an investor friend of mine who had shared with me that he was selling off his smaller duplexes and doing 1031 tax-deferred exchange into larger multi-unit properties. I knew his portfolio well, as we have had many conversations in the past. So I asked ...
Lou Barnes’ weekly economic advice for real estate investors
Wow. What was that all about? For one thing, not the U.S. economy. Another thing not about: mortgage rates, just about back where they were before the stock market circus. Take it one piece at a time.... Pay as little attention as possible to the stock market. It enjoyed a ...
5 ways to improve cash flow on your rental properties
The timing was perfect. Just as I was preparing to make an offer to buy a fourplex, I overheard my wife, who does business turnaround consulting, talking to her client about the SIBKIS rule for making decisions. When I asked her what the rule she was always preaching meant, she ...
3 ways to keep tenants paying and maximize your return on investment property
Every investment comes with some degree of risk. Typically, the bigger the risk, the greater the return, but what if you were to simply reduce the risk on the front end of every investment by doing three simple things? Now, I can’t guarantee this will work on the stock market, ...
