Real Estate blog

Archive for the ‘Advice’ Category

In any market, but particularly a buyer’s market, the listing that looks the best, shows the best and feels the best will sell faster (that is given the listing is also priced properly!). The best staged home will sell faster when all other things are comparable (price, terms, location).

(more…)

There’s a multi-factorial equation brewing out there that is going to impact real estate investors.

Real estate books are a mixed batch. There are those that I recommend, such as Eldred and McLean’s excellent Investing in Real Estate, now in it’s fifth edition. On the other end of the spectrum is Robert Kiyosaki’s bestselling fable Rich Dad Poor Dad, a dangerous and misleading book if ever there was one.

(more…)

When it comes to returning a tenant’s deposit when he vacates a property I have tended to go down one of two paths. I either a) return 100% or b) keep most/all of it. I don’t tend to have a lot of cases that fall in-between.

I’m usually leaving some money on the table when I return 100% of a tenant’s deposit, but for me that’s ok. If a tenant leaves the house clean and the landscaping looking nice then I won’t charge him just because he left a few coat hangers in the hall closet.

(more…)

It’s hard to argue with the success that Robert T. Kiyoski has had with his Rich Dad series. Head over to Amazon.com and you’ll see almost fifty items on offer; Rich Dad in English, Rich Dad in Spanish, Rich Dad for women and kids. Even Rich Dad in Chinese. My personal favorite is the DVD Rich Dad’s 60 Minutes to Getting Rich. Ok, it’s a bit pricy at $79.99…but that’s a small price to pay for a DVD that will make you rich in 60 minutes, right?

(more…)

The baton passes to EquityScout.com for this week’s Carnival of Real Estate Investing.

Lots of ink has been spilled on how our jittery market is impacting homeowners. But it’s hard to find anyone writing on the question that looms largest in the minds of most investors: what do I do now?

There, of course, is no single right answer to this questions – it will depend you’re your risk appetite, your local market, your time horizon, and your view of what the market is going to do next. But from where I sit I see five basic paths forward for investors in 2008:

(more…)

The real estate industry slowly but surely continues it’s march towards a new, yet-to-be-defined future state – driven by technology, new players, new business models, and ever changing customer expectations.

The media scares me. We all rely on journalists to make a big world small and help us digest current events, but whenever I see an article on something that is within my area of expertise – like energy policy or real estate – I’m often appalled at how badly some publications mangle the facts and principles in order to spin an entertaining story.

The worst offender among the popular press, hands down, is USA Today.

Bulding a real estate team is recommended by many successful real estate investors. Having a trustworthy team of professionals alleviates professional real estate investors with an important asset - time. Some real estate investors try to do everything themselves, creating a shortage of their time to chase after the next great deal. Thriving real estate investors build a team they can rely on and trust. The following are some team members to consider when deciding to grow your business and building your real estate team.

(more…)