Finding the Right Real Estate Leads and Deals in Any Economy, Regardless of Interest Rates and House Prices

Real estate investing has long been one of the most reliable ways to build wealth. But with constant shifts in the economy—whether rising interest rates, fluctuating house prices, or changing market conditions—it can sometimes feel like a challenge to find the right deals. The good news is that it’s possible to succeed in any economy, and you don’t need to let interest rates or housing market trends throw you off track.

Whether you’re just starting out or have years of experience under your belt, there are proven strategies you can use to consistently find the right leads and deals. In this blog, we’ll explore how to find deals in any economy and how you can adapt your approach to continue profiting from real estate, no matter what the market throws at you.

1. Focus on the Fundamentals: Motivated Sellers Don’t Care About Interest Rates

While interest rates and house prices often make the headlines, motivated sellers are the heart of any real estate deal—and they don’t care about the current economic trends. Motivated sellers are people who need to sell their property for reasons beyond market conditions. They might be facing financial hardship, going through a divorce, relocating, or dealing with a di
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All About Multi-Unit Properties

A two-to-four-unit property is a multi-family home, which is a single building that houses multiple families. Examples of multi-family homes include duplexes, apartment buildings, and condominiums. 

Multi-family homes can be a good investment for first-time homebuyers because they can be affordable, generate income, and offer tax breaks. However, they can also require more time, money, and overhead than single-family homes. Here are some things to consider when investing in a multi-family home: 

• Financing
  The rules for financing a multi-family home depend on whether the owner plans to live in one of the units. If the owner doesn't plan to live in the property, they may be able to use projected rental income to qualify for a mortgage. 
• Income
  Multi-family homes can generate multiple streams of income because they have multiple units to rent out. 
• Maintenance
  Multi-family homes require more ma
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“There is no victory at bargain basement prices.” – Dwight Eisenhower

Prices are on the rise everywhere right now. What about yours? 

From just a few pennies to outright sticker shock, hiking prices is one of the quickest paths to losing customers. But you’ve got ends to make meet, too. 

Our inflation series continues with one of the most pressing problems for businesses today: How much you need to increase your pricing models – and what to think about before you do. 

Worry and response

Current inflation is 8.6% year over year, a seemingly endless upward direction that worries most businesses. Almost nine out of 10 have told surveys that they’re also already seeing the hit in higher expenses such as supplies and services, some by as much as 50%. Throw in employees probably wanting above-average raises and you’ve got a compound problem. 
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Lordy, people, there are SO many ways to put together real estate deals. SURELY there’s one out there that you’ll like/understand/benefit from.

If you don’t like full-on wholesaling—maybe because ugly houses repel you, or some of the areas that work well aren’t neighborhoods in which you want to spend time, or you don’t like making super-low offers—then learn how to do creative deals, and flip those.
     
Creative financing techniques—buying properties using seller-held mortgages, contracts for deed, lease/options, and subject to the existing loan—are usually thought of as ways for you, the buyer, to control real estate for some period of time so that you can exercise some exit strategy that requires control.
     
For instance, you might buy a property subject to the existing loan so that you can renovate it and rent it for the long term. Or you might get a “split funds” seller mortgage for a year because you intend to renovate and resell the property within that year. Or you might control the property with a lease with the option to buy so that you can sell it with a lease with the option to buy (with, of course, a higher overall price, higher down payment, and higher monthly payment coming to
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We knew this was coming, just a couple of weeks ago, BoA (Bank of America) sent out a letter to 1,000 customers who are currently in default offering them the option to rent the property back from BoA at fair market rent if they simply deed the property back to BoA in lieu of a foreclosure. This will only add to the currently unknown number of properties in the Shadow Inventory.

On Thursday April 5, 2012 the Federal Reserve issued a policy statement on the rental of REO’s.

The general policy of the Federal Reserve is that banking organizations should make good-faith efforts to dispose of OREO properties at the earliest practicable date. Consistent with this policy, in light of the extraordinary market conditions that currently prevail, banking organizations may rent residential OREO properties (within statutory and regulatory holding period limits) without having to demonstrate continuous active marketing of the property, provided that suitable policies and procedures are followe Read More...

Let me start out by saying that I generally try and stay away from political comments. I prefer to stay on topic and discuss the facts, but this time I have no choice but to comment on politics. This latest round of political games has my blood boiling and I can’t hold back any longer.

Congress just passed another $1 billion dollar emergency homeowners relief fund. You can read all about it on MarketWatch, here is the link: www.marketwatch.com.

Were shall I start?

I guess I will start out with the phrase “emergency homeowners relief”. Emergency, really??? The emergency was almost two years ago when they pasted the TARP funds to help, if you remember, homeowners and bail out the banks and financial institutions, but once the TARP funds were approved by congress, they decided it would be better to just buy stocks in the companies they chose to keep solvent. It didn’t seem to be that much of an emergency to congress in 2008, otherwise they would have spent that money on what they told us was the reason in the first place to pass the TARP funds. I think the only reason it is an emergency right now, is because the midterm elections are in 4 months.

So now that we understand the congressional definition of an “Emergency” we can then start to talk about the facts. They are as follows:  
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This blog post is a little bit of a spring cleaning exercise that is meant to cover some of the professional matters of real estate investing. Together we are going to be covering some points that you will want to keep in mind as you absorb 1,000s of facebook updates, in addition to the average number of marketing contacts that you encounter on a daily basis. There are 3 things that I want to make as clear as day for you that I see mucking up YOUR path to becoming a successful real estate investor:

1. The dream of getting rich quick
2. The hype that takes advantage of that dream
3. Your very own view of your business

The dream of becoming wealthy and successful is something that we can all relate to, but where do we draw the line in the sand between that dream and reality? If you’re not quite sure what I’m talking about stick with me here… There is no shortage of people online and on facebook right now selling dreams, using big numbers of what students have made, and checks they’ve cashed. However, keep in mind that their success does not translate directly to your success, as many a disclaimer will tell you. This is very important to note because anybody these days can create a system and the fact of the matter is that many of these “gurus” hire freelancers to write their materials and do their marketing.

In my opinion the only value these “gurus” provide is how to hype and sell a dream. 
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Ok, ok, I know, flipping has never been illegal, but with recent changes in the mortgage industry, the lenders are coming back around and asking for our help again. Wells Fargo was actually the first major lender to change its stance on seasoning, but because FHA is a government program, this is huge. First, let me give you a little back ground so you understand what the hoopla is all about over FHA temporarily suspending its 90 day title seasoning rule.

Several years ago, when all was right with the world, some investors were taking advantage of a unique situation in the mortgage industry. The federal government wanted everyone to be able to take advantage of the America dream. So they lowered interest rates and loosened up the required mortgage qualification guidelines for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac backed mortgages, including down payments. This actually made it cheaper and easier for people who normally would never have been able to qualify for a mortgage, get one with little or no money down.

These changes actually made it cheaper for a tenant to get a mortgage than it was to rent a property, because they could finance the entire purchase price, including their closing costs. If they were to rent a property, they would at least need the first month’s rent and a security deposit. But if they bought a house, they didn’t need any of their own money up front and their first payment wasn’t due until after they had lived in the property for one month. Plus, with a mortgage, the lender only pulled their credit report, and since most of these tenants never established credit, they didn’t have bad credit. Note that a credit report doesn’t show eviction notices or criminal history, which is where many of these tenants had records.
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It’s hard to imagine a world where there is no wholesaling. To picture a world where wholesaling doesn’t exist almost seems unfathomable because it is such an essential part of business where the focus is on goods. Though it is nearly impossible to imagine a world without wholesaling, it is still something that is hard to give the appreciation it deserves.

Sure it is easy to refer back to the old common understanding that wholesaling is the matter of buying something and one price and turning around and selling it for more. We can all think of numerous examples of wholesaling outside of real estate and we understand what it is in terms of real estate. However, what lies beneath the surface of this seductively simple definition can provide you with your own set of understandings that will allow you to grow your business in ways others can’t… because they’re not you.

One key to success that I tend to trumpet whenever I get the chance is to apply differentiation to your business and the best way to differentiate is to understand the surrounding roles and factors of your field and where you fit in. Recognizing what you can do and where that fits in to the bigger picture is key!
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Compared to the significantly long history of land acquisition and real estate the time that the internet has existed measures up to a mere blip on the timeline. However, the significance of the internet and it’s utility is anything but a blip and it’s here to stay. So one may wonder “What does the internet do for those who live by real estate?” If you look at what goes into investing you’ll see that the internet plays an ever growing role in the way things are done and where you can take your business up a notch. In general real estate investors have 6 different concerns: Presence, Finding Buyers, Finding Sellers, Finding Private Investors, Networking, and Education.

In this section I will be covering how to utilize the internet to increase your presence and to find buyers to increase you buyer’s list. Fortunately these also prove as a good introduction to facilitate your understanding of the latter four concerns.

Building a presence; without a presence in this business you are simply without business and that is something that you want to overcome immediately. With the proliferation of internet users the internet has become a first stop for the population at large for information on services, products, and information. With this in mind we are looking at traffic, and not just any old traffic, but traffic that is looking for real estate. Whether its information, properties in their area, or someone that can help them with their short sale the numbers are out there. Thus, you want a presence where you can put your best foot forward 24/7, 365 where all the traffic is.
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