News and Information For Buyers And Sellers
How To Lose Money On A Fixer Upper
Home
A fixer upper home seemed like a good investment,
but we had little experience. We had bought, fixed and sold a
home in Montana for a profit, and completed the project in only
a few months. However, we were new to the Tucson area, and didn't
quite have a grasp on the home values. In Tucson, two identical
houses can be $50,000 apart in price if they are three blocks
apart.
Then there was the fact that the styles
are different from anything we had...
(more) Say Goodbye To The Gross Rent
Multiplier
You may be familiar with the gross rent
multiplier. This simple formula for determining the value of
rental real estate has been around for ages. The first book I
read on investing in real estate advised me to "never buy
a property with a GRM of more than 8." GRM is the acronym
for gross rent multiplier, of course, and the formula is this:
divide the price by the gross annual rents to get the GRM.
In other words, the author was advising
me...
(more) Make Money Renting Rooms
I don't know why I didn't do it sooner,
but one day many years ago, I decided to try renting rooms in
my home. I was young and single, and had a nice mobile home on
small piece of property. I found that it was easy to rent out
the other two bedrooms. Suddenly, I had thousands of dollars
extra each year.
Why Room Rentals?
In many towns where the rents are high,
single people are forced to share apartments with others. They
inevitably...
(more) Make Money With Commercial Property
Rentals
Commercial property rentals with triple-net
leases mean little management and high returns. However, this
can be a tough market to break into, and you can have negative
cash flow on vacant storefronts for a year at a time.
How about a real estate investment in which
the renter pays not only the rent, but the taxes and insurance,
and maintenance costs as well? That is the idea behind the "triple
net lease." It is common in commercial real...
(more) Buy-Change-Sell: A Real Estate
Strategy
Here's a proven real estate strategy: Buy
a property, change the use, and sell it for a profit.
Big profits are possible if you find its
most profitable use. The disadvantages of this strategy? There
is a lot of homework required, and many possible dealings with
zoning authorities and others.
Years ago there was a row of old homes
on a main street in the Northern Michigan town where I used to
live. Many of them were rentals. None of them were...
(more) Categories of Real Estate Investment
Below are ten categories of real estate,
and different ways to invest in them. The best one for you is
something only you can decide, according to your particular needs.
To help you do that, I list a couple good points and bad points
for each type.
1. Renting single family homes. Good points:
An easier way to get started, and good long term return on investment.
Bad points: Being a landlord isn't much fun, and you typically
wait a long time for...
(more) Building A Real Estate Team
I didn't understand the concept of a real
estate team at first, so I had a hard time with real estate investment.
I tended to be a "lone wolf," trying to do too much
myself. I have since learned that in real estate, you need a
team of people you can trust and rely on. Here are some possible
team members, and what they need to be on the team.
1. A mortgage broker or banker. A broker
can offer many options, but a banker can make the loan...
(more) Make Money With Condo Rentals
What are the advantages of investing in
condo rentals versus houses? Simplified maintenance, and more
cash flow in some areas. The catch? Some condominium complexes
won't allow you to rent out units. The solution? Find one that
allows it.
In many areas, the rental rates for condos
and houses of similar size are about the same. Sometimes a two
bedroom house will get just a little bit more than a condo. On
the other hand, in a condo complex with a...
(more)
