Archive for August, 2011

Guest Author Post By Sabiston Gabriel

When you decide to make investment in real estate, you need to be very careful as to what amount of money you are investing so that you can pay off your debts with this money in future. If you have taken out a mortgage loan and you find it difficult to repay it, then you can use this money to pay off  your mortgage loan in a much convenient way. For this, it is very important that you should have proper financial education so that the investment that you make in real estate proves out to be beneficial for you.

4 Reasons how financial education can be beneficial for the real estate agents

The real estate agent needs to have good knowledge on finances while making investment on real estate. Go through this article to know the 4 reasons how financial education can benefit the real estate agent.

  1. Be honest and trustworthy in money matters – While doing business, you need to choose a business partner whom you can rely upon for money related matters. At the same time, you also need to trust yourself so that your business partner can trust you too. This will help both you as well as your business partner to enhance the business rapidly and maximize the high chances of earning profits.
  1. Be ahead on your finances once you get your own deal – Once you get a deal, you need to find out whether or not you’re making money. If you have sufficient financial education, then you’ll be able to manage your money in the right way and you’ll also be able to understand if you are making or losing money. In case, you have not learned about how to manage your money before getting your first real estate deal, you will not be able to keep  track of your expenses and then you may end up wondering where is your cash flowing out or you may miss some of your mortgage monthly payments.
  1. Save sufficient money to finance your own deals – It is very important for you to learn how you can manage your finances so that you can get yourself ready for your first real estate deal. You can do this once you learn to handle your finances efficiently and check your cash flow. You need to keep  track of your income and expenses so that you can save a considerable amount of money every month. You can use this saved money to repay your mortgage loan if you find it difficult to manage your monthly payments.
  1. Make lot of money with proper investment – By making the proper investment, you can earn a lot of money. You can earn money from real estate investment if your investing policy is focused on capital gains. But if you do not have the right education on finances, you will not be able to handle your money matters properly and as such, you may loose your money. On the other hand, if you have good knowledge on finances, you can earn a lot of money from real estate deals. By spending your money wisely, you’ll be able to manage your money efficiently and accumulate a good amount of wealth thereby putting it into some good use in thefuture.

 

While investing in real estate, you need to have proper knowledge on financial matters so that you can choose the right investment strategy in order to maximize your profits. You can also use this money to pay off your debts in case you find it difficult to repay them. Thus, it is very important for you to learn how you can manage your money matters in a much more convenient way.

Guest author Sabiston Gabriel  is specially experienced in SEO and for 7 years has been related with several finance website developing, also Sabiston is a content writer for websites.

 

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http://www.indianainvestmentpropertygroup.com

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    In a heavy buyers’ market, it can be both frustrating and costly to try to sell or rent your investment property.  Most property owners are forced to a standstill during economic periods which favor a huge supply and relatively low demand.  However, the beauty of real estate is the eternal guarantee of change—people will always need to buy, sell, rent, and move.  So business is getting done, and shouldn’t your business interests move forward as well?  In order to continue doing business in a down economy, property owners must find creative ways to distinguish themselves and their properties from the field—a field which at the moment is vast, but which is targeting a relatively small population of customers.

    There are many simple ways to make a property stand out.  The most obvious are the superficial modifications: improvements to the appearance and general “livability” of a home at the surface level.  These include updating systems, improving landscaping, repainting, etc.; and strategies like these are thoroughly explored and available from a multitude of resources.

    In addition to these aesthetic improvements which will enhance your property’s curb appeal and impact upon presentation, consider offering creative transaction terms to your customers.  When a potential buyer or tenant is shopping for properties, most of their options in a broad category will appear pretty much the same—size, features, location, etc., will all probably be standardized based on the customer’s search field.  Therefore, the customer is looking for small features or details that distinguish one very similar option from another.  Many owners and managers simply offer discounts (or increase the price and then say they are offering discounts—hey, that’s business!).  Others include coupons and package deals and so forth.  These strategies are all tried and true, but common.

    It is your property, which means you don’t have to follow any of the conventional rules of transactions.  Feel free to get creative—put yourself in the buyer’s shoes and consider what might appeal to you (this will probably be a function of the type of property you own, since features that are appealing will be very different between the $2 million and the $30,000 price range).  Consider what your individual business can handle.  Do you own the type of rental property where you could attract lots of business by offering dramatically reduced rental prices in return for requirements that the tenant handle repairs?  This is not a typical strategy, but it has worked in the past.  Many tenants of a certain socioeconomic class would much rather pay less now, and worry about costs in the future (and if they are contractually bound to make necessary repairs, then you hold the cards).

    Obviously, this strategy will not work for many property types and many business needs.  But the point is this—get creative.  Offer something that no one else is offering, which generally means taking a bit of a loss yourself.  But it is extremely important to keep in mind that if you plan to do business in a buyers’ market, you simply will not generate the kind of income that you could under different conditions more conducive to seller profit.  That is why so many owners are stagnant in this type of economy.  But if yours is the type of business that requires perpetual motion (looking at you, landlords!), you need to maintain reasonable expectations of profits, hunker down, and offer up a sweet and unique deal for buyers/tenants.  Times are tough—but they’re not impossible.

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    http://www.indianainvestmentpropertygroup.com

    http://www.practicallyfreehouses.com

    Based out of Indiana, Jay Redding is a real estate entrepreneur, consultant and educator with experience in residential and commercial investing.

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      Real estate, like most areas of investing, is all about predicting future value.  When using statistics in order to help you predict value, the knowledge of where those statistics come from and how they are calculated could be the difference between a great investment or a disastrous one.  Remember, all calculations are subject to human error if the numbers used in the calculations have not been derived accurately.

      One such important statistic is the CAP (Capitalization) rate, which is a percentage used to evaluate your property’s market value.  The Net Operating Income (NOI) divided by the CAP rate gives you the property value, and this market value is more sensitive to the CAP rate at higher NOI’s.  For example, a property with an NOI of 200,000 and a CAP rate of 10% has a market value of $2,000,000.  The same property with a CAP rate of 9.8% has a market value of $2,040,816.  That .2% difference in CAP rate is equivalent to about $41,000.  Therefore, it is important that you research how this number was determined in order to verify its accuracy.

      The CAP rate used in the evaluation of your property is determined using data from other similar properties.  The key assumption in this is similar.  Somebody picked which properties were similar, meaning that this is a potential area for human error.   On what criteria were those properties chosen, and do you agree with that reasoning?   Even more importantly, the CAP rate should be the average of those similar properties.  If the CAP rate used is based only on your next-door neighbor’s property, it may not be accurate.

      The CAP rate is determined by dividing the Net Operating Income by the sale price.  The Net Operating Income is a complicated number to calculate.  You must research that the expenses of the rental property include all expenses, and no hidden fees have been overlooked. You must also understand the income: is this income based on last year or an average of the previous years? Is it likely going to change in the near future?  The income is also a prediction, and therefore, is also subject to error.  It is vital to research if the future income will likely be the same as it has in the past, which can be done in various ways like researching market trends.  Remember, there is always a risk that the predicted income is wrong, which will drastically change your CAP rate.  A good idea is to have a range of predicted incomes, so you know the range of CAP rates, and thus the range of your property value.

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      http://www.indianainvestmentpropertygroup.com

      http://www.practicallyfreehouses.com

       

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        Appreciation is a frequent term in real estate that often plays an important role in the decision to invest.  Appreciation is the increase in value of a property, which historically has held true.  However, in light of the slow economy, house prices have dropped and many properties have depreciated in value.  In order to predict if the property you are investing in will likely appreciate in value, and what that value may be, it is important to understand appreciation.  It is not as simple as thinking that house prices just go up.

        Appreciation is complicated and the truth is that the general public doesn’t fully understand it.  If they did, they would not have been shocked when housing prices fell dramatically, known as the “bursting of the housing bubble”. A number of different factors caused the housing bubble; over speculation, loose lending and fraudulent practices just to name a few.  However, in my opinion, one general rule that should only be used as a general rule had become accepted by many to be an absolute truth. That general rule is that housing prices generally increase over time, this is true, but that does not mean that there are not corrections along the way. The idea that real estate generally increases over time came to be known by the inexperienced investor and even some overzealous investors as real estate always increases. Obviously that is mistaken as many have learned.  Real estate can increase in value, but it certainly doesn’t have to. The general rule should always be interpreted in the context of the current local and global environment.

        Please don’t confuse appreciation with inflation. Inflation affects your salary and your daily living expenses, although inflation does increase the price of the house, the value does not increase since you get less for the same amount of money.  There is always inflation, but there is not always appreciation.

        Natural appreciation is attributed to supply and demand. There is an ever increasing population in the United States, so the demand for land to build houses tends to outpace the actual supply of houses.  If you have experience in different housing markets, you know that this natural appreciation is not uniformly true however.  Local areas can have drastically different economies, with a surplus of vacancies or a waiting list for properties to become available.  An important distinction here is that if demand is the force behind appreciation, then it is the land which contributes more to the appreciation than the house. Houses get run down, need repairs, and become architecturally outdated.  The land, however, may be in a great community and associated with a strong educational system, which would make the location even more attractive for families. Knowing which component contributes the most to the appreciation is an important point to determine when looking for long term valuation.

        Finally, there is forced appreciation.  Forced appreciation is an active process of taking a property to its highest and best use to force the value of the property up rather than allowing natural market supply and demand dynamics to play out. The two can work in tandem however. Forced appreciation happens when ever a dilapidated home is rehabbed and the property is brought up to current market value.  The value of the land has not changed much in this case, but the structure certainly has.  The value of the home has been forced up because the home has been updated and is now modern.  Natural appreciation and forced appreciation would both be in play in a situation where raw land is developed into a new strip mall.

        To determine if your property will appreciate in value, you need to look at the local housing supply and demand data. Evaluate the local economy, is it growing or retracting?   Evaluate population trends, is the city growing or retracting? Where is the growth taking place? How long are houses on the market? Are there new homes being built?  Understanding this information will allow you to become more confident in your purchases. Don’t take appreciation for granted.

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        http://www.indianainvestmentpropertygroup.com

        http://www.practicallyfreehouses.com

        Based out of Indiana, Jay Redding is a real estate entrepreneur, consultant and educator with experience in residential and commercial investing.

         

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          We are living in unprecedented economic times right now in America.  As in all extreme conditions, some people are bound to suffer terribly, while others manage to navigate the hardships and perhaps emerge even better than when they started.  Our economy—ripe with poverty, unemployment, defaulted mortgages, and foreclosures—is under such conditions; many can do nothing but ride it out, and hope things improve before they are completely devastated.  Others, on the other hand, have realized that the down economy creates a buyer’s market—and what’s more, the record number of foreclosures provides incredible opportunities for investors of any level of experience to find great deals.

          While there have always been “foreclosure cleanup businesses”—investment firms which deal only in purchasing, repairing, and reselling foreclosed and other distressed properties—the recent record number of foreclosures have caused a significant chunk of the investing population to follow this route toward success.  Like all major investments, however, foreclosures require substantial research before-hand, the ability and willingness to say “no” to a bad deal, guidance of an experienced professional, and commitment to see a major project through to completion.  It is no easy task, but the opportunities to profit are often unbelievable.

          Once an investor decides to try his hand in foreclosure cleanup, the question becomes, “Where do I find these great deals, and how do I beat the hoards of other investors to the punch?”.  The short answer is that the deals are everywhere (advertised online, in newspapers, MLS, etc.).  But—as you may have already discovered—everyone has equal access to and awareness of these resources, so using them does not provide any real advantage over the field.

          As an alternative to the conventional listing sources, consider using the Chamber of Commerce as a source of information and leads.  Chambers are generally local, but occur at every level of government and society—town, city, state, regional, national, international, etc.  In general, a chamber of commerce is a network of businesses meeting together to preserve and advance the interests of business (and therefore the condition of the market and economy).  Often called a board of trade, the chamber voluntarily assumes the responsibility of watching over the often-local economy like a sort of consortium of super heroes.

          And, as it turns out, you’re invited!  Practically all Chambers—even the U.S. Chamber of Commerce—are membership organizations, which means that for a modest membership fee, any old real estate investor can attend and participate in these meetings, where first news of any market or community updates is broken and discussed.  If you want to succeed in a business with so much competition as foreclosure investments, then you need to be on the cutting edge.  When it comes to matters of the local economy (including foreclosed homes), the local Chamber of Commerce is the place to be.  Sitting as a fly on a wall in these meetings with a notepad or a smart phone could be your ticket to hearing about the best deals before they are publicly listed.  For those investors who take advantage, the head-start on these great foreclosure deals will be well worth the couple hundred dollars paid as annual dues for membership in the Chamber (these costs vary dramatically with the particular Chamber).  Information is almost never free; but when the information is good enough, you barely even notice the cost!

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          http://www.indianainvestmentpropertygroup.com

          http://www.practicallyfreehouses.com

           

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            Real Estate Investing is a broad phrase that covers everything from short sales, to tax liens to wholesaling to rehab flips as well as commercial real estate.  If you are a beginner, where do you start? You start by understanding basic fundamental principles before choosing a niche to start out in.   Even the more experienced investor is wise to review these basic principles from time to time and conduct a quick evaluation to see if they are following their own criteria for investing.  Below are a few that have been helpful for me over the years and have protected me from making a bad decision on more than one occasion.  I hope you find them helpful as well.

            1.  Invest and Negotiate From a Position of Strength.   An example of this would be making a cash offer rather than an offer contingent upon financing.  Remember, cash is king.  With cash you can negotiate better deals that provide more profit.  If you don’t have cash, then find some private lenders to bring onto your team so you can make cash offers.  This site does a great job of providing you opportunities to learn how to get private lenders on your team.

            2. Invest in Properties That Provide Multiple Exit Strategies.   With multiple exit strategies available, you have less of a chance of getting stuck with a home you can’t move.  When I invest in single family homes for a retail flip, I like to invest in homes that provide me the ability to conduct a rehab and flip, a lease option possibility or a rent to own possibility. This means you must know the rents in the area and if the rents will support the last two exit strategies.  A surrogate to this would be to always plan for the long term.  In the above scenario, I have both short term and long term financing arranged through private lenders that provide me the flexibility to do whatever the market dictates.  The more viable exit strategies available to you tips the odds greatly in your favor that your real estate investment will be highly profitable.

            3. Know Your Market!    Conduct your market research before investing in real estate to know if your market is a good market to invest in.  Although most beginners tend to start out in their local market, keep in mind that may not be a good place to start. You need to know the answers to some of these basic questions:  Who are the major employers in the area and are they stable?  What is the population growth trend?  What are the local rents and how are they trending?  What are the average and median home prices in the area?  What economic anchors does the area have? These are all factors that can have a direct influence on your investment regardless of what niche you may be in.

            4.  Don’t Get Emotionally Involved.  Again I will say, don’t get emotionally involved.  Be willing to walk away from any deal that doesn’t meet your criteria.  Although this may sound a little harsh, remember that other people’s pain is your opportunity. You are looking for opportunities where people have to sell rather than just want to sell. Buy your real estate investment in a way that makes sense for you.   Be strategic in your investing criteria and follow your plan.  That is of course assuming that you have a plan, if you don’t, then put one together.  This will help you tremendously from making emotional decisions.

            Following these four principles will go a long way in ensuring that your real estate investments are highly profitable. Feel free to post any additional principles that you feel can be helpful to others below.

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            http://www.indianainvestmentpropertygroup.com

            http://www.practicallyfreehouses.com

            Based out of Indiana, Jay Redding is a real estate entrepreneur, consultant and educator with experience in residential and commercial investing.

             

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              This is not specific strategy guidance, nor is it a checklist to make money; rather, these are five very basic observations I’ve made that concern interacting with people as a real estate investment consultant.  It might be handy to keep them in mind.

              1. You don’t know what people want.  Further, what people want is not always what it should be, and trying to anticipate and act upon that falls somewhere between extremely difficult and impossible.  The best thing to do is to simply sit down and talk to people, ask them exactly what they want, and don’t shape their answer.  Let them tell you how to help them (and you can provide the nuts and bolts).
              2. Business and friendship does not mix.  That doesn’t mean you can’t be friends with the people in your real estate world (tenants, associates, sellers, agents, etc.).  But always avoid introducing money into a pre-existing friendship—it never turns out well.  Never rent to a friend, or put yourself in a position where you are legally responsible to collect funds from them.  There are plenty of fish in the sea to rent to.
              3. There is rarely one right answer.  There is rarely one right strategy.  It follows, then, that there is no one way to go about real estate investment (don’t let me or anyone else convince you otherwise).  Applied knowledge becomes experience. Experience is everything, and unfortunately a huge part of experience is failures and setbacks.  The key is minimizing your risks and maximizing your options so that your failures don’t end up putting your entire business down the toilet. You will learn from your mistakes and this will make you a better investor as your go forward.
              4. You can always get better.  You can always learn something new, or gain a deeper understanding of something you already knew.  The day you commit to quit learning is the day you need to find yourself a new career.  You can always become a better, smarter, more successful investor.
              5. People lie.  This one, well, it’s everywhere.  Not everyone is a bad seed, but there are enough people running around in the world motivated by nothing more than their own interests and willing to do or say anything to preserve those interests that we all have to have our guard up constantly.  A good adage to live by is to “Trust, But Verify”.  If you can’t verify independently what the other person is saying, that should raise ahuge red flag. Proceed forward very cautiously.

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              http://www.indianainvestmentpropertygroup.com

              http://www.practicallyfreehouses.com

               

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                1. Cash Flow – Investing in multi-unit properties is, hands-down, the best way to generate sustained monthly cash flow as an investor.  Nearly any other type of ownership requires losing money during the period of ownership and until the date of sale, but property management will generate as much monthly income as you determine (based on the size of your investment and the extent of your efforts to keep units occupied).
                2. Economies of Scale – The logistical difference between investing in 5 single-family homes for rent, and a single 5-unit building for rent, is the difference between constantly repairing and maintaining 5 properties, and constantly maintaining and repairing 1 property.  It stands to reason that if 5 different families pool together to only use one roof, one lawn, etc., then it will be much easier to manage those 5 families (for practically the same income as managing 5 separate properties).
                3. Less Competition – For whatever reason, competition for investing in single-family homes is and has always been very high.  Despite its opportunities for major active and passive income, multi-unit investing does not attract the same kind of mass appeal that single homes do.  This may be due to the shear number of amateur investors out there, who think a multi-unit investment is too major for start-up.  It may simply be because property management is not always a glamorous gig.  Whatever the cause, multi-unit investors enjoy more leverage in selecting and negotiating deals, due to a relative absence of competition.
                4. Hiring Management – With bigger multi-unit investments come bigger monthly cash flows, and a potential for wider profit margins.  In many cases, this means owners hire management companies to deal with all repairs, maintenance, tenant-related issues, etc.  Now you’re really cooking!  No direct involvement, sustained monthly income, and freedom for leisure or expansion of your business!
                5. Pay-Day – The final major advantage of multi-unit investments is that they can appreciate more than single homes (not in terms of percentages, but dollar amounts, since they are generally more expensive than single-family homes).  Multi-unit investments over 4 units are valued primarily on cash flow than on comps. Therefore, if you can raise rents as rental values increase due to the natural cost of living expenses and reduce operating expenses by improving efficiencies, the overall value of the property can increase incrementally by the number of units you own. This means that when it comes time to sell, you should make a hefty sum (and remember, you’ve hopefully been earning income during your entire period of ownership).  It’s a smart investment if managed carefully and worked diligently.

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                http://www.indianainvestmentpropertygroup.com

                http://www.practicallyfreehouses.com

                Based out of Indiana, Jay Redding is a real estate entrepreneur, consultant and educator with experience in residential and commercial investing.

                 

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                  Getting through the closing process without any mishaps or delays is a function of solid and conscientious preparation.  This does not mean hastily reviewing your materials on the car ride to close, but rather a systematic approach over the course of days and weeks to ensure that everything goes smoothly on closing day.  Any minor error, miscalculation, or miscommunication can easily result in a closing delay (and we all know that in real estate, time is money!).

                  The first document to carefully scrutinize in the final closing statement (or HUD-1 Statement, depending on where your transaction occurs).  This is where the vast majority of calculations occur, and therefore where the vast majority of easily-rectifiable errors occur.  It is essential to take a fine-tooth comb to your final closing statement, to ensure that all calculations are performed correctly, that you have been awarded credit for all deposits and any other agreed-upon credits owed you by the opposing party.  As a matter of precaution, review lender, title, and escrow fees to make sure everything is in line (and coincides with what you were told).  This is an incredibly important process, as math and reporting errors occur all the time, and the onus is on the parties involved to uncover and rectify those errors before closing.

                  Before closing, you need to also review the guarantee of title insurance (the preliminary report), to ensure that what you are getting into is what you’ve agreed to get into.  This means verifying the legal description of the property, as well as liens or other baggage associated with the property.  Anything to which you did not explicitly agree should be removed.  If you make sure that the title or escrow agent includes your vesting (how you want to take title of the property), you can also save yourself an enormous amount of time from having to do this later with the deed.

                  In addition to reviewing the contracts and paperwork, you need to physically view the property one last time before closing.  This serves to verify that everything is in the order you want it, all agreed-upon repairs or modifications have been made, and that nothing fishy has changed between touring and closing.  Remember, there’s a lot of your money at stake, so it’s worth the time to be absolutely certain you are doing the right thing and avoiding any surprises (which you never want to accompany a big transaction).

                  Finally, the purchase contract must be meticulously scrutinized to ensure that everything stipulated has in fact already been done (or is on the right track to being done).  Never sign your name to any closing contracts without being absolutely certain that things are lined up the way you prescribed in the contract.  Once it’s signed, that’s it.  So if you’re unsure about anything—no matter how trivial it seems—don’t pull that trigger just yet.

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                    Purchasing a rental property is, in many cases, an excellent investment. It provides steady income while you’re renting, you have the opportunity to expand your business, and you can always fall back on owning or selling the property if you fail to rent it. However, if you are looking to make property management your first foray into the world of real estate, be advised that it is difficult, time-consuming, and incredibly demanding of the property manager or owner. Your job can basically be divided into two broad categories: the logistics and finances of your business (the nuts and bolts), and your daily interactions with tenants. In this article, we will focus on the portion of property management which pertains to tenant relations.

                    Your first interaction with tenants as a property manager will come in the form of marketing. This is how you attract and acquire new business, and it is an integral part of your success as a landlord. Many inexperienced property owners searching for tenants wonder why their properties remain vacant for months, despite the blatant “For Rent” sign on the lawn or door. But in a real estate world where professionals are champing at the competitive bit to make a profit, and potential tenants’ efforts are facilitated by the convenience, ease, and comprehensiveness of the internet, property managers cannot afford to be so passive in their marketing efforts. Your job is to reach tenants any way you can and tell them about your property for rent. That means posting on internet sites like ForRentByOwner.com and even craigslist, purchasing email lists, etc. Get creative, and get your information out there to the tenants. In today’s world, if a tenant has to come to you to hear about the property, it’s simply not going to get done.

                    Once you’ve attracted some potential tenants for tours and interviews, the best way to deal with tenant-related issues (which, between failure to pay rent and having to be evicted, can be enough to drive a property manager out of business), is to avoid them altogether. While this is impossible to do with certainty, you can minimize your future stress by carefully and conscientiously screening your prospective tenants. Many new owners make the mistake of letting anyone walk into their property, as long as they can come up with the first month’s rent and security deposit—and this is certainly understandable, since every day their property remains unoccupied, they lose money. However, it is essential to take the time and pay the fee for credit and criminal reports, as well as a bank statement or income verification. If you take on a tenant who cannot continue to afford the rental payment, the cost of discovering and dealing with this (in terms of time, money, and energy), will be far greater than the cost of the research done upfront.

                    The key to successful property management is establishing and maintaining a friendly, helpful, and honest relationship with tenants. You will be amazed at how many problems can be eliminated by simply being amicable and helpful when your tenant calls on you (even if that happens all the time—it’s your job). When you find yourself in a good relationship like this, the trick to success is to keep that tenant. This may mean giving even more time, or even reducing the price of rent to reward their long-term occupancy, but avoiding another period of vacancy and another process of acquiring and screening new tenants will make this price reduction well worthwhile. Your business depends on tenants, so don’t take the good ones for granted!

                    Tell us what you think by leaving a comment. If you would like to be notified when new posts are made to this site, be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed.

                    http://www.indianainvestmentpropertygroup.com

                    http://www.practicallyfreehouses.com

                    Based out of Indiana, Jay Redding is a real estate entrepreneur, consultant and educator with experience in residential and commercial investing.

                     

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