Title: James D Kuhn| Helpful Tips For New Realestate Investors
1Tips for New Real Estate Investors
James D Kuhn
2Real Estate Beautiful Home
3Real estate investing is a business
You should treat it as such. Start by developing
a good business plan, detailing the nuances of
starting and running your business, with
realistic goals over time frames of one, three,
five and 10 years. If you dont know how to
write a business plan, you can find help at
the Small Business Administrations website. But
real estate investing doesnt have to be
difficult or scary. When I teach people how to
invest in real estate, my philosophy is to
maximize return while minimizing the risks.
4Find A Good Bank Or Mortgage Broker
Your area if youre financing your investments.
Realtors (real estate agents who belong to the
National Association of Realtors and must adhere
to a code of ethics) are good sources for
recommendations, or you can ask other investors
whom theyve used. You might want to do this even
before you start your property search. If youre
paying cash, youll need to prove you have the
funds by submitting a recent bank or brokerage
statement when you make an offer.
5 Check your credit report
determine your ability to finance investment
property. Most lenders today require 700 or
better FICO (Fair Isaac Co.) scores from
borrowers who want to buy investment property.
Also, make sure that your total
debt-to-monthly-income ratio is low. Often it
makes sense to pay down outstanding credit card
debt or car loans in order to improve your debt
ratios.
6Determine The Best Areas For Properties
Some new investors make the mistake of limiting
their search to areas close to their home. But
often better rental areas may be located a little
further away. New investors may think they need
to live near their properties in case tenants
call about repairs or other problems. But in
reality, if the home is put into good repair
before your tenants move in, those calls from
tenants should be few and far between.
7Talk with other investors about local real estate
Join a real estate club in your area (do a quick
Google search to find them). Real estate clubs
are great places to network with other investors,
lenders, and repair service providers. You can
often pick up helpful advice about your local
market from other club members. Some communities
offer courses on real estate investing through
adult education or local real estate brokerages.
If you cant find a real estate club or course,
consider an online investing forum.
8Consider Multiple Sources For Buying Properties
New investors may think they can only purchase
homes through their local Multiple Listing
Service (MLS), or by banging on doors in run-down
neighborhoods looking for distressed sellers. But
sometimes you can find much better deals on real
estate auction sites, such as Auction.com, and
these sites make it possible for buyers to easily
make purchases in locations beyond their
immediate area.
9Spend time reading about real estate investing
A tremendous amount of free information exists
today online about real estate investing. When
purchasing a book, look for those that offer
practical guides on buying, flipping, renting,
and selling properties. Avoid books that claim
you can make huge sums of money in 30 to 60 days
or 25-year-old books detailing techniques that
may no longer work.
10Find A Good Realtor To Help You Locate Properties
Not all Realtors are experienced or even adept
at helping investors. Before the real estate
crash in 2007 and the subsequent onslaught of
foreclosures, only a small percentage of Realtors
would even work with investors. Since then, many
Realtors have taken courses and suddenly claim to
be experts on foreclosures. Make sure that you
choose a Realtor.
11 Look For A Return Greater Than 1 Percent Per
Month Of Sales Price
An old maxim of real estate says that a rental
property yielding 1 percent of the sales price
per month is a good deal. In other words, if the
home cost 100,000, you should get 1,000 per
month in rent, or about 12 percent annual yield.
But in many areas of the United States today,
home values have declined substantially and
investors can now achieve greater than 1 percent
per month returns.
12 Learn from the best
To achieve success, model your investing
decisions after what other successful real estate
investors in your area have done. Search Google
for real estate clubs in your city, or try
Meetup.com. Above all, remember that like
anything else, the harder you work and the more
effort you put into your real estate investment
business, the greater your ultimate reward will
become over time. Good luck.