by Darren Mitchell

What is self directed IRA real estate investing for the socially conscious? What it is is a way to rebuild downtrodden neighborhoods across the country and double your return on investment. By involving the cities themselves along with investors with self directed IRA's, the potential for successful urban renewal is possible. In addition, it could be highly profitable for investors. It is a win-win situation. A company is doing just this. That company is City Capital Corporation and Ephren Taylor, a very young successful entrepreneur who has been on several talk shows in the last few years, runs it. Therefore, what you have is a program that addresses urban decay, provides investors with excellent profit opportunities and provides an opportunity for less fortunate people to own a home. This program is for real and should not be overlooked by any serious investor. Like any legitimate investment opportunity, there are rules that must be followed. One important aspect of self directed IRA real estate investing is that you cannot buy the property for yourself or your family to live in. It must be purchased strictly for profit. What Ephren's company provides is a turnkey opportunity for investors, they look after all the paperwork and legal issues and you the investor just sits back and collects the profits. Ephren's company approaches the city leaders with the capital of the investors and convinces them to sell the properties at a very low cost. Then the properties are renovated. While the renovations are under way, a list of buyers is prepared. These potential buyers are good, honest hard working people who are qualified for a mortgage. In most cases, these are people looking to move from renting to home ownership and they are anxious for this new opportunity in their lives. You have probably noticed that urban areas in this country are suffering. Many city leaders have wondered what could be done to save these areas. This is where Ephren's Company comes in. It is truly remarkable what is happening in some formerly downtrodden areas. IRA real estate investing is all about providing affordable housing for working class people. A savvy investor will see the opportunity for the tremendous wealth potential. The bottom line is this is a great opportunity to realize a high return on your investment and help re-build communities across the country. Ephren Taylor's vision is something any serious investor should look at.

Source

by Darren Mitchell

Choosing the right IRA real estate investments requires having a lot of knowledge. That is not the idea of this article though. Do you know how to use an IRA real estate investment to manage, purchase or sell in today's volatile market? Do you have any knowledge of the positive and negative aspects of lending your IRA vs. purchasing rental property turnkey or by completely looking after it by yourself?Our goal is to help identify which particular plan is the best option for you as a real estate investor, regardless of whether you have experience or not. Many people are not aware that either they can start a self-directed IRA to their advantage by collecting the rewards of tax-free or tax deferred IRA real estate investments. It is a great way to build wealth in the current economic climate. The advantage involves the ability to leverage the IRA by making cash offers to the bank. Therefore, the IRA owners are able to purchase properties at huge discounts. The difference between the property's fair market value and the purchase price is called equity wealth. In addition, your IRA real estate investment has the ability to produce rental income from these purchases. The reason this happens is that the homes that the IRA has purchased are offered for rent to people who cannot acquire financing due to credit issues or any issue for that matter.As you can see, this is a wonderful opportunity. You are using equity to secure property and rental income is paid to your IRA and thus your IRA is growing tax-free or tax deferred. The best part of this type of IRA real estate investment is the advantage of its turnkey nature.If you chose to lend to an investor using a promissory note for example, you would still be getting the rental income but you would not have the equity profit. Lending is still not a bad option but you will always be wondering when your money will be returned. The decision on which kind of IRA real estate investments is best suited to you is completely up to you. As mentioned before, lending the money is a good idea but you could always be worrying about when you will get it back.Purchasing your own IRA real estate investment gives you more control and gives you the opportunity for much higher profits. To do this with little or no effort you must find the right opportunity for it to be as turnkey an operation as possible. The idea is to give you a nice income for little effort along with the time to enjoy your profits.

Source

You may have heard that one of the best ways to make yourself truly wealthy is to become a private real estate investor. While it is true that the millionaire real estate investor does exist in every state in the nation, it can also be a difficult way to begin to build up your own personal fortune. There are more books written and sold each year, on how to become a real estate investor, than on many other topics in business and self-employment. The main reason that the real estate investors get singled out is because their money tends to come in either; large immediate chunks, or as passive income over a long period of time. And as investment strategies go, both of these options can be great.

One of the most important parts of becoming a private real estate investor is the process of networking and building resource lists of professionals such as lenders, bankers, seller’s agents, buyer’s agents, real estate investor agents, carpenters, plumbers, etc... who you can call on to help make your transactions run more smoothly and who can answer any questions which you might have from time to time.

Nothing is more important to your business than making good contacts in the lending industry. Whether you work with banks, direct lenders, or mortgage brokers, you need to have lenders available to work hassle-free with you to help finance your deals.

One of the best things you can do if you will be looking to expand into other geographic areas with your real estate investment business, is to find other real estate investors already working in that particular area, generally those who simply rehabilitate the properties to flip or hold as rentals. Finding them is as simple as placing an ad in the local newspaper and screening out the callers who are looking to work with you rather than purchase a home from you.
Once you have some potential joint venture partners for your real estate investment business, then it is time to partner with some of those other investors when it is appropriate for both of you to do so. You can even ask your new partners to do much of the legwork there in their own area, and for their compensation they will be paid out of the escrow from the deal. If you are able to find other quality professionals to work with, then you really can have a win-win relationship working together.

It is also always a good idea to network with all of the real estate agents in the areas which you will be investing in property. Every private real estate investor should have realtors out in the field who will let them know about available property – even those not yet listed in the MLS. Once a realtor knows what you are looking for, and what kind of deals you prefer, they will call you when they know about a property which you might be interested in.

One of the most important tools for professional real estate investors is to build up lists of people you can partner with to help get the work you need done. By having lists of people you trust and can work with when you need to, you can be ahead of everyone else in your area.

Author: Judson Voss

Source

Despite a recent slowdown, the U.S. real estate market continues to be a popular investment destination for foreign investors. Attracted by a desirable return on investment, many foreign nations continue to invest heavily in the U.S. residential and commercial real estate markets. In fact, in 2005, foreign investment in U.S. real estate reached 1.83 trillion.

To evaluate the impact of foreign investment on the U.S. real estate market, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) produced a 2006 report entitled 'Foreign Investment in U.S. Real Estate: Current Trends and Historical Perspective.' The report provides insights into the trends in foreign real estate investment, its impact on the U.S. economy, and the major countries that participate in U.S. real estate investment. Below are some highlights from the NAR report.
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the top seven countries that had significant holdings in U.S. real estate as of 2005 were:

Germany - 13 %
Latin America - 13 %
Australia - 11 %
Japan -10 %
United Kingdom - 10 %
Canada - 6 %
Netherlands - 6 %

The U.S. economy is wide open to foreign investors. Both investors and Americans significantly benefit from all this foreign investment. The NAR study estimates that without foreign investments in the securities market, the long-term lending rates would be four percentage points higher than the current rate, which would adversely impact the U.S. real estate market.
Foreign direct investment into the U.S. not only creates more jobs but also contributes to the demand for U.S. real estate. In fact, foreign investment may be responsible for creating two million U.S. jobs by the end of 2006, which further bolsters the demand for U.S. real estate.
Permanent and temporary immigration of foreign-born workers into the U.S. further bolsters the demand for real estate. According to the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, 1.2 million net immigrants are expected to arrive in the United States annually. This immigration pattern is expected to offset the decrease in housing demand by post baby-boomer generations.

In summary, the impact of foreign investment and immigration into the U.S. will continue to play a major role in the U.S. real estate market.

Author: Real Estate Advisor

Source

Real estate investment is perhaps one of the most lucrative forms of investment today. But it is also equally risk bound especially when one is not well versed with the trends and nuances of the real estate market. So if you are contemplating on investing in real estate, it is best to avoid costly mistakes in real estate investment especially when you invest your hard earned money into it. Knowing the most common mistakes made by real estate investors helps one steer away from making such mistakes in the future and ensures good return on investment.
Here are the top ten mistakes made by real estate investors, according to bankrate.com. Bankrate has put together the top ten mistakes after speaking to established, full-time real estate investors and other professionals involved in real estate investment such as bankers. Read on to know them and avoid them.
1. Not planning up ahead. Lack of a proper plan is the biggest mistake made by novice investors. Finding a house after forming a proper investment strategy is the right way instead of looking for a house to fit the plan. Many make the mistake of buying a house because it seems to be a good deal and then trying to see how they can fit it into their plan. Instead of buying a house and thinking one can plan in due course, investors should rather concentrate on the numbers and try to make offers on multiple properties. This will ensure a good property that not only matches their investment model but also works out well with the numbers they had planned for.
2. To believe you can make money quickly. The second major mistake that real estate investors make is to think it is very easy to get rich in real estate. This is only a myth and the reality is that investing in real estate is a long term project.
3. Doing it single-handedly. For becoming a successful real estate investor one needs to build a team of professionals who would assist the investor in his deals. This would ideally include a real estate agent, an appraiser, a home inspector, a closing attorney and a lender.
4. Making excess payment. One another reason that investors in real estate goof up in their investment is by paying too much for the properties they buy. Paying too much and locking up all the funds in the erred property deal will leave you with no money to redeem yourself.
5. Leaving out the groundwork. Not doing your homework could be a costly mistake if you were a real estate investor. Every field of business needs sufficient amount of homework to be done, and real estate investment is no exception. Learn the fundamentals and then venture into investing in properties.
6. Throwing caution to the winds. Investors have to exercise a certain degree of caution and take earnest efforts while making a deal. New investors often fail in this regard and sign a deal without doing adequate research on the property.
7. Miscalculating money flow. Investors whose strategy is to buy, hold and rent out properties need to ensure sufficient cash flow for maintenance. Property managers could be expensive and the owner has to incur more expenses such as mortgage, taxes, insurance, advertising costs etc. Investors have to allocate their budget such that all these expenses are taken care of, or end up having their asset turn into a liability.
8. Lowering the volume. A larger volume of deals or transactions helps in increasing the profits by reducing the impacts of marginal deals.
9. Getting trapped in your own deal. Having more number of options at hand for the property you buy is a wise strategy. This helps one to be prepared for fluctuations in the real estate market. Plans to rent out the house could go awry when the rental market slumps. Having alternative plans helps you cut down losses and tackle unexpected situations.
10. Making incorrect estimates. People who plan to rehab their house need to check if they will still reap the benefits at double the time that they had estimated. This ensures they do not miscalculate and lose money on the deal.

Author: Real Estate Advisor

Source