Yes, it’s true that property values have gone down in many places nationwide, and it is much harder to sell houses because fewer people can qualify for a loan.  You might have experienced depreciation with your personal residence or investment properties as a result of the housing crash, too.

But I’m here to tell you that it’s still possible to make money in real estate TODAY.  You don’t have to wait for years until the market corrects again.  Here’s what I would do:

Real Estate Money Method #1:  Wholesaling Houses

Did you know that you can make money from finding a great deal, without even buying the property?  It’s called wholesaling, and it works great in a slow market because it passes the burden of getting financing, fixing it up, and trying to sell it to someone else.

Basically, you find a house that can be bought far below market value.  Then, you find an investor willing to buy it for a little more than what you’ve got it under contract for.  You can sell your contract to them or have what’s called a “simultaneous closing” and pocket the difference in just a few weeks.

Real Estate Money Method #2: Buy & Hold

If you’ve got the means on financing houses long-term, why not buy as many as you can right now while they’re far cheaper than they used to be (and will be again)?  You only lose money on a deal when you sell, so don’t sell!

Since it’s hard to get a loan these days, many people who would like to own a home cannot, and must therefore rent.  For you, this means getting tenants is easier than before, so buying and holding will be a simpler and more profitable way to make money in real estate in the long run.

Real Estate Money Method #3: Loan Modifications

Because of the housing crash, there are a lot of homeowners who are behind in payments.  Did you know that you can get paid up to $3,000 to negotiate a “loan modification” between a homeowner and their mortgage company?  Because of this, it makes sense to contact homeowners who are in default, and then, if you can’t buy the house, try modifying their loan instead so you can still make something.

These three methods work in all market cycles, but are particularly helpful right now.  I recommend learning all you can on these topics and try them for yourself!

Click Here: http://stinkymarketreport.net — to receive a free copy of my interview with a $100,000,000 investor on making money in a slow real estate market — Dramatically increase your real estate investing profits by learning how market cycles REALLY work.  Or, for info on Alan Brymer, go to www.AlanBrymer.com

Are You an Undercover Real Estate Investor?
by William Tingle
Is there anyone in your town that doesn’t know that you buy houses? If so, you aren’t doing as well at marketing as you should be. I hear investors saying all the time that they aren’t getting seller calls and subsequently aren’t getting the leads they need to find deals. I say step up the marketing and the sellers will call. Not only that but if you are shouting to the world that you buy problem properties, eventually you will be known for what you do and sellers will call you strictly on your reputation. THAT is cost effective marketing.

I was in Home Depot a few weeks ago and passed a couple of guys in an aisle. As I walked by, I overheard one say, “That is the house man”. Now I had never seen either of those guys and have no idea who they are but that experience lets me know that I must be doing my job at letting the world know my business is buying houses. There are many ways to let the world know what you do. Some ways are cheap and some are more expensive. You are going to have to try many things and get a feel for what produces for you best in your area. I have tried many kinds of marketing techniques and have come back to a few that constantly produce enough results for me to buy the 2 or 3 houses I want to buy every single month. They are as follows:

Classified Ads

The classified ad in the largest paper in the area is by far the largest producer of leads I have found. I know it is expensive and I know there are times it doesn’t generate calls but if you are going to stay in the biz just put it in there and leave it. Get used to it being part of the cost of doing business. I pay about $300.00 a month for my 4 line ad and that is the commercial rate. I run it 24/7, 365 days a year.

Over the past 3 years I have seen many “investor” ads come and go. Most folks put them in for a couple of weeks and then pull them or try just putting them in on the weekends. IT AIN’T GONNA WORK! Put it in the paper and leave it. It will more than pay for itself, believe me. If you are worried because there are several in there, don’t be. They are there because they are getting calls. Just be sure and actually answer your phone.

When a new ad pops up in my paper, I will always call. 9 times out of 10 I get a message. This is a big turn off to someone who needs a solution now. They want to talk to someone who can qualm their anxiety and tell them everything is going to be alright. Your answering machine won’t do that. As for what to put in the ad, you will have to work on this one. I have tried several and the one I have now hasn’t changed for over 2 years. I haven’t changed it because I get calls. My ad is:

CASH FOR HOUSES
In 48 Hours!
Any area, price or condition
Call xxx-xxx-xxxx

Now I have had other investors jockey for position and change their ad copy to be ahead of mine in the column but it hasn’t made any difference. Don’t worry about those things, just get the ad out there and leave it. It may take a few weeks to get going but sellers will call! Once you have your classified ad running than start working on your other ideas. If you only implement one idea a week, within a couple of months you will have a tremendously powerful real estate buying machine.

Ads in the “Freebie” Papers

I also run ads in the freebie papers here. These are the “Thrifty Nickel”, or the “Green Sheet” or whatever they are called in your area. I run both a column ad and a display in this paper and spend about $150.00 a month for these. They pull in seller leads fairly well and have always justified the costs. Remember that these guys are usually open to negotiating on your rates and you can probably get a better rate if you commit to a longer contract.

Bandit Signs

Bandit signs are great. They are some of the best lead generating tools around. I have yet to put out a bunch and not be bombarded with calls right after. I just don’t put them out that often. I might put out 5 or so a month and the ones that stay continue to pull in calls. At an average cost of less than $2.00 apiece, they are one of the best values around. Check the internet for sign companies for cheaper prices. I use 18 x 24 signs and place them at high traffic intersections around town. I also place one in the front yard immediately upon buying any house.

I have bought several homes in the same neighborhoods as a result of this. You can either use contractor stakes or the wire stakes with your signs. I like the contractor stakes because they don’t bend like the wire ones, in addition, they are cheaper. Just nail the sign to it with the roofing nails with the orange or green plastic tops or you can use screws. There are many variations on what your wording on the sign can say. Keep in mind that traffic will be moving so you want to keep your message short and sweet so it can be read. My signs say:

I BUY HOUSES
Cash in 48 Hours!
Any area, price, condition
xxx-xxx-xxx

Notice that it is the same as my newspaper ad? I like to brand my advertising because I think that helps with recognition. My signs are white with dark blue letters. Some folks swear by black on yellow or black on orange. Again, I say it’s not what or how you say it but the fact that you DO say it that counts. When dealing with bandit signs, be sure that your local code enforcement laws are tolerant of them. In my area, the City of Macon is very lax on them but a few miles down the road in Warner Robins they are super strict and will fine you in a minute.

Flyers

Flyers are another inexpensive way to get the word out that you buy houses. Just create a flyer telling people what you do and how to get in contact with you. Make copies for $.05 cents apiece and you have some really inexpensive advertising. It really is that simple. Then place these flyers on every bulletin board in your town. I also place some of them in those plastic sheet protectors so the rain won’t destroy them and put them up on telephone poles around neighborhoods I like to buy in. While not as large as the bandit signs, on poles actually IN the neighborhood they still attract calls. I carry a file with me in my truck and place them up whenever I stop at a grocery store or Wal-Mart. Some other places to put them are:

• Laundromats

• Taped to the inside of Pay phones

• On the counter of any business that will allow you

• Bulletin boards at Wal-Mart or K-Mart

• Grocery store bulletin boards

• Fax to Mortgage Brokers

• Fax to Real Estate Agents

• Take them Door to Door in target neighborhoods

• Employment Center Bulletin board

• County Courthouse Bulletin board

These are just a few examples. Any place that will allow you to put one is a good place. You can never let too many people know that you buy houses!

Promotional Items

These are some of my favorites and most fun. While they are not the top producers of leads or the least expensive, they will sure set you apart from the average investor.

Pen Knives – These tiny Swiss army knives are the coolest. They are actually key chains engraved with your message, mine being: WE BUY HOUSES- All cash or take over payments within 48 hours! Xxx-xxx-xxx I guarantee if you give one of these to someone they will keep it and if they think of selling, they will think of you. They are about $1.50 apiece.

Key Chains – I give these to all my buyers with the keys to their new house on them and leave them all over the place. They come in the shape of a house or #1 or whatever style you like and have your message on them. You can guess what mine says. Cost – about $. 25 cents apiece.

Pens – I use these all the time. Whenever I sign a sales receipt or anything I leave my pen. I can’t tell you how many calls I have gotten off of these things and since I always need one, I always have one to give away. My attorney even has a supply on his closing table. Mine are the “click” type and have my message repeating around the barrel. I have two types printed. One for sellers says “We Buy Houses!” and one for buyers says “Everyone Qualifies”. Cost – about $.21 cents apiece.

Coin Holders – These you hardly find anymore so everyone is surprised when I have them. I leave these things everywhere. Mine are bright yellow with blue letters and my message. Cost – about $.30 cents apiece.

I leave all of these promotional items everywhere, on the top of gas pumps, on end-cap displays in grocery stores and in department stores. I look at it this way, if I give away 100 pens, 50 knives and 50 coin holders a month, that is only a little over $100 bucks a month. That is still cheap advertising. You can get any of these promotional advertising products at National Pen. Their website address is www.pens.com or you can call my rep “Madison” directly at 1-888-672-9810. Always ask for her specials and tell her William sent you.

Business Cards

I order business cards by the 1000’s and you should as well. They are cheap, mine are about $50.00 for 2000, and I pass them out everywhere. I leave my cards everywhere, in pay phones, on restaurant tables, my kids even have their own supply to pass out. Try to get a box a week out. The card doesn’t have to be fancy, in fact the simpler the better. My card is bright yellow with blue letters and says:

WE BUY HOUSES
Foreclosure? Need Repairs? Bad Tenants? Divorce?
CASH IN 48 HOURS!
OFFERS MADE ON ALL CALLS!
XXX-XXX-XXXX

Car Magnetics

Magnetics are one of those things where you spend once and get use for a long time. Mine cost about $75.00 and are yellow with blue letters. They say:

WE BUY HOUSES!
FA$T CA$H
XXX-XXX-XXXX

I have gotten several deals from these signs. Remember to order a smaller set for the back of your car/truck. People have more of a chance to read the message when they are riding behind you.

Clothing

I like golf shirts and oxford dress shirts with my logo on them. There’s plenty of advertsing houses that will help you design a logo if you don’t have one or use the one you already have. There is no charge for set up and all items ordered include your embroidered logo free. They also have cool baseball caps and other stuff there as well. They have specials for new customers at great prices.
I pass my hats out to everyone I know who wears one and have given away many shirts as well. They really look nice and present a nice image for your business.

Other Advertising Tools

There are many other forms of advertising, some I have tried in the past such as billboards, door hangers, yellow pages, television and radio advertising. I even have a traveling billboard, an old SUV painted bright yellow with blue WE BUY HOUSES! and my phone number that I drive around and park overnight at different places. It gets the calls! Get the marketing going and let the world know who to call when they have a house to sell. If that phone isn’t ringing, you aren’t making money!

William Tingle currently wholesales and rehabs several deals every year but his real niche is what he calls “Sub2”, buying subject to existing financing. To date, he has taken the deed on almost 100 properties and continues to buy 20 to 25 properties a year in this manner.

Mr. Tingle is the founder and head of the Macon Real Estate Investment Association in Macon, Georgia. He also owns and operates his own web site at www.Sub2Deals.com.

Best No Money Down Ways to Buy Real Estate

By Scott Taylor

If you’ve been reading articles or books on Creative Real Estate Investing, you’ve doubtless heard many, many different ways to buy houses, condos, townhouse and any other real estate you can think of. These include:

Lease/Options (more correctly Sandwich Lease / Options)
Master Lease / Option for multi-unit properties
Contract for Deed (A.K.A. All Inclusive Trust Deed, or Installment Land Contract)
Subject – To
Owner Carry
Wraparound Mortgage
Traditional Purchase

Confused yet? I know that the first time I heard many of these terms I certainly was. So let’s break these down briefly, and I’ll explain what I like and don’t like about them.

Sandwich Lease / Option

This is where you (rather your company) signs a lease with an option to purchase a property. The agreement gives you the right to sublease to another. You’re the middleman leasing for a low monthly cost with a low purchase price and a long term from the homeowner, then you lease it back out for just above market rent and a future appreciated price to a potential buyer. You make monthly cash flow, and when (IF) they buy you get the difference in price. You also get a decent upfront option payment that you get to keep if your tenant / buyer moves out.

Easy, huh? Well, yes and no. This is probably the easiest way of presenting a creative purchase to the homeowner, and the easiest to explain. However, sometimes the legal aspects of a lease / option are shaky, and if you have a homeowner that won’t work with you, you could be in for issues. The key here is you have to protect yourself with the right agreements and escrow documents.

The other side is you have to know your landlord / tenant laws and make sure you follow them and that your contracts follow them. You could be in trouble if you don’t.

Given the warnings above, I’d recommend this method over anything else to someone just getting started. While there is a bit of paperwork to use to protect yourself, it’s the easiest to manage. And there can be great profits in lease / options.

Master Lease / Option

Same as the Lease / Option but with a master lease agreement that lets you rent out individual units in a multi-unit apartment building.

Contract for Deed

This is known by different names in different states. Here in Colorado, it’s an Installment Land Contract. Other places it’s an All-Inclusive Trust Deed, or a Contract for Deed. All the same, just different names.

A Contract for Deed is just what the name says. It’s a contract for the deed to a property. The contract usually involves making payments to the owner and after a period of time you guarantee to purchase the property. Whereas a lease / option gives you the right, but not the obligation to purchase, a Contract for Deed obligates you to buy.

This one’s a bit more complicated, but essentially the same as the Lease / Option. You buy it on the contract, then rent it out to a Tenant / Buyer. They usually won’t buy so you get their monthly rent, and keep the option deposit if they don’t buy.

This is my second choice for people just beginning. It’s easy to explain to the homeowner, it makes them feel like they still have some control, and they like the sound of it. Also, most title companies understand the Contract for Deed, and will do the closing for you.

Subject To

This is a much more difficult deal to get. This is the one deal where the homeowner will tell you how to buy instead of the other way around. I never have signed up a Subject-To by suggesting it. The homeowner has ALWAYS told me “just take the house – I’ll sign it over to you”.

It’s honestly sad to see people so desperate, but the sense of relief you see in their eyes when you say “okay” is phenomenal. Some people think that real estate investors are sharks, but I’ve never hugged a shark after they’ve had their way with me. I have, however, received a hug or a hearty handshake almost every time I’ve taken a house over subject-to. People are in such a bind that having someone help them out really does wonders for them.

A subject-to is pretty basic on the surface. A homeowner in financial trouble signs a deed to his or her house over to you. The loan stays in their name, and you make the payments. Under the hood, though, there are a number of things you need to do to make sure you’re protected. Putting the property in a land trust, signing the deed to the land trust, then naming your company as the beneficiary is just one of the things you need to do to protect yourself. Before you do this type of deal, make sure you have the right education and paperwork.

This is by far my favorite way to sign up houses. But it’s not for beginners. I recommend this after you’ve been investing for a year or two. Not because of the legal issues with this, but because I truly believe that you’re very obligated to follow through on this deal. If it goes sour, you’re stuck. Maybe not legally, but morally and ethically. You have to make the payments no matter what.

Owner Carry

Yet another great way to buy. However there’s one drawback – the owner almost always wants a down payment. If you’ve been investing for awhile and have the money that’s great, but if you’re just starting out and you don’t it’s probably not for you.

This one is pretty self-explanatory. You buy the house and the owner carries a mortgage. Generally this is a property that has no existing mortgage, so the owner is allowed to write you a mortgage without worrying about the due on sale clause.

Again, this is a great way to buy a property as the mortgage doesn’t show up on your credit. But you need to have the cash for the down payment.

Wraparound Mortgage

This is basically an Owner-Carry, but there is an existing mortgage on the property. The owner “wraps” a new mortgage around that and sells the house to you with the new mortgage. The only drawback of this is you have to make sure to write your paperwork so that the due on sale clause isn’t triggered. You can do this similar to the Subject-to, by putting it into a Land Trust.

Traditional Purchase

Please, Please, PLEASE don’t buy houses retail unless it’s a really great, smokin’ hot deal! Please?

Here’s how I like to buy traditionally. Buy a wreck of a house from a bank, from HUD, or from a wholesaler. Make sure that the price of the house, plus all the costs fixing it up don’t go over 80% of the fixed up value of the house.

Buy the house, fix it up, then refinance it, pull all the money out that you put in buying it and fixing it, then rent it out or do a rent-to-own. When you’ve refinance and pulled your money out, do it again. A good investor can do four or more houses a year this way. The only fly in the ointment here is that eventually the mortgage companies will cut you off and you won’t be able to buy any more. Then you’ll have to resort to the above methods. But by then you should have enough cash flow that you can pretty much sit on your butt all day if you’d like.

So to sum up:

As you’re just getting started, concentrate on Lease / Options first. Once you’ve gotten your feet wet and understand what a good deal vs. a bad deal is, move on to Contract for Deed, then finally to Subject-To. Throw in some Owner Carry and Traditional purchases and in ten years you can retire and NEVER have to worry about money again.

Scott Taylor is a successful Real Estate Investor, trainer and Web Entrepreneur. He has taught hundreds of students to become wealthy through Real Estate. Mr. Taylor also runs successful website businesses, and reviews Internet businesses.

Whenever I can, I prefer to do a subject-to deal. I only do a lease option deal as a last resort. I usually end up doing lease options with savvy landlords who don’t want to give up ownership of the property (they want to keep all of the tax deductions).

Here are a few of the reasons why I like subject-to’s better. First, I own the property. The deed is in my company name. Second, I get all of the tax deductions and benefits of owning the property. Third, I don’t have to deal with any third parties or sellers because I own the house.

Here’s why I want to do lease options last: Because you only control the property, you do not own it. This means you have to trust the owner and you will never do a lease option deal with someone who is in financial trouble. Of course, you don’t simply trust the seller. You have your ironclad paperwork. You go to the courthouse and record a memorandum of option to cloud the title on the property (so they can’t sell it behind your back). You ALWAYS make the mortgage payment directly to the company (because if you send the owner a check, and they don’t pay the mortgage then you’re screwed).

In some cases the monthly rent you’re paying will be larger than the mortgage payment. Here’s an actual deal of mine: I owe the owner $1,000 a month and his mortgage is $890. So, every month I pay the mortgage company $890 and then I send the owner a check for the difference of $110.

You will also want to run a credit check on the seller. Make sure he’s not in debt up to his ears. And use an authorization to release form to check the monthly payments and mortgage balance. All of these items are so important because remember you’re promising your tenant/buyer that they will have the option to own the home down the line. If your seller goes bankrupt, or puts liens against the property then you won’t be able to sell to the tenant/buyer and you’ll lose your backend payday of $30,000+.

Luckily, I have never had a problem with a lease option deal. All of the sellers I have worked with have been honest and very thankful for the help I gave them. In a way, this is just like screening a tenant……you screen the sellers up front that way you know your deals will close and you won’t have any problems down the line.

I am often asked whether or not there are still good real estate deals out there with the market constantly changing like it has been. I believe that the real estate market will always experience ups and downs and as Real Estate Investors we need to be trained on utilizing the best tools to locate the motivated sellers within those markets.

I also know that we need to learn to be flexible in our marketing in order to bring in the highest number of new deals. I often hear comments like, “you were just lucky” or “you got in on the real estate game when there were still lots of deals out there, it’s just not that way anymore”. Those folks couldn’t be more wrong in their thinking. This is just “stinkin’ thinkin’” as my friend and mentor Ron LeGrand would say. There are always deals to be made if you know where to look for them no matter what the market is doing. This is just a matter of having a marketing mind.

Using direct mail to attract motivated sellers is always one of the best tools in the real estate business for locating highly motivated sellers on a regular basis no matter what the real estate market is doing. There are several reasons for this.

The first reason is that generally speaking, there is no competition for these properties whatsoever. Most of your competitors don’t use targeted direct mail campaigns to locate motivated sellers; and the sellers themselves generally don’t know they are going to sell their property until they receive contact from you.

You see, these sellers have a problem to solve regarding their property; they just don’t know how to do it until they receive contact from you and know you are there to help them. These are the unique sellers your competitors simply don’t know about.

Secondly, once you build a machine whereby you have direct mail going out on a regular basis, you create an ongoing source of leads as you continue to build credibility with the sellers you are mailing to regularly.

Not only do you have deals coming at you today, you are constantly planting seeds for future deals. Direct Mail campaigns are the only marketing technique where you can create this scenario. As these sellers’ situations change, they will contact you first because you have taken the time to create credibility with them through your mailings, even if they are contacted by someone else in the interim.

One of the things I love about Direct Mail is that fact that you can also control the number of sellers who are contacting you at any given time by controlling the number of mailings that go out.  You can also control the types of sellers who are contacting you and the types of properties you want to purchase. In a changing market, this ability is especially important and using direct mail is the only marketing tool available that gives you the opportunity to pick and choose the types of sellers you want to deal with.

Another really great advantage of using direct mail to locate motivated sellers is that since it is targeted to specific lists and specific types of sellers, you are getting the very best use of the marketing dollars available to you. I understand that the more direct mail campaigns you do, the higher the response rate gets. And the more targeted the mailing, the higher a response rate you will get. So the more you do it, and the more targeted the mailing, the less the cost per lead and per deal. Direct mail is the only marketing technique out there that allows you to have these controls.

In addition, you are using your available marketing dollars to target specific types of sellers as opposed to other types of marketing like signage or an ad where you are hitting a much broader market area and hoping someone in that group has a property for sale.

I firmly believe that you should always have between three and five marketing techniques working for you at any given time and one of them should absolutely be direct mail campaigns to motivated sellers. You can continuously customize your mailings so you can target specific types of sellers within your market, so you are able to “flex” with your market as your market continues to change. Direct mail is the only type of advertising that allows you to do this.

There are several great ways to get the lists you need to mail to. For the most part they are very easy to get. I get lists to mail to from my local newspaper, from the property assessors office, from mailing list companies, from the courthouse, and from on-line resources.

There are also several national mailing list companies that can customize whatever types of lists you need. I strongly suggest that you make sure the lists you are using are coming from a reliable source and that the information on them is current.

When deciding what marketing tools to use in your real estate business to locate motivated sellers, direct mail absolutely needs to be one of your primary tools. It is definitely one of the most inexpensive, effective, and powerful tools there is to locate highly motivated sellers and create very profitable deals for your business.

For more information on attracting motivated sellers and buyers for your real estate investing business, and locating all the list resources you need for your business, be sure and visit my website at www.marketingmagiclady.com.