Flavour of the Year in South Florida Real Estate?

by Dave Peniuk

I find myself all excited by the prospect of buying real estate in Florida. If it weren’t for the fact that it’s a pain to get to from Vancouver, the insurance on properties is really high, and the taxes are painfully steep for an out of state buyer I might actually have done more than just look at books, pictures and listing sheets on my recent trip. The fact is, I like it there, and it’s easy to get excited by South Florida real estate because it seems like it’s ‘on sale’.

Even on a windy day I think South Florida is beautiful

Julie and I have been there 4 times over the past 2+ years, not for vacations, but rather for various conferences we’ve attended.

And while it would’ve been nice to have enjoyed all the spectacular beaches, Mexican and Cuban restaurants and fun dance clubs to get a real feel for SoFlo (I don’t know if that has been termed before, but I am officially calling it SoFlo!), we still have had some time to enjoy all the eclectic areas from South Beach all the way up to Delray Beach.

But the one thing that excites me the most is the “sale” of Florida real estate.

Now, to be frank, there are still a derth of high end luxury homes all across the South Florida real estate market. There are $1MM, $2MM, $5MM, and even $15MM homes all across this area of Florida. It makes my hometown of Vancouver (largely considered one of the most expensive places to live in the world) seem like a bargain! But what I am finding now is that the “affordable” places are now pretty darn cheap in comparison to 2 years ago (Oct 2007) when we first visited this lovely place.

After scanning through “The Real Estate Book” and “Homes & Land of the Palm Beaches” – two free magazines that show you all the deals, foreclosures, preforeclosures and now SHORT SALES available across Palm Beach County – I have found a considerable number of affordable bungalows, townhomes and condos all in decent areas (from my little research I have conducted) and many only a hop, skip, and a jump from the beach.

<This was confirmed when we met with Shae Bynes of Good Faith Investing. Check out the video Julie filmed with Shae.>

The other interesting finding I observed from leafing through these listings magazines is the number of times that “short sale” is used in the listing!

Two years ago when we first started looking at real estate in SoFlo, you rarely saw the phrase short sale in these magazines.

You saw terms like “pre-foreclosure”, “bank owned”, and “REO”, now, the realtors can’t get enough of short sales. My favourite use of the phrase is “priced as a short sale”.

Oh, and there are Short Sale Specialists now! Now, forgive me for being ignorant (we don’t have short sales in Canada), but have short sales not been around for many years? Why is it that it’s all the rage now (I guess because banks/lenders are more willing to entertain it as there are more borrowers under-water than ever before – oh, I guess I answered my own question!)?

So What Is the Difference between a Short Sale & A Foreclosure?

I had to ask JP Moses over at REI Tips to make sure I didn’t steer you wrong … and he said:

A short sale is in essence a lender agreeing to settle for less than what’s owed on a property.  In order to approve of it, the lender would have to be convinced it’s in their own best interests to do so.  Sometimes it is and sometimes it isn’t.

Basically a preforeclosure seller gets a buyer (often an investor) who’s willing to buy but is only willing to pay $X, which is less than the mortgage balance.  The owner and potential buyer then make their case that it’s in everyone’s best interest (including the bank’s) to go ahead and let the property sell now for a discount than to foreclose and let it become a negative asset for an extended period of time as an REO.  If they bank agrees and the stars align, then a short sale is approved.  The seller will typically get either a 1099a or a deficiency judgment for the amount of the discount granted.

This would all take place prior to the actual foreclosure, while the property’s still in pre-foreclosure status.  Once the foreclosure sale takes place, a short sale isn’t possible – the bank already owns the property and it would move towards being liquidated as an REO.

I can’t wait to see the next HGTV show called: “Susan and Sam – Short Salers from South Beach“. It will last for about 1 season, then the real estate market (and lagging news reporters and media) will find some new term/phrase/new fantastic-never-done-before-strategy that will come to a television set near you! Okay, I digress.

The point I am trying to make, although in a very round about way, is that real estate is not a phase, it’s not a fancy multi-million dollar making “hip” strategy, it’s not what any of these television shows, news reporters, or even realtors considered “on sale now” and the “best opportunity in your lifetime”, it’s an investment that needs to be researched, planned, and taken care of.

And while the SoFlo market could be considered “on sale” at least when compared to the past several years, please don’t think that just by buying something called “priced as a short sale” means you are going to flip that property for $50,000 profit within 2 months UNLESS you know what a real deal looks like and you know what you’re doing.

There is a never-ending barrage of real estate guru’s who tell you they can teach you how to make thousands if not millions in these quick, easy, simple, “passive” real estate strategies. But don’t be fooled. You won’t make a crapload of money just by reading a book or attending one seminar. But you might make a lot of money if you actually “work” at what you are learning. As Julie and I always say, real estate investing is simple, but it’s not easy.

So, when you get all excited about the “cheap” real estate out there. Whether it’s in SoFlo, California, Las Vegas, or anywhere in between, just remember you have to work at it if you want it to be a real investment.

And now that I am back in Vancouver, I’m content to continue shopping for real estate in my local markets. The weather isn’t as warm and there aren’t as many lovely beaches but at least I won’t have to spend 12 hours traveling to see the properties!

If you would like to learn more about real estate investing in the Florida market we highly recommend you check out our blogging pals Steph Davis and Shae Bynes. We think you’ll really like their deal updates and other great posts they share over at their blogs!

4 of 5 Private Money Blueprint Winners … Will You Be #5?

by Julie Broad

When I was crowned the Battle of the REI Blogs Champion I wasn’t the only winner!

I was given 5 Private Money Blueprint programs that I could give away to people that voted for me! That is not a small prize my f riends. Private money is a critical piece to the real estate investing puzzle these days. We’ve always used private money to help us with financing parts of our deals but these days it’s often the absolute best (and sometimes only) source of reasonably priced financing you’ll find. So this prize is something that can really help you!!

So… we went through all the votes we received in the contest and randomly drew from the voters. We  selected 5 winners … but one of the winners has failed to claim their prize so we’ve decided to give it away to one of our valued Rev N You readers!! Here’s how you can win a copy… (by the way … it sells for $697 and really it’s actually worth way more than that. By following the tips, resources, and advice in the program could help finance or complete your next deal! And learn how to save the effort and paperwork that a bank requires!).

To enter the contest for a copy of the Private Money Blueprint:

Post a comment at the bottom telling us what you want to achieve and how the Private Money Blueprint program will help you reach your goal!

It’s simple … a sentence or two will do. We just want to make sure that you’ll use this program. We’ll get Patrick Riddle to select his favourite 5 entries and then we’ll randomly draw from those 5.

DEADLINE: November 24th at 5pm EST

At that time Patrick will make his selections and we’ll do the random draw. We’ll announce the winner on November 27th here on the blog.

Sound good?

And now… for the OTHER 4 WINNERS of a COPY OF THE PRIVATE MONEY BLUEPRINT.

<drum roll please……………..>

 

 

Brian Dolan of Owen Sound, ON, Canada

Zimbabwe Real Estate Millionaire Student Monica Mutuma

The other two winners were camera shy... Murray from Point Roberts, WA, USA and Sam Ahmadi from Coquitlam, BC, Canada

Congratulations to the winners!

And – thanks again to everyone who voted me in as the Champion of the 2009 Battle of the REI Blogs!!

We will be presenting the SPCA Biscuit Fund with a $500 donation very soon!! Stay tuned…

Now… head on down to place your entry for your own copy of the Private Money Blueprint!! You have until the 24th of November to be entered to win!!

Losing friends

by Dave Peniuk

I struggle.  I really really struggle.  I struggle with the fact that I need to change. Not just who I am and what I have done over the years, but also with who I hang out with. Who I call or email on a daily or weekly basis.  You see, I have heard many times from all the really successful entrepreneurs and business people out there that if you take the 5 or 6 people that you spend the MOST time with, you basically add up to the average of those 6 people.

Now, think about that.  Just take a second and really think about those 6 people.  And I don’t suggest you count your closest family (spouse, kids, family pet) members. Think beyond that. Also don’t include your co-workers because, really, they probably don’t count all that much in your “grand scheme of life”.  But, if you think about the 6 people beyond those parameters, you probably do add up to their average. Is that a good thing? Is it a bad thing? Well, let’s not judge whether or not it’s a good or bad thing, but let’s just think whether it is helping or hindering where we want to be in our own life. After Julie and I spent quite a bit of time at several conferences/seminars we asked ourselves this very question. Now, I am the one that “hangs onto my friends” a little more than Julie does. Why? Probably because I am okay with talking on the phone. Julie, on the other hand, would rather take a small mallet and rapiditly hit her kneecap than talk on the phone ( yes, it’s THAT bad). So, it was I that had to figure out whether I would hold myself back by mostly continuing my association with ol’ time friends that really had little to do with what I want to do with my life.

So, where am I? Well, so far I am working towards focusing on spending more time with people/mentors/friends that I want to be more like. I am spending more of my time following real estate investors that have like-minded strategies and that I appreciate and can relate to. It’s not to say that I will stop hanging with my friends that are going in an opposite direction than me. But rather, I will make a more concerted effort to spend more time with people that are moving in the direction that I am moving.

Why? Because if I want to be the “best that I can be” (to steal a line from the army/navy), I have to surround myself with friends/people that are moving in the same direction. This is the absolutely the BEST way to help you achieve your ideal me.

Beautiful sunset north Vancouver Island - on fishing trip with my Dad

Real Estate Investing without Tenants, Toilets, Repairs and Property Management!

We’ve never really considered land for our real estate investments. We always thought land investing was a waiting game. We thought it was essentially buying a piece of land and then waiting for it to appreciate or for the time when rezoning or redeveloping the land makes financial sense. In the meantime you have taxes and mortgage costs to pay down. And, I still think that is often how people do it. I know that is how many residential developers and home builders do it.

For us, investing in land has been a matter of buying pieces of property with little houses on them.

We didn’t buy the properties because we loved the houses or because we were going to make good money from the cash flow they generate – we bought them because there’s enormous redevelopment potential for that street and the little homes on the land will pay the land holding costs while we wait to buy other properties around those two lots and the time is right to redevelop.

We’re not putting cash in our pockets from these properties but we bought them for nearly no money down and they aren’t costing us anything to hold while the mortgages are getting paid down.

But, there is a lot of appeal to buying land.

There are no tenants, toilets, property repairs or management issues to deal with. There also is a lot of flexibility in what the land can become – if you buy the right piece of land.

So… when I heard about Jack Bosch and his land expertise I started to look into what he’s been doing. I’ve been going through his course called the Land Profit Generator and I shot this little video to tell you about some of the free information you can get from Jack. If you’re like us, and you’ve always thought land was a tough way to make money as a real estate investor then this is definitely worth checking out.

I will try and shoot another video later this week that is about his program … but for now, just check out the free Land Profits report and the videos Jack is sharing with everyone.

And… just for fun… here’s a few pictures from the Chris Evert Pro-Celebrity Tennis Event we attended in Delray Beach this weekend. Celebrities like Elisabeth Shue, Gavin Rossdale and Martina Navratilova were playing tennis for charity yesterday. And, Jon Lovitz was on hand to provide a ton of entertainment (and actually, Martina Navratilova was pretty witty herself!).

Martina Navratilova serving

Elisabeth Shue with Monica Seles vs. Chris Evert with Gavin Rossdale

Take Action

This is a guest post by fellow Canadian Marc-Andre Terriault

A lot of people don’t realize how taking action is part of their daily lives. It’s basically found in everything you do… When you get up in the morning, you’re taking action. When you walk over to the bathroom, you’re also taking action. When you brush your teeth, you guessed it, you’re taking action. And these actions that you take can go on and on for the whole day. The reason we don’t realize this is because we have formed a habit of doing them.

And I can guarantee that these actions you have taken for so many years are not doing anything for you. Why? You have unconsciously programmed yourself to constantly do those actions.

What you need to do in order to find success in your life is to start by taking precise action to achieve the goals that you set out for yourself.

Now, let’s look at an example: if your goal is to run a marathon, then the actions that you need to take have to be specifically related to that goal. Some of the actions that you may take include: Running three times a week for 30 mins, stretching, weight training etc. But these actions cannot be done automatically; you must make a CONSCIOUS effort. That is what makes the difference.

Another example would be investing in real estate. Here’s a quick list of some of the actions that you would take to find success: searching for viable investment locations, considering which properties would be best for your system, making an offer, closing the offer with a lawyer, finding a tenant, etc.

You see, success is directly related to the action you take toward a specific goal that you have.

But the most important thing about taking action is taking action on taking action. I hope I didn’t confuse you. But allow me to explain. When you decide to take action you’ve accomplished the very first step which is very good but in reality this is the second most critical part. The most critical part is actually doing what you said you were going to do.

Now when it comes to “the most critical part”, a lot of people have the same excuses. Right from the start they give themselves a reason why they can’t be successful. And I hear the same ones time and time again. The two most popular excuses are: I don’t have time or I don’t have any money!

That’s when I ask them specific questions related to the goal that they may have. Questions like: “so why don’t you wake up 30 mins earlier in the morning to go and run?” or “Why don’t you look for some investors to help you purchase a property?”

When I listen to their answers, I always hear more excuses. And that tells me that these people are not ready to find success. Even though they say they want to accomplish a particular goal, deep down they don’t want to take action to actually find success.

Things in life don’t just happen; the great physicist Sir Isaac Newton once said: “for each action there is an equal re-action”. This rule also applies in the opposite direction. Tell yourself: “When I do nothing, nothing happens” (action = doing nothing, re-action = nothing happens).

After reading this I hope that you can really understand the meaning of “Actions speaks louder then words”.

So the next time you feel that you are not finding success in your life, ask yourself “what specific action am I taking towards accomplishing my goals?”

CHEERS TO THE GOOD LIFE!

If you like what you just read then you’ll love the information that Marc-Andre provides in his e-book title “It Starts Here: Discover How You Can Find Success in Your Life“

If You’re a Real Estate Investor You’re In Marketing

I emphasized this point when I told you the Top 3 Real Estate Investing Books every new investor should read, and I’ve definitely talked about this before:

If you are a real estate investor – you must understand marketing!

In fact, the better you get at marketing, the easier it will get to make money with less effort as a real estate investor.

So… what are some of the fundamental marketing principles you need to understand? Well, that is what I cover in my latest article that you’ll find in the November 2009 Edition of Healthy Wealthy N Wise!

Check out my article called: Why You Must Master Direct Marketing for Real Estate Investing Success

AND – Today is a day of celebration for me!! It’s my one year “freedom” anniversary! This time last year I left my job to pursue our online business and our real estate investing adventures full time. In many ways it really feels like I just left my job … and I will be honest in saying that I haven’t replaced the cushy salary that I was making … yet! But I have not had a single moment where I regret the decision and I owe that to the fabulous readers of Rev N You and my fabulous support team of friends and family (especially Dave!).

We have so much to celebrate at Rev N You this week, so we’re going to do a couple of extra special things for our readers in the next 10 days. If you’re not already a Rev N You with real estate newsletter subscriber you might want to sign up now so you don’t miss a thing!! It’s free …

Plus – we have 5 copies of the Private Money Blueprint to give away from our Battle of the REI Blogs 2009 victory so watch for the winners here!

 

Battle of the REI Blogs 2009 Champion

We won! We won! We won!

You can check out all of the comments and results over at Must Know Investing

For now, I just want to give a big shout out to the other 4 bloggers that made up the Top 5 in this contest:

In second place, Ron Mead kept us hopping over here all week. I have a feeling he didn’t have to try that hard to get the strong showing that he had, so we’re going to have to train hard to hold onto this title in 2010. He’s now threatening to get involved with Social Media so that he can really drum up votes next year. <Gulp!>

In third place, my new friend Steph Davis came on strong with a loyal following that really rallied behind her in the last day to put her in the top 3. And her dog Jim and our dog Bram have become fast friends. It’s too bad we’re so far apart being on totally opposite ends of North America from each other or the two dogs would probably really be best friends. I know Bram and I will be checking out her blog on a very regular basis and I think you should too – you’ll love it.

In fourth place, the formidable JP Moses held third for most of the contest until Steph pushed him out on the last day. Judging by the awesome comments he received in the votes, I think his blog is worth paying attention to. I know we’ll be visiting it on a regular basis.

Finally, in fifth place, my new dancing partner Susan Lassiter-Lyons put in a strong showing, and also brought in some incredibly strong comments from her audience. Judging by some of the comments from her readers I think you should definitely jump on any teleseminars or webinars that she hosts.

And, of course, a special mention to Patrick Riddle for putting so much time and effort into this contest. It’s been such a fantastic week and we’ve really enjoyed meeting so many new people… both the bloggers and the new readers!

Thank you to everyone who voted for Rev N You in this contest!!!

And now for the really exciting news… 5 of the people who voted for us will be awarded a copy of the Private Money Blueprint!!

So, we have to go through the voters and select the winners. If you have ideas or suggestions about how we should choose, or you just want to tell us why one of the five copies should be yours please let me know!! We want to sort that out in the next day or so!!

And if you’re new here, we invite you to subscribe to our free real estate investing newsletter as we don’t always publish all our stories and articles to our blog and website. Sometimes we just share certain things with our readers… and we’d love to have you as part of our Rev N You family.

Battle of the Real Estate Investing Blogs is Heating Up

First of all, thank you to everyone that has taken the time to vote in the Battle of the REI Blogs 2009! I have been absolutely overwhelmed at the incredible support and positive comments you have made about Rev N You and our content! And, you’ve inspired us to  provide even better content and resources to help you as a real estate investor! Thank you!

But – the battle is not over!! The competitors are proving to be very creative and they are coming to battle with very strong followings. While I am holding on to a very slim lead at the moment, there’s a full day left in the battle so I NEED YOU!!

And in case the first 5 reasons to vote for me weren’t enough, I’ve decided to give you a 6th reason to vote for me and help me win this battle:

So please head on over to MustKnowInvesting.com and place your vote in the 2009 Battle of the REI Blogs.

All you have to do is place a comment at the very bottom of the page saying that you vote for Julie Broad. There is no opt in required. It’s very simple and it will only take you about 20 seconds… although I do encourage you to check out the other bloggers after you vote. The other people in this contest deliver fantastic content in their space and are very worthy competitors in the battle!

Thank you for your support!

When I win the Battle of the REI Blogs I will donate $500 to a BC animal shelter

It’s an all out real estate investing blog war

My friend Patrick Riddle is hosting a battle of the real estate investing blogs competition over at his blog and I need your help!! Please place your vote for my blog! All you have to do is type who your favourite blogger is in the Comment section at the bottom of the MustKnowInvesting.com page!

5 Reasons Why You Should Vote For My Real Estate Investing Blog

And… in case supporting me and our blogging efforts, and the 5 reasons I gave you above aren’t enough, the winning blogger gets to award 5 of their voters (could be YOU) a FREE Private Money Blueprint Home Study System (Valued at $697 a piece)!

Sooooo, I need your help! I’m up against the cream of the crop, the A- List of real estate investing bloggers and need your vote …

Click Here to Cast Your Vote

And after you’ve placed your vote please do check out the other bloggers participating. The overall premise of the contest is to “get to know” the best of the best real estate investing bloggers and connect with them through social media.

When you head over to the main contest page, you’ll see that each blogger participating has a profile that includes a link to their blog and links to their social media profile pages.

And for all you Twitterers out there, there’s a “Tweet About Your Fav Blogger” link too … sooooo it’s easy to get the word out to all your followers about your favorite blogger (hopefully that’s yours truly) and the contest!

Now, get on over to cast your vote in the “Battle of the REI Blogs” (just type who your favourite blogger is at the bottom of that page – I hope it’s ME!!)

Thanks for your support!

Ron LeGrand’s Quick Turn Real Estate

I found myself sitting among 450 real estate investors in a cold, large conference room in Edmonton, Alberta. What was I doing here? Why were so many others doing the same thing as me…..waiting…..wondering….anticipating?  What was the “big” deal about listening to Ron LeGrand – the Grand Poppa of short term, “risk-free” real estate investing?

Well, to take you back a few weeks prior to the event, I found myself getting “told” that I would be attending this event with my Father-In-Law. You see, my wife, Julie (who usually maintains this blog and our website http://www.revnyou.com ) registered me while I was out on a commercial halibut fishing trip with my Dad. I was not advised, nor was I even asked if I wanted to go. Julie, as you are probably already aware, is a take-charge kind of gal. When she gets focused on an idea, strategy, objective, she goes for it!

And when the possibility of attending Ron LeGrand’s first Canadian seminar in 6 years came up, she jumped at it.

Of course, she didn’t jump into going to snowy, chilly, Edmonton, herself…..noooooo, she sent her Father and myself. Why didn’t she just go, I asked when she told me I get to ride a plane to Edmonton in mid-October? “Because you need to get creative again!” she replied. “You need to think outside the box like you did when we first started investing in real estate over 8 years ago”.

And, this coupled with the fact that we almost exclusivelybuy using the Buy And Hold strategy and conventional financing, pushed her to get me going on different strategies. So, I agreed to go (not that I had a choice! ) and Rick (Julie’s Father) came along with me.

Rick and Ruth-Anne also are Buy N Hold peeps, they just buy commercial property whereas we buy residential. But all of us wanted to learn how to buy real estate with little to no money of our own, not have to use our credit, not have to personally guarantee a loan or mortgage, and furthermore, how to make $5k, $10k, $50k, and up in a relatively short period of time!

Sounds to good to be true, don’t it? Well, after 4 days of learning everything from finding “junkers” (low cost housing in need of some repair) to “pretty houses”, to finding motivated sellers to motivated buyers – we are very confident we can apply his Quick Turn strategies to help increase our cashflow and become even more well rounded real estate investors.

I will write more in a future blog about his strategies but for now, I thought it worth mentioning that we hope you, our readers, will hold us accountable.

Why do I ask this of you? Well, it’s like anything in life, when you set a Goal for yourself, it’s always better to let people know that you have set this Goal and that you intend to reach it. With a good support network, they will keep you on track – asking you how it’s going, have you reached your goal, what have been the obstacles along the way? This is very important because we often need a push or a hand to keep us going, keep the momentum rolling.

And with that, I ask that you keep an eye on us by checking in on our little blog here to see how our new Quick Turn business is coming along. Julie and myself will update you with our progress, give you tips and ideas of how the strategies work (or don’t work), and we encourage you to ask us questions and give your own feedback if you are applying the same strategies. We hope to make this a beneficial journey as we commence a new, and exciting real estate venture.

Until next time!