IS IT POSSIBLE TO INVEST IN REAL ESTATE PART TIME?

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By Glenn Mananeng

Real estate investing is a great way to build wealth. This is an opportunity to invest your savings while working, studying or just enjoying life with family and friends as a passive investor and spending minimal or spending more time on projects as an active investor. This surely is a big decision; therefore, you need all the pros and cons from experienced individuals in the real estate industry.

New investors often find themselves lacking in time or resources to commit 100% in the business, leading them to ponder if it’s possible to do it part time. But is it possible though? Short answer, of course it is! Allow us here at Unique Wealth Education to show you the pros and cons of real estate investing.

PROS

Supplementary income – If you have another job on the side, you basically have two sources of income. This gives part time investors the advantage of having steady cash coming in while your real estate investment is generating cash flow or appreciation.

Fallback career – Part time investing lets you test out the waters. As good as it may seem, no industry is perfect and some have more risks involved compared to others, especially if you don’t have a mentor guiding you. Your investment properties will generate the income by itself and you can continue your current job. A win-win situation if you ask us!

Brand new network – Since you’re doing this part time, you probably have someone working with you. This gives you the opportunity to meet up with clients and fellow investors who can share valuable experiences. You might even pick up life lessons that will help you in other aspects along the way.

Flexibility – If you decide to have your investment driven by a reputable property management company with a reputable track record, you can go on your with your daily routine and agree on a convenient time to address any questions/issues. This is the case with many investors and it works out great.

CONS

Time-consuming – If you are a landlord, handling two jobs isn’t easy, especially if you decide to oversee your investments, such a rental homes (depending on the # of properties/units) without the expertise of a property management company. Dealing with the issues of getting a qualified tenant, maintenance issues that arise, and bottom line keeping your property rented continuously is a job.

Avoiding bad deals – If you are flipping, it is crucially important to be able to locate and asses properties in the right location, that has either a high rental demand or saleability. This is something that you can learn by being around experts that can help you assess the property by using current and future projected market data, a proforma and specific strategies. You will lose a lot of money if you buy in the wrong location and use the wrong (highest or wrong comparables) comps.

Not having a reliable construction contractor that can give you an accurate bid for the renovations prior to the purchase, can really hurt you if your budget is off. This is why investors (wholesaler or fix and flipper) should learn how to roughly budget the cost of renovations, as you never want to have the fate of my investment put into 1 contractors hands.

Lastly, weather your renting or flipping, have the right finishes. Take great pictures (before and after) when the project is completed, try to time the listing between school years which is the hottest selling and rental season.

By now, you probably realized that doing this part time or not, you need guidance from experienced real estate investors. Real estate investing can demand a lot of work part time or full time and this is particularly true when you have multiple properties already. Here are a few tips to do it effectively:

Find the right niche

You’re going to have to look into a strategy that has a more hands-free approach. It can get hard to choose from a vast array of real estate strategies out there. You only have a limited amount of time to commit therefore try looking into one what works for you and stick to it. The more you familiarize and master that particular niche, you’d be surprised how much less time you’re able to spend to produce results.

Generate leads

Focusing on lead generation can score you with the best deal in the real estate industry. Setting at least an hour or two a day (preferably at least 20 hours a week) marketing your business to generate leads can be a good start. Just a reminder, you have to understand that not all goods leads convert into successful deals prompting you to work even harder. You can ask around for suggestions to an effective lead generation program that can help you have a source of qualified leads and help yourself to a lot of data that meets your business criteria.

Expand your network

You need to have a network of professionals in real estate. Investing in this industry is a “people” business. You need to work with different types of people such as buyers, sellers, loan officer, mortgage brokers, appraisers, and the list goes on. Each person can provide a link for you to build a strong network.

Find a reputable mentor

Even the best investors were under the tutelage of a mentor. Joining a real estate team or finding a partner who does investments full time can provide insight and many benefits. These professionals are experienced, they know amazing deals. Factors like the right time to buy or sell, managing any risks that may come along the way, and increasing your chances to close the deal is a daily routine for them.

MORE INFORMATION:

Unique Wealth Education has a broad network of individuals who share the same passion in the real estate business. To help you expand your knowledge about the industry and be involved with professionals who are already active in the business, we invite you to our monthly meetup every first Thursday of each month. To learn more, call (734) 224-5454 or email us at [email protected]

How Much Of A Threat Are Zillow & The New iBuyers?

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By Fuquan Bilal

A new breed of iBuyers have their sites on transforming and taking over the real estate industry. How much of a threat are they really?

Hundreds of millions of dollars are being thrown into this new real estate strategy, and some of the most powerful companies are behind it. Should smaller real estate investors be worried?

The Rise of the iBuyer

‘iBuyers’ are the new name given to online home buyers who promise owners and sellers a quick transaction. The pitch is generally a cash offer and fast closing. While there are many small wholesalers across the country which may fall into this category, most notable are the big giants.

Zillow has moved into this space with its Zillow Offers program. Opendoor has attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in investment capital from funds like Softbank. Opendoor has also partnered with brokerage Redfin to buy up homes. Offerpad has partnered up with Keller Williams. Opendoor has also partnered up with home builder Lennar to promise a seamless transaction to cash in your old home and upgrade to one of Lennar’s newly built homes.

Buying the Business & Manipulating the Market

Zillow is notorious for losing billions of dollars in attempts to buy up different segments of the market. Their plans call for very slim margins and fast house flips. Opendoor smells a lot like other Silicon Valley startups which may be happy to lose a lot of money to push their competition out of the market.

Zillow is particularly worrisome due to how much influence they have over perceptions of home values. It’s easy for them to manipulate prices down when they want to buy, and up when they want to sell.

When you have a billion dollars to blow, it is pretty easy to artificially influence market prices in a given area and drown out the competition.

It’s something to watch.

Threat to the Economy

Perhaps the biggest threat these giant iBuyers present is to the housing and financial markets and the economy in general. While they may not yet be buying more than a few thousand properties each year, if they fail, they could leave many properties in foreclosure, cause huge losses for their investors, Wall Street and stockholders, and help vaporize billions of dollars from the economy.

These companies do not yet seem to have the experience to do this well. Their margins are slim. They could get stuck with a lot of inventory. Of course, this could be a great thing for those looking to buy up real estate in bulk.

Are iBuyers a Threat to Smaller Investors?

These giants may be of more help to smaller investment firms and individual investors than most realize.

It is true that they have a lot of advertising power and they may be happy to overpay for properties and can afford to outbid you. Yet, there is still a lot of room for everyone else.

To start, they are normalizing this form of buying and selling houses, which is great for everyone else.

So far the data shows that around 50% of offers they make are turned down by sellers. Plus, they charge hefty fees for the privilege of selling to them. Often 7% of the sales price or more. They still haven’t fully automated, meaning the process is much more traditional, involving inspections and Realtors, than they let on. Many sellers are going to be resistant to the fact that companies like Zillow are going to low ball them, and then put the listing on their own site for a profit the next day.

More significantly, these giants are moving slow. They are only in certain cities. Their buying criteria is pretty narrow. That leaves a lot of units for others to buy up. They may be generating a massive amount of Realtor leads in this way, but smart investors can leverage this noise to their own benefit.

Lastly, these iBuyers could become major buyers of your own real estate product too. Find the deals at the right prices and instantly flip them to Zillow and Opendoor.

It’s all about knowing who is in your market, what they are buying and for how much, and how you can use that to your own advantage.

Investment Opportunities

Find out more about investing in secured debt and real estate, go to NNG Capital Fund

Fuquan Bilal

Fuquan Bilal founded NNG in 2012 with the principal mission of capitalizing on the growing supply of mortgage notes in the interbank marketplace. Mr .Bilal utilizes his 17 years of residential and commercial real estate success to identify real estate opportunities and capitalize on them. To date, he has successfully managed three private mortgage note funds that primarily invest in singlefamily performing and non­performing mortgage notes. His financial acumen and proprietary set of investment criteria enable him to purchase underperforming real estate assets at a deep discount of face and market values, thereby increasing the value of the assets. This, coupled with his ability to maximize the use of leverage, enables him to build strong, secured portfolios with solid passive income flows.

Generational Opportunities For Creating Cash & Wealth In Real Estate

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Featuring Gerry Guterman 

The real estate market cycle appears to have come full circle again. This is one of those moments in which many will go broke, while others achieve substantial leaps in their wealth and incomes. It’s all about knowing how to take advantage of the market and the negligent moves of others.

While there are plenty of real estate investors still blindly and bullishly thrashing away in the market, and many uneasily eyeing where things are headed from the sidelines, the truly experienced are stepping in with predictable investment strategies. They see the same careless blunders being made by many of the same characters. They know where the market is going. They see the big opportunities to buy smart and convert assets into cash.

Where We Are in the Real Estate Cycle Now

It’s not rocket science. It’s no longer a closely guarded secret that only a few have the data on. All real estate professionals really need to do is look back at what was happening in 2005 to 2010. Then compare that to what’s happening around them today. You’ll see the same glaring mistakes.

Interest rates are going up, lending is tightening, oversupply is becoming an epidemic and too many people are paying too much for units that aren’t really a good fit for the market.

There are really only one of three choices to make in this phase of the market:

  1. Keep blindly investing and hold on as the sinking ships go down
  2. Do nothing and miss out on the best asset prices
  3. Replicate the successes of the biggest winners in similar historical cycles

Gerald (Gerry) Guterman and his firm sold out all of their real estate assets in 2006. They did it again in 2016. Since 1978 they’ve delivered 58.3% returns to their investors. Now Guterman Partners is in acquisition mode again.

Experience is Everything

Guterman Partners has managed almost 100M rentable square feet of real estate since 1969.

Among the buildings and locations they’ve been involved in that you may recognize are:

  • Galt Towers, Fort Lauderdale
  • Gramercy House, New York
  • Sutton Tower, New York
  • Ibis Club Apartment, Naples
  • Memorial Building, Houston
  • The Stanhope, New York

Gerry who is Senior Principal Partner and Chief Investment Officer at Guterman Partners has what is probably one of the strongest resumes in the business when it comes to being a sought out industry expert as well.

This includes being a guest lecturer at Cornell University. Being the founding benefactor of several charitable organizations and medical research facilities. Plus trusteeships and directorships with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, New York City Opera and Dallas Opera, as well as The Rent Stabilization Association of New York.

On an international level Gerry has been Chairman of the Committee on Banking and Finance at the United States Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC. He has been an advisor to the governments of Romania and Austria.

So, if anyone has the depth and breadth of experience to really understand what’s going on in the market, and the track record of knowing how to manage real estate assets during these times, Gerry is definitely up there at the top of the list. We were hugely blessed with the opportunity to catch up with him for an exclusive interview and his take on what’s happening now.

Once Again, Generational Real Estate Opportunities

Gerry recently published the latest of his white papers covering the state of the market, and where he sees the opportunities now.

Among the current challenges he tackles in his report are:

  • The increasing number of rental to condo conversions
  • Reducing value of condominium units
  • Cash flow problems due to rising costs and rates
  • Difficulty in refinance for developers
  • Over-leverage by builders
  • Lack of product to market fit
  • Reluctance of lenders to provide more debt
  • Oversupply of luxury condo units

What this all leads to is that many of these developers are sitting on a huge amount of inventory. Inventory on which they can’t really reduce retail prices on themselves. While they are facing more cash flow crunches and challenges in restructuring debt. In some cases individual developers in NYC are sitting on 1,000 or more unsold units. They need out.

It’s a repeat of 2004 to 2008 all over again.

Though when the same problems show up, the same opportunities for creating great cash and leaps in wealth arise too.

Strategies for Taking Advantage of the Current Market

Gerry told us his firm currently sees opportunities in:

  • Medical offices
  • Retail strip plazas
  • Family sized apartments

This is of course restricted to certain states and markets. Most notably outside of some of those facing some of the most fierce political and regulatory uncertainty at the moment.

Among Gerry’s favorite strategies in this phase of the market is bulk buying of condo units. For example, 80 or so units at a time. Those units are converted or resold. Typically within 19 months.

3 Big Differentiators

Three things that Gerry tells us have really helped the firm continue to excel include:

  1. Making your money on the day you buy
  2. Focus on demographics and market fit
  3. Focus on the wife as the decision maker

Gerry says you don’t make a dollar on the day you sell. It’s all about what you are buying at. Guterman Partners targets prices of 45 to 55 cents on the dollar. That gives them plenty of room to absorb market fluctuations and to move units fast at a discount from the original list price, while still enjoying hefty profit margins.

However, not any product will do. It has to be desirable to the consumer. He says many speculators, converters and developers have had no interest in doing any homework on what consumers really want. They may put up stylish buildings. Yet, there aren’t many families who are really trying to move into micro-apartments in some of the better neighborhoods of Manhattan. He adds that you also have to consider who the real decision maker will be and what is most important for them. That often includes size of the unit and security features.

Guterman Partners is now raising capital for its 47th year. The current fund is a 506c offering for accredited investors, which pays out a cumulative preferred return of 7% to 12% and 50/50 split of profits.

Find out more about the new fund, the firm’s track record and Gerry’s white papers on the outrageous pricing of real estate, the tricks funds are using to try to get investors to accept lower returns, and the rules to successfully investing in real estate at GutermanPartners.com.

Allowing a Lender to Cross Collateralize Against Additional Property

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By Edward Brown

There are times when a lender is going to ask for additional [real estate] collateral in order to make a borrower a loan. The most likely scenario for this is when there is not enough equity in the target property. Other scenarios include a borrower with less than stellar credit, or the type or quality of the target property may not be enough to satisfy the lender to make the loan, as most lenders are more interested in making loans that will pay them back instead of facing foreclosures. For this reason, the lender may ask the borrower to put up additional collateral satisfactory to the lender so as to give the borrower an incentive to avoid defaulting on the loan.

In many cases, this cross collateralization may not be something the borrower worries about, as the borrower intends to pay the lender in full. The general plan is for the borrower to refinance the target property at a point where a new lender does not require cross collateralization, pay off the existing lender, and the existing lender releases both properties; however, what happens when the borrower sells the crossed property, or has the opportunity to refinance the target property, and there is not enough to pay off the current lender who crossed?

The danger here is that the lender may hold up the sale because it does not want to release their lien until they are paid in full. For example, let’s say the borrower owns a rental house that is worth $500,000 and there is a first mortgage in place for $200,000. The borrower wants to buy another rental for $800,000 and has $250,000 to put as a down payment. The borrower asks a lender to loan the remaining needed $550,000, but the lender is not comfortable with the LTV [68.75%], so the lender asks what other real estate the borrower owns, so it can cross collateralize its $550,000 loan. The borrower mentions the other rental, and the lender decides to ask for crossing on the first rental. Thus, the lender has lowered its risk because of the equity in the first rental.

Now, let’s say that the borrower receives an unsolicited offer for the first rental of $525,000, and he wishes to accept it. If there was no cross collateral against this property, the borrower could accept the offer, pay off the existing first of $200,000, and pocket the $325,000 remainder. However, because the rental has been crossed, the lender has $550,000 against the property in second position. That means that there is technically $750,000 of liens showing up against the property. The borrower cannot accept the $525,000 offer without having the second [the crossed loan] release its lien.

For this reason, it is imperative for there to be an agreed upon release price in which the lender agrees ahead of time to release its interest in either properties for a specific sum. It does not necessarily have to be just the remaining equity in the first sale [$325,000 in our example]. The release price could be a smaller amount. It could also be a larger amount [up to what the lender is owed]. If the lender desires more than the $325,000, the borrower would have to come up with additional cash in order to transact the sale. This may not be all bad, as the crossed lender’s loan has then been reduced.

For example, if the crossed rental was sold at a 5 CAP rate, and the crossed lender’s interest rate was 7%, the borrower may choose to sell the rental and come up with money to satisfy the lender should the lender want more than the $325,000 net proceeds from the sale. In other words, there are times when it makes economic sense to come up with money in order to sell property. Another similar scenario like this occurs when there is a blanket loan covering multiple properties, as is the case when an apartment building has been converted to condos and the owner of the building desires to sell off one condo at a time. A typical lender on the building will usually have release prices [agreed ahead of time] under which the lender will allow each unit to be sold and the lender takes a specific amount [or percentage of each sale] as a pay-down of its loan.

The release price can be negotiated between borrower and lender. Because the lender did not take the new property alone due to the high LTV, many times the lender will reduce its pay-down to where it feels comfortable with a specific amount of its loan on the remaining property. To make this point clear, let’s say that the lender usually makes loans for rental properties at an LTV of no more than 55%. Since the new rental was purchased for $800,000, the lender would be fine with a loan balance of $440,000. Thus, in order for the lender’s exposure to be reduced from its original loan of $550,000, it may be willing to accept $110,000 from the sale of the first rental in order for the lender to release its crossed lien. In this case, the borrower would sell the first rental for $525,000, pay off the first mortgage of $200,000, and pay the lender in second position $110,000 [to release its crossed lien of $550,000], and pocket the rest of the proceeds from the sale [$215,000]. The borrower would keep $215,000 from the sale, and the only debt on the second rental would be the lender [who crossed] of $440,000.

Borrowers who overlook release prices [a specific clause in the loan documents] risk having to ask the crossed lender after the fact under what circumstances the lender would be willing to release the first property. If there is no agreement ahead of time, the borrower runs the risk of being at the mercy of the lender, as the lender does not have an obligation to release its lien for less than what it is owed.

Many lenders may be willing to work out a reasonable amount for releasing either property, as it is in the lenders best interest to reduce the borrower’s default risk. Having more than one property as collateral sounds good in principle, but the added exposure of having a loan spread out amongst more than one property may not be worth the risk. Each situation will be different, but, as a general rule, it is more conservative from the lender’s viewpoint to have a low LTV on one property compared to having crossed on one or more additional properties that have a higher LTV. Additional costs of foreclosure, if needed on more than one property, as well as having to deal with an existing first mortgage [keeping them current, so that lender does not foreclose] may not be a desirable solution to protecting the lender’s interest.

This is the primary reason why typical banks do not usually cross collateralize their loans. Most banks do not like a lot of moving parts. They want to focus on one property and the risk associated with it.

Borrowers should make sure that the lender does not hold any of the borrower’s properties hostage and that release prices are set at a point where the borrower feel comfortable.

Edward Brown

Edward Brown currently hosts two radio shows, The Best of Investing and Sports Econ 101. He is also in the Investor Relations department for Pacific Private Money, a private real estate lending company. Edward has published many articles in various financial magazines as well as been an expert on CNN, in addition to appearing as an expert witness and consultant in cases involving investments and analysis of financial statements and tax returns.

5 Ways of Getting $10M to Invest in Real Estate

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By Fuquan Bilal

Need more money to invest in real estate? Where can you get another $10M in capital from?

The ironic thing about money for real estate is that you rarely have too much of it. You can for a little while, especially if you’ve raised a lot and have your latest deal oversubscribed to. It’s happened to many funds recently. Though sooner or later, the reason for not doing more always comes back to “If only I had a little more money I could…”

Maybe you want to take down a big commercial building, or need to have millions to earn a seat at the table and ability to bid on the note pools and bulk REO deals with the most profit. Or perhaps $10M is just the next milestone you’ve set for yourself. Where do you get it?

Commercial Real Estate Loans

$10M is a very small number in commercial real estate. In fact, there are many, many lenders who don’t want to touch small balance deals for less than that. It’s their minimum loan amount.

You may have to find a great deal with lots of equity, or raise $1M for down payment, but this kind of money is out there to borrow.

Real Estate Crowdfunding

This can be done publicly or privately, and for debt or equity or even donations. If a prototype for an off brand smart watch (not even Apple) can raise $10M in a few hours on a crowdfunding platform like Kickstarter, shouldn’t you be able to raise a lot more than that for some prime real estate with great yield or value add potential?

Here’s the thing. Most crowdfunding campaigns fail. Either because there was no strategic roll out, or the organizers didn’t have the marketing budget designated to invest in it. It might cost you $100k or $1M to raise $10M, but that may still be worth it.

Partnerships & Syndicates

Partnerships are probably the most obvious way to raise capital to invest in real estate. At least after loans. Depending on who your contacts are, that may come in $50k or $1M or $5M increments.

If just being involved in a deal of this size is what you want, then maybe you don’t even need the $10M. Maybe you can put your $1M into an existing syndication with the right connections, management and systems in place – and benefit from big deals like this, without having to raise money at all. You might even be the one getting the preferred return, without any of the work.

Launch a Startup

As crazy as it may seem, there are still billions of dollars being plowed into startups. It may make little sense given the risk of volatility and how poor and low value you think the ideas that are being funded are. So, why not do better than them? If you can make contacts that want to invest in startups instead of just real estate, give them a startup to put their money into. You can call it a tech company in the real estate space, or a real estate or finance or fintech startup. Put a nice appealing twist on it, get help with a great pitch deck and float the opportunity.

Make $100M for Someone Else

If you make $100M for someone else, they shouldn’t have a problem cutting you a check for 10% of that, right?

Maybe you don’t want to do all the work involved in acquiring, managing and disposing of $100M worth of real estate. Yet, it may be far easier to help someone else raise that kind of money, sell that much real estate or buy that much property. Then get some reasonable compensation for that. Or you can leverage arbitrage and invest that money into another fund and keep your slice. Then you can invest your $10M in whatever you like.

It’s not that much when you really start looking at the numbers. That much property can change hands in a day in Manhattan alone. These days $1B seems to be the new minimum property price tag for Google and Apple. $100M is loose change for them.

How will you raise your next $10M?

Investment Opportunities

Find out more about investing in secured debt and real estate, go to NNG Capital Fund

Fuquan Bilal

Fuquan Bilal founded NNG in 2012 with the principal mission of capitalizing on the growing supply of mortgage notes in the interbank marketplace. Mr .Bilal utilizes his 17 years of residential and commercial real estate success to identify real estate opportunities and capitalize on them. To date, he has successfully managed three private mortgage note funds that primarily invest in singlefamily performing and non­performing mortgage notes. His financial acumen and proprietary set of investment criteria enable him to purchase underperforming real estate assets at a deep discount of face and market values, thereby increasing the value of the assets. This, coupled with his ability to maximize the use of leverage, enables him to build strong, secured portfolios with solid passive income flows.

Assign or Double Close: The $9,000 Question

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By Jeffery S. Watson

In a conversation I had with a real estate investor regarding the differences between assignments and double closings, we talked about the cost associated with double closing a transaction. When you close two separate real estate transactions involving the same property within a short period of time, say 30-45 days apart, there are certain inescapable costs incurred twice. The title and escrow company or closing attorney is doing almost twice the amount of work.

The general rule of thumb I have given investors has been that if the assignment fee is $9,000 or less, then go ahead and assign the contract so there is only one closing and the assignee (the new buyer stepping into the shoes of the first buyer) completes the transaction with the title company or closing attorney. If, however, the assignment fee is greater than $9,000, then it’s time to examine if a double closing should occur.

In certain jurisdictions, that $9,000 number would change. For example, in Cook County, Illinois, I would recommend it be $15,000 or higher because of the extraordinarily high cost of closing a real estate transaction in that jurisdiction. In some states, many of my clients wisely choose to double close on all transactions due to the large spread between what they are buying it for and what they are ultimately able to resell it for.

In your market, the best thing to do to determine whether to assign or double close is to have conversations with various title and escrow companies or closing attorneys. Do some cost comparison as to the usual and customary fees and whether those fees can be negotiated down. Find out the basic, unavoidable costs of closing a real estate transaction.

Until you have that information readily known to you, you cannot make an intelligent decision as to whether you should assign or double close on a particular transaction. With that extra information, you become more effective in managing your real estate business.

Jeffery S. Watson

Attorney

Jeffery S. Watson is an attorney who has had an active trial and hearing practice for more than 27 years. As a trial lawyer, he has a unique perspective on real estate investing, wealth building and asset protection. He has tried over 20 civil jury trials and has handled thousands of contested hearings. Jeff has changed the law in Ohio 5 times via litigation or legislation:

Smith v. Rudler – 70 Ohio St.3d 397
In re Hugley – 629 N.E.2d 1136
Bahr v. Progressive Insurance – 2009-Ohio-6641
Snyder v. Snyder – 865 N.E.2d 944
H.B. 463 amending the Ohio Civil Rights Act

Jeff has also been a real estate investor since 1994, investing in both residential and commercial properties. He currently represents established real estate investors in commercial and residential matters when the transactions involve self-directed retirement accounts. As a frequent and popular guest speaker and teacher on stages and webinars, he is a recognized thought leader and innovator in the field of real estate investing, wealth building and self-directed retirement account transactions.

He is a nationally-recognized authority regarding regulatory concerns with wholesaling. He was the co-creator of the Option Contract method that revolutionized the short-sale flipping process. Thousands of investors have used documents created by Jeff to flip properties.

Jeff is general counsel to the National Real Estate Investors Association. Jeff is general counsel to and a cofounder of Realeflow, LLC, which made the Inc 500 list in 2011. He currently advises six different national organizations with a combined membership of over 250,000 investors.

From 2010 to present, Jeff has led lobbying efforts in Washington, DC on behalf of real estate investors which has brought about several changes in both government regulation and policy on distressed property purchases and resales. In 2014 and 2015, his efforts on Capitol Hill helped bring about change in the U.S. tax code and helped reinstate the Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Act. Since 2015, Jeff has worked to secure passage of the Seller Finance Enhancement Act.

Jeff’s efforts to secure reform in the real estate arena aren’t just on Capitol Hill. In his home state of Ohio, he has worked with the Ohio Division of Real Estate teaching on the legality of wholesaling.

He is a part owner of Venture Land Title II, LLC, and his law firm prepares deeds and other documents for two title companies. He is also legal counsel to a number of other organizations including Eagleville Bible Church, Inc.

Jeff is the author or co-author of 6 digital books:

  • “Understanding Self-directed Individual Retirement Accounts”
  • “A Guide to Private Lending”
  • “Short Sales Done Right – How to Profitably and Legally Navigate the Short Sale Jungle”
  • “Death of the Land Trust … in Short Sales”
  • “How to Hire Your ‘Dream Team’ ”
  • “Understanding the Foreclosure Process”

In addition to his digital books, Jeff authors an email newsletter twice a week and maintains a blog at WatsonInvested.com on investing, business and entrepreneurship which are read by thousands of successful investors.

Stop Dissin’ the Housing Market—Set it Free!

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By Christopher Thornberg, PhD

Editors Note: This posting was originally published on the Opinion Page of the Los Angeles Daily News.

High housing costs continue to be at the center of policy debates in Los Angeles—and across much of the state. This intensifying focus is warranted now more than ever given how the crisis has moved from simply eating up the disposable income of residents to slowing overall employment growth in coastal economies – something driven by a lack of available workers, which in turn is driven by the housing shortage.

Sadly, the many proffered solutions to the problem remain wildly off base and are not likely to accomplish much of anything.

Take the City of Los Angeles’s proposed linkage fee, a fee to be paid by developers of market-rate properties to fund more affordable housing – and something that has been endorsed by many prominent voices in the community in recent weeks. That support has been motivated in part by the results of a recent homeless count done in Los Angeles County, which suggested that there was a 20% increase in the County’s homeless population over the last year. This is a total red herring when it comes to addressing the lack of new housing supply.

The recent homeless census count indicates that the total number of homeless in Los Angeles County is 53,000—a minuscule fraction of the 10 million plus people who call the County home. Moreover, a clear majority of these folks are homeless not because of the high cost of housing but because of mental and/or substance abuse problems, serious issues that would leave them homeless regardless of the current market price of housing. These people desperately need help—but a different kind of help than the linkage fee would provide.

And the few who are helped represent the proverbial tip of the iceberg—for every family that receives support there are another thousand that continue to struggle as rising rents eat into their incomes. Conservatively, the County would need close to one-quarter of a million new units to catch up with current need.

The linkage fee and similar policy proposals being rolled out at the city and county level reveal a deeper problem: Many localities and policymakers simply believe that the free market is not willing or able to create an adequate supply of housing in the region so they pursue punitive measures to make up for these perceived inadequacies.

Such a claim is akin to chaining a mighty eagle to the ground and then accusing it of not being able to fly. The lack of housing in Los Angeles is not due to the market’s failure but rather to the actions and choices of the City’s citizenry and its policymakers who have systematically intervened over many years to slow new development.

Research conducted at UCLA (UCLA Dissertation, The Homeowner Revolution: Democracy, Land Use and the Los Angeles Slow-Growth Movement, 1965-1992, Morrow, Gregory D.) shows how the City has energetically downzoned over the years, shrinking housing capacity from 10 million people to just slightly over 4 million—roughly the same as the current population. Add to that sky high permitting costs imposed by the City, non-stop California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) lawsuits, as documented by the lawyers at Holland and Knight (In the Name of the Environment: Litigation Abuse Under CEQA, Jennifer Hernandez, David Friedman, and Stephanie DeHerrera, August 2015), and other rules and taxes including inclusionary housing and prevailing wage requirements, and it becomes obvious why the market is responding so slowly to current price signals.

It is true that what does get built in this town tends to be for higher income households. But this is a natural outcome of the barriers to entry that afflict the system. When supply is artificially limited, what does get produced is going to be concentrated in the highest margin portions of the market. If supply were less restricted and fixed costs reduced, there would be a natural movement towards lower income families. Would costs ever go so low as to entice developers to build ‘affordable housing’ using the public regulatory world definition? Probably not. But in Los Angeles the overall lack of supply keeps middle income families in housing that would otherwise be available for lower income families.

The market should not be blamed for problems created by public policies that have constrained them. Addressing these critical policy issues is the place to start. A few small changes have occurred at the state level, but so far, Sacramento has looked more towards punishing local jurisdictions for not allowing housing, rather than attempting to deal with the true root causes. Everyone is treating the symptoms, not the disease.

Take for example inclusionary housing, the new buzz word in many communities. Past studies conducted by neutral researchers have shown that these policies have very little overall impact on housing affordability in a community. This is because the gains enjoyed by the lucky few families who receive inclusionary housing subsidies are offset by the higher cost of housing for the rest of the population. And ultimately such efforts are tiny compared to the scale of the problem. The $90 million raised per year would support less than 1000 new units. This is less than the annual increase in the housing shortage.

A few places with similar problems are starting to look at more realistic options. Oregon has started to move in the right direction with Oregon HB 2007, a proposal that goes to the next level—it seeks to prohibit local efforts and activities that restricted housing development in the first place. As the old ditty goes when you’re in deep the first thing to do is stop digging. But Oregon’s proposal is controversial, there are many loopholes, and even if it passes it will only prevent new restrictions from being put into place. Until California, Oregon and other development-unfriendly places roll back current market restrictions and fill in the hole, the housing crisis will only get worse.

Christopher Thornberg

Christopher Thornberg founded Beacon Economics LLC in 2006. Under his leadership the firm has become one of the most respected research organizations in California serving public and private sector clients across the United States. In 2015, Dr. Thornberg also became Director of the UC Riverside School of Business Center for Economic Forecasting and Development and an Adjunct Professor at the School.

Top 5 Reasons Why Real Estate Investors have their Eye on Kumamoto

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By Priti Donnelly

If there is one city in Japan to watch for, it is Kumamoto, the capital city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the Kyushu landmass. Here you will find a property market in which opportunities are rare and sell almost as soon as they hit the market. Most investors familiar with the Japanese property market focus on high yields and affordable prices.  A city such as this, in its growth phase also has the potential for increased land value. Hence, Kumamoto is one of those markets with the potential for the best of both worlds.

Population

Kumamoto has experienced remarkable growth. Notable for one of the largest solar farms in Japan and positioned as a hub with a port for people and import/export of cargo. In this satellite city, population has grown from 670,348 in 2008 to 734,917 in 2015. That’s 9.63%! Compare that to 3.91% growth in Fukuoka, 1.31% in Kobe and 1.13% in Sapporo during the same timeframe. The location continues to draw tourists to its natural hot spring resorts and to the impregnable, defensive designs of the historical Kumamoto Castle dating back to 1467.

Affordable High-Yield Properties

Where there is a surge of population in a developing area, investors can find affordable, high yield properties. It’s first come first serve for the rare availability of one room apartment units (“mansion” in Japan) on the market in Kumamoto. Prices can be as low as 2.4 million to 2.8 million JPY (USD $21K to $25K) at between 7.5% to 9% yield net pre-tax, approximately USD $150 to $240 net income per month.

Secure Returns

Governance in Kumamoto supports subsidized employment and volunteer opportunities as well as rehabilitation and housing services for first offence ex-cons, the destitute and homeless. Therefore, along with great price and high yield, unlike other parts of Japan, the government pays rent directly to the landlord. In fact, some realtors and property manager offices specialize in buying vacant buildings to rent entirely to welfare recipients because of the high and secure returns.

Occupancy

From our experience we have never had a vacancy longer than two months in this city. Part of the reason is that properties are generally within ten minutes walking distance to the nearest train station. By comparison, Sapporo has five to six month vacancies, despite its size, high returns and white collar industries, and similar vacancies in Nagoya, the industrial powerhouse city.

Construction Standards

Investors often ask us about the effect of earthquakes in the area. Again, from our personal experience, on the 14 properties under our management, approximately only USD$500 in damages and that was to one window frame and some flooding under it. Even if there had been more damage, investors would have been protected under insurance.

One of the reasons that Kumamoto does not tend to disappoint is that many of the properties were built after 1981when the building standards act was revised for earthquake resistant construction methods. While 1981 is a turning point for some investors, some older buildings built prior to 1981 can be retrofitted to bring them up to code by renovating, repairing and re-strengthening exterior walls.  In assisting buyers with their due diligence, we look to see if the building has sufficient accumulated funds for repairs to cover the cost for work, or alternatively we look for completed work to justify depleted funds. Either of these cases tells us that the building is well managed, common in Kumamoto.

For these reasons, investors say Kumamoto is one of the best high return locations in Japan. if you see an opportunity don’t ponder over it too long. Properties there don’t come up often enough and when they do they most certainly don’t last.

Priti Donnelly – Manager, Sales and Marketing

Nippon Tradings International (NTI)

Priti Donnelly is the sales and marketing manager at Nippon Tradings International, a proxy and buyers’ agency representing foreign investors with purchasing, selling and managing real estate in Japan. She helps real estate investors, new to the Japan property market understand both the value of the cash flow property market, the challenges, as well as assisting with individual needs in growing cash flow portfolios.

http://www.nippontradings.com

 

Here’s Your Invitation To Ignite Your Investment Performance

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By Carrie Cook

Still looking for better investment performance? How does $1M in tax free returns sound?

Securing strong investment yields is still one of the top priorities of all investors out there today. Of course big promises alone can’t be the single driving force behind investment decisions. Otherwise we’d all be off to the casinos in Vegas to go all-in on every next roll of the dice, and financial planners would be out of business. Returns are important, but so is diversification, tax planning, and finding sustainable investments.

The Search for Sound Investments

Finding sound, profitable investments and enough of them can be challenging. Some have very diverse stock portfolios, yet really have no idea what to expect from their performance. Many have added owning a home to their assets, and hope to gain from equity growth as they pay down their mortgages. Some take this further with direct investment in rentals. Rental homes can provide similar benefits to homeownership, but can also bring significant time demands and expenses. Then there are REITs, which promise ease of investing, but provide no collateral and present the same high volatility risks they are exposed to in other stocks.

Then there is trust deed investing. This may also be called ‘note investing’ or private lending. This is a sector loved by sophisticated individual investors and institutional investors for its simplicity, strong collateral, and of course the yields. These are the types of investments which have made the likes of Warren Buffett, Sam Zell, Blackstone, and Bank of America very wealthy.

President of Ignite Funding, Carrie Cook says it’s entirely “possible to invest $100k at 10% in mortgages for 25 years, and reap $1M in tax free returns.”

Ignite Funding

This is exactly the type of investments Nevada based Ignite Funding specializes in. Ignite Funding has been featured on Modern Living with Kathy Ireland and Bloomberg Television. Led by president and woman entrepreneur Carrie Cook the firm has been providing these elite investment opportunities for 21 years.

Ignite Funding offers qualified investors the ability to participate in their success by funding high quality borrowers in the real estate space. These trust deed or mortgage investments provide cash flow, above average yields, and the security of being backed by tangible real estate collateral.

Some big funds and new note brokers have recently made this space popular in heralding the benefits of investing in distressed debt and non-performing existing loans. In contrast Carrie explains that Ignite focuses on issuing new capital to strong builder developers with great track records. Specifically the firm’s president explains that they carefully curate “a pool of highly prized borrowers who have been in business for at least 10 years.” In fact, this lender-broker does not even operate a borrower facing platform. They seek out those they see are the most qualified. If builders do find them Carrie says they “accept only around 20% of the requests received.” The funds are used for acquisition, development, and construction, and target a 10% to 12% annualized return to investors.

This is NOT Wells Fargo

Among the refreshing differences that investors will find at Ignite Funding is a serious dedication to sustainability and transparency.

Those are words which are easy for companies to spout out these days to capitalize on trends. But this company proves it by really putting the information out there. Other CEOs, especially in this male dominated field might deem some of this transparency clearly unnecessary and going too far. Yet, it is clearly in favor of the investors, as it holds their asset manager to a high standard and ensures they are working hard to deliver the best results today and over the long term.

Some of the ways you’ll see this displayed via the firm’s website include a calendar of deals being funded, five years’ worth of detailed performance documentation, and even information on defaults. That’s right; no matter how diligent and careful you are some loans will default. Some big banks have become infamous for how they hide this information for so long. Not here. Carrie Cook’s team clearly displays any default information, along with the cures. The data is encouraging too, with the company recouping over 100% of investor capital even in some of the worst performance cases displayed. Carrie credits this success not only to the investors and borrowers involved, but her teams attitude of being willing to “run into the fire, not from it,” as well as the consolidated approach of completely in-house operations from origination to servicing and loss mitigation.

Who is Investing in Trust Deeds?

In addition to the very visible and notable examples of big funds and billionaires who invest in this asset class, there are a growing number of private individuals who are experiencing great results here.

Ignite Funding accepts a minimum investment of $10,000, though Carrie says “around 75% of clients are using their IRAs to invest,” which means they can invest a lot more. However, one of the best features here is that while adhering to Nevada’s strict sustainability standards, this type of collateralized investment is open to those earning just $70,000 or more each year, providing they are not investing more than 15% of their net worth.

For those interested in learning more about trust deed investing, how Ignite Funding protects its clients with multiple layers of security, and who want to soundly diversify their portfolios find out more online at IgniteFunding.com.

Disclaimer: Money invested through a mortgage broker is not guaranteed to earn any interest and is not insured. Prior to investing, investors must be provided applicable disclosure documents. Ignite Funding, LLC | 6750 Via Austi Parkway, Suite 230, Las Vegas, NV 89119 | P 702.739.9053 | T 877.739.9094 | F 702.922.6700 | NVMBL #311 | CACFL #603J286 | AZ CMB #0932150 and AZCMBBR #0121055.

 

 

3 Proven Strategies for Small Business Owners to Increase Cash Flow

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By Dr. Teresa R. Martin, Esq.

Is your small business struggling to make enough profit to pay the bills? Living paycheck to paycheck can be quite frustrating. Perhaps you started a small business so you could pursue your dream while earning money at the same time. If so, then you know that it isn’t always easy to get a small business to bring in the profits you’d like.

However, if you’re willing to work hard and have a good plan, there’s no limit to how far you can take your small business. Luckily, there are many ways to increase your current cash flow and free you from the threat of financial disaster.

Consider these strategies to increase your cash flow:

  1. Collect feedback. Many small business owners forget the importance of soliciting feedback from their clients. There are several effective ways to find out what your clients think about your products and services.

  • Ask the client to fill out a quick survey or questionnaire to rate various aspects of your business. These surveys can provide an excellent glimpse into your client’s point of view. There are many different websites that enable you to create simple surveys. Look online to find one that meets your needs.
  • Follow up with your clients with a phone-call or email asking for comments about your products or services. Inquire about which aspects they are satisfied with and which need some work.
  • Talk to your clients in person and ask them how they feel about their experiences with your business.

Remember, word of mouth is one of the best ways to advertise your business. If you have a bunch of satisfied customers, they’ll tell their friends and family about their positive experience and you’ll get more business.

  1. Get rid of products that don’t sell. It’s likely that you offer your customers a wide variety of products, but only a few of these products bring you maximum profit.
  • Sometimes a large inventory can work against your business. Customers often avoid buying altogether when they’re overwhelmed with options.

  • Instead of offering more products that likely won’t be sold, trash the unattractive products and offer more items or services related to your best-sellers. This is an excellent way to boost sales while reducing upkeep and inventory costs.
  1. Pursue unique marketing strategies. If your business is experiencing a steep drop in sales, there must be a reason. It could be that your marketing techniques are simply not as effective as you thought. Consider alternative marketing techniques.
  • Think about marketing your business online. It’s becoming easier with each passing day and more people are prone to search the internet for better deals. Businesses that have online order options are often much more successful. It’s a perfect way to increase cash flow.

  • Get the word out. Take advantage of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to promote your business.
  • Radio advertisements, commercials, billboards, and flyers all increase the visibility of your business. Sometimes, door-to-door marketing is just as effective.

By using these strategies you can boost sales and increase the revenue of your business. Once these strategies have been implemented, there will be no need to worry about how you’re going to pay the next bill. You’ll finally have the money to live the life that you’ve dreamed of.

It just requires determination, persistence, creativity, and an open mind to make your business successful. Test different strategies and stick to the ones that work best for you. Your efforts will be worth it once you see those increased profits.

Dr. Teresa R. Martin, Esq.

Dr. Teresa R. Martin, Esq. is the founder of Real Estate Investors Association of NYC (REIA NYC). REIA NYC (www.reianyc.org) is a premier real estate investment association serving the New York City marketplace. Its primary focus and mission is “helping our members build, preserve, and harvest multi-generational wealth” in the areas of real estate investments, business ownership and personal development.