James Kobzeff asked:


cle covers six dynamite real estate investing tips intended to help anyone just getting started in real estate investing to successfully launch and hit the ground running with real estate investment property.

1. Develop the Correct Attitude

To stand a chance of succeeding at real estate investing, foremost, you must understand that real estate investment is a business, and you will become the CEO of that business.

As your first order of business, then, it’s crucial to develop the correct mind-set about investment real estate and be able to make this distinction between buying a home and investing in real estate:

“You buy a home to live and raise a family; you buy real estate investment property to pay for the home, live comfortably, and raise your family in style”

As one very successful real estate investor said, “Only women are beautiful, what are the numbers?” In other words, you will not succeed at real estate investing until you acknowledge that it’s not curb appeal, amenities, floor plan, or neighborhood that should turn you on or off to the investment opportunity; what counts most is the property’s financial performance.

2. Develop Meaningful Objectives

A meaningful set of (realistic) objectives that frames your investment strategy is one of the most important elements of successful investing. Yes, we may all desire to make millions of dollars from real estate investing, but fantasy is not the same as expressing specific goals and a method on how to achieve it.

Here are some suggestions:

How much cash are you willing to invest comfortably? What rate of return are you hoping to achieve by making the investment in real estate? Are you expecting instant cash flow, looking to make your money when the property is resold, or merely looking to achieve tax shelter benefits? How long are you planning to hold the property before you dispose of it? What amount of your own effort can you afford to contribute to the day-to-day operation of running the property? What net worth are you hoping investing will help you to achieve, and by when would you like to achieve it? What type of income property do you feel most comfortable owning, residential or commercial, or does it matter?

3. Develop Market Research

If you’re new to real estate investing, you undoubtedly know little about investment real estate in your local market. So, do market research to learn as much as you can about income property values, rents, and occupancy rates in your area. The better prepared you are, the more likely you are to recognize a good (or bad) deal when you see it.

Here are some good resources:

(a) The local newspaper, (b) A local appraiser, (c) The county tax assessor, (d) A qualified local real estate professional, (e) A local property management company

4. Run the Numbers

I can’t stress enough the importance of running the property’s cash flow, rates of return, and profitability numbers. Remember, real estate investing is a business, and as the CEO of your investment enterprise, you’ve got to know what you’re buying, especially if you’re trying to determine which of several investment opportunities would be the most profitable.

You have two options:

(a) Invest in real estate investment software. This will enable you to discover for yourself the investment property’s cash flow and rates of return, and create your own analysis reports. Plus, by running the numbers yourself, you gain a broader understanding of real estate investing nuances, and in turn might be less likely to fall victim to the wiles of someone with little concern about how you spend your money.

(b) At the very least, work with a real estate professional that has invested in real estate investment software and can calculate, present, and discuss the property’s financial data with you.

5. Develop a Relationship with a Qualified Real Estate Professional

Working with a qualified real estate professional is a great way for beginners to get started with rental property investing because an astute professional can acquaint you with local market conditions, recommend a property that meets your investing objectives, and discuss strengths and weaknesses about specific property performance.

Here’s a warning, however: Work with a real estate person who understands investment real estate.

Be sure the agent has a firm grip on key financial measures inherent to real estate investing, knows how to measure profitability and rate of return, has the ability to present the data you need to make wise investment decisions, and, most importantly, shows a genuine interest in how you spend your money. The last thing you want to do is to get involved with a real estate agent that would throw you under the bus just to make a commission.

Here’s a good way to interview for an agent. Ask them for the property’s cap rate and then request an APOD. If their response (even to these basics) is to stand there looking at you like a deer into the headlights of a car, find another agent.

6. Start Investing

Hopefully, this has given you some insight into real estate investing, highlighted a few things to make you a more prudent real estate investor, and perhaps alerted you to a couple of things that should be avoided.

Okay, that does it for us, now it’s time for you to get started. Here’s to your success.



CALEB

Kent Sullivan asked:


BREAKING ALL THE RULES!  Exclusive World Class Investments to Help Double Your Net Worth and to Establish Your Legacy!!

Cabal Capital Management, LLC announces the launch of the Legacy Fund which provides special alternative investment opportunities into extremely low risk, and very high financial return Advanced High Income Generation Projects through direct investments.

This fund which is not a private equity fund is unlike all other investment pool funds that exist today by offering investments that are focused on both strategic and tactical investment opportunities into Highly Advanced Income Generating Project(s) producing crucial and vital, very high demand commercially valued product(s) that are being sold directly into the largest “Major” Universal Demand Markets in the world.  These investments allow risk adverse accredited investors the ability to participate in the revenues generated from these projects which allows for and achieves both capital growth and preservation, while providing the investor an extremely low risk opportunity with the benefit of dependable and sustainable alpha generation and the long term growth from these projects.  These fully integrated projects have been designed to last 40 to 50 years or longer for their life cycles regardless of the global financial and credit markets.

Our fund is well positioned to effectively tap into these markets to the benefits of our investors.  The growth dynamics of the United States and Western Europe is based upon local, regional and domestic consumption of all the products these projects produce.  This fund is targeting routine and consistent annual double digit returns (15 – 21%) to investors un-correlated to all securities, commodities, currencies and the credit markets themselves since there will not be any exposure to these markets.  All project investments within this special investment vehicle have been specifically developed and designed to perform across various business cycles regardless of global economic conditions to include recessionary and depressionary environments as well.

The current global credit crisis, current stock market contractions and wild swings in the commodities markets does not and will not impact our ability to produce consistent annual double digit returns now or in the future for our investors since we will never have, need or rely on the credit markets to establish margin accounts or leveraged positions which most all hedge fund type investment vehicles require to operate.  We do not require nor will we ever utilize prime services which the large investment banks provide (Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, etc.). We do not rely on the stock, commodity or currency exchanges to generate income since we can not control any of the events occurring in those exchanges for our investors, thus we are totally un-correlated to all securities, commodities, currencies and credit markets. 

In the case of Deflationary and or Inflationary Markets, they will have no real effect on these projects and the products they produce.  Coincidentally inflation will only increase the value of the products coming out of the projects. Deflationary markets will have very minimal impact on the products produced within these projects since these products are and always will be vital for any country to maintain a stable economy, thus they will always be in very high demand through out the world regardless of the global economic conditions. 

Risk issues are always addressed through risk management and the review procedures for each and every investment made.  Unlike most projects which have been developed, planned and master planned, every assumption for each project invested in has been tested, validated, verified and proven or it’s not incorporated into these project(s).  Each and every project is also backed up by a detailed Input / Output Financial Cash Model which is a detailed Program / Project Financial Blueprint that shows the quarterly inter-relationships of investments, operational production revenues, operational expenses at all levels, taxes, imposts and fees, special circumstances events, and financial obligations during the life of the Program / Project.

Since energy production and consumption is the key element to any industrialized country, and with energy consumption increasing globally at an annual rate of 5 – 6 %, energy is and always will be vital to both the U.S. and Western European Economies. Allocating to Energy and Bio-Fuels production are two major key areas of involvement and investments within our seven pronged program investment strategies approach, which consists of the following options available to us:  Energy:  Oil & Gas (Example Project to follow), Bio Fuels:  Algae Based Bio-Diesel and Jatropha Curcas {plant} direct fuel source.  Algae Based Bio-Diesel is a direct fuel source currently available and ready for full scale production and delivery {This is Direct Fuel Source and is not a blend for gasoline or other fuel sources!} Algae Based Bio-Diesel Fuel production utilizes proprietary photo enhanced, micro nutrient enhanced, continuous flow, automated, sensor quality controlled, bio-chemical industrial processes and then are pressed, centrifuged, oils separated from water, water treated, cooked, cracked and treated all within a 12 hour cycle (Start to Finish) to complete one batch made ready for use in any diesel engine.  Initially 270 Million Gallons per quarter to several Billion Gallons of bio-diesel per quarter will be produced depending upon the initial size of a project program.  This Algae Based Bio-Diesel Fuel source has a Cetane Rating of 105 -117 compared to 80 – 85 Cetane Rating for #1 diesel fuel currently produced by all the major oil companies, which provides more power, better millage and performance while emitting 60 – 70% less emissions across the board vs. normal standard crude oil based diesel fuels. Algae Based Bio-Diesel emits no sulfur and or nitrogen into the atmosphere, Alternative Energy:  Solar / Concentrated Solar Thermal Power Production, Wind and Electric Fuel Cell Systems, Natural Resources:  Gold, Platinum and other Precious Metals Groups and Diamond Mining: Refining, Assaying, Separation using advanced physical technologies and Bullion production of Gold and Platinum as well as Processing, Cutting, Valuation Appraisals of Diamonds and other Precious Stones, Water:  Proprietary Water Science / Technology to Produce Fresh Drinking Water to meet Agricultural, Industrial and Human Public Health needs in critically water short areas through Water production, bottling facilities and distribution.  This can be accomplished with any available water supply {in ground water tables, above and below ground reservoirs with a high saline content normally not recommended for human consumption}, Sea Waters & Brackish Waters anywhere Globally, Hydroponics:  Food Production: Fish Shrimp, Prawns, Fruits Vegetables utilizing USDA inspectors to garner Grade A Choice Status to include direct marketing into Major U.S.A. and International Consumer Demand Markets, and Special Opportunities: Aviation Fuels: JP-1 to JP-12 for Commercial and Military Applications from Algae Based Direct Fuel Sources as well as Advanced Hyper-Speed Information Technologies and other Advanced High Income Generation Project Opportunities as they become available.

It should be noted that traditional large project investments consist normally of only one income generation production element and typically requires three years at the earliest before the investors see any type of modest return on their investment.  Our projects produce immediate results in the first year due to their very nature and global demand.  These Exclusive World Class Projects which are available to us for investments have no less than 2, but normally include 5 or more Major Integrated Income Production Elements within each project.  It should also be noted that each income producing element within these projects are so strong that they could stand on their own and support the entire project, which is why many of these elements are developed together to form an Advanced Integrated Income Generation Project depending upon the requirements and location of the program.

All of the projects that this special opportunity fund invests in involve Proprietary Advanced Technologies and Advanced Physical Science / Processes (not known to the great majority of Asset Manager Companies Staffs).   Other types of investment pool managers, hedge funds, etc. do not know or even have access to these world class development engineering people and the technologies assets and projects that they develop, implement and manage.  Currently we have in excess of $10 Billion Dollars worth of Advanced High Income Generation Projects available to us for investments.

Another Special Note of consideration is that each investment will bring with it potential tax advantages not typically found with other types of investments.  Depending on where the project(s) are located and how the project are legally structured and set up (Development Corporations, Development Authorities, etc. which are authorized by local, state or federal governments) could result in tremendous tax advantages, which each investors tax advisor will need to qualify and determine the best approach for each investors own tax liabilities depending upon their current tax status, situation and strategies.

These projects are developed, implemented and managed by Highly Reliable, Senior Internationally Experienced Technical Managers, Senior Science Managers and Senior Logistics / Project Security Management Staffs, which have planned, developed, evaluated and trouble-shot economic development projects and strong income generation projects in over 65 countries during the past 40 years.

There are in excess of 300 Top Level Executive Technical Managers with over 30 years of Experience in each of their perspective Development Sectors available for all projects that our fund invests in.  These projects are designed to insure extreme depth of expertise and experience management which is available to any project at any and every stage of the project program, regardless of location of the project anywhere globally.

The results of this Special Investment Vehicle fund are highly advantageous investment opportunities that by far exceed the majority of investment opportunities available to investors from a financial return as well as extremely low risk standpoint by investing in Outstanding Advanced High Income Generation Projects carried out by highly reliable and responsible individuals and organizations.

Face to face meetings are welcomed and encouraged in order to quantify, qualify, verify and validate these investment opportunities which stem from the Americana way of project development and implementation with the application of Science, Engineering, Logistics, Security and Management which dates back to over 200 Years during the American Expansion of the United States of America.  Never before in the history of mankind has the shear number and sizes of these Universal Demand Markets through out the world been in place and more importantly, primed and ready to handle and accept these vital and crucial very high demand, commercially valued products coming from these projects;  Available for immediate investment. ** (dual element example project within a fully integrated project to follow)

Headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, Cabal Capital Management, L.L.C. is managed by Kent Sullivan:  www.cabalcapitalmanagement.com

** Fully Integrated Oil & Gas / Real Example Project:

This Oil & Gas production program is headed up by a Top Level Senior International Consultant which is an Oil and Gas Industry Executive who has been involved in the Oil & Gas Industry over the past 50 years.  This Oil & Gas Executive is the Systems Developer, Scientist, Equipment Designer and Engineer who is recognized as an expert in his field by the U.S. Department of Energy who also has called him upon him frequently in the past to trouble shoot particular Oil and Gas fields as a technical advisor and as a trouble shooter to rectify any and all problems associated with troubled oil and gas production fields.

This Top Senior International Consultant has a proprietary and proven 12 step methodology for siting, drilling, completing and production techniques for all wells.  He has a historical commercial success rate of 92% for bringing in all of his wells sited, drilled, completed and producing which also has a normal life span of 15 to 20 plus year’s worth of production.

This Advanced High Income Generation Oil and Gas project is comprised of the following: 

A Top Down Electric Air Hammer System which is highly sensorized with Professional Engineers and Scientists managing all operational positions.  These auto sensor rigs provide detailed information by satellite to a centralized operations and training center where all decisions are made by people with 45 – 50 years of successful completion and production experience.

Each oil and gas well completed will be drilled in both soft and hard rock beds and will vary in depths from 3,000 feet to over 13,000 feet.  All wells in this program will be completed initially in the state of Texas, in the United States of America.

Typical production wells will produce 60 barrels of oil per day to 500 – 600 barrels of oil per day and the gas wells will produce in a typical range of 2 million cubic feet of natural gas per day to in excess of 20 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. The total net operating investment will be returned within 4 months of production for each well.

Multiple producing formations will be completed and isolated with proprietary tools and instruments which will be operated simultaneously through out the life of the wells.  The typical life of these well are 15 – 20 years because of the 12 different proprietary methods used for siting, drilling, completion and production techniques, tools, proprietary materials and instruments used on each and every well which prevents formation damage and increases the life cycle of each well to maximize the highest production obtainable.

This program consists of hundreds of oil and gas wells sited, drilled, completed and in production within a 1 – 2 year period.  These wells will be sited, drilled and completed in historically very well known and documented oil and gas producing formations within the state of Texas, in the United States of America.

Investors will receive an estimated 15 – 21% annual return per year on their investment, with payments coming at the end of each year from this program.  The threshold investment will be an aggregate amount of $400 hundred million dollars which is what the minimum program investment calls for.

Estimated program revenues are based on $60 dollars a barrel and $6.5 dollars per thousand cubic foot of natural gas.  Over the last year crude oil (West Texas Intermediate) has sold as low as $50 dollars a barrel up to as much as $147 dollars a barrel.  Over the past year natural gas has sold from $5.5 dollars a thousand cubic foot to $11.3 dollars per thousand cubic foot.

Example Oil & Gas Well Profile:  One well; properly sited, drilled, completed and producing will conservatively produce 100 barrels of oil per day and 4 million cubic foot of natural gas per day.  This provides the overall program (100 barrels x $60 per barrel = $6,000) $6,000 dollars per day of revenue.  Each 4,000 cubic foot of natural gas (4,000 x $6.5 per thousand cubic foot = $26,000) $26,000 dollars per day of revenue.  Total revenue for this example is estimated at $32,000 dollars per day of program revenue for this example. 

** All wells in this program will not produce the same **

Each month this represents a program return of (30 days x $32,000 = $960,000) $960,000 dollars of revenue coming from this one (1) example well.  The investment program we are offering involve several hundreds of program wells being sited, drilled, completed and operating within a 1 to 2 year period.

Remember, this is only two elements of a fully integrated Advanced High Income Generation Project which will involve in most cases several other elements (normally 5 or more) to generate very substantial amounts of revenues over the course of the project life.  With the combination of several other Advanced High Income Generation Elements within one project, this will enhance the financial returns and revenues of the program itself, and thus will also greatly reduce and virtually eliminate any associated risk due to the diversification of the different Major Income Generation elements within each project.

Once again, the result of this Special Investment Vehicle fund are highly advantageous investment opportunities that by far exceed the majority of investment opportunities from a financial return and an extremely low risk standpoint by investing in Outstanding Advanced High Income Generation Projects.

Headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, Cabal Capital Management, L.L.C. is managed by Kent Sullivan: www.cabalcapitalmanagement.com

 



DARIN

OngKL asked:


Kicking off the evaluation process is the toughest for us. Question after question kept popping up “Is the property market low enough?”, “Is this property worth considering?”, “Are the numbers the only criteria for investment?” What are we really looking for in real estate investing?? Quick bucks $$ or Regular income…

Bottom-line = Money!!!

Property Agents have tons of recommendations for YOU! How will you know whether they are good investment for you?

There are many factors that need to be considered in evaluating a real estate investment. For example, location, environment/neighborhood, facilities, financing options, rental income, etc. If all above works, it is time calling your agents and set up appointments. Happy Viewings!!!!

Actually it is not difficult and it does not need much of your time to know if a real estate investment is worth investing in the first place. All you need is crunching some numbers with your calculator, and Bingo! You can decide whether the property is worth investing.

Later in this article, we will show you how these numbers work in your prospective real estate investment by two real life cases in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

Numbering GAME

Numbers, numbers and numbers.. How do you get them?

You may try calling a few property agents, check with banks on properties valuations and of course there is plenty of information on the Internet. Once you have these numbers you can determine if a real estate investment is worth spending your time for a viewing. “Seeing is Believing.” Check out the property to see the actual condition and the environment, whether it is to your liking once you get your numbers RIGHT! Once you get your numbers, you will see:

Incomes

One-time income - selling price

Regular income – rental price

Costs

One-time expenses (startup costs) – down payment, agent’s brokerage, legal fees, stamp duty, furnishing cost, etc.

Regular expenses (monthly costs) – monthly loan repayment, monthly maintenance fee, quit rent, property tax, etc.

See how they (numbers) work..

The basic requirement for a good real estate investment is that the income it generates must be more than its costs.

If the selling price of a real estate investment is more than its purchase price and startup costs, this investment generates capital gain.

If the rental income of a real estate investment is more than its monthly expenses, this investment generates cash flow.

If you are looking for capital gain, the gain or loss depends very much on the real estate market. Hoping to make money from capital gain on real estate is like buying a product and hoping the value of the product will go up with time. On a long term basis, real estate will be appreciating in value because of inflation, but the gain is not guaranteed.

On the other hand, a real estate investment that generates cash flow effectively put money into your pocket every month, while your equity in the real estate investment increases over time. This is the real estate investment that we are looking for – an investment worth investing.

Too good to be true?

With this recession time, you will ask yourself, “Is it the RIGHT time for me to start investing in real estate? Everything is so uncertain NOW.”

In Johor Bahru, you can find plenty of real estate investments worth investing at this juncture. We discovered most of these investments that generate substantial cash flow are mainly apartments or condominiums. You can read from our upcoming article to know why apartments or condominiums are better real estate investments in Johor Bahru. Here are two recent real life cases of real estate investments worth investing in Johor Bahru.

Case 1: We found a condominium in Larkin area of Johor Bahru in Octorber 2008 selling at $160,000 with existing tenant. Monthly rental income is $1400 while monthly maintenance cost is around $300 (maintenance fee plus sinking fund plus quit rent).

If we finance 90% of the purchase price to buy this condominium with interest rate 4.85% with a tenure of 30 years, monthly loan repayment is estimated to be $760. Thus, this condominium is generating a net cash flow of $340 every month, $4080 every year.

Total capital outlay for this investment is $24,000 for down payment including other startup costs like legal fee and brokerage.

Effectively this investment gives us a yearly cash-on-cash return of 18.5%. In other words, within 6 years we would be able to take back our capital $24,000! The best thing is we still own the condominium. It will keep putting money into our pocket every month. We also have the option to sell it away when the market is good.

Case 2: There is a 3-rooms apartment in Tampoi sold at $125,000 in Octorber 2008. Monthly maintenance cost is about $150. If we finance 90% of the purchase price with interest rate 4.85% with a tenure of 30 years, monthly loan repayment is estimated to be $600.

Expected rental income for a fully furnished apartment in the area is about $1200. With furnishing cost of $10,000, total capital required for this investment is around $27,000, while total monthly cost is $750.

The apartment is expected to generate a net cash flow of $450 every month, $5400 every year. Cash-on-cash return on this investment is 20% which we can expect to take back all the capital within 5 years.

Sound interesting right?

Of course, so far we are only talking about numbers. A good real estate investment does not rely on purely numbers. You still have to go and have a look at the building structures, study the location and neighborhood, and perform other checks before you make your decision. What we have discussed, however, can save you time and give you more ideas on the potential returns of a real estate investment before you tell your agent which real estate you want to view in the coming weekend.

Read more about real estate investment tips at http://reijb.com



CLIFFORD

Michael P asked:


Everybody knows using a credit card at the ATM or bank will qualify the transaction as a cash advance and cash advances carry a rather high rate. However today I heard a bit on the news;how to make money off of the credit card companies rather than them making it off of you. It featured some investment guru who talked about using available balances on credit cards for investments that have a higher rate of return than the credit card carries. I have a 0% until July 2007 with plenty to invest if I decided to do this, but how would I avoid the cash advance rate if it would be regarded as cash? Are there any investments that would list the transaction as a purchase? Please help, I am confused.

PRINCE

Kuntree asked:


First I don’t understand why banks would loan money to someone with bad credit or not having the means to repay. Second I don’t understand why investment companies like Bears Stearns would repurchase the loans from the banks. Securitize them and sell them as bonds. What are they learning at these prestigious business schools? How to be a licensed crook? The credit rating agencies are seem to be payed by not assigning the proper credit ratings. The country is falling apart because people don’t have the discipline to live within there means. Greed is running rampant.

TEODORO

Tim H asked:


There is a currency investment that follows the price of gold so and advertisement say,s. What would it be?

SAL