Norada Real Estate Investments

Real Estate Investing Myths

by

There are various myths about real estate investing that never seem to die no matter how much you try to kill them!  Hopefully, the information provided below will help you avoid falling for these untruths.

Myth #1: You Can’t Make Money in Real Estate Without a Lot of Money.

It’s true that you usually (but not always) need money to get started in real estate.  However, you don’t need hundreds upon thousands of dollars to get your investment career started and moving!

As discussed in one of my other articles, one of the great benefits of real estate is “leverage”, that is, you can use very little money to buy your way into properties that will keep on appreciating over time and increasing your wealth. In effect, you have what the military calls a “force multiplier”, that is, with one effective “weapon” you can eventually conquer your piece of the real estate market.

[Read more…]

Why You Should Buy a Rental Property

by

It is an out-of-favor asset class that has attracted the attention of David Ackman, a hedge fund manager with a fondness for contrarian investments.  “The best investments we've made are the ones no one else would touch,” Ackman explains.  That's why he's so hot on Single Family Home Rental Property.  They are cheap, he says.  They are a buy.

Ackman argues that Single Family Home Rental Properties possess the identical investment attributes that strongly performing stocks typically possess.  Says Ackman:

We believe we've identified an investment with:

  1. A low valuation – The lowest valuation in at least a generation.
  2. Forced sellers – A large number of distressed transactions.
  3. Extremely attractive financing available – High loan-to-value, low-rate, fixed-rate, long-dated, non-recourse debt, pre-payable without penalty.
  4. Favorable long-term supply dynamics – Short-term oversupplied market, but long-term supply is controlled.
  5. Favorable long-term demand dynamics – Demographically driven demand growth.
  6. Out-of-favor – Currently, this is a somewhat shun asset class.

Ackman's bullish perspective flies in the face of the pervasive pessimism about home-buying. “Experts Say Housing is a Lousy Investment and it Always Will Be,” an August 2010 headline on Yahoo! Finance declared. “The US Housing Market is Headed for a Complete and Total Nightmare,” another financial news service predicted. And just last week, a CNNMoney.com headline warned: “Why Home Prices Could Fall Even More.”

[Read more…]

Finding Good Tenants

by

Ideally, you’d have tenants who paid promptly every month, never complained, and lived in your property for a long time while maintaining it in pristine condition. But that ideal seldom happens for the simple fact that we’re dealing with human beings. They move, get sick, marry, have different temperaments and needs, and so forth – all of which can affect the goals you have for your properties.

However, there are general guidelines you can follow in order to get the best possible tenants, the ones who do pay on time and who seldom complain unless there’s a good reason to do so:

Guideline 1: Qualify Your Applicants

This is a vital first step, because it helps identify great tenants and eliminate potential trouble-makers. The process of qualification involves a combination of asking good questions and using your intuition about an applicant. What are good questions to ask?  Here’s a suggested list to which you can add your own questions:

[Read more…]

Mortgage Delinquencies Decline Across the U.S.

by

According to a recent survey released by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), the “latest delinquency numbers represent significant, across-the-board decreases in mortgage delinquency rates in the U.S.,” according to MBA’s chief economist, Jay Brinkmann[1]. In fact, total delinquencies (not including homes already in foreclosure) are at the lowest levels since the end of 2008, and mortgages with one payment past due alone are at their lowest level since 2007, which MBA marks as the “very beginning of the recession.”

Perhaps even more more promising: at the beginning of 2010 90-day-or-more delinquencies were at an all time high at the beginning of 2010 but have now fallen 28 percent, and 48 of the 50 states experienced a drop in this area.

[Read more…]

National Economic Outlook (February 2011)

by

Although the economy has officially been out of recession for quite some time, those aspects of economic behavior most important to the real estate markets, namely, jobs and borrowing, have remained stuck in the ditch.  The latest data suggest, however, that consumers will soon be spending more.  Jobs are growing at a faster clip, and consumers have done much repair to their personal finances.

Since the end of 2008, consumers have cut 10 percent off their credit card debt, a very large amount that gets them back to where they were before the real estate boom.  With finances at pre-boom levels, consumers will be buying things again, although more cautiously this time around.

Renewed spending is showing up in the retail sector, where jobs at clothing stores were up 4 percent over last year, and jobs at restaurants were up 2 percent.

[Read more…]

Why Real Estate Investors Love Inflation!

by

Investors love real estate because it acts as a hedge against inflation. This occurs for several reasons:

One, on an historical basis, housing prices rise just as fast or faster than the rate of inflation. Two, although investors can’t always raise rents to account for inflation (due to fixed-rent leases of one year or more), the value of the property itself will increase. Three, when real estate investors have a fixed-rate loan, expenses will stay the same, and they pay back that loan with money that’s worth less than what they borrowed! In effect, it’s a form of debt reduction. It just doesn’t get any better than that!

Inflation should be moderate in order to benefit investors. Hyperinflation or its opposite – deflation – are definitely bad news for everyone.

[Read more…]

What is a Short Sale?

by

You may have heard the term “short sale” and wondered what it referred to – and what kind of opportunities these types of transactions offer in the real estate market. Let’s define a short sale first.

A short sale can occur when a home owner’s debt on a property is greater than the amount for which the property can be sold. The result – lenders are sometimes willing to accept less than the total amount due on the house if the economic situation dictates such an action.

Here’s where the term “short sale” came from: Assume a homeowner has an unpaid loan balance of $200,000, but the property will only sell for $150,000. The lender accepts that $150,000 as full payment. This is “short” of the full $200,000 amount.

[Read more…]

Diversification in Real Estate

by

You normally hear the term “diversification” from financial planners and stock brokers. But you don’t hear the term used so often when it comes to real estate investing. The goal of diversification, regardless of the investment, is to reduce the investor’s overall risk.

Diversification in real estate is easily achieved by purchasing income-producing properties in different markets around the country. In some cases, investors even purchase property in other countries. By creating a real estate portfolio of income-producing properties across multiple and separate markets, they reduce their exposure to risk.

[Read more…]

Real Estate Is a Business!

by

Real estate is a business – plain and simple. You’ll need to plan, analyze, negotiate, write offers, manage, market, and sell just like any other form of business. A business does not stay in business for very long if it’s not producing a profit!

In real estate, there’s a certain level of commitment required, but that commitment pays off handsomely. And, unlike many other businesses, real estate allows you to control your hours and set your own schedule. You set the goals you want to achieve, and then you set out to make them happen.

As part of being a businessperson, the most important attitude any investor can have in this field is one of…objectivity! As human beings, we have a tendency to fall in love with certain houses or, conversely, hate them upon sight. Of course, this is a natural tendency since homes at their core represent security, safety, love, family, etc.

[Read more…]

Active vs. Passive Investing

by

In real estate, there are two basic concepts of investing – active and passive.

Passive investing is typically your buy-and-hold form of investing. Simply put, once you’ve purchased a solid income property, you sit back and let it appreciate over time and have your tenants literally pay down your mortgage each and every month.

This form of investing usually combines most, if not all, of the advantages of real estate; that is, appreciation, leverage, cash flow, tax advantages, tenant pay-down of your mortgage, a solid asset, and freedom.

Passive real estate investing is where true wealth creation comes from. The majority of wealth that comes from real estate investing is created from buying prudent income property and holding on to it. This is how real wealth is created.

[Read more…]

Blog Posts

Contact

Norada Real Estate Investments 30251 Golden Lantern, Suite E-261 Laguna Niguel, CA 92677

(949) 218-6668
(800) 611-3060
BBB