Real Estate Blog

While driving to my office after meeting with a client, I was contemplating whether it is good to allow technology to run my business as much as I allow it.  From setting up my showings through the Internet to writing contracts directly on my touch screen laptop..  the answer is an astounding YES! 

With the wonderful advancements we have made in real estate compared to the old hard copy MLS print outs that use to be handed out to local brokerages, we are really in a good time for real estate.

Considering all the gadgets and gizmo’s out there in the world of real estate, its only a matter of time before buyers can basically show houses themselves.  Pretty soon it will be almost impossible to ignore how easy it is to see that house down the street you were dying to critique with little or no agent interaction.  With the invent of things like virtual tours, blackberry phones, and touch screens – we just can’t help but find ways to make it easier to show and sell homes.

By the time I reached my office, ideas had overwhelmed me.  Virtual tours so advanced that a buyer may get so immersed with a house that they need not leave their computer to have confidence to hit the BUY button! 

Imagine for a moment, cameras through-out a home with panoramic views that rival that of Google-Maps.  Its almost here and there’s no way to stop it.. unless the owners don’t like to see their home sold like eBay vs reality TV.

I had an interesting morning looking at a home that had potential, but alas, was a real fixer with more than its share of problems.  What a piece of work! 

Mold.. and i am not talking about the green kind on food, this is toxic black mold — so much in fact, it looked like there was fire damage.  There were signs of foundation problems so extensive that the upstairs slanted into a V formation.  All the doors were not only open, but jammed. 

Why is it so hard to just walk away from a deal?  Every now and then you have to just say ” This one’s just not worth my time”. 

Sometimes there are things that just need a little TLC and then there are those that just cannot be fixed.  Carpet, roofs, foundations, siding, and even sheet-rock are some things that deter buyers from moving forward on a purchase.  These issues can often times be addressed for very little cost, but I tend to look a bit deeper, delve more into the real problems.

Does the house your buying for investment have major foundation issues — i’m talking about the kind that has made the exterior buckle, roof to sag, and most importantly, damaged the plumbing.  This is where your real problems are going to be and sometimes hardest to see and fix.  Electrical will usually be another expense that can really run up the tab, so your certainly going to be needing an inspection on all and I mean ALL purchases.

Even the real pros know their limits.  Gosh!  I can’t think of a single investor that I know that would not turn down a really problem house if it wasn’t going to make a descent profit.  We don’t work that way.  We invest, therefor we are looking to make a nice profit.  If the repairs are going to devour the profit, we move on.

Next time you walk into the house from hell — step back and breathe.  Then ask yourself, “If I don’t buy this house, who will?”  You will then know whether you can wholesale it to someone else, rehab it yourself, or run like a bat out of hell!

We all have been in school at one point in time or another and have walked uphill both ways to get there, right?  With all the commotion, children crossing, bus stops and even afternoon pick-up traffic, what makes living near a school so popular and better yet - good. 

As with most things, high marks will most always constitute a higher price, so when a good performing school district is present, many may flock to it.  Many families value a good school system as a high importance factor in their home purchase.  Most people are able to discern between the good and bad schools based on overall performance, area crime, and sometimes just word of mouth. 

There can alternately be some factors about homes near schools that can detract from its value, such as variable noise levels, the asthetics of the school itself and whether the buyer even has children to begin with.  Taking into consideration that most schools are near public offices such as police stations and libraries can also add to the equation, so paying close attention to other criteria may be needed to determine its real value.

In more cases than not, areas that have appreciating home values will usually host above average performing schools than those areas with significantly depreciated values.  This shows that investing or buying your home near good schools can be a great advantage when it comes to appreciation and more importantly, child development.

In Real Estate, buying at the right time is always important.  Knowing when to buy can be difficult to determine, but if you time it right, you can do well in this  distressed market.  According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, home prices are at a 27 year low comparable to historic records and right now is the best time to buy real estate.

As an investor, being able to get in the market when everyone else is getting out is crucial to making a profit.  Investing in properties that will turn a profit after calculating your expenses and debt service can be very profitable.  Low interest rates, discounted home prices, and a large selection of properties to choose from gives an investor opportunities that have not been seen since 2002.

Although the foreclosure rate is at a near all-time high, so are the owners that are turning to renting due to being forced out of their homes because of foreclosure.  Also, with mortgage companies tightening up on their lending criteria, many would-be buyers are unable to get a loan - this leaves a large inventory for the investors to buy, rent, and sell.

What distinguishes a Landlord from that of the Slumlord can be as simple as a philosophy on how they manage their properties to the way they treat the tenants themselves.  Understanding the difference may allow you to decide if you are right for the job of owning rental properties or having the realization that your perceptions of a investment owner were wrong.

You may have seen the move “The Super” which cast Joe Pesci as a wealthy slumlord that was sentenced to 6 months of living in the same building he failed to properly care for and manage.  He learned the hard way that the tenants in his building were being truly uncared for and his building itself was in ruins.  This realization brought him to understand the value of taking care of both.  A slumlord is typically an absentee landlord that is only looking to make profit and pays little care to the upkeep and maintenance of his properties.  His properties usually are located in deteriorating neighborhoods and warrant low rents and have high vacancies.

Slumlords are so caught up in trying to make a profit, they sometimes forget about the greatest asset they have, which is the tenants they house.  By taking better care of their tenants and maintaining the properties better, they would be able to spend less on maintenance costs and have higher rents.  Most slumlords do not consider the consequence of improper care of their belongings, nor to the effects on those around them.

In some cases, landlords can become a slumlord by becoming overwhelmed in the amount of properties they maintain, illness, or even financial situations which make it difficult to maintain properties to acceptable levels.  On the other hand, a slumlord may become a more involved owner and remove himself from the status of one that is considered a slumlord owner.  This is due to the slumlord actually being an uninformed or inexperienced owner that has developed and modified their management practices.

There are many responsibilities that need to be adhered to when managing rental property, but involvement in the day to day operations is not only important but crucial in maintaining the value of the property and keeping a low vacancy rate which is the sign of happy tenants.  Doing these two things will help make you a better landlord and also a profitable one at that!