The Return of Real Estate – Fortune Magazine
April 12, 2011 by Hudson Watts · Leave a Comment
This week’s issue of Fortune Magazine proclaims the “return of real estate”. I didn’t think I would see an article like this from a mainstream publication so soon – especially from one of the most trusted financial magazines. Could this mark the beginning of more good news to come?
“Forget stocks. Don’t bet on gold. After four years of plunging home prices, the most attractive asset class in America is housing,” writes Shawn Tully.
The article covers five trends as justification for improvement in the real estate market:
- The steady decline in prices which has been going on nationally since 2005 has finally hit a level where it costs less to own a house than to rent in many cities.
- The supply of renters has increased sharply in the recent past, which has already begun to cause rapid increases in rental rates.
- Home builders have held back on building new homes for several years, creating the conditions for a shortage of new homes when demand goes up just a little bit.
- Investors, responding to the big demand for rental units, are rapidly buying down the overhang of foreclosed homes which has dogged the market.
- Finally, the U.S. economy seems to be
Atlanta Investment Property with Seller Financing
April 7, 2011 by Hudson Watts · Leave a Comment
We just released our latest real estate investment opportunity in Atlanta, Georgia. These are fully refurbished single family homes within the greater Atlanta market. The properties are delivered tenant occupied and managed by our professional management firm.
The properties provide investors with a positive cash flow of $300 to $500 per month (assuming a 40% down payment). They also have capitalization rates starting at 10% providing investors with solid returns.
As good as this investment is, the “kicker” is our exclusive NO qualification seller financing.
Our No Credit, Stated-Income Investment Program is a unique real estate acquisition system enabling investors who cannot or do not want to qualify for conventional financing to purchase our refurbished and rented single family properties. By removing all the “big bank” financing restrictions, investors can purchase an unlimited number of our income properties without any credit or income qualifications.
These investment properties are 3 and 4-bedroom single-family homes with 1 to 3 bathrooms, and located in desirable neighborhoods. The fact that they are like-new and fully refurbished makes them an attractive turnkey real estate investment for novice as well as seasoned investors.
Download the Free Investment Report here: Atlanta Investment Property
Real Estate Investing Myths
March 19, 2011 by Hudson Watts · Leave a Comment
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,
Finding Good Tenants
March 4, 2011 by Hudson Watts · Leave a Comment
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 ar
Mortgage Delinquencies Decline Across the U.S.
February 25, 2011 by Hudson Watts · Leave a Comment
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.
These numbers indicate, to Brinkmann, that “we have clearly turned a corner.” He went on to say that “absent a significant economic reversal, the delinquency picture should continue to improve during 2011.” Brinkmann cited high levels of unemployment for the still relatively slow recovery, but did point out that “the economy did add over 1.2 million private sector jobs during 2010.”
Many states are also adding homeowner-aid programs to the roster aimed specifically at out-of-work homeowners. For example, in South