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By Michael Gier

Many investors buy real estate with tenants in place, whether it's a property to buy and hold or something to rehab.  Tenants aren't a bad thing, you just have to be aware of what you need before closing escrow to lower the risk of the tenants being a liability and costing you a tremendous amount of money.

Even rehabbers buy properties with tenants because either the lease ends soon and you'll collect rents while you wait for the expiration date, or you plan to offer the tenant "cash for keys" so that move out before their lease expires.

There are a number of potential problems if you don't prepare.  First, as soon as you take title to the property they may stop paying their rent and they won't move.  I've had this happen.  You don't get the rental income you were expecting and you now have to pay to evict them.  On top of that, they may very well destroy your property on the way out; in my case, they did destroy the property.
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By Michael Gier

For some reason, real estate investors have been made out to be the villains and blamed for the real estate crash. 

I believe there are many to blame including, Washington for pushing lenders to give loans to those that couldn't afford them, lenders for allowing Washington to bully them into making bad loans, homeowners and investors for over leveraging and using their homes as ATM machines.

We all need to quit pointing fingers and take responsibility.  I'm an investor and I'll admit that contributed to this mess.

The solution isn't blaming anyone, especially investors.  If they want this mess to end sooner rather than later, they need investors to get the housing market and economy back on track.  Investors are going to help stabilize the real estate market if they don’t tie our hands and prevent us from doing so.
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It doesn't matter if you're for or against the war, we all need to support our troups.

Xerox is making it very easy for each of us to send a FREE postcard to a member of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Simply click the picture on the left, pick a card, write what you want to say, and Xerox will take care of the rest; delivering your words of support and encouragment.
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By Michael Gier

Of course the title doesn't apply to all wholesalers, but it does apply to most.  It seems that now-a-days everyone is a wholesaler, and most know nothing about real estate.  You have to be careful as a buyer to always do your own due diligence.

I was recently given a property from a wholesaler I hadn't worked with before.  They sent me details about the property including the price they wanted, a repair estimate, and the after repair value (ARV).  The property was listed on the MLS and they confirmed that they had the property under contract.

They wanted $569,000 for the property, they estimated repairs at $40,000, and they put the ARV at $859,000.  This looked like a great property with a potential to make a very large profit; but it was all wrong.
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By Michael Gier

Many rehabbers don't like having to pay the city for permits so that they can work on their rehab projects.  We investors don't like having to add the extra cost to our budget.  And for many of us it seems like a waste of money having to spend it on something that isn't really needed; basically it seems like once again it's simply the government with their hands out.

The other problem is that now you have to deal with some city inspector who could be a pain in the ass; showing attitude, causing delays, even stopping the job altogether.  Who wants that?

Although I understand the frustration there are other things to consider.
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By Michael Gier

We just release our first educational DVD, produced by Silver Dove Production, on the topic of mold. 

MOLD you may ask?  Yes mold.  It's a very important topic and most investors don't know much about it which means they're losing out on lots of money because they are running away from deals that have mold.

By learning about mold, you will be buying properties that most are afraid of simply because they lack education about it.  

This DVD is perfect for investors, homeowners, agents, buyers, sellers, landlords, etc.

Click HERE for more details.
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Welcome 11/19/2010
 
Michael Gier
By Michael Gier

Welcome to our blog.  I like keeping educated and up to date on what is happening in the world of real estate investing, so I decided to create this blog to also keep you updated.

Sign up for our RSS Feed and you'll be delivered each post as it is added.

I look forward to you being part of this blog.
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