dwall's blog

Dodd/Frank Act #2--Overview
Overview—(Note: The following information is a summary of the Dodd/Frank Act, (Reference: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-111publ203/pdf/PLAW-111publ203.pdf ), a U.S. Regulation that is in initial implementation as of this writing. Note that there is no case law precedent to reference, so investors are encouraged to be cautious and thorough in dealing with the tenets of these regulations.

Clever Creative Real Estate Strategies
This column is designed as a location for anyone in the community to post Clever and Creative Real Estate Strategies. I will share some of the interesting techniques we've employed or assisted with in my 16 plus years as a real estate trainer and investor. Please feel free to add your own creative strategies from personal experience or working with other people. The purpose of this string of posts is to stimulate creativity and perhaps you, as I have, will create some new variations on real estate investing that have never been utilized by anyone else.
So, where to begin? There are a lot of cool stories, I think I will start with one that I will call "Boarded Up Houses and Limos."

Marketing Lease Option to Landlords

I'm hopeful that Shirley will have additional information to share, her approach is valuable and I'm anxious to learn more. I've used my own approach in finding properties for Lease Option opportunities, and that is by contacting owners of rental properties that are advertising to fill vacancies. To be honest, this approach has always supplied enough properties to keep me busy with this technique, and I work with some other strategies, so I haven't used the Lease Option approach all that much with properties for sale. Here, basically, is the script I use when calling on rental properties (note that this can also produce potential cash buyers too)
Calling on Rentals

Show Me The Money

Real Estate Agents and Mortgage Brokers will tell you that there are only two sources of money for the purchase of real estate properties--Loans and Other Loans. This is what they have been trained on, and they have procedures in place to put transactions together using standard traditional financing.
But as investors, we seek for more varieties of ways to fund the purchase of properties. There are five categories of sources for funding, with some sub-categories below. My favorite method will be listed last, along with the reasons this method is my top choice for property purchases, and the reason I have used it more than any other method of funding for both personal residences and investment properties.

Questions to Interview a Real Estate Agent

The first thing you need to know in conducting an interview is that the person who asks the questions controls the conversation. Real Estate agents are notorious for picking apart things that investors do, if you give them a chance. I believe that the reasons for their "attitude" toward investors comes from the following:
1) They have been trained only on one way to do transactions, investors do things differently, and they are unfamiliar, and therefore wary.
2) Many real estate agents are fearful that in some way investors will find a way to cut them out of the deal.

Are you Illegally Acting as an Agent?
I have been communicating with someone in the program who received a letter from a local detective with the police force. A real estate agent has reported that she is illegally acting as an agent in her business, which is wholesaling.
She seems to be following all of the principles of the program, which would make all of her operations legal, but in spite of that, there is an agent who has somehow decided she is breaking the law and reported her.
I am writing this post to define the difference between agency and ownership, and how that applies to us. I am also writing it to warn you against the activity that can get you into trouble.