The Money Kings are keepin’ it real, baby!!!

For your consideration: Real Estate Profits And Losses. Scenario 9: Getting into the business. There are lots of people with money out there.

The major media outlets are rife with bad news on the housing market and real estate. In fact, we have something to say to the major media outlets. It’s the same message we heard the CEO of luxury-home builder Toll Brothers Inc. reiterate:

We’re not saying that we want a stop to objective reporting, or balanced news coverage . . .

We’re saying that we’d like to hear about something else besides economic housing data on the radio and on the TV news tickers every “hour on the 8s”! We know that the bears are ruling our economic climate and that recession is sexy, but please.

This period in American history is one for the record books—for sure. People have money in America. Employment data is really good here. Ask folks in the Philippines for their employment figures.

There are no “shoulds” and “should nots” in life or in investing. Risk is the name of the game. Many people have taken risks with real estate, and those risks are not paying off for them in the ways they originally hoped. They’re not happy.

The Money Kings says: When one is unhappy another can be. This is the free market.

So, with this said, let’s say you want to buck the trend. You want to ignore all of the media hype. You want to think for yourself for whatever reason and get into the business of real estate investment. Here are a few tips to help you out:

1. You’re in luck: Many of the aforementioned people that are unhappy with their real estate investments are also very desperate for buyers to come “rescue” them from the nightmare situations you’re reading about in our Real Estate Profits and Losses series. They’re eager to sell. Some of these people, for example, are men who’ve convinced their wives that they should BOTH be landlords. The wives then realize that their husbands signature on all those loan documents really represented signing away BOTH of their credit scores and in some cases their own personal homes! You can “rescue” these people by bargaining tough and getting great properties at really low prices. Start your negotiating price at 20% below list in the very least. See what happens.
2. Lots of people have bitten off more than they can chew: Many real estate investors didn’t make the mistake of buying properties that were overpriced or in bad disrepair. Many investors bought too much of a good thing. In your searches for properties, you’ll find one or two investors that bought 10 great properties when they really only had the time/interest/money to run 5 of them. Again, start your negotiating price at 20% below list or more and see what happens with these folks. Talk to realtors in your area of interest. Many of them are working with these types of investors right now. You can pick up good properties that have been taken care of, but are just too much to handle by the current owner.
3. Gas prices are a b*tch: You’re going to run across the occasional seller that simply made the mistake of buying property too far away from his or her own home. When gas was at $2 per gallon, rental properties 50 miles away didn’t seem like much of a problem. At $3.50 a gallon, it doesn’t make sense for them to be in the area they’ve chosen in the past. These folks can be some of the most surprisingly desperate people you’ll come across (beside the foreclosure risks, of course). You won’t have to do much to convince them to sell.

There are lots of other simple facts to consider when trying to take advantage of the myriad of situations that have befallen a lot of would-be investors that want to get out.

A Money King can swoop in. Buy properties at 50% of their value and start realizing 20, 30 or 40% profit margins in an area that previously only broke even. Do your homework searching the listings. Call a couple of real estate agents and ask them if they have any clients that are looking to sell quickly, and you’ll be in the game faster than you blink.

Good luck out there.

The Money Kings

Keywords: real estate, investing, income, real world, time, waste, money, tactics, sellers, buyers, desperate