As a general rule our investing business focuses on buying distressed real estate properties, rehabing them and renting them to good long term tenants. Over the past year we've been able to generate on average a 20% annual return for each single family house we've purchased using this model.

From time to time we need to generate capital to finance new acquisitions. Flipping retail homes is one way to raise relatively quick capital albeit it can take up to 6 months to get cashed out. Flipping is generally frowned upon by sophisticated investors and I for one generally agree. But there are times when waiting 5 to 10 years before cashing out of a rental property is just too long to wait to unlock your equity in an investment.

We found a good deal on a 4 bedroom 2.5 bath 2800 sq ft home in a strategic area of Michigan for about $57,000. We intend on investing another $35,000 into repairs and improvements. Comparable homes in the area are selling between $130,000 to $150,000 in under 6 months. This would give a net profit of between $38,000 to $58,000 before closing costs are factored in.

Comment (0) Read More...

Lately it seems Blogging and becoming a Blogger is all the rage.  They seem to have a power all their own as blogs have been key to the downfalls of major political and media members like Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and CBS news anchor Dan Rather for instance.  At first it seemed an entertainment outlet for teenagers instead of gaming all night, they would Blog as a means of staying in the "know" and making sure their friends knew everything about them. 

Celebrities and other high-profile people seem to use them also to captivate an audience and announce different trends in their lives, mostly personal.  Still Blogs are not just for teenagers, celebrity brats, they're for the average business person, mainly right now it seems Realtors are utilizing the media to market themselves.  And this begs the question do Blogs and the action of Blogging really help businesses?  Are they good marketing tools or just a waste of time?  Can this medium help or hinder your real estate business?  The answer remains in how they are used and to what degree.  It is really all about knowledge.

 Still what is Blog really?  For those of us that remain technically challenged and couldn't be a Web Master if we tried, a Blog is as user friendly as web content comes but it is a way of managing content or a CMS, content management system.  The software involved really does all the work for the Blogger and this allows just about anyone to create and maintain a Blog.  This action of maintaining or updating the Blog is known as the verb form of Blogging as well as someone who Blog is a Blogger.  The individual Blogs are also known as posts and they are usually organized in reverse chronological order.  The most up to date material will be viewed first.  Still with all the Blogs in the Super Information Universe, what makes a Blog unique, eye catching?  What makes it a different media from just a web site or a forum, email or other e-based media?  How is this method unique in format and material?  Can this be found in the way it balances technology with individual expression?

Comment (1) Read More...

Never before has it been more necessary for a company to use internet marketing tactics to not only capture market presence but to also learn about their target audience. Suffice it to say that no longer is there such a thing as brand loyalty and it is the job of a good marketer to understand what makes the mind of the consumer tick. The advent of new technology within our global culture has created a faster than light mentality toward information. From an advertising and PR standpoint, the main concern is that the customer be sent the correct information, at the correct time and in the correct format, wording style.

Our concerns are that with the current housing market and competition at an all time high due the bursting bubble that an organization such as ours benefit from these practices in the most positive of lights as well as protect itself from future problems. As a result, there must be an understanding of the customer and their needs, in other words, now it is most important to understand the target audience.

Essentially a marketing strategy is built around the core values, vision and objectives of the organization. Study of market strategy one becomes aware that in order to have product, price, promotion or placement, the organization must have done its research on the market and the consumer need for its service. Without an understanding the targeted audience, the organization cannot market at all. It is important to work the product, its price, distribution and promotion around the needs of the people and of course, from there, work to persuade segments of the segment into wanting the product. This is called product diversification. Not everyone can afford to be a homeowner right now but a smart realtor will play up the prospect of this happening for future buyers. They will encourage fist time home buyer education and seminars to understand getting a deal in a tight market. Still this environment is cut throat with many threats to income. Consumers are more wary of huge purchases with the current economy and many are looking to the future leadership of this country to set the tone.

What many business people starting out really do not understand about marketing and understanding the average consumer is that more that likely the target is open to finding information about your product or service. It may be they are unaware the need is not satisfied yet but until the need is defined, they will not be receptive. They just need a little push in the right direction. Still it is your job and the purpose of the marketing strategy to define who should be looking for you. Without a clear picture of this, networking or customer relationships cannot be formed on a wink and a prayer. There needs to be a plan. Still this is not to say that your customer will not be diverse in nature. I mean everyone needs a place to call home whether they rent or buy. So it is important that your web site be driven by these defining variables.

Comment (0) Read More...

Blogging is everywhere. It seems everyone has a blog or is blogging about something at any given time. It is the new e-mail, even better than texting because your words are alive in cyberspace. The corporate world has turned to blogging as a means of creating online marketing tactics; artists use it as a form of self-promotion and retailers use blogging as means to influence branding of products. It is all about presentation and audience participation. With all this in mind, it is an expected behavior of marketing gurus.

Blogs have popped up for everything from real estate, movies, self help, food to books. The list goes on and on, changing daily as social interaction changes between people, consumers and anyone on the ‘Net' who will listen. Pretty soon people will not even need to leave the house! This might be a good thing with the price of gas but blogging is changing the very face of the world. So what is going on with yours because I really want the 411? What makes a blog? What is it any way and why should we care because Proctor and Gamble told us or Miley Cyrus has one and so does every other teen?

A blog is just like a diary, journal, your thoughts, a website. It needs to be built and maintained. Much like a ‘Field of Dreams' it gets much of its background history from journaling online. Instead of the traditional diary locked and thrown under the mattress, one has an e-journal now a days. But what makes one blog better than another? Do you really want to know about every second of my day, what we ate for dinner last night or what I think about "How I met your mother." A blog is all about the traffic just like a website and well, if yours is boring then, need I say more?

Comment (0) Read More...

Suzie knows how to find what she wants. She lets her fingers do the walking - not in the Yellow Pages, but at Google.com. She wants to buy Real Estate in the Bay Area, and you have just written San Francisco Real Estate Market for Buyers and Sellers. Luckily, for you, Google and other search engines exist for one simple reason: to help people like Suzie find your Web site.

Google shows 20,200,000 resources on "Real Estate in the Bay Areas." Unless she finds what she wants on the first page, (or in the top 10 results), odds are she won't find your Web site - especially if it's listed as the 124th result!

The million-dollar question: How do you ensure that Suzie finds your Web site, given the googolplex of possibilities? You might have heard a lot about "search engine optimization," "ranking analysis" and "algorithms." All of this may sound complex at first, but it simply becomes a three-step process.

The first thing to remember is that search engines only show Web sites it has on record. Make sure to submit your site to key search engine directories. Get listed in the following directories: dmoz.com, yahoo.com, zeal.com, joeant.com, etc. You can do this - you need not hire someone.

Comment (0) Read More...

In the previous blog, I talked about how important it is to optimize your "natural" search engine ranking-but is this the only route to increased traffic to your firm's site?

A high, "natural" or organic site ranking is imperative to your site's success. There is another option, however, to increase site traffic: paid per click ads. Let's look at how these forms of advertisement differ from one-another.

Surf to google.com and search for something of interest-chances are, you'll see relevant, natural results on the left. Look to your right, and you'll see paid searches as well. Visibility, here, is the first difference between natural and paid search results.

Which results "pop" out to you the most? Most viewers have the distinction and tradition of reading left-to-right, and chances are, you just did. An individual accustomed to this tradition will therefore always read natural searches first.

Comment (0) Read More...

For any modern business, having an effective web site is vital for any firm's success, as it delivers the information customers crave with ease-that is, once you find your way to a site. Getting there, especially with limited information, is often dependant on Internet search engine results. 

In the land of Internet search engines, Google.com is king; and having a high  "natural" ranking (non-paid ads) is key to attracting new customers.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is so often discussed-disputed-buzzed about that many times it is lost in translation. Marketers actively use the web as a source for promoting their products know of it, but not all are sure how to "optimize" their site for search engines like Google.

Comment (0) Read More...

Comment (0) Read More...