Ask Nick: How does the rehab cost add up?

Hey Nick,

I'm immersing myself in real estate knowledge and thank God for the internet and you tube, there's a whole wealth of information out there that can be good for newbies like me.

Lately, I've been focusing my attention on rehabs. I figured that if one understood rehabs, one would understand real estate investing a whole lot better and even wholesaling.

My question is: How does the rehab cost add up?

When investors quote a rehab cost or estimate cost, say, $40,000, does this include materials plus the contractor's fee and labor, or is the labor priced differently?

As always, looking forward to your response…

Thanks and Happy Holidays!

Hi There,

You asked a very involved question... contractors will quote whatever work you tell them to. And if you're not clear, you'll never get accurate bids on anything.

Some will quote you labor only, some both materials & labor, some will underbid you only to give you what's called a "change order" later on, upping the real price, some do good work, others don't.

When I walk through a job, you have to be as detailed as you can, when drawing up your OWN scope of work. I go as detailed as labeling what SKU numbers from Home Depot or Lowes I want, with doors, chandeliers, counters, etc.

That way, when you provide YOUR scope to one or three contractors, you get ACCURATE bids.

Make sure they realize it includes both materials & labor. My coaching students walk through jobs and do this on a daily basis, as it does take practice.

Hope this helps!

~ Nick

Ask Nick - "When does a homeowner legally lose their foreclosed home?"

Hi Nick,

While wholesaling, I constantly encounter homes vacated by the Home Owners. I keep coming across notices from a company called American Field Services reading, "The property has been secured/winterized"… "Do not turn on utilities”...”heating tank has been drained"....

I understand the homeowner still has time before a foreclosure date is actually set, however, at what point does the homeowner legally loose the right to his/her house? Is it when he/she decides to walk out of the home and the lender sends in these American Field Services type of companies to secure the property?

OR Do homeowners lose their home when the legal process of foreclosure is ventually done?

These issues / questions have been weighing heavy on my mind...

Looking forward to hear your response,

Thanks!

Hi there,

Thanks for the question! The homeowner loses all rights to the property once the auction date has come, and the auction is completed. That's when it officially goes either to an investor, or more commonly, back to the bank (they are also present at the auction to protect their interests).

The name on the door you are seeing is the asset manager, the company hired by the bank to maintain it while it is on their books.

Hope this helps...

Nick

“Ask Nick”—How do I Find Houses?

There was a great response to the new “Ask Nick” segment in the AARE newsletter. Thanks for the questions! Here’s a good one…

Hi Nick,

I'm new in the REI Field and my dilemma is this:

I'm currently focusing on pre-foreclosures and have lined up an array of buyers, but I'm struggling to get houses despite the foreclosure crisis going on. By the time I arrive at a property in Pre-Foreclosure, I'm finding that the owners just "walked away" from the property.

Right now, my strategy is looking up the Notices/Complaints from the court records. I look up these notices online from our local newspaper. I do a bit of research on the property from initial purchase price, Refi's and do some basic comps of the neighborhood. From that point on I proceed to look at the property and take notes. This is where I'm finding most homes vacant and homeowners having just walked out and abandoned the property.

I am stuck at this point as to what to do/ how to proceed from here-I have buyers but no houses...Thank You"

Hi there,

Good stuff! Thanks for the question! You've got a good system going right now. Very good job getting your buyers list up and running - that's usually the hard part.

My first thought is that there is probably a way to systemize this process, so you're not tied down chasing property owners to where they move to. You make a huge impression by showing up in person, but as you're finding, many homeowners have already moved on, and you're chasing down ghosts.

Make the deals to come to YOU – don’t chase the deals!

It's great you get the list directly from the newspaper to save your time and money; however, it's not quite as timely as looking the records up directly at the courthouse or buying from a list broker, as other investors are doing.

My suggestion is to gather the essential data you already get from the newspaper (name, address, any dates of sheriff sales, etc) to immediately incorporate a direct mail campaign to these addresses.

Now, you have to assume that these people are getting bombarded with mail from other investors, so you have to make yours unique so they read it. In my coaching program, I show my students how to incorporate standard letters & postcards, what to say in the letters, etc to get the best response rate.

5 Tips to make your mail unique:

- Handwrite the name & address in blue pen

- Use a stamp with personality

- Hand-sign each one of these, and mail it out

- Ensure you have at least 5 (ideally seven) mailings to each person

- Write the words, "Forwarding Address Requested" on each envelope. This will forward your mail to the address where the owner moved to if they left this address for the USPS.

**Note - YOU don't have to be the one doing all the writing, stamping & stuffing.

ONLY do your research & due diligence on a property, if you get a return call. This will save you a bunch of time, so you don't have to analyze every property, and allow you to continue to build your list. Perhaps, if you know an area well and think it may have a better profit potential, you can spend some time heading over to the property and see if they are there.
Either way, keep your marketing going (direct mail, bandit signs, newspaper ads) to bring calls coming into you, and as long as you keep the flow going, you will always have deals to sell to your buyers.

And... once you get more deals than your buyers can handle, it's time to beef up your buyers list again!

Hope this helps. Let me know if you decide to implement this, and how it works for you.

Happy Investing!

Nick

Building Wealth in a Down Market

Someone posed this very question to me last week, and since this seems to be the "buzz" topic recently, I thought I'd share my humble thoughts on the subject.

What a Financial Planner Would Tell You


It's intriguing to me, as if you would have asked me this question back before I was introduced to real estate, in my banking days, I'd have told you what every other financial planner would have told you: save money, pay off debt, build your retirement savings through maximizing your IRA contributions & take full advantage of 401K match incentives, provided by your employer. "Re-adjust your portfolio allocation" (most people would look at me with three heads when I would say this to them), or "put your credit card in a block of ice in the freezer". (Hah - I forgot about that one..)

These ideas are still excellent ones. The only problem I have with these ideas, is they keep middle class people, well, middle class. They were growing their retirement, so they'd be just OK when they turned 65, but in the meantime they were still slaving away at their JOB and are unable to explode their wealth so that could enjoy everything life had to offer, before their retirement. I mean, let's face it... retirement is such a wonderful dream. But life is short - why wait to fill your dreams?

Building Wealth Through Real Estate Investing

According to this article, the "Top 7 Ways to Get Rich," Alen Korber makes the case for why investing is one of the smartest ways to grow your wealth. Being that he is a reseller of a stock market analysis strategy, he discredits real estate, claiming real estate tends to grow only at 10% per year, and requires a large down payment, so it's "hard to get rich quick that way." I would argue that anyone who invests in real estate to "get rich quick", HOPING it goes up in value the average 10% per year, and who puts down a lot of cash to do it, does not quite understand the real methods at all. It is possible to explode your wealth through real estate, but anyone in this business can tell you it certainly is NOT a get rich quick plan you'll see on those infomercials. I might call it a "get rich sooner" plan. And I still am uncomfortable throwing my money in the stock market, or anywhere else I cannot control what happens to it, or where it can sink to zero.

Want To Know How It's Done?

There are a few different strategies, but they usually end the same way - invest for CASHFLOW, NOT market appreciation. Don't even look at this factor, when you begin your investing business. You can choose to be an active or a passive investor (passive allows you to enjoy the gains from real estate, but someone else does all the work). When I begin a coaching session for one of my students, or when I meet with one of my investors, we go over their short term and long term financial goals, just like a financial planner would. Then, it's worth choosing different real estate investing strategies to help them invest for their immediate needs, and then set up IRAs and this plan around their longer term goals.

One strategy that seems fairly common, is to invest in shorter term investments (flips, high-yielding notes) to build some cash, and then shelter this cash in a longer term investment (either a small rental building, or as part owner of a large residential complex). If you already have some cash resources, I will suggest that as my colleague & fellow apartment owner David Lindahl says, "Go bigger, faster." The faster you can get involved in a larger complex, you start to take advantage of economies of scale, excellent management, and larger cashflow numbers ("dividend yields," for those stock people out there).

For those that do not yet qualify or think they're ready yet for larger complexes, a perfectly good strategy (and exactly what the residential branch of AARE is doing right now in this marketplace) is to invest in homes below replacement cost, for rental income in depressed areas. Will these homes go nuts once the market rebounds? Most likely not... but as a true wealth investor, you are going for cashflow, and never look at appreciation.

Money Magazine recently got wind of what we are doing, and published an article on give-away priced homes in their most recent issue. Set a return you want to get for yourself. My minimum return is 12% in rental income per year (I shoot for 20% in these depressed areas), and this is after ALL expenses.



Example:

$6,900 purchase price for a 3-bedroom house
+ $12,000 rehab costs
is $18,900 "cash in" the deal. Usually these homes are not financeable, so you would either have to put in all your own cash, or go in with a couple others. But here's the return:

Rent goes for around $600 / month in this area. Estimating all expenses (including management, vacancy, maintenance, taxes, insurance, marketing costs) at around 50% of your income, you'll still be raking in $3600 / year, which comes out to be 19.05% in your annual return.

If you play your cards right, when you purchased the home, you MIGHT take into account FORCED appreciation (sweat equity)... perhaps the house in fixed up condition would actually sell for $30,000. Though we never look at this number when we invest for the long term, it's nice to know that you may have an extra bonus coming to you when you sell down the line, in 5 or ten years. Or, keep them forever, and continue to collect your 19%... which only takes a little over 5 years to get all your money back. AND... this doesn't include tax benefits, and a whole slew of other potential income benefits you can reap... GOD I love this business.

You can probably see, it doesn't take many of these to help your cashflow situation - and perhaps the day you decide to retire, you now can realize your equity in these little ATM machines, by selling or pulling it out in a refinance. Take your dream vacation in 5 years, or when you retire - all tax free, unlike traditional IRA withdrawals.

As I mentioned before, some investors prefer to be hands on, while others don't want to have anything to do with the real estate side of it. For these individuals, there are plenty of active investors out there - contact me if you'd like to get hooked in with one of them. IRA money CAN invest in real estate, despite what your current advisor tells you. We are happy to help guide you through the process, or answer your questions on this if you prefer...

The moral of the story

It IS possible to invest smart in a down market, an up market, a sideways market, whatever - just make sure you keep the right thing in mind as you invest in whatever you choose: INCOME. Investing for anything else is considered speculation, and just as risky as the Guessing Game--I mean, Stock Market.

Until next time,

Happy Investing!

Nick

3 Things NOT to do when Improving Curb Appeal

One of the questions that came in last week was from a rehabber finishing up a job he was going to flip, and was just about to put it on the market. He took a picture of it, and sent to me, asking me to give him a few pointers on what he could do to spruce up the outside of the property, to make it more appealing to buyers. His question spurred me to write it down for this topic.

1. Do NOT let your landscaping grow too long, even for one day.

Nothing says "No one cares about me" like an unkempt lawn. Potential buyers drive by your property every day. If they happen to see a lawn start to grow a bit higher than the other houses on the street, the emotional part of their brain (the one that actually makes their buying decisions) immediately turns off, and so goes the potential sale. After the initial cleanup my landscaper does, I always have the lawns cut at least once every week and a half, if not once a week.

2. Do NOT ignore your gutters & roof.

You have beautiful doors, new siding, new cement steps with beautiful wrought-iron handrails, and an excellent landscaping job. You stand back to admire your work... and realize there are rust stains all over the gutters. I want you to notice how all your attention turns away from the beauty of the house, to the ugliness of even those 4 rust spots on the gutters. Take care of them! The same goes for any fishing of roof shingles. If you notice shingles coming off or loose upon purchasing the house, it's probably a good idea to figure in a whole new roof, in your purchase price.


3. Do NOT overdo it.

It's not always necessary to tear out every tree & shrub surrounding the property, or to replace all the siding, doors & windows to give the house a new, fresh look. You want the buyers to pull up and say, "Wow. This looks better than the others I've seen in this price range."

THAT'S the key... to be the nicest looking house (inside AND out), at the lowest price in that area.

Some tips on what you CAN do:

1. Start by looking at all the other houses on that street. Do they all have vinyl siding? Do they have roofs newer than yours? DO they have white picket fences outlining their front yards, or shrubs, or nothing? The chances are good the buyers will also see your house compared with others on the street, and they will want to see at least similar features... your goal is to be the best & brightest.

2. Repaint the exterior a bright, neutral color (here is where you can look to the other houses in the neighborhood). If it's vinyl sided and is not in need of repair / replacement, power wash it. You'd be amazed how much brighter a house can look once it's been power washed. And - if it has a detached garage - remember the garage door!

3. Add fresh mulch: If there are shrubs or plants around the entryway or the street, a good way to make them stand out is to add fresh mulch around the plants. This also makes your green lawn stand out better, in the high "pride of ownership" areas.

4. Add a new mailbox. Sometimes, it IS that simple a change to make the front of a house look good. If it's a high end house, I like to use the granite columns with black mailboxes. If a lower end house, a nice wood post with a black mailbox will do. If theres no lawn, then it's more important than ever to add a nice "high-end" look to a mailbox you'll bolt to the side of the door.

5. Give it a "Wow" factor. Many times, it's as simple as going with a really nice front door from Home Depot. Make it the next model up from what everyone else on the street has. Sometimes, it's installing a containment wall with nice stone or brick, which makes it so the buyers do not see an ugly dirt hill as they approach your property. Repainting the shutters, or even adding a small hose-powered fountain are other small ideas that will give them a nice feeling as they approach.

Hope these tips were helpful to some of you rehabbers out there (and some of you wholesalers, too)! Keep those deals going, and as always,

Happy Investing!

To Flip, or Not to Flip?

That IS the question. I've had so many people approach me the last few weeks and ask me if this is a flip market, or if this is buy & hold market in real estate. I answer them the same way: YES.

There so many different factors that would determine which strategy to use; your local area & local market, your local ABSORPTION RATE (ask your investor-friendly Realtor about this - and if they don't know, find one that does!), determining what type of buyers are looking for what type of properties where you're looking, rents and rental demand in your area, and more are all things you must think about.

But the #1 thing I push my students to do is to think about their short term (5 years) and long term financial goals. Flipping property is truly one of the bread & butter strategies in real estate, and it has been done for a very long time. This is a way for you to bring in a large lump of cash, and inject it into your business (or your lifestyle!) within 1 to 6 months. Understanding the complexities of analyzing, structuring, and executing the deal are very important, but if you buy right and run your projects well, it's a great tool to come up with some short-term cash. If you read our most recent newsletter, our most recent deal was a foreclosure in a desirable, middle-class town in MA. By understanding our numbers, and running the job the way we wanted it run, we made $60K in 60 days. Congrats to the student who worked to see this through! This is our second student who made over $50K on their first deal!

Flips can be found in ANY market. Some may have more opportunities than others. When you're starting out, I advise people to start interviewing Realtors and other investors in the area. What are they up to? Are 2-bedroom homes selling? In this area of town better or worse to invest in? These people should NOT be considered your competition - we're all in this fantastic game to pay our bills, and have some left over to live an excellent and well-deserved life, as well. You can also figure out, in your own neighborhoods, which areas are more desirable than others. Did you ever drive by that house with the uncut lawn, that seems VERY out of place? Might be worth a drive by the police station, and bringing them some coffee to ask them who owns that place and what they know about it. "If only," you think, "that place was fixed up, I know it would sell for around $xxx." There you go - your starting point.

The only caveat with flipping properties, is unless you set up systems to run your business without you, you're always still involved. The moment you stop hunting for deals, or stop keeping relations with your buyers, investors & contractors, your business dries up. No more cash. This said, most of my students elect to start in wholesaling or flipping, and then move on to buy & holds.

If done appropriately, buying rentals is an excellent way to build long term wealth... passively. Meaning, if you set it up efficiently, you get checks coming in month after month that pay your mortgage for you AND give you some extra to live off of... without you having to do anything (if you have an excellent PROPERTY MANAGER- another member of your power team!). Buy & holds can also be found in any market, at any time. When you analyze your deals, if the cashflow works, then you submit the offer.

This strategy (flipping for short term cash, turning it into longer-term wealth through rentals) is not for everyone. Some people may not want to have real estate be their primary focus, and so maybe they only need to have one or two successful flips per year to add $60K to their lifestyle goals. To answer the question, is now a good time to flip properties, the answer is YES, and deals are everywhere... just make sure you BUY RIGHT, and lean on your team to help you.

Happy Investing!

Nick

Nick's Update - Blogging, Events

Gosh. Blogging is so hard. You'd think it would be easy for me to actually follow my schedule, and it says, "BING! Nick, time to update your blog." I then look at this page, blankly, not having a CLUE what to write about, as I'm still learning every day on this new technological revolution. I stare at it for more than 5 minutes, until I think, "what a waste of my time," and go work on something else.

Anyone else have this same thought when it comes to blogging? No? Just me? Fair enough.

Anyway, tons of activity and big stuff cooking on AARE's plate over the past few months!

1. We want to welcome Julia Walsh to the AARE team! Thank God for Julia, who officially joined our team a few weeks back as our Marketing Director. A graduate of UNH, she comes from a marketing background amongst a whole range of industries, and now she is the one who calls me and yells at me... "You haven't updated your blog in HOW long? Unacceptable! Get in there tonight and DO it." And so, it's being done.

2. What a GREAT seminar we had in Chelmsford in July! We did a talk on how to analyze the "big deals" (multi-family investing, over 100 units), and had a turnout of over 50 people at the New England Real Estate Investor Association, in Chelmsford! Fantastic stuff, everyone who attended received our multi-family analyzer to make it easy for them when they're figuring out which deals are good, and which belong in a dumptruck. Thanks to all who came!

3. I also had the pleasure of being on the panel of "expert guests" at the Boston AREIA D.E.N. meeting, in Boston, where investors brought their deals to the table, and four of us (including Ann Bellamy, finance expert & HM lender; Matt Desrochers, attorney; Mark Dickey, Commercial RE agent) either put our stamp of approval on the deal presented, or gave reasons why we didn't think it would work. FANTASTIC JOB to the investors who brought the deals... everyone we spoke to said they learned a lot from the event, and we look forward to participating in this meeting again! First Tuesday of the month, check out the BAREIA site for details.

Anyway, lots of stuff... and I'm already going to get yelled at for making this blog too long. We're going to start a regular blog that will encompass and give tips on investing strategies, which we probably should have done from the beginning, so stay tuned!

Happy Investing,

Nick

3 Biggest Mistakes

It happened again. You wouldn't think it takes much effort to keep up with a blog, but apparently, I am still learning on the whole "Web 2.0" thing.

I thought it may be useful if I shared some of the biggest mistakes I made as a real estate investor, and hopefully you can learn from my mistakes. You hear a lot of gurus say "my blood is all over this material", and I, to a point, can empathize with them.

So hopefully at least some of this can prove helpful to others...

1. When flipping, start with your AFTER-REPAIRED value, FIRST.

Don't just assume you're getting a great deal because you took $30K off the list price in your negotiations. List price DOES NOT MATTER. EVER! One of my first deals in Massachusetts, I was so excited to finally be negotiating for a deal. An owner (motivated seller, of course) was selling her house in a nice section of Haverhill (for those who know MA). She was selling it for $272,000. I had learned from listening to others negotiate, that a great question to ask is "is that the best you can do?" after every counter offer. So, I was able to negotiate the seller down to $241,000, AND I got her to pay 2.6% toward the closing costs (why didn't I go for 3%, or 5%? Well, I TOLD you I had no idea what I was doing).

Sounds like a great deal! Well, I spent weeks marketing this property to my buyers list, which I was just building. I was wondering why no buyers were interested. Then, one of my buyers educated me on "ARV" (after-repaired value):

ARV on the property was around $260K at the time. Contracted for $241K (what a sweet negotiation!), needed maybe $40K in work. OOPS! Thank goodness I never closed on that property. Lesson learned - start with the ARV FIRST, then subtract all your costs from THAT number (INCLUDING your profit requirement).

How do you get an accurate ARV? You must form a relationship with an investor-friendly real estate agent, who should know what the house needs for "flare" and how to accurately price it to sell quickly. Unfortunately, I could not find an agent I could work with, so I became my own agent. Now being surrounded by them, I've found many who would have been good candidates!

2. Family members may NOT be the best partners suited for your business.

Before I continue with this story, I just want to say I have a fantastic relationship with this family member. He and I have an awful lot in common, and he's one of the smartest guys I know. However, for the task we had at hand, he was not our best choice.

We had just finished a condo conversion in Somerville, MA where we had closed on the 3-family property for $749K (this is back in 2005), and the seller wanted to lease it back from us for around $20K. Nice chunk of change to start our rehab! We had all the units rehabbed and completely redone with the stainless steel, square tile, refinished hardwood, the works. We were poised to make a good small fortune upon resale of these three units, which we turned into condominiums. (As you can see from the picture, I still attempted to do most of my own work back then - another horrible idea! My time was MUCH better spent elsewhere...)

So we decided to enlist the help of this family member to list the condos through his office. We did not check credentials or his performance / closing ratio - we just knew he was family, and that he could sell them for us. Well, it was also the top of the market here in Boston - condos sat on the market for one month... a second month... then a third... and no offers.

After three price reductions, and us switching to another agent, we lost quite a bit of money on that deal. However, it taught me the lesson to always qualify EVERYONE on my investment team. You have to know what questions to ask, and you should reciprocate the relationship with your agent (or attorney, inspector, etc) by establishing yourself as a loyal client and performer with them.

Nothing is better than if you have your entire team working for the benefit of everyone else. If you do your homework up front, your transactions go a lot smoother and you spend a lot less time!

I have some power team questions that helps qualify some team members; if you're interested, e-mail me, I'll e-mail you the attachment.

3. Property Management - Tenants LOVE to "test the waters".

My first experience as a property manager was when I closed on my first 4-unit in Haverhill, MA, which I still have today. I took over ownership, and immediately assumed that the tenants would all just continue to pay as was shown to me on the statements before I closed on the property (not really having any clue about due diligence back then, I also didn't really verify any numbers the previous owner showed me, but that's another blunder for another day!).

The tenants were notified through a letter that their management had changed hands. The first month, everyone paid; the SECOND month, one tenant was about $500 short on her rent. "My Mom went into the hospital, and I had to pay her medical bills." Well sure, how could I say anything to that excuse?

"It's OK - we'll work something out. Just do your best for now."

That was probably the WORST answer I ever could have given her.

Next month, I received NONE from her... and worse, the OTHER tenants paid a partial amount, or were 15 days late. Hmmmm... it's almost as if they knew they could get away with it!

Now having been in the business for a few years, I've heard every tenant sob story there is to hear. The truth is, everyone has priorities. Housing (at least, for me) would be a BIG priority, so I would make sure I'd pay that bill as one of my first every month. Now, I tell every tenant up front,

"This is my primary business. I don't want you to leave this community, but I have to tell you, the systems are automated; you are late by one day, and our system sends you an eviction letter."

Do I still have to send eviction letters? ABSOLUTELY. However, I will say that now when a new tenant moves in, and their third month when they are one day late, they receive that letter - and they are never late again.

You should treat your rentals as a BUSINESS, since that's just what it is. You're in the business of providing clean, affordable housing to your tenants. In return, they pay you for that service.

Of course, there have been a hundred other lessons I've learned (and continue to learn) through my investment efforts. I find that those are the best ways to learn; but, if you can avoid one or two by hearing someone else's sob story, why not?

Happy Investing!

Nick A.

It's a Great Time to be in Real Estate!

Well goodness...I had no idea how difficult it would be to keep up with this blog!

Things have been crazy (in a good way!) over the past month, and it's funny, as I (Nick) type this, once again Massachusetts is seeing a storm where we received over 15 inches of that white stuff. I've attempted to ski, and I don't even break bones anymore going down the mountain, but I'm not so avid where I appreciate this much snowfall.

We have a congratulations in order - one of our students (Mike C. of Methuen) really stepped up and took action. Within 6 months, Mike focused down on his financial goals. He researched and set up his new real estate market out of state, and completed his first real estate deal! He was able to raise private money and spent a total of around 6 hours on the deal, netting him about $15K after splitting with his investor. That's an infinite return, and about $2,500 per hour for his time. Way to go, Mike! The best part is, he's informed me he has three other deals on the table he's working on, and he's now turned his business into a machine. All in 6 months! That takes dedication, focus, and action.

We also had a very successful "Analyze The Deal" seminar in Chelmsford! We kept this group small (under 20 individuals), and it was a fantastic night of information and networking. We look forward to continuing those seminars, to allow all local investors to continue building relationships and their knowledge. Thanks to all who attended! More importantly - have you made an offer yet??

If you're NOT MAKING OFFERS, then you're NOT MAKING MONEY!

The team here at AA Real Estate has been so busy this past month. Along with servicing our current investors and students, we have been refocusing on our business and where we want to see it go.

We have been in the residential business for 4 years now, and we've made the decision to put this branch on hold for right now, except for the current deals we are currently working on. We decided it would be best to ensure our focus is on our investors and our students, and in order to do that, we will no longer be actively acquiring residential property, except in partnerships with our students (where they choose).

So what HAVE we been doing?

Nick has been focusing down on building the Educational branche of the business. With a whole slew of new seminars and classes coming up, we hope to enrich the active investors up here with some fantastic info, to help them make the best of their investing career.

AA Real Estate will still focus on working with our students, and getting all the money back in our investors' IRAs that was lost in the stock market. For those that haven't seen the light yet, it's a FANTASTIC time to dump those losing stocks and get into real assets, with CA$HFLOW.

Nichol has also been busy! For those that have not yet heard, AA Real Estate has also begun servicing Luxury Property owners, sell their property QUICKLY. Many agents and brokers out there don't quite have the networks or knowledge of how to effectively market these high-end properties, so Nichol and her affiliation with the Luxury Homes Group allows her to service these individuals and help get them out of their situation. She is currently working with her team in both the MA and NH markets. More info will be put on the website soon on this, so stay tuned!

As a tip to investors, get yourself a FLIP cam! We have been using these to market properties for some time now, and you will also begin to see some videos we post within our Education and Commercial divisions, up on our site and on YouTube fairly soon. Flip cams are less than $150, and really help build a buyers list for you to sell your wholesale or retail deals.

Long update! Hopefully it won't be another whole month before we update, but in case it is...

Happy Investing!

AA Real Estate Team

"The Service You Expect, The Returns You Deserve"

Snowy Day Thoughts

As I sit here in my office (yes, even on a Sunday) looking out the window at the snow that never stops falling here in Massachusetts, I check my voicemail, and it's a bit difficult to here: "Hi Nick. My name is . I hope you with the snow. I'm here thinking about whether I should go skiing, or look for property in NH. If you could get back to me on your Lexington KY deal, I'll be at ."

Skiing or looking for property? Only in New England. And all I thought was... what a great day to do both! And I would too, were it not that skis and I don't YET get along, though I'm slowly training my skis to understand how to get me down a mountain without throwing me to the ground.

If you're with me in the snowy weather, take this opportunity to look for property. NOT by driving around, but by maybe taking a snowy walk with family and pets, or taking a stroll online through Craig's List. See any potential deals? Look harder. They are everywhere!

The media has claimed we're in the worst U.S. recession in the history of our time, unemployment is at post WWII levels, and we have a new president that can either help or hurt on the horizon.

I say - who cares? After having come into contact with so many individuals over the past few years, a passion of mine is to show them how to shape their own financial future. Don't let the media, politicians or even your Uncle Ted who has always said how "risky" real estate was, and how you'd "be throwing your life away if you go that route."

I learned a valuable lesson - you don't get rich by working a 9-5 job. No matter how big your raise is each year.

One way to get rich is to educate yourself on proper investing habits, and the best ways to increase your passive income. Create multiple streams of income, and rid yourself of those things that take up your most precious asset.

What is your most precious asset? No, it's NOT money. Your TIME is. Think about it - men only have on average 70 years (women get 80 years) to spend doing the things they love, with the people they love. Why waste it trying to please your boss, or trying to appease your tenants?

I'd love to help you with your investment goals. Feel free to share your comments below on how you feel about your financial futures, your goals, what you'd love to spend your time on when you retire - I'd also be honored to help you get their through our passive income opportunities.

Stay well, and Happy Investing!