Belize Real Estate  Links  
Real Estate Information

Real Estate Investing - "The Neighborhood Factor"


Real estate investing can be a dream career when the process of buying and selling is mastered. The biggest challenge in real estate investing is not the money to get started or the availability of the product. Real estate investing's biggest challenge is judgment. Personal decisions in making the purchase, fixing up the right things, and making the sale require judgment that comes from experience. The second and 100th property should involve better judgment than the first.

An approach to the first acquisition in a real estate investing career involves analysis of the neighborhood.

If the target property is located in a familiar neighborhood, an analysis is clouded by past memories and feelings. Familiarity can preclude objectivity.

And if the target property is located in an unfamiliar neighborhood, the analysis is shrouded in immediate impressions that may or may not be accurate.

Real estate investing today must consider unfavorable elements like drug and prostitution traffic, crime statistics, and the overall visual impression of neighborhood negligence and abuse by property owners and/or tenants. The windshield view will not reveal the whole story.

Research at city planning and the police department might be a starting point, if the initial drive through the neighborhood does not arrive at a negative conclusion. Casual conversations with neighbors might provide clues. Watching from a perch unobtrusively during certain hours might be helpful, such as after school is out and after dark.

If analysis leads to the formation of good judgment, time is needed to assess "the Neighborhood Factor." When I plunged into my first year of real estate investing, no one warned me of "the Neighborhood Factor," and still I sometimes overlook it even millions of dollars in property purchases later. Buying $1 million in rental houses during my first year, and another $1 million in properties the next year did not leave me much time for analysis. However, when placing a makeover house on the market after the work is completed, "the Neighborhood Factor" has often come back to haunt me.

The bottom line for developing judgment about "the Neighborhood Factor" is the consumer's windshield view. The real estate investor can become enamoured over the potential profit margin in a "good deal." But the home-buyer and house-hunter make instant assessments upon a first approach to the house for sale. Their initial impression of "the Neighborhood Factor" is untrained and irreversible. And in real estate investing, the prospect's first impression of "the Neighborhood Factor" overshadows their impression of your labored makeover. More times than I like to admit, I have created a "Dream House" from a junker, only to experience a slow sale because of "the Neighborhood Factor."

Phil Speer, Ph.D., started his real estate investing career 25 years ago. Without the availability of credit and using only a $10 bill, he purchased $1 million in properties in his first year, and had accumulated $10 million in properties by his fourth year. He was featured in a Wall St.Journal editorial as most successful investor in the Nothing Down Real Estate Movement, and was honored with a Caribbean cruise as top investor of the year. In his hometown of Nashville, Tennessee, he has been a businessman and Human Resources Consultant for 30 years. He is an author, speaker and seminar director. To learn how to profit in real estate investing, even without cash or credit, read his report at http://www.CashinHouses.com/. Subscription is free to his Fix-up Ezine - http://www.AAREIT.com/.


MORE RESOURCES:

Real estate developer says he plans to make cash bid for Philadelphia's 2 ...
Washington Post
PHILADELPHIA — A wealthy real estate developer said Tuesday he and four partners plan to make an offer to buy the city's two largest newspapers, whose downtown offices he already owns. Bart Blatstein said he plans to pursue an acquisition of some or ...

and more »


Data Center Knowledge

Alexandria Real Estate Q4 FFO Rises - Quick Facts
NASDAQ
(RTTNews.com) - Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. (ARE) Tuesday reported an increase in funds from operations for the fourth quarter, as revenues grew. Funds from operations, FFO, attributable to common stockholders for the quarter was $67.8 million ...
Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. Reports Fourth Quarter and Year Ended ...MarketWatch (press release)
2011 Operating Results And Increased 2012 Guidance Announced By National ...Daily Markets (press release)
BRE Properties 4Q Net Soars As FFO ImprovesWall Street Journal
4-traders (press release) -RTT News
all 68 news articles »


MarketWatch

Asia real-estate bull turns bearish
MarketWatch
“Singapore and Hong Kong are two of the freest economies in the world, yet you pay more in stamp duties [real-estate transaction taxes] now than you would in London, because they are very worried about the markets continuing to overheat,” Murphy said.

and more »


Real Estate Market Picks Up
KIII TV3
Good news on the real estate front, it seems the market has picked up now and there are as many buyers as sellers. That's good news for those selling home. Last year there were around 3200 homes for sale. Now that number is down to 2350, ...
Real estate market reboundingPark Record

all 2 news articles »


AsiaOne

REAL ESTATE: Refinancing expanding for Fannie/Freddie borrowers
Press-Enterprise
With the changes that are expected to make the program much more effective, the program is being called HARP II by those in the real estate and mortgage industries. Probably the most significant improvement is that it lifts the ceilings on the amount ...
US mortgage giant plans massive auction of foreclosure propertiesA Place in the Sun

all 143 news articles »


Apple Valley real estate developer rejects offer in San Bernardino County ...
San Bernardino Sun
By Mike Cruz, The (San Bernardino County) Sun SAN BERNARDINO - Apple Valley real estate developer John Dino DeFazio, who is charged with six counts of perjury related to a county corruption probe, turned down a plea bargain offered by prosecutors ...

and more »


China Daily

Real estate market likely to see an increase in M&A activity
China Daily
By Hu Yuanyuan (China Daily) BEIJING - China will see more mergers and acquisitions in the real estate sector this year, with domestic players continuing to dominate the market, according to industry analysts. The cash flow of property developers will ...
Cushman & Wakefield | Commerce Releases 2012 Utah Commercial Real Estate ...Utah Pulse

all 3 news articles »


KDRV

Rogue Valley Commercial Real Estate In Upswing
KDRV
Signs advertising commercial space for sale are not hard to find in the Rogue Valley, but local real estate agencies say these spaces are gradually becoming easier to fill. Strips of retail or office space are seen in many areas around Medford.
Q&A: Broker's job expands as market contractsPress-Enterprise

all 3 news articles »


Real estate profile, Feb. 7, 2012
Seattle Post Intelligencer
By AUBREY COHEN, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF Northeast Seattle's Bryant neighborhood happens to have three stylish Tudor-style homes on the market right now within a half a dozen blocks of each other for $479000 to $499000. We'll start with the lowest-priced ...



The Real Estate Book Helps Agents Go Mobile in Just Minutes With Free Online ...
MarketWatch (press release)
LAWRENCEVILLE, GA, Feb 07, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- With more and more consumers relying on mobile devices for local information, real estate professionals can no longer ignore this increasingly important channel when marketing properties.
The Real Estate Book Helps Agents Go MobileRisMedia.com (press release)

all 4 news articles »

Google News

home | site map | Colorado Log Homes | Homes for Sale in Denver Metro
© 2006