Investing � Five Factors to Consider Before Investing in Residential Real Estate

During the past decade, many people have jumped into residential real estate investing. This was never so true as during the recent real estate boom. People read all the “get rich quick” schemes that litter the book shelves of libraries and book stores — use other people’s money, use no money of your own, and make millions! A lot of people did make great sums of money during the most recent boom; but now those, who did not get out before the market cooled, are seeing those investments in foreclosure due to their inability to make the mortgage payments.

Just because the real estate market isn’t over the top, as in the past few years, does not mean you no longer can make money in residential real estate. The difference between now (post-boom) and during the market boom is that the “get rich quick” schemes will not work.

Do You Have What It Takes?

Investing in real estate is not for the faint hearted, the non-risk takers. It is for investors who are in it for the long haul, who can easily sit on their investment (if need be) until the market shifts in their favor. It also is for those who truly enjoy this type of investment. They are the ones who are the most successful in real estate investing.

You must be willing to invest time — upfront and before each potential investment. If you do not take the time to research the properties and your target market, you probably will not be very successful. You also must gather knowledge on how to make a real estate deal that works in your favor. That requires educating yourself to understand the jargon and game rules. Today, it takes a careful, methodical approach to residential real estate investing, especially when acquiring your first property.

Besides needing time and money, being a risk taker, and being willing to commit to a long-term investment, if needed, there are five additional factors you must consider each time before you make an investment in residential real estate.

Supply and Demand — Where Is the Current Market?

The economics of supply and demand is what makes the long-term investors successful in residential real estate. They are willing to weather the ups and downs of the real estate market, waiting for an advantageous market to sell their property.

Supply and demand is influenced by many economic factors, which in turn affects the residential real estate market. Well-located residential real estate will endure fluctuations in the market and continue to appreciate in value. Knowing your market means knowing when to buy or not to buy, which deals will work when, and when to sit on an investment or sell it.

Your Creativity

Another factor to consider is your own creativity in managing your investments. Residential real estate is one type of investment that allows for a lot of creativity:

• You may invest for the long term, renting the property to continue making a profit while waiting to sell at a more advantageous time. You can purchase a home to fix up and resell immediately for a profit.

• There are many financing options available for residential real estate, allowing for even more creativity. You also can invest on your own, with a group of partners, with a corporation, or even with a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT — a mutual fund with real property assets or mortgage securities).

• There is an abundant variety of residential real estate types in which to invest — single-family homes, townhouses, condominiums, and duplexes.

The more creative you are in creating and managing your real estate investments, the more profitable and successful you will be.

Other People’s Money

A third factor is knowing how you can use other people’s money to your advantage without landing in foreclosure, as so many people now are who subscribed to the “get rich quick” schemes during the boom.

You can begin with only a few thousand dollars, using other people’s money to underwrite the remaining mortgage. You must know all the different ways available to finance your investment. This goes back to taking the time to educate yourself, before you begin investing, and creatively making the best use of financing.

Other People’s Time

Whether you are fixing up real estate to sell or renting it, it will take time, effort and management. If you already have a full-time job and a family, you probably cannot do it all yourself, and I doubt you wish to be woke up at 2 a.m. by a renter with a plugged toilet.

Using contractors to fix up the property or experienced property managers to handle your rental real estate makes for less profit in your pocket on your individual investment properties. However, it frees up your time to invest in more properties, making your overall profits much higher.

Your Tax Advantage

Residential real estate investing is quite unique. It offers you tax write-offs not available in other types of investments. There are many deductions available to you — deducting the mortgage interest or refinancing without being taxed are just two examples. There are many benefits to real estate investing that reduce your tax liability and increase your profits.

If you believe residential real estate investing is for you, begin by learning more about it. There are thousands of books and resources on the topic. Stay away from anything that sounds too good to be true. It probably is, especially in today’s real estate market.

Making Money in Real Estate - Distressed Multi-Units

Distressed Multi Units - Suddenly what was once a play that made no sense because of over priced properties relative to Rent Roles are now not only back to reality, but are great investments.

A great deal out there are short sale and bank owned multi units. Many urban areas across the country are experiencing serious blight on the community because of vacant buildings. An empty apartment complex can be a hazard as well as an opportunity for the savvy investor. 

In Lewiston, Maine a former bank owned 4 unit apartment building recently went on the market for a paltry $39,000. What was once valued heavily over $100,000 only 2 years ago, is now being given away at the price of a brand new Hummer. Given that the property is in a decent area with similar units getting roughly $500-600 per month in rent, it doesn't take a math genius to see the positive cash flow. 

What's a capitalization rate? In a nutshell, it's Real Estate lingo for a Rate of Return. Take the Gross Annual Rental Income from the property. If said property receives $500 per unit, that equates to $2000 per month in rental income and $24,000 per year. If the initial investment is $40,000 that would give the investor a Capitalization Rate of 48%! 

What other investments are giving out 48% Rates of Return, while providing the security of a tangible asset as well as tax write-offs? Like all investments there is inherent amounts of risk, like being a landlord to multiple tenants, dealing with periods of vacancy as well as property destruction. But if you're ready to be a landlord, find some bank owned and short sale Multi-units. Its all about the #'s!

Marty Macisso is a Maine licensed Realtor, specializing in Short Sales and Bank Owned properties for investors and sellers. View his site www.MartymyRealtor.com for opportunities in the Maine real estate market.

Making Real Estate Money-Priced to Own--Probabilities Producing Profits

There is an old expression that comes to mind: "You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool ALL of the people ALL of the time!"

Regardless of what the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the government, the lending industry (or even economists who should know better) are saying, the current housing market is still artificially high.

If people could truly afford current home prices--on the basis of their actual incomes--the word "crisis" wouldn't appear in conjunction with the present housing market.

The reality is that in most parts of the country, households earning the median household income for their area cannotlegitimately afford to buy a median priced home where they live and work.

And there is no chance of rents or incomes increasing at a rapid pace in the near future--which means home pricesmust fall before the nation's affordability crisis can be solved. Home prices are way too high--and NEED to come down drastically!

If you believe the Wall Street Robber Barons, politicians, and others who argue otherwise, the time has come to step away from the Kool-Aid. As creative real estate investors, we need to come up with a healthier concoction, and it ain't Red Bull--nor any other "bull," for that matter!

How far down?

Why must housing prices plunge deeply from here? House prices have been propped up for at least the past seven years, through a combination of low interest rates, unsound loan programs, and now, by nonsensical government bail out programs--which has led to a serious disconnect from the basic fundamentals of affordability.

Because the cost of buying has more than doubled in the last ten years, there is now a huge gap between rents and residential real estate prices. The Center for Responsible Lending projects that 2.2 million MORE homes are facing foreclosure by mid-2009--which works out to be about one in every 45 homes), further adding to supply.

And many people have lost the desire to buy until prices are lower. "A down market is getting baked into expectations," says Chris Flanagan, head of research in JP Morgan Chase's (JPM) asset-backed securities group. Flanagan predicts prices will fall about 25%, bottoming in 2010. Merrill Lynch forecasts U.S. home prices could decline 25% to 30% nationwide over the next three years.

Shocking though it might seem, a decline of 25% would merely reverse only partof the market's spectacular 130% appreciation during the boom. Interestingly, it would also put the national price level right back on its historical long-term growth trend line, a surprisingly modest 0.4% a year after inflation.

Show me the money?

The historical ratio of median house pricing vs. median household income was consistently between 2.6 and 3.0 over the past 40 years. But, as homebuyers scrambled to avoid being left out of the "housing-mania," national median home prices jumped 130% (45% when adjusted for inflation) from 2000 to 2006.

By contrast, according to reports out of the World Economic Forum on Jan 23-25, 2008, weekly earnings for full-time American workers last year were unchanged from their 2000 levels, even though productivity grew by 18% in the same period!

According to the Economic Policy Institute, the news is even bleaker. Their research indicates that the median income for working-age households actually declined 4% since 2000.

The Census Bureau indicates that the median U.S. household income is $48,201. Multiplied by 3.0 = $144,600. This is what the maximum U.S. median home price should be right now, given historically low interest rates. But the actual median home price ($218,900) is about 34% higher than that (or approximately 4.5 times the price-to-income ratio).at

Though prices have always been slightly elevated in the Golden State, California's median home price ($402,000), at 7.10 times California's median household income of $56,645--is 58% higher than it should be ($169,935). In parts of the state, median home prices have inflated to more than 11 times the median household income.

But forget "local bubbles." Median home prices are inflated in every region of the U.S. In the overall West, where the median household income is $52,249, the median home price of $309,800 is nearly double what it should be, using a maximum price-to-income ratio of 3.0 ($156,747).

The situation is similar in the Northeast, where the median home price of $258,600 is approximately 5 times the median household income of $52,057--or 40% higher than what it should be when compared to a 3.0 price-to-income ratio ($156,171).

Median home prices are not quite as high in the South ($173,400 vs. median household income of $43,884) and the Midwest ($159,800 vs. median household income of $47,836), respectively. Even so, prices are still 24% higher than what they should be in the South ($131,652), and least 10% higher than what they should be in the Midwest ($143,508).

Surprisingly, a number of folks question the validity of the price-to-income metric, including several of my successful students. But the 40 years' history behind it holds up well when evaluated in sync with several other important fundamental metrics, including back-end DTI, interest rates, and rent vs. own costs.

Other metrics

Back-End DTI (housing cost as percentage of monthly income). Traditionally restricted to 25% of gross monthly income, increased to a "soft" 28% by FNMA/FHLMA over past 15 years; FHA allows 31%; and as high as 41% allowed by subprime lenders.

Interest Rates Though presently at 5.47% (2/8/08) the FHLMA average for 30-year fixed mortgages over the past 440 months (4/01/71--12/31/07) was 9.18%. Eliminating the 72 months (11/01/79-10/31/85) of rates 12% and higher, drops the historical average to 8.17%.

If you also eliminate the 65 months (06/01/02-12/31/07) of rates 6.65% and lower, the overall average increases to 8.57%. I'll leave discussion as to why interest rates are sure to rise in the near future (2 to 5 years) for another time. But consider how it plays into the DTI scenario below.

Using the "soft" 28% FNMA/FHLMA DTI metric and applying that to median income (28% housing expense x $48,200 U.S. median income / 12) leaves $1,124.66; less Taxes/Insurance $167 leaves $957.66 available for monthly Principal & Interest payments. How much 30-year fixed rate loan will $957.66 per month pay for?

$957.66 @ 5.50% = $168,665
$957.66 @ 6.00% = $159,730
$957.66 @ 6.50% = $151,512
$957.66 @ 7.00% = $143,944
$957.66 @ 7.50% = $136,962
$957.66 @ 7.50% = $130,513

Many families will have to drastically change their spending habits to reach this 28% ratio in their budgets.

Numerous studies indicate the average American familyACTUALLY only has 23% to 25% of gross monthly income available for housing expense--and generally tend to run at negative cash flow in their household budget as a result of overborrowing!

What about interest rates? As creative real estate investors, we have to account for reasonable probabilities.

At today's low rates, a median buyer would need to have $50,235 down (23%), plus approx. $4,400 for closing costs, to purchase the $218,900 median priced home. If rates rise to 7%, they'll need to have $75,300 (34%) down.

Americans have averaged between 5%-12% down payments for the past 25 years. Now, in the face of declining incomes, their down payments will have to somehow increase drastically, unless home prices drop significantly. Forget lending requirements. Forget tax rebates too! These are the numbers.

Rental Rates Historically, monthly rental costs over the past 10 years have run approximately 92% of monthly costs to own, or about 5.5% of the house value, annually. Now, in many communities, rental costs are as low as 40% of ownership costs--and below 3% of house "value."

Here's an example of how disconnected the housing market is in relation to local affordability factors, that brings to life the data I shared in my December 2007 article: Beware The Blue Sky

As in many housing markets, a number of homes listed for sale in Bend, OR are also available for rent, as the sellers try to hang on to their property "until the market recovers."

To own this sample home, you would have to pay $544,900, 6.5% for a jumbo mortgage, plus tax and insurance (2.0% annual), plus maintenance (at least another 1%) for a total of at least 9%--more than three times the cost of the $15,000 yearly rent sought (which is only 2.75% of the asking price).

It would be financially insane to buy this house, given that the rent is so cheap by comparison.

The rental rate implies the property is worth about $235,600 (assuming $188,500 30-year fixed mortgage at 5.67% with 20% down). If you apply the current Global Insight valuation "metric" for Bend, the market value is $163,500 in today's current marketplace, based on true affordability for that area.

Admittedly, Bend is currently ranked as the most "overvalued" metro area housing market in the U.S... but many communities are in the same quandary, albeit to a lesser degree. There are millions of renters and potential homebuyers (including CREIs) who would benefit from lower, more reasonable home prices.

Most real estate investors want to turn a monthly profit from real estate ownership. Since we do not want to merely break even, the price must be low enough for the prevailing rental rate to exceed the cost of ownership by enough to provide a return on our invested capital.

Historically, GRMs from 100-120 are required to create the conditions necessary to attract a CREIs capital. Using the national median income housing expense figure from above ($1,124.66 rounded up to $1,200 to include maintenance reserves), we could pay a maximum of $144,000 for the national median property (rather than $218,900).

For those sellers (homeowners, builders, or REO holders) believing they can hang on "until the market recovers," be aware that the recovery is happening already--and its name is "correction." Unfortunately, it is going in the opposite direction, and it still has a very long way to go.

Real estate investors form a durable bottom. If prices drop low enough for this group to get into the market, the influx of investment capital can be extraordinary. 

Making Real Estate Money-Foreclosures by Race and Ethnicity: The Demographics of a Man-Made Disaster

WASHINGTON, DC -- The ongoing foreclosure crisis has slashed hundreds of billions of dollars in wealth from communities of color, a new CRL research report shows, as an estimated 17% of Latino homeowners and 11% of African-American homeowners have already lost their home to foreclosure or are now at imminent risk. The wealth drain is the result of direct losses from foreclosures and also the decline in neighboring property values each foreclosure brings. 

The report--"Foreclosures by Race and Ethnicity: The Demographics of a Crisis,"http://www.responsiblelending.org/mortgage-lending/research-analysis/foreclosu res-by-race-and-ethnicity.html--shows that foreclosures will continue to climb and losses will continue to mount. From 2009 to 2012, those living near a foreclosed property in African-American and Latino communities will have seen their home values drop by more than $350 billion--possibly exceeding the damage the Gulf States suffered from Hurricane Katrina. And high levels of unemployment that were caused by reckless lending and the collapse of the housing and financial markets continue to exacerbate the foreclosure crisis. 

"Whether we're talking about oil spills or housing catastrophes, it's clear that America needs to invest in prevention, clean-up and recovery," said CRL President, Mike Calhoun. "As Congress finishes financial reform legislation, the rules on home lending need to get stronger, not weaker. We need to make sure a foreclosure crisis of this type never happens again, and, though so many homes have been lost, it's not too late to prevent more damage." 

The percentage of homes in some stage of foreclosure in the United States is the highest on record and five times the norm, but little study has been done to quantify this trend. This report provides the most detailed estimate yet of how many foreclosures have been completed since the crisis started in 2007, how many more homes are on the brink of being lost, and how this man-made disaster has disproportionately damaged African-American and Latino communities. 

No single set of numbers exists to tell this story. Instead, CRL used several databases to compute reasonable, even conservative, estimates that together add up to a grim picture: The United States has tolerated a dysfunctional lending system that has disproportionately eroded the wealth of communities of color and set them even further behind other groups on the economic ladder. 

Among the report's findings: 
-- An estimated 2.5 million foreclosures were completed from 2007 - 2009 
and an estimated 5.7 additional ones are imminent. (Independent
estimates have suggested that up to 13 million homes will be lost
through 2014.) 
-- On completed foreclosures, most on mortgages made between 2005 and 
2008, we estimate that 56% involved a white family. But African 
American and Hispanic families have received a disproportionate share, 
even when accounting for income: Nearly 8% of both groups have already 
lost a home, compared to 4.5% of white borrowers. 
-- The great majority of homes lost were owner occupied, as are those at 
imminent risk of being lost. 

Here are several civil rights leaders' comments on the report: 



"The findings in this report describe the devastating impact that the casino culture of Wall Street and the mortgage industry is having on communities of color. Instead of owning a piece of the American dream, these hardworking families have borne the brunt of an anything-goes regulatory system that has turned a blind eye toward predatory lending and the needs of vulnerable consumers, who may never recover the wealth they have lost. The report demonstrates why we need a strong, independent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and why mortgage servicers must act swiftly to help more families keep their homes." - Wade Henderson, President and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. 

"We know that with the right tools, every family in America can share in the American Dream. Knowing this makes these recent findings very disturbing. Latino homeownership will retract by 17% by the time we feel the full effects of the fallout from the credit crisis. That's more than one million Hispanic households, an outstanding figure and higher than other groups. This crisis is moving our community in the wrong direction and it's unacceptable." - Janet Murguia, President and CEO of NCLR (National Council of La Raza.) 

"With 17 percent of Latino and 11 percent of African-American homeowners having essentially already lost their homes and estimates that many more foreclosures are on the way, we need Congress to hurry up and pass an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency. We also need servicers to do whatever is necessary to stop this hemorrhaging now. Enough is enough." - Shana Smith, President and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance 

About the Center for Responsible Lending 

The Center for Responsible Lending is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and policy organization dedicated to protecting homeownership and family wealth by working to eliminate abusive financial practices. CRL is affiliated with Self-Help, one of the nation's largest community development financial institutions. 

Making Real Estate Money-Borrowing From Equity

Investing Mistake: Borrowing from Equity

A HUGE mistake that a lot of real estate investors make, whether they’re beginning or seasoned investors is they borrow money from the equity in their properties to pay the bills, and think that that money is profit. Well, listen up friends because I’m the guy to tell you and burst your bubble right now that that money is NOT profit. Borrowed money is not income.

If you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul, then you better fix what’s broken before this problem gets worse. Borrowed money is not your money. Profits only come from the sale.

Friends, this is a dangerous trap that a lot of people fall into because they think that they can pull a big chunk of money out and use that money as income and cash flow for their business, but it doesn’t work that way. You have to be smart about it. You can’t expect to grow your business with refinanced properties. It doesn’t work that way.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not against refinancing a property and pulling money out of it, if the property can support you doing that. One of the first couple of deals I did when I got started was actually a property where I did a refinance on it, and I did pull out some cash. But I obviously did not stupidly spend that money on stuff that wasn’t going to give me a return.

That money was for business purposes only, and I used that money to reinvest back into some of my education and some of my other investments, and that money has grown substantially since then.

I have not done anything like that since that one occasion, but I thought I needed to tell you that because I’m not against refinancing a property to pull money out, but the property has to be able to sustain what you’re doing.

All I’m saying, and the message I want to convey to you in this post is, just don’t get into the habit of borrowing money from the equity in your properties on a continual basis because borrowed money is exactly what is says: borrowed money. It’s not your money.

Don’t consider that money as profit for your business. Simply strive to run your business on the profit, which comes from the sale of your properties.

As I’m talking about property sales, here’s another tip:  when you are selling properties, make sure you attract attention to your properties and market them to death.  If your marketing isn’t annoying at least a few people then your marketing isn’t doing what it’s suppose to do which is get attention.  A perfect example is the media, just watch the news and see how many horrid reports you will see about all the bad stuff going on - robberies, murders, and scandals.  Unfortunately, the entire negative stories garner the most attention.  Don’t get me wrong, your marketing shouldn’t endanger anyone, but you need to get attention and you will get negative feedback.

Just recently, I got calls about some ugly yellow signs in the yard of one of our properties.  The person really thought the signs looked junky.  Well, those signs accomplished exactly what I wanted them to accomplish.  It made people look at the property.  Don’t be afraid to stand out with your marketing, even if it’s uglier than most.  You need to capture the attention and then sell the house!

Making Real Estate Money-REITS

I personally believe that the real estate market has bottomed out, but it may a couple years before prices start to move up. It doesn't necessarily mean that you should go out an buy a rental house, but there are other ways you can invest in real estate.

One of the best ways of speculating on real estate is through the use of Real Estate Investment Trusts, more commonly known as REITs. These investments pass through almost all their income to avoid double taxation, which is what most regular corporations are subject to. The REITs have several advantages over owning real estate directly.

First, REITs are liquid. If you need to get your money out, you can sell it and get your money in two days. Second, you can receive a decent income through dividends. Third, dividends can be received quarterly or even monthly for some REITs, just like rental income checks. Fourth, you don't have to worry about making sure the insurance, property tax, and other expenses are paid. Fifth, you won't get a call at two o'clock in the morning about a leaking toilet. And last but not least, you don't have to deal with evictions.

Although there are hundreds of REITs to choose from, you need to be cautious about which one you choose, especially the debt level. In terms of specialties, you can choose REITs that invest in apartment, commercial, industrial, government building, medical buildings, mortgages, and many other sub-categories.
Zeromoneyinvestment.com has just come up with a list of 15 of the highest yielding Real Estate Investment Trusts, none of which have debt to capital ratios more than 25%. As a matter of fact, three of them are debt free. Yields range from 3.3% to over 20%, but I would recommend avoiding any REITS yielding above 7% as I don't believe those high yields are sustainable.

One example, is National Health Investors Inc. which pays a decent yield of 5.7% and has a debt to capital ratio of only 7.21%. The REIT invests in health care properties, mainly those involved in the long-term care industry. The company has been paid quarterly dividends since 1992, The total dividend payout is $63.64 million on an operating income of $72.96 million. The company showed an earnings growth for the latest quarter of 5.9%.

Another high yield REIT is LTC Properties, Inc. (LTC) which sports a yield of 6.25% and carries a low debt to capital ratio of 7.94%. This is another long-term care real estate investment trust. This is a REIT that pays monthly dividends, and the dividend track record dates back to 1992 also.

Public Storage (PSA) offers a yield of 3.51%, and has a debt to equity ratio of 5.53%. This REIT has a different approach to the REITs described above, as it owns and operates self-storage facilities in the United States and Europe. The company has a long track record, with monthly dividends paid since 1988.

Read more: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Creative-Real-Estate-Investments-----Zero-Money-no-Money-Down/1250320#ixzz0rBNzfXIC
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution No Derivatives

Making Real Estate Money-Multitasking

Real Estate Investors And Multitasking Skills

There are plenty of jobs and careers out there that require multi-tasking.  Being an entrepreneur is no different and in fact I would venture to say that as an entrepreneur multi-tasking is a must and a skill you have to master (or delegate to an employed who has that gift).  There are two different areas in real estate investing you should have multiple solutions for: getting stuck in one way of doing something for your business and being limited in your sources of income.

Too many times investors’ keep doing things the same way and wonder why it’s not working like it did when initially started.  For example, whether it may be certain vendors they use, a marketing method, an employee, an income stream, and an exit strategy. What I mean by all that is, ask yourself this one thing - if one of these sources or one of these things that you are dependent on were eliminated or were taken away from you, would your business still survive on a regular basis?

For example, if you have only one marketing method to find properties and that’s putting out We Buy Houses signs and all of a sudden a new mayor comes in and gets elected and they crack down like you wouldn’t believe on illegal signs and bandit signs. If that were your only marketing method for finding leads, then what would happen to your business? Would you still survive? Would you still be able to get paid?

If the answer is no, then obviously here you need to find different methods for marketing your business. If you are relying on a certain vendor to print things for you or take calls for you, and if that vendor went out of business, what would you do? Do you have backups?

If you have one employee and that employee does everything for you, what would happen if that employee left and got a new job? If you have one income stream, one exit strategy and that’s retailing for cash and all of a sudden the market dries up and the economy goes south, which it is right now. Would you still be able to make money and survive in this business?

So, be smart about this. Do not become over dependent on any one thing. Analyze your business. And if you find that you are dependent on just one thing in your business whether it is any of the examples I just mentioned or other examples we have not talked about, you need to find backups and Plan Bs for all of those things in case something happens and you have to adjust.

So, be smart. Don’t become over dependent on any one thing in your business.

You also need to explore other sources of income. My friends, this tip is huge.

If you’re not looking for other sources of income other than what you’re doing every day, flipping houses or whatever, then you’re not maximizing yourself. You’re not maximizing your potential.

Perhaps you’re comfortable with where you’re at in your business and you don’t need extra income streams. Fine. But I would venture to say that most of you reading these posts are entrepreneurs and always looking to get to the next level, no matter where you’re at, whether you haven’t gotten to the first level yet or whether you’re seasoned and doing extremely well. You’re always looking for the edge. You’re always looking for something else. At least I am anyway.

So, it would be wise if you did explore other sources of income streams. For example, did you know that a lot of the leads that you generate in your business, (leads where people are looking to sell their house or leads that you generate where people are looking to buy a house) that you could potentially sell those leads to other people in your market niche who would pay for those leads?  They would pay anywhere from $5 to $25 to maybe even $75 or more per name per lead? That’s huge information.

And that’s a perfect correlation to what you’re doing in your business everyday. Find ways to incorporate other methods of income streams into your real estate business.  It doesn’t have to be real estate business, it could be any business.

Perhaps your core business, your real estate investing business is doing great. Maybe you should start to explore other things. Maybe you should start to explore coaching, consulting, partnering, different things like that.

So, don’t be over reliant on an income stream and explore other sources of this because this is where true wealth comes into play. Anybody’s who anybody out there who really makes money, who’s very super successful has multiple income streams. They begin to leverage their time and their money to develop multiple income streams. So that way, if any one-income stream fails, they have more income streams coming from a different angle to live off of.   It’s simply smart business.