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Posted over 14 years ago

Finding Real Estate Investments: Cape Coral, Florida

Finding Real Estate Investments
You would not have your local family doctor perform brain surgery. You would no doubt find a specialist. Its the same with real estate. The local realtor is great for finding a house or apartment in your neighborhood but for real estate investing you should use a specialist.

We have numerous real estate investment opportunities with more coming in all the time. If you are a new real estate investor we will provide expert guidance. If you are experienced you can use us to find new deals for you.

Old School v. New School Real Estate Investing

Old School

The late night infomercials, real estate seminars and books will tell you that in order to make money in real estate you have to find someone who was willing to sell you their home for less than market value.

Guess what! Sellers don't want to give away their homes. They were not watching the infomercial you were and did not buy the course. They don't know that they are supposed to bow down and kiss your feet for stealing away their home.

Some techniques relied on finding a "fixer-upper". You would pour money and/or labor into it and sell it at a profit. In this case you have a few variables to contend with:

1. You know enough about construction to accurately estimate repairs.
2. There are no surprise repairs you did not plan for.
3. You have the cash to buy the home and pay for all the repairs before you resell it.
4. You can find such a home before one of the thousands of other investors find it

Then there are what I call the "lifesaver" techniques. This is where you find someone who can't pay their mortgage and/or taxes and will lose their home and destroy their credit. You come in and negotiate with the bank, offer them a couple of bucks to move and save the day. Many of these homes need work as well.

Every now and then you can find one of these deals. But remember, there are agents, mortgage brokers and thousands of pros looking for these bargains. You need cash to do the deals. The bank wants you to close in a week or so with cash in your hand. You can't start looking for financing.

Of course you can really go crazy and use your credit card to get cash. This is a great technique because after awhile another investor gets the chance to buy the home from you under its market value and bail you out of trouble.

New School

I am not saying that the aforementioned techniques don't work. There are some very successful investors who use them. We go to a local real estate association meeting with as many as 500 people in the audience. There must be at least a dozen people who have been successful with them.

Our methods do not rely on your ability to swing a hammer, find once-in-a-lifetime bargains or put yourself in financial jeapordy. We use pre-construction properties where the profit is already built in. They sell at 25-40% discount to their completed price and the down payments run from 2.5% to 10%. So :

- you minimize your initial outlay of CASH

- you close upon completion - 6-12-18 months from date of contract

- you have time to find buyers/renters

- repair costs are almost NOTHING

- reserves for replacements are ZERO

- you EARN the discount up front and the appreciation on the back end

- you don't run around like a chicken with your head cut off looking for deals

We deal primarily in investment real estate. We know the state of Florida very well and stay on top of local developments in a number of different counties. In some instances, large developers come to us with deals that are not released to other brokers and certainly not the general public.

Finding Opportunities in Post-Construction Properties

I recently received an e-mail from a potential new client asking to be a "first phase" investor. He wanted to be notified about upcoming projects where he could be among the first in line to purchase at pre-construction prices.

Now this is nothing new, we have done this before, it works, why not do it again. The answer is "We Will!" But not all the time, and maybe not every time.

What am I saying, could there be a "better strategy"? Maybe not better, just different. Think outside the box.

- Strategy One: Be the first in line, pay the lowest price, sell when complete
- Strategy Two: Be the first in line, pay the lowest price, buy and hold, sell later
- Strategy Three: Buy later in the project, pay a little more, sell when complete (Phase One sellers are gone)
- Strategy Four: Buy later in the project, buy and hold, sell later (when you don't compete with the builder)

Are any of these strategies wrong...NO! The answer is that they can all work in differing scenarios.Here are the basics:

The Market (Value) is always determined by Supply and Demand.

In the beginning the builder has all the properties for sale (highest level of supply)

Further along, the builder has sold half, is closing on the first 20% (all investors) (still high on the supply side)

Later, the builder is almost sold out, the initial rush of Phase One flippers have flipped (lower on the supply side)

The builder is sold out, most of the investors are gone, market value is based on RESALES!! (lowest supply)

The market (value) is always determined by supply and demand.

So, here is the question do you want to sell your investment when the supply is the highest or when the supply is at it's lowest point?

New Investors

We will work with you and help you learn about real estate investing. We want you to become as knowledgable as possible. It is a lot easier for us to work with someone who is experienced. Ask lots of questions and learn. That is what are service is all about.

There are plenty of investment opportunities to choose from and new ones come along all the time. It is not too late too invest in real estate. There is nothing as foolish as the person who thinks they missed the boat. Those individuals will always have an excuse.

Experienced Investors

Many of our clients are experienced real estate investors who are looking for new investments. You already know it is all about the numbers. We have lots and lots of deals for you to evaluate. Give us a call 
  

239-214-2110 or email me at [email protected]


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