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The last few postings on scams and bad internet marketing ideas are clear. But what about the real entrepeneur or business person that has something worthwhile to share. I notice that Mike Mulrooney has a good product/book on real estate subject. I noticed that Mike does a fair amount of book promoting on the forum. I think this is great to get the message out, especially since he appears to be very reputable. But does it work? People go to these forums to learn from others, but do they trust the "real" "reputable" people that have something to sell but is also worthwhile? So much garbage exists that is hard to see the good from the bad. I talk on the forums and also promote my companies web site and book. It seems to get more traffic to our site but I am uncertain as to whether a trust factors exists for people to purchase. I see just about every other author and people doing the same thing. It is tough for users to sort out the real from the "not so real".

I wish someone had the secret for explaining how to make it easy for people to see the good through all the bad. And meanwhile still use the internet as a mechanism for proper promotions.

Michael Schendel
www.thespillzone.com
The Spill Zone, author Ed Ross

Great Point. Agree completely. Flexibility depending on tenant demand in your market is critical. A good point to mention is that if you have lots of tenants(maybe more than 10) you may have to standardize a bit to avoid overburdened management duties. If you have 12 tenants and each pay slightly different you will have to be a better manager with extra time. When I had just a couple units it was real easy to bend, but eventually I was forced to act like a property management company with set rules. My management duties were cut by 1/2 when I did this. That is something I prefer. In a renters market(which some are) you must bend a lot.

One thing that always worked for me was to define my rules to a tenant before they move in. Be clear and concise and stick with them. If you are very flexible on payment terms with the "right" tenant then this may not be a subject to over emphasize.

In the beginning setting the rules straight usually goes a long way.

Michael Schendel
Monarch Group LLC
[REMOVED]

Timing the market down to the month or next 6 months to a year is extremely difficult to say the least. Our federal reserve, NAR, NAHB and just about every other large group attempts to do it. They spend a fortune on it. And sometimes they hit home and other times they just fail. One thing that is usually undisputable is that they all can predict a trend. They are all saying the trend is for a slowing market. Historically since post world war II the trends have lasted 7-10 years and when the government bodies started to suggest it the trend became an inevitable truth. We are entering a slowing season or have just entered one.

now you have to further determine if this will damage your investments. The good news is that even in the worst market over the past 60 years 63% of all properties had an appreciation to them in any given year. So we go from 95% of the properites appreciating to only 75% in the next year or so. That is still not bad. And if you plan to keep your property for 7 to 10 years you are almost guaranteed a healthy return. What other investment has such great security? I bet on real estate.

Michael Thespillzone.com (real estate forecasting site)

I manage properties in 3 states. Each have different laws regarding how much and how I formally have to notify tenants. In California if you raise it by anything over 10% you must give 60 day written notice. Most states just require 30 day notice.

A good landlord checks for current market rates and makes rental increases accordingly. Remember it is a business and you need to be competitive. However, it is a business so you want to make money. I would make sure that you do an annual survey and pretend to be a renter. You quickly find out where you stand. If pretending to be a renter is hard, then go ahead and just ask the landlord what they have and what they charge since you are trying to determine what rates you should charge.

This is all important because NAR and other agencies are expecting the next three years to be higher than norms for rental increases. Rental increases generally are around 2% above CPI. that means around 5% these days. However, since the home market is slowing many landlords will get 5% to 10% in many markets.

if you have not kept up with this you eventually have to give someone a big increase and then you loose them as a tenant. We always increase each year even if just by a tiny bit to keep tenants aware of procedure.

If you own a property that is older than 1975 you really HAVE to include a Lead Based Paint Disclosure. Lawyers have advertisements in some states just to attract people. You can get one for free doing a google search or pay at one of the forms sites.

If you are unlucky at getting bank electronic funds transfer, which most of us just are since many local banks will not do this for a smaller investor, make your late payment very CLEAR. Some landlords will put things like 5% a day until it is paid, etc.... The reality is that the landlord that makes an unreasonable late payment fee usually never gets all of it. In the meantime the landlord ends up having the problem of negotiating a late fee rather than just collecting it. Make it 10% of the actual rent. This actually is usually acceptable by a judge if you end up in court. You can also easily calculate it and let the tenant know that NO MATTER WHAT you always collect the late fee. Just like a mortgage company collects from you if you are late. Stick with your policy and at a minimum you can sometimes train the tenant to be on time or pay the late fee even if one day late. One final note....I tell all my tenants that I file for possession XX days from them being late. I also let them know I give them the 3 day notice before that date. I then stick to it and my word. I hope this helps.

Thanks for input. The google ads are only on a couple of pages. Mostly because Ed Ross wants people to know that it is a free site. Good point on the property question. Second time I heard it. We may change that. The only problem is that the question has a lot more to it. A chapter is devoted to it in Ed Ross' book and it would be next to impossible to get users to take the time to understand the question in just a few words. The question we put out their was something a bit simplier and most users can struggle to get some form of an anwer. We may consider allowing a third choice of unkown? that may help users. It does influence the forecast some if not answered.
Great point...thanks

Ed Ross is the creator and he has spent at least 6 figures on getting this to the public. His mission was to just try to break even and create a non-biased information tool. He is selling his book on the site and allows users to sign up for reporting for a very low rate. His expectation is that this will cover the ongoing high maintenance of running the site. He is a successful philanthropist who wanted to give all of his knowledge back to society(especially his forecasting model). This may never be a money making business and that is just fine. His name alone is carrying a lot of this. He is a low profile figure but many media outlets know him. He is featured in an article in the Seattle times just this weekend and is on TV on July 17th on a local station in Alabama. In July and August alone I think he is quoted in probably 7 or so publications. The media release will be in the form of press to national media. In addition he is booked already on 20 radio stations and 2 television networks starting month ending.
thespillzone.com does not have a large staff...just a couple of people. Thats why feedback is so helpful. We know the free solution is the first of its kind, but appealing to the consumer and real estate person is new and although 100 brokers were part of a beta the consumers were not at all involved. thats why forums like this are so important.

Hi All, just joined. I work for www.thespillzone.com in Tampa. I do property management, real estate sales and now manage our web site. I am joining a couple of forums to understand the heart of the community and to get feedback on the web site. Hoping to learn more from the commmunity at large. Thanks