All Forum Posts by: Ted Schmidt

Karin,

That is a great question and is a topic that I have been struggling with for 16 years.

My original intuitive approach was to make every site highly focused on a narrow niche in a large market place. This strategy has paid off in SEO at the expense of having a single place and methodology for managing the sites.

Recently I have been more inclined to publish dual purpose sites in vertical niches where there is little or no competition. These sites have sections for borrower - lender , buyer - seller, investor - home buyer, etc.

If the domain is too broadly focused on general terms like real estate, mortgages, investments, etc., it will be completely meaningless from an organic search perspective. The only way to get traffic to those site is pay, and pay a lot!

I spend a great deal of time updating and managing the different sites, not to mention the domain fees. Most of these sites appear on the 1st page of Google and many of them number 1.

I hope this information is helpful.

Nadia,

If you buy homes in the lower range of CA prices ($150,000 - 250,000) and you offer your tenants a rent-to-own contract, then you would only be collecting rent which may not conflict with religious rules against interest.

If you offer the prospective tenant an option to buy the house within a fixed time period (usually 2 - 7 years), then the tenant will have more incentive to take good care of the house. In this scenario, the renter pays extra every month that goes towards the purchase price.

You can earn around 13% or more return on investment and also provide a path to home ownership for a deserving family who also does not agree with paying interest.

I hope this information was useful and please let me know if I can assist you further.

-Ted Schmidt

can you please delete my post or move it to the marketplace?

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/93/topics/120105-leads-list

If a user asks for a recommendation for a service that I offer, can I post a link it?

The terms of service says

"you may post websites within posts to point out valuable resources (more on this later), however, the ONLY place where it is appropriate to post your own URL is in the forum MARKETPLACE, where appropriate."

If the valuable resource happens to be on my website, is it OK to post that URL?

Although I'm not in that area I would suggest expanding your search criteria to a radius of up to 30 minutes from where you live. I agree with Blake, keep to the lower end of the market, but try to find a place you would live in if your situation changed.

Before you make a decision, find out from your banker if the terms on a HELOC would be the same on a non-owner occupied property. You may find that the lender doesn't offer HELOC on rental property or may have stopped HELOC lending all together as did many lenders post 2007.

1. It depends on your credit score. Most banks are looking for credit score over 700, if they do FHA loans then 640.

2. Mr seller, could you help me finance the house?

3. Seller financing.

4. It depends on your scores.

Steve,

Thanks for posting the link to your list. After reading them I might have to revise my list of "most" important information to obtain.

You can contact a real estate agent in your local area and offer to canvass the neighborhood and drop off flyers. When a homeowner mentions your name to the agent, he or she will know who got them a listing. Ask the agent if there is a way you can earn money doing this.

Here is my list:

1. The amount owed to the party that is foreclosing.
2. The actual current market value of the property (what someone would pay for the house today)
3. The motivation of the note holder.

You can arrange that list how ever you like.