Investment Real Estate Done Right -- Your Quickest and Safest Path to Wealth

In investment real estate the quickest way to wealth is through owner financing, or lease optioning. So, let's take a look at one model transaction, involving the purchase and sale of two properties on lease-option contracts so you an apply it to your own investment real estate system.

Assume you buy an investment property for $50,000 to $60,000, and you sell it on a lease-option contract for $80,000. You receive $4,000 as a down payment from the buyer, and you will get the remainder of the balance in 12 months. You've created a note for the remaining $76,000 that pays you $570 monthly (interest-only payments of 9%). This gives you nearly $7,000 more in interest payments, if you keep this property for a year. You then find a rehab property in an inexpensive neighborhood that you can get for $35,000. You offer a 10% down payment of $3,500, promising to pay of the loan in 13 months or less.

Now, you can use the $4,000 from the first property, so you don't have to come up with your own money for the down payment on your second property. Offer to pay 8% on the remaining $31,500. This is a monthly payment of $231. Be sure your agreement allows you to defer your first payment for 30-60 days. Now, if you can't sell the house in 13 months (this certainly won't be a problem, though), you'll have the cash from the first house you bought, when the $76,000 balloon payment comes due in 12 months, so you won't lose anything or have to get your own financing, when you have to pay off your second home in 13 months.

You see, you always cover yourself, when using this approach. If you purchase smart on this second house, you should be able to put a few thousand dollars into it and re-sell it in a few short months. Be sure you make a profit well above your $35,000 purchase price and anything you have put into it. Again, if you buy smart, after a few grand of rehabbing, you should be able to sell the property for $45,000 to $50,000. You wind up making roughly $30,000 to $35,000 in a year or less on the sale of your first two properties. This doesn't include the extra thousands of dollars in interest you've made on the payments you're collecting. Learn more about this strategy at www.winningthemortgagegame.com.

Mark Barnes is the author of the new novel, The League, the first work of fiction, based on fantasy football. He is also an investment real estate and home loan finance expert. Learn more about this suspense thriller at http://www.sportsnovels.com. Get his free mortgage finance course at http://www.winningthemortgagegame.com

Hermosa Beach was the biggest gainer and Malibu the biggest loser in high-priced ZIP Codes last year. San Marino shows a 7.2% decline in its median home price.

Last year brought a dose of real estate reality to San Marino, which alone among Los Angeles County's wealthy areas had managed to avoid the housing bust. The San Gabriel Valley town endured a 7.2% decline in its median home price, erasing gains of the previous two years.

The National Assn. of Realtors is the largest campaign contributor to members of Congress from California in recent years, according to a watchdog study that depicts the nation as a sort of United States of Special Interests.

More than 40 states signed onto a proposed $25-billion deal with major mortgage servicers over faulty foreclosure practices. New York, Nevada and Delaware joined California in holding out for better terms.

More than 40 states signed onto a proposed $25-billion settlement with major mortgage servicers over faulty foreclosure procedures, but California, New York and other key states were still not among them.

California has until Monday to share in a multi-state deal with banks to obtain mortgage relief and reforms. Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris, who walked away from talks last year, says the door remains open.

With a Monday deadline at hand, California officials have resumed direct talks with the Obama administration about joining a multibillion-dollar, multi-state mortgage settlement with the nation's largest banks, a source said Sunday.

The talk show host pays $12 million for the 4,088-square-foot house with four bedrooms and four bathrooms. The ocean-view home sits on 1.26 bluff-top acres with beach access.

In one of the more talked-about transactions in town, actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have sold their Malibu beach house to daytime host and comedian Ellen De Generes for $12 million.

The four-bedroom, five-bathroom house built in 1920 for industrialist James Wigmore lists for $2,875,000.

A decorative cast stone entrance opens to this restored Spanish Colonial Revival-style house in Pasadena's South Orange Grove area. Built in 1920 for industrialist James Wigmore, the house retains such original details as coffered wood ceilings and arched doorways.

They don't believe they can sell their property for what it's worth, so they're spending money on making their homes more comfortable.

Do you fit any of these descriptions?

A biennial research report by the National Assn. of Realtors indicates that a handful of real estate agents and brokers and their clients either don't know the law or don't care to follow it.

When it comes to lawsuits, real estate agents and brokers tangle mostly among themselves.

The president aims to help about 3.5 million people with good credit who are unable to refinance at historically low rates because their homes are worth less than their mortgages.

 

The White House hopes to help millions of homeowners lower their monthly mortgage bill with a $5 billion to $10 billion plan to set up a streamlined refinancing program for people who are current on their payments.