Real estate investment analysis programs are typically expensive, but today I bring you a powerful real estate investment analysis tool online that is absolutely free.  A friend of mind developed this software to help you analyze potential investments in rental housing.  I’ve written elsewhere that there are some great investment opportunities in the right property and the right price.  A small number of wise investors are selectively buying single family homes and will multiple their investments over the next ten years in very secure real estate.  See my earlier article on How to Get Wealthy in a Recession Like This.

Real Estate Investment

If you use your mouse to click over this image above, you will be taken directly to the online  Real Estate Investment Analysis.  It’s a great tool, and you don’t even have to register to use it.  It’s free, and there are no gimmicks and no hooks.  I love this kind of free real estate tool, and I thought you might appreciate it, too, especially if you are considering real estate investment as part of your future plans.

Possibly Related Posts:

• How to Get Wealthy in a Recession Like This
• Real Estate Investing in Sequim and Port Angeles
• Worst Place to Own Property
• Real Estate and Creating Wealth

“How to Get Wealthy in a Recession Like This” sounds like some kind of get-rich-quick scheme or a real estate con like so many out there, but what I write about today is very real and is actually being done right now by my clients, family, friends, and acquaintances.  The stories I share are true stories, and I should qualify a couple of things up front.  None of these people are investing with “no money down” schemes or using maximum leverage and getting 100% loans or anything close.  None of them are living in poverty with dreams of becoming wealthy by investing in real estate.  On the contrary, these people have good paying jobs, excellent credit, and plenty of cash.  That will disqualify the get-rich-quickers and those who think there really is such a thing as a free lunch.  We all learned in Economics 101 that there is no such thing as a free lunch.  But for the qualified buyer who is discerning, now is an opportunity like we haven’t seen in 30 or 40 years in real estate.  I’ll show you a fundamental and logical answer to the question on how to get wealthy in a recession.

A couple in their late twenties have a good income between both of them.  This year they will each make a six figure income.  No, they are not millionaires, but they will be soon.  They have excellent credit scores, and they don’t waste money on frivolous nonsense.  Instead, they are taking every dollar they can and reinvesting it.  They’re not asking about how to get wealthy in a recession.  They’re just seeing opportunities and using common sense.

How to Get Wealthy in a Recession

Are they investing in stocks and bonds?  Absolutely not.  What a roller coaster that is, not to mention all the fraud on Wall Street that can steal your investment.  Between the politicians and Wall Street and the crony capitalism that has become so prevalent, investing in stocks or bonds, or investing in options or commodities has become the ultimate gambler’s racket, at least for the average investor who just wants a safe place to put their life’s savings and earn a decent return.  I know that most retirees moving to Sequim, Washington are not focused on how to get wealthy in a recession like this.  They are focused on preserving capital and their retirement income.  But many have lost 30% or more of their retirement in this crazy stock market in the past few years, and wise investing now makes sense.  That makes the issue of how to get wealthy in a recession a relevant issue for young couples and older couples alike.

Are they investing in gold and silver?  Absolutely not.  I learned many years ago that when an investment product shows up on the front cover of Forbes magazine, it’s too late.  So it is with gold and silver.  The T.V. ads say, “It’s not whether you should buy gold, but from whom.”  Pardon my french, but “non-sens.”  (more…)

Possibly Related Posts:

• Real Estate Investment Analysis
• Real Estate Investing in Sequim and Port Angeles
• Worst Place to Own Property
• Real Estate and Creating Wealth

There’s a huge danger right now in real estate investing.  A gentleman from out of town asked me to take a look at his investment today.  He described it as a five acre parcel, and I subsequently learned there was a house on the property that burned down.  Part was still standing, and he told me that the building department approved the safety of the remaining foundation for rebuilding.  The owner has never seen the property and purchased it as a foreclosure in his real estate investing portfolio.  I assume it was rented, but apparently not insured.  Usually, insurance requires rebuilding, and this owner has decided not to rebuild but to just sell the five acres.

Real Estate Investing – Caution

Real Estate Investing – Profitable or Not

Real estate investing can be an extremely profitable business with real estate prices so low and with such a large inventory of homes no one wants.  If you have cash and buy low and rent the house, you have a piece of real estate that almost certainly will slowly appreciate over the next 5 to 10 years.  Granted, the appreciation is not likely to start for one to three years, but if you invest for the long run, now is the time to buy.  There’s no doubt about that.

Real Estate Investing – Trap for the Unwary

But there is a trap for the unwary cash investor right now.  I drove out and walked this property.  First, the road to this property is about one mile long, and it is a pot hole disaster all the way.  This is enough to turn most people away.  But as the commercial says, “Wait, there’s more.”  There is a nightmare at the beginning of this long driveway, a mobile home that has junk all over the yard, broken appliances, car parts, lawn mowers, and children’s toys that have been outside  apparently for years.  (I was already worried about real estate investing on this road.)

On this little journey, I passed several places with abandoned broken down cars and pickup trucks, and I could see “projects” down the muddy driveways that I presume are homes built by their owners (or renters).  Now I can appreciate anyone who does their own thing and builds their home debt free as they can afford to, but this is not the impression I got.  Have you ever found yourself in a neighborhood way out in the country and felt dirty?  Or unsafe?  (I was even more concerned about real estate investing on this road, but I could not turn around until I get to the end.)

Once I got to the property and looked at the home, or what was left of it, I realized I did not want to list this property.  There’s no way, not a snowball chance that I can sell this place, because the owner is going to want more than it is worth.  There was garbage all over, two abandoned vehicles, and a left over concrete foundation that no one will want.  It will take a lot of money to tear out this concrete, tear down and remove the remaining house and rebuild.  Surrounding this high spot where the house is built are wetlands.  Acres and acres of wetlands.  I could see water everywhere.

What’s the lesson for real estate investing?  First, if you are going to invest in real estate in Sequim and Port Angeles now, and if you cannot be present to examine the property, be absolutely certain you have a professional who will not sell you something like this property.  I doubt I could sell this property for $20,000.  Who would want it?  Second, buy something that will appreciate and is sellable.  Third, if you retain a good Sequim Buyer’s Agent, you can negotiate the best possible price.  Follow these simple rules, and you could earn huge returns on your money over the next 10 years.

Real estate investing is not for the timid.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Real Estate Investment Analysis
• How to Get Wealthy in a Recession Like This
• Worst Place to Own Property
• Real Estate and Creating Wealth

Question: Where is the worst place to own a business in Port Angeles? Answer: Right next to a bridge that is being replaced when the construction may take an entire year. Eghad!

Imagine having a business on 8th Street in Port Angeles near the 8th Street Bridge, which is being replaced right now. You’re at a dead end with the bridge out, so virtually no one will come to your place of business during construction–for a year! Of course, as you gaze into the deep deathlike valley below the non-existent bridge, the large sign states, “8th Street Businesses are Open During Construction.” Yea, that’s pretty funny. No?

I recently recommended to one of those business owners, who wants to sell, that she just hang on. No one wants to buy, and if they did, it would be for a song and a six pence. (How much is a six pence anyway?)

It gets better. Imagine having a business on 8th Street between two bridges that are both being replaced at the same time. I would guess some of those business owners feel like playing Russian Roulette. Working on a French slave ship doesn’t sound so bad anymore.

Lesson for the day: Be very very careful where you buy a business property. Yes, location is everything, almost. There are only a few big rules in life, one of them being, “Never get involved in a land war in Asia.” Now we know the other one, “Never buy property next to a bridge, but never never buy property between two bridges.” [Rule 113 of Real Estate Investing for Smart People]

Possibly Related Posts:

• Real Estate Investment Analysis
• How to Get Wealthy in a Recession Like This
• Real Estate Investing in Sequim and Port Angeles
• Real Estate and Creating Wealth

It’s much easier to talk about making a million dollars than doing it. Many of my clients have made their money in real estate. Some admit they got lucky in stocks. For a lot of good folks 2000 and early 2001 was the year to become an investor in stocks, and pile up massive capital gains in hot new tech companies. And then, the market tanked, and millions took huge losses very quickly. One estimate is that over $4 trillion dollars was lost. There was a lot of damage to retirement accounts, much of which has never been fully published.

Having been a Real Estate Attorney (retired now) and currently a full time Realtor, I have been a strong advocate of investing in real estate since around 1976. During my law practice years in the 90′s to best serve my clients, I expanded my legal services to include estate planning, and to raise my competence, I became a Registered Investment Advisor and Certified Estate Planner. I spent a small fortune on specialized education and training.

I also traded stocks extensively with my personal portfolio, including short to long term, and conservative to risky, traditional Dow stocks and NASDAQ stocks. I day-traded stocks including IPOs (initial public offerings), and . . . yes, I day-traded the riskiest NASDAQ options. Wow! Talk about a rush! Fast profits! Fast losses! I didn’t need drugs.

Riding the crests of the market and surviving the valleys has clearly demonstrated the value of one of the oldest investment principles around: diversify your investments. I’ll take that principle one step further.

1. Diversify your investments.
2. Make real estate your primary investment.

There are many other important investment principles and practices, but my emphasis here is that real estate is, and always has been, one of the safest and best long term investments in history. It doesn’t evaporate when the economy slides into a recession. It doesn’t lose its usefullness because international money markets are in a state of chaos. You’ll always have something you can walk on and “appreciate.” Tech stocks can appreciate incredibly, and part of your portfolio should be there, but as we all know, tech stocks can drop from $88 per share to nothing as did E-Toys back in 2001.

Retirement planning is more difficult today than it has ever been for many reasons. Keep doing what you do well and get good advice on your investments. Diversify but make real estate your primary investment. Even real estate markets rise, plateau, and sometimes even decline, but over the long run, real estate is the best investment you can make in my opinion.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Real Estate Investment Analysis
• How to Get Wealthy in a Recession Like This
• Real Estate Investing in Sequim and Port Angeles
• Worst Place to Own Property