The Real Estate Debate

Hey guys! We are back for our next installment in the investment series "Buy and Hold" so lets get right into it. The buy and hold strategy is probably the most well known and most common real estate investment strategy. Although it is the most commonly used in my opinion it is still a very misunderstood strategy. Often times a novice investor chooses this strategy when they want to get into investing in Real Estate, but there are lot of things to consider when looking to buy and hold real estate. #1 Are you looking to buy and hold a property to have monthly cash flow or are you looking to hold the property until it appreciates in value to a certain price and then sell(delayed flip). Although they seem similar they can be two different approaches. I know investors that only invest in new home subdivisions, meaning they will buy a home in a new home subdivision in the early phase or 1st phase of construction and hold that home until later phases of the construction is com...

Hey guys! Here are for the first week of our Real Estate Investing Series. This week is Investment basics, we will be discussing the basics of real estate investing. The most basic idea in any investment is to "buy low and sell high". We will talk more about that in subsequent weeks but for now we will cover the basic strategies, basic terms to give you a better understanding. There are a couple of investment strategies that people hear commonly. One is "Buy and Hold" and it's pretty self explanatory. That strategy is to buy a property and to hold that property. There are 2 ways to hold property, you can hold it to "cash flow" every month or hold it until the property increases in value to a point above the acquisition cost(what was paid for the property). So here you have 1 strategy with 2 different approaches. The other strategy is the "Fix and Flip" or "Flipping" which is purchasing a property that needs repair, making the repa...

Most people have heard about how investing in Real Estate is a great way to build wealth. Although that statement is true, it's not always communicated well. As a result people have invested in Real Estate expecting to strike it rich only to fail miserably. Real Estate investing is the reason you have the term "Old Money". You won't have old money with a Stock portfolio because Stocks are to volatile and prices rise and fall to quickly. Real Estate does not rise and fall so quickly and it can be passed from one generation to the next. Stocks can also be passed but the with the volatility of the Stock market it's likely that value could be greatly affected. So I will begin teaching courses on investing in Real Estate. Different investment strategies, different types of properties to Invest in, how to determine if a property is a good investment, how to analyze the numbers and what story do they tell. Follow my blog because I will cover a different topic each wee...

As many of you know when the weather gets cold people don't go out as much. As a result there is a ripple effect in the economy, it's felt in the retail industry, it's felt in the entertainment industry and many other industry's that are consumer based. The real estate market is no different, during the Winter months homes sales typically slow down causing homes prices to hold steady or even come down a bit during the Winter months because there aren't as many buyers in the market. So as a buyer the Winter months could represent the prime time to find a great opportunity on a home with potentially less competition. So I recommend buyers that are looking for a home to brave the bad weather and go home shopping because there are often times great opportunities available. The Winter season can also mean great opportunities for Sellers also, because there aren't as many buyers in the market many Seller's elect not to put their homes on the market until after ...

Hello all, Here is the latest market update, as we enter the spring and summer shopping season the market is picking up and there are quite a few buyers in the market. Sellers are seeing multiple offers and shorter market times, which means that sales prices will start to rise as more buyers enter the market. According to this article Home Sellers Are Pocketing More Money DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 2017 Homeowners who sold in the first quarter realized an average price gain of $44,000 since purchase. That represents an average 24 percent of return on the purchase price, which is the highest average price gain for home sellers in terms of both dollars and percent returns since the third quarter of 2007, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ First Quarter 2017 U.S. Home Sales Report. “The first quarter of 2017 was the most profitable time to be a home seller in nearly a decade, and yet homeowners are continuing to stay put in their homes longer before selling...

       This weeks market update is for those of you that are looking to buy a home now or in the next few months. As an active broker I am working with buyers and sellers on a regular basis. What I have see lately is an increase of buyers in the market. More homes are getting multiple offers which means as a buyer its likely that you will find yourself competing against other offers. So what can you do to increase your chances of getting your offer accepted? 1. Get pre-approved not just pre-qualified, there is a difference between being pre-qualified and pre-approved. A pre-qualconsist simply of a lender taking a look at your credit score and income and saying based on that I can pre-qualify you. A pre-approval is more in depth and typically includes having to be DU (digital underwriting) approved. 2. Putting down a larger good faith deposit or EMD. The larger the initial deposit the better, it communicates to the seller that you are a serious buyer that ...

I am writing this because I ran into an old friend the other day who mentioned through conversation that he was "looking at getting into real estate." That was the 2nd such conversation I have had in the last month so it got me to thinking. Is real estate sales the fall back job of choice for people who don't know what to do next or those that are looking at making so extra money or worse those that are looking to get rich quick! It troublesome to me because of how easy it is for someone to get into real estate sales. You don't see people saying I want to get into law in their mid 30's or 40's, I am sure it happens but it is a far less occurrence than those that say I am looking to get into real estate. You don't see people saying I want to get into medicine at 35 years old. The reason is that those professions require years of schooling/training because of the nature of the profession. With real estate you pass 3 classes take a state test and poof you a...

I love real estate! I love real estate as investments also, I think real estate is by far best type of investment around. I don't think real estate is the best investment because you can make more money with real estate investing than other type of investing. There are a few things that factor into that thought process. 1. Real estate is less volatile than the stock market. With stocks you have the capacity to gain insane amounts of money in a relatively simple amount of time but you also can lose money equally as fast. With real estate typically you will not see a market downturn happen nearly as fast. 2. You have the opportunity for 2 ways to earn a return on your investment...1) through the appreciation of the property and 2) through rental income if the property is purchased as a rental. So with that its time to start investing! If you need more information about real estate investing please visit my website www.thejohnsonrealtygroup.com or email me at james@thejohnsonrealt...