Owning a rental property can be a breeze, if you know what you are doing. However, at times, it can also be challenging. You need to make sure you get an excellent ROI or return on your investment if you want to make a profit. You can secure your earnings in many ways, and some are simpler than others. A good property manager will be able to advise you on your property, giving you the support and guidance you need to generate a consistent return on your solid investment.

Tenants

If your property is vacant, then you can almost guarantee that you will lose profit. This is something to avoid at all times as it can greatly hamper the success of your investment. The first step to achieving a great return on investment in your property is to make sure your property is attractive. An attractive property will have the tenant’s queue at the door. Make sure your property is well cared for and tidy for when people look around you. You can take additional steps to ensure this is the case, such as hiring a gardener or landscaping company to clean up the exterior.

Prices

If your property is too high, tenants will not want to rent. If the price is too low, you will not get a good return on investment. The key to finding the middle between these two extremes is to hire a good property manager. They will be able to plan for your earnings, finding ways you can balance your expenses with your income to generate a great return.

Repair

If you leave your repairs to the last minute, you will notice that your profits are hampered. Although immediate repair may not always be necessary, it will certainly save you money. The small expense will prevent further expenses from occurring in the future. A quality maintenance team will work with you to maintain your properties. They will find these problems before they become serious, allowing you to get more bang for your buck.

There are many ways you can get a great return on your investment. By organizing your investments and making sure you stay on top of repairs, you can surely increase your rate of return on investment.

Finding and maintaining the right property and liability insurance for your vacation rental can be challenging. Most vacation rental properties are located in high-risk areas, such as low-lying coastal towns or in national forests, and that alone can make finding insurance difficult. Add to the equation that the property will be rented part-time and things can get a lot complicated. Here are some basic rules to follow to protect yourself and your property from insurance nightmares.

Rule one: honesty is the best policy

It is imperative that you are completely honest with your insurance agent about your intention to rent your property in the short term. If a guest staying at your property causes damage or files a lawsuit against you, your insurance agent will handle your rental business. If you have not disclosed that your property is a vacation rental, your insurance policy may be voided and you will be completely exposed. Be honest from the beginning. Sure, it will mean a higher premium, but your life savings aren’t worth risking.

Rule two: if you are unsuccessful at first, try again

When shopping for insurance, start with the companies that have your current home and auto policies. It is always cheaper to cover your coverage with just one company. But don’t be surprised if they turn you down. Vacation rental insurance is a specialized market and most traditional companies will not have what you are looking for.

Ask your agent for a reference and check with other rental owners in your area. They will probably have several recommendations between them and one of the companies will be a good fit for what you need.

Rule three: ask the right questions, give the right answers

It is important to use the correct language and ask the correct questions when speaking with an insurance agent. Never tell your agent that your property will be vacant. The correct term to use is “unoccupied”. A vacant property is a red flag that will scare away most insurance companies.

Vacation rental insurance generally falls under the category of “surplus lines.” Companies that specialize in this type of insurance are Lloyd’s of London, AIG, Lexington and Allied Insurance. If your current insurer cannot cover your rental property, ask for a surplus lines reference.

Ask your insurance agent how much liability coverage to carry. The minimum is usually about $ 1,000,000, but the amount may change based on your financial situation. It is common sense, if you have more to lose, you will want more liability coverage.

You will be asked for the name of your property manager and you should be prepared. If you are a “rental owner” and they ask who manages your property, give them the name of your housekeeper or maintenance man. The insurance company will want to know that someone is available in an emergency. If you don’t have a third-party contact set up, it could generate another alert signal.

Rule four: check the financial status of your insurance company

There are hundreds of insurance companies trying to take over your business. If you come across a company with rates and terms too good to be true, be very careful. There really are insurance companies that “fly at night” and if there is a flood or an earthquake, they could financially disappear.

The place to check the financial status of an insurance company is www.ambest.com. Write down the name of the insurance company and you can get a little history of that insurance company, how long it has been in business and what its financial status is. What you are really looking for is an A-rated company. Don’t go back to elementary school and think B and C are good. You really want an A-rated insurance company.

Insurance is one area of ​​vacation rental management where you can’t afford to cut costs. There are too many things that can go wrong and the term “prevention is better than cure” is the most important rule of the insurance game.

It doesn’t matter if you do odd jobs or work full time as an independent contractor; Current tax laws require you to report this income at the time of your tax return. Payment in cash does not exempt you from the law, nor does not “operate” a business.

Non-business people simply report the total of all cash and checks as miscellaneous income on their personal tax return. Expenses are also deducted there; however, those expenses cannot exceed income. Someone with a casual income from a hobby activity would fall into this category.

Self-employed business men and women report all income and expenses on Schedule C, the small business tax form. The profit or loss calculated there is carried over to your personal tax return. A self-employed person can use any business loss to offset personal income tax debt. For many, especially during those early years, this often dramatically reduces the overall tax burden.

People become autonomous for many reasons, but the driving force for most is the desire to earn money. When you are in business on your own, the amount of money you put in your own pocket depends on how well you understand the costs involved in producing that income. And for many, one of the biggest costs will be taxes.

Self-employed individuals can deduct all legitimate business expenses, depreciate major purchases, take advantage of business tax credits, research and development expense costs, deduct a portion of their residence if they have a home office, and much more. And, after deducting those costs, any remaining benefits can be further reduced through pre-tax benefits, business retirement account deposits, education, and a host of other items designed to keep more money in the homeowner’s pocket. business.

There are many ways to avoid paying taxes; When you do it legally, it’s called smart tax planning. The IRS code includes a long list of tax-free expenses that are available to individuals and business owners; you just have to know what they are and how to use them to your advantage.

It is important for the self-employed to realize that income tax is not the only bill that is collected at tax time when you are self-employed. This is also when you determine what you need to deposit into your personal Social Security and Medicare accounts.

When you are self-employed, these two taxes are collectively called the Self-Employment Tax. As an employee, your employer must pay half of your FICA (Social Security) and Medicare taxes. When you are self-employed, you pay both halves because you are now both the employer and the employee, and that amount can be overwhelming if you are not prepared. And that’s where tax planning really helps.

Tax planning is the combination of projecting next year’s income and expenses, using current tax laws to boost insurance and retirement benefits, scheduling taxable events into your business and personal future, seeking changes in tax laws that will affect your final results and calculate any quarterly tax deposits. A good tax professional not only prepares your tax return, but also helps you with tax planning as part of your annual visit.

If your tax preparer does not offer tax planning, you are not getting the full value of your money and you are probably paying too much in taxes. When tax planning is done correctly, there are few surprises at tax filing time, your return is a proof of audit and you have a clear picture of your financial future. And that makes good business sense.

With thousands of real estate websites, finding the right one can be a challenge. Do a Google search and you will see the most popular real estate websites, such as Zillow, Trulia, and Refine. Once the first page turns, even the least popular sites now have the same home search features. So how does a homeowner or home buyer know which site is the best? Before choosing, you should first understand a little more about how they all started and what they really are.

For many years, if you were in the market to buy a home, you had to go to the local real estate office in the area where you wanted to buy a home and ask to see a list of homes for sale. This listing was a printout of homes for sale from the local Multiple Listing Service (MLS). The list gave him basic information about the houses and some marketing comments. He examined it and then asked an agent to show him the houses he thought he might like.

This was great for real estate agents because, as ports of this information, buyers had to turn to them. It also gave the agent the opportunity to show the houses that the agent himself was listing first. For the buyer, this was not so good. It was difficult for the buyer to know if the agent was there to represent him or the seller and if they wanted to search for homes in more than one city, they may have to go to other real estate offices to see the list of other MLSs. These lists may also be out of date, and when you found your dream home, it may already be sold. This process can be time consuming and stressful for even the most seasoned buyer.

Fast forward a decade or two and there have been some major changes. MLS went digital and consolidated into larger MLS companies covering even larger areas. Here in western Washington we now use the Northwest Multiple Listing service (NWMLS) and it covers all but two counties; Clark and Clallam. In the 90s, the Internet brought the first real estate websites. Most of these showed the houses listed by the agent / agencies that owned the website and were not updated very often. Some of the larger real estate agencies, the ones with the money and the resources, began creating home search tools using data directly from the MLS. Now, for the first time, buyers don’t have to talk to an agent to find homes for sale and can get even more information (photos, schools, map locations, and up-to-date status).

Today, the price of producing these high-quality websites has dropped to the point where the average agent with the right skills can build their own. Now we see an explosion of real estate websites and it seems that most of them have home search functions. This leaves shoppers confused about which website to use.

Now that buyers can get information from almost any real estate website, what should they know before choosing one? First, here in Washington State, any licensed agent can show you and represent you at any MLS home, no matter what website you find it on. Most of these websites have a mobile app or are mobile friendly. While most buyers start their home search online, what they don’t understand is that the website they use to search for homes is a lead generation tool for the agent. The buyer is exchanging his contact information for the use of the website.

This is not a bad thing. If you really want to buy a home, then you will need answers to your questions, help finding financing, an agent to open doors for you, someone who understands the paperwork and can help you with negotiations, and a trusted agent to take care of you. in the closing process. That can only happen when you talk to an agent. Which agent you get is the important part. And that’s where finding the right website comes in. The buyer should use these websites to find out more about the agent they might want to represent. Knowing more about the agent before getting involved with an agent is the key to achieving your goals of buying or selling a home.

What you should look for is what is the agent’s experience in real estate. Do you work full time as a licensed real estate agent? What is your closing success rate? Do you guarantee your services? What do past clients have to say about the agent’s service? These questions can sometimes be found on the agent’s website, but if not, you should ask in the first contact with an agent. Now that you know how they got started and what they are, how do you choose the right website for you? First, let’s talk about the differences on these websites. We can divide it into four types.

The first type are the large non-brokerage sites like Zillow, Homes.com, Realtor.com, and Trulia. These sites do not have agents working in the field. What they do is sell the leads that sign up on their site to agents who hope to convert the lead into a customer. These websites have worked hard to make sure home buyers find your site first. They have added a lot of cool home value estimating tools or mortgage calculators and all the information they can get on almost every home in the US and some other countries. They get most of this information from the public record and from what some owners can give them. The downside to these sites is that the information they used may be out of date or inaccurate. Take home values, for example, because they get their sold data (what homes were sold in the same neighborhood) from public records, not the local MLS, their numbers may be behind market trends. In the real estate world, we only look back at the last six months to help us determine the value of a home. While a home’s sale price may appear in the public record right at closing, it can take months to filter the system before these websites can include it in their data and that yields their numbers. There is also a question about similar homes. When a real estate agent or appraiser does a comparable market analysis (CMA) of a home’s value, they look for homes like the home in question (the home being appraised) of the same size, same rooms, same bathrooms, owned by the same size, same neighborhood and same state. This may be a bit of an art and the question is, can a computer do as good a job as an agent? This can confuse home buyers and sellers about the true value of a home.

I would like to take this opportunity to assess home values. In a free market, like ours here in the United States, the true value of a home is exactly “the highest price a buyer is willing to pay and the least amount a seller is willing to take” for any property. Only when a property is sold can the actual market price be set and everyone else – real estate agents, appraisers, county appraisers and any website – only make an estimate or guess.

The second type of real estate websites are the large and medium-sized brokerages such as Re / Max, Windermere, Coldwell Banker, Century 21, RedFin, and ZipRealty. These companies have multiple brokerages in many places in the US These real estate companies have agents who work directly for brokerages, usually as independent contractors. Leads or prospects who sign up on your sites are assigned to the individual agent or sometimes sold based on company sources. These companies take a large portion of the agent’s commission or pay, and some of them take 60% or more. This means that the agent has to work harder to convert as many leads into customers as possible just to make enough money to stay in business. Sometimes these agents take on more than they can reasonably handle, leading to poor customer service or a higher transaction failure rate. Some of these companies offer a discount to the buyer. This refund comes from the agent’s commission and can make it even more difficult for agents to provide good service to their clients. I’ve heard a lot of complaints about agents disappearing once a contract is signed or agents refusing to show homes to buyers looking for homes at the lower end of the market, but still want to write the contract and get paid. commission.

The third type of real estate website is small or independent brokerages. These companies are generally owned and operated by experienced agents who have the skill and knowledge to build a good quality website and provide good service to both buyers and sellers. You’ll find the same home search tools and email notifications as the large sites, and because these sites serve local communities, these sites often have more information about the areas they serve and consumers can read more. about the agents they may want to use. in the purchase or sale of your homes. These companies may have one or more agents working together as a team or as independent agents and generally have a higher successful closing rate. What makes these sites the best option for home buyers or sellers are the agents who accompany them.

The fourth type of real estate website is the independent agent website. These websites are created by the individual agent or a third party on behalf of the agent. They can be as good as any of the larger trading sites, depending on the skill, time, and money an agent is willing to invest. These agents can be very good agents, but most of them are little more than one-page public resumes posted by agents in the hopes of attracting buyers or sellers to the agent you are promoting.

So when considering a real estate website, buyers and sellers should keep in mind that a website will not help you buy or sell your home, it is the real estate agent. The website is a way to find the right agent to do the job. Think of it this way, since you can get the house information from almost every website now, what value do you get from a website? The value is in the service you receive from an agent who can save you time, money, and the heartache of poor treatment or poor service.

Contents synopsis:

In his sixth book, Bach addresses the problem that his audiences and correspondents have drawn his attention to, namely that his method of wealth creation works well for young people who have time to earn a substantial return on investments while the great Boomer generation, who probably buy more of your books than younger people, don’t have that much time left.

This book was undoubtedly a challenge for Bach because late beginners are at a great disadvantage relative to younger investors. The only real advantage older people have is that retirement is now a looming reality rather than a theoretical goal in the distance and as such a better motivator to exercise the discipline necessary to plan and save for the golden years. .

The book begins by telling the reader not to worry or give up, that there is still time, although the task at hand is even more urgent and difficult. He then proceeds to explain what the reader already knows, that to save late enough in life to have a proper retirement, one must save very aggressively. This means taking on additional work to earn more income or significantly lowering your current standard of living to save as much.

It offers some helpful tips on how to get the most out of credit card companies and how to use automatic savings devices. Much of the center of the book is a repeat of his basic theories of paying yourself first, saving aggressively, investing wisely, and so on.

The fourth part of the book looks at ways to earn more money. Some of this is practical and realistic, while much of it is not for most people. His advice on real estate investing comes in two ways. The first is about investing in a growing market that existed in 2006 when the book was published, but has little relevance in today’s market. The second approach is to invest in REITs, which if done in the cautious way he advises, is still a solid method.

Bach never really touches on the problems many seniors face in the decade or two before retirement. He doesn’t talk about how everything he advises is done while caring for aging parents, taking children to college, and dealing with their own health problems and limitations.

In general, the book offers some optimistic views on starting late and offers good ideas on how to make the most of a bad situation for the large part of the population who have not adequately prepared for retirement. For the reader over 40, this is a good read. For younger people, it can be a good wake-up call to let them know what to expect in their midlife period if they don’t start saving early.

Readability / Writing quality:

Like all Bach books, it is very readable. It is well organized, easy to read, avoids complicated mathematical investments and formulas, and uses real-life examples of how to apply its theories.

Notes on the author:

David Bach started out as an investment advisor and found that he could help more people and earn significantly more money by writing and speaking to larger audiences. He has written seven other books on wealth creation, beginning with the best seller The Automatic Millionaire.

Three great ideas you can use:

1. Don’t let fear or a late start paralyze you. The worst thing to do is to do nothing. It is vital to learn about your options and act immediately to reduce your expenses and save more.

2. Paying yourself first is the single most important thing anyone can do to build wealth. It means exercising the discipline to set up an automatic savings system to reserve a percentage of all your income for long-term investments, investing that money wisely, and exercising the discipline not to touch it for anything before retirement.

3. Just as important as saving and investing is paying off all debts and avoiding incurring more debt. The worst debt, of course, is consumer debt that you can’t afford, except possibly your home mortgage. This means leading a far less prosperous lifestyle, a sacrifice that is inevitable if you are serious about providing for your old age, and you should because you can’t count on anyone else to do it.

Publication information:

Start Late, Finish Rich by David Bach, copyright 2006 by David Bach. Published by Broadway Books in paperback. 333 pages not including the index.

Rating of this book: Very good

Introduction.

Rental of bouncy castles and other inflatable games for children’s parties, family events, etc. It’s a great home business to work full or part time, and the earnings can be high, as well as the fun element! You own the business and all the equipment, you do not need to pay franchise fees or license fees. For example, operating just three bouncy castles part-time on weekends, at £ 55 ($ US88) per day per gorilla will generate around £ 330 ($ US528) per weekend, or more than £ 1,300 ($ US2, 080) per month. . Assuming expenses of around £ 300 ($ 480) per month, this leaves a profit of over £ 1,000 ($ 1,600)! Not bad for working a few hours!

Children have birthdays every day of the year. In summer and fall, your parents can rent a bouncy castle for the backyard or patio. In winter and spring, parents can hire a community room to host the party and accommodate the janitor.

To run a successful bouncy castle rental business, you don’t need to quit your full-time job and you don’t need a large capital investment either. This article will show newcomers how to successfully start and run a bouncy / inflatable castle rental business from home and avoid the mistakes others have made in the past.

1: Research.

When thinking about starting a bouncy castle rental business, the first thing to do is check all the local newspapers (classifieds sections), yellow pages, and online. See if there is anyone else in your city that advertises a bouncy castle rental business. If you find a regular advertiser, don’t be discouraged, there is still room for you. In most cities, the demand for bouncy castles far exceeds the supply, especially in the summer months. You will have a very clear idea of ​​the competition in your area. In a busy area, rival companies will often pass inquiries and even reservations to other companies when they are too busy to complete the reservation themselves. If you are very lucky, there may be no rivals operating in your area.

2: Necessary equipment.

Below is a list of the equipment you will need to start a bouncy castle rental business:

a) Bouncy castle, rain cover, electric blower and anchor stakes.

b) Ground sheet to protect the bottom of the hammock.

c) Electric extension cable (25 – 30 meters long).

d) RCD circuit breaker. (safety cut-off device).

e) Safety mat to put in front of the castle.

f) A satellite navigator or a local street map of your city and its surroundings.

g) Large A4 size desk agenda to make reservations (1 page per day).

h) Ledger to record income and expenses, etc.

i) Civil Liability Insurance Coverage. We highly recommend a million pounds as an absolute minimum.

j) Safety instructions sheet and client liability exemption form.

k) A bag cart.

From experience, we highly recommend that your first bouncy castle be 12 feet by 12 feet. (3.6 mx 3.6 m) with a 3- or 4-foot (Approx. 1 meter) safety step at the front. This size is by far the most popular with customers and is easily handled and stored, and when inflated it will fit in most backyards and community hallways.

There are many excellent companies that sell bouncy castles. Most new bouncy castles come with a one-year warranty, while some manufacturers offer a two-year warranty. Make sure a minor repair kit is included in the price of your hammock.

If you buy a new one, make sure the inflatable has a certificate saying that it has been manufactured according to the recognized standard which as of January 2010 is: BS EN 14960: 2006 (UK and Europe).

Be very careful when buying used play inflatables, as the seams in the seams wear out over time and can cause bed failure. Take an experienced person with you, who will know what to look for.

3: Where to get customers.

Fortunately, children are born every day of the year, so there is a practically endless supply of potential clients. Most parents prefer to use their own backyards or the local community room to host the party. In addition to private parties for children, there are several other places where you can rent your doorman, for example, playgroups, nurseries, pubs, hotels, extracurricular clubs, shopping malls, school parties, trunk fairs, shows and galas, events of charity. , soccer clubs, barbecues, beach parties, christening parties, wedding receptions, tennis clubs, puppy and scout groups, brownie and guide groups, trade promotions, open houses, etc.

4: How to get reservations.

To get your first hires, I recommend that you do the following: First, tell everyone you know you have young children that you have a bouncy castle for rent. Offer to rent it at a discount, if they are willing to tell all of their friends and family.

Second, you must place an ad in your local newspaper and in your local yellow pages directory. This advertisement will attract inquiries, and as long as your phone form is courteous and helpful, you will get bookings almost automatically.

You should also consider registering for free on Google Maps, so that your potential customers can easily find you when they type the name of their city and the bouncy castle for rent in the Google search engine. (It is a very good idea to have a website, but it is not essential to have one in order for your business to appear on Google Maps for free.

Initial inquiries will take several forms, most callers want to know the cost of hiring a bouncy castle initially, what sizes are available? How many children can use it at the same time? Up to what age group can you use it? When a customer calls, the first question you should always ask yourself is what date is the party on? Second, ask how old the children will be. Armed with this information, you can suggest a bouncy castle size, 90% of the time it will be a 12ft x 12ft bouncer. If the children are very young, that is, 1 to 4 years old, it may be better to suggest a smaller gorilla, or even a bouncy ball (a small semi-closed bouncy castle filled with multi-colored plastic balls).

Also, tell the customer that he can hand over the castle, set it all up, and pick it up at the end of the party. Tell the customer that you will call them a couple of days before to confirm the delivery time, etc. This approach helps build trust with the customer, which should bring them back next time.

Always inform the customer that there is a rain cover included in the price.

5: Promotional items and references.

It is very important to take advantage of your first bouncy castle reservations. For example, a father just rented his bouncy castle for his son’s birthday party. He just took twenty-five kilos or so. But it doesn’t end there. At this party, there will be parents of other children, and these children will also have birthday parties, so you should promote your company as much as possible. The best way to do this is to hand out A5-size brochures. It is also a good idea to print and distribute some business cards.

Always remember that customer satisfaction is the number one priority. You really want your party to be a success and your kids have a lot of fun. That way, parents are more likely to refer you to their friends and hire you over and over again.

6: Security.

Obviously, with children, safety is absolutely paramount. We strongly recommend that you provide your customers with a Safety Instruction Sheet. We have put together some templates for you. You can find a copy of this on the home page of the BIHA ​​website (see link below). In addition, you should familiarize yourself with the legal requirements and codes of practice that apply to the operation of bouncy castles. (See: BIHA ​​website link below)

7: Basic accounting.

It is very important to keep track of all the money you receive. Also, of course, your expenses for advertising, printing, fuel, phone calls, etc.

8: Expanding your business.

After you have your first few hires under your belt, you will probably start to think about other types of inflatables that you can invest in, such as inflatable slides and inflatable balls. Do not forget that the corporate market can be very lucrative (eg city councils and large companies in your city).

Good luck and all the success!

1. Get Ready – Now that you’ve decided to start investing in homes for a profit, it’s time to properly set your goals and expectations in your mind. Calculate how much cash you have available for this investment. Make sure you have enough money to cover a twenty percent down payment, the home remodel, and enough cash on hand to cover the monthly mortgage payment until the property is available. I know it sounds overwhelming, but I’ll show you how to cut down on your startup cash and remodeling funds. It always makes sense to write your plan. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, it just has to make sense to you. You cannot know where you are going without a map to navigate.

2. Identify a good property to invest in: Now that you have an idea of ​​its address, it is time to consider the type of property that would make a good investment. Find out if you want to buy a single-family home that needs work or a multi-family home where a condo conversion might be your intention. For our purposes here, we will discuss the single family home move. If you do not have access to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) in your area, find a reputable real estate agent who can provide you access to the MLS. It is wise to have a buyers agent because it does not cost you money. The buyer’s agent is compensated by the broker’s agency. Once you have access to the MLS, you can start looking for properties. I like to search by zip codes in areas that I know have desirable neighborhoods. In a down market like the one we find ourselves in now, there are many dilapidated houses in great neighborhoods. Those are the houses that will always sell first. You should focus on bank-owned, short-sale, and foreclosed homes on the market. Keep in mind that no matter how much the seller asks for the house, what matters is whether the project makes sense. I usually calculate the price I will pay for a house after calculating the amount of work that needs to be done and how much I can sell it for. Remember, the market tells you what a home will sell for, not a price tag.

3. Property Inspection and Analysis – Before you can make an informed offer, you need to know two things. You must first know how much it will cost to bring the home to its highest and best condition. You should appeal to the type of buyer who is most likely to buy the home. You should have a reputable contractor meet you at the house so that they can give you an idea of ​​the costs involved. Now add 20% just to account for unexpected costs. Once you know your cost, you should check with your real estate agent to determine what similar homes have sold for and see which homes you will compete with. Now that you have a good idea of ​​the future selling price and the cost of construction, you can now use basic math to add the cost to the purchase price and then subtract that answer from the estimated future sale price to determine if there is a margin of profit enough for this move to make sense to you. Tip: Don’t forget to add the sales commission to your cost if you plan to hire a real estate agent.

4. If the numbers work, get funding! – Once you know there are enough profit after your acquisition cost, estimate the remodel and cost to sell. Now you know how much you should pay for the house. Before bidding, you must obtain your financing. This is my area of ​​expertise as I have been a mortgage broker for several years. There have been many changes in the mortgage industry since mid-2006. Money is a little harder to come by, but it is still available with a down payment and a decent credit history. The guidelines are always changing, but right now, in late 2008, a minimum 20% down payment is required to purchase investment property and the borrower must show income and assets to qualify. If after the 20% down payment, remodeling money and cash to cover the monthly payments, you don’t have much money left, you should consider a partner for the deal. You may not be a fan of long-term partnerships, but when you’re changing ownership, you’d be looking for a 4-6 month partnership, not a lifetime. If that works, you can always buy more properties to sell in the future. It also helps to divide risk and tasks. Just make sure your expectations are set correctly. If you’re going the partner route, I suggest opening a joint bank and financing it with 6 months of mortgage payments, including taxes and insurance. If you have any more questions about financing, I’ll be happy to answer them. I will provide my office contact information at the end of this article.

5. Remodeling / Rehab Phase – It’s time to repair this house and get it back on the market as quickly as possible. Now you need to get your contractors in to begin the construction phase. Keep in mind that cheap labor will almost always be more expensive. Make sure contractors get the proper permits. The last thing you want is a forced work stoppage because the required permit was not withdrawn. Also, if these workers do not know the code or do not compile it, it will usually cost twice as much to correct a code problem. By now, you should have a detailed list of everything that needs to be done. Breakdown by major systems such as heating, cooling, plumbing, electrical, and any other systems that need repair or service. Then go room by room and make a list of what needs to be done in each room. Joint compound and a fresh coat of paint are very helpful. Just be sure to use modern, neutral colors that aren’t offensive to anyone. Be sure to inspect the exterior of the home for repairs and touch-ups. The patio must be clean and properly landscaped. Be sure to check in with contractors daily to make sure everything is on track – don’t just assume everything is on schedule. Finally, take advantage of the use of credit from Lowes and Home Depot to avoid payments and interest for six to twelve months. You should be able to buy most materials with that credit. Just be sure to pay off the full balance when the interest-free period ends or you’ll be hit with all the increased interest.

6. Sell your home quickly – Now that your home is complete and ready to go on the market. You should already have an idea of ​​how much this property will include in the list, but you need to check the value once more. The best way to do this is to have an appraiser or real estate agent do a comparable market analysis. If you don’t know an appraiser, call your mortgage broker and ask them to use their appraiser to help determine a range for you. I do this for my mortgage clients as a free value-added service, it’s just good business practice. You may want to sell your home yourself and that’s fine, but you need to have time to show it off and also be able to list the property on your local multiple listing service. If you are trying to avoid paying a full real estate commission, a local real estate agent will usually make a “entry only” listing for a nominal fee. If you don’t have the time or don’t want to deal with the hassle of listing the home yourself, hire a real estate agent to list your home. You should have already added the sales commission rate to your figures beforehand. When calculating value, be sure to look not only at similar homes that have sold, but also at your competition. Your home should be a good deal when the average buyer compares it to others in the same price range. Lastly, if you don’t get enough screenings after a week or so the house price may be too high, don’t be afraid to lower the price. Sometimes a small profit is better than no profit. That is why you should buy the property you want to invest as low as possible and estimate the remodel as accurately as possible.

7. Plan for Your Profits – If you correctly priced your newly remodeled home, you will remember and will soon close. If you have planned correctly, you should make some profit. It would be wise to have a solid plan regarding your earnings. Here are some options; You can simply take the profits, as well as your initial investment, and place them in your bank. In that case, you have just created a taxable event or, in other words, a long-term or short-term capital gain, depending on how long you’ve owned the property. That option is better if the profit gain was minimal. If you made a significant profit and were planning to trade another property, you can defer your taxes through a 1031 exchange. Basically, a 1031 exchange is a tax code that allows you to defer capital gains tax to a later date, reinvesting your earnings on another investment property within a certain period of time. There are rules that must be followed for the trade to be valid, but considering the benefit, it could be worth it. The advantages of doing a 1031 exchange include having more money available now and more purchasing power. It means not paying taxes while building your real estate investment business. You can invest your earnings, just like investing a home. Here’s an idea, why not switch houses until you have enough down payment funds to switch to a 30-unit apartment building. Then you can turn your money into cash flow. You can defer paying taxes until after you sell the last property and take the money. It is always wise to speak to an accountant when making tax decisions, so always consult a professional CPA when it comes to tax law, that’s money well spent.

I leave you with one last thought; Use professionals from start to finish. Licensed professionals may seem like they cost more, but they will save you money if they get the job done on time and correctly.

Building a house involves many stages. These involve building the foundation, frame, plumbing, and electrical, just to name a few. Another aspect of building a home could include building a shed in your backyard.

Depending on the style of the house you build and the type of attached backyard, the shed design will be very good. This design should complement your home. The type of shed you choose will also have to be practical for your backyard.

Consider a house with a small backyard. This type of patio will require a simple and compact design shed. Consider the shed shed. The attached shed is ideal for patios with limited space. This style of garden shed can be attached to the side of your garage or patio driveway. It would be a great place to store your garden supplies and tools.

The attached shed consists of a roof that has a single slope. The roof may be flat, but having a slope makes it more resistant to the effects of rain and snow.

Another type of backyard shed to consider for a small patio is the recessed roof style shed. Unlike the sloped-style shed, it is designed to be a freestanding structure. Its design is very distinctive. The roof consists of a single flat piece that has a slight slope or inclination. The base of the structure can be made of concrete or wood.

The gable roof shed is another design to consider. Depending on its size, it can easily fit in a small or medium backyard. This shed design has an A-frame style roof. This means that the roof has two sides of the same size and slope. The roof allows for more headroom and more storage space for your garden tools and supplies. This style of shed will be more complicated to build compared to a shed with a pitched or sloped roof due to the design of the roof. The gabled roof shed also complements many home designs due to its A-frame style roof.

The clerestory-style shed is another shed design with a very distinctive roof. It is well suited for a larger backyard with a well-developed garden. The roof structure consists of a row of windows on top of the roof. These are known as clerestory windows. Windows allow sunlight to travel through them and spread out onto the shed structure. This provides excellent illumination from the sun. This also makes the shed a great place to work or store potting plants. By the design of its roof, it is the most complicated of the sheds mentioned here.

Building a shed in your backyard can be a rewarding experience. Knowing the best layout for your garden will help make your building experience even more rewarding. It is recommended that you use some type of proven shed design plan to guide you through the shed construction process. Using proven shed construction plans will help you determine which shed design is best for your needs and your yard.

Best regards

The Internet is empowering more and more entrepreneurs to launch businesses online. Whether it’s an e-commerce store that sells products or an Internet business that provides services to customers, mailings and shipping are part of daily operations. In fact, for e-commerce stores, business reputation depends on the speed and quality of shipping. With postage meters, also called postage machines, business owners can save time and money on this critical task.

Postage meters allow business owners to directly print exact postage on package labels and envelopes without the need to go to post offices to weigh and stamp them. They calculate the exact postage based on the weight, destination and type of mail. Besides, you can also keep track of the amount spent on shipping costs. Business productivity is also boosted as time saved is spent on more profitable tasks, such as business development.

How Do Postal Meters Help Small Businesses?

Postal machines are a boon for small businesses already short on time and money, not to mention staff for frequent trips to the post office. Some of the main advantages of using them are:

Convenient measurement: With postage machines, businesses can print and pay for postage directly at the office. You don’t have to wait in long lines at the post office for shipments to be weighed and sealed. You only need to make the trip to send the shipments or pick them up at your office.

Easy management of all types of emails: They can handle most types of mail: postal packages, priority, domestic first class, express, international first class, international postal packages, etc. As it is easy to print directly onto envelopes, bulk mails can be sealed accurately and quickly.

Cost savings: They always seal packages with accurate postage, unlike the situation at post offices where exact postage is not available all the time. Packages are weighed on a scale on the postage meter and postage is calculated accordingly.

What are the disadvantages of postal meters?

Although postal meters offer many advantages, they also have some challenges to face. Some of them are:

Lease rates: The use, rates and distribution of these machines is administered by the postal service of the country. Postage machines cannot be purchased and must be rented for long-term use. The lease fee can range from $ 20 to $ 500 per month depending on the model.

Change of postal rates: Postal rates can be changed by the postal service and this should also be reflected on the postage machines. While the latest digital meters can be updated electronically, lower cost models must be manually updated by the leasing company.

Government restrictions on repair: The government does not allow postage meter troubleshooting and repair by any personnel except the licensed landlord. This can cause delays and the business has to resort to regular mail until the meters are back up and running.

The convenience of owning a postage machine, reducing operating costs, and saving time from them greatly outweigh its disadvantages. Postage meters bring professionalism to official mailings and shipments and allow business owners to invest more time and money in business growth and other revenue-generating initiatives.

The term “retro” makes a lot of people think back to the 70’s. For real estate agents doing BPO, “Retro” has a completely different meaning.

Simply put, a retro BPO is a broker’s price opinion (BPO) that asks the real estate agent to give his opinion on the value of a property on a specific date in the past. It may seem strange, but it is a useful tool that will be explained in this article.

Here’s an example of how a retro BPO works: A bank or lender needs to know how much a property was worth on 7/3/2006. They don’t want to know the value of the property today, they want to know the value as of 3/7/2006. The real estate agent needs to access their MLS program and search for comparable sales from that time period. The real estate agent will state that TODAY is 3/7/2006. For most broker pricing opinions, the lender wants an agent to go back in time, up to 6 months for comparable sales. With a retro BPO, the agent will look back 0 to 6 months from the retroactive date, in this case July 3, 2006. The real estate agent will look at comparable sales from 3/1/2006 to 7 / 3/2006 in this example.

Sales of prior to 3/1/2006 probably needs more explanation as to why the agent had to go back so far to get comparable sales. Also, any comparable sale dated later 03/07/2006 will be rejected because they fall after the given retroactive date.

Super simplicity

Carrying out a Retro BPO is very simple. Photographs are not normally required. The real estate agent will need to physically verify that the property is still standing, in most cases. The actual Retro BPO shape is also less complicated than a standard Interior BPO. This is because there are usually no competitive listings involved like in a normal Indoor BPO. Only 3 comparable sales, no photos. What could be more easy?

What is the reason for a retro BPO? There are several reasons: Reason # 1 is to determine if fraud was committed (mortgage and / or appraisal fraud). Some other reasons include probate, divorce, bankruptcy, and insurance. In some cases, a bank will use it as a “checkpoint” to make sure its processes / procedures were followed.

Whatever the reason, retro BPOs serve an important purpose in today’s unstable real estate environment. For real estate agents looking for additional income, Retro BPO is a good way to go.