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Are you a speculator or
investor? Great fortunes can be made AND lost in real estate. We
professionals are committed, qualified and equipped to help you
implement the seven keys to profitable real estate investment:
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Determine Level of Liquidity:
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Liquidity is the ability to quickly convert an
investment into cash, without losing any of the
principal that you've invested. For example, a savings
account is highly liquid. In contrast, real estate is
considered to have low liquidity because of the time it
takes to sell the property and the unpredictability of
the market value at the time you are ready to sell. The
greatest real estate fortunes have been lost by those
who overextended themselves and didn't have enough
liquidity to Weather to ups and downs in the real estate
market. We professionals help you implement strategies
to maintain high levels of liquidity to be able to
Weather the storms in the marketplace and take advantage
of profitable investment opportunities
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Determine Level of Marketability:
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Marketability is the ability to convert an investment
into cash quickly, at any price. For example, stocks can
be sold anytime on an organized stock exchange at the
prevailing market value. However, the price at which the
stock is sold can produce a loss for the investor who
selling the stock. With real estate, not only will you
need to deal with market conditions, there will be real
costs to consider whenever you sell a property such as
brokerage fees, marketing fees and title insurance. We
professionals help you invest with a business plan and
avoid the marketability risks associated with real
estate speculation.
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Determine the Impact of Leverage:
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Leverage is the use of borrowed funds to finance a
portion of the purchase price of an investment. The
ratio of borrowed funds to the total purchase price is
known as the loan-to-value (or LTV) ratio. A high LTV
would result in high leverage, while a low LTV would
result in low leverage. Real estate investments can be
more leveraged than most other types of investments.
Sometimes, mortgage debt results in 'negative leverage'.
In this case, you should avoid mortgage debt or sell the
investment. Other times, mortgage debt results in
'positive leverage' and can enhance your rate of return
on investment. We professionals help you avoid the trap
of negative leverage while maximizing the benefits of
positive leverage.
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Evaluate the Investment Management Issues:
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There are really two levels of monitoring and managing a
real estate investment:
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Asset Management -
this is where you monitor the financial performance
of the investment and make changes as needed. With
stocks and bonds, you consult with an investment
advisor, and/or a CPA to determine when to buy and
sell investments. With real estate investments, We
professionals are qualified to serve as 'real estate
investment advisors' and give you solid advice in
this area.
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Property management -
involves the overall day-to-day operation of the
property and the physical maintenance of the
building or buildings. Property management can
include rent collection, paying the taxes, insurance
and utilities, the exterior maintenance such as
landscaping, snow removal and roof issues, as Well
as interior maintenance such as plumbing, painting,
flooring, walls, kitchens, etc. Property management
can become a huge trap for you if you don't give it
the proper evaluation prior to purchasing an
investment. Obviously, unless you want to fix leaky
toilets and gets calls from tenants at all hours of
the night, you should seriously consider engaging in
a professional relationship with a management
company. Remember, time is money. If you want to
make money in real estate, don't waste or lose your
time, because if you waste or lose your time, you
are in effect losing money.
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Properly Calculate Your Rate of Return
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professionals are able to help you calculate and compare
your internal rate of return or investment yield on
current or potential investments. Investment yields are
very useful for comparing investment alternatives. There
are many different types of investment yield
calculations that can be used to analyze the
profitability of an investment. WE professionals help
you determine which investments to keep, sell, or
purchase based on your target investment yield. We
professionals also help you determine how to modify the
cash flows, purchase price and sales price to reach your
target investment yield. Additionally, We professionals
help you determine which mortgage products and
strategies will give you the greatest return on your
investment.
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Consider the Tax Impact of Your Investment Decisions
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This includes such issues as:
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Classifications of
passive, active and portfolio income and losses
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Capital gains taxes
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Income taxes
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Tax Credits
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Tax deductions
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Tax Deferments
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professionals help you determine your before and
after-tax rate of return on real estate investments. We
professionals also work with your CPA in determining the
best tax strategies for your situation
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Evaluate and Reduce Investment Risk
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Risk is the possibility of losing either the principal
invested and/or the potential income from the
investment. We professionals help you reduce investment
risk in several ways:
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Risk Analysis - This
is the process of evaluating alternative investments
based on their level of risk. Risk analysis can be
done using industry-accepted rates of return and
allowances for risk, or it can be done on an
individual basis. Each investor has a different
tolerance for risk, depending on their tax status,
their capacity for leverage, their financial
situation, etc. For example, if you can earn 15% per
year on an investment with a tenant who signs a five
year lease, versus 20% per year on an investment
with a tenant who signs a two year lease, is it
worth the extra risk of not having a tenant after
two years for you to accept the 20% rate of return
versus the 15% rate of return.
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Shifting risk - We
professionals help you structure your leases and
rent agreements to shift the exposure of increasing
costs to the tenants. This can include shifting the
risk of rising interest rates, operating expenses or
tax increases.
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Due diligence prior
to purchasing an investment property. Due diligence
is the process of examining a property and related
documents such as appraisals, inspections,
environmental surveys and title work in order to
reduce risk. By helping you apply a consistent
standard of inspection and investigation, WE
professionals help you determine whether to purchase
a property, or move on to the next deal. You should
always be prepared to walk away from an investment
if it does not meet your predetermined standards and
criteria.
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Investing with the
right entity. We professionals work with your real
estate attorney to help you structure different
'entities' such as LLCs, Partnerships and
Corporations to limit losses to your initial capital
contribution into the investment.
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Diversification -
Investing in multiple investment properties with
varying risk levels reduces the chance that all the
investments will be affected by the same turn of
events. By keeping all your real estate equity in
your primary residence, you are not diversifying
your real estate portfolio. On the other hand, if
you spread your real estate equity and investment
dollars over multiple properties, you would be
hedging your real estate risk and diversifying your
portfolio. On the same token, you need to be careful
not to spread yourself too thin and not to invest
without a business plan. If you end up with 10
mortgage payments on 10 vacant properties with no
tenants, you would end up in a very precarious
financial situation. We professionals help you
diversify your investment portfolio to include real
estate while also diversifying your real estate
investment portfolio itself.
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