So you want to be your own boss? Work from home. Pick your hours. Decide what to do and what not to do. What to wear -- what not to wear. You get to choose from SO many options -- things you never really gave much thought to before. If you worked at a J.O.B., you probably had some kind of set routine. You'd get up, get showered, get some breakfast, maybe pack a lunch. What your wore was pretty much dictated by what kind of work you did. You were expected to be at your duty station at a certain time, do certain things, accomplish stuff. Then, when your day was done, you'd leave your place of employment -- and all that went with it-- come home and do whatever you do at home.
Well, that's about to all change. Being a property scout is a very cool assignment no doubt. The best part about it is the flexibility you have to do what you want, when you want to do it. However, you still need to get real work done sometime during the day. You still need to find the properties, gather the information, sort, sift, compare, analyze, talk to brokers, hunt, hunt, hunt. Gather, gather, gather. Its a great living -- but it doesn't do it itself!
When I first started in this business, I had been working for myself for quite awhile, and I had gotten in to a routine that assured I got my work done. I made headway each day -- well, most days. But when I started doing the Property Scouting work, I found that I wasn't as disciplined as I needed to be. I'd play more than I worked, and even though I was submitting properties, I wasn't submitting as many as I needed and they weren't as high a quality as needed to attract the eye of the investors.
I almost lost sight of the fact, that by not doing this work, and by not focusing on the highest quality, I hurt one person. ME! So, I decided I would commit a set amount of time each week to hunt, to gather, to analyze. At first I said OK -- 10 hours per week. I can do this. And I did -- all on Saturday afternoon -- rushing to get it done -- by the end of the day, I'd lost focus. I had to work hard to find the right routine -- the right ritual, if you will to be successful.
The ritual that worked best for me was to get out of bed before anyone else, get some coffee and spend an hour planning my day. I checked the internet for new properties, or properties I'd seen before that I wanted to follow up on. By the time the rest of the household got started, I knew exactly how I was going to spend two other hours during the day. For me those two fit in right after lunch. I had another business at the time, and needed to focus on that during the normal business hours in the morning. By the end of the day, I'd made great headway -- at Property Scouting and at my "real" work.
Now my real work is all about Property Scouting and my ritual still consists of getting out of bed, getting my coffee and getting to work. I work for an hour before anyone else gets up. I've got my plan, I still work it. I get much done! I rarely spend 10 hours a week doing this -- don't really need to. Now I just want to.
Get a ritual. Follow it. Make money! Cool!
If you're waiting to get started, go to www.propertyscoutcash.com
To your AWESOME success!
Maggie
www.nacreps.org
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Property Tip #1 - Kiddie Condos
I've talked to a lot of property scouts lately, and I'm often asked what to look for. If you are trying to find cool properties, I just stumbled across a great opportunity that has READY CASH written all over it. Its the Kiddie Condo Craze and deals with finding apartment buildings or hotels, in college towns that can be quickly converted and sold as condos to parents of college bound students.
Its an amazing opportunity for several reasons. First, within the next 10 years there will be an incredible 80 million young people turning 18! Pretty hard to imagine isn't it! The "echo-boomers" are coming on strong. One thing we know about many of these kids is that they'll be college bound.
Second, many colleges -- especially state supported schools, will not have the funds needed to add dorm rooms to campuses, and the schools are increasingly relying on private investors to build or convert existing facilities to condos.
Third, the FHA has a program whereby, mom and dad can buy the condo and the student's name will also be on the loan -- qualifiying for owner-occupied rates. The student can rent out rooms to roommates, potentially getting enough money to cover the mortgage. Because the condo is owner occupied, the thought is (theoretically of course) that the homeowner will take better care of it than a normal rentor would. Personally, I'm not sure that's the case -- have you ever SEEN a dorm room or condo populated with college kids? My GOSH!! The health department won't even go in! But it sounds good!
Anyway, when the student graduates a couple of things happen. They will sell the condo with appreciation -- maybe enough to pay for grad school, or to put as down payment on a home, or to pay off student loans. AND the student will have his or her very own credit rating. Because their names were on the loan, along with mom and dad, the student's credit history has been established all along. Assuming the payment history has been good, the student starts out life on the right foot!
If you're looking for this kind of opportunity, stick to the states in the south -- Arizona, California, Texas, New Mexico, the Carolinas, and Florida. That's where MOST students will end up and there are many schools in those states with high housing shortages right now. The ratio of on campus housing available should be less than 25% -- meaning, the college can only house 25% of students in campus housing. That's a lot of students needing off campus living arrangements.
The best properties are close enough to be with in walking distance of campus, but if that's not possible, they need to be close to public transportation. They should also have the ability to bave amenities like internet access, work-out facilities, a pool, a party room and the like. Students especially like a high ratio of bathrooms to bedrooms... the good old days of sharing the bathroom with 30 of your closest friends are long gone. Thank goodness!
If you can find properties like I've just described, you are well on your way to making millions. If you're not already a property scout, go to www.propertyscoutcash.com to sign up now. Good luck.
Happy Hunting!
To your incredible success,
Maggie
www.NACREPS.org
Its an amazing opportunity for several reasons. First, within the next 10 years there will be an incredible 80 million young people turning 18! Pretty hard to imagine isn't it! The "echo-boomers" are coming on strong. One thing we know about many of these kids is that they'll be college bound.
Second, many colleges -- especially state supported schools, will not have the funds needed to add dorm rooms to campuses, and the schools are increasingly relying on private investors to build or convert existing facilities to condos.
Third, the FHA has a program whereby, mom and dad can buy the condo and the student's name will also be on the loan -- qualifiying for owner-occupied rates. The student can rent out rooms to roommates, potentially getting enough money to cover the mortgage. Because the condo is owner occupied, the thought is (theoretically of course) that the homeowner will take better care of it than a normal rentor would. Personally, I'm not sure that's the case -- have you ever SEEN a dorm room or condo populated with college kids? My GOSH!! The health department won't even go in! But it sounds good!
Anyway, when the student graduates a couple of things happen. They will sell the condo with appreciation -- maybe enough to pay for grad school, or to put as down payment on a home, or to pay off student loans. AND the student will have his or her very own credit rating. Because their names were on the loan, along with mom and dad, the student's credit history has been established all along. Assuming the payment history has been good, the student starts out life on the right foot!
If you're looking for this kind of opportunity, stick to the states in the south -- Arizona, California, Texas, New Mexico, the Carolinas, and Florida. That's where MOST students will end up and there are many schools in those states with high housing shortages right now. The ratio of on campus housing available should be less than 25% -- meaning, the college can only house 25% of students in campus housing. That's a lot of students needing off campus living arrangements.
The best properties are close enough to be with in walking distance of campus, but if that's not possible, they need to be close to public transportation. They should also have the ability to bave amenities like internet access, work-out facilities, a pool, a party room and the like. Students especially like a high ratio of bathrooms to bedrooms... the good old days of sharing the bathroom with 30 of your closest friends are long gone. Thank goodness!
If you can find properties like I've just described, you are well on your way to making millions. If you're not already a property scout, go to www.propertyscoutcash.com to sign up now. Good luck.
Happy Hunting!
To your incredible success,
Maggie
www.NACREPS.org
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