5 Steps to Making Money With Foreclosure Auctions

In today's market the number of homes in foreclosure or those that have already been taken back by the bank are starting to eclipse the number of privately sold homes on the MLS. With the huge increase in these numbers it becomes imperative for real estate investors to add foreclosure auctions to there tool belt of real estate investing techniques.

Foreclosure auctions are not without there pitfalls and like with any investment strategy it is important to know what you are getting into before you plunk down the cash and bid on one of these homes at the courthouse steps. We don't have the space here to discuss the foreclosure auction process but if you are interested check out my article, "How do I Get to the Courthouse Steps."

Once a home is on the auction block at the courthouse there are 5 key things you need to do to not only get the best deal but also make sure you are protecting your cash.

Money, Money Money. Before you even think about bidding on properties at foreclosure auctions you need to line up your financing. If you are paying all cash you are golden but if you are like all of the rest of us you need money. Most states provide a very limited time to close on houses won at the sheriff's sale. This can be anywhere from immediately after the sale to a couple of weeks. The best place for fast cash is your local hard money lender. Build a relationship, get qualified and have them ready to fund your deals when you find one.

Finding homes. Most cities have services where you can get listings of homes that are or will soon be up on the foreclosure auction block. There may be a fee associated with these. You may also go to the courthouse and look up the sales yourself. All of this information is public record.

Finding deals. Once you have found the homes that will be auctioned you need to put on your real estate investor hat and do your due diligence. Look at the homes and do comparable sales analysis to decide what the home is worth and if it is an area that you want to invest.

The Auction. Foreclosure auctions can very slightly from county to county but for the most part they are the same, a confusing process if you are new to them. I recommend heading down and watching a few yourself long before you actually bid on a house. But once you are ready you may not want to go it alone. Do some research and find a Realtor in your area that specializes in buying at foreclosure auctions and enlist their help at least for the first few deals.

Close the deal. Of course being the winning bidder means you need to get the deal closed, and probably fast. You already have your financing lined up but you may also want to have done a title search prior to bidding so all that is left to do is sign the papers and make some money!

I encourage you to start researching your local foreclosure auctions and get familiar with what is available. This will not be your only real estate investment strategy but it can definitely be a profitable one if you take all of the steps needed to ensure you are getting a good deal.

There are many strategies you will want to investigate to work the foreclosed homes marketing. Today's foreclosure market is one of the hottest in 15 years and sellers and banks a like are beginning to make deals to get their borrowers out of foreclosure.

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Work From Home (Ebay Getting Started)

So, you want to earn cash from home. One great way to earn money from home is by using eBay. Buying and selling in auction style can be fun and rewarding financially. It is easy to set up and account with them and it's free. Check out eBay.com and become familiar with their site. Notice in the upper right hand corner a drop down tab that reads sell. Click on the sell tab and select sale an item to begin this process. You will also, need to set up a new email address just for your eBay business.

Setting up an email account dedicated to your eBay business is a simple task. Free yourself from mixing business with pleasure in this instant. There are many places to obtain a new address. Yahoo.com and also Gmail.com are great sources for establishing new emails. You can create as many accounts as you need to run your businesses successfully. This process is simple also. It only takes answering a few question an you will have your new email account up and running.

Next you will need a PayPal account (PayPal.com). It is important to use a safe electronic means to accept money. Your buyers want to feel secure when making their purchases from you. Giving and receiving money online needs to be fast as well as safe. Signing up for PayPal is free also. This will make giving and receiving funds safe. Now that your account is set up and ready to go it is time to find a product to sell.

Begin with items at home. This is a grand way to get rid of some of the clutter and make some cash also. If you live in a place that makes having a yard sale difficult your problems are now resolved. There are also many companies now that will drop ship items for you. All that is done is to set up and auction for the item and have the company drop ship your orders.

This new venture to earn extra money working from home has many rewards. Don't pass up this opportunity. All that is needed now is a plan of action. Take this opportunity to setup an eBay account, sign up for a new email account dedicated for your eBay business, create a PayPal payment processor account, and find a product to list.

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Best Real Estate Investing Sites

If you're interested in finding the best real estate investing sites, and you'd like to save yourself some time and aggravation, this article will give you some guidelines on how to do just that!

Never before has so much information been available to you, on just about any subject imaginable, and real estate investing is no different. Whatever information you're looking for is available online, and the good news is... most of it is free or very low cost on the best real estate investing sites. You just need to know where and how to search.

Want to know a secret? I've already done much of the hard work for you. I've been investing for several years, and I started searching for the best real estate investing sites a long time ago. I'll be happy to share the fruits of my labor with you, and I'm not going to charge you anything at all.

You see, there are just a few sites that really stand out from the rest, and that's why I call them the best real estate investing sites. They are the sites that give you the best combination of information and expertise, and they give it to you for free or very low cost.

Far too many sites give you nothing in the way of content or information. They'll never be among the best real estate investing sites because they're just sales pages or link farms. They're full of hype and promise, but you'll recognize them right away because there's nothing of substance there.

The best real estate investing sites are loaded with useful free content such as articles, reports, user forums and discussion groups, and more! They will also recommend books, courses, videos, and coaching programs that will help you on your way to real estate investing success.

Yes, even the best real estate investing sites will ask you to pay for certain courses and content. After all, everybody's got to make a living, right? But you also need to know that you can find out most of what you want to learn without paying much money at all. At least you can do all the upfront research first, without cost, and then purchase products after you know what direction you want to head in.

So what's the secret to getting the most out of the best real estate investing sites? In a nutshell, simply visit often, read all the free articles and reports you can, participate in the forums and discussion groups, build relationships with the site owners and other participants, and generally make a nuisance of yourself!

Of course, I'm kidding, but you get the idea. Ask tons of questions, take lots of notes, and build your knowledge base. As the Bible says, "Seek and ye shall find." The best real estate investing sites have everything you need to figure out this game called real estate investing.

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Buying Homes at the Foreclosure Auction

Buying homes for sale at the foreclosure auction may seem glamorous to some, but without proper preparation you may end up with an expensive life lesson. With a few simple measures one can properly harvest profitable properties time and time again minimizing risk and maximizing profitability.

The first measure, and the absolute most important, is to thoroughly research the foreclosure auction process in your area. Specifically the trustees sale auction dealing with bank foreclosed properties. In my area, our trustees' sales are held at the courthouse on Friday Mornings. Each state has different rights for the homeowner, bank and potential auction purchaser, start with a web search and research your area. It would be strongly advisable to spend an hour discussing with a knowledgeable local Real Estate Attorney or Realtor.

Once you are up to speed on your local Foreclosure Auction procedures and rules you need to begin attending your local auction as frequently as possible and tracking auction properties. You do not want your first time at the auction to be the same day you make your first purchase. You can obtain lists of properties in foreclosure from your local Realtor or through your local title company. A Realtor will be a great asset in providing comparable sales analysis and resale projections for your purchases.

Depending on your area, the information you receive may be sixty to ninety days in advance of the sale. To obtain more current auction data, research homes for sale on the trustee's website, the trustee is usually listed on the foreclosure sale data you receive from your Realtor or Title company. A simple web search for the trustee name will yield their website, most sites are easy to navigate and you can easily drill down to your location and see homes for sale and often times, the opening bid of the auction. Pick a list of properties you want to watch, have your Realtor partner pull comparable sales and make a quick drive by of the properties. It's important to note that most foreclosure auction processes do not allow interior inspection of the property and they are usually sold as-is.

In addition to comparable sales, there are some legal considerations to investigate when purchasing auction properties. This is where an experienced attorney or Realtor can come in handy to help minimize risk. There are some services which will provide all the data for you, but typically cost up to three percent of the purchase price for the data. A few important factors to consider:

You Must (absolute Must) purchase the primary lien on the property.

If you purchase a subordinate lien, such as a second mortgage, you risk the primary mortgage foreclosing and eliminating your position in the sale. Do your title research on this if you mess up here, you can kiss a lot of money goodbye in short order. Most subordinate liens will be removed after the purchase (here is a good topic of discussion with your Real Estate Attorney).

You Must research IRS liens.

Depending on when the lien was filed this can be a problem. It's important to allocate time to research this. It's different in each area and a good title company can help.

Some like to preview the properties at auction, I know I said that you typically cannot preview them, but in rare cases they are listed by a Realtor up until the auction. Have your Realtor partner schedule an appointment and take good notes, you may have an advantage over other bidders by knowing this "inside information."

If you don't have funding lined up, do it now. Most auctions are cash sales. They want paid when you win the auction. Some auctions will require a holding fee anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 or more. Get your money together and have it ready. In most cases, auction purchases must be done with hard money (through an investor usually at high interest rates, this must be factored into your budget).

While you're doing your research, make time to attend your local auction. Track what properties are for sale and what they sell for, also track the properties that do not sell. Start keeping a simple database of properties. Most experienced I investors will suggest watching a minimum of ten auctions prior to attempting your first purchase. After attending several auctions, you'll begin to see some familiar faces. Watch their methods, track their properties, what they purchase and what they sell for and begin developing your plan.

With several auctions under your belt, money in hand and more research than you think you need, you can step up and make your purchase at the action. Once you've made your purchase a number of things may happen. Most areas will have you fill out the deed on the spot, others will have a small mail in process. If the home you purchased was occupied the former owner retains some rights and may have twenty days or more to get out of the home. You may have to evict them. I suggest using a Real Estate attorney for this process, as an incorrect step may result in the former owner living in your home longer than expected and free of charge.

This is not intended to be an all inclusive tutorial on auction purchases, but a compass to point you in the right direction. Auction purchases require lots of hard work and research, if any point were to come across we'd like it to be that one. Get out there, start tracking auctions and start investing in Real Estate, it's a great time to make great money if you track the details and make one of the great buys that are out there!

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A Guide to Earning Money Working From Home

There are 100's of different ways to earn money from home, some of them fairly easy & others a lot harder (this is not counting the scams, of which there are many!). One thing that you should always do if you are considering earning income from home, is to research the company, offer, type of work etc., by simply going online in Google and typing in any details you have, or even asking a question like, "information on xxx company" or "is xxx a legitimate offer". If there are any forums, blogs or sites with other people who have used the product, they will soon become evident and the feedback will be invaluable. Anyone can fall foul of the scam artists, as I nearly did recently when I saw an offer that looked to be viable, was professionally presented, involved well known names and seemed to be reasonably priced. 

However, a few minutes after having Googled the offer I found several posts & sites with dissatisfied customers from 3 or 4 different countries, telling how they had been ripped off, misled & were out of pocket by a lot of money, needless to say I took the offer no further. Any good product provider will offer a no quibble money back guarantee so check they are a reputable company & if so then you have nothing to lose by trying the product. If it is a service you are signing up for (that is to do work for someone else or similar), never part with any money, accept if there is stock involved & the employer needs a deposit to cover the cost in case you don't return any goods, equipment etc., but then there should be a clear contract stating that this is fully refundable when said product/equipment is returned & it should be a reasonable outlay. 

Beware of company's that are in effect 'selling' you products in this guise, which are then left to you to sell on, once again research on Google will reveal any likely problems. A good philosophy to adopt is "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is" and then you won't fall foul of the scammers too easily.

The opportunities fall generally into 4 categories, which are:

Home working doing work of some kind for an employer from your own home

Selling products online eBay, Amazon, etc

Internet Marketing setting up a website or blog to sell your own or other peoples products whether you actually sell the product on a site or possibly incorporating Google AdSense or similar advertising and selling via links to other products

Affiliate Marketing promoting other peoples products that do not involve you handling or selling them, but give you a commission for every person you send to the affiliate website, that buys the product. This does not need a website and can be done via Google AdWords or similar when you direct the potential customer straight to the sellers website.

Other this basically covers a combinations of any of the previous categories and includes Email marketing which uses either internet or affiliate marketing but via a list of subscribers that you build up yourself to market to.

Before deciding which area you want to get involved in, remember they each have their own unique positive & negative aspects and these need to be understood before committing to anything. For instance Home Working is fairly secure and should give you a regular wage with little or no risk, but returns will be very low. Similarly, selling your own products, either on eBay or your own site involves buying & storing products up front as well as delivery requirements, with the risk that they may not sell, but the possible returns will be a lot higher, and so on. 

My particular favourite is affiliate marketing where you simply direct potential buyers to the sellers site & have no other involvement with customers, product etc., you simply refer people. I say 'simply' refer, but this involves cost on your part to advertise in one form or another to point the customers to the affiliate site, and this can be the costly and more difficult aspect.

Hopefully this has given an insight to anyone thinking of this course of action, but remember these ventures are always best started on a part time basis as they will not make you rich overnight (watch out for anyone claiming they will), and once the venture is proven and bringing in money, then you can decide whether to "sack your boss" and work for yourself full time.

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