The Truth About Real Estate

Marketing For Real Estate Agents: 6 Easy Steps To Do Competent Marketing For Real Estate Agents

A lot of professionals consider that marketing for real estate agents is just about looking for clients, advertising, sites, brochures or newsletters.

There are lots of “marketing” activities that result simply inefficient, time wasting and really demoralizing. Competent marketing for real estate agents is an ongoing activity defined by a number of steps.

It is necessary that you see what true marketing for real estate agents is about; you will be amazed to witness how in 6 simple steps you create a winning strategy for your agency, one that will enhance your commercial image and propel your success.

1. Establish Aims
Effective marketing for real estate agents is achieved by recognizing where you are and where you wish your agency to go. Detailed objectives present what you desire and how to get it. These should be founded on what you visualize yourself doing, possessing and being. Question yourself regarding what you want in terms of job, lifestyle and income.

Read more…

Now seems to be the best time to invest in properties in college towns where housing demand is high due to a soaring rental market according to the New rules of real estate by Business 2.0 Magazine. With home prices still out of home buyer’s range, and homeowners selling their homes due to rising interest rates, rents are expected to increase nationwide. This makes buying investment property in rental markets such as college towns an attractive option, one that is already being pursued by investors. Rents are expected to rise by 5 % by the end of this year according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), and investors are looking at college towns with increased interest.

There are two major reasons why it is prudent to buy investment property in college towns now. When compared with other rental markets, the rentals in apartment buildings in college towns are much stronger and hence more profitable. This has been augmented by the fact that apartment buildings in college towns are fewer in number. This demand for apartment buildings has also increased due to the rising admissions in colleges mostly from the Gen Y or the echo boomers, which has further increased the asking rates in the college town rental markets. These properties have a low vacancy rate, especially in buildings located near the campuses. Investors in commercial apartment buildings also get to increase their rent with the mounting demand making such investment a highly profitable venture.

So if you are a prospective landlord who has decided to encash this favorable situation, then you can start with choosing the college town that has the lowest ratio of university-owned beds to the student population. As Michael Zaransky, co-founder of Prime Property Investors in Chicago says, prospective investors would do well to pick the college towns that have the ratio of university-owned beds to students at 30 % or lower. One should also look into colleges that propose to expand their student ranks by 2 or 3 % every year.

Read more…

In many parts of the country, home prices doubled during the period from 2000 to 2005. During this same time, creative financing programs (e.g. zero down payment, adjustable rate loans, interest only loans, option ARMs loans, negative amortization loans, etc.) gained popularity and helped some people buy homes who would not normally qualify based on their income, debt level and credit history.

Most real estate markets are now cooling, and some are even experiencing declining prices. In times of dropping real estate prices, the amount owed on a loan by some homeowners may actually exceed the value of a property. If homeowners cannot make their monthly mortgage payment, there is a potential for default on the loan and foreclosure of the property by the lender.

The term “short sales” is used to describe a situation in which a homeowner is at risk of defaulting on their loan, and the lender agrees to sell the property below the original appraisal price in order to avoid foreclosure. Most lenders Read more…