What’s the current deal?

Hello!  This is just a quick note to let you know what we’re currently looking for.

We need good deals on fixer uppers

If you know of or have access to any great deals, but don’t have the cash to close, please send them my way!  I’m more than happy to get you paid for bringing me the deal, and I’ve got a bunch of cash waiting on the sidelines right now ready to close on a couple deals.  Let’s make a deal!

Email me any potential deals you may have at aaron@rei-capital.com.  Include the property address and the price including your fee, and any other info that would be pertinent.

1st Position long term notes available paying 5% annually

If you have cash or retirement funds that are not earning at least 5% interest annually safely, we should talk.  Email me at aaron@rei-capital.com and let me know when you want to chat.

Let’s face it, the stock market is a huge guessing game.  Are you going to gain or lose this year?  Nobody can tell you straight what’s going to happen there.  Sure, 2009 was great.  But did it even get you back to where you were before 2008?

If you want a place to put your money so it grows while also being protected from loss, secure loans on real estate are by far the best option.  Your money is secured by a deed of trust with a bunch of equity in a local house that we own and control.  Email me with any questions or see the frequently asked questions page here.

The latest and greatest

As you can see I haven’t updated this blog in over a year.  Got out of the habit I guess.

The habit we have been in however is buying, fixing, and selling houses.  And that has been going on consistently and steadily this year.

2010 had a pretty horrific ending as far as house values.  For those of us holding inventory last summer it was a rough time of losing values very quickly.

Fortunately we weathered that downturn and we have been able to consistently buy and sell this year at decent profit margins.  It hasn’t been quite as easy as 2009 was due to the tax credit falsely inflating the market.  But I like it better how it is personally.

I personally don’t see value in the government getting involved trying to control capital markets.  I think they should leave the market to itself and allow capitalism to do its thing, which will benefit everyone the most in the end.  But I’ll leave my political/economical viewpoints at that for now.  It’s enough to say that I like the current steady and more predictable market that is going on without the huge government incentives muddying the waters.

And how about those interest rates??

I think its crazy for the government to be printing the money they are and controlling the interest rates as they are because its likely going to only lead to bigger issues down the road.  But in the meantime, for those of you out there who are having an impossible time earning any interest on your money, call me.

People lending me money are earning 6-12% year over year and it is all backed by deeds of trust on the properties I’m purchasing.  I feel badly for anyone earning less than 8% on their money because there are so many good and legitimate opportunities to earn that or more.  And I give them to people every week.  If some or all of your IRA is not earning at least 8-10% interest all the time, well to be completely frank, you’re missing the boat.  Quite a few people I know have self-directed their IRA’s and are earning 10% year over year by loaning it on real estate deals that are protected by a big cushion of equity in the property.

That’s all for now, have a successful day!

What’s the future of the Denver Market?

Anyone know the answer to this at this moment?  I certainly don’t.

What I do know is that I’m not enjoying the current set back in prices and showings every since April 30th when the tax credit expired.

I think we all had a hunch this was going to happen, and I have to admit I was probably too optimistic about what would really happen when the tax credit expired.

But now with the perspective of being two months beyond it, It’s very clear to me that prices at the low end are going to correct downward in the 5 to 10% range.  Which is pretty annoying, since I have over 20 houses in that range right now.

It’s not all doom and gloom, we’re still getting stuff under contract, and the showings seem to be slowly picking up.  But the most activity I’m seeing is in the middle to high end of my price range.  The 200K and above houses are getting more activity than the 100-200K houses.  Which is flip-flopped from 3 months ago.  In April it was a feeding frenzy for anything under 200K.

Government incentives…not sure what I think about them…but I think I don’t like them.  I’d personally rather see the market play out on its own all the time.  But I can’t deny that I capitalized on the incentives and was happy to take advantage of the easy selling while it lasted.

I just hope the low end correction isn’t as drastic as it was in 2007 with the mortgage melt down…I doubt it will be, since we’re still pretty low…but I’ve been wrong before!

Money…the root of all…

I listened to Atlas Shrugged last month.  Very interesting book about money, free capitalism vs. socialism, etc.

There was a 30 minute speech toward the middle of the book in which one of the main characters Francisco Danconian expounded to hypocritical bureaucrats on the nature of MONEY – it was PHENOMENAL!  One of my favorite parts of the whole book.

Right click here and save the mp3 if you want to hear it the speech.

Investment ramblings

Great news!!!  The FHA 90 Day title seasoning rule is being eliminated as of February 1, 2010!

I like that news personally, because now I can buy a property and sell it immediately to an FHA buyer at a profit, rather than needing to wait 90 days.  That means I can turn over my capital a LOT faster theoretically, as long as I can keep my contractors moving quickly to finish renovations.

For anybody flipping houses this is great news.  Certainly if you are in this business you have heard that by now.

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Other ramblings…

Today I’m sitting in a one day seminar with John Schaub, who is from Florida.

He’s a super sharp guy and has done just about EVERY single type of single family creative investment deal.

We’re talking about options in IRA’s, structuring creative owner financing deals with cheap terms, among other things.  There are about 40 of us here.  I know about half of the people here from the local investment community, and have met a  few cool people from other markets….Florida, and colorado springs namely.

It’s great to get out and network and hear about the cool deals other people are doing.  It helps remind me of a lot of things I can be doing in my business.  Plus its just fun to talk about deals and investing with other friends that are doing a lot of cool deals.

Stock Market VS. Real Estate?

So which is a better investment…the Stock Market or Real Estate?

Well, one answer is: it depends.  On a lot of things.  One of the main things it depends on is who and what you know.

But here is an interesting fact:  Most people have a majority of their long term retirement money invested in the stock market.  And here’s another sad but true fact:  The majority of people have not experienced ANY growth overall in the stock market over the last NINE years, other than what they have contributed.  Many people I know personally have experienced a ZERO percent or below return over the last 9 years.  That’s just wrong.

It is commonly said and believed that the stock market will do well for the long term investment.  But is that really going to work for you?  We better hope you have a REALLY good money manager and a whole lot of luck if so.  Just to get a 10 percent growth average after nine years of zero percent, is going to take 9 years of 20% PER YEAR growth.  Likely?  Not at all.

So how about this alternative scenario:  Loan some of your money to an expert real estate investor, keep your money sheltered from loss by being secured by real estate with equity, and experience 10 to 12% growth consistently year over year.

If you had earned 10 to 12% interest for the last nine years, your retirement funds would have MORE than doubled, not including any new contribution.

And right now is GREAT timing to get out of the stock market.  It has bounced back significantly since the low point in march of this year.  Do you really want to risk it dropping again?  Wouldn’t it be a good feeling to KNOW that your retirement account was going to double every 6-7 years?  Or would you rather wait around and wonder if your money is growing or if it will all-of-a-sudden shrink in half again over night?

OK, so you know my opinion…real estate is far more safe, more consistent, reliable, predictable, etc. etc. etc.  But you still have to use sound investment principles and make wise decisions.  And that’s where I bridge the gap for a lot of people.  Because of my experience and knowledge, I help people win consistently by loaning money on real estate.  That is my business.  Real estate investing is all I think about (in my working hours).

Over the last 3 years I have borrowed over 7 million dollars, and every one of those dollars has returned between 10 to 15% interest annually to the lenders.  I have personally SOLD 72 of the houses I bought in the last 3 years, and not ONE of the people who loaned me money on those has lost so much as a penny.  Why???  Because they made conservative loans.  I didn’t overleverage properties.  I always bought with plenty of equity.  And lastly, I have integrity and I do what I say I will do, even when it means I lose money myself.

Have I made mistakes in the last few years?  More than I could recount to you in 20 pages.  On five of my worst early projects, which were some of my biggest learning experiences, I lost a NET of over $90,000 personally!  Yes, it hurt.  I tried to run faster than I had strength initially.  But every one of my lenders on those deals earned their agreed upon interest and were very pleased.  And they continue to loan money to me today.  Right now I have 27 fix-and-flip properties in some phase of the process of renovating and selling.

Fortunately now I don’t make as many stupid mistakes and I actually MAKE money instead of losing it (which kind of helps since my family is addicted to food after all).

So why am I telling you all this?

Because I have some good opportunities for you and you’re more likely to be able to take advantage of them if you have more information.  I will say it again, this is VERY good timing to get out of the stock market and into some fixed rate loans.  And of course it is ALWAYS a good time to start earning 10-13% instead of 0 to 1% which is what you are getting with banks right now.  Eight or nine months ago would have been the worst timing to liquidate your stock market investments, but right now is a good time to get out in general.  And YES, you CAN invest your retirement accounts in real estate…its easy, call or email me anytime and I’ll show you.  Or go to Equity Trust’s website to learn how right now.  If you have ANY investment capital that is not earning 10-13% interest or more, now is a great time to get in touch with me to see if I can help you rectify that problem.

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Here are some loan opportuniteis I have available right now: (LTV = loan-to-value - lower is better)

2nd Position loan: $45,000 – 13% interest – 6 month term – 75% LTV – House in Baker subdivision, very hot area.  I need the money in short order so I am willing to pay a little more.

1st Position loan:  $65,000 – 10% interest –  6 month term – 52% LTV – house worth $125K – call or email for address and details.

2nd Position loan: $25,000 – 12% interest – 6 month term - 72% LTV – house worth $125K

1st Position loan: $80,000 – 10% interest - 5 year term – 72% LTV – house currently worth $110K (this is a rental property I currently own that I need to refinance)

1st Position loan: $125,000 – 10% interest - 4 year term – 71% LTV – house is worth about $175K currently and going up.  This is a rental property that I just finished remodeling.

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If you have any investment capital not earning at least 10-13 interest, now is the time to get in touch with me.  It doesn’t have to be the exact amount as above.  Just click on the contact tab to send me an email or call me at 720-352-2671 we can discuss your situation.

Take care!

Aaron

First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit Close to being Extended until June 2010

I thought this was pretty good news.  It was for me anyway since my business is centered around first time home buyers for the most part.

It was up in the air what was going to happen this winter to the sales of homes at the low end with the tax credit expiring at the end of November.

Apparently it is getting very close to being extended, which is great.

While I personally don’t feel that the tax credit going away will greatly hindered sales in our market, I can say that I will be very pleased if it gets extended.

Check out this article for more details: http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2009-10-28-homebuyer-tax-credit-deal_N.htm