For private money lenders like us, January is the busiest month of the year. Not in terms of closings but certainly in terms of inquiries about our financing. I swear, making money in real estate must be on many folks’ new year resolution lists. As with many other new year resolutions, they tend to pitter out as time goes on. Only the most determined remain in the game and ultimately make money in real estate. So how do you make sure you are not one of those folks who are full of grandiose plans in January only to be full of excuses by Fall? Human psychology suggests that we are creatures of habit and struggle with maintaining dramatic changes to our behavior. This is exactly why so many diets fail. They call for a complete overhaul of our behavior without addressing our natural propensity to maintain the status quo.
Hard Money Blog: Invest, Revitalize, Create, Prosper
DMV Real Estate Investing 2021. What the Future Holds and How to Prosper.
As I write this blog, a new year is dawning. Maryland has just vaccinated 1% of its citizens. I am not sure whether to be excited by this number or to be concerned with the Herculean task ahead. It’s truly like glimpsing a tiny flicker of light at the end of a very long tunnel.
So what should we expect from 2021? It’s certain that it will bring new challenges. And with challenges usually come opportunities. A Yiddish proverb says, “We plan. God Laughs.” Last year, we’ve made predictions about 2020 but, surprisingly, not all of them turned out to be wrong (see how accurate we were here). So let’s indulge ourselves. I bet that with some reliance on the past performance, the recent and historical data, and our collective local real estate market expertise we can make predictions that will withstand the test of time (save for an alien invasion, of course).
Hindsight’s 20/20. 2020 Prediction Review.
2020 is over. What an incredible year it was. Despite its losses and hardship, I am grateful for many of its aspects. I am grateful because it reminded us that being human means being vulnerable. It showed us that no matter how invincible we feel, we share the same biology with a medieval bubonic plague victim and a Spanish flu survivor of 1918. It taught us that it’s possible to reach across the millennia to feel a kinship with those who lived, loved and died in the plagues of the past. Perhaps most importantly, it showed how dependent we are on each other, be it on our own family members or complete strangers. No man is an island. Our strength as a species is in cooperation with each other.
How to Start Investing in Real Estate
So you want to start investing in real estate? Let’s assume that you have some funds to invest in and have been pre-approved for a hard money loan by a reputable private money lender. Now you are ready to start looking for the right property to flip. Where do you begin? Here is some actionable advice that would help even new investors develop a killer strategy to grow rich in real estate.
Our New Hard Money Calculator is Finally Here
We are excited to announce that we’ve finally launched a new version of our hard money calculator. We wanted to create a new version because we felt that all existing hard money calculators (including our old version) fall short of what our borrowers really need. They are clunky, difficult to use, and the results might be challenging to interpret. In addition, all of them look the same – as if they were copied from the same place.
We wanted our hard money calculator to be different. Our first requirement was an intuitive interface. Many newer borrowers do not consider all costs associated with buying, rehabbing, and selling an investment property. Our goal was to educate them that calculating your profits is more complex than subtracting the purchase price and the renovation costs from the after-repair value of the property. Even borrowers with experience and sophistication often neglect to account for some expenses – overestimating their projected profit as a result.
Outsmart Competition During the Holiday Season
The Holiday season is upon us. Things traditionally slow down, priorities shift, and with the barrage of family responsibilities, it’s challenging to make time for real estate investing. Or so the conventional wisdom goes. In reality, it’s a unique opportunity to snatch a deal – while your competition is busy roasting chestnuts and sipping the eggnog.