As I write this article, the Washington, DC, real estate market continues its solid footing. Prices are either stable or increasing—always a good sign for existing homeowners and real estate investors alike. But solid footing does not mean devoid of challenges, nor should it. In fact, challenges abound. If you are a first-time buyer trying to purchase a new home, you probably need to depend on your family’s financial help to afford it. If you are a seasoned homeowner trying to downgrade to a smaller place, higher rates on new mortgages make potential savings marginal at best. And if you are a real estate investor, the competition is tough, and you get outbid regularly. Do we need to order cheese with this whine, or can we rise to these challenges to learn and make money? Let’s have a reality check.
Hard Money Blog: Invest, Revitalize, Create, Prosper
How to Make Money with Subdividable Lots
The holy grail of real estate investing is turning a single piece of real estate into multiple pieces. This is where the big bucks are and what larger real estate development firms typically do. However, it does not mean smaller mom-and-pop investors are entirely left on the sidelines.
One major strategy is lot subdivision. While the opportunities to subdivide an existing lot of land into separate buildable lots do not come too often, they are out there. Because of their high profit potential, savvy real estate investors should be familiar with the benefits associated with lot subdivisions and be able to evaluate each opportunity effectively.
Six Red Flags When Buying an Investment Property
To be a real estate investor is to be an optimist. It’s to believe that your next deal is just around the corner. It’s not to give up when going gets tough. It’s to persevere and to have faith. But it’s also about embracing a set of entirely different traits, such as being analytical, cool-minded, and, yes, skeptical. Sometimes, it is challenging to harmonize them all, but finding the right balance is essential. Without that balance, we risk being either a naïve novice ready to fall into a trap or a perpetual nay-sayer with no ability to recognize an opportunity. This is why I want to start this article about the red flags in real estate investing by encouraging you to find that balance.
Women in Real Estate Investing: Opportunities and Challenges
Last week, we celebrated March 8th—International Women Worker’s Day, a global day celebrating women’s social, economic, cultural, and political achievements. While I am grateful to all women in my life, today, I want to express my appreciation for hardworking, resourceful, insightful, persistent, and super intelligent women in real estate. Your dedication, perseverance, and leadership have transformed communities, shaped skylines, and inspired future generations.
How to Refinance a Residential Loan Held in an LLC’s name?
We’ve written several detailed articles on why it’s important to invest in real estate using an LLC. Actually, it doesn’t matter much whether you are investing in the name of an LLC or any other type of business entity. What’s important is that you don’t invest in your personal name. Why? Investing in the business name protects your personal assets, helps manage your risk, protects your privacy, and might come with some tax benefits. Also, if you are working with a hard money lender, they usually prefer lending to businesses rather than individuals.
Cross-Collateralization in Hard Money Lending
Hard money lenders exist because they underwrite radically differently from conventional lenders. They take more risks, think outside the box, and finance the properties that conventional lenders cannot touch with a ten-foot pole. This flexibility allows private lenders to overcome obstacles that will leave a conventional loan dead in the water, including distressed collateral, low borrower credit scores, no verifiable income, and even certain title defects.