Top Real Estate Articles

What Are The Different Types Of Real Estate Investing Opportunities?

Oct 2, 2009 Real Estate

While the rest of the economy is in shambles, and record numbers of foreclosures make headlines, real estate investors are earning thousands of dollars by buying and selling homes. It seems that real estate investors know a thing or two about systems, strategies, and styles of investing that the average homeowner does not. If you are a budding real estate investor and you’re looking to invest in homes but don’t know how, here are some of the basic strategies that investors are using.

SHORT SALE: A short sale is when you purchase a home because the bank is willing to sell it for less than what is owed on it. This happens a lot because banks know that they cannot collect their entire lost amount if they have to bring a house all the way through the foreclosure process. So you can buy a home for less than what is owed, and re-sell it someone else for a profit. For more info on short sales go to: Www.investingwiththestars.net/ben/htm. Ben Pargman, Attorney has a great system to learn short sales! For more information on short sales go to: www.investingwiththestars.net/ben.htm

REO: REO stands for “real estate owned” and this is when the bank has taken ownership of the property. When you buy the property, you are not buying the property directly from the bank. The banks will often let homes go because it costs them thousands of dollars to re-list and sell homes and they don’t want the non-revenue-generating real estate on their books.

SUBJECT TO: When you purchase a home, it is one of the best ways to buy a house! When you buy a home “subject to” the existing financing, you get the deed to the home but the original owner keeps the mortgage in their name. You take over payments of the mortgage and ultimately sell the deed to someone else. For more information on Subject-to investing go to: www.investingwiththestars.net/banks.htm. Mike Watson has a program to get you started in subject-to investing!

Nancy Geils

Teacher/Financial Coach

Tags: Ben Pargman, carelton sheets, finding reo property, finding reos, Mike Watson, nancy geils, Real Estate, real estate investing, REOs, short sale investing, Short Sales, subject-to, subject-to investing

Video Marketing -Using Real Estate Web 2.0 Blog Marketing For Your Real Estate Marketing

Aug 29, 2009 Real Estate Investments

The boom of the internet has enabled successful real estate social marketing for real estate professionals who want to utilize the web for marketing their property listings and business. Being basically a visual medium, real estate marketing has become more popular with video marketing. You can showcase your property listings in the form of virtual tours online in the form of video content that can attract potential real estate consumers. However, it is also important to consider the aspect of video editing for effective video marketing. Some good quality video editing resources are Camtasia and Sony Vegas.

As a video editing resource Camtasia is very popular. It produces HD-quality video content for the internet and for mobile devices. It does not have any tweaks or interruptions. It generates sparkling clear videos with file sizes that are compact in nature. With one single click, Camtasia has the ability to record all the activities on your desktop. This improves the compilations and saving of all your files.

This resource is also an important video editing tool. Camtasia enables real estate professionals to convert their real estate videos into pages on the internet. This method is helpful since the traffic can be directly shifted there. As web surfers usually respond better to videos rates of such conversion is seen as usually high. This is really helpful because the surfers can find a strong connection and are interested too since they can see as well as hear all that you have to say and show to them.

Using Camtasia as a video editing device, you can get to do a lot of things. Producing multimedia presentations is one among them. This step incorporates all senses since using all of them lead to a hike in sales and your profit. Many cynical customers can also be easily influenced with this presentation. But your main motive should always be to create and submit a video that clearly shows how your product can be beneficial to the buyer.

Another popular and effective software of video editing is Sony Vegas. It has the reputation of being a good program. It has more power and potential than other freebies. With updated features and benefits, many realtors have utilized this software to generate their best videos.

The latest collection of Sony Vegas known as the collection of Vegas Pro 9 incorporates two potential applications that function effortlessly together for providing an intuitive and efficient environment for broadcast and video professionals of various streams and fields. This technique of video editing is rapidly gaining precedence over many others available in the market.

Sony Vegas in the form of a detailed suite provides the most progressive and vigorous platform for content formation and production. With superior effects processing, complementary editorial tools, wide format support, incomparable audio support, the Pro collection of Vegas can be the best way to improve and increase the smooth flow of your work. Tasks like acquisition to the delivery, and features like the basic camera to the Blu-Ray Disc, it’s all available in this collection. Thus Vegas Pro 9 provides one with all requirements that is expected of a good video editing software.

Therefore, with the fantastic Vegas Pro 9 software for video editing, a real estate professional can achieve fabulous results for online real estate social marketing. With this kind of software you can make your video marketing a huge success among people and gain a lot of popularity. Thus to conclude we can say, Video editing is a very important requirement for good promotion of real estate listings.

Tags: foreclosure investing, foreclosure marketing, how to buy foreclosures, real estate investing, Real Estate Investments, real estate marketing, short sale investing, |how to find foreclosures, |shortsale marketing

Video Marketing Secrets - Outstanding Solutions To Make The Most Of Real Estate Marketing

Aug 22, 2009 Real Estate Investments

The boom of the internet has enabled successful real estate social marketing for real estate professionals who want to utilize the web for marketing their property listings and business. Being basically a visual medium, real estate marketing has become more popular with video marketing. You can showcase your property listings in the form of virtual tours online in the form of video content that can attract potential real estate consumers. However, it is also important to consider the aspect of video editing for effective video marketing. Some good quality video editing resources are Camtasia and Sony Vegas.

Camtasia is highly appreciated as a video editing resource. Camtasia produces HD-quality video content for the internet and for devices that are mobile. Tweaks or interruptions are prevented on using Camtasia. It makes very good videos with file sizes that are compact in nature. With a single click, Camtasia has the potential to document all the activities on your desktop. This makes the compilation and saving of all your files very efficient.

This resource is also an important video editing tool. Camtasia enables real estate professionals to convert their real estate videos into pages on the internet. This method is helpful since the traffic can be directly shifted there. As web surfers usually respond better to videos rates of such conversion is seen as usually high. This is really helpful because the surfers can find a strong connection and are interested too since they can see as well as hear all that you have to say and show to them.

With Camtasia for video editing, you can also produce multi media presentations that incorporate all senses since using all senses leads top an increase in sales. Many skeptical customers can also be easily impressed with this method. Your main aim should be to create a video that clearly demonstrates the utility of your product.

Sony Vegas is popular and effective software of video editing. It has the reputation of being a high-quality program. It has more influence and prospects than other freebies. With updated characteristics and advantages, many realtors have used this software to generate their best videos.

The latest collection of Sony Vegas known as the collection of Vegas Pro 9 incorporates two potential applications that function effortlessly together for providing an intuitive and efficient environment for broadcast and video professionals of various streams and fields. This technique of video editing is rapidly gaining precedence over many others available in the market.

Sony Vegas as a comprehensive suite provides the most progressive and robust platform that is available for content formation and production. With superior effects processing, complementary editorial tools, wide format support, incomparable audio support, the Pro collection of Vegas improves and augments your work flow. From acquisition to the delivery, from the basic camera to the Blu-ray Disc?, this collection provides all that you require from a good video editing software.

Therefore, with the fantastic Vegas Pro 9 software for video editing, a real estate professional can achieve fabulous results for online real estate social marketing. With this kind of software you can make your video marketing a huge success among people and gain a lot of popularity. Thus to conclude we can say, Video editing is a very important requirement for good promotion of real estate listings.

Tags: foreclosure investing, foreclosure marketing, how to buy foreclosures, real estate investing, Real Estate Investments, real estate marketing, short sale investing, |how to find foreclosures, |shortsale marketing

WordPress Blog Secrets - A Quick 3 Step System By Real Estate Marketing

Aug 9, 2009 Real Estate Investments

WordPress is a modern article publishing platform or Content Management system (CMS) that has its center of attention on usability, web standards, and aesthetics. Real estate agents have stiff competition and a presence on the web can always benefit their business. WordPress lets the real estate proprietors write a blog or have a website. This is identified as the WordPress blog. Real estate proprietors can use the WordPress Blog to enhance their online presence with respect to their real estate business.

If you intend to use the WordPress blog as a real estate social marketing tool, then you will be relieved to know that WordPress is completely free as well as priceless. In other words, WordPress is something that you apply when you primarily want to function with your software of blogging rather than fight it.

The real estate themes on WordPress are customizable and user-friendly. The WordPress blog is thus an ideal solution for you if you are a web developer or a real estate agent. You can utilize it as a management system for content. However, before you actually purchase it, you must read the page on FAQ very carefully. Every purchaser of any theme receives a lifetime access and privilege to numerous updates for that particular theme absolutely free.

The WordPress blog can be very useful for developers who are normally very busy and require methods to attain desired results quickly. The themes found in WordPress recommend them a solution to manage their real estate content. You will be able to save much time and effort if you can afford to purchase the Multiple-Use Package that is popular these days.

2003 was when WordPress originally was put to use by limited users to enhance the typography of daily writing with a minimal code. Today, it is widely used on countless websites and by a large number of people daily. It has superceded all its competitors and has gained a lot of recognition for being one of the largest instruments for self-hosted blogging making the Wordpress blog even more popular.

Being used as a commercial platform by most users, Wordpress is actually a project with an open source. This also signifies that there are different people all over the world working on it and using the Wordpress blog. Always remember the more popular a website, the greater exposure you can expect to receive. You too can use it to develop and improve your real estate social marketing.

On WordPress.org you will be allowed to download as well as install a special software script known as WordPress. For this you will require a web host who can meet the minimal requirements and invest some time. WordPress is fully customizable and you can use it for anything and everything. You will find a free service at WordPress.com by which you can begin with the WordPress blog instantly.

Writing as well as publishing articles and blogs online has been made simpler by WordPress. WordPress is user-friendly and this has led to the escalating use of the WordPress blog. The best solution for you to market your real estate content and attract potential customers and investors is the implementation of the WordPress blog.

Tags: Bank Foreclosure, bank owned, foreclosure investing, how to buy foreclosures, real estate investing, Real Estate Investments, real estate marketing, short sale investing, |how to find foreclosures

24 Your Guide to an Effective Real Estate Marketing: Inspiration Not Plagiarism

Aug 6, 2009 Real Estate Investments

I confess. My parents taught me well. They taught me not to steal. And all my journalism professors taught me well. They taught me not to plagiarize.

However, it has been a common practice for most direct marketers to use copies of previous mails they have received. Some may consider it plagiarism, but the truth is this is not entirely the case. Let me explain why.

What you do is to keep all direct mails you receive whether it’s from your competitor or from a marketer in a different industry. You are doing this because you are on the lookout for words, expressions, formatting style and action calls which are prominent and exciting. These words may be describing a product totally different from yours but they have great marketing impact.

You then use your new knowledge on the marketing impact of these words in your own real estate direct marketing copy. You don’t use the same sentences or even impart the same idea in your real estate direct mail. You are just using the ‘words’ to market ‘your own ideas.’

What word or phrase can you use to your advantage in your own mailing. I’m not telling you to copy the paragraph word for word. Not only is this illegal, it’ll be highly ineffective as well. But choose a word or two you like and work it into your next headline.

You are merely studying other people’s direct marketing materials and this is totally different from copying their mails. In fact, this method has been used by some of the most successful real estate marketers for years.

If you still don’t have enough collection of real estate direct mails, why not call them up and tell them you want to receive from them. This way you’ll be able to study the make up of their sales letters.

Then when these mailings come in, read them from front to back. Read the headlines, the sub heads, the text and any photo captions that may be included as well. If you must, read them out loud. Listen to what sounds good. Listen with particular interest to any ideas, words or phrases you can use and adapt for your next mailing.

Then place it in your swipe file. Add it to your storehouse of copywriting words. Not only do you know have a jump start on ideas for your next mailing, but you have a little stash of ideas - all safely tucked away - that you can pull out the next time you’re stuck for a word or a new reason to create a sense of urgency on the part of your reader.

Lastly, don’t feel guilty that you are committing a direct mail heist or that only uncreative and mediocre copywriters keep files of other people’s work. In fact, you are dead wrong. The most successful copywriters such as David Ogilvy do not hide the fact that they get inspired by other people’s ideas to help them create their own unique and successful copies. So, instead of getting frustrated about not being able to start writing your real estate direct mail copy; go read and be inspired by how other people use words for direct marketing!

Tags: foreclosure investing, foreclosure marketing, how to buy foreclosed homes, how to buy foreclosures, real estate investing, Real Estate Investments, real estate marketing, short sale investing, |how to buy foreclosure, |how to find foreclosures, |shortsale marketing

25 Your Guide to an Effective Real Estate Marketing: Focus on Your Customers, Not on Yourself

Aug 3, 2009 Real Estate Investments

It’s easy to see why as a real estate investor, your real estate marketing copies are focused on yourself, your skills, and experience. Heck, you needed to prove these things to get investment financing and to get your business off-the ground.

However, you should step away from this self-promotion mode when you write your real estate direct mail. At this point, the focus should be turned to your prospective customers and away from you.

The recipients of your real estate direct mail don’t care one whit about you. Heck, they don’t know you. It’s nothing to them if you are an award-winning realtor or not, or whether you have a hundred sales associates.

Keep in mind that your prospects are in a dire situation and that they need solutions to their problems. Your goal is to provide them with the solutions on how they can sell their homes at a good price. They just want to read the solutions, not your personal backgrounds.

Potential customers are turned off by real estate marketers who tens to self-promote instead of giving the solutions once and for all. Avoid imitating other investors who constantly say something good about themselves.

Why do people want to sell their houses quickly. Yes, sometimes it’s because they are looking at foreclosure. But sometimes it’s because one partner has been transferred. The family can’t afford to buy another house in another state or city until the first one sells. They’re anxious to sell to reunite the family and reduce expenses.

However, if you offer a believable and highly-desired solution to their problem in your real estate direct mail, then your prospects will give you a chance.

But in order to do this, you must know well how their problem came about. They may want to sell their houses due to various reasons. It can either be because of foreclosure or a plan to relocate.

The closer your real estate marketing material captures their specific problem, the closer you are to motivating prospects to engage with you and work out a deal.

Hence, before beginning your real estate direct marketing campaign, try to fully understand your customers. Find out what solution is highly desirable for them. And when you are writing your real estate direct mail, do not push your customers to know you. Focus on letting them know you get their situation and you have an offer that can swiftly and soundly eliminate their problems.

Tags: foreclosure investing, foreclosure marketing, how to buy foreclosed homes, how to buy foreclosures, real estate investing, Real Estate Investments, real estate marketing, short sale investing, |how to buy foreclosure, |how to find foreclosures, |shortsale marketing

Real Estate Postcard Marketing Tip: P.S. How to leave a Kiss in Your Prospects’ Mind?

Jul 30, 2009 Real Estate Investments

The P.S. is a pick-me-upper of real estate marketing. Every copy maximized to draw customer response has a P.S.

Check your most recent real estate postcard marketing copy. Does it have a P.S.? If it doesn’t, in your next mailing just add a P.S. without changing anything else.

What should you write in your P.S.? Think of a message that you want your prospects to recall. It can just be your phone number or a recap of your free offer. It’s any line that can rev them up to respond to your real estate direct mail.

Why is the P.S. such a fundamental fixture in the copywriting world? Simply because it works, it is also pure and simple. Statistics show that after the headline of your copy, your reader will immediately turn to see who has sent the mailing. And in the process, the reader then reads the P.S. This means that if you don’t use a P.S. you’re missing out on a vital selling opportunity.

Therefore, not having a P.S. in your real estate direct marketing materials is like not having a business card. You are making a decision, not to take advantage of all the marketing opportunities that are open to you.

So what is the secret in making your P.S. really work?

Write your real estate marketing P.S. as an informative and engaging introduction–just like a headline. This is because your prospects usually read your P.S. first, before the body of your real estate direct mail. Your message in the P.S. should then be discussed fully in your real estate direct mail.

It is also important to make the content of your P.S. short but substantial. Make sure to boost the content with powerful words but avoid making it long. Prospects hate it when your P.S. contains too many sentences.

There is a big difference in writing P.S. in a personal letter and in writing a P.S. in a real estate marketing postcard. You may have to re-edit your P.S. a couple of times before deciding which one you think is the best one to use.

Other real estate marketing investors find it effective as well to write the headline first in their copy, followed by the P.S., then putting the main content of your offer at the last part. This is another way of making your real estate marketing postcard more appealing to your prospects.

Tags: foreclosure investing, foreclosure marketing, how to buy foreclosed homes, how to buy foreclosures, real estate investing, Real Estate Investments, real estate marketing, short sale investing, |how to buy foreclosure, |how to find foreclosures, |shortsale marketing

19 Your Guide to an Effective Real Estate Marketing: Direct Mail Copywriting Made Simple

Jul 27, 2009 Real Estate Investments

Granted, this is not advice you’re about to hear every day when you embark on a postcard mailing. But it is, in my experience, some of the most valuable experience around. I adapted this very clever idea from a journalism professor I had in college who had worked for The New York Times. I figured if it was good enough for him (as well as The New York Times); it was definitely good enough for me.

Most of us find ourselves having a tough time writing our real estate direct mails. Although we know what message we want to communicate to our prospects, we find ourselves at a standstill and can’t seem to produce our ideas in the right order. Hence, the simple method we are suggesting is just to start writing, then rework the piece by rearranging our ideas into the proper order.

So when you begin writing your real estate marketing copy, just put everything that answers the AIDA marketing formula (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action). Some of the basic features your real estate direct mail should contain are the attractive offer, persuasive customer benefits, and the ‘because’ answers to your prospects questions.

Make sure to include sub-headlines in your real estate direct mail. And when you are satisfied with the completeness of the content, print a copy.

Next, with your scissors, cut the document into distinct paragraphs with the sub-headlines included. Of course, each of these paragraphs should contain coherent sentences.

Next, try to read the document once more. You can now decide if you want to reorder the paragraphs or keep it that way. Make sure though that the entire document is coherent and has a clear information about your offer.

The idea is to put these paragraphs into an order from first to last that will create a complete postcard mailing for you. Once you have every paragraph and subhead in its proper order, rearrange them on your original document in the computer.

But it doesn’t stop there. You still have to revise the copy until it has a better flow. Repeat the whole process and print another copy in order to see if you can still improve it. You can modify some changes in a sentence or the whole paragraph. Exclamation marks can also be placed properly for a more animated copy.

So what was usually a stressful real estate marketing task filled with several start-and-stop moments, has now become manageable and smoothly flowing.

Isn’t this the experience all of us wish to have when working on our real estate marketing campaigns?

Tags: foreclosure investing, foreclosure marketing, how to buy foreclosed homes, how to buy foreclosures, real estate investing, Real Estate Investments, real estate marketing, short sale investing, |how to buy foreclosure, |how to find foreclosures, |shortsale marketing

22 Your Guide to an Effective Real Estate Marketing: Focus on One Idea

Jul 27, 2009 Real Estate Investments

Perhaps it’s no coincidence that many individuals with Attention Deficit Disorder end up as entrepreneurs. That’s what many studies tell us these days at least. That’s because these individuals can have their hands in as many projects as they like to keep themselves busy.

However, when it comes to developing real estate direct marketing materials; multiple ideas and asking your prospect to consider too many options elicits confusion or indifference to your offer.

The best direct-mail copy focuses on a single idea - at most two. And it tells you over and over again why this one benefit (maybe two) will catapult you to the place in life you’ve always dreamt you’d be.

Avoid including too many benefits that you want your prospects to know. If you use more than two in your real estate direct mails, your customers may find it a bit confusing. You can simply reserve some of the ideas for your next mails. Use the one you think is most convincing for now.

Right now, with your next post card mailing you need to focus your writing on one aspect of your service that sets you far above and beyond the rest of your competition. Many marketers call this your “unique selling point.” It really matters little what you call it. Just be sure that you use just this and don’t clutter your reader’s minds with other possible benefits.

Oh, sure, all of the others you’ve listed are good. But you need to select the best of the best. Then you do your best to ensure that your reader understands this single benefit is the key to their happiness.

You are not expected to come up with this kind of copy right away. The first few versions of your real estate direct mail will usually require several rewrites.

Avoid finalizing your copy right away. The truth is you may think it’s already good enough but if you return to it after several hours or even after a day, you’ll see that there is more to improve on.

You can approach copywriting for real estate postcard marketing as high-resolution writing. Your short copy should be able to give your prospect an amazingly clear understanding and tantalizing view of your offer.

Forget about offering them alternative ideas. Just give them one good offer they can’t refuse. Then sit back and wait for the flood of results.

Tags: foreclosure investing, foreclosure marketing, how to buy foreclosed homes, how to buy foreclosures, real estate investing, Real Estate Investments, real estate marketing, short sale investing, |how to buy foreclosure, |how to find foreclosures, |shortsale marketing

Real Estate Investor’s Insider Secret #19: Think of your copy as a jigsaw puzzle

Jul 25, 2009 Real Estate Investments

Do you find it so exhausting preparing your real estate postcard marketing materials? Let me share with you a useful advice on how to make your postcard mailing a lot simpler.

The most common problem we encounter when writing our real estate marketing copy is how to properly relay our thoughts to written words. Sometimes even if we already have an idea about the message we want to tell our potential customers, we still find it hard to translate them into proper order. It is therefore recommended that you begin the process by simply writing down your ideas. Afterwards, you can just arrange them in the right order.

To implement the jigsaw method of copywriting, you start by simply writing your copy. Write why your customers should use your service, what benefits they’ll receive and provide them with an offer they simply can’t refuse. Follow the standard formula of AIDA. Attention. Interest. Desire. Action.

Additionally, be sure to put in some subheads. When you believe you’ve written your copy - and the reasons why your readers should actually become your customers, then print this piece of paper out.

Now take a pair of scissors and cut the document into “paragraph size” pieces. Make sure that each piece you cut contains one - and only one - paragraph on it. (This assumes that you’ve been writing in short bursts of paragraphs all along!)

Now read through these again. And now that these are separate pieces of paper, decide if you want to keep these paragraphs in the same order. You may decide that you’ve mentioned your offer to early in your letter. Take that paragraph and others dealing with the offer and place them behind others.

Afterwards, read the copy once more and try to see something to improve on. Make sure that each paragraph has proper transitions or you can substitute some words that you think would suit best. The purpose is to energize your real estate direct mail to make it more appealing to your customers.

No, you’re not quite done yet. Your next step is to re-read this copy again. Decide if you need to create any transitional sentences to make the copy flow better. You may even decide you need to rewrite a sentence or a whole paragraph. You may even decide you need to punch it up some with more action-oriented verbs. A few well placed exclamation points, even a couple of interjections that create excitement.

Go ahead. Make all the revisions you need to. If after that you think your copy would benefit from another printout and another round of jigsaw puzzle working, and then by all means do so. Before you know it, you’ve painlessly and nearly effortlessly, created an effective postcard mailing.

What at one time appeared to be an overwhelming task and simply out of your grasp is now tamed and brought under control. Don’t you wish everything worked like that?

Tags: foreclosure investing, foreclosure marketing, how to buy foreclosed homes, how to buy foreclosures, real estate investing, Real Estate Investments, real estate marketing, short sale investing, |how to buy foreclosure, |how to find foreclosures, |shortsale marketing