The Beginning

There are myriad blogs about real estate and real estate investing. But many if not most of them are designed for the blogger to make money or promote something like investor training, etc. This one is aimed at providing you, the fledgling investor, or the wanna-be investor, or even the semi-seasoned investor real-life articles based on real life experiences, industry trends, problems encountered completing flips or rental property rehabs, financing issues, conversation about home design, heating systems, contractors, hardware stores, you name it, we'll go there. The plan is to invite in other people involved with the investment community from investors, to mortgage brokers/bankers, real estate attorneys, accountants, Realtors, mentors, etc. so that the content is diverse, concise and to the point.

Why now? The impetus for this blog are many. One is the fact that the industry for real estate investor training and marketing services has virtually exploded and many, many people are being sold a bill of goods...and they're buying. Have you heard that you can make a living investing by working one hour a week or one hour a day? Have you heard how "easy" it is to buy short sales or foreclosures or sheriff's sales? Of course it's "easy".... And you need no money, no credit and as they used to say in Philly, if you believe all of that I've got some swampland in Essington you can have cheap too. (Actually that swampland is pretty valuable these days....)

This blog will be about the REAL world of investing. The realities of the credit crunch and how it's affecting small investors. The realities of dealing with municipalities and restrictive policies that can cost you a lot of time and money getting rentals rehabbed or flips renovated. The realities of dealing with Realtors and finding Realtors who "get" investing. The realities of formularized offers. The realities of the foreclosure and short sale markets. The realities of working Sheriff's sales. The realities of the current market, at whatever kind of market we're in at that point! Yes, there are a ton of realities involved in investing in real estate. How many of you have watched Flip That House, Flip This House, Flipped Out, or one of any number of other reality real estate shows that document amateur and professional flippers alike? How many show the reality of the deal? Some do. Flip That House tries to infuse the show with the reality of the local market that the featured property is in by reporting the status of the sale as late as they possibly can. Many times the home has not sold. In some cases the flipper has opted to rent the house or even move in. Those are realities, but there are many they don't have the time to show like the funding, the carrying cost runups due to delays, whether by local L&I bureaucracy or from inexperience or from additional unanticipated issues with the property. The list goes on and on and that's the purpose of this blog. To paint a realistic picture and prepare you for what the reality out there is, not to scare you off. There is money to be made, still, regardless of the market, if you buy right, do things the "right" way and sell with appropriate expectations and guidance.