The new year is just around the corner and RehabList has put together a list of the top five real estate investing articles and all around great reads of 2007.

1.        Post-Bubble, Property Still Pays - Wall Street Journal.
 

2.       All Tapped Out, or Maybe Not  - The New York Times

3.       Before You Flip, Get a Grip: Flipping Foreclosures Are Easier Said Than Done – RIS Media

4.       Inside the Upside-Down World of the Short Sale – New York Times

5.       Why Buying Now Can Be a Smart Move – RIS Media

Happy Reading!

Today is the last day of operations in the RehabList office as we prepare for a short break over the Christmas holiday.  The office will be back in full swing on Wednesday December 26, 2007. 

With the pending Christmas holiday just a few short days away, we would like to remind our blog readers of the incredible special on our best selling real estate investing course of 2007, Wholesaling Houses for a Living.  You can get the training course with a massive 82% discount between now and the end of the year. 

We sincerely want to empower all investors to learn to wholesale homes by taking actions with confidence and the knowledge to make great deals.  Check out this exclusive offer here: http://www.wholesalinghousesforaliving.com/xmas/special.html

Start the new year seeing success and start Wholesaling Houses For A Living today!

Happy Holidays,

The RehabList Team

The most impressive real estate investing ebook of 2007 has to be none other than Preston Ely’s Flip Your Way to Financial Freedom.  As we quickly approach 2008 this ebook is exactly what you need to prepare yourself for a successful 2008.

Preston himself knows how frustrating it is to spend hard earned dollars on books, courses, and seminars trying to break into real estate but with no success. Preston spent three years trying to figure out the real estate game without ever buying one single property or making one red cent. Every book he read did nothing but motivate him. They’d get him real excited about the potential to build wealth via real estate, but he found it impossible to implement their vague strategies. And he’s not a stupid guy by any means and neither are you.  Preston’s break in to real estate came with the help of a mentor/coach who proved to be invaluable. But maybe you aren’t as lucky to have had someone like that. So Preston created this ebook to help provide you with what he sees as the biggest missing link when it comes to real estate investing study material: an inexpensive yet detailed, step-by-step, action plan that anyone who has at least made it past the fourth grade in special ed classes can start implementing immediately with no fear at all of making a crucial and costly mistake. And one that makes you REAL money in the REAL world REAL fast!

Mike Collins, founder of RehabList.com describes Flip Your Way to Financial Freedom as one of the best ebooks he has ever read.

If you would like more information about Preston Ely’s eBook Flip Your Way to Financial Freedom click here.

Don’t forget to check out the free offers, if you sign up today you will immediately receive a FREE 7 Day Mini-Course that you can take and instantly begin profiting with! You’ll also receive a free 12 month subscription to Preston Ely’s critically acclaimed e-magazine, The Flip Factor.

Have you read Preston’s ebook?Tell us what you think, post a comment below.

RehabList.com founder and expert investor Mike Collins and three well known successful real estate investors, Chris Chico, Dan Stojadinovich and Preston Ely will be hosting an Advanced Mentoring Boot Camp.  This boot camp is for real estate investors of all types, experienced or brand new in the industry who want to start 2008 making great investment deals.   January 18-20, 2008 in Tampa, Florida you are invited to join us for this one of a kind boot camp training course.

The boot camp will be unlike any other training course, a completely pitch free event, nobody will be pitching products to you; you will actually be given $5,200 worth of free products during the course of the boot camp. 

The number one reason most investors don’t succeed in this industry is their lack of confidence.  The number one way to build confidence is through experience and taking action.  It is not feasible for many of us to hire a personal one on one mentor who comes to us and works with us in the field, though it would be an awesome way to learn the ropes and gain experience followed by confidence. RehabList.com is offering the next best thing, a mentoring boot camp where mentors work with investors one on one within a group setting in the field from beginning to end.

If you are interested in learning from the real estate investment industries best, and attending this one of a kind boot camp, seats are limited so act today.  Visit our site, fill out the form and one of our experienced sales staff will contact you with more details.

The nation has been rocked by a slumping housing market which caused the latest bubble burst in the industry.  Many subprime homeowners who took advantage of affordable adjustable rate mortgages are realizing now how unaffordable they actually are when interest rates increase. 

The nation is seeing an alarming increase of homeowners foreclosing on their homes due to the adjustable mortgages adjusting with higher interest rates.  I know what your thinking, why don’t these homeowners with adjustable rate mortgages just refinance to a fixed rate?  Well, because the housing industry is slowing, causing plummeting home values and homeowners owe more on their homes than what they are worth making it impossible to qualify for a new mortgage.

The government has recently announced a plan to help hundreds of thousands of these subprime borrowers and to help the struggling housing industry with mortgage relief bailouts before the nation sees a gargantuan meltdown from these irresponsible homeowners bailing on their mortgage commitments. 

Some homeowners are quick to blame the mortgage companies for misinforming them of the risks involved with adjustable rate mortgages. Haven’t we all heard the analogy look before you leap and take responsibility for your actions, or in this case your inaction to educate yourself before signing on the dotted line.  If you are unfortunately facing foreclosure because your adjustable rate mortgage, you are not alone, literally hundreds of thousands of other homeowners are in the same boat, and they are going through exactly what you are going through.    

Mortgage companies are battling their own fires at the moment due to the vast number of foreclosures caused by this reckless lending which has driven many lending institution into bankruptcy.   Fortunately mortgage companies are learning from the past reckless lending practices and are employing more stringent lending qualification processes to ensure the borrowers can actually afford the homes they are purchasing.  The government is also setting into place new mortgage rules aimed at restricting shady practices to ensure this does not happen in the future.

The mortgage relief bailouts will allow government to freeze interest rates for certain buyers and speed up loan refinancing for those who qualify for another more manageable mortgage, but the plan was devised to aid homeowners who can actually afford the homes and avoids helping those who really can’t afford their homes.  This new plan will help borrowers with mortgages up to $417,000 and only helps borrowers who use the homes for their primary residence.

What does all this mean for the real estate industry and more importantly real estate investors? 

Investors today are seeing an abundance of foreclosure homes on the market which in some cases make great investment opportunities, but the sluggish housing market makes it difficult to in turn sell investment properties while the number of renters is on the rise.   Investors are purchasing these foreclosure homes at discounted rates and renting them out waiting for the housing market to bounce back, housing values to rise and investments to increase considerably.

The plummeting housing market is something we are all anticipating to end quickly, but for investors the market and the future has never looked brighter.

Mike Collins’s heart grew three sizes today; holiday happiness is stirring around the RehabList office and price slashing has begun!!!

You may want to grab a seat while you read this absolutely incredible deal RehabList is offering our blog readers.  Swallow that fruit cake, chug down your eggnog and get ready for a holiday treat only a real estate investor would wet their pants for. 

Click here and get a massive 82% discount on Wholesaling Houses for a Living, our best selling training course!

What if you could flip houses faster and easier, without your own cash, without banks, without agents, and without credit? You can beat the market everyday!

Here is just SOME of what you will master with this course…

• Having houses sold BEFORE you buy them
• Building a rock solid buyers list
• Find the right neighborhood with the highest margins
• How to avoid banks, agents, and costly roadblocks
• Finding more hard money lenders than you’ll ever need

Santa came early this year for all you investors who want to start 2008 making more deals. 

http://www.wholesalinghousesforaliving.com/xmas/special.html

Most of us have seen the handmade signs on the side of the road, “WE BUY HOMES” with a phone number, or even a billboard, “We Buy Ugly Homes” these are great ways to get leads for undervalued homes.  One of the single most important aspects of being a successful real estate investor is creating a quality stream of incoming leads, and a diversified marketing campaign can do that for you.  Many investors use flyers, bandit signs, newspaper ads and other offline methods to get the phone to ring, as well as an online marketing campaign to capture leads. 

If you are a real estate investor today and you don’t have a website that is bring in leads, it’s time to enter 2008 the right way, with a lead generating website!

RehabList.com has created Internet Bandit Sites, a very easy way for real estate investors to start capturing leads online.  Internet Bandit Sites offers easy to use websites where investors can target local sellers who want to sell their homes quickly at a discount.  We realize real estate investors may not be the most technically savvy group; Internet Bandit Sites makes it extremely easy for anyone to create a website and start prospecting for deals online, no technical skills needed.

If you are interested in building your house flipping empire on the internet, create a website today;  the only fee required is a $29.95/month hosting fee, as much as we would love to give this away, we are required to charge a nominal hosting fee.  If you are not happy with the service there is no obligation and you can cancel at any time.  For our blog readers we are offering a FREE one month trial where the $29.95 monthly fee is waived by following this link: http://www.internetbanditsigns.com/trial/

If you are a real estate investor and you are not using a website to prospect for leads, you are missing out on a huge amount of leads your competitors with websites are cashing in on.    Enter 2008 with a shiny new website and start cashing in on the leads too!

We love to hear from investors, if you are an investor and you are already receiving leads through a website; send us your thoughts and feedback.

When entering into the Flipping Houses industry for the first time there are a few dangers involved with rehabbing homes every real estate investor should keep in mind.

1.        The soundness of the structure. 

Before starting any heavy duty construction on the home, you should always have the structure of your investment homes inspected by a licenses real estate inspector to ensure the walls are sturdy, the floor is sound and the roof does not cave in on you or your construction crew.

2.        Hazardous Materials

Often times older homes may have materials that are hazardous to humans if ingested, inhaled or touched to the skin, a few examples are; lead based paint, asbestos which can cause mesothelioma, toxic molds and other hazardous materials.

3.        Vermin

Be mindful when touring investment properties of animals, reptiles and insects who may be occupying the homes especially if they have been left vacant for long periods of time.  Long uncut grass can attract reptiles such as snakes, chimneys and crawl spaces can attract raccoons,  skunks, armadillos and other creatures.  Insects such as bees, wasps and other stinging flying creatures can invest porches, fences and sometimes attic spaces, sheds and garages.

4.        Electrical/Gas Hazards

The electrical wiring and the gas lines within older homes may be unreliable and at times very dangerous.  Be sure to have a real estate inspector check to ensure the electrical box and wiring in the home is not in a hazardous state before major construction.  Be sure to check the electrical connections to large appliances such as the furnace, water heater, stove, refrigerator and other appliances.  Also be sure to have an inspector check for gas leaks within the home especially around the furnace, water heater, clothes dryer and stove. 

5.        Getting Ripped Off

Be sure you know the area before you invest in a fixer upper when flipping houses.  Making a bad deal may not impose an immediate danger as the items above, but it will hurt.  Real estate investors should do their research before investing to ensure they can recoup the cost of the home, the cost of repairs to the home, the cost of owning the home during construction, and hopefully make some profit.

Many new investors struggle in the beginning of their careers when deciding what types of property are the best investments.  Mike Collins does not hesitate to advise new investors to stick to single family residential homes.

The best areas to invest in are blue collar neighborhoods that are 20 years or older.  Typically you should look for homes that have features most people are attracted to, which is usually a 3 bedroom 1 or 2 bath home between 900 and 1500 square.  By investing in these types of areas you will find more deals and have an easier time selling or renting he homes.

Mike also recommends specializing in one area, look for those blue collar 3 bedroom 1 or 2 bath neighborhoods that you are somewhat familiar with and “farm” so to speak the area.  Once you specialize in flipping homes in one area then you can expand out. 

Questions for Mike?  Post a comment!