I can remember when I was young, about ten years old, my aunt lived in London with her husband who was a record producer. They later divorced because she found him running around in her underwear but that isn’t why I’m writing today……….

I remember them telling us that they wanted to buy a house or build their own but that land for sale was pretty hard to come by even in surrounding areas. They had two kids, a boy and girl, and wanted some place to live with a back yard even if it meant a land investment that they couldn’t build on right away. At the time, I didn’t understand why they couldn’t find land considering I grew up in the Midwest where all we have is land!

They never found any UK land to do this with so they lived in a London apartment instead. I’m guessing it is a good thing since she kicked him out as I mentioned above.

I would have to say that one of my biggest lessons in business and investing is this: it is all about who you know.   All the networking you do, wherever you go, is like putting an army of people to work for you to find the best deals and investments when it comes to real estate.

Okay, I might give these people a bit of an incentive.

On my business card, I have put: “$2000 Reward for presenting me a deal that I close on.”

With money on the table, you would be amazed how many private property deals come across my desk.  It is like I get first pick of properties that haven’t even made it to the market yet.

Usually, I can get a great deal as I can come up with the cash to finance the deal quickly, resulting in quicker closing on the properties I buy.  This makes both me and the seller happy, and puts the investment to work for me quicker.

There is nothing like getting the best deals before they are available to everyone else.

It seems like it has been forever since we painted our deck.  Thankfully, the wood has not rotted in any spots, but the stain has peeled off, and it sure needs a new coat.  I am not as mobile as I once was, so I thought maybe I could hire a paint contractor to do the work for me.

I took a look online for a Glendale painting company that could do what I needed.  I found a couple of names, made calls, and had little success.  I was just about to give up when I spotted a site catering to what I was looking for.

You see BestHousePainter.com had a search engine to find local painters in your area that would be willing to do those painting jobs you just didn’t want to tackle.  I looked for someone in my area, called, and they will be coming on Friday to paint. 

I bet the deck will look great with a fresh coat…

My parents are getting a little older now, and are considering retiring.  They have worked for many years now and have saved up a large nest egg.  They also recently had their home appraised and it is worth a lot more than the $40,000 that they originally paid for it (they have had the house for over 25 years).  So, with the money available to buy something that they want, they are looking for a home to cater to their lifestyle.

They are both avid skiers and love the outdoors.  They do a lot of hiking, and camping as well.  I offered to help them find somewhere to retire that would let them do their outdoor activities without having to go to far from their home.

I did a search for areas that had access to many outdoor activities nearby and I found the perfect little place in South Carolina.  In fact, the homes in Greenville, SC were close to the mountains, plenty of hiking trails and many golf courses.  Price wise, the homes were very reasonable and they would be able to get a large home for the budget they had decided on.

I found a couple of homes that would be perfect for them and I will be showing these houses to them when I go over there on Saturday.  I think they will like it- maybe they will buy me a home there too… I would sure love that!

It seems like it has been years since I moved out of my parents house and out on my own.  I can remember the apartments that I lived in since then - some were nice, and some were just nasty.  Sometimes you would just cringe when you were looking for a rental at the time, because at the price I could afford, well, you just couldn’t get anything that was nice.

Once I was on my own two feet, things changed.  I had a steady job, and income, so I decided that it was time for me to purchase my first home.  At the time, I was 23, just out of college, and at the beginning of my career.  Sure, I didn’t have a lot of money, but I wanted to own a place to call my own.

After talking to a mortgage broker, I found that I wasn’t going to be able to afford a regular house.  At the time, the housing prices in the community I was living were sky high, so I needed to look for other housing options.  Condominiums were out of my reach as well, with the prices for them outperforming houses.

So, instead I found some mobile homes for sale and looked at them.  I was expecting the worst, but all the stories I heard about trailers were false - they were actually very nice.  I easily qualified for a manufactured home mortgage with no PMI.

Boy, did I love that trailer.  After five years, I upgraded to a house, but sometimes I miss the good times I had in my mobile home…

Quite a few people move each year for work related reasons.  This year I will be counting myself in that group.  I received a promotion in our company to warehouse manager and will be opening a new branch of our company in Asheville, North Carolina.

I have been spending the last few weeks packing and looking at Asheville real estate.  There are just so many options to choose from that it is tough to make a decision.

Thankfully, I found some good online resources after doing a search for "real estate for sale Asheville".  Many of these sites have listing with pictures so that I can make a semi-educated decision.

As for the "educated" part of the decision, I leave that up to my realtor.  In fact, he is going to look at some Asheville Condos that I picked out and give me some feedback on them.

I just hope my move goes well.  I think I will feel a sense of relief when I have a place to move into.  Alright, I need to get back to packing - talk to you all later.

My husband has always been interested in real estate and owning rental properties has always been a dream of his. It didn’t take long for him to convince me that it was my dream as well. When he suggested that we start looking at property outside of the country, I knew we were in for the ride of our lives.

He found out that holiday rentals in Spain were doing very well and the price of properties was very reasonable. He thought we should go and look into some there. Never one to turn down a vacation abroad, I was all for it. We did a bit of research on the demand and rental rates for villa rentals  and booked our flights.

When we arrived, we found a dealership that did motorhome rentals and decided to use one for our trip. We figured it would allow us to travel the country to do more research on where we should buy. We had a great time and I am happy to announce that we are now overseas property owners.

If you have ever been to the point where your home may become a repossessed property you are not feeling so happy.  It is perhaps one of the most disheartening things that could happen to you.  Usually when you get to this point, you feel like the world is against you and you have no other options.  Or do you?

In fact you do have another option when your property is heading for repossession.  There are companies out there that specialize in "saving" people from repossession without you having to be evicted from your own home. 

To put it simply, you would sell and rent back your home.  You would sell the house to pay off your mortgage (and maybe get some money in your pocket) and then you can rent your home so you do not have to move.  This saves you from losing everything when you would have defaulted on the mortgage as well as minimizes the damage to your credit score.

So, if you are facing the repossession of your home - don’t worry.  Help is only a phone call away.

Since the Canadian dollar has increased in value, my focus has shifted to finding investment properties in the United States.  Why?  Well, with the high value of the Canadian dollar at the moment, it is like I am shopping with a discount card.  This gives many investors the ability to purchase multiple investment properties instead of just one.

So lately I have been checking out MLS and other real estate auction sites in an effort to find some good gems to add to my portfolio.  I have found a couple and I am doing my due diligence on the properties.

Part of the due diligence involves finding out the Arkansas mortgage rates: I need to figure out what my mortgage payments are going to be before I can calculate my return on investment.  Out of the couple of properties I found, there is only one that fits my investment criteria.

I am going to call my realtor down there in the next couple of days to set something up.  That reminds me, I still need to figure out something for the property manager…

I decided to look at property companies that were across the world from me.  My reason for doing this is that you can always learn something new and find new markets to invest your money.  I wanted to pick somewhere very far away and somewhere I have never thought to look before.

In order to find a place that was a little less traditional, I decided to get my group together to brainstorm and hopefully come up with a place to look.  I got my lawyer, my accountant, and a few other trusted advisors together in our conference room to come up with ideas.

After about an hour of throwing ideas around, Stu, my accountant came up with the best idea of all: South Africa.  To be honest, I didn’t know anyone that has any investment property there and I thought it sounded like a good market to check out.

I assigned a group to find out about the prospects in this area of the world as well as the major real estate groups there.  We needed to have all our facts together before we decided on whether or not this would be a good market for us.

A week later the group came back with its’ report.  They found that the return on real estate in the region was between 25%-45% year over year.  Also, they had contacted two major real estate companies (Pam Golding International and Seeff Properties) and they both were interested in working with our company to find investment properties.

With that task completed, I have assembled another group to find good investment properties in the area.  They are currently working with the real estate companies and will present their findings early next week.  I am looking forward to seeing what they come up with.