Dealing with the father figure by James Miller . . I have seen it over and over again, and here is how it works: You show an apartment or a house to a young couple, they love it and are anxious to rent or buy, but they want to bring their dad, step father, father in law, or other paternal type figure over to take a look at it. 90% of the time, this blows the deal. Here’s why… We all play roles in our life, mother, daughter, teacher, golf pro, author, etc. When the young excited couple... Read Full Story

Hello sir. I was wondering if you could give me a little bit of information referencing assigning contracts. Can you please let me know how to do this correctly. I think I get the gist of it I am just confused in one area. What if the seller talks to your investor about the original purchase price?  Next I wanted to know how you find your investors? And lastly how much should the whole transaction cost, and what is average profit? I notice that some say 1 to 3k but I have heard of 10-20k. Bes... Read Full Story

Dear James, I read one of your articles on Biggerpockets about three ways to buy real estate.  You mention a ‘Land contact’.  I have never used one of these before.  Would you have a sample that you could send me without names and data so that I can see what they are like?  Thanks,  Peter Hi Peter, Land Contracts are a bit more popular in certain areas than others. They may also be called something different in other locations, such as “contract for deed”,  “inst... Read Full Story

Typical issues faced by Real Estate Investors. by James Miller . These are some typical issues that I am faced with on a normal day and how I chose to handle them. I grab the stack of papers from my desk on different Real Estate related “issues” I need to review.  I had set them aside last night, so I could focus on them today. The first issue is my fault since I accidentally overpaid a bill for a 20 yard dumpster that we were using at one of the construction sites by $200. I... Read Full Story

. “subject to” refers to the purchasing of a property “subject to” the underlying debt.  A great way to purchase, if you can, as the mortgage and note stays in the sellers name, but the property deed transfers to the new buyer. There are a few tricky parts when buying property using this method; First, the seller has to have a great deal of trust as the buyer holds all the cards  and second, there is a due on sale clause in most if not all of today’s mortgag... Read Full Story

. I saw this article on Yahoo about the benefits of Renting over buying a property. This fellow seems to make a broad statement that Renting is better. My take on this familiar argument is that it really depends on your situation. 1. It’s not apples to apples. You can rent a decent two bedroom in the area where I live for anywhere from $600 to $750 per month.  A small, two bedroom house is going to set you back about $70,000 to $90,000. Costs will be comparable on both. But a house... Read Full Story

Getting people to keep apartment showings by James Miller . It happened to me again yesterday. I had a 5:30 showing set up at one of our vacant apartments. I arrived promptly, unlocked the place flipped on all the lights and set out the applications. The guy never showed up to look at the apartment. I waited for him to show for 20 minutes and then decided to take off. It may or may not surprise you, but the events I just described are not that uncommon for property managers. I am pretty d... Read Full Story

The Art of Patience in Real Estate Investing by James Miller . I have a friend who is working on buying his first property. Besides looking for his own personal residence, he wants it to be a good investment.  He is looking for a deal. He is looking at a REO (Bank Owned) property that has been siting for a while. The condition was pretty rough, so the bank decided to put about $5000 into it to replace carpet and paint the place. A surprisingly good move on the banks part. The fun part for ... Read Full Story

A few years ago, Luke Ploessl and his wife began to invest in Real Estate in the City of Cassville.  With the current situation on Wall Street, they can no longer afford to keep all their properties. They tried to sell them, but no buyers emerged. So they are giving six of them away to the people who write the best essays. I am sure that part of the motivation came when the proposed 1.3 Billion dollar Alliant energy plant expansion fell though. The community had high hopes for this plant... Read Full Story

The “right” Real Estate Investing System by James Miller . . One of the confusing parts of getting started in Real Estate investing is that there are so many different ways to do it and so many guru’s out there touting why their way is the best. I am going to let you in on something it took me a while to discover. It all works. Yep. Just about everything you see out there every one of the late night infomercials, every guru you have ever hear talk at a seminar and fought ... Read Full Story