This post has a series of videos starting starting a self-directed IRA and using it to buy real estate. Recent calculations using Germantown townhomes show yields in the 7% range. I hope this will help get you started

The current combination of low real estate prices, low interest rates and rising rents will allow people with regular investment financing to have  positive cash flows right away. We have found several neighborhoods in Rockville and in northern Montgomery County that will positive cash flow right away. Here are two good neighborhoods to start your search: Wheaton Woods in Rockville and Brandermill in Germantown.

Next Post: Doing the math.

A short sale is when a home is sold for less than what is owed and the bank accepts the sales proceeds as full payment. This type of sale is becoming more prevalent as market values go down and unemployment goes up. It can also happen when loan rates reset and mortgage payments become too high.

This is often just as difficult for the homeowner because the home is still lost. There are two main advantages to a short sale. First, if done correctly, the bank will not pursue the deficiency. Second, the damage to credit scores will not be quite as bad.

Since short sales homes often sell for less than full market value, a lot of them in a neighborhood can bring prices down even faster.

This is one of an ongoing series of posts about short sales because of their influence on home values

Did you know that women make approx. 90% of real estate buying decisions?  What this means to sellers of homes is a heavy emphasis on clean, new and fresh. In today’s slower market, it often means new flooring, fresh paint, updated kitchens and baths. This is especially important if the home you are selling is in a neighborhood with five to ten months of housing inventory available to buy. The goal is to give your home the “wow” factor that makes the decision-maker pick your home instead of the other competing homes. Making the home look great for the decision maker, typically a woman in a two-income family between the ages of 24 and 38, is just the price of entry. The home must also be priced right and marketed with the correct combination of internet, print, and MLS advertising and displays. Pricing and display will be the subject of another post.

This will be one in a series of posts on how an agent adds value to a real estate transaction.

Nowadays, some of the information previously available only to agents is available to buyers and sellers on the internet. Often the client arrives at the first meeting with some of the same data as the agent.  But internet data can only provide a limited amount of information.  The realtor’s domain covers other valuable information that can affect the decision to buy or sell a particular property.

The agent’s role is now enlarged from being the sole provider of information to becoming the person who brings a lot more information to the table and explains how to use it.  The value added here is expertise in the ability to take data – statistics, square feet, condition, pricing, subsidies, days on market, and much more – and use it to his particular client’s advantage.  What are seller subsidies and how should they affect a seller’s listing price for his own property?  How do a neighborhood’s past and current inventory and days on market interrelate to influence listing price?  Which properties are short sales or REOs and which are traditional transactions, and what are the ramifications of each?

Today’s real estate market has brought new and complex issues to the forefront.  The experience and training of a good realtor can make all the difference in getting your house sold, or deciding which property to buy.

Next time:  Marketing