Ronald Edwards asked:


The goals of Real Estate Asset Protection are:

Keep the ownership of the real estate anonymous. Anonymous Panama Corporations and Anonymous Panama Foundations do this extremely well; in fact better than any other jurisdiction we are aware of. Anonymous ownership of real estate reduces your profile as a target for lawsuits and collection attorneys can not go after something they do not know even exists.

If a structure of Anonymity is not practical the next best solution is to take away the attachable equity through the use of lawful mortgages and other encumbrances filed on the property locally by anonymous Panama Corporations or Foundations.

You should only use a Law Firm for asset protection so you have attorney client privilege. The law firm used should be out of the reach of the court where the real estate is located. If a lawyer in your country forms an offshore structure for you what are you going to do when he winds up in the lawsuit with you - defrauding creditors would be one possible allegation, or if he has the judge order him to open up his records concerning you. If you felt the courts, laws, judges, lawyers etc. in your country were fair and equitable you wouldn’t be reading this. Don’t make the mistake of using a law firm in another country which also has flawed privacy laws. The courts in his country will probably cooperate with the courts in your country.

As a last resort but still a valuable one the asset protection structure should present itself to your pursuing financial adversaries as so burdensome, onerous, confusing, time consuming and expensive that they will accept a settlement from you for a mere fraction of the debt in question. This is an often overlooked positive outcome that lets you keep your property and settle the debts for pennies on the dollar, sort of a bankruptcy without going bankrupt.

Detailed Information Follows:

Today many people in different countries are very worried about their real estate being lost due to court actions leaving them homeless or without their real estate portfolio. Real estate is not portable and unfortunately is one of the first things aggressive collection attorneys go after. Since the ownership of real estate in many jurisdictions is open and transparent, the real estate ownership rolls are often used to determine if a person has enough wealth to go after in a civil lawsuit, in other words it flags you as a target. Real estate ownership records are also used to accomplish identity theft since a lot can be learned about the owner from the public records like when the mortgages were taken out, from which company and for how much, the full names and addresses of the owners, etc. This information is then used combined with other public databases like driver’s licenses, phone and utility records etc. to create a profile of the victim which is used to steal their identity. Lack of privacy is invasive and also encourages litigation and criminal activity.

So how do you protect your real estate in as anonymous manner as possible? Some sample strategies are briefly described below.

Mortgages:

One real estate asset protection strategy is to borrow against the real estate using mortgages or trust deeds. Typically in most jurisdictions the borrowed money is not taxable as income since it must be repaid. Usually one can borrow up to 80% of the value of the house. Collection attorneys will not spend money to go after a house with 20% or less available equity. This is also true concerning government collection agencies. It is felt that auctions in the courtroom or on the steps of the courthouse will not bring in more than 80% of the appraised value since these auction buyers are looking for a substantial discount. One important point to be considered is the collection attorney may want to know where the borrowed money from the mortgage is to see if it is within his reach like in the country concerned. If the money is offshore they rarely will pursue it. They are not lawyers outside of their country and must retain local lawyers who usually smell deep pockets and charge high fees for this type of service which will rarely ever has a happy ending for them. The country where the money is may be hostile to such collection actions as is very often the case and makes it hard for these cases to be pursued. These countries often dismiss these cases for lack of venue or jurisdiction. Also the collection attorney from your country often has to post a cash bond to cover court costs if they lose which again deters such actions. The potential problem with the above scenario is now you have a mortgage on property that may have been free and clear. You need to go through a credit check and reveal personal information much of it will wind up in public or semi-public databases like credit agencies databases. Now you have to make the payments and pay the interest rates. There are usually penalties involved if you terminate the lease early. Many of these loans have variable interest rates which can go up and now you have a blood ******* Mortgage Company on your property title. There is a better way.

Your own Mortgage Company:

There is nothing wrong with borrowing money from an anonymous Panama Bearer Share Corporation that to protect its interests places a mortgage on your property. You basically write a mortgage through your corporation to yourself to record on the title of the property you wish to protect. This requires a lawyer in the city where the real estate is to advise you as to how the mechanics and local laws will work when recording your mortgage and pertaining to it. You may need to fund an escrow in the area where the real estate is in some countries to validate the mortgage, but there are work arounds for this as well. After the escrow closes the loan is recorded against the property tying up the equity in the property reducing your profile as a target greatly. You could make the loan at more than 80% of the value like 99% if you so desired. The corporation or an additional corporation could be used to make a second or even a third mortgage. Of course your borrowed money is not taxable and but you do need to make payments with interest to your own corporation. This is a real loan. If one researches you or your real estate they will see encumbered real estate and someone thinking of suing you may think you are not worth the time and expense which is one of our goals. If someone does try to levy or auction your real property they will have to pay the mortgage off from any auction or sale proceeds and if the amount of the mortgage (LTV- Loan to Value) is at least 80% of the appraised value a sale for enough money to pay off the mortgage will be extremely unlikely thus they will not bother spending the legal fees and auction fees. Auction buyers are price buyers, not people looking for a certain home in a certain school district etc. Remember the Panama Corporation owning the mortgage has no listed owner anywhere so it is impossible for ownership to be looked up by a potential financial enemy sizing you up. In any event the obstacle of the mortgage makes normal collection actions immensely more difficult for them if they should try to pierce through the corporate veil. Panama corporate veils do not pierce. They do not know this is your mortgage and that you own the corporation that wrote the mortgage and the only way of finding out would be to take your deposition and ask you. Well for all they know you don’t own the corporation, perhaps you did and transferred the ownership, or they might assume you would lie and they could not catch you in your deception, or they may assume it is owned by a friend or relative or whatever else comes into their mind. You are not responsible for their thoughts; this is something they do all on their own. One thing to be perfectly clear on is now collection costs for your financial adversary has now gone up, way up and the person going after your assets has some decisions to make as to how much money they want to spend. The collection attorney is going to be anything but encouraging because he is now in an environment that he does not understand – welcome to the jurisdiction of Panama Counselor. He is going to tell your financial enemy that more money is required to pursue this, in the back of his mind not really wanting to pursue this and if he does have to do it he is going to want to get paid big time. When lawyers do not want to do something they charge a lot. Now if the attorney gets into it and finds out the corporation ownership is non-transparent and soon discovers that Panama has tight bank secrecy etc. he will become more frustrated and this means higher fees for your financial enemy. What will the other side do if a Panama Private Interest Foundation owns the Corporation and you can legally say you do not own the Corporation? Panama Foundations really have no owner so you could also say you do not own the Foundation. Welcome to Panama Mr. Collection Attorney. You are not responsible for providing the other side ownership details of a foundation or corporation that is their problem. You can say you do not own the corporation or foundation and that is where it stops as far as you are concerned. Folks when they see a Panama Corporation or a Panama Foundation on the mortgage they are more than likely to drop it right there because they know they are spinning their wheels and will more than likely never get anywhere and spend a ton of money getting nowhere. Remember the collection attorney doesn’t deal with Panama Asset Protection scenarios everyday, or even every decade for most of them. He will see things as a brick wall, blind alley, etc and not know what to do. Remember the attorney that is doing the collection can be sued by his client for frivolously spending his client’s money and running up a big bill when chances for a positive return are most unlikely.

Line of Credit Mortgage:

There are other ways of protecting real estate assets where no actual funding of a mortgage is required. A line of credit is set up through a Panama Financial Institution that records a trust deed based on the size of the line of credit. This is very similar to what finance companies in the USA do with home equity lines of credit. This also requires you to retain a local attorney in the area where the real estate is located to ensure that proper papers are filed with the local government registry. The line of credit need not be drawn down upon, yet it can still be used to protect your real estate equity, or boat equity, car equity, airplane equity, art collection equity etc. The line of credit can be cancelled at any time by you and within 30 days the mortgage on the property will be released. There are safeguards put in place to ensure you have control over this.

Real Estate Asset Protection Annuity:

Another way to protect real estate or other assets is through the use of an annuity. Basically the anonymous Panama Corporation or anonymous Panama Foundation would receive your real estate or other assets in return for an annuity. The annuity pays you a certain specified sum of money monthly, quarterly or yearly. The money can be paid into a secure Panama Bank account even in the name of another Panama Foundation which is acquiring and protecting assets for you to retire on and for the eventual benefit of your beneficiaries. So if you were asked in a lawsuit in your home country why you transferred the real estate to this Panama Corporation and what consideration did you receive for the transfer, you reply the transfer was done in return for an annuity of so much money per month for as long as you live, or 5 years or whatever you decide for a term. Now they say where is this money paid thinking about garnishing it. You say into a Panama bank that my Panama Private Interest Foundation maintains think dead end for the collection attorney. If the sum is paid monthly the collection effort is so costly compared to the reward you could even have the annuity money paid into a bank account in your home country. They are not going to go do a new collection action each month, and if they did well you could change banks, or use a Panama Bank and withdraw the money with an ATM card.

WARNING

It is common to see entities selling asset protection structures using trusts and other vehicles that are located in the countries that have done away with privacy and fairness in the courts. These are the countries where they judges do what they want, judgments awarded are staggering high, the lawyers run legal bills up on the people until they can no longer defend themselves because they are broke, etc. If you own property in such a country and use an attorney who is also in this country or another country like this you are at serious risk. Why. For a lot of reasons.

One reason is the attorney client privilege in these countries can be broken by judges if the judge feels the lawyer was actively involved in some illegal deed with the client such as concealing assets from creditors, fraud, legal misrepresentation, money laundering (using overly broad definitions of money laundering these countries are fond of with extremely small amounts of money involved), or fraudulent conveyance of assets to a trust or other entity to remove them from the reach of creditors. The lawyer has to listen to the judge. Especially when the other side is saying “Your Honor the defendant is going to hide the assets again and cost my client thousands of dollars all over again”. When the lawyer hears this he starts thinking if he appeals the judges decision etc, and fights back real hard the next step is the other side is going to sue him for conspiracy to defraud the creditor. You see the lawyers are most aware of the ********* justice system in their country and they are scared of it coming back and biting them. The bottom line is they are going to be thinking well if I give this guy up (you) to the other side they’ll be happy, I’ve already got my fees paid, the client is going to be penniless and then what the heck can he do to me. When privacy is gone, the lawyers have a field day. REMEMBER even if the lawyer sets up an offshore structure for you he is still in your country and his records can readily become fair game in the discovery process and wind up in the hands of the court and even get recorded in the public court records as evidence. This means your financial enemies do not have to go offshore to pierce your corporate veil, trust foundation etc., they can do it right in the convenience of their backyard. This is a temptation and temptation encourages litigation. You should have a law firm in the jurisdiction of your offshore asset protection structure (the corporation, foundation bank account) so they will have enforceable attorney client privilege, corporate and foundation anonymity, bank secrecy and a privacy oriented court system to help them protect you.

These lawyers in the countries where privacy and justice are gone tell clients their asset protection methods are tested, secure etc. Try asking them what it costs to pay for the legal defense if the other side decides to “test” the asset protection strategy. Probably the bill will be enough to cause you to want to settle or give up. Then ask him if he does appeals and what they cost. If you lose a court case you usually have to post a bond equal to the amount of the judgment to keep the property during the appeal process.

More on Lawyers:

The obstacle is you have a physical asset in the form of real estate and the courts there can assert jurisdiction over it, which means take it away from you. What is going to work best is to keep the asset ownership anonymous before trouble starts. If your potential financial enemies or actual financial enemies do not know about an asset they will not attempt to confiscate it. If they do know about it then you must have some form of plausible deniability to show the judge why you can’t turn it over to the court. One good way to do this is to use financial instruments like mortgages since the judges don’t want to start upsetting the apple cart and get all the banks alarmed over some judge setting properly recorded mortgages aside. This is why we suggest using a local lawyer to record the mortgage, you do not have to make this lawyer aware of your entire asset protection strategy, nor give him all the documents just provide him with as little as he needs to know since he may be subpoenaed or have his deposition taken in a worst case scenario. For overall legal counsel in the jurisdiction where the property is contact another lawyer whose name will not appear anywhere relating to recording the transaction to make sure he does not get dragged into court and he can give you advise relating to taxes, legality, collection process, correct title, release of deed or mortgage, transfers etc. We are talking about a worst case scenario where assets are in the millions.

Banks are powerful politically and economically and they will pay careful attention to any judge setting aside mortgages unless there is a clear cut fraud involved with complete documented evidence so the judge will need to tread carefully on this fragile ground less he wrecks the security of the mortgage industry in his country. This is stronger in our opinion than just relying on a trust which judges love to bust open as frivolous or fraudulent with intent to defraud creditors. Please bear in mind nothing is one hundred percent perfect.

Planning Before Trouble Knocks:

Of course if you are planning before trouble is breathing down your neck as you should be doing, just putting the real estate in the name of an anonymous foundation or corporation is going to go a very long way in protecting your assets. If you are not in a lawsuit presently and have no judgments no one can argue that the transfer was a fraudulent conveyance to avoid creditors’ efforts to attach your assets.

If the property showed up on a credit report due to the mortgage company reporting the transaction, the collection lawyers chasing you will probably see the credit report and query you as to what happened to the property, did you receive any money for it or other consideration, where is the money, what happened to the money, did you transfer it for below market value and why, who owns it now, etc. Hypothetically for purposes of making a point to follow about collection attorneys in general, one could say they sold the property and the money was put in a Panama Bank Account and the money has been spent or gambled away, and the bank account was closed and you never had the bank send you statements which is common in Panama, so you have no bank statements and you banked online using the banks online banking system. Well the corporation public registry and foundation public registry do not reflect ownership at all and the Panama Banks will never respond to the collection attorney - never acknowledging or denying the existence of any such bank account since it would constitute a violation of bank secrecy laws with civil and criminal penalties. We are not saying you should do such a thing which would be illegal and we do not advocate illegal activities but what we are saying is some people do such things and the collection attorneys know that the people they pursue are in the habit of lying to conceal assets and they do not rely on the truthfulness of their clients to find assets. If they did that they would go out of business in short order. The collection attorney needs to work within a legal system that let’s them play their games and Panama does not let them work their craftiness at all. So you have a reasonable chance of seeing the collection attorney abandon pursuit when they see real estate titled to a Panama Anonymous Corporation or Foundation. They don’t plan on you being honest and open with them and they don’t have a clue as to how to proceed in Panama dealing with an anonymous corporation, foundation or bank secrecy. Their subpoenas are worthless and they are wondering how they are going to factually prove to a judge in the country where the real estate is that you really own property that is recorded in the name of an anonymous corporation and foundation in Panama. Even harder for them to think through is how to prove to a judge that the mortgage recorded on the real estate is through a corporation or foundation you own or control in Panama and that the judge should just set aside the mortgage and risk harming another entity when the lawyer is missing any concrete evidence to support the allegations. Remember the burden of proof is not on you, it is on the collection attorney. To make it worse what if you are not in the country where the real estate is or otherwise out of the reach of the court where the real estate is or maybe you just are not available for service of court papers. Well now the collection lawyer can’t even ask you any questions to make his case. Imagine him telling the judge he couldn’t serve you but he is sure you really own this property because at one time you did own it and the judge should just turn the property over to the creditor in absence of any evidence. What if the judge tells the lawyer to go contact the corporation or foundation in Panama? So we as your resident agent get served. First off the service will not be legal in Panama but we wouldn’t want to get the judge mad in the country where the real estate is so we contact you. If you tell us ok tell them whatever they want to know and I will pay for your time we would do so. On the other hand if you do not wish for us to reveal anything we would at your direction either not respond or just respond that we are bound by attorney client privilege from disclosing anything and asking us to do so without the permission of our client is illegal under our laws and their court does not have the authority to direct us to break the law and suffer the consequences in our country which are most severe. By now the collection attorney is spending a whole lot of his clients’ money and they are getting frustrated. Suppose they hire an attorney in Panama and try to get a court order. Forget this. Panama has 400,000 corporations registered here because they know the courts will not cooperate. The court will most likely throw the case out for lack of venue, lack of jurisdiction of the Panama Court and not comply with requests for breaking attorney client privilege. In terms of piercing the corporate veil, they are no ownership records to subpoena and of course remember transfers of ownership are not recorded and even the lawyer who formed the corporation has no idea who the new owners are, or how many times the corporation was transferred. All the owner need do is give the new owner the stock certificates with no recording of the transaction. Panama is set up for privacy and asset protection.

There are a number of scenarios we can structure to asset protect your real estate, boats, planes and other assets. We are a law firm - you have attorney client privilege, give us a call.

http://www.panamalaw.org/real_estate_asset_protection.html

http://www.panamalaw.org/anonymous_real_estate.html

http://www.panamalaw.org/panama_mortgage_investor.html

For more information, please visit:

http://www.panamalaw.org

email at: panamalegal@hush.com



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Real Estate Advisor asked:


According to “Out of Reach”, the annual report of the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), prices of many rental markets have increased sharply over the past few years making affordable housing difficult for low and medium wage workers.

The report reveals a marked disparity between people’s earning and rental housing costs. This difference is sizeable and has increased every year. In fact, the cost of rental housing has gone up by 28% in the past 7 years, much beyond the wages earned by the people who need affordable housing the most.

NLIHC calculated the hourly wage needed to afford the rent and utilities of a market rate rental home in each state. Affordable housing was defined as the cost of a two-bedroom rental home without having to spend more than 30% of one’s gross income on housing costs. The report terms this rate of affordability as the ‘national housing wage’, which has increased to $16.31 from last year’s $15.78.

Housing prices in many rental markets far exceed the wages of the renters, making them the least affordable rental markets. Based on the Out of Reach 2006 report, Hawaii stands at the top of the ten most pricy rental markets for a two-bedroom rental home. Listed below are top 10 most expensive states for rental housing:

1. Hawaii - hourly wage of $23.53 needed to afford a two-bedroom rental home.

2. California - hourly wage of $22.86 needed to afford a two-bedroom rental home.

3. Massachusetts - hourly wage of $22.65 needed to afford a two-bedroom rental home.

4. New Jersey - hourly wage of $21.21 needed to afford a two-bedroom rental home.

5. New York - hourly wage of $20.70 needed to afford a two-bedroom rental home.

6. Connecticut - hourly wage of $20.42 needed to afford a two-bedroom rental home.

7. Maryland - hourly wage of $20.07 needed to afford a two-bedroom rental home.

8. Rhode Island - hourly wage of $19.36 needed to afford a two-bedroom rental home.

9. New Hampshire - hourly wage of $18.10 needed to afford a two-bedroom rental home.

10. Alaska - hourly wage of $17.90 needed to afford a two-bedroom rental home.

The report concluded that a minimum-wage earner making $10,712 a year cannot afford even a one-bedroom home anywhere in the country. The reality is that a wage earner needs to make $28,475 per year to afford a two-bedroom rental home. Families with two minimum-wage earners need to make at least $33,925 to afford a two-bedroom rental home.



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FlippingHomes asked:

Real estate investing insider Steve Cook exposes the real world of “Flip This House” — 4 DVDs unravel how to build and accelerate an exceptional real estate investing income.

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Mike Trudeau asked:


Over the last several years, real estate has been as hot as any other investment. It wasn’t until recently that real estate cooled a bit. During this time, we’ve all heard the stories of the easy money made investing in real estate. When money was easy, and there was no end in sight to the real estate boom, people were flipping houses like crazy. For many of these individuals, the 1031 exchange money could not be any easier. However, the times have changed. The downturn has taught even the most bullish real estate speculators that real estate can also go down in value. More than ever, investing in real estate, takes professional know-how, time, and resources to successfully invest in real estate. So, how does the average person invest in real estate, this day and age?

Well, there is a way, and it’s been around for quite some time. It’s called a Real Estate Investment Trust, or REIT. A Real Estate Investment Trust is a way for the small investor to invest in big real estate. A Real Estate Investment Trust is an organization that is set up to manage and invest in real estate professionally. You can purchase a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) via the stock exchange in the form of a stock, or privately. Private Real Estate Investment Trusts typically require that certain suitability criteria be met. Also, private REITs are typically longer-term investments, with liquidity considerations. Public Real Estate Investment Trusts can be bought and sold on the stock exchange and are considerably more liquid than their private counterparts.

Investing in a Real Estate Investment Trust can come in many forms. You can purchase a Real Estate Investment Trust that focuses on large-scale commercial real estate, for example. This would allow you to take part in major real estate deals involving 100 plus story buildings, that would otherwise be available to the ultra rich. Some Real Estate Investment Trusts may have their focus in apartment buildings or even new housing construction. The point here is that you can choose your Real Estate Investment Trust sector through one of these REITs. If you want a more professionally managed approach there are a large number of REITs actively managed through the purchase of mutual funds. This can provide for diversification, and individual real estate sectors.

Properly set up Real Estate Investment Trusts are tax-advantaged. This means that they are not taxed at the corporate level. However, they must be set up properly. It is required that REITs invest 75% of their funds in real estate. These requirements are met by income derived from mortgage or rent interest. Essentially, you’re relying on other parties for their expertise in the real estate arena. Going at it alone is tougher than ever these days. You have the typical headaches, like qualifying for a 1031 exchange, property taxes, escrow, title insurance, and so on. But, that’s really the easy part. When the real estate market only went up, the biggest worry for speculators was how to take advantage of a 1031 exchange and save on capital gains. Now, there’s much more to worry about, as real estate not only goes up, but it can certainly come down.

It’s important to keep in mind that Real Estate Investment Trusts also come with inherent risks. If real estate values plummet, and you have a large percentage of your assets exposed to Real Estate Investment Trusts you may experience declines, as well. This is where diversification is very important. The standard Real Estate Investment Trust me diversify you within different types of real estate, but you should always practice further diversification. Investing in different asset classes, sectors, and the life will provide you with further diversification. Make sure to work with a qualified investment advisor or do your due diligence when investing in any type of Real Estate Investment Trust.



prime realestate

Melissa T asked:


I obtained licenses to be a Notary Public and Real Estate Sales Agent. Due to the damage of the Real Estate Market, I put my license in Referral Status. Does anyone have any tips to build both businesses?

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Tony Seruga, Yolanda Seruga And Yolanda Bishop asked:


For those who are looking for an excellent way to generate outside income, the commercial real estate industry is a great way to go. Many people have begun to invest in commercial real estate, and since this type of real estate is continually being purchased and sold, it has become an excellent way to invest money for a guaranteed return. Before one becomes involved in the commercial real estate market, it is highly important that they understand the commercial real estate industry and its many surrounding components.

A Basic Definition of Commercial Real Estate

First and foremost, it is imperative that one understands a basic definition of commercial real estate. Essentially, commercial real estate includes various real estate properties that have the potential to be able to generate outside revenue or even income for the owner. Whether the property has immediate potential for generating income or revenue immediately, or perhaps in the future, it can still be labeled as commercial real estate.

A Desirable Investment

Commercial real estate is an excellent choice for investors for a variety of different reasons. One of the main reasons that investors find commercial real estate to be such a pleasing investment is that is brings about both long term and short term financial benefits. In the short term, commercial real estate can help you bring in a better cash flow from the use of the property, and at the same time, in the long run the property will only appreciate in value, which will result in long term benefits should you choose to sell. Most investors also find that there is a lot less risk involved with commercial real estate than there is when dealing with other types of real estate. If you purchase apartment buildings or a strip mall, the risk of your investment will spread out among those who are renting from you, and even if you lose one of your renters, you still will be making money and seeing a return from your investment.

Commercial Real Estate Properties

Another positive benefit of commercial real estate is that the scope of properties that you can invest in is quite large. Commercial real estate includes various different properties that make excellent investments. As long as the building consists of more than four units, it can be considered a commercial real estate property. Commercial real estate also includes other properties such as strip malls, apartment buildings, RV parks, industrial parks, mobile home parks, and commercial centers.

Jobs within the Commercial Real Estate Industry

There are a variety of different jobs that are included within the commercial real estate industry, and all of them benefit from this excellent market. The investors have a very important job within the industry, since it is their money that is being used to make the property develop and become prosperous. Builders too have an important job, and many times they work within the commercial real estate industry to build new structures on commercial property such as apartment buildings or shopping malls. The lenders have a very important job, and they work to make sure that investors get the loans and mortgages they may need to be able to purchase commercial real estate properties. Also within the industry are the brokers who represent the owners and deal with the sales and property transfer issues. Last of all, but certainly not least, are the users who actually put the money in the investor’s pocket.

Financing Commercial Real Estate

Those who are planning on being involved in commercial real estate need to consider how they can finance any commercial real estate purchases. While few people can actually just purchase the property with money they already have, most people are going to be turning to other methods of financing the property. More than likely you are going to need to go to a lender to be able to finance any commercial real estate that you want to purchase, but there are a few things that you can do to make the process smother.

First of all, you will want to make sure that you have a business plan. You need to be able to show the lender why you want the property and how you plan on making it a successful investment. It is also important that you have at least a portion of the money needed for the property saved up so you can show that this is a serious venture and you are ready to make a personal investment in its success. Also helpful is a current appraisal of the property you are considering. This will help show the value of the property to the prospective lender. Having an attorney to help you and to check out legal issues will also be important, and in the end you should always compare several lending offers before making a final decision.

Getting Started

For those who are interested in commercial real estate and the financial benefits that can be enjoyed, there are many ways to get a start in the business. One of the keys to getting started is to glean all the information about the business that you can, whether from reading books, searching the internet, or speaking with friends and business colleagues that may have experience in commercial real estate investing. Checking into the area you live in and getting a look at what kind of commercial real estate is available and what the prices are running can help you begin to get a closer look at the costs and the availability of commercial real estate in your area. Attending zoning and city planning meetings may also give you insights and ideas for getting started as well. Lastly, one of the best things you can do is to start building a network of friends and business acquaintances that already have their foot in the door of the commercial market. Learning from their successes and mistakes can help you on your way to becoming a successful commercial real estate investor.



powell realestate

NC Real Estate asked:


Welcome to Buy NC Real Estate Deals.com, your place on the net for deeply discounted investment properties in North Carolina.

Our specialty is finding great real estate investment deals so you don’t have too. We buy and sell real estate, which includes houses, lots, multifamily units, and commercial buildings in any condition or location in North Carolina.

We buy many properties at reduced market value, so after repairs and renovations, it can be listed at a retail price that is within the comparables of the neighborhood. By having renovated over 100 homes, we have the skill set to negotiate better than a lot of investors. Buying, selling, and renvoting is our full time business. We are an established company, get referrals, and are always marketing, which means we get more properties than we can handle. Instead of letting them sit there until we can get to them, it is best for us to wholesale the deal, so someone else can make money on the property.

We buy and sell in many locations and we have a large buyer list, but there are times, we do not have the manpower to handle all of the properties we receive, nor do our buyers. By networking and having many relationships with other investors, we can all benefit based on what each one of us has going on at the time. We will pass deals on to you, thus saving you time, money, and marketing costs.

Most of our investors say they can NEVER find the kind of deals we offer on their own.

If you want great properties, with equity or cash flow, fill out our form and tell us what would be the ideal property for you. Most of our properties do not get posted because we move them so quickly.

Our properties move so fast that they rarely even make it to this website before they are sold to one of our investors. To be notified quickly of our next available wholesale property please complete our VIP Buyers List!

Join Our VIP Buyers List Now! There’s no cost or obligation and you’ll be the first to know about our investment properties as soon as they become available.

Buying, Selling, Wholesaling, Flipping Real Estate in North Carolina Since 2003.



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Adrian C asked:


I’ve recently become interested in real estate appraisal as a career. Can anyone give me the exact requirements for certification in California? Also, does anybody know what the job market looks like for appraisers in San Diego?

rudd realestate

Bob Schwartz, CRS,GRI, San Diego California real estate broker asked:


It seems that the decision makers running the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac government refinance programs did not learn anything from the current, and continuing, housing bust.  If bad loans got us into the current mess, why do Fannie and Freddie think that more bad loans will get us out?  In a recent press release it was announced that the two government-owned agencies will now refinance loans up to 125% of the current home’s value!

Does this spell trouble for the FHA home loans? All facts from the mortgage industry and government point to the fact that mortgage default rates take a huge spike upwards with high loan to value loans.

I would venture to say that many of the mortgage debtors (in trust deed states) may not realize that by refinancing through this program, they will be going from a non-recourse loan to recourse refinancing, in many cases.

My bet is that actions like this will give a false sense of recovery for awhile, only to have us fall further in the future, much like the stimulus money is currently doing.

In his statement FHFA Director Lockhart said, “The higher LTV refinancing will allow more homeowners to strengthen their finances.” Do you really believe this? If the government really wanted people to stay in their houses, they would allow them to go into foreclosure and help them find alternative housing. Moving them into a 125% LTV recourse loan is setting them up for disaster and setting taxpayers up to take on the resulting new losses.

Perhaps the government is not being 100% honest in their touting this 125% refinancing program as a way to help people stay in their houses. In reality, it may actually be a way to help banks keep from writing down assets while they earn enough money to increase their capital base.

Some folks like to say that where California goes, so goes the rest of the country.  The “tax and spend” government in California did not yet come up with a comparable plan and have been beat to the punch by the Feds.  California’s 26 billion (or more) deficit, the absence of a viable budget, and the need for issuing IOU’s rather than cash payments, is no excuse.  Only a few months ago California tossed out $100 million towards a credit to new home buyers for 5% of the purchase price (up to $10,000).  Now that the first pot of money is depleted, there are two new bills pending in Sacramento proposing to double or triple the original $100 million.



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Mark G. Estates asked:


There is no one in the world that wants to work a day longer than he has to. But with economic instability leaving many of us worrying about how our future and retirement will be paid for, it is ever more tempting to invest in something concrete and allow ourselves to retire young with real estate investments.

There are two main ways of making money from real estate. The first is to buy older and dilapidated properties at prices below the market value, then renovate them and sell them on at a profit. Property development can offer significant returns in the short term, and allow you to enjoy a higher standard of living, although it may initially require a lot of work and there may be a lot to learn.

The other method of earning money from real estate is to buy properties and then let them out to people and become a landlord. Provided you are able to get tenancy agreements that allow you to make a profit on any mortgage payments you have on the property that you rent out, you can buy a portfolio of real estate that will pay for itself while also providing you with a salary.

Over time, as your investments mature, rising property values along with the fact that your mortgages will be paid off by the rental income mean that when you are ready to retire, you can either sell off your entire portfolio for a lump sum to live on, or you can continue to receive the income from your tenants in lieu of a salary from a job, while allowing you to enjoy your retirement earlier than you thought possible, and in style - driving your Bentely to the Country Club for lunch and going on vacations four times a year (irst calls of course).



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