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5 Ways of Financing Investment Properties

During the height of the economic crisis, a lot of people were hesitant to invest in real estate as a result of the housing meltdown. Fortunately, this stage has passed and the industry seems to be making a comeback. Today, you can easily buy in a down market and make a huge profit. But of course, you need to do your research depending on the type of investment you’re planning to make.

A good rule of thumb to follow before investing in real estate is that you should have an excellent credit rating, and you should feel financially secure. This way, even if you unfortunately experience some downsides to your investment, it wouldn’t have that much of an effect in your life. The upside is that you’ll earn a significant profit; you’ll consider real estate investment as a lucrative main or side business venture.

Now, the one problem you’d have when dabbling in property investing is where you’ll get the funds you need. How are you supposed to finance your real estate investing venture? Here are the top five ways on how you can do just that:

1: The Traditional Way

You need to have a solid credit rating and be financially stable before trying to invest in properties. The traditional way to finance real estate investments is to borrow money from banks, credit unions, home mortgage companies, and other financial institutions. Most of these have a high credit score requirement. You also need to provide a full documentation of your income and debts, and you need to shell out at least a 10% down payment. Overall, this is one of the safest and most well-known methods of financing real estate investments.

2. The Lease Option

An unfamiliar yet still suitable form of financing investment properties is the lease option. It allows you to own property for little or even no down payment. Within two or three years, you can be given the right to purchase the property while you’re still looking for financial backing. It can also be arranged that a percentage of the monthly lease payment goes towards the balance of the cost of the property.

3. Through Seller Carry Back

Also called buying on terms or creative financing, seller carry back refers to any method of financing aside from the traditional one. This is a good way for investors to use as little of their own money as possible, where sellers usually agree to carry the note of your purchase.

4. The Seller Second

For this, the seller provides a second mortgage and cash flow notes are usually involved. For example, if you’re pre-qualified for a loan which requires you to shell out 20% down payment, an offer can be made so that the seller can carry a cash flow note for 20%. The one thing you need to check when going for this option is that the loan you’re qualified for should allow a second mortgage attachment. Although there are some loans where this is a possibility, seller seconds are not allowed in most cases.

5. Using the Subject-To Method

Finally, you can go for the subject-to method which is a short-term solution for real estate financing. It means that the investment is subject to existing financing. When you purchase a property, one condition is that the existing financing stays in place. The title can be transferred but the loan will still be under the seller’s name, although the buyer is already making the payments. This financing is suitable for properties that are about to be foreclosed.

Business Planning – Do You Make These 5 Marketing Mistakes?

What is the one thing every business wants more of? Money! Are you struggling with how to take your business to the next level? Do you feel like you’re stuck in a stagnant place and are unsure of what actions to take to grow? You are not alone! As a business owner, you are busy constantly. There is not enough time in the day for everything. Making mistakes with your marketing efforts can only magnify some of your struggles. Read this to figure out if you are you making these 5 costly marketing mistakes.Mistake #1: Winging itEver hear the expression: Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance? This ties right into your marketing strategy. If you want results, you have to put in the proper planning and formulate a strategy, then execute accordingly. This is why it is called a marketing strategy. It takes time, effort, and research to develop the necessary marketing plan. This is crucial to the success of your marketing efforts. Too many businesses “wing it” whether it be for lack of knowing how else to attack it or pure laziness. You worked too hard to get your business up and running. Put some effort and time into developing a formalized Marketing Plan. Figure out who your target customer is and the best way to market directly to that target audience. You may already be wasting effort and money on marketing to the wrong audience! Do your homework. We promise… you will save time AND headaches in the long run.Mistake #2: Giving Up Too EasilyWhat would we do without instant gratification today? Searching for answers literally takes seconds on our computers or cell phones. We have access to more knowledge at our fingertips than we could have imagined 10 years ago. Technology has embedded this need for instant gratification in our minds. It has created a society of people that give up way too easily. Like most success in life and business, marketing takes time and persistence. In fact most prospects need to be exposed to your company, its services, the benefits received or problems solved, 7-13 times BEFORE they will decide to purchase. Don’t think that one attempt at reaching out to a prospect will magically make them open their wallet. Don’t think that even 3 times of reaching out will do so. It make take 3, 6, or 9 exposures to get your prospects comfortable with you and your company. Marketing is a marathon and you have to be in it for the long haul.Mistake #3: Not Adapting to Current TimesRemember when newspaper or radio ads were the most effective way for a company to advertise? Well along came the 21st century full of technology. Embrace it. If you don’t have an attractive, user-friendly website, you’re making a mistake that could turn new customers away and inhibit your growth. If consumers find it difficult to navigate or looking outdated, they may leave with a negative impression of your company and never return. Don’t allow this to happen.Are you refusing to get your company on social media or advertise using video? This is also costly. The internet, social media, and video marketing are here to stay. If you want to have your business thrive for many years and generations to come, it’s best to get on board… now!Mistake #4: Lack of ConsistencyIn order for marketing to be effective it has to be creative and consistent. Think “Out of sight, out of mind.” This is true with any prospect. You don’t know what situational changes are going to occur in their life that may cause it to be… The Right Time. You don’t want to miss the opportunity when it arises. If you haven’t been planting those seeds and nurturing them all along, you won’t be there when they are ready to harvest. The goal of marketing is to be the company in the forefront of the consumer’s mind when they raise their hand and need help. Many businesses make the mistake of sporadic marketing or marketing only when business is slow. Marketing needs to be continual to smooth out the seasonality of business cycles. Don’t let your business fall into this trap!Mistake #5: Backing Off When Goals are AchievedFinally, the 5th marketing mistake you may be making is backing off when goals are achieved. This mistake may be the worst one. It’s too easy to breathe a sigh of relief and relish in the success you have achieved. Successful businesses get comfortable when things are running efficiently. However, the issue comes with being too comfortable. As stated earlier, marketing efforts can take 3, or even 6 months to start showing results. This lag time is why discontinuing your marketing efforts, then desperately trying to ramp them back up can be extremely dangerous. It is much wiser to consistently maintain your marketing efforts, then amplify and enhance them as needed. After all, customers may come and go for a variety of reasons. Focus on keeping lifelong customers, and a marketing plan that will help generate new ones during good times and bad.Marketing is not always fun to do or think about when there is so much else going on. At the end of the day though, marketing is important to the success of your business. Treat it as such and avoid these 5 marketing mistakes. Taking the time to plan and actually prepare with the necessary research will make it so much easier to perform the steps outlined. Don’t forget, persistence is needed for successful execution of your marketing plan. You believe in your business. Make sure your marketing efforts reflect that!

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Promote Your Photography Sites – Part 1

You may have spent a great deal of time and money creating the perfect Website – your photography images may be superb, but if people cannot find your site your images and talent along with your business may become a white elephant.Promoting your Website is not that difficult but will take up some of your precious time. My advice for you is to set out a few hours per week for this.If your Website is new the chances are that Google, Yahoo or any search engine won’t index your site for a few months. And it may even take several months before they place it to appear when someone types in a search phrase that suits your site. So you need to give your photographs and business a reasonable chance of getting paying customers.When a search engine index’s your Website it looks to see how many links point to your site. The more links you can create the better your site will rank, but only if they are the right kind of links. Don’t spend hours and hours online getting thousands of standard ordinary links. Get links that relate to your site. Get links from other photography sites.Photography Directories are a great way of creating free advertisement for your site and also a great way of getting valuable links to your site that search engines will recognise.Before you submit your Website to directories, research the correct keywords that best describe your site. If your photography site is Landscaped based you need to optimise your site correctly for the keywords Landscape photography.Once you are happy with which keywords best describe your site start submitting your site to Photography Directories. Most photography directories require a return link so you should create a links page for this alone.When you are submitting your website you need to use the correct keywords that best describe your site in the link title to your site. The link title will be the title on the submission form. You will also need to create a good definitive description for your site. This should be no more than twenty-five words and should start with the keywords that best describe your site. This is what people will read – this is where you sell your site – a good description will enable potential customers to enter your site.Once you have completed the form click submit and move on to the next directory. There are many good photography directories online – some specialised in certain areas of photography, more cover all areas of photography. Once you fill out the submission form correctly you will start to see the rewards.Some directories will charge you when creating a listing; my advice is to research such websites before you part with your hard earned cash. Stay away from link farms and link companies that offer you thousands of links – these sites don’t rank well with search engines and may harm your site in the long run.While photography directories are just one way of promoting your site; they are the easiest and quickest way to get started. Creating good quality inbound links to your site will help you achieve excellent search engine ranking for your site resulting in more and more traffic entering your photography site.In part 2 of Promoting your photography site, read how to gain exposure from entering photography competitions.

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