The real estate blog.

Hey all,

This has nothing to do with real estate or business success…

But might as well mix a bit of fun in here!

Anyhow,

I came across a cool little software program that turns any picture into a mosaic. It’s pretty cool and only takes a few minutes.

I know, this might be somewhat of a waste of time, against what we teach over here at theREIbrain.com , but it’s kind of fun and everyone needs to have a bit of fun.

With this software I converted our logo into a mosaic. Check it out. If you think its cool, download the free software program youself.

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Australian real estate differs from state to state, town to town and in more ways than you think. As I criss-cross this wide brown land I realise that the investing spectrum varies a lot more than first thought.

Being, roughly the same size as the American continent (give or take a million hectare sheep station), Australia is now prime for the picking!

Speculators are all of the same view…that the “land down-under” has come full circle and is now ready for growth, analysts say the “7 year cycle” is beginning again…

As I’ve been travelling, the word has been the same, unlike the U.S with its sub-prime lending drama’s, Australian real estate markets are set for positive movement.

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This is a quick “mini-series” that we will do over the next month or two that will give you a quick World Tour of the best real estate investing blogs around.

Quick disclaimer…

The internet is full of billions of websites and a ton of blogs. Don’t get your feelings hurt if your real estate investing blog is pretty darn good and not included. Either we don’t know about it yet (let us know about your blog so we can review it)… or it just doesn’t muster up to the others according to our “scientific” formula for rating the blogs.

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A few days ago I wrote a post about inefficiencies in the real estate industry, and how most investors who sell a home using a Realtor will end up overpaying if they pay a five or six percent commission.

I wrote a similar post over at ActiveRain, a real estate network populated primarily by Realtors. A fairly interesting dialogue ensued, but overall I felt about as welcome as Don Imus at a rap concert.

But no surprise there; ours isn’t an industry that embraces change. But some of the comments did illustrate the fact that working with Realtors is an important topic for real estate investors, and it’s one that’s worth spending a few minutes considering.

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There’s no getting around it: there’s simply too many real estate agents out there.

I wrote in a recent post that real estate investors who work with a Realtor will generally end up overpaying for their services; if you pay a $12,000 commission check it’s highly unlikely that you’ve actually gotten $12,000 worth of time or effort out of the Realtor that supported you. And note that a healthy portion of that fee will be passed directly to the buyer – the idea that “the buyer doesn’t pay a commission” is a myth.

This isn’t to suggest, however, that agents are greedy or that they’re raking in the big bucks. Average Realtor income, according to the National Association of Realtors, is under $50,000. This is more than the average elementary school teacher but less than a financial service representative or an engineer.

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It’s interesting how much mortgage interest rates dominate discussion in the mainstream media. One would think based on media coverage that rates are what dictate home prices and housing demand.

However, the latest numbers show that mortgage interest rates are actually lower now than they were last year.

The rate on a 15-year loan averaged 6.34 percent, down from 6.37 percent a week ago. A year ago, the 15-year rate averaged 6.43 percent.

Five-year Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) averaged 6.30 percent this week, down from 6.31 percent last week. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 6.39 percent.

One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 5.65 percent this week, down from 5.66 percent last week. At this time last year, they averaged 5.82 percent.
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There’s no getting around it: there’s simply too many real estate agents out there.

I wrote in a recent post that real estate investors who work with a Realtor will generally end up overpaying for their services; if you pay a $12,000 commission check it’s highly unlikely that you’ve actually gotten $12,000 worth of time or effort out of the Realtor that supported you. And note that a healthy portion of that fee will be passed directly to the buyer – the idea that “the buyer doesn’t pay a commission” is a myth.

This isn’t to suggest, however, that agents are greedy or that they’re raking in the big bucks. Average Realtor income, according to the National Association of Realtors, is under $50,000. This is more than the average elementary school teacher but less than a financial service representative or an engineer.

Read the rest of this entry »

As real estate markets begin to decline in many world regions, such as in North America and Europe, many people are investing their capital in other sectors altogether, simply choosing to leave real estate out of the equation.

This can, however, be a crucial mistake.

Why?Quite simply, the answer is that there are still many real estate markets that are definitely worth looking in to, and in which investing is a still a great opportunity.

One such market is the Australian real estate market.The immediate question, however, is why the Australian market is such a good one.

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From my experience (my own is no exception), one of the most difficult parts of investing in real estate successfully is determining if it is a deal or not.

I mean really… it may seem like a good deal… but how do you break it down to a science to give you a definite answer whether it is a deal or not?

Even better… how would you like to create a process that you follow each and every time that ensures you a nice profit.

Well, this is easier than you think.

When I first started out in real estate I would agonize over each property I looked at. I would look at the numbers, say “Well, this looks decent and if I can sell it for $X… I’ll make some money”.

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Hi all!

As you have noticed, there has been some weird things happening around here at The REI Brain.

No blog posts for weeks…

No website updates for weeks…

Dead links…

and a few more things that are bugging the heck out of me!

Anyhow, as you know, I am the VP of another company. In that position, I have been extremely busy finishing up some large projects and am still in the process of rolling out the projects to about 700k prospects. A BIG UNDERTAKING.

Among them, the comprehensive manual on “The Top 9 Ways to Sell Your Real Estate or Business: Pay LESS Taxes, Put MORE Cash in Your Pocket, Systematically Reach Your Goals”. (Shameless plug

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