Starting Out As A RE Investor

By Doc Schmyz

So you have decided to increase your personal wealth, and you lokking at real estate a a means to get there...good for you! some times people get over whelmed by the amount of information that is out there on the subject. Dont let this get to you. if you invest well, you will be rewarded with returns for years.

How do you start? Well lets take a look at a few time tested methods.

First things first where to find the information. In the last several years the amount of real estate investment groups has exploded. Find a local one and attend a meeting. And dont be afraid to ask the most basic of questions.

People gathered together with like minds create a social atmosphere that motivates new investors to take action. Club members share ideas with other members, discussing what works and what does not work in real estate investing.

Now dont buy anything just yet. You need to map out your "battle plan". What type of real estate are you intrested in? What are you willing to do with it? And what is your exit stratagy with it?

At first you need to decide on what type of property to start with. If your goal is to find distressed houses then focus on those. If you want to deal with the condo market..then thats where you look. Keep in mind when you focus on one area you will become more understanding of what those types of property can be sold for, not to mention how much it cost to get them sale ready.

Building your team is the hardest part of the whole process. You need to find good quality craftsmen who wont break your budget. Contractors, sub-contractors, plumbers, electrical guys...all of these are important. GREAT ones who do good work are harder to find then a good real estate deal. When you find one...hold on to them.

If you will be working with "fixer-upper" houses, line up a plumber and an electrician, as well as heating and air-conditioning experts. Better yet, find a reliable "handyman" who is capable of doing many of the jobs needed in fixing up houses.

Find a good agent. THis is harder then you might think. You see most agents dont work well with investors. Why? Investors want the agent to do tons of work the normal buyer doesnt. Offers counter offers...spread sheets to show profits and losses..not to mention all the surrounding research on the sales in the area in the last 6-12 months. A good agent will do this. a good agent understand that they may sell you more then one house in a years time..and that means repeat business for the agent.

Have an exit tatic in mind. This is a critical element of investing in real estate. How are you planning on selling this house once it is fixed and ready for market. How much room do you have on price so you sell it and still make a profit.

Are mistakes going to happen yes. They happen to every real estate investor..the trick is to learn how to spot them. the longer you hold on to a property the lower your profit.

Be resourcefull and pay attention to your bottom line. build a good team and you will have a nice profit at the end of every investment. - 23196

About the Author:

Doc Schmyz has worked with investors all over the US and Mexico. His free website shares Real estate investing information for all over the US. Find Real estate investing information by state

Getting Cash For Gold Now

By Frank Desantis

Maybe you have items of gold that have been bought for you that you no longer want to wear? This is more common than you would think and there are people with excess gold. Having gold items of jewelry stashed away in your home is pretty pointless. Especially when you consider that you could be benefiting from cash for gold.

To begin with you could take your gold to a pawn shop. Here you can either sell your gold or pawn it and pay to get it back later. Make sure you sell your gold and don't pawn it. The pawn shop owner will tell the amount he or she is willing to pay for your gold. If this is agreeable go for it and sell your gold. If not tell them and take it home with you.

Or why not try to get cash for gold by putting it for sale on an auction site? You will find that more people get to see the gold you have for sale. You need to put a good picture of the gold on the listing and set a price, if you wish. Be prepared to maybe get low offers for your gold as this can sometimes happen. Or if you don't mind how much it sells for just put it up and accept the best offer.

Some people like to sell their gold in their local paper. This is a very easy and straightforward way to get cash for gold. Due to this a lot of people like to sell gold in this way. So make sure that you put what price you would like for your gold in the advert and include your contact details. Before you know it you could have someone telephoning to enquire about the gold for sale.

Maybe you would prefer to sell your gold to a jewelers' shop. This is also a popular way to get cash for gold and a lot of jewelers will offer you a good price for your items. If you don't agree on the price you don't have to accept the offer and you can take your gold away with you.

As you can see there are plenty of ways that you can turn your old gold into cold hard cash. Choose the one that suits you the most and give it a try. In no time you could have sold your unwanted gold and be buying yourself something else. - 23196

About the Author:

Frank writes articles to help people not get ripped off when selling gold and to educate them about his cash for gold secrets.

Stock Scams That Madoff With Your Money!

By William R. Wiedow Ph.D.

Investors put their faith in the likes of Bernard Madoff, and this faith was betrayed! Barnard Madoff (Charles Ponzi 2) has become a real shame considering the current state of things in the financial markets. Today Madoff Type Stock Scams have hurt many people all over the globe.

Mr. Madoff used to be a highly respected financier and former chairman of the NASDAQ. He recently admitted to administrating a ponzi stock scam that cost innocent investors over 50 Billion Dollars!

What a horrible financial lost this has been to Wallstreet and Mainstreet! So maybe in the future we will all be better investors. Because this has to be the mother of all text book lessons to learn from what not to do! We must try to completely avoid this type of scam in our remaining years as stock investors.

The ultimate con artist in world history is a one Mr. Charles Ponzi who invented The Ponzi Scheme in the early 20th century. Like Mr Madoff in the 21th century, Ponzi took all the profits from the top of his money pyramid and left little or nothing for the later investors at the bottom of the money pyramid. It is true that some investors did indeed make money with Ponzi and Madoff but most people did not make a penny.

Barnard Madoff's Empire like Charles Ponzi's Empire before him had a destiny of failure and an a appointment with the Big House. But at this point there is much to learn from these two scam artist, and we better take the time to learn because if we don't, guys like these could make all stock investors pennyless!

First of all, it is always important to diversify when investing. Madoff Type Stock Scams thrive on ignorant investors. Make sure to put your funds in a variety of investments. It is too risky to put every dollar of your financial assets into just one. Another tip is to avoid investments that look too good to be true.

Looking back on Madoff and his years of paper trail scaming, it seem impossible that anyone in their right mind could fall for this con artist! The stock market went up some years and Madoff made investors money and the stock market went down some years and Madoff made investors money? it's just a Fantastical Investor Fantasy! Not to say you can't make money in Bull and Bear markets, but it takes real investor savvy the kind that Madoff did not have one iota of. He just had the con artist savvy to relieve people of their money.

We pay taxes to support services to help us and some tax money goes to The SEC. But in The Madoff Affair The SEC did next to nothing? We all know YOU ARE TAKING A RISK WHEN YOU INVEST and this risk should be under the umbrella of The SEC, but it certainly was not in The Madoff Affair. Madoff scamed large banks savvy stock brokers, people with MBA's and more, so if you were just a Madoff average investor I would not feel too bad because Mr. Madoff got the best of them. Of course if you were a Madoff Victim there is a great website you can go to for help: bernardmadoffvictims.com

We just can't get away from the fact that we all get defrauded sometimes and for the individual investor it would be safer to stay away from risky Hedge Funds and stick with Mutual Funds, Bank CD's, Gold or Silver. This may not make you a smarter investor, but at worse you would have a better chance of retaining your investment captial. This year of 2009 being what it is you may just want to leave most of your cash in the bank. (c) 2009 William R. Wiedow Ph.D. - 23196

About the Author:

William R. Wiedow Ph.D. Has had 25 years of experence as a Stock Broker, Day Trader and Private Stock/Futures Newsletter Writer. Dr.Wiedow has had a life long passion for uncovering business and investing scams using his contacts in over 34 countries. His insightfull articles on business and investing can be found at: wallstreet

Forex Trade - A Basic Concept

By Bart Icles

Forex, Foreign exchange, or plain FX are the terms used to describe the trading of the word's currencies. Forex market is the world's biggest market with trade deals exceeding 3 trillion dollars a day, 24/7. Trading in Forex in general is done speculatively. Unlike stock trading, it is not conducted by a central exchange, but on five major trading centers around the world namely: New York, Frankfurt, London, Tokyo, and Sydney. Forex trading takes place between two counterparts either from telephone or on electronic networks all over the world.

Currency trade is the buying and selling of one currency to another. This currency combination is called a "cross", e.g. the US dollar/ther Euro, or the GB pound/Japanese yen. Most commonly traded currencies are aptly named majors: EURUSD, USDJPY, GBPUSD, USDCHF. Spot market is the most important Forex market as it has the largest volume. This is termed so because traders are settled immediately or are "on the spot".

The major advantages of trading Forex is the opportunity to trade in a 24/7 basis, which offers traders to react instantly to major developments currently affecting the market. With its liquidity, Forex trades can always be done with a steady stream of buyers and sellers. With this, price stability and narrow spreads, especially that of the major currencies is greatly ensured. The liquidity is mainly derived from banks that provided liquidity to investors, institutions, companies, and other market players.

No commissions are often done in trading which makes an enticing come-on for investors who deal on a frequent basis. Due to its high level of liquidity, trading the "majors" is cheaper than trading the "cross".

Whatever the relation of one currency to another is, there are always trading opportunities to be had because of the constant movement of the market. Trading currencies involves pitting one currency with another. Take an example of the major currencies EUROUSD. If this declines, it means that either the USD is getting stronger than the EURO, or the USD is weakening against it. So, if a trader sees that this happening ( EURO will weaken vs the dollar), he would sell EURO now and buy back at a other time at a lower price, or vice versa.

Forex trading is very risky, yet also full of potential. Risk management should be one of the most important aspects a trader has to consider in order to stay successfully in the business. - 23196

About the Author:

The best traders follow their forex charts and don't force trades. Also, we feel that the ability to use the forex trading platform with some skill greatly enhances a trader's success.

How To Scope Out Investment Opportunities

By Mr Christopher Latter

The eyes of almost everyone are now on the investment opportunities. People are trying to get richer and richer and in the course, they are on a constant of search of newer and newer potential investment opportunities. There are plenty of investment schemes that offer huge opportunities for the investors to make their fortune. Few of these opportunities include mutual funds, stock investments, real estate investments and several others. However the secret to master the investment opportunity lies in scoping out investment opportunities. To acquire this, all that one needs to have is a basic idea on how the market operates under various circumstances at various points of time. in addition to this, one also has to accumulate enough funds to carry out his plans. Following are few areas that one can employ in order to make the best out of the investing opportunities available.

The secret underlying the success in investment lies in figuring out the investment opportunities. Primarily one should have a basic knowledge on the areas in which the one is planning to invest his money in. for this one can make use of some investment education offered by several agencies or organizations to help oneself choose the best field for his investment. Following are few ideas that help you to scope out the investment opportunities in several areas.

Real estate includes various types of properties such as land, office complexes, new homes or any other rented properties and assets that are fixed and immovable. investment opportunities in the real estate sector are all about buying assets so as to make profits by selling them at a later point of time. Dividends from these assets due to possession or by deriving other benefits like rents also come in this category. Real estate investment is very much profitable during the phases of industrialization and urbanization as the productivity increases.

Another prospective investment opportunity is the stock market. There is no other place that has got as much wider public than the stock market. Before heading right away investing in the stock market, it is highly advised to careful research and analyzes the current trends of the area you are planning to invest in the stock market. The investor should be able to make wise decisions in choosing the right stock. One can also take the help of a professional advisor in preferring the appropriate stock that benefits oneself.

There are three basic criterions to determine the scope of stock investment opportunities. Before getting started you have to acquire basic understanding of stocks through various types of investing education available. You can even consult a good financial stock broker to acquire the knowledge. This is very helpful if you have less time available to concentrate.

Now let us look at the criterions. The first and the foremost criterion is to check if the stock has competitive advantages, good cash flows, healthy financial strength and reasonable debt. After this you have to know, if the company which provides you the stock has expert leadership, trustworthy administration and healthy management. You have to be sure that you investment goes in to stocks which have very poor and dull future prospects. These strategies will help you gain good profits through stocks.

Mutual funds are one among the safest Investment opportunities. You have to see which mutual funds give good yields in lesser period of time and more over you have to know, if you can get any other associated benefits such as tax benefits and insurance coverage's. You have to choose the best Mutual funds scheme based on your priorities.

Traditional IRAs too are good investment opportunities. Choose the best IRA that best fits your requirement. Beware of the hidden things underlying the IRA schemes. Evaluate the possible pitfalls beforehand in order to avoid undesired things from coming your way. - 23196

About the Author:

Learn more about scoping out investment opportunities in order to return large profits, visit a large list of other useful information on great investment opportunities