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Articles from Bryan Benson | Selfgrowth.com
- Private Lenders - by Submitted on May 02, 2008 from Bryan BensonSay you have a subject to. How can you give a first mortgage to a private lender if you are going to be making the mortgage payments? First things first! That is kind of a trick question because you can borrow both first and seconds from private lenders. Did you know this? Now private ...
Views: 963 - Is Your Number Important On Your Yellow Letter? Pt.2 - by Submitted on May 02, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart II In part one we talked about the importance of the yellow letter calls. The important part was not only the number being used but, more importantly, we talked about who was answering the call! It is irrelevant who you use (as far as which company), but there are ones already programmed ...
Views: 754 - Is Your Number Important On Your Yellow Letter? Pt.1 - by Submitted on May 02, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart I How important is the number listed in your yellow letter - very! Many people think an 800 number is the way to go, but this is simply not the case. Think about it - you don't want somebody answering it like they are a business; you want it to sound like it's going to be you. And ...
Views: 905 - Watch for the Red Flag - by Submitted on May 02, 2008 from Bryan BensonHere is a situation for you. Say you have some property that you have bought subject to. You have owned it for a year or two and there is some pretty good equity in it. We will even take it a step further. Now we are going to add to the situation. Let’s say you have a couple of properties ...
Views: 783 - How Do You Define What a Good Mailing List Is? Part 2 - by Submitted on May 02, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart 2 Most people become discouraged and get hung up in the response rate. The response rate is irrelevant people. What relevant is how much money did you spend, and how much did you get back? It doesn't make any difference what the response rate is... it really doesn't matter how many calls ...
Views: 707 - How Do You Define What a Good Mailing List Is? Part 1 - by Submitted on May 02, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart 1 Many people worry about mailing lists, but you need to remember; with mailing lists is it not hard. There are a whole bunch of them to choose from. It truly depends on what you want to target. Say you are looking for pretty houses. And for the sake of argument let’s say you are ...
Views: 717 - Appraisals Part II - by Submitted on Apr 30, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart II In part one we talked about the importance of getting appraisals. We talked about why this is important and we even looked at a situation involving the appraisal of a piece of property. You have rehabbed the property and are making the last minute decisions on aesthetics. You have ...
Views: 798 - Appraisals Part I - by Submitted on Apr 30, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart I Time and time again I have told people to get their own appraisals. This is what you need to be thinking. This is how your mindset needs to be. If I go out and ask somebody to get an appraisal what credibility does it have unless I go through somebody that a bank would also vouch for? ...
Views: 776 - War Zone Property - Part II - by Submitted on Apr 30, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart II Remember our war zone property? Remember the house you purchased for a steal? Now you are desperately trying to sell your home. In fact, you have made such great improvements to the whole property that if you were selling it in another location, you could get four or five times the ...
Views: 820 - Facing The Opposition - Part II - by Submitted on Apr 28, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart II In part I we talked about our property that was filled with mobile homes. We are ready to turn this into a residential property. Where do we go from here? A good engineer would be able to guide you to the highest and best use, and cost you very little money up front. Go to them and ...
Views: 728 - Facing The Opposition - Part I - by Submitted on Apr 28, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart I Say you have a 40-acre mobile home park, two blocks off the Gulf of Mexico in central Florida. And you have tenants. You have many, many tenants. What you really want is the land the mobiles homes sits on. Do you have any theories of what it takes to close down a mobile home park and ...
Views: 1124 - Criteria For Equities - Part II - by Submitted on Apr 28, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart II In part one we were working on a deal. We were going over the four important criteria. The first criterion was to have a good low monthly payment. The second was making sure the property you are purchasing is in excellent condition. Third, you will kind of want people to be moving into ...
Views: 747 - Criteria With Small Equities - Part I - by Submitted on Apr 25, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart I Say you are in a small town in the south. In fact, let’s say you are in Arkansas. And in Arkansas they have a lot of pre-foreclosures with small equities, like $3,000.00-$4,000.00 equity. Is there anything there worth fishing? It depends. This answer may seem vague, but you need ...
Views: 709 - Agreement For Deed And Other Questions - Part II - by Submitted on Apr 25, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart II In part one we left off deciding whether or not we would drop the agreement for deed. I would highly encourage you not to drop back to the agreement for deed, land contract or rap mortgage (they call them by a lot of different names). I would tell you that 99% of business, I sell on a ...
Views: 911 - Agreement For Deed And Other Questions - Part I - by Submitted on Apr 25, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart I Can a second mortgage holder force a foreclosure? This is a question you might be asking yourself if you are in the situation! The answer to that is: Certainly. Now of course it certainly cannot hurt the first mortgagee’s position but they can certainly force a foreclosure. In ...
Views: 1009 - What Is The Best Way To Go When Using Comps? Part II - by Submitted on Apr 24, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart II As we talked about in part 1, using comps requires a little more than just relying on data. I also talked briefly about the sophistication of the valuation model. The truth is, it just is not that sophisticated. Basically what I am saying is do the comps (just use the more recent comps ...
Views: 721 - What Is The Best Way To Go When Using Comps? Part I - by Submitted on Apr 24, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart I Kind of along the same line as how to determine the value of the market, you may question the best way to go when using comps. Many people wonder, is real quest the best way to go for that? There are a few who tend to think they are very conservative (and in the seller markets it always ...
Views: 772 - Know Your Answers Before You Close So You Know Whether to Pass or Play - by Submitted on Apr 24, 2008 from Bryan BensonSay you have a house that a woman wants to sell to you. In fact, let’s say it is your first deal (for all of you first time dealers out there, this one is for you). So the house has two little apartments that have been added to the side. Is this a good deal? This may be the question you ...
Views: 769 - Questioning Whether the Value of Your Property Will Rise...or Fall? Part II - by Submitted on Apr 23, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart II In part one you had just purchased your property. You had it titled in your name rather than in your LLC. You were going to bank to get a loan. You also have hired an appraiser to figure out the true worth of the home. Now you need to title it. Keep this in mind. You can actually ...
Views: 769 - Questioning Whether the Value of Your Property Will Rise...or Fall? Part I - by Submitted on Apr 23, 2008 from Bryan BensonDid you just purchase your property? Say you just bought a property and it wasn't through anyone person in particular, it was just on the regular market. It was with a builder who was offering a whole lot of discounts to move the property before the end of the year in a new development. Your ...
Views: 664 - How Do You Get a Good Market Value on Things? - by Submitted on Apr 23, 2008 from Bryan BensonThis is something that many people are unsure of... There may not be a lot of information out there on how to get a good market value on things. Say your area has been a really fiery hot market for a couple of years with property values going up in the double digits. Say you have just started in ...
Views: 891 - Retail: How to tell what is up and coming - by Submitted on Apr 22, 2008 from Bryan BensonWhat do you want to know? Maybe you have a few questions about how to know the difference between what is retail now and what will be retail in six months. Say you are in a market where progress is going to explode! In fact, it is going to happen very rapidly! Say you also have a couple of ...
Views: 729 - Is Your Approach Working? Do you need to work on your approach? - by Submitted on Apr 22, 2008 from Bryan BensonAre you not feeling confident about your approach? Are not feeling confident about your interactions? What is the best way to approach? Say you have been going on the Internet and getting foreclosure lists and sending postcards. Let’s take it a step further-say you have even been putting ...
Views: 750 - Get Those Houses Sold! Part VI - by Submitted on Apr 21, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart VI In part I, we talked about our situation. Excess homes-not enough buyers. We left off in part one talking about what you needed to do. Part II gave us strategies and identified the problem of your processes. We talked about the potential gimmicks and strategies for selling your homes. ...
Views: 1111 - Get Those Houses Sold! Part V - by Submitted on Apr 21, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart V In part I, we talked about our situation. It boiled down to this-excess home, no buyers. And to top it off the market is flooded with excess homes. We left off in part one talking about what you needed to do. Part II talked about your strategies and identifying the problem of your ...
Views: 758 - Get Those Houses Sold! Part IV - by Submitted on Apr 21, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart IV In part I, we talked about our situation. It boiled down to this-excess home, no buyers. And to top it off the market is flooded with excess homes. We left off in part one talking about what you needed to do. Part II talked about your strategies and identifying the problem of your ...
Views: 703 - Get Those Houses Sold! Part III - by Submitted on Apr 18, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart III In part I, we talked about our situation. It boiled down to having excess homes and not enough buyers. Part one focused on talking about what you needed to do. Part II talked about your strategies and identifying the problem of your processes. We talked about gimmicks and strategies ...
Views: 757 - Get Those Houses Sold! Part II - by Submitted on Apr 18, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart II In part I, we talked about our situation. It boiled down to this-excess home, no buyers. And to top it off the market is flooded with excess homes. We left off in part one talking about what you need to do. The biggest thing you might find yourself needing is cash flow. Now you may get ...
Views: 770 - Get Those Houses Sold! Part I - by Submitted on Apr 18, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart I Now I’d like to talk about a situation that you (hopefully) will not find yourself in. It may be important to talk about it. Say you have a few homes that have been for sale for quite some time. For the sake of argument, let’s say you have six houses. You have a market that ...
Views: 773 - Vacant House: What's My Move? - by Submitted on Apr 17, 2008 from Bryan BensonHere’s a scenario for you. Say you have an option on a house for sale and it is out of state. It has been on the market (off and on) for over five years. The house is vacant as the owner lives out of state. What do you do? The answer to your problem is to auction it. Many people have been ...
Views: 705 - A Seller's Market: Do You Know Where To Shop? - by Submitted on Apr 17, 2008 from Bryan BensonWhere is the best place to find people who need or want to sell their homes? Now this is a good question. This is also a loaded question. Yes, you may be talking about the best place to find people who want or need to sell their homes, but we may also be talking about the best technique in which ...
Views: 730 - Agreement for Deed: What You Need To Know - by Submitted on Apr 17, 2008 from Bryan BensonHave you heard of agreement for deed but you’re not really sure if this would apply to you? Not really sure of how it would work for you? Let’s say you have a mobile home that you took subject to for $21,500.00 and you got it priced at $39,900.00. The property also sits on about ...
Views: 776 - Loan To Value Ratio: Know Your Numbers - by Submitted on Apr 16, 2008 from Bryan BensonSay you have an arm of 4.25 with a loan balance of $178,000.00 that you can take as subject-to on that and you are getting the asking price of $325,000.00 for this house. What are you figuring the loan to value ratio for? Now you may be doing this for a private lender because you need the ...
Views: 720 - IRA - by Submitted on Apr 16, 2008 from Bryan BensonYears ago, people kept their money in one location-usually under their mattress! People did not trust banks and sometimes people hid their money in locations in their home. Crazy to think about isn’t it! Nowadays, people have money in countless varieties of funds, accounts and ...
Views: 817 - Commercial Real Estate: What is my role? - by Submitted on Apr 16, 2008 from Bryan BensonLet’s take a moment to talk about commercial real estate and your specific role in a deal. Sometimes you might need a little more clarity on a situation. Say you are really unsure about the finder’s fee and what constitutes relinquishing the deal? Still not seem clear to you? The ...
Views: 766 - Sign The Deed And Close The Contract? - by Submitted on Apr 15, 2008 from Bryan BensonSay you have a great deal and you are just waiting to close it out. In fact, tomorrow your plan is to get the deed (if they are willing to give it to you). Then, if they are willing to give you the deed you will need to get it signed. After getting it signed, you should have them review the ...
Views: 940 - Completing A Deal On Your IRA Part 3 - by Submitted on Apr 15, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart 3: What it means to you In part one we talked about what it really means to complete a deal on your IRA. You have just completed the deal. And not you have placed a large sum ($40,000) into your IRA. It was easy-almost too easy right? What do you think about next? You do have to keep in ...
Views: 778 - Completing A Deal On Your IRA Part 2 - by Submitted on Apr 15, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart 2: What it means to you Say you have just completed a deal on your IRA. What does this really mean? Let’s talk about the hubbub this can create with your advisors when you do something like this. It basically starts with someone who (for whatever reason or multitude of reasons) just ...
Views: 732 - Completing a Deal on your IRA, Part One - by Submitted on Apr 14, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart One: What is Means Say you have a deal that you want to sign right away (like tomorrow!) and you would like to do the deal on your IRA. Are you unsure of how to proceed? Do you do a trust and then your IRA will need an option from the trust? Have you found yourself in a situation you are ...
Views: 674 - Questions about Auctions: What you need to Know! Part Five - by Submitted on Apr 14, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart Five: The art of negotiation We’ve talked about the basics of auctioning in part one. In part two we started to talk about what I call the nitty-gritty. We talked about what to do with the auctioneer and how to go about getting involved in the auction. We also talked about the ...
Views: 726 - Questions about Auctions: What you need to Know! Part Four - by Submitted on Apr 14, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart Four: Auction this, Auction that We have come full circle! In part one we talked about the basics of auctioning. Part two we touched on the nitty-gritty and about how to handle the auctioneer and how to get involved with the auction. Part three we really got to know our motivated seller. ...
Views: 694 - Questions About Auctions: What You Need To Know! Part Three - by Submitted on Apr 09, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart Three: The Motivated Seller We’ve talked about the basics of auctioning in part one. In part two we started to talk about what I call the nitty-gritty. We talked about what to do with the auctioneer and how to go about getting involved in the auction. We also talked about the ...
Views: 676 - Questions About Auctions: What You Need To Know! Part Two - by Submitted on Apr 09, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart Two: The Nitty-Gritty So you have decided to try your hand at an auction. We talked about the basics of an auction in part one. Mainly, you learned whether or not you should participate in an auction (as a seller) in terms of price for your property. Now we’ll dive a little deeper ...
Views: 717 - Questions About Auctions: What You Need To Know! Part One - by Submitted on Apr 09, 2008 from Bryan BensonPart One: The Basics Do you have a home that you would like to get rid of but just aren’t sure how? Maybe an auction is right for you. Auctions are becoming increasingly important to talk about. The worst thing you can do is agree to an auction (not knowing a thing about them). We are ...
Views: 714 - The Perfect Time To Consider A Lease Option Part II - by Submitted on Apr 08, 2008 from Bryan BensonWhen you are buying is there really a perfect time to consider a lease option? As we talked about in part I, there is never a perfect time to consider a lease option. Here is an idea on how to get things subject to: with a minor modification on your presentation you might be able to convince ...
Views: 749 - The Perfect Time To Consider A Lease Option Part I - by Submitted on Apr 08, 2008 from Bryan BensonWhen you are buying is there really a perfect time to consider a lease option? You have found the perfect house and you are being pressured to consider a lease option. If you were to ask this question to one hundred different investors you just might get one hundred different answers. The ...
Views: 786 - Questions About Raw Land? - by Submitted on Apr 07, 2008 from Bryan BensonAre you sitting on top of a parcel of land that is a gold mine waiting to happen? Is this land just perfect-except the land is contaminated! Contaminated-what happened to your gold? Let’s look at this kind of situation, because it happens regularly enough and should be talked about. Say ...
Views: 782 - How To proceed In Land Trust Part IV - by Submitted on Apr 07, 2008 from Bryan BensonRemember our friend? The owner who still hasn’t left our home? What are you going to do? Okay go back through your pretty house manual and look at a few of your exit strategies again and know that you need to be able to move them as quick as you can (just in case you can't get anything ...
Views: 646 - How To Proceed In Land Trust Part III - by Submitted on Apr 07, 2008 from Bryan BensonRemember your great house? Remember the great deal with the potential to make an additional 20%? And lastly, remember the owner who is still living in your house? As we said in part II, you need to get the owner out of there. In case you cannot come up with the money to cash this thing out, ...
Views: 713 - How Do You Proceed In A Land Trust? Part II: Deciding Upon Your Exit Strategy - by Submitted on Apr 05, 2008 from Bryan BensonIn part I we discussed the perfect home you were in the process of purchasing. At this point, you are making the decision of what to do with the home. We have discussed the strategy of keeping the home for an extended period of time to see if the property value increases. Another thing that you ...
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