Category: Property

The Fatal Mistakes that Will Kill Real Estate Profits

estate profitsInvesting in real estate is a sure thing, right? It’s really easy isn’t it Wrong and wrong again. Sure, if you are good at it, investing in real estate can be a very safe investment, but it is by no means a sure thing, and it can be pretty tough going if you aren’t prepared for it.

That being said, you shouldn’t be put off from such an investment because investing in property can often be the safest option. What you should do is avoid making the following fatal mistakes that will kill your real estate profits and make your life more difficult than it needs to be:

Not Casting a Wide Enough Net

The worst thing you can do when investing in real estate is not spending enough time looking at enough properties. If you’re too eager to get started and you just throw all of your money at the first promising property you find, you’ll probably end up with fewer returns and more problems that you would have if only you’d taken your time.

Choosing a Property Because You Love It

It might seem like buying a property because you love it is anything but a mistake and that might be true if you plan to live in it yourself, but if you’re buying it as an investment, you need to put your serious hat on and choose your property because it’s being sold at a good price, it’s in a neighborhood that’s up-and-coming, and you can actually make some money from it. Sure, if you love it, that’s a bonus, but it should never be the sole reason that you buy.

Thinking Your On Flip or Flop

Flip or Flop is undoubtedly entertaining TV, but if you think that your property investment project will be just like the ones on the show – you’ll buy at a ridiculously low price, renovate the building to an amazingly high standard in a ridiculously short period of time and sell it on for a ridiculous price, you’re in for some major disappointment. Although that kind of stuff can and does happen, it’s uncommon, and unless you’re a skilled investor with lots of construction skills and lots of time and money, your journey is likely to be a lot more slow and steady.

Not Using a Property Management Company

Property management from Opulent Real Estate Group takes all of the hard work out of your hands and ensures that you can find good tenants quickly and that any repairs or issues are solved quickly, usually with very little input for you. A lot of real estate investors think they can manage their portfolio by themselves to save a little money, but it soon becomes evident that they are out of their depth and things can go south quickly. Don’t let that be you and hire a property management company.

Not Doing Your Due-Diligence

It should go without saying, but you must do every check it is possible to do before you buy a property. If you don’t do that, you might be surprised (and not in a good way) by damp, bad neighbors, a new development that sees the value of your property plummet and so on!

Avoid these fatal mistakes and a decent real estate investment profit you are likely to make!

The Essential Guide To Building An Investment Portfolio

investment portfolioThe idea of having an investment portfolio may conjure up images of suited and booted individuals, well-coiffed, pinstriped and ready for a day on the trading floor. While you may wish to invest in stocks and shares, you don’t have to be a professional to do it. Many novice investors are now choosing to speculate on a range of financial ventures rather than allow their tasty little nest eggs to accrue only the minimal interest as they wallow in savings accounts. Take a look at these options that you could explore to build your very own investment portfolio.

Property

Nearly everyone has a friend nowadays who has purchased a second property to rent out. Becoming a landlord is getting easier with the emergence of companies like 719Rent.com who will allow you to relinquish the practical responsibilities of being a landlord and just recoup the financial rewards. For a small fee, they will screen your tenants, sort out any maintenance issues and always remain up to date with current relevant legislation.

All you need to worry about is sourcing the property in the first place. It’s a good idea to stick to well established rental areas with high-quality housing stock. If you can purchase the worst pad on the best street and carry out some minor renovations, you can also outperform the market. Long-term, property is a sound investment if you ensure that the rental payments you receive each month cover your mortgage costs.

Cryptocurrency

While you won’t want to place all of your monetary eggs into the bitcoin basket, you could still jump on the cryptocurrency bandwagon by using an exchange like the ones mentioned at techradar.com. The rollercoaster ride is not for the faint-hearted as daily falls in value can be as much as 35%, but equally astronomic rises have also been well documented. With Bitcoin ending 2017 at a value of nearly $20,000, it’s obvious why novice investors want a piece of the action. If you do invest in Ripple, Ethereum or Bitcoin, you need to keep abreast of the fluctuations daily and buy and sell at the right time. This is made difficult by a volatile market and no accurate way of forecasting values in the future.

Wine

The idea of investing in wine may seem like a novelty and a tad odd, but people have been doing it for decades. If you can do your research and locate a decent vintage year such as a 1982 Beaujolais or a 1991 Riesling, you could be onto a sound long-term investment. Buy a case or two, store it at a central facility and sit on your investment of wine. As the vintage becomes more scarce, it will gain an antique like quality, and plenty of wine collectors will pay top dollar for your rare bottles.

Having a portfolio of investments means spreading your risk. While you might want to have a dabble down all of these investment avenues, ensure that you hold some money back in your savings account for a rainy day and always keep your eye out for new and exciting ventures.

Knowing Your Retirement Options: Ways to Get a Little Extra Cash

retirement cashGenerally speaking, the kind of people who focus on retirement tend to be those who are fast approaching retirement age. But this doesn’t have to be the case! In fact, more people really should start thinking about their retirement sooner rather than later. You’re not going to be able to work forever, and when the day comes that you deserve to kick back and relax, breaking ties with the nine to five working world, you’re going to want to be able to live as comfortable a lifestyle as possible. This can only be made possible by having sufficient finances. Now, a retirement plan will be able to put all of this in place for you. But it’s always good to have a few ideas stored away and a few tricks up your sleeve just in case you find yourself in need of a little extra cash when retirement does come around. Here are just a few to keep tucked away in your mind.

Reverse Mortgages

By the time you’re looking at retirement, you may think that mortgages are a thing of the past. Hopefully, you will have already paid yours off. However, it’s always good to be aware that if you are looking for extra cash to make your retirement more comfortable, you can always take some equity back out of your property without having to sell up. This is where a reverse mortgage can come into play. In order to know exactly how much you can gain from a reverse mortgage, you will have to have a fair amount of personal information. This may include your property’s value, it’s age, and any repairs that it may need to be carried out. Your own age at the time of taking out the reverse mortgage would also be taken into account. However, for a more general idea of the money you could hope for, you can always use reverse mortgage calculator aarp.

Savings Accounts

We’ve all been taught since we were little that we should save a little cash for a rainy day. Well, believe it or not, there are likely to be more and more rainy days the longer you’ve been out of work. Many people find themselves becoming increasingly bored and wanting to treat themselves to something a little special to put a smile back on their faces. Savings accounts can provide these little extra boosts for occasional pick me ups. So open an account as soon as possible. Deposit money in it regularly. This can be a relatively small amount. Something that you won’t notice missing. The cash that you’d usually fritter away on bits and bobs that you really don’t need. However, these small amounts really will mount up over time, and way down the line, when you finally dip into the cash, you’ll really thank yourself for it.

These are just a couple of ways that you can make yourself a little comfier and more content in retirement when the time does roll around. While retirement may not be top of your priorities right now, it could take up a large part of your life, so keep it in the back of your mind at all times.

Don’t Let Your Home Be The Cause Of Financial Problems

home money issueWhile home ownership is the goal that many people share in life, very few homeowners actually consider the negatives of home ownership. That is until they are a problem for them. Although for the most part, home ownership is a fantastic financial choice, there are also times when owning a home can have a detrimental impact on your financial health. However, this is usually when you don’t take the necessary steps to protect yourself and your home from financial issues. To learn more about protecting yourself from financial problems that could be caused by your home, read on.

Protect your property from the unexpected

There are times in life when we choose to skip paying certain bills because we see them as being necessary. Whatever you do, don’t make property insurance ones of them. The fact is that anything could happen at any time, which is why taking out homeowners insurance from a reputable company like Trusted Choice is so important. Whether a storm hits and destroys your home, a house fire ruins your property, or a break-in leaves your home in tatters, it is vital that you have adequate protection in place. Every home needs insurance, because the fact is, you never know what might happen, and it is always best to be protected.

Make maintenance a priority

A common mistake that far too many homeowners make, which turns their properties into money pits, is not taking maintenance seriously. If you take the time look after your home and deal with any issues that occur as and when they do, your home should remain in better shape. However, if you leave these issues to worsen over time and don’t deal with them, then you may end up with a home that is falling apart and will cost a lot of money to put back together again. If you aren’t big on household DIY, don’t let that put you off of keeping up with your home’s maintenance, call out a contractor instead. Never put off with household problems as they will only end up costing you more to fix.

Invest for the future

If you want to ensure that should you want to sell your home in the future, you are able to do so easily, and for a good price, it is important to keep your property up to date. This means being willing to invest in new technologies as and when they are available, such as solar power, for instance. These kinds of investments will come at a cost, but the fact is that by choosing to invest in them, you can give yourself and your future the financial security needed. The more up to date a property is, the more easily it should sell.

There you have it, a guide to everything that you should know about ensuring that your home is not the cause of financial problems. Take note of the tips above, and you can make sure that home ownership does not leave you in a financial hole.

Advice For A First-Time Business Owner

time for businessIf you have entrepreneurial determination then that’s a good starting place for a business. Of course, it’s only one component of many. You need to think about your own experience or expertise regarding the management of a business, how you’re going to fund such a venture, how many other people you might need to hire to help you with this company, and, most importantly, what type of business you’re going to start. Money is probably the biggest worry on your mind but if you focus on making sure all other components of your business are running smoothly then the profits will look after themselves. Here’s some more detailed advice for any first-time business owners out there.

Become a real boss.

You might have an innovative idea and qualifications in a certain line of business but that isn’t going to be enough to transform you into a successful business owner. When you’re the boss of a company, you need to be an all-rounder. For example, if you’re running a legal business then it isn’t enough to simply have a qualification in law. You need to know how to manage finances, marketing, and, most importantly of all, people. If you want your business to get off the ground then you need to learn how to manage your team and fill them with the same passion for the company that you feel. Making that step will transform you from somebody with a great idea into somebody with a great business.

Research the market.

It’s your job to drive the direction of the company. You might have a good business plan at the moment but the market is always changing. You need to update your approach in order to adapt to a changing industry. You need an enticing and widespread online presence in this digitally-driven era of business, as we’ll discuss in the next point, so you might want to look into online companies such as Youi Pty Limited, who deal specifically with buying and selling goods online, for a little insight into their credit ratings and financial situation.

It’s important that you take note from other companies, whether they’re in your industry or not, so as to not only get an idea of what they’ve been doing well but what they haven’t been doing well. The great thing about being the second or third business to dive into a certain industry is that you don’t have to make the same mistakes as the companies that took the plunge first. You can save yourself a lot of money and time by figuring out how to cut straight to “Successville”.

Get your online marketing campaign right.

As touched upon in the point above, you need a strong online marketing approach in order for your business to succeed. You might not be a marketing expert but you should certainly get marketing professionals to help you if that’s the case. The “build it and they will come” mentality doesn’t always work because there’s a lot of competition offering the same products and services as your business. You need to stand out from the crowd if you want consumers to come to you. Figure out how to optimize the content on your website and social media pages so as to climb the rankings on Google and other search engines. That’ll get you in front of your target market.