Expand your Acquisition Strategies with Short Sales

Expand Your Acquisition Strategies By Getting Deep Discounts From Banks Through Short Sales AND Make Tons of Money In Real Estate

By Deb McMillan © 2008

You've probably heard that Real Estate is the way most Millionaires and Billionaires made their fortune. It's True! They bought from small single family residential units up to large multi unit buildings, put tenants in the units and collected rent. They paid off the mortgage. When you buy the property right (low) in the beginning and the rent payments are more than the monthly mortgage payments you've got cash flow-money to put back into the building, to keep it in good condition or in your pocket.

Over time the property increases in value and you've got appreciation. With enough appreciation over time- 10, 20, 30 years, the pay down of the balance of the loan over that same time period and the increased equity (the amount above the mortgage value) add to your asset column and you could be a millionaire. This does depend on the number of units, however, the more units- the higher the equity. The houses/units should be in a decent part of town, better than a war zone (drugs and shooting), so they do grow in value.

And how do you buy houses or multi's 'RIGHT' in today's market? When many houses have been refinanced once or twice and the homeowner now owes more than the house is worth? And the house needs repairs? It can be hard. Many of these houses are in Foreclosure. The homeowner is behind in their payments to the bank. The homeowner has refinanced or taken out a 2nd mortgage, possibly lost their job, and now can't afford to make the payments.

If you don't know how to get the bank to accept a discount on these properties when you buy, there is no way to solve these homeowner's problems, except foreclosure.

However, if you do know how to do a short sale or ask for a deep discount on these properties, from the bank, you can easily make your real estate portfolio grow.

What You Need:

1. The homeowner must be willing to sell their house. Typically this only happens when they realize there is no other way to avoid foreclosure except selling their house.
2. You get any documents from the homeowner, to prove they can no longer afford the house. Pay stubs, savings account statements, unemployment check stubs, hospital bills, death certificates of the breadwinners, etc. These documents will show a decreased income or additional expenses-death, funeral, medical bills. These will show there is less money available to make the house payment.
3. The bank will send an appraiser out to the house, to determine the current value of the house. The bank will often sell you the house for that value and often, times even less. If you and the bank can agree on a purchase price before the sheriff's sale, they are very happy to have you buy the house and stop the foreclosure. This is a great deal for the homeowner. It keeps foreclosure off of their credit report, which will keep their credit score higher, than if a foreclosure were on there. This is a big deal for the bank as they get a bad debt off their books and they don't look as bad financially to their stockholders. Also, the banker who worked the deal gets a commission. And best of all, you get a house at a great deal! I have found most of these pre-foreclosure houses to still be in better shape than houses I used to buy and rehab. You get inside these houses before you buy-unlike many houses you might buy at the sheriff's sale. If you're interested in learning more about buying houses in pre-foreclosure and getting Deep Discounts from the bank, you can log on to: www.shortsalequeen.com

Deb McMillan, OPHP, CMI, is a real estate investor and writer living in Hamilton, Ohio. She has written a home study course on Short Sale Success Systems, which teaches investors how to get deep discounts from the bank when buying pre-foreclosures. She has been investing in real estate since 1986 and buying, selling, and teaching short sale strategies since 2000. In Deb's home study course and seminars, you'll learn how to talk to sellers to get them to do what is necessary to save their credit. In addition, you will become familiar with bank negotiation strategies that will lead you to incredible savings when buying real estate. You will also learn about bankruptcy and what you can and can't do once a homeowner files. That, and so much more knowledge that will help close your deals awaits you!

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