Are high-profit real estate deals only for the wealthy? Is it possible to buy with no money down? Do you really have to know the “right” people? Let’s answer by looking at some of the myths of real estate.

1. The good real estate deals are reserved for the wealthy. Of course money helps, but my first deal was a $3,500 lot – which I sold for a profit two weeks after I bought it. Smaller deals, using partners, low-down deals, or just putting aside $7 per day for a couple years until you have enough money for a downpayment – these are some of the ways to start with a little and invest in real estate.

2. “Zero down” isn’t possible. I sold a rental property for $1,000 down because I trusted the buyer, and I wanted the 9% interest and higher price. A cash-advance on a credit card for the $1,000 ($30 per month payments) would have made it a “zero down” deal. “Zero down” means none of YOUR money down, and yes, it happens.

3. “No money down” is the best way. When you don’t invest some of your own money, you have higher payments. You also spend more time finding suitable properties, and pay more for them (cooperative sellers naturally want more profit for their cooperation). There are zero-down deals out there – they just aren’t always worth doing.

4. You need a lot of experience. It helps, but you get it by investing. Start with common sense, be willing to learn the numbers, and you can start where you are.

5. Good investors have a “knack” for making money. Well, sort of. But more accurately, they just took the time and risk to learn the market and to continue their education.

6. You have to know the “right” people. This is another partly true myth. It does help, so why not start the process? Talk to other investors, real estate agents, landlords, etc.

7. Great negotiating skills are necessary. Negotiating skills help with real estate deals? Of course, but learn to run the numbers and make offers based on them, and you can be the worst negotiator and still do okay.

8. You have to have insider knowledge. Insider, outsider, whatever. You do need knowledge, but understand one deal, and you are on your way. Study, and study more, but the best “insider” knowledge comes from experience.

9. Fixer-uppers are the safest way to go. Poorly planned “fix and flips” have bankrupted even experienced investors. Most poorly purchased rental properties will only eat a little money every month, and grow in value over time. Fixer uppers are for making money faster, not more safely.

10. You need to make lowball offers. Low offers may help, but the numbers have to work, and you need a plan. You can offer MORE than the market price and make money investing in real estate. Just learn how to run the numbers before you do any real estate deals.

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If you are flipping a property, you need to find buyers fast in order to make money. You can find buyers quickly by meeting investors and other potential customers at local business events and auctions and by building online mailing lists that you can send to potential buyers.

House flipping is attractive because it allows you to start making money right away. You don’t have to rent out the property, take care of taxes and management costs for months or years, and you don’t have to wait around waiting for buyers. The idea behind flipping is that you buy distressed property, turn it around, and sell it quickly to someone as soon as the renovations are done. The trick, of course, is to find buyers who are willing to buy quickly. If you’re planning on flipping a house but cannot find a buyer quickly, the delay in selling will mean lost profits.

To sell your investment home quickly:

1) Visit auctions to meet other investors. Local foreclosure auctions are not only a great way to find your next investment property for refurbishing and reselling, but they’re also a great place to pass out your business cards to other investors. Collect the business cards of other investors at the auction in order to build an investor list that you can contact whenever you have a property to sell. This is especially important if you plan on house flipping fairly regularly.

2) Build an e-mail list. Once you have a number of business cards and e-mails of other investors, develop a mailing list and an e-mail list. This way, you can contact investors quickly whenever you are about to sell property. However, keep in mind that you cannot simply send unsolicited information to other people. Have investors sign up for your mail newsletter or your e-mail newsletter, and this way you can send information about your latest home in the latest issue of your newsletter. Use a double opt-in list for e-mail newsletters and e-mail discussion groups, especially, because anti-spam laws can be fairly strict. Also, be careful not to abuse your e-mail list or mailing list. If you send investors a lot of information that they are not interested in, they’ll not only opt out of the mailing lists and e-mail lists, but they will become annoyed and less likely to look carefully over your property opportunities. You may wish to divide your mailing lists into a few groups. For example, send your higher-end properties to those investors interested in higher-end homes, and send rental units to those investors interested in commercial properties. This way, each investor will get the information that they’re actually interested in using.

3) Join business groups in your area. Any meetings, events, or luncheons held by business groups in your area are a great networking opportunity that lets you meet potential investors and investors in your area. Plus, you will be meeting people who are not investors but are still interested in business. These people may still be interested in contacting you when they have a property that they need to sell quickly or hear of a property that is going up for sale. Just about anyone can refer business to you and can refer customers to you, so make friends with lots of business owners in your area.

4) Go online. The Internet has lots of discussion groups, message boards, and forums where you can meet other investors who might be interested in buying your properties. These are great resources if you are house flipping, since you can receive and send information fast.

If you own and rent just one piece of property you are consider a landlord. property owners have the potential to make money and a lot of it, especially when the right cards are played. Are you making money now from your rental properties? Would you like to make more? You can with foreclosure short sales.

Short sales are an alternative to foreclosure. The decision to offer the property in the form of a short sale is made by both the borrower and the lender. Everyone needs to be in agreement because less than the outstanding mortgage amount is sought. For example, if a borrower owes $20,000 on a $45,000 home, the property may be listed for sale at $15,000. Some lenders try to get as much of their money as possible, while others want to unload the property as quickly as possible. This means there is always the potential to make money.

So, why should you, as a landlord, closely examine foreclosure short sales?

1 – Wide Range of properties to Choose From

The poor economy has everyone in a pinch. With a high rate of unemployment and a troubling economy, many homeowners are unable to make their mortgage payments. Soon their debt is spinning out of control.

Right now, you may be running a profitable rental business, but not all landlords are. Due to non-paying tenants, empty units, and poor financial choices, some landlords are finding themselves in or nearing foreclosure.

This means you will find a wide range of properties for sale in the pre foreclosure stages, often available as short sale properties. All of these properties, including single-family homes, can be purchased, renovated, and rented.

2 – Get a Good Deal

As previously stated, short sales are alternatives to foreclosure. They involve selling a property for less than the outstanding mortgage amount due. Why do borrowers and lenders agree to short sales? Because it is much better than foreclosure. Borrowers do not suffer damaging consequences to their credit and most are able to avoid bankruptcy. Mortgage lenders get their money faster, even though they do accept a lower amount. They also avoid lengthy and costly foreclosure proceedings.

Since both mortgage lenders and borrowers are willing to accept less money for the home, there is the potential to get a good deal. By looking in the right places and bargaining with all lenders directly, you can get an amazing deal on any type of property.

foreclosure short sales often result in a good deal, but always proceed with caution. homes do depreciate in value in a poor market. Ensure the short sale price is significantly below the home’s appraised value.

3 – Easy to Turn a Profit

Most buyers of foreclosure short sale properties are first time homeowners or investors. These investors buy a home and resell it. You do have this option, but use your experience as a landlord to make a profit. Consider the long-term aspect. By finding a low-priced short sale property, you can turn a profit in no time at all. For example, if you are able to purchase a 2-family home for $20,000 and rent out those two rental units for $800 a month each, the rental units pay for themselves in just 13 months. After that, you profit.

4 – Easy Way to Expand Rental properties

If you are a successful landlord who is already making a profit or in good financial standing due to your rental properties, you may want more. Unfortunately, the poor real estate market makes that difficult. Many homeowners try to sell their home as soon as they notice a problem. They know that foreclosure may be months away. Unfortunately, most of these property owners have unrealistic expectations. They not only want to get out from their current mortgage, but make a profit. In most cases, that will not happen. You and all buyers know, the less you spend the more money you make.

For landlords, foreclosure short sales are an easy and affordable way to expand a rental property business.

5 – Bargaining Power

If you are like most Americans, you may need financing to purchase a short sale property. Since you are an established landlord, you are at an advantage. Not only should you have decent credit and adequate cash flow, but you have bargaining power. Not only approach lenders about buying a short sale property, but financing the mortgage directly through them! This is a win win situation. Sell yourself. You have experience buying properties, making repairs, finding quality tenants, and paying your bills on time. Remember, mortgage lenders want to avoid foreclosure proceedings at all costs. This leaves you with the power to bargain.

The construction industry took a beating due to the financial crisis. Just how bad did home building decline? It depends where you look but overall, the numbers are very frightening.

In a report released recently, new order for homes built in the third quarter of 2008 was down 25% compared to last year. In numbers, that is 2,002 homes for this year compared to 2,660 homes in 2007.

Because of what is happening in the economy, there was increase in the number of cancellations from 24% last year to 27% this year. While real estate companies tried to curb the trend by offering it to other potential buyers, the market wasn’t biting which is why there were a lot of homes that were never sold.

In terms of home building revenues, that roughly translates to $928 million. If you think that is still good, look back at the sales performance last year and you will see that it was lower by 27%. These figures go on and on and they are really depressing.

So are companies making money? No and the worse part is that construction companies have to layoff hundreds or even thousands of workers in order to stay afloat.

If you wanted to build a home, the only way you can do that is if you have extra money flowing around right now because most banks will not able to loan that amount to you right now.

At this rate, the construction industry will only be able to produce 817,000 new homes this year compared to 1.98 million units in 2006. That is a lot and it is note expected to improve any time soon.

But are these numbers surprising? The answer is also no because it is the right reaction especially when the country is in a financial crisis.

Analysts believe this will change in the next 2 to 3 years because within this time frame, homes that were unoccupied will now have people living in them and only then will home building be once again on the upward trend.

What everyone is hoping for right now is a miracle because we are not yet out of the woods when we talk about the current financial crisis. Yes, a $700 billion bailout plan was approved and signed into law but just like Bernanke said, no one expects the recession to end overnight. It is going to take time.

Is the home building decline also happening elsewhere? In the case of Canada, the answer is no. In fact, the opposite is happening. If you were to compare the number of houses built for the month ending September this year versus last year, 6,000 more homes were built in 2008 compared to 2007.

There are many reasons for this such like more people want to settle down so they move away from the rest of their family and most importantly the program they have in place happens to be much better across the border compared to what is available in the US.

But back to reality, no one can deny that over here, there is a sharp decline in home building. The only thing anyone can do is hope for the best in the months and years ahead so we can maybe forget that this ever happened.

When it comes to real estate, it’s really hard to beat a cheap home. Cheap homes are very affordable, and ideal for those on a budget. For real estate agents, these types of homes represent a way to buy a home at a low price, build it up some more, then sale it for a large price. Making money with real estate is easy to do – no matter how you look at it.

Although you can find cheap homes throughout the United States, some will obviously be better than others. Some are in great neighborhoods, giving you plenty to see and plenty to do all around you. On the other hand, most towns that offer the cheapest homes normally have a bad situation when it comes to the job market. They can be great to retire to or settle down in if you own a business, although they aren’t great if you need a job. Internet marketers and writers are finding these areas, are flocking to them at a very fast pace.

You can also save quite a bit of money by buying a home that is less expensive, but still fits your needs. What this means, is buying a home in the inexpensive areas of your town, or buying a home that is cheap in price. You shouldn’t be focused on one type of home or neighborhood, but instead look at your available options and compare prices.

Keep in mind that buying cheap homes doesn’t necessarily mean buying a run down place or buying your home in a bad part of town. You can get a cheap home in a great neighborhood, if you weight your options accordingly. If you shop around and look at different areas, you might find yourself very surprised at just how many homes are available at cheap prices.

Before you purchase a home, you can save a lot of money if you know how to negotiate with the real estate agent. Although a home may have a higher price than you are willing to pay, you can shave quite a bit of the price off through negotiating. If you learn just a few of the simple techniques of negotiating, you can save a lot of money. Each and every day, hundreds of people get cheap homes by negotiating with real estate agents.

In some cases, you can end up paying the full price of a home and still end up spending less than someone else might spend. Although price has an impact, financing is also an area that can help to make a home more affordable. If you get a low interest rate, you’ll save a lot of money when you buy the home. There are several ways that you can save money through your finance options, which is why you should always research what’s available to you before you buy.

Before you decide to buy a home, you should always think things through and be sure to look around different areas and neighborhoods. Even though there are many cheap homes out there, you can get just as good of a deal through negotiating. Most cheap homes sell very quick, which is why you should always be on the lookout for one. When you find a cheap home that fits your needs, you should act on it. Contact the agent, take a tour of the home, then decide if the price and the features are indeed what you’ve been looking for. If it isn’t – simply forget about the house and start looking for another one.