Disguise an Unattractive View

Wooden Shutters in a Bathroom

One thing about rehabbing is you might be buying in a shady neighborhood. With that being said, not all windows lead the eye to a beautiful landscape. If your window looks upon an unattractive view, like a roadway or parking lot, you can disguise this view by incorporating a beautiful printed or textured sheer fabric on your window. This will allow the sunlight to still shine through but will distract you from the view outside. You can also use a longer rod, you can set the window treatments in such a way that only the trim of the window is covered and all the light still shines in.

Add the Unexpected

Using old door knobs as tie backs

Add the unexpected by adding accents your windows with tiebacks, fringe, or beads. Old doorknobs bought at a flea market can be used to hang curtain panels or valances. It’s not only a clever way to get a unique custom look, but it will add a splash of the unexpected to your window treatment design. To get an expensive look with an inexpensive price tag, put your money into trims, cords, tassels and fringes. They dress up even the least expensive fabric. Speaking of fabric, you don’t have to spend half your budget on curtains. Instead, purchase discount fabrics or sheets and tablecloths from a local discounter to create curtains and toppers.

Interior shutters  can also be a nice surprise. They are found in a variety of colors and price ranges in both wood or (faux wood) vinyl, which would be a great option for bathrooms.

Decide Your Effect

Before you select a window treatment design, it is important to decide on the overall effect you would like your window to have. You must decide how striking you want the treatment to be.  Do you want the treatment to serve as a quiet background that pulls  your room together, or would you prefer to have your window be the focal pint and become center stage?

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1. Treat it as a Business

First and foremost being a landlord is different from being a private homeowner — it’s a business and you need to treat it as such. Although some lending requirements for personal mortgages have relaxed a bit recently, the requirements for rental property have basically remained the same. If you’re borrowing money for your first rental house, you’re going to need at least a 20% down payment. If you can swing 25% down, it’s likely to get you a better interest rate and lower fees. If it’s your first rental property, your current income is going to have to be enough to handle the mortgages for both your residence and your new property.

2. Don’t Bite off More Than You Can Chew

What we mean by this is start small. Starting with a single house or smaller multiple-dwelling unit, perhaps with a partner, would be ideal to see if the business really suits you. Save your condo buys when you can afford  a larger down payment and monthly association fees. Starting with a single home will allow you to get a feel for the maintenance, bookkeeping and other work required. Finding a good first tenant is also an important step. Beware of shady tenants!

3. Know Your Farm Area

Location, location, location. We can’t stress researching your intended investment market. A home that seems to be a steal might be priced lower because it’s in a neighborhood most people wouldn’t actually want to live in — one that has higher crime, noisy streets or poor schools. This will also be helpful when figuring out the right rent and rate of return. Make sure you budget for maintenance as well. A common rule of thumb that also assigns 5% of gross rental income to regular maintenance and another 5% to pay for the downtime and repairs that come with vacancies should cover you.

4. Happy Tenants, Happy Life

Be a good landlord, communicate with your tenants. Happy tenants are critically important. Remember that they are the customers of your business that we talked about earlier. By keeping the property in good shape and taking care of issues in a timely manner you can expect the same respect back when it comes to paying rent on time. Then you will both be happy and you’ll be building wealth with an investment you can feel good about.

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Build Rapport with Your Clients.

It is much easier to get through a delay if you have a good rapport with your clients. Although delays at closings are no laughing matter, being able to joke or cut up with them can definitely lighten the mood. No one likes to wait so nice conversation will also make the time go by faster.

 Check and Recheck

Document problems can be as simple as a name misspelled or a transposed number in an address, or as serious as incorrect loan amounts or missing pages. One of our team members was at a closing table and the loan officer had her birthday wrong on ALL the documents and so the whole stack of papers had to be reprinted thus delaying the closing. Any type of  glitch can cause delays of hours or even days because everything has to be in order before closing.

To learn more about Part-Time REI visit us at http://part-timerei.com/

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1.  Educate Yourself

You should have a plan for how you intend to learn about flipping houses. Just like any industry, real estate investing is constantly moving forward. You don’t have to be a Realtor to flip houses, but in some states there are specific requirements for real estate agents to take continuing education. As an investor, you should be doing the same thing. This can be anything from reading blogs, attending workshops, online seminars, or training courses online. Also stay on top of your market. By researching new opportunity you will stay apprises of what’s going on in the real estate marketing.

2. Set Goals

Why do you want to start investing in real estate? When do you want to retire? What is your dream trip? All good motivators to achieve  the place in life you want to be. Clear goals implement clarity.  Along with a goals, setting a clear schedule will compliment your structured goals. This includes financial goals.  Without specific financial goals, you’ll find it difficult or impossible to correctly analyze potential real estate deals. Investors flipping houses typically set a purchase price goal of 30% below market value after repairs.

3. Network with Successful REIs

Speak with fellow real estate investors. Join REI groups in your city. Here you can meet other investor minded individuals like wholesalers and contractors that can help you along your journey. It is essential that you connect with those who have more experience in order to get good advice. Make sure they align with your goals and strategy. Attend club meetings on a regular basis. Join online real estate forums like Bigger Pockets and read up on successful investors to see what they might be doing that you are not.

4. Learn from your Mistakes

Don’t make this mistake. Instead learn from others’ mistakes. Even the most experienced investors make mistakes. When a deal is less profitable than you intended it to be, take the time to make a thorough analysis of what went wrong.  Ask questions on real estate blogs to investors like what mistakes they made along the way and how they avoid those mistakes today. For a list of most common mistakes to avoid check out our blog on Why Flippers Fail.  

5. Implement Leverage

Think of  your real estate investment as an actual business. Don’t try to do all the work yourself. The point is not to have a second job but rather a second income. Become an investor. Learn to  LEVERAGE other people’s time to achieve your goals. Contractors, Realtors, wholesalers –you name it. Your goal is to invest in real estate not spend your spare time remodeling a house.

To learn more about Part-Time REI visit us at http://part-timerei.com/

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