Author's articles
Use your rehab properties to add to your credibility
By Alan Cowgill · 13 years ago
When you are starting to rehab an investment property, you have to set a goal of making it look aesthetically nice. So you start on the outside. You get a good look because you have ...
Take advantage of the housing market and buy property now
By Alan Cowgill · 13 years ago
Do you see a big rebound in the housing market in your town? We have seen it in some places. People still have to have a roof over their head. It's a great investor's market ...
Use short sales to make money and help the homeowner
By Alan Cowgill · 13 years ago
Foreclosed homes for sale are everywhere. If you see a home listed for Sheriff’s sale, it is in foreclosure.
The rate of foreclosure has jumped dramatically nationwide. It is no secret that the housing market ...
Use a mortgage liaison to help tenants cash out your property
By Alan Cowgill · 13 years ago
I have mortgage liaisons working with my rent-to-own tenants. As I have mentioned, they are there to take care of figuring out if the renter is going to be able to buy.
The primary exit ...
Teach your tenants to use private lenders to buy your property
By Alan Cowgill · 13 years ago
I have done a lot of thinking outside the box in my real estate career. I have taught other people in the business to think outside the box. I can imagine that a number of ...
How to search for and find REO Properties
By Alan Cowgill · 13 years ago
There are key terms to search for REO properties. Look for "vacant homes", "repossessed homes for sale", "addendum", "bank owned houses" or "as is". If you want to track short sales, you can search for ...
How to advertise your investment properties and business
By Alan Cowgill · 13 years ago
You need to let yourself be known in your community. You also need to have property sellers coming to you and not your competitor. We advertise in many different ways. I have to say that ...
Create systems and procedures when you buy property
By Alan Cowgill · 13 years ago
Let’s talk about the systems I have for buying properties. It probably won’t surprise you much but I have a check sheet for it.
It has the property address, date of purchase, purchase price, and ...
Close on your investment property with an attorney.
By Alan Cowgill · 13 years ago
Since we won’t have the mortgage in our name, we need release forms that allow us to interact with agencies. Those agencies are going to be the bank, the lending institution and the insurance company. ...
What type of legal entity should your business be?
By Alan Cowgill · 13 years ago
You have to determine whether or not you want to be a corporation, LLC, partnership, sole-proprietorships or something else.
The real estate business requires that you make choices for the long term. If you are ...
Know the differences between LLCs and Corporations
By Alan Cowgill · 13 years ago
There are differences between LLCs and corporations. First off, corporations go back centuries. LLCs only go back roughly thirty years. In fact the first one was started in Wyoming. The basic idea of an LLC ...
Open houses can help you sell retail property fast
By Alan Cowgill · 13 years ago
We love to retail houses, especially repossessed homes for sale. We love to fix the house up. Just recently, I had a property where we ripped the cabinets and the countertops out. We spent some ...
Keeping track of private lender funds through reports
By Alan Cowgill · 13 years ago
What we have to organize information for our private lender funds is a good old fashioned computer program known as Excel. You have probably used Excel a lot in your day. Our administrative assistant Donna ...
How to use a land trust to protect yourself
By Alan Cowgill · 13 years ago
We have a land trust that we fill out in the office. We don't have our attorney do it and it's a step-by-step system that we use. The trust discourages frivolous lawsuits because it keeps ...
How to get the most out of a short sale
By Alan Cowgill · 13 years ago
Let’s say that a buyer’s in foreclosure. You’ll probably want to go the short sell route. Once the seller is three months behind, you kick this into gear and you’ll be in a position to ...
Use applications to screen tenant buyers
By Alan Cowgill · 13 years ago
We have a fairly thorough application process. Once we get the application for a property in, the office will start with a cursory eviction check and criminal check.
If they pass that and it’s a ...
Why your real estate business needs systems
By Alan Cowgill · 13 years ago
My team and I travel around a lot. In the hotels where I stay, I ask someone to deliver milk to my room to have with cereal; I get different techniques of delivery. Just like ...
Use quality workers for your property rehabs
By Alan Cowgill · 13 years ago
When I started flipping houses for profit, I tried to do the investment property rehabs myself. I wanted to be the repairman. Well that plan just did not work. I guess I just thought that ...
Beware Private Lender list peddlers part 2
By Alan Cowgill · 13 years ago
A couple of new real estate trainers (we’ll call them "The List Peddler") stumbled onto a list that is generated and updated monthly by state with the names and addresses of private lenders that have ...
The process of a real estate lease option
By Alan Cowgill · 13 years ago
The process of drawing up a real estate lease option for your tenant buyers involves a lot of steps. These steps are not hard to follow, but they can cause serious trouble if you forget ...