Activity #2 – Create A Marketing Plan:  Think about your marketing activities. Yes, real estate is largely a referrals game. But marketing can play an important role in terms of raising your overall visibility. Money is a consideration here. Unless you come into real estate with a substantial bankroll, you must get the best bang for your buck, so to speak. Common marketing media for most real estate agents is newspaper, flyers, emails, radio commercial, and billboard advertising. As with all marketing, however, remember that repetition and consistency is vitally important. Whatever program you commit to, give it at least six months to work.  You also may want to think more about your Web marketing efforts. If you have some listings, look into the tools for marketing them available through your personal and company Web site, Craigslist.com, REALTOR.com, zillow.com, etc. and numerous other online venues.  

Activity #3 – Get Educated: Take your education to the next level by taking a sales class. Even “born salespeople” can benefit from expert advice. Selling is an interpersonal skill that takes time and practice to master. Yes, an outgoing personality helps. But enthusiasm by itself is not enough. You need someone who can point out what you’re doing right and how you need to improve. Also, if you’re like most people at the beginning of their sales careers, you need the discipline that comes from following a specific program. The right teacher or coach can make a world of difference. 

Activity #4 – Start Working: You’re starting to see customers now; make sure they know you mean business. Later in your career, you’ll have room for flexibility, but at the start, it’s a good idea to maintain regular hours. Plan on starting no later than 9 a.m. and working until 5 p.m., whether it’s in the office or in the field. Unless you’re selling resort property, wear business attire. Also, make sure your tools and equipment are in order. Essential tools include a clean car, a cell phone, laptop or a handheld computer, and possibly a digital camera. The goal is to project competence and professionalism. This is a good week to follow up on those letters. Call your entire prospect list. Remind people that you are now in real estate, and ask if they or anyone they know is looking to buy or sell a house.  

Activity #5 – Compile A List:  Create a list of family, friends, friends of friends and their friends as well. Anybody you are in contact with on a routine basis should make this list.  DO NOT qualify these people while your creating your list, that is to say don’t leave anybody off because you “THINK” they not looking buy, or your afraid to talk to them or they’re a doctor etc.  Remember,

 “…prosperous real estate agents DO what bad real estate agents DON’T.” – Real Estate Monkey

 Send them a letter letting them know that you’re now in real estate and available to take care of their real estate needs. This is the beginning of your database, the single most productive prospecting tool you’ll ever have.  Something else you can do with the list is to review the list carefully and make a note by each name with an “A”, ”B”, and “C” or “1”, “2” and “3”  it doesn’t matter how you identify them.  The “A” or “1” names are people who are looking to buy NOW.   The “B” or “2” names are people who are looking to buy within the next 6 months.  The “C” or “3” names are people who are probably not looking to buy or buy more than 6 months from now.  Use this list to prioritize your clients, remembering to keep updating your list as you meet new people. 

Activity #6 – Call on Expired and FSBOs: You should have a lead or two from your letters and calls. If you don’t, check out the expired listings and FSBOs in your selling area and start calling. Better yet, go see them in person. These two categories of Sellers are considered “warm” leads rather than “cold” leads. A “warm” lead is a person who is interested in Selling but for some reason they have not sold their house yet.   When you get a hold of these Sellers you must understand WHY there property hasn’t sold yet.  Once you know the answer, SOLVE IT.  Talk to the Seller and ask him “Why didn’t your house sell?” He will then proceed to tell you exactly what you need to do to sell the house, or at least make him happy.

Activity #7 – Start Farming: Start thinking about farming, which is identifying and focusing on a fairly tight selling area.   You can farm in a number of different manners:  geographically (houses on the Southside, in your neighborhood etc.), economically (high-end homes, investment properties etc.), specialty properties (golf-course lots, lake properties, etc.)  and of course commercial properties.  Typically, a farm is not a large number of target residences. Your own neighborhood is often a good place to start. In general, people like doing business with people they know.  Assemble a marketing list, which lists houses by address. Quarterly or monthly, send every resident some kind of direct-mail piece, either a letter or postcard. The first piece should introduce who you are and give pertinent biographical information. If you have a family and feel comfortable talking about them, include their names as well. The goal is to be perceived as the person to turn to when the time comes to sell, or buy, their home.

Activity #8 – Get Involved: Investigate ways to get involved in your community—and choose one community service project that suits you. There’s no downside at all from a business standpoint; it’ll help you be perceived as someone who knows and cares about the community. But you’ll also find it personally rewarding. 

Activity #9 – Start Prospecting Daily: It may sound simplistic, but consistent prospecting is the No. 1 way get listings. Many top real estate agents prospect daily, yes DAILY.  Plan on spending at least two or three hours everyday calling leads and sources of leads. Make friends with a few mortgage brokers who can refer buyers in your direction. As time goes on, the relationship will shift and you’ll become a source of leads for them.  Talk to EVERYONE you meet.  I can tell you the key secret to making a huge fortune in real estate!  

Here is the secret to wealth in real estate “Talk to 5 people everyday for 6 days a week, 52 weeks a year.” SIMPLE

Other sources of leads: professionals who deal in property matters, such as probate and divorce lawyers; insurance agents; CPAs; and investor and landlord groups. Also: contact banks and government agencies that need to dispose of property seized in bankruptcy sales and tax and drug cases.  You should spend 80% of your time working on money-generating activities.  The rest of the time is the other “stuff” that needs to get done; paperwork, education, etc.

Activity #10 – Search For Buyers: The old real estate adage is “You must list to last” is true; However, buyers, create an important part of your income and account for a large portion of your time, especially in the early days of your career. How do you find them? Collect names and contact information from visitors, and get your colleague’s OK to follow up. Team up with a mortgage broker in your area to sponsor homeownership seminars.   

Activity #11 – Cold Call NOW:  Sooner or later, everyone has to answer the cold-calling question. How comfortable are you with it? In the beginning, hardly anyone likes it. But it can be an effective tool. In fact, some people build businesses around it.  The key with cold calling is to use a script. When I started my career over a decade ago, I used Microsoft Word to create a very short script as my opening few sentences. I printed it out and taped to my monitor and literally read it word-for-word on my first few dozen cold calls.  The goal with cold calling is to get through your script. Don’t worry about whether you get a lead or not. Cold calling is a total numbers game. It’s a mathematical certainty that if you call enough numbers, you will eventually find someone who can use your services. Some people have the stamina for this, others do not.   The key to cold calling is to understand that if you get turned down, and you will, it is NOT personal.  They are not turning YOU down personally; they won’t see you walking down the street and start laughing and pointing.  Remember, every “no” gets you one step closer to a “yes.” IF it takes 10 cold calls to get 1 yes and you earn a commission of $3,000 on that sale. You actually earned $300 on all 10 calls; therefore, every time you get a “No” just say to your self, “That was an easy $300” and move to the next phone call.

Activity #12 – Keep Going: Keep on plugging. It can’t be overstressed that the key to success in real estate is persistence. It’s a given that you’re going to encounter a lot of rejection. Remember, do not take it personally. Begin each day with the hardest task, cal or conversation; therefore, everything after that will seem like a breeze.  This is a game of numbers, the more people you talk too the more people you will convert to a listing or buyer. “Keep on keepin’ on” should be your motto.

1. Become a real estate investor: “Walk in their shoes”. Start with just one ‘buy and hold’ or ‘buy and sell’ and you will learn a tremendous amount about what your potential clients need, and there is no better way to learn than by doing. Once you start, don’t stop! Continue investing and you will be building your personal wealth while building your credentials as an agent.

2. Be known as the agent with the best deals: Master the use of the tools in the BLC. Automate the generation of HUD and bank foreclosed homes and short sales so you are sending them homes that are priced significantly below market value. You will find more leads that you can possibly act on, so share these leads with your clients.

3. Join your local Real Estate Investment Associations: Network at these monthly meetings with your fellow investors and understand their needs. This is a great place to let people know what you can offer in face-to-face conversations. Once you have loyal investor clients, they will recommend you to their friends. Investors know that there is an abundance of opportunities in our current economic climate and plenty for everyone. There is nothing more powerful than a recommendation from a friend or colleague whom you trust.

4. Develop a list of Power Team Members: Every investor needs a first-rate power team to ensure their success. As you begin investing, you will be getting recommendations from fellow investors and you will be able to verify the performance of these professionals. You will meet potential power team members at the REIA’s as well. As you develop your own power team, you can share your list with your investor clients. Power Team members include Title Company, Mortgage Brokers, Private Money Lenders, Appraisers, Contractors, Handymen, etc. Continue to update this list over time and always verify performance before adding someone to the list.

5. Be a source of knowledge and information: Provide regular and relevant information to your investor clients. Hold webinars when key legislation changes that can affect them. You must become the expert, so invite an expert to lunch or dinner and learn everything you can regard everything you want to know. Provide articles through your website and information through your blog. Your updates will make you both memorable and invaluable to them.

You will become a one-stop shop for your investor clients. Whether they need great deals, contractors, private lenders, or power team members, you can provide this support to them from a place of credibility. Your first-hand experience and knowledge as an investor sets you apart from most of the rest. As you help your clients create value, you are demonstrate your commitment to their success. This type of support will build solid relationships and create lasting loyalty this will result in a long-term successful business.

1) Cash Today (cash flow or active income) – Cash today is the money that you earn in a short-term investment strategy, i.e., “Flipping” properties, wholesaling, rehabbing, subject to, lease option.  We use the cash from each of these investing strategies to solve our immediate cash flow issues that arise from daily living, i.e., food on our tables, utility bills, clothes and our own mortgage payments.  Cash Now is great concept and provides the investor with the day-to-day funds needed to live a nice, prosperous life.  However, Cash Today has one major flaw, when you stop putting money “in the pipe” eventually it will “stop falling out” the other end.  That is to say, when you stop buying properties to flip there will no more money to spend when you have nothing to sell to other home owners.  Therefore; a second strategy must be employed to provide for future situations

2) Cash Tomorrow (net worth or passive income) – Using some of your “Cash Now” money to buy something that will provide a return (“rent”) for a long period of time will increase your net worth while also provide you with Cash Tomorrow.   Any real estate asset your purchase with your “Cash Now” money will appreciate in value.  Combined with mortgage buy down, the amount of money your tenants pay every month to lower the overall debt on the property, appreciation and tax benefits will provide for a solid base of “Cash Tomorrow.”  As the mortgage balance goes down and appreciation of the property rises, eventually, you will gain a large amount of equity in your “Cash Tomorrow” properties.  This equity can then be tapped as a down payment on your next “Cash Tomorrow” property and so on and so on.. 

Please understand, I’m not advocating one strategy over another. I like the “Cash Tomorrow” properties to build my personal net worth, retirement plan and passive income; however, while using the “Cash Today” properties to provide for my daily life, expenses and active income. 

The key factor in true real estate investing success is finding the balance between “Cash Today” and “Cash Tomorrow” Properties. You can NOT concentrate on one strategy over another in fear that you will lose a segment of your portfolio. I suggest you try and balance your time and efforts 80/20 or 75/25 with “Cash Today” properties taking priority until you have enough “Cash Tomorrow” properties paying you passive income to cover all your monthly active expenses.  Then you can switch your concentration to 25/75 or 20/80.  Please feel free to email me at raymond@realestatemonkey.com if you have any question regarding real estate or real estate investing.

Below are 5 key factors to increase the amount of money you receive for your home and decrease the amount of time your home spends on the MLS.

Pricing Factor. It is very important to price your property at a competitive market value right when you list it. The market is so competitive that even over-pricing by a few thousand dollars could mean that your house will not sell. Here are reasons for pricing your property at the market value right from the start in order to net you the most amount of money in the shortest amount of time. An overpriced home:
           o Minimizes offers;
           o Lowers showings;
           o Lowers agent response;
           o Limits financing;
           o Limits qualified buyers;
           o Nets less for the seller
80% of the marketing is done when we decide on what price to list your home. If you are unwilling to list at current market value, you would be better off not putting it on the market at this time. Homes listed above market value will also cause potential problems in the future even if you lower the price after the magical 60 day mark. Buyers may look at a sudden price drop to mean:
          o Highly motivated Seller trying to dump his house;
          o Now known defects in the house that were unknown prior to price drop;
          o Desperation to sell caused by financial pressure;
          o Plus many more…

Clean Factor. Most people are turned off by even the smallest amount of uncleanness or odor when buying a home. Sellers lose thousands of dollars because they do not adequately clean. If your house is squeaky clean, you will be able to sell your home faster and net hundreds, if not thousands of dollars more. If you are planning on moving, why not get rid of that old junk now so that your house will appear larger? Make more space. Odors must be eliminated especially if you have dogs, cats, or young children in diapers or if you are a smoker. You may not notice the smell, but the buyers do! Most agents have a difficult time communicating to their sellers about odor. If you employ an agent to get the most amount of money for you, please don’t take offense if he must confront you about odor problems.

Access Factor. Top selling agents will not show your home if both the Key and access are not readily available. They do not have time to run around town all day picking up and dropping off keys. They want to sell homes! The greatest way to show a house is to have a key! When your home is being shown, please do the following:
         o Keep all lights on
         o Keep all drapes and shutters open
         o Keep all doors unlocked
         o Leave soft music playing
         o Take a short walk with your children and pets
         o Let the buyer be at ease and let the agents do their job

Paint & Carpet Factor. Paint is your best improvement investment for getting a greater return on your money. Paint makes the whole house smell clean and neat. If your house has chipped paint, exposed wood, or the paint looks faded, it is time to paint. If your carpet is worn, dirty, outdated, or an unusual color, you may need to seriously consider replacing it. Many houses do not sell because of this problem. Don’t think that buyers have more money than you have to replace carpet. They don’t. They simply buy elsewhere.

Front Yard Factor. Your front yard immediately reflects the inside condition of your house to the buyer. People enjoy their yards. Make certain that the trees are trimmed so the house can be seen from the street. Have the grass mowed, trimmed and edged. Walkways should be swept. Debris cleared away. Remove parked cars. This all adds to curb appeal. If a buyer doesn’t like the outside, they may not stop to see the inside.

I am sure there are plenty of other items that you can add to this list and it is no ways meant to be exhaustive. These are the top 5 key factors that I use when helping my client establish a listing price and a marketing plan for their property.

Visit the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) website for more details on each item.

1.  Mortgage Loan Interest: The primary tax deduction due to the fact that interest payments comprises a large portion of your mortgage payment in the early years of the loan’s term. 
2.  Home Equity Line Of Credit (HELOC): The interest on a home improvement loan is also deductible, but must be calculated differently than the interest from your primary mortgage loan.
3. Points: One point is one percent of the loan principal you acquired for the purchase of your home. Any/all points charged by lenders as part of the cost of the loan can fully be deducted on your taxes; as well as, discount points charged by your lender. However, the commission you paid your mortgage broker is NOT a deductible item.
4. Property Taxes: The Property tax that you have actually paid is deductible from your taxes.  Property taxes that are due but unpaid or delinquent due to non-payment are of course not a deduction. 
5. Capital Gains Exclusion. The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 which allows married taxpayers who file jointly to keep, tax free, the capital gains on the first $500,000 on the sale of their residence; similarly, single tax payers get the same benefit on the first $250,000 of capital gains. The other stipulation is that you must reside in the property 24 out of 60 months, although not consecutively to earn these capital gains deduction.
6. Home-Based Business Deduction: Home offices that use a portion of your home exclusively for business could qualify you to deduct a percentage of costs related to that portion.
7. Selling Costs and Capital Improvements: When you sell your home, you can reduce your taxable capital gain by the amount of your selling costs, which include real estate commissions, title insurance, legal fees, advertising and inspection fees and any other fee that is required to “get” to the sale (i.e., contribution to the Seller, etc.).
8. Moving Costs: A move triggered by a new job comes can come some deductible moving costs.
9. Mortgage Tax Credit: Mortgage Credit Certificates (MCCs) allow qualifying low-income, first-time home buyers to take a mortgage interest tax credit of up to 20 percent (the amount varies by jurisdiction) of the mortgage interest payments made on a home.
10. Energy Tax Credits: There are numerous energy tax credits available on all kinds of home improvement items. New windows, a new furnace, water heaters are just a few items that may allow you to claim a certain percentage of the purchase price as a deduction on your taxes. New “green” products can also be a great deduction via Government mandates, energy savings while adding peace of mind to your Buyers as well.

These are but a few ways to lower your tax burden during your sale or purchase a new property. Please check with your CPA prior to applying any of these strategies blindly across the board.

Two very common words floating around the mortgage industry these days are pre-qualification and pre-approval. Please understand the vast difference between the two:

A Pre-qualification is an unofficial estimate of how much house you can afford. This is a very basic estimate of the house you could buy providing the information you provided your mortgage broker is correct and no unforeseen problems show up on your credit report. Very seldom is your credit score even verified much less looked at during the pre-qualification process. Some websites don’t even require you to speak an actual person to generate a “Letter of Pre-Qualification.”

Conversely, a pre-approval letter carries a lot of weight in the mortgage and real estate industry. In order to be pre-approved for a loan you must sit down with your preferred lender and provide them with documents such as tax returns, bank statements, and business licenses among others. Lenders will analyze these and other information gained by calling your employer and pulling your credit report. The “Letter of Pre-approval” In some real estate markets, Sellers won’t consider offers without a “Letter of Pre-approval.”

2. Sell, Then Buy – As I stated above; being “able” to buy is as important as being “ready” to buy. Being “able” to buy your new home will often require you to NOT have an existing house payment on your current residence. At the very least it may force you to place an offer on your next home contingent upon selling your current home. This contingency is very often the “straw that breaks the camel’s back” when a Seller is deciding on which offer to accept. In the eyes of the Seller your offer becomes very weak when you have to rely on the sale of your house. The Seller of the house you want very seldom accepts this offer as it puts his house in a limbo sort of state. “Yes” he has an offer, but one that may fall through at any time while simultaneously removing his house from the active roster of listings.

3. Make a list of “Must Haves” – Sitting down in advance and truly understanding what you as a Buyer, want in a house is paramount to getting the perfect house. I often ask my clients to list the top ten items that a house must have, in no particular order…at first. I then ask them to place the items in order of most important to least important. Explaining that in a case that we can not find a single property with all ten items. I know which one to “lose” first and then so on and on until we find a property that my Buyer clients are happy with which to place an offer.

4. Don’t Settle – Should you not find a house that makes you happy, you should not settle for one that just satisfies you at this moment. Don’t make a decision on a house until you feel that you’ve seen enough to pick the best one. Remember there are many facets to buying a house and many factors that come into play when you’re buying. In the market of today, house have a longer “shelf life” on the market and thus Buyers have more time to see a greater number of properties and not have to make an offer in a rush, as they did just a few years ago when houses had a much shorter “shelf life.” Plus in this day of internet and public information, people now can make a more informed decision by gathering data that would have been nearly impossible to collect in years past; police statistics, school performance benchmarks, demographic growth and more can be found, supplied and used in the decision of the perfect home.

5. Stop Calling FSBOs – My home Buyers erroneously believe that will get a better deal if they buy from a FSBO (For Sale By Owner This is actual very far from the truth and should not even be considered. There are many reasons people sell their own home and most of them are not good. Typically the FSBO Seller has no equity and cannot afford a Realtor, thus have no room for negotiation with a serious Buyer. Secondly, they do not have the ethical component that Realtors have via the NAR Code and therefore may paint a picture rosier than reality when speaking to Buyers about the condition of the home. Furthermore, since the FSBO Seller isn’t a professional Realtor and probably has only sold two or three properties in their life, other items that Buyers and Sellers take for granted when using a Realtor go undone or worse done wrong: sales disclosures, title work, inspections etc.

When buying a house there are many ways to make sure that your offer is accepted, at least given a high priority. I have mentioned just a few of the ways that you, as a Buyer, can really create an offer worth accepting.

{Enter dream sequence}

It’s the 22nd century and Nintendo has taken over the world with the evil emperor Wii and his sidekick Wii Fit. I am sure that at first the humans fought valiantly against this evil regime, but in the end Donkey Kong, Mario brothers and the rest proved to be too hard to defeat. Unfortunately, Nintendo ultimately prevailed and has taken over the world as we know it forcing all the companies in the free world to adapt to its business model, “The Nintendo Doctrine,” and now this is what the world has become…

Otis elevator has produced the first “Wii Fit elevator.” Imagine if you will, stepping into the “el-Wii-vator” elevator, smoothly a voice says “Please register and supply your weight and desired floor” So you enter the information as requested. I types my name “Raymond” and weight “Withheld for the purpose of this blog” and “15” for the floor. “Yeah right” smirks the voice. “You can go to the 5th floor and then walk your happy-butt up the stairs from there” Wii Fit STRIKES AGAIN.

Ford motor company has produced the first series of cars according to “The Nintendo Doctrine,” The Ford “Wii-wagon” which gets unlimited miles per gallon …for the thin people. Before you can start the “Wii-wagon” you have to register your name and destination into the “WiiPS” system. I awkwardly sit down and type my name into the onboard computer, and then I type “Burger King” into the “WiiGPS.” The voice again says “Welcome Raymond, based upon the pressure on the driver’s seat, your destination has been altered to Subway” “Crap” I scream. Wii Fit STRIKES AGAIN.

Not to be outdone by other automobile manufacturers, Nintendo creates their own automobile, the “VWii.” This new compact has a many new added features, the old constant “binging” you hear when your seat belt isn’t fastened has now been rerouted to the driver’s seat. Now that cacophony noise “bings” constantly based upon the weight of the driver, the fatter you are the more it “bings.” Therefore, people of girth eventual just give up and walk to their desired destination. Wii Fit STRIKES AGAIN.

Thank goodness, that model eventually is upgraded to the New VWii. Instead of the constant noise pollution in your ear, the car simply quits running after a given number of miles based upon the driver. Me, I go a few feet out of my driveway before the engine shuts down and must be rebooted. I am sure I heard an “evil” laugh just as it dies for the third time and I didn’t even get out of my housing complex. Wii Fit STRIKES AGAIN.

“The Nintendo Doctrine” swiftly storms all manufacturers, including household items as well. The “Wii-pool” refrigerator is the newest side-by-side appliance that comes in many colors and reasonably priced. One catch, the consumer must register with the new bio-ID grip on the door handle that captures your fingerprints of the person opening the door. After three times of opening the refrigerator door it locks for a period of 8 hours before it can be opened again. Of course the upgraded software can be purchased which allows access to the “crisper” draw to get at your celery and carrot sticks. Wii Fit STRIKES AGAIN.

Oh my God, is this the future of our world. Is this the future you want for your kids and grandkids? No. So I say to you now “Fat people of the world unite…after lunch of course” overthrow the evil Nintendo Corporation now before it’s too late. The next Wii Fit console you encounter must be dealt with quickly and severely. Quickly pick it up and throw it in the trash, save the person that has been enslaved to Nintendo’s evil agenda. Also, smack them…not to wake them up or anything…just ‘cause they need it for buying such a cruel and evil torture machine.

So….

Prediction #1: Commercial foreclosures will be huge. The commercial foreclosure problem that we have heard about up to now is about to crash into us in a manner that even the banking experts can not fathom. One of the greatest features of real estate was the ability to leverage money to buy a greater property than one could afford. Leverage made it possible for property to control 10 dollars with 2 dollars or 20% equity. Unlike residential loans of 30 years, commercial bankers write loans for 3, 5 or 10 years so as to be locked into a 30 year note. Traditionally in the “good” days, a bank would merely rewrite (refinance) the loan when it cam due, after all the client was a good friend and paid his loan payments on time.

However, now with most banks unable, unwilling or flat-out gone all of those loans coming due this year and over the next few years will NOT be refinanced thus placing those investors, landlords and developers in a position where they have no choice but to go into foreclosure and consequently end up in a short sale position. Hundreds of millions, potentially trillions of dollars worth of defaulted loans will find their way to the open market place over the next 36 months. I believe you will see a shift in the players of commercial real estate. Older bigger names will be in trouble and newer lesser know people will take over the market when they buy the bigger names’ defaulted loans.

Prediction #2: Government assistance means nothing. The fact that the Federal Government has extended the “first time home buyer” incentive PLUS added a previous home-owner incentive for those who qualify will do absolutely nothing to stimulate the market. The extension of this deadline plus adding more who qualify should be glaring sign to anybody that the previous stimulation attempt did NOT work well enough to satisfy the “people.” Thus an extension was necessary. Couple the rising unemployment numbers and the populations’ uncertainty of all of the other world markets will be enough to freeze consumers in their spending tracks, not even a tax credit will be enough to move the market again. YET!

Prediction #3: Housing starts will fall below last years numbers. The prediction #2 will spill over to the new housing market as well. When and if people start buying homes again, they will immediately start shopping for bargains, read into this “previously owned homes that went into foreclosure.” REOs, HUDs and short sales will saturate the market and make the new home sales virtually non-existent. Society has always sought out cheaper products and more economical ways to provide for themselves. Wal-mart and Meijers should be an excellent example of this paradigm, why not houses? The traditional investor mindset will be contracted by virtually every homebuyer this year “Buy low, repair and benefit from the appreciation” when the market come back to full strength. Buying a new home at current market value and paying full price will become a thing of the past.

Prediction #4: The rental market will continue to boom. Once again my prediction from 2009 will still hold true. During this boom of foreclosures and short sales people with bad, tarnished or questionable credit will still need a place to live. Hello landlord utopia. Please don’t think that any of the Government assistant programs will save this section of the market, those programs are designed for first time home buyers and other who have lived in their home for the last five years NOT the ones that went through a foreclosure, bankruptcy or short sale. So these masses will be left with no other option than to rent from people like you and me.

Prediction #5: Residential foreclosure rates will remain steady throughout the year. If you will see the connection between these predictions you will agree that if one is true they all will be true due to the inherent dependency between them. With the banks not lending, companies laying people off their jobs and the population spending less money in the retail sector, foreclosure will continue to climb to a rate that will astound both you and me…well not me as I am the one telling you this will happen.

I apologize to those of you that have read this and feel that I am negatively forecasting a bad year. I am merely guessing at what I see is coming unless we as a society start to make some changes in our spending patterns, work habits and saving concepts. I feel that this year will start on a low note and generally pick up towards the late fall. These issues that I have predicted will be rectified by years end with 2011 becoming the year of the real estate boom, ONCE AGAIN