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It amazes me just how many folks who complain they won’t have sufficient wealth to retire with, however, continue to spend money each week with the hope that this week might be the week to win huge by winning the lotto. When the chances of winning the Powerball lotto is approximately one in 80 million, the probabilities are not quite to your advantage.

Why don’t we put it like this, if you pay out $10 weekly playing your favourite lotto, and can receive 6.5% yearly, over twenty-five years, you will have slightly below $31 thousand.

Should you also purchase lunch every day, consider putting that money away as well. At an average of $10 daily + $10 for the lotto, should you set that money away, you’ve got $185 360 by the end of twenty-five years.

Consider – you could add $185 000 for your retirement in twenty-five years by just bagging a lunch every day, and not playing the lotto. Amazing how much $60 every week will get you.

So, let’s say you could get 9% investing in high-quality stocks? (since 1900 – 2010, the average return is 9.4%)

Would you believe taking a lunch to your workplace and not playing the lotto could make you $286 771 richer in twenty-five years if the stock market returns an average of 9% annually? A quarter of a million dollars.

Therefore think of that the next time you place your next lunch order!

Now how would you generate 9% or maybe better? You could consider small cap stocks since with any luck ,, this new found fortune represents a tiny portion of your entire net worth. Since this money would be frettered away purchasing lunches and lotto tickets – you can afford to be a little more aggressive with the money – but, that is definitely not to propose you need to gamble it – only that you really can afford to take on a little more risk. A sensible strategy would be to take 5% of your new found riches and put money into penny stocks.

The sorts of small caps to buy and sell will not be the types that have very low volume and very little in terms of sales. Uncover companies that trade at the very least 250 000 shares every day, have a rate of growth with a minimum of 20% and really should be profitable. It may take a bit of time for you to discover them, but these gems put the odds of success to your advantage – you may also want to find stocks that are trading at their 52 week high – these stocks typically keep on moving higher.

With regards to setting up your nationwide retirement solutions you will find that there are many options available to the intelligent investor. The issue isn’t necessarily in investment opportunities however the knowledge that is required to be able to turn those opportunities into wild success. For this reason alone, I suggest that your first stop across the path to financial retirement investment be in the door of the qualified financial planner.

Most of tend to be more than willing to go to the experts for advice when problems arise but for some reason have major problems seeking the services of those that are educated to assist us within our financial planning endeavors. You should consider your options carefully and decide what’s in your best interest. The best way to do this is by using the info that a good financial planner can offer and by hearing his or her guidance.

Something you will likely be told for your nationwide retirement solutions is the importance of diversity in your investment portfolio. We all have been told many times never to invest in our eggs in one basket and the same is true when it comes to investing your retirement. All investments really are a gamble; some carry more risks than others. You have to remember that every penny you invest is subject to loss however making your investment decisions by how much of a risk the particular investment presents and how much you are willing to lose when the investment doesn’t pan out.

One common investment option for retirement funds is mutual funds. These offer the ability to invest long-term with lower risk than many other investment options you will find. These funds present high risk than other investments but are a great moderate risk investment for those who have little understanding of the way the market actually works. There is a fund manager that’s in charge of making the actual financial commitment for that collective pool from the fund and his or her job to determine where to put the money that they’ve been entrusted. This leaves the critical decisions out of your hands and off the mind.

If mutual funds seem boring for you, there are other higher risk investment opportunities in the form of stocks. I seriously recommend studying the market carefully and completely before making the leap into trading but this is often quite the short-term quick profit rush that you’re searching for if you’re willing to risk your retirement investment for the sake of increasing your net worth. If you do decide to invest in the stock exchange please take the time to discover the proper procedures, the risks, and the process before diving in. If you have an economic planner (and you definitely should) he then or she may end up being a great resource when it comes to the practice of ‘playing’ the stock exchange.

Securities really are a very complicated procedure that many of us would feel better never having to understand. If you need a bit more adrenaline pumping, heart clutching moments when it comes to you financial retirement and are willing to risk the need to work for the rest of your life in the process you may find that this is only the boost for you. Be sure however, not to rest all your hopes and dreams for retirement about the allure of securities trading because this is an extremely high risk field for those who do know what they’re doing. For those who have little experience it can be a financially fatal flaw.

Learning the particulars of an investment process in addition to the options that are available for you through the span of your own financial retirement planning is much like going to war with the proper weapons and armor rather than slingshot along with a rock. The problem is that while there are some financial Goliath’s available which are simply waiting to be tamed, most investment strategies present their own unique needs that needs to be understood and monitored.

Have you ever thought about alternative investment vehicles? . With the current investment options available I don’t blame you.

Interest rates are stagnant and any increase will be minimal because of the current financial situation. Stocks and shares can be easily affected by worldwide political and economical permutations which make it a very risky option, especially in the short term. The housing market has slowed down in recent years meaning that significant returns would take a while and the market can be quite volatile especially with the economic uncertainty currently in the UK. What are your alternative options? Well, one option is buying UK land. UK land investment is a little bit like buying gold, the value will always rise, consistently and safely. This is a proven trend too as the track record of UK land values speak for themselves. For example, the value of agricultural land in the UK has increased over the last 20 years by 130% and over the last year by 30%. Therefore it has outperformed any other investment vehicle in the UK . The UK is and continues to be a stable country to invest in . Staying with politics, it’s a high priority for the government to deal with the housing crisis that the UK is facing. With a population rise of 7 million by 2021, there will be a shortfall of 1.4 million homes which means the UK is facing a crisis. The government are finding they are having to build on the often untouchable greenbelt sites to deal with this situation. Greenbelt areas around cities are being flagged for rezoning to meet these housing goals. Where does this leave investors? Strategic investing will see investors looking for sites that are going to be rezoned for development. You have the option of seeing significant dividend on your investment with the help from land investment firms such as Vinci Partners. This is what they do, they specialise in researching and analysing areas for potential development so they can inform potential investors of these opportunities.

The situation in the UK makes land investment a potentially lucrative option. This housing crisis has meant that the demand for agricultural land is outweighing supply, a situation that has been echoed by The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors’ 2010 Rural Land Market Survey. This has created a unique situation in the UK where the value of land is rising. As scarce land becomes high in demand, it will raise in value; therefore it is highly unlikely to depreciate, and is seen by private investors as a low risk option. Furthermore buying UK land is a popular choice for consistent, safe and potentially higher returns than any other investment vehicle in the UK. Don’t be left out of this booming market, contact a UK land investment firm to see how you can gain significant returns, it’ll pay dividends.

Real Estate Investing For Beginners

My guidance for investors that are just starting in real estate, partner with other speculators! I have often referred to real estate investing as being a team sport. The truth of the matter is you’ll be able to find multiple moving parts in any real-estate deal, so in a large amount of cases different speculators will solve diverse challenges of a selected deal differently. When this happens ( in my humble opinion ) its best to work together and split profits. Real Estate Investing For Beginners Point one : 50% of something is much better than 100% of nothing. The hang up is that most speculators are not taught to work together. As an example : one new investor that lately conversed with me informed me that he had a couple of good buyer leads from his REI Matcher website that had matched up with some houses on the site, but he did not know what to do with them ( He must have skipped that module in my course hopefully he’ll read Real Estate Investing For Beginners ).

OK, so If two investors collectively have a buyer and seller for a residence, it is up to the investors to choose how you can put the deal together and divide the proceeds.

Real Estate Investing For Beginners | Partnering

Here are some common ways to structure it:
1) For a deal that will produce ongoing income, you might form a limited partnership for the deal. As an example, the partnership could produce an LLC that buys the property sub-to and sells it on a wrap. The investor-partners of the LLC would then divide the proceeds as they see fit. The division could be 50-50, or some other type of split.
2) In some cases, like in Mortgage Assignment deals, the investor is not buying the property at all. They’re merely assigning their contract to an end buyer for an assignment fee. These transactions produce a one-time fee at closing which can be split in some way between the investors.

Real Estate Investing For Beginners | Compensation

In these transactions, if the end buyer is someone that has been identified by another investor, again, you’ve a couple of possibilities:

* Form a partnership to do the deal
* If the other investor is really a Realtor, you can compensate them with a commission
* If the other investor isn’t a Realtor, but inside the organization of advertising for possible buyers for your property, you may well have the ability to pay a marketing fee to that investor in exchange for their lead(s).

Real Estate Investing For Beginners Poing 2: as an investor you are doing a wonderful service by helping the seller out of the home and supplying housing for a new buyer, plus it pays pretty well too!

Is Commercial Real Estate Dead or Alive?

Positive reports in the press today about commercial real estate climbing in the final quarter of 2010. According to a Moody’s investors Service study commercial property markets across the U.S. Were stable or even showed moderate improvement during the 4th quarter last year. The commercial home market has been devastated since the beginning of the ‘recession ‘ due to reduced occupancy rates and renters falling behind on payments in the tricky economic times.

More Commercial home market discoveries from the Moody’s study :.

“The ratings agency said six of the seven property types in U.S. commercial mortgage-backed securities had ‘yellow’ scores last quarter–which indicates middling strength. Six of those showed some improvement, while only the multifamily sector had a strong score, which was unchanged.

Moody’s said the limited-service hotel and suburban office sectors showed the most improvement during the latest quarter. The five best markets in the U.S. were Honolulu, New York City, Los Angeles, the District of Columbia and California’s Orange County.

“The commercial real estate markets are continuing down the road to recovery, though the fact that most markets remain yellow indicates that a comfortable point of stability has not yet been reached,” said Moody’s Vice President Keith Banhazl.”

From: DOW JONES NEWSWIRES, “Moody’s: US Commercial Real Estate Markets Show Improvement” http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110120-712274.html January 20, 2011 (Accessed January 20, 2011).

So it looks like the commercial real estate sector seems to be alive and headed toward recovery, at least for the time being. Only time will tell if this improvement lasts.

In just a few weeks I am releasing a program that teaches investors how I have created a hugely profitable mortgage assignment business and how they can do it too. I’m going to tell you all of the secrets to my success and give you all the tools, the scripts, the whole enchilada; this is by far the best mortgage assignment program out there, period.

Who am I? I’m not one to toot my own horn so here’s a professional bio that was written about me:

“Phill Grove has been called the most successful residential real estate investor in post-bubble America by dozens of today’s top guru’s. He has conducted approximately $200M in real estate transactions – using non-traditional investing methods such as mortgage assignment, short sales, equity partnering, auction-options, wraps, swaps, and other methods – many of which he invented and/or pioneered for the industry. Phill teaches how to zig when others zag, and believes the biggest opportunities for wealth exist for those that solve the biggest problems during the biggest times of need, and has never seen a bigger opportunity than now to grow rich while helping others.”

For many years my main focus as a real estate investor was short sales. Over the last year or 2 the short sale business has increased but the quantity of short sales that banks are approving has gradually fell. There were still plenty of homeowners looking at foreclosure that needed my help, but there weren’t any assurances that the bank would cooperate if we started a short sale. So as to aid these deals and to make the type of cash I got used to making my focus transitioned to mortgage assignments. I had so much success with this new methodology that I chose to make a mortgage assignment programme for other financiers to share in the wealth ( I know this seems a little unorthodox, I should keep my killer secrets to myself, but really there are way more mortgage assignment deals out there than me and a thousand clones of myself could handle ).

The Mortgage Assignment Program
So what is it? My mortgage assignment program will show investors how to do something that no one else is teaching. It’s a basic premise: I will show you how to sell ‘unsellable’ houses to ‘unloanable’ buyers.

The mortgage assignment program will provide you with tons of content. I will go over the way to obtain the properties, the correct way to market to both customers and sellers, the tools I use in my business, how to process the leads, and how to plan and structure your business. You may also get plenty of material to use like my contracts, disclosures, prospect questionnaires, and legal forms. In the next few weeks I will be releasing a series of videos that may teach you about the mortgage assignment programme and all of it’s offerings.

Foreclosures 101 |Introduction to Investing in Foreclosures
Foreclosure investing is can be much more difficult than what the gurus pitch in their infomercials and books. Investing in foreclosures is not as easy as just showing up to the courthouse steps and buying a house for pennies on the dollar. There is a lot of due diligence that needs to be done before you ever show up to the auction, that’s why Foreclosures 101 is here to help. Serious foreclosure investors typically have a substantial bankroll of their own or they have an investor backing them up to pay for the homes that they win in the auction. Getting a great deal at the foreclosure auction has nothing to do with what you would like, but rather it’s about finding a deal that works economically, keeping track of it, finding out all you can about it, and then beating out all the other investors who are interested in it.

Foreclosures 101 | Can you make money investing in foreclosures?
Absolutely, but making an investment in foreclosures isn’t without it’s challenges. Investors who understand the risks associated with purchasing repossessions can exploit the opportunities inside the prevailing market. Nonetheless, with a soft market in a couple of parts of the U.S, it will be a challenge to learn a property with acceptable equity. In reality, many repos have no equity at all .
So before you take the plunge, recognize that making bucks purchasing repos isn’t a basic process. Assuming you might have the time as well as the personality, there is money to be made. It really is not as simple as the infomercials would prefer you to believe.

Foreclosures 101 | Other Foreclosure Investment Options
There are countless methods you can use to go about making an investment in the pre-forclosure / foreclosure market. You can work with homeowners that are behind on payments, you can go to auctions, do a mortgage assignment, or you can do short sales ( a short sale is when a bank accepts a discounted or a lower payoff than the mortgage balance as payment in full ). Each process has its own benefits and hazards. Whichever methodology you select, ensure you educate yourself about the property and do not overpay. Remember : repos 101 Motto – You make your cash in real estate investing when you purchase.

Short Selling | What is it?
Regularly the only method of selling a place with little equity is by short selling the home to a backer or end purchaser. A Short Sale typically comprises an investor ( buyer ), working with the householder to negotiate with the householder’s mortgage lender. The target of these negotiations is to postpone an outstanding auction and negotiate a discounted payoff on the loan ( or loans ). Utilizing this approach, the property can be acquired at a somewhat reduced price and a foreclosure may be evaded.

Short Selling Example

* Standard loan payoff:
* Home Value: $200,000
* Existing loan payoff: $210,000
* Break even sales price (after closing costs and REALTOR fees): $225,000
* This home would have to be sold for approximately $225,000 to cover all loans, taxes, closing costs, commissions, etc. Unfortunately, the home is only worth $200,000, so the homeowner would have to come up with $25K to cover the difference, or give the home up to foreclosure, or they could choose short selling as an option.
* Short Sale payoff:
* Home Value: $200,000
* Negotiated loan payoff: $165,000
* Break even sales price: $180,000

After the loan is negotiated, the home can be sold for anywhere from $180,000 to $200,000 with no foreclosure and no additional cost to the homeowner.
The benefit to a short sale is that it may well be the ONLY approach to sell a house where the loans add up to a lot more than the house is worth. And, it is the most effective method to prevent a foreclosure.

The disadvantage to a short sale is that, like everything, it does affect a homeowner’s credit. A short sale is simply better than a bankruptcy and a lot, a lot, much greater than a foreclosure (the “Atomic Bomb” of credit scars).

Short sales are highly complex negotiations that take significant time, paperwork, and expertise. They’re among the most complex transactions in real estate. Additionally, it can take from 2-4 months (or far more) to negotiate with the seller’s lender.
Through my short selling business I have completed over 1000 short sale transactions and have achieved a very high success rate due to my detailed processes and experience. If you are considering short selling your home or short sales as an investment strategy please contact me, I would be glad to assist you either way!

Common Short Selling Questions

Can I do a short sale myself?
No. A lender will need a purchase offer before considering negotiating a short sale. The offer must be real and be combined with a “Proof of Funds” letter from the investor buyer. Additionally, the the lending company will want a great deal of documentation from the homeowner. An investor who’s performed a lot of of these, like myself, can assist you through every last short sale hurdle.

Will a short sale hurt my credit?
Everything you do affects your credit to different degrees. In order for a lender to think about approving a short sale on a loan, the loan will need to be non-performing. To put it differently, the homeowner must be behind on payments. Once the short sale is approved, the mortgage bank will “charge off” a portion of the loan, which also affects the homeowner’s credit. The main benefit would be that the house can be sold and that a foreclosure and its legal ramifications might be avoided. Most specialists acknowledge that a foreclosure is the worst thing that can happen to your credit.

Prior to discussing how you can borrow against a structured settlement, let’s discuss what a structured settlement is. A structured settlement is a financial or insurance arrangement between two parties, usually an individual and a company. Cash is owed to the individual by the company. Instead of a lump sum, the individual gets the payment by installments. The claimant agrees to the payment scheme. The agreed amount is fixed and will continue to be delivered to the claimant until the full amount is reached.

You will only get the whole amount after a certain period of time. If you want to use the full amount, you need to wait until the last month of payment . Because the rules governing structured settlement are absolute, there is little that can be done to change the fact that you will have to wait before you get the full amount. Some people will look to structured settlement loan as a form of taking the money out fast.

Structured settlement loans represent the option to get fast cash if you have won a lawsuit and a recipient of a certain amount of money. If you are a claimant and you want to access the full amount asap, you can go for a structured settlement loan.

A third party is needed for this transaction. Financial companies that offer legal funding may agree to a contract involving the funds you will receive through structured settlement. The decision of taking structured settlement loan should be made after you consult with a legal counsel.

Before anything else, remember that the money you are getting through the structured settlement represents income. As a source of income, you can use it as collateral. This is similar to the way payday loans work. Read the terms of agreement of the settlement loan before agreeing to anything as some of the structured settlement brokers can be pretty crafty too.

The disadvantages of getting a structured settlement loan may have something to do with the fees that the financial institution charges. A certain amount may be taken by the lending company. You may also be paying for interest rates, which could vary from one institution to another.

A very popular methodology for selling a property quickly is to sell the property “Subject-To” the existing financing. This is a change of owner financing whereby in the exchange the seller makes an assignment of motgage debt to the purchaser and also deeds the property to that customer. The buyer then starts making the payments on the loan either through a note servicing company or to the bank themselves. Once the exchange closes the seller is no longer concerned with the property. This type of exchange is very similar to a mortgage assumption ; nevertheless technically, it’s not a presumption, as the original loan is still in the seller’s name.

It is important to note that almost all loans in recent years are not assumable.

Example Assignment of Mortgage Debt:
Home value: $150,000
Existing loan amount: $135,000
Cost of sales: $10,000 (this is typical for this value of home)
Sales price: $140,000

In order for this home to be sold through normal means, i.e. with a REALTOR, it would have to be sold for $155,000 or more to pay off the existing loan amount and closing costs (i.e. REALTOR fees, seller concessions, etc.). By using an assignment of mortgage debt, the original owner is able to sell the home to a new buyer for $140,000 with very little closing costs, title insurance and a few other small fees paid for by the buyer.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Assignment of Mortgage Debt
The benefits to using an assignment of mortgage debt are that the buyer does not need to qualify for a loan through a bank, pay for any appraisals on the property, there are no loan origination fees, and there are typically no loan application fees. These savings make a tremendous difference in the transaction and thus make it much more affordable.

The disadvantage to an assignment of mortgage debt is that the original loan remains in the name of the seller. If the buyer were to renege on the loan, it would in it’s turn have an effect on the seller’s credit. If you selling a property this way, you’ll need to do your due groundwork on the purchaser to make sure they have robust financial certifications.