Are You Dumb Enough to Be Rich?
|
|
|
|
|
Written by
ARAcontent |
|
Sunday, 23 December 2007 |
(ARA) - The cost of living is higher
than ever, there’s weakness in the
job market, stocks are in a
free-fall and the housing market is
in a slump. Sounds like a bad time
to be a real estate investor, or is
it?
According to G. William
Barnett II, author of “Are You Dumb
Enough to Be Rich?” from AMACOM
Books, exactly the opposite is true.
“These are the times smart real
estate investors live for. There’s
more money to be made in chaos than
at any other time, and no other
investment strategy has created more
millionaires than real estate,” he
says.
In the just released second edition
of his book, Barnett, who has more
than a decade of experience in real
estate investing, has added chapters
that lay out his strategies for
being successful in the current
marketplace. The key, he says, is
knowing how to decipher not only
which markets to invest in, but
which neighborhoods hold the key to
wealth.
“One of the greatest frustrations I
had early in my career was reading
about places where great things were
happening, but not having the
confidence to take advantage of
them,” says Barnett, who still
regrets not investing in Hawaii back
in the late 1990s when the crash of
the Japanese stock market sent
housing prices into a free fall.
“Back then, I told my wife we have
to invest in Hawaii. She said, ‘No,
we don’t know anything about that
market.’ If I had known then what I
know now, boy would I be better
off.”
Barnett has spent the past decade
finessing an investment strategy he
calls “Hot Mapping,” which is
outlined in the new edition.
“Basically it’s a business overlay
that you can apply to any market in
the U.S. to identify the areas in
that market you should be investing
in,” he explains.
Here’s a brief synopsis of how it
works. Step one is to establish a
market’s median price which you can
do with the help of resources on the
Internet. Next you’ll want to
purchase two maps. One electronic,
the other a 6-by-6-foot map that
covers the town or county you want
to invest in. Step three will be to
break down the market from a pricing
standpoint using color coding.
“Once you finish making your map,
pick up the classifieds and start
adding pins representing each of the
homes for sale. This technique gets
you to the point where you can just
pick up the phone, call an agent and
tell them exactly which subdivision
you want to look at and how much
you’re willing to pay. You’re in
essence equipping the agent to do a
great job for you,” says Barnett.
In “Are You Dumb Enough to Be
Rich?,” Barnett offers other
strategies for making a fortune in
real estate, including instructions
on how to find and take ownership of
troubled properties before they go
into foreclosure and how to move
faster than your competition when it
comes to getting your hands on lists
of already foreclosed properties the
banks and mortgage companies want to
sell.
As for the
housing markets Barnett likes best
right now, he says number one is Las
Vegas, which currently
has $10 billion worth of commercial
construction going on and will soon
have a demand for thousands of new
employees. He also likes San Diego,
which due to this summer’s fires
doesn’t have enough housing to meet
its citizens’ needs; and Central
Florida which thanks to the Disney
empire will always have room for
growth.
“Real estate is cyclical. Before you
know it, the economy will recover
and banks and mortgage companies
will once again become more creative
in their lending practices. Then
there will be another string of
foreclosures, and smart investors
like you will be lined up to help
clean up the mess,” says Barnett.
Courtesy of ARAcontent
More
Las Vegas News Articles |
