Our subscriber list reads like a “who’s who” of the real estate industry, including published authors, contributors to CNBC & Bloomberg, and highly respected educators and speakers. They all know what you’ll soon find out: The Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter is the world’s finest publication for real estate investors.
One of the red flags that caught investigators attention was this investors habit of having distressed homeowners sign entirely blank contracts, assuring them that she would fill in the details later. Recently, one of our sister publications published an article on a real estate investor who had been arrested by the FBI on a variety of fraud charges[1]. She then filled in fraudulent information and used those contracts to attract other real estate investors and persuade them to invest with her in the fictitious properties.
And in todays litigious world and volatile political and economic environment, real estate investors are an easy target. At this point in time, every state in the country has some sort of investigative team investigating real estate fraud, and that means if you are flipping, doing short sales or just plain buying at deep discounts, there is a target on your back. You have to be careful to dot your Is and cross your Ts no matter how tedious it may be because being successful in real estate makes you an automatic suspect in many officials books. Theyre restoring market stability. 1. You cannot assume you look like the good guy.Most real estate investors think of themselves as doing a tough job in a tough world, but generally they consider themselves to be good guys. Theyre helping out homeowners that have few options. Theyre buying the stuff that no one else will touch with a ten-foot pole for goodness sake! However, as you are probably aware, not everyone thinks real estate investors are so hot.
Sad but true. Its a great way to make money. However, well-intentioned or just plain lazy, not all these guys (and girls) are teaching you the best or even the legal way to invest. 2. Just because someone has done a deal does not mean their way is the right way.There are a lot of successful real estate investors out there. Its a lovely way to give back, as many say. You need to make sure before you use technique that it fits the legal requirements in the specific geographic location in which you are investing. And a lot of those real estate investors teach people how to invest using their techniques. However, it was her responsibility to check out her facts before she implemented, and now she is paying the price. Its entirely possible that the woman arrested in the story above may have gotten the idea to have homeowners sign blank contracts from a real estate seminar. Its a great way to share your good fortune by teaching others how to have the same success you have.
You have sources of information that you can trust to provide you with facts on real estate and alert you to opportunities that you can take advantage of as a real estate investor. Do your own or work with a fact-checking and information source you trust.Never before has it been more important that you have a good source in fact, several good sources for relevant real estate news. 3. Research matters. The rules in real estate are changing. The market has seldom in the past been more dynamic.
Is it their fault that they were taken in? Did they deserve this? Absolutely not! But due diligence will always pay off, and in todays real estate market you cannot afford to neglect it. Read the fine print of any educational material: it will tell you to get your own legal and financial advice before you act. If she was making up numbers, then it seems likely she had to have some idea that she was working in a gray area. But we are saying that if the people who invested with her had done their due diligence, they might have saved themselves some money. Were not saying that the woman in the fraud case was innocent. If you dont check with the experts, you will eventually lose money. And if the homeowners had consulted even a free legal service, they probably would have been instructed not to sign blank contracts.
political machine has a huge impact (usually bad) on the business of real estate. Few industries are as profoundly impacted by the political machinations in Washington as the real estate industry. Whether it’s old legislation like Jimmy Carter’s Community Reinvestment Act or Barack Obama’s massive mortgage bailouts, the U.S.
So rather than stick our heads in the sand and ignore reality, readers of the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter choose to be informed and prepared. every piece of our business is profoundly impacted by politics. But here at the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter, we insist on seeing the world with clarity – including the reality of Washington’s aggressive involvement in every facet of our business, from mortgage lending to real estate sales license; from loan modification regulations to appraisal requirements. Ideally, we could ignore politics.
You can contact the team at the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter here. With over 200,000 subscribers – including real estate investors, agents, brokers, appraisers and other real estate professionals – the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter is among America’s largest sources of unbiased coverage of politics and public policy for the real estate industry.Bryan Ellis serves as editor in chief for the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter and is assisted by an extraordinary staff of writers, researchers and editors who are each real estate experts in their own rite and who assure that the news we report is well researched, factual, and highly relevant to today’s real estate industry.Bryan is very happily married and has two wonderful daughters. Bryan Ellis is an Atlanta-based real estate analyst and publisher of the widely read newsletter “The Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter”. He makes his home in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia.
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