Phase One
Real Estate Investing Information

Begin your quest by securing real estate investing information and support at the beginning. As you come across property, you need the tools to properly evaluate them.

First, join the closest Real Estate Investor Association or REIA. If you do not have a REIA close enough, join a real estate investment club which is more local. How and where is in Pt 1 under Real Estate Investment Clubs.

Next, contact a permanent lender. A permanent lender is a conventional lender. This is not for the purchase of your property...we use Hard or Private Money for that. This is for refinancing out of the higher interest rates of Hard or Private Money.

Get pre-approved from a permanent lender before you meet with a Hard or Private Money Lender.

Of all the investing tips I have given, this one is huge. Those armed with valuable real estate investing information will have substantial advantages over their peers.

Getting pre-approved from a permanent lender, sometimes referred to as the "take out" lender, virtually guarantees your Private or Hard Money loan.

Imagine meeting your Private or Hard Money lender, already approved to "take out" their loan before they lend the money. This will speak volumes for your professionalism and knowledge about what you are doing....particularly for real estate investing beginners.

This will also allow you to negotiate "extras" which most investors will not receive from Private or Hard Money lenders...More on this in a later section.

At this meeting, either over the phone or in person, state the following:

You are seeking pre-approval for a Rate and Term, NON-Seasoned refinance, at 80% Loan to Value.

70% Loan to Value will work also.

Rate and Term means you only want to refinance your property at the balance of the existing mortgage. (If you borrow $80,000 from the Hard Money Lender, you only want to refinance $80,000.)

Non-Seasoned means you want to refinance a property you have owned for a short period of time. In this case, weeks.

Of course, 80% Loan to Value means at 80% of the property's value.

The Non-Seasoned part is very important. Any lender can refinance a property after one years ownership. Fewer will refinance within weeks of purchase. There are plenty who will, you just need to dig a bit deeper.

The easiest way to find real estate investing information is online. Use your favorite search engine and type in "non seasoned refinancing." You will get a TON of options....I mean tons.

It doesn't hurt to get pre-approved by 2 or 3 permanent lenders.

On the other hand, if you cannot receive pre-approval from a permanent lender, it is probable, you will not qualify for Private or Hard Money. They must be able to get their money back in a short period of time.

Search online. There a many, many lenders who approve ALL credit types. The overwhelming majority of you will get pre-approved very easily. Those who do not, will just need to dig a little deeper.

It is certainly worth it. I've obtained approvals, at times when my credit was not so great.

Once you purchase your property through Hard or Private Money, and are approximately one week from completing the rehab, go back to your permanent lender and submit your property for refinancing.

The final bit of real estate investing information for Phase One, are data service subscriptions. I guess you can call this optional but, for me, it is essential.

For those who agree, sign up for an e-Fax account and buy a physical fax machine as back-up. As I mentioned before, your computer will go down, from time to time and you will need that physical fax machine as back-up.

Subscribe to a service or two which can give you vital real estate investing information on property. Locate a data service which can give estimated values, foreclosure and pre-foreclosure information among other statistics. Be sure you can get property taxes and comparable sales.

My recommendations for the above services are:

MyFax.com - For e-Fax service. (Any physical fax machine will do.)

SiteX.com - Data Service which gives estimated values.

Realtytrac - Data Service which gives tons of foreclosure, pre-foreclosure and property tax information.

Both SiteX.com and Realtytrac give comparable sales information.

Be careful with free services which give estimated values. There is one well known service which absolutely butchers the property value estimates. It basically gives the tax assessed value, instead of real approximate value.

I put in my home address and a few other properties, with known values. Each time this service estimated value was 40% or lower than what I knew were the real values.

Several new investors were never able to get deals, because they were using this service to approximate unrealistic values.

I am purposely not naming the service. I will not publicly disparage a service. But I feel you must always check any service you use for accuracy. Simply plug in your home or other properties with known values.


From Real Estate Investing Information, back to Investing In Real Estate Step-by-Step.