* Highly Recommended *
Do You Need To Start Out Small?
If you don't have an Internet business yet, or if your company is smaller than $1 million then you need something different... something that lets you start off small.
One man I know turned $10 into over $500,000. How's that for starting small!
Let me show you how to get a similar Internet income stream running for almost nothing.
- Patrick Coffey
"Value is ... the necessary theoretical starting point whence we can elucidate the peculiar phenomenon of prices resulting from capitalist competition."
- Rudolf Hiferding
Tales of a Traveling Real Estate Investor
By Justin Ford
She said it was a "fixer upper," but I couldn't believe my eyes. The house was only 25 years old. The roof and heating and cooling systems were less than five years old and in good shape. It was on a big piece of property in a good neighborhood.
The fixing up it needed were some kitchen cabinets, a couple of appliances, restoring a bathroom, some spot floor repair, painting throughout the house, a little wood rot repair, and some landscaping. Maybe $7,000 total. Yet, even if we rolled the cost of the repairs into the cost of the house, it would generate enough rent to pay the mortgage and expenses.
This was a fixer upper?
A fixer upper where I come from is two termites fighting over the last piece of wood, and the whole property selling for a figure that wouldn't cash flow even if you could find someone to rent the dump.
That's the difference between a house in a value market and a house at the peak of a bubble market. And it's one of the main reasons I decided to focus my energies for new investments in the value markets.
It's a decision that has paid off.
The house I just mentioned is in the western part of the U.S. And I didn't end up buying it - simply because I found even better deals in the same market. A partner and I ended up buying a couple of four-units near the downtown. We bought them under market value in a market that was already undervalued and growing compared to other markets.
The result is that, in less than nine months, we've received formal and informal offers for more than $170,000 above what we paid for the properties. Yet we're not selling, because the market is still strong and growing and the properties more than pay for themselves. And we're still finding good, under-market, cash-flow buying opportunities.
In another state, in the south, another partner and I have been looking at large commercial properties. And while we've been looking at those commercial properties, she has uncovered a couple of very good deals on small properties - with great cash flow and strong appreciation potential combined.
We're at contract on a duplex she found in a neighborhood that is rapidly transforming for the better. Turn-of-the-century Victorian homes in this neighborhood suddenly started being restored.
The price of this duplex is $65,000, and it's currently leased at $1,000 a month (or $12,000 a year). The rent on one of the units is below-market, so the actual rental value is $1,100 a month ($13,200 a year). That means we're buying this at just under five times market rents.
We're able to buy it, in other words, at a price where we can borrow 100 percent of the purchase price ... and still get positive cash flow after management expenses!
So why wouldn't you pick up as many properties like these as you could possibly find?
In yet another state, with yet another partner, I am negotiating on some of the best apartment house deals I've seen in any market. How good are the deals?
One of the most intriguing is a 27-unit apartment building sitting on 15 acres, just five minutes from downtown and near one of the largest universities in the nation. We will be able to get maximum rents by providing furnished housing to students, with guarantees for rent and against damages coming directly from their parents.
With 20 of the units already updated, and with the building selling at less than seven times gross rents overall, it's like getting paid to land-bank in one of the most promising markets in the U.S.
It's a promising market because it's a "half-back state" - a mid-Atlantic state with a bunch of new residents. The new residents are former northeasterners who moved down to Florida when it was cheap. Now they're sick of Florida because it's getting crowded and extremely expensive, so they're moving halfway back ... to slower-paced states with plenty of nightlife and culture (and the kind of property values they haven't seen in decades).
I could go on about other value markets ... but you get the idea. You can still find good values. You just have to know where to look.
I use six criteria to evaluate potential markets. Two have to do with value. Two have to do with growth. And two have to do with the stability of the market. Here is a snapshot of those criteria:
Value Criterion # 1: I look for markets where properties are selling for low or reasonable prices compared to the rents they command. I like to find areas where the average purchase price is less than 15 times the average annual rent.
Value Criterion # 2: I look for properties selling for low or reasonable prices compared to local household incomes - usually areas where the average home price is no more than four times the area's average annual income.
Growth Criterion # 1: I look for markets with higher population growth rates than the national average.
Growth Criterion # 2: I look for markets with higher job growth rates than the national average.
Stability Criterion # 1: I look for markets that are consistently regarded as high in quality-of-life rankings (a combination of climate, culture, opportunity, and affordability).
Stability Criterion # 2: I look for markets that have a diversified economic base and are not overly dependent on one industry (high-tech or oil, for example).
Remember the old adage "All politics is local"? Well, it's true for real estate as well. So if you're not happy with the state of the real estate market where you are ... just seek out other locales: the value markets.
[Ed. Note: Justin Ford brings a disciplined, long-term, deep-value perspective to investing in both stocks and real estate. In Secret Sunbelt Cities: America's Best Value Property Markets and the Next Great Real Estate Booms, he identifies the next hot markets and helps individuals understand which stage of appreciation their own market is in.]
* Highly Recommended *
You Can Import Goods From Overseas For Pennies On the Dollar!
It may have been hard in the past for small entrepreneurs to import cheap products from countries like China, but things have drastically changed.
For example, In 1986, total trade between the United States and China was $7.9 billion. By 2005, this total has reached over $170 billion, making China the United States' third largest trading partner.
You can't believe how easy this is. With the right information, you just find products that cost a couple of dollars each and sell them for 1000%+ mark-ups by the thousands with your own Internet sites.
Please click here to read this urgent report.
- Patrick Coffey
Is There a Link between Breast Cancer and Red Meat?
By Jon Herring
The Washington Post recently reported on a Harvard study of more than 90,000 women between the ages of 26 and 46. It showed that those who consumed the most red meat had almost twice the risk of a common form of hormone-fueled breast cancer than those who ate red meat infrequently.
The Post correctly pointed out that the cause of this hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer could be the result of growth hormones that are injected into or fed to the animals these women consumed. But that is where the good sense ends.
The writer of the article suggests that this is a good reason to avoid red meat altogether. What a crock. That is the equivalent of telling someone to completely avoid drinking water, just because the groundwater in their area is contaminated. It's not the red meat that is the problem ... it's what is in the red meat.
It should be no surprise that hormone-pumped meat can induce hormone-receptive cancers. But that is no reason to avoid all red meat. Naturally raised, grass-fed, hormone-free red meat is one of the most nutritionally dense sources of protein available - and it's the ONLY red meat you should consume.
[Ed. Note: The company Jon has been buying from for some time is U.S. Wellness Meats - and he recently learned that one of the owners of the company is a subscriber to Early to Rise. Jon gave him a call, and he offered a 20 percent discount for first-time ETR buyers. If you're interested, pay a visit to their website. They have superior products, a wide selection, and free shipping. Use promo code ETR2 for the 20 percent discount.]
Notes From Michael Masterson's Blog: Keep it Young, Keep It Strong
"Dozens of the world's biggest media moguls and investment bankers, dressed in perfectly pressed suits, mingled in the lobby of the Pierre Hotel in Manhattan ... at the annual FourSquare conference."
They were there, The New York Times reported, to talk about the world's most exciting medium, the Web, and to bring together some of its biggest players.
Among those attending were grey-haired Howard Stringer (CEO of Sony), Barry Diller (CEO of IAC/InterActiveCorp), and Thomas Rogers (CEO of TiVo). But also Chad Hurley (the post-pubescent CEO of YouTube), Mark Zuckerberg (the 22-year-old CEO of Facebook), and Jerry Seinfeld. (Yes, that Jerry Seinfeld.)
What's going on here?
[Ed. Note: Read the rest of this article on Michael Masterson's blog at http://www.michaelmasterson.net.]
- Michael Masterson
Living Rich: How to Start Your Own Wine Cellar
By Suzanne Richardson
Michael Masterson, as you know, is a huge fan of good wine. The other day, I asked him about his wine cellar. Here's what he told me:
"We don't usually have basements in Florida, so I converted a tool shed into a wine shed. I insulated it, put in a climate control system, and had custom racks built by some California company that was advertising in the back of Wine Spectator.
"Every night, just before dinner, I take a peek at the gourmet treat K has prepared. Then I go out to the shed and spend a happy five or 10 minutes browsing through the appropriate choices. K often asks me why I don't just bring in several bottles, but that would spoil the fun.
"I have my bottles arranged in two large groups: those that require aging (the substantial reds) and those that are ready to drink. Of the latter kind, I have them arranged by grape (Cabernet, Pinot Noir) and region (Bordeaux, Champagne) and type (Borollo, Bordalino).
"I also keep some really good Cognac and vintage Port in my shed for those rare occasions when I have friends who enjoy such delicacies."
According to Michael, "Life without wine would be less than it is." If you feel the same way, you may want to start your own wine cellar.
Wine Spectator columnist Sam Gugino, writing for MSN's lifestyle column, says these are the essentials you'll need:
You can keep your wine in a closet, a basement, or a corner rack. As long as the bottles are easy to reach and their labels are easy to read, almost anything can stand in for the traditional wine cellar. Just make sure you keep your bottles in a horizontal position, which keeps the cork wet and slows down the introduction of oxygen.
Wherever you store your wine, try to maintain the temperature at around 55 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Even more important, make sure the temperature is consistent. If the temp fluctuates wildly, the wine will be shocked and could become undrinkable. Your cellar should be dark and have a humidity level of about 75 percent. It should also have good ventilation and be located in an area that isn't subject to a lot of vibrations.
Your cellar should have a good variety of everyday wines and special occasion wines, wines you should drink soon and wines you shouldn't drink for years. But most important, stock up on wines you love. Keep track of your inventory in a notebook or with a computer program, making note of each wine's winery, region, color, appellation, special designation, vintage, number of bottles, storage location, purchase date, and purchase price.
* Highly Recommended *
Could You Use An Unlimited Supply Of Money To Do All The Residential And Commercial Deals You Can Find?
“Alan, I had some private lenders before, but your system has blown the roof off my business! I’m buying more houses than ever, and finding it much easier to do commercial property.
For example, I recently bought a foreclosure for $60,000. It needed $5,000 in repairs. So using your techniques, I financed it with $70,000 from a private lender at 10%. Instead of making a down payment, like I used to, I put $5,000 profit in my pocket the day I bought the house. And I’ll be selling it shortly for $120,000.”
- Clark Fletcher, Quincy , FL
‘Blow the roof off’ your real estate profits using private money. No credit or employment history needed. Alan Cowgill actually guarantees you’ll raise $50,000 in 90 days - put his word to the test now:
Word to the Wise: Polyglot
"Polyglot" (POL-ee-glot) - from the Greek for "many tongues" - refers to writing or speaking in many languages.
Example (as used in the Chicago Sun Times): "Yes, [Anthony] Burgess loved to scatter polyglot obscurities like potholes throughout his more than 50 novels and dozens of nonfiction works. He could leap gaily from Welsh to French to Malay to Yiddish in one breath."
