Boomer’s Blog

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Real estate entrepreneur and $100,000,000 deal maker Ken Wade will tell you that it’s not so much a miracle as it is a scientifically-proven system to plot the natural cycle of the real estate markets that drive our business.

Ken has has invested in real estate — and profited through all three major market cycles of the past 30 years. He says that the housing market “crash” is not really what it may seem in terms of perceived declines in values. Ken blames the news media and other forces for promoting the negative market psychology that’s killing prices in many markets.

Turning the Tide on Down Turning Markets
In reality, Ken says, what we’re seeing with home prices beyond the subprime lending debacle is the natural cycle that moves the market. He recently crunched some intriguing numbers about the U.S. housing market. Between Q1 2002 and Q1 2006, widely considered to be the peak years of the housing boom, Ken reports the following data:

• Only 25 markets, or 7 percent of the United States, experienced a true housing boom, defined by a four-year total home appreciation greater than 80 percent.
• Only 75 markets, or 20 percent of the United States realized total appreciation between 38 percent and 78 percent.
• Half of all local U.S. housing markets realized cumulative home price appreciation lower than 9 percent for that entire four-year period.
• Approximately 25 percent of U.S. local markets never realized even 6 percent total appreciation during those four so-called “boom” years.

Ivy League Insight without the Tuition
Ken is the Harvard-educated architect of the Housing Alerts’ Total Market Master program for research-based real estate investing. He has spent much of his career tracking local real estate trends and profiting from widespread price fluctuations. With his system, Ken translates the “buy low, sell high” adage into hard science and cold cash.

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We’ll talk about how he does it on Wednesday in a special online media bonanza we’re hosting to celebrate Tim’s amazing, proven real estate Market Timing System. As usual, your admission to this life-changing on-line event is FREE, but you’ve got to join the GaryBoomershine.com online community to participate.

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Sign up either here or on the main page at GaryBoomershine.com and you’ll get the best this industry has to offer in real estate news, real estate marketing, real estate training systems, and all the creative real estate ideas that drive success in this business. Members also get exclusive access to compelling multimedia content and jaw-dropping discounts!

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to Make Tons of Cash in Real Estate! Join GaryBoomershine.com today and race ahead of the pack!

Amid the U.S. foreclosure epidemic, Habitat for Humanity has been capitalizing on the low prices of real estate owned properties (REO), and foreclosed properties to advance its mission to provide affordable housing in communities throughout the nation. Sound ironic? Maybe so, but it’s also a practical strategy for foreclosure-blighted areas to get their homes occupied as soon as possible.

By rehabbing these low-income properties, the non-profit is helping build stronger communities and property values in many of the real estate markets that need it most. They’re also helping to stave off some of the dangers that come with properties that seem to be abandoned in the long term.

When Builders and REO Lenders Walk Away
The Associated Press reports that an increasing number of Habitat for Humanity chapters have buying REO and foreclosed properties at bargain basement prices, organizing legions of volunteers for massive rehabbing projects and then selling the homes at affordable prices to families in need.

When rehabbing isn’t a practical option (and many of us know that sometimes it isn’t) the houses are torn down to make way for new dwellings. In some real estate markets, Habitat for Humanity is even buying large subdivision tracts left over from the real estate bubble burst. Many developers are simply walking away from developments they can’t afford to complete, Habitat officials say.

Although the circumstances that have enabled Habitat for Humanity to acquire massive amounts of U.S. real estate are lamentable, placing low-income families into affordable housing is a better use of existing resources than allowing properties to remain vacant or go to real estate investors. Habitat officials warn that vacant homes can drive up crime and reduce nearby property values.

REO, Foreclosed Homes and Neighborhood Blight
Not only are vacant properties an invitation for crime, In many U.S. housing markets, the untended, vacant properties have led to health hazards and neighborhood blight. Unkempt swimming pools have provided prime breeding grounds for the West Nile Virus. Properties left dirty or unsecure also are vulnerable to vermin that spread disease such as: rats, mice, roaches and others.

The extent to which Habitat for Humanity affiliates participate in local foreclosure and REO investing depends to some extent on how much money they have to spend. Here are some project highlights:

Habitat for Humanity Projects in Four Metro Markets:

1. In Fort Worth, Texas, the local Habitat chapter is negotiating to buy part of a 160-lot subdivision
   that a developer seems to have abandoned. If their negotiations go according to plan, they’ll develop 50 of the remaining 100 vacant lots in the area. Fort Worth Habitat officials say that prices for comparable lots has dropped 30 percent to 40 percent since the height of the real estate boom.
2. In Dallas,Texas, another Habitat affiliate has picked up about 150 lots for half of the original price. Developers in the city’s south end are abandoning inexpensive lots and costly construction projects in favor of greener looking pastures in the city’s north end leaving many real estate investment opportunities wide open, officials say.
3. The Habitat affiliate in Phoenix, Ariz., is wrapping up negotiations to complete a 20-home development abandoned by a company that went bankrupt and couldn’t complete its development. In addition, Habitat officials say they’re working deals on 14 metro-area unfinished lots for less than half of their original list price.
4. In Milwaukee, Wisc., the city is taking action against the ill effects of foreclosure in its metro communities. The city is buying multiple condo units in one large complex with a high concentration of foreclosures, and then selling them to Habitat for about $5,000 each. When Habitat for Humanity volunteer rehabs on the units are complete, they’ll be sold to clients for about $25,000.

As a real estate investor, what do you think of the city intervening with foreclosed and REO properties and working with a third party such as the non-profit Habitat for Humanity? Do you see advantages or disadvantages from yor position as a real estate investor?

Make your real estate investment career meltdown the first day of the rest of you life with a new, optimized lifestyle design (LD) and bestselling author Tim Ferriss’ entrepreneurial manifesto, “The Four-Hour Workweek: How to Escape 9–5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich” (4HWW).

Before taking his now-famous pen to paper, Ferriss, a Princeton University graduate, drove himself — and his business — into the ground with over-work and precious time squandered on tasks that actually kept him from generating wealth and attaining his goals.

Pursue your Dreams and Build Wealth
In this monumental work, Ferriss urges people to shed the traditional expectations that wedge us into cubicles and create our dream lifestyles by following his formula for achieving personal freedom and financial wealth.

In 4HWW, readers learn how to make this liberating transition through executing the four steps of LD, Ferriss’ efficiency-optimized approach to maximizing effectiveness in your work and creating more fearless joy in life. Not only is balance between the two possible, Ferriss tells us how to increase our profits while we’re at it.

In 4HWW, Ferriss provides a recipe for LD that revolves around the simple mnemonic: DEAL. Each letter represents a transcendent step to attaining personal freedom and financial wealth:

Ferriss’ Four Steps of Lifestyle Design

1. Definition: Requires you to determine what you want, conquer fears, look past society’s “expectations,” and estimate the costs of your desires. This is about beating the game rather than playing the game and emphasizing your strengths instead of trying to change your weaknesses. Here, the pursuit of happiness is the pursuit of excitement.
2. Elimination: This section begs readers to forget about time management and embrace the possibility that you can accomplish more by doing less. When you limit tasks and work time, you’re free to effectively focus on completing the most important tasks in less time, Ferriss says. More time economy comes, he adds, by eliminating time wasted by constantly checking email and using personal electronics, When you do this, you’ll defeat procrastination and be free to focus on the minority of tasks that bring the greatest results.
3. Automation: Ferriss defines efficiency and encourages that it be abandoned and replaced with true effectiveness. In this section, he discusses how to maximize overall effectiveness by outsourcing low-end tasks. This can free up valuable time for entrepreneurs to build businesses that provide a sustainable, automatic sources of income. Using the right process models, and effective marketing practices, Ferriss insists that we can maximize income and best manage our businesses through absence.
4. Liberation: When you’ve successfully defined your desires, eliminated unnecessary tasks, automated and outsourced your life, Ferriss says that liberation will manifest itself in many ways and you’ll be ready to join the ranks of the New Rich.

To learn more about how 4HWW and Ferriss’ formula for LD can help you be a better entrepreneur in your real estate investment business, be sure to check out my review, now posted in GaryBoomershine.com’s Resources section.

Real estate entrepreneur and $100,000,000 deal maker Ken Wade has ridden in the front car of the real estate roller coaster through all three market cycles in the past 30 years, and he’ll tell you that today’s housing market is perfectly normal. There’s no nationwide housing crash, he says. But a media obsession with a few markets is driving negative market psychology — and prices — into the ground.

Just the Facts
In reality, Ken says, what we’re seeing isn’t an economic catastrophe, but the natural cycle that moves the market. He recently crunched some intriguing numbers about the U.S. housing market. Between Q1 2002 and Q1 2006, widely considered to be the peak years of the housing boom, Ken reports the following data:

• Only 25 markets, or 7 percent of the United States, experienced a true housing boom, defined by a four-year total home appreciation greater than 80 percent.
• Only 75 markets, or 20 percent of the United States realized total appreciation between 38 percent and 78 percent.
• Half of all local U.S. housing markets realized cumulative home price appreciation lower than 9 percent for that entire four-year period.
• Approximately 25 percent of U.S. local markets never realized even 6 percent total appreciation during those four so-called “boom” years.

The Nature of the Beast
Ken’s data show that a relative few free-falling markets have garnered a great deal of media attention. The ensuing media circus has helped to redefine public perception of the entire U.S. housing market market with trigger words words like: “housing crisis” and “mortgage meltdown.”

Ken is the Harvard-educated architect of the Housing Alerts’ Total Market Master program for research-based real estate investing. He has spent much of his career tracking local real estate trends and profiting from widespread price fluctuations. With his system, Ken translates the “buy low, sell high” adage into hard science and cold cash. We’ll talk about how he does it next week.