1031 Exchange or Real Estate Investment Trust?
Over the last several years, real estate has been as hot as any other investment. It wasn’t until recently that real estate cooled a bit. During this time, we’ve all heard the stories of the easy money made investing in real estate. When money was easy, and there was no end in sight to the real estate boom, people were flipping houses like crazy. For many of these individuals, the 1031 exchange money could not be any easier. However, the times have changed. The downturn has taught even the most bullish real estate speculators that real estate can also go down in value. More than ever, investing in real estate, takes professional know-how, time, and resources to successfully invest in real estate. So, how does the average person invest in real estate, this day and age?
Well, there is a way, and it’s been around for quite some time. It’s called a Real Estate Investment Trust, or REIT. A Real Estate Investment Trust is a way for the small investor to invest in big real estate. A Real Estate Investment Trust is an organization that is set up to manage and invest in real estate professionally. You can purchase a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) via the stock exchange in the form of a stock, or privately. Private Real Estate Investment Trusts typically require that certain suitability criteria be met. Also, private REITs are typically longer-term investments, with liquidity considerations. Public Real Estate Investment Trusts can be bought and sold on the stock exchange and are considerably more liquid than their private counterparts.
Investing in a Real Estate Investment Trust can come in many forms. You can purchase a Real Estate Investment Trust that focuses on large-scale commercial real estate, for example. This would allow you to take part in major real estate deals involving 100 plus story buildings, that would otherwise be available to the ultra rich. Some Real Estate Investment Trusts may have their focus in apartment buildings or even new housing construction. The point here is that you can choose your Real Estate Investment Trust sector through one of these REITs. If you want a more professionally managed approach there are a large number of REITs actively managed through the purchase of mutual funds. This can provide for diversification, and individual real estate sectors.
Properly set up Real Estate Investment Trusts are tax-advantaged. This means that they are not taxed at the corporate level. However, they must be set up properly. It is required that REITs invest 75% of their funds in real estate. These requirements are met by income derived from mortgage or rent interest. Essentially, you’re relying on other parties for their expertise in the real estate arena. Going at it alone is tougher than ever these days. You have the typical headaches, like qualifying for a 1031 exchange, property taxes, escrow, title insurance, and so on. But, that’s really the easy part. When the real estate market only went up, the biggest worry for speculators was how to take advantage of a 1031 exchange and save on capital gains. Now, there’s much more to worry about, as real estate not only goes up, but it can certainly come down.
It’s important to keep in mind that Real Estate Investment Trusts also come with inherent risks. If real estate values plummet, and you have a large percentage of your assets exposed to Real Estate Investment Trusts you may experience declines, as well. This is where diversification is very important. The standard Real Estate Investment Trust me diversify you within different types of real estate, but you should always practice further diversification. Investing in different asset classes, sectors, and the life will provide you with further diversification. Make sure to work with a qualified investment advisor or do your due diligence when investing in any type of Real Estate Investment Trust.
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Online Personal Finance Software Can be Used Anywhere
November 29, 2009 by admin
Filed under Personal Finance
Many people don’t understand the concept of online personal finance. This is because up until recently, the only way for many people to deal with their finances was through hand written calculations, hand-written reminders, and by dealing with their bank. Well this has all changed with the use of online personal finance programs, not only do online finance programs allow customers to track all aspects of their finances but with many programs these services are free!
The best thing about online personal finance software is that it isn’t like doing business with a person. The services that it provides are available at anytime of the day or night, as long as you have an Internet connection. This means you can check on your bank accounts, credit cards, payments, and investment accounts from anywhere in the country, even out of the country if you have proper internet connection. Another benefit to using personal finance software is that is it normally quick and easy to use. The layouts of the programs used are very easy to follow so if you aren’t the most tech-savvy person there is no need to worry. Also, signing up for online financing software is very easy it takes less than 10 minutes and the benefits can help you for the rest of your life.
If you are nervous about using the internet to deal with your finances there is no need to worry. Many Online Personal Finance software programs use the same protection and security that banks use, this lowers the chances that your personal information could be leaked through the internet into another person’s hands. For services like this one of the top priorities is the safety of the clients money and making sure that it is kept private. Also, it is very unlikely that with any online personal finance software programs that you will be allowed to move money in and out of accounts. The goal of this software is to help you keep track of your money, not move it around. This should make you feel better about the use of the program.
Another huge benefit to using online personal finance software is that at any time of the day your information is up to date and ready to be looked at. This can be a great tool if you are in the supermarket and don’t know if you have the money to spend on a few additional groceries. This can be a great budgeting tool when you are looking to save money, especially right now with the economy in such poor shape. Using this software to budget and calculate your money will help you stay on top of your priorities.
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www.todaytrader.com.Day trading in stocks is both risky and difficult. Please consult your financial advisor before attempting to trade actively. TodayTrader is not responsible for any content that may be viewed on this channel. These videos are not meant to be recommendations in the market. Day trading equities requires a retail account balance of at least $25000 and must remain at or above this level to trade stocks actively. This website is not a solicitation to buy or sell securities …
Unsecured Personal Loans: No Collateral.no Fear Yet you Get Them
November 25, 2009 by admin
Filed under Personal Finance
Unsecured personal loans can be availed by everyone. Be it a good credit holder, bad credit holders, tenants, homeowners, businessman, salaried person etc. you don’t need to pledge any of your properties in order to avail unsecured personal loans. with unsecured personal loan everyone can now avail a loan to meet personal expenses.
Basic information on unsecured personal loans
Unsecured personal loans are unsecured in nature. You don’t need to place any collateral in order to avail unsecured personal loans. With unsecured personal loans you can avail an amount ranging from £ 1,000 and £25, 000. Loan amount depends on your credit status, repayment ability, monthly income etc. Unsecured personal loans are short term loans and should be repaid within 10 years from the date of approval. Unsecured personal loans can also be availed by people suffering from bad credit due to arrears, defaults, IVA, CCJ, bankruptcy etc. unsecured personal loans carry slightly high interest rate but that is not very high because of the competition prevailing in the market. To avail unsecured personal loans you’ll there are certain requirements like, you must have a full time job, regular source of income, repayment ability etc.
UNSECURED PERSONAL LOANS: ADVANTAGES
Unsecured personal loans are short term loans and can be easily repaid. Unsecured personal loans are risk free loan because you don’t need to place any collateral to avail an unsecured personal loan. It is very helpful for tenants who don’t have any property to apply for secured loans. Homeowners who don’t want to risk their properties can also apply for unsecured personal loans. You can use unsecured personal loans to meet any of your personal expenses like buying a car, going for holiday, wedding, paying previous debts and so on.
UNSECURED PERSONAL LOANS: SUGGESTIONS
Always apply for a loan keeping in mind your repayment ability and apply for an amount that you can repay easily. In case of non-payment of loan installments lenders can take legal action against you. There are many financial institutions, banks and lending firms that offer unsecured personal loans. Search well before applying for any loan. You can use Internet to search for lenders that offer unsecured personal loans at competitive interest rate. You can also apply online to avail unsecured personal loans. For this you just need to fill up an online application form and the lenders will get back to you with their offers.
Unsecured personal loans are risk free loans that can be availed by everyone including people with bad credit score. You can apply for unsecured loans to fulfill any of your personal needs.
The Hopper Flight Scenario - Saving $$ On Airfare
November 23, 2009 by admin
Filed under Personal Finance
For those of you who have attended my lectures, classes or public events in the last few years you may recognize a term I coined; The Hopper Flight Scenario. I believe this method of researching your airfare may be the most important part of planning a trip and will yield the highest savings of any one thing you can do. I don’t believe I invented the process because professional travelers like myself have been using these methods for years; but as far as I know, no one has packaged it into a process which anyone can follow.
Lets start where 99% of people begin; airfare. Just after your voice box utters the phrase “lets go to… ” ” then the wheels begin to spin on where to get the best price for a ticket to get to ” ” Most of us go immediately to the internet to websites like Orbitz, Expedia or a favorite airline site such as Delta, American or British Air. We begin the random placement of dates, departure times, cities and such, and continue to spin the roulette wheel of entries until a price, departure time and date seems to be what we are looking for. Many people “site hop” to cross compare trying to beat the last site they visited lowest price. Others go to their trusty travel agent who will do exactly the same process with slightly different search tools and may or may not come back with a lower price. All in all the airfare search process is a game that most of us hate to play. The majority of these searches produce a combination of airlines, connection cities and layover times to get the price low. Many travelers just use their favorite airline to get frequent flyer miles but may pay more for the few miles they gain and can never, ever redeem when they want, due to blackout dates or random policy changes.
The Hopper Flight Scenario applies to Europe, but can be applied to regional airlines in the US as well. For this example, let’s say you want to go to Rome from Seattle. The first step in the process feels a little out of whack but will make sense later. Go to your favorite source for air, no matter if it’s the airline website, mega travel site or local travel agent and ask for the price for round trip from your city, in this case Seattle to one of four destinations in Europe; London, Amsterdam, Dublin and Paris. From those locations pick exactly what you want in departure times, travel time, layovers and connection city; get it the way you want it. Pay attention and keep the overall cost as low as possible but keep the details of the trip as close to ideal for you as possible.
The second part of the puzzle involves the use of one of the most successful concepts known to travel today; the low cost carrier. For some reason Europe knows how to do it right offering flights between major cities for mere pennies. Europeans have been savvy travelers using these options for years to hop between places like London to Amsterdam or Paris to Rome. These flights sell all day long for usually under Euro 100. How do they do that you say? Well the pricing structure is quite complicated and prices can range between one cent; yes one cent to several hundred dollars depending on the time of day, season (high or low) or if you are trying to fly on a holiday. The carriers also use the no frills model with no first or business class, no seating assignments, no complementary drinks or snacks and strict luggage weight requirements. All the restrictions and lack of creature comforts means deep savings when traveling within Europe. Many times it is less expensive to take a flight than it is to take the train. One of the major players is Ryan air which is the most profitable airline in the world. The Dublin, Ireland based airline operates new aircraft to hundreds of destinations within Europe for fares as low as one penny each way during one of their online sales. One thing you can’t do is get any of these tickets from your local travel agent. Fares are only sold online and fares change not every day but every hour so you must be on your best trip planning game when attempting to find the lowest price.
Putting the pieces of the hopper flight scenario together to save you money takes a little homework but will pay off big. To give you an idea what it looks like when it’s done correctly here is an example of the Hopper Flight Scenario at its best.
Major Carrier vs. Major Carrier + Hopper – Seattle Washington to Rome Italy
Seattle to Rome on one carrier, round trip– June 2009; result: Northwest Airlines price USD $1724 per person – source orbitz.com
Seattle to London on one carrier, round trip – June 2009; result: Northwest $985 RT pp + Hopper Flight, London to Rome RT € 116.00 = about USD $150.00. – source easyjet.com -Total Price USD $1135 per person
SAVINGS of $589 PER PERSON!
So as you can see The Hopper Flight Scenario pays off big time if you are willing to put in the time and energy to put all the little bits in place. Needless to say its not all good news; there is a downside to taking hopper flights that is worth telling you about.
The majority of low cost carriers do not fly into the major airports but secondary, smaller airports like Ciampino (CIA) instead of the major Fiumicino (Leonardo da Vinci) (FCO). This means a longer trek to get to or from when flying in or out.
Low cost European carriers have very low baggage weight allowances. Luggage allowances are 10kg (22 Lbs) for hand luggage and 20kg (44 Lbs) for items checked on most carriers. To Americans; 44 pounds is just the shoes we are bringing and with some airlines charging up to 10 euro per kilo over the allowance; your budget ticket can soon turn expensive.
Lastly the low cost carriers offer a limited number of flights per day so making them work with your arrival or departure times, connection times and layovers takes some skill. On average there are two flights per day; morning and evening.
As you can see the hassle factor is quite high when using The Hopper Flight Scenario but the payoff can mean the difference between having to watch your pennies during the trip or “waiter another bottle of your finest please”
If you like the results but don’t want to deal with all the homework; my USA office would be happy to do it for you. Give them a call at 425.355.3711 or info@travel4real.com, www.italy4real.com.
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www.todaytrader.com.Day trading in stocks is both risky and difficult. Please consult your financial advisor before attempting to trade actively. TodayTrader is not responsible for any content that may be viewed on this channel. These videos are not meant to be recommendations in the market. Day trading equities requires a retail account balance of at least $25000 and must remain at or above this level to trade stocks actively. This website is not a solicitation to buy or sell securities …
Personal Loans for Everyone- Way to Fulfill your Wishes
November 22, 2009 by admin
Filed under Personal Finance
Personal loans for everyone are designed for everyone. You can avail it with or without placing collateral. Bad credit borrowers are also eligible to avail personal loans for everyone.
BASIC INFORMATION ON PERSONAL LOANS FOR EVERYONE:
A personal loan for everyone is truly a loan for everyone. It is available in both the forms secured and unsecured. Secured personal loans for everyone can be availed by placing a property against the collateral. On the other hand no such security is required in order to avail an unsecured personal loan for everyone. Both the types have their own pros and cons. While secured loans carry low interest rate and flexible repayment options, unsecured personal loans are risk free loans. You can choose between either of them depending upon your needs. Personal loans for everyone can be availed by bad credit borrowers also. Even if you are suffering from arrest, defaults, CCJ, IVA, bankruptcy etc you can avail personal loans for everyone. Personal loans for everyone can be availed for any purpose, be it personal or professional. You can use it for vacation, wedding, paying debts, debt consolidation etc.
PERSONAL LOANS FOR EVERYONE: INTEREST AND AMOUNT
With personal loans for everyone you can avail good amount of money. The loan amount that can be availed with personal loans for everyone ranges from £ 5000 - £ 75000. The loan amount depends upon various factors like credit status of the borrower, repayment ability, value of collateral etc. you can avail even bigger amount by placing collateral of high value. The repayment duration of personal loans for everyone is very flexible. While repayment duration of secured personal loans for everyone ranges from 5 – 25 years, it is a bit shorter for unsecured personal loans for everyone and ranges from 1 – 10 years. Personal loans for everyone carry competitive rate of interest. You can further lower it by opting for secured option. Lenders charge slightly higher interest form bad credit borrowers because of the risk factor involved. Personal loans fro everyone can also be availed by people suffering from bad credit status.
PERSONAL LOANS FOR EVREYONE: APPLICATION
You can avail personal loans for everyone either by visiting physical lenders or through online method. To apply you will have to fill up an application form mentioning details like the type of loan you want to avail, amount of loan, period etc.
Personal loans for everyone are literally loans for everyone. It can be availed by tenants and homeowners, bad credit borrowers and good credit borrowers etc.
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What are some books about personal finance that have changed your life and caused you to be more successful?
November 20, 2009 by admin
Filed under Personal Finance
If there was one book or a few books about personal finance such as “Rich Dad, poor dad” and “Think and grow rich” that really changed your life into understanding money and investing what are they ?
I mean if there was a book that really explained stuff and made it clear about investing and having money work for you, what would it be ?















