Cedar Rapids Real Estate Resources

Here's another Anamosa property that was submitted by a user that we will use as a teaching tool for our Cedar Rapids, Iowa Real Estate Resources real estate investors. The property address, in case you want to look into it in more detail is: 206 W Carroll St, Anamosa, IA 52205.

This 3/1.00 1,180 square foot property has an asking price of $51,300, but let's take a moment to do some calculations to see what our actual cost per bedroom would be based on various offer prices (both above asking price and below asking price).

As you can see from the table above, if you know that rents in Anamosa can support a certain price per bedroom, you can use the information provided above as a starting point for making your offer. Click on the Price Paid above to start your own analysis on this property using our Offer Generator investing tool.

Absentee Owners, or owners that own property in Anamosa, but have their tax bill sent to an address other than the property address, can be a great source of both motivated sellers and investor buyers. In the page on how to send out Absentee Owner Postcards on the Real Estate Investor Cookbook, you can find my own personal tips for working with Absentee Owners.

Sincerely,

James

I want to share with you some information about a property in Cedar Rapids located at 1291 Staub Ct NE. This particular property is for sale and was submitted by one of our researchers, but I'll be using it as an example. If you want to run your own full investor analysis on this property, you can do that using our Offer Generator.

This 3/1.00 1,144 square foot property has an asking price of $105,000, but let's take a moment to do some calculations to see what our actual cost per bedroom would be based on various offer prices (both above asking price and below asking price).

As you can see from the table above, if you know that rents in Cedar Rapids can support a certain price per bedroom, you can use the information provided above as a starting point for making your offer. Click on the Price Paid above to start your own analysis on this property using our Offer Generator investing tool.

Does 1291 Staub Ct NE look like a good deal to you? If yes, do you know how to find deals like this in the Cedar Rapids area? While there are many good marketing methods for finding deals, you might want to consider using the sticky note method outlined on the audio CD titled Buying Houses with Post It Notes. You can never have enough tools in your marketing toolbox, so give it a look, it may just be the key to your next deal.

Until my next post,

James

If you've been in business for any length of time, you'll find that there are more things to do then can be done in any given day, so you absolutely must prioritize to become a successful real estate investor.

The 80/20 rule, also called Pareto's Principle, tells us that a large percentage of our success is dependent on the significant few things. The general idea of the rule is that 80% of your results will come

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Here are 4 amazingly simple ways to get others to find great real estate deals for you.

First, and this is an obvious one, hire a real estate agent or broker to scour their multiple listing service (MLS) and only bring you the deals that meet your very specific criteria. The overwhelming majority of real estate agents and brokers are paid only when you buy or sell a property using their service. They can look through the inventory they have access to and share with you the ones that meet you very specific needs. Then, when you find one that works for you, you buy it with that real estate agent or broker. You get a great deal and they earn a commission.

Second, find

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Many real estate investors lose out on an untold number of real estate deals by pre-screening too much on the telephone. Far more real estate investors pre-screen too much even before the first phone call, but that's a topic for another day. Let's discuss why you should NOT pre-screen for motivation on the phone if you want to buy more deals, with better terms and at better prices.

Are you the type of guy or gal that asks/asked if they're going to get an

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If you are using a blank sheet of paper or, even worse, scraps of paper to jot down information about potential properties when you are talking to potential motivated sellers on the phone for your initial call, shame on you!

You should be taking down all the information about the property and sellers in an organized fashion. If you do not have a Property Information Sheet to use to gather this information for your own real estate investing business, then get one or, as a last resort, make your own and use it for every call.

Most of the information you'll gather is

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Here's another Cedar Rapids property that was submitted by a user that we will use as a teaching tool for our Cedar Rapids, Iowa Real Estate Resources real estate investors. The property address, in case you want to look into it in more detail is: 502 A Ave NW, Cedar Rapids, IA 52402.

In the table below I show what happens to the value with a modest appreciation rate. Can you have years where this (or any other property for that matter) go down in value? Yes. Might it not go up by as much as we are estimating? Yes. Can it go up by more? Yes. Only time will tell what will happen.

As you can see from the table above, if we assume an appreciation rate of 6.7% per year, then the property value eventually reaches $28,688 after 10 years.

Did the deal at 502 A Ave NW seem like a good investment opportunity to you? To find great deals in your local Cedar Rapids market, you need to actively market for them. Check out our Marketing to Buy Checklist for some fresh ideas to try in your local real estate market.

Until my next post,

James

So you've put out some marketing and had some potentially motivated sellers call you. Whether you are taking the call live or returning the call from a voice mail message, here is a big picture overview of the process for talking to motivated sellers for the first time.

First off, do not... I repeat... DO NOT... research the deal before you talk to the seller. Get back on the phone with the seller as quickly as possible and without doing ANY work on the file before you call. There will be plenty of other areas to procrastinate where it is to your advantage to do so... this should NOT be one of them.

If you can, take the call live from motivated sellers. If not, return phone calls as soon as you can.

For this initial call, you will want to

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