« Older Entries

Property Managment Vs Asset Management

One of the biggest mistakes I see apartment and commercial real estate investors make is leaving their investment property in complete control of their property manager. Even the best property management companies will not look at things like the owner.

I have seen this literally cost investors thousands of dollars in lost cash flow and property value, so it is definitely a mistake you want to avoid.

In this article I want to discuss the importance of being an Asset Manager, rather than a Property Manager. First, let’s define these two terms:

Asset Manager
Focus is on maximizing return and property value for the investor(s).

Property Manager
Focus is on day-to-day management activities for a property.

“Think Like a CEO…”
If you want to maximize your returns as an investor, you must think like a CEO, and not a property manager. Your focus should be continually on how to maximize the return from a property and increase value.

I see a lot of investors that lose track of this, and leave things up to their property manager, thinking that is their job. It is not.

Here are the things you should be focused on as an Asset Manager:

1) Increasing Income
2) Reducing Expenses
3) Improving Property Value
4) In short, maximizing returns and property value.

Continually ask yourself questions, such as:

- How can we increase rents? Are all of our rents at market levels? Can we charge higher rent for preferred units, such as near a pool?
- Can we reduce our property taxes by protesting the assessed value? Can we reduce our insurance expense by changing companies? How can we reduce every single line item expense – even by a small percentage?
- How can we increase the value of the property? What improvements would maximize value?

None of these activities should be done at the cost of deferring maintenance or reducing the property value over time. As the CEO of your investment you need to see the big picture – whether it is a duplex or several hundred units.

Your property manager, on the other hand should focus on the day-to-day property operations to keep things running smoothly, such as:

1) Property Maintenance
2) Marketing and Rental of Units
3) Collecting Rents and Paying Bills
4) Enforcing Property Rules and Procedures

Good property managers will also perform activities that could be considered asset management, such as performing regular checks to verify market rents are maximized, testing marketing results, and finding ways to reduce expenses.

However, I would caution against leaving everything up to your property manager, because ultimately, it is your responsibility to increase your returns and property value.

How to Find a Home Based Business That Works – Beware – 4 Critical Things to Watch Out For

Thousands of people every day go looking for a home based business that works and can free them financially from their pay check to pay check lifestyle. The unfortunate truth is that thousands of those thousands get burned. They sink their money into something that sounded great, but turns out to be something different. Or they were promised great support, and there ended up being none. How could this happen? Is it even possible to find a home based business that works anymore? Thankfully, the answer is yes. It’s very possible – provided you know that to look for. This article is designed to help the reader understand some critical things to watch out for if a person is looking to find a home based business that works. Learn to side step these hurdles and you can find the financial freedom you deserve.

Beware – Big Money Promises – the growth of this industry has led people to make more and more outrageous promises about the amount of money that can be earned. Yes, you can find a home based business that works, and can pay you extremely well. But we hear more and more stories of people who made hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars in 24-48 hours (I personally know people who have done this). Naturally, we get excited by the thought. Wow, imagine! But the truth is that these people have spent several years building a list of hundreds of thousands of people in their industry, and then made a single offering that brought them that pay day. Overnight successes they are not. Creating a great income is certainly possible, but beware of grossly inflated numbers.
Beware – Get Rich Quick Promises – Again, some internet marketers are advertising $1,000′s in your first week, and quick and easy pay days. But let’s be realistic here. Yes, the potential of the internet is amazing. But this is still a business. If you’re serious about creating a home based business that works and is sustainable, it will likely take more than a week to begin earning thousands of dollars a day. Again, the income potential is virtually limitless, which is one of the motivating factors behind finding a home based business that works. The determining factors will always be your drive, passion, and the actions you take. But having realistic expectations will help keep you from getting disappointed and discouraged.
Beware – Compensation Plans That Create the Illusion of Support – Many companies use compensation plans that give the illusion of support. They have your sponsor help you with your first two sales (for which they collect the entire commission) and then leave you to fend for yourself, since they will no longer benefit from your being successful. This provides the illusion of support early on, but doesn’t create a dynamic team atmosphere, where new member and sponsor are mutually interested in your success. The best companies have compensation plans that create win-win, mutually profitable scenarios that help new people create quick and lasting success.
Beware – Alarm Bells in Your Gut – Above all else, when you’re trying to find a home based business that works for you, you have to trust your intuition. If something just doesn’t seem right, it probably isn’t. Go with your gut.
Now it’s up to you. In your quest to find a home based business that works for you, will you be taken by slick sales people and their lofty promises? Or will you connect to something legitimate (probably also with amazing potential, but they don’t need to blow it out of proportion), a real home based business that works. Creating time and financial freedom for you and your family is more possible than most people realize. Be aware of these 4 critical factors to find a home based business that works for you. You deserve to be free.

Tags:

How To Succeed At Online Product Creation The Easy Way

Product creation could be a frightening subject for a lot of Internet marketers to face. Some folks who get in the game with the intention of making a full time income are completely ignorant as to how an online business operates. One of the most profitable ways to create online cash is by creating a product that others are happy to pay for.

Product creation is legitimate method of generating money through internet marketing but many entrepreneurs get it wrong. They start by imitating their Internet marketing gurus by creating information products on Internet marketing in hopes of getting rich the way their heroes did. The problem is that they usually don’t know what they are doing and enter a highly competitive niche with very little marketing experience or connections.

Here are a few tips for effective product creation that may help you get on the right track:
Start by finding a profitable niche with low to moderate competition. If you conduct some rudimentary market research and keyword research, you’ll find many opportunities in areas that will surprise you. Amazon and eBay are two great places to brainstorm for product ideas.

Developing Your Product does not have to be a difficult project. You can find experts in the right field for your niche and pay them to write the material while an artist designs the packaging and website or blog. You can outsource the entire product creation part of the project after you conduct the research and testing to ensure profitability.

Sales and marketing strategies should be created while developing the product and learning about the market. Some experienced marketers use pay per click to drive traffic to their offer page; some folks outsource the entire marketing campaign to affiliates through ClickBank or other affiliate programs.

Product creation does not need to be hard, particularly when the merchandise is electronic. E-books, videos, audio and multi-media products sell very well. They are distributed immediately to customers electronically. Once you have a good feel for a niche market, try to service your customers with associated products and upgrades. If you want to earn money online through product creation, you must understand supply and demand. The majority of new online marketers fail miserably because they go after highly competitive markets or forget to research their chosen niche properly. You have to create your products according to the needs, wants and desires of the prospective customers.

Tags: