Finding a rent-to-own house is one of the many ways someone with bad or no credit can buy a house. You will often find them called names like lease/options, lease with option to buy, lease purchase, lease 2 purchase, rent with option to buy, rent to own, or rent to buy homes.

There are a few differences between rent-to-own and lease-option agreements, although many people use the terms interchangeably. With a rent to own (or rent to buy) home, the buyer makes an agreement with the owner that part or all of the rent money will go towards the down payment of the home, and at a certain date, perhaps 2-5 years in the future, the renter will purchase the home, using the money that was set aside as the down payment.

There is usually not much money put down in the beginning, outside of what would normally be needed for a rental home, so this is a good way to get into a home for little or no down payment.

Another advantage to a rent to buy situation is that if you compare how much rent money is applied monthly to the home price, even if it is only 25-50%, it will still be much more money paid on the principal of the house than if you had taken out a loan for it. If you look at how much money goes to the principal payment of a home with a typical mortgage loan, you will find that most of your mortgage payment in the beginning is just paying interest on the loan. A rent to own agreement, where the money goes directly to the payment of the home, could be saving you a lot of money in the long run.

With a lease-with-option-to-buy, a renter signs a lease agreement (often for a shorter period of time, like1-2 years, but it could be longer). The renter/buyer usually pays a sum in cash, usually non-refundable, to the owner in agreement to buy the house at a later date for the price agreed upon. The renter has the option or right to buy the home, so in the end they have a choice and can back out it they want. Some of the rent paid may or may not go towards the purchase price of the home.

This is a technique often used by real estate investors in periods when the interest rate is rising fast. This way they hope to buy the home at a lower interest rate on a later date. In the meantime, they will sublease the home to someone else, who will make the payments for them.

Again, the terms "lease option" and "rent to buy" are pretty much used interchangeably today, so check with the owner to find out exactly what terms they are offering. Or approach an owner with your own offer for renting to own.

If you are a renter who is tired of paying someone else’s mortgage and want to own your own home, this is one of many ways that you can buy a home. One of the drawbacks is that you will still need to purchase the home at a later date. This may be a problem if you have bad credit, because you may still need to qualify for a loan when it is time to purchase the home. If your credit can be repaired in several years, this may be a great way for you to get your home now, and good motivation to clean up your credit for the future.

From the book “Buying a Home When You Have Bad Credit– 12 Ways to Purchase a House When You Can’t Get a Home Loan” by Alexis Dey.

How would you like to start a bidding war for your home, ending with a sales price greater than the asking price — all within your home’s first three hours on the market? That’s the kind of results you can expect when you prepare your home for marketing, using Design Psychology methods!

Design Psychology’s innovative interior design strategies go well beyond normal cleaning, painting, and repairs, and have been proven to increase homeowner profit while shortening a home’s market time. And best of all, you don’t have to spend a lot of money to enjoy the benefits Design Psychology can provide!

Here are a few tips for maximizing your sales price, while minimizing the out-of-pocket cost of selling your home:

First, you must emotionally detach yourself from your home and begin to think of it as simply a piece of property that needs to be sold. In the end, your goal is to make your home feel like a well-appointed vacation property and to spur buyers’ imaginations with dreams of enjoying a new life in your luxurious home — soon, and at top dollar!

Imagine your home as a five-star hotel room with a kitchen. Set out your best china, crystal, and finest linens, and then start packing everything you won’t need, including all personal items, such as family photos, memorabilia, and other clutter. Your aim is to create a luxurious feeling for prospective buyers — because buyers will pay more for a home that makes them feel pampered and comfortable.

Once you’ve got the interior of the house feeling warm and inviting, it’s time to take inventory around the rest of your property. Take a notebook, and make three columns on your notepad: “No Cost Changes,” “Small Cost Changes,” and “Dream List Changes.” Then start at the street, pretending you’re a home buyer, seeing the property for the first time. It may help to have a friend with you during this process, in order to be more objective.

Walk around the property, just as a potential buyer would, making notes about everything that could use improvement, such as landscaping and exterior paint, listing each change in the proper column. Then walk to the front door, enter the house, and then walk through, letting the natural flow of the layout guide you all the way to the backyard.

Keep a constant eye out for things that need attention, jotting them down on your notepad as you walk around the property. Notate everything you find that detracts from the serene, inviting feeling you’re trying to create.

Once you’ve compiled your list, begin with tackling the items in the “No Cost Changes” column. They could be things like pulling weeds, moving plants from crowded garden areas and transplanting them elsewhere, or rearranging furniture, to show off your home’s architectural features or to make rooms seem more spacious.

Always try to see your home as a prospective buyer would see it. Set up enticing vignettes throughout the house, such as an intimate breakfast table for two in the master bedroom or a book sitting on an end table in the reading nook.

Since under-furnished rooms allow buyers to imagine their own furnishings in a home, it’ll be worthwhile to sell or place unnecessary furniture in storage. If you find that hard to do, compare the cost of moving a piece of furniture to the cost of replacing it, and then ask yourself if the piece is worth keeping.

For tackling the items on your list that will cost money to address, always make sure the expense will be worth the benefit.

Using new interior design ideas to prepare your home for sale can speed your sale and get you a bigger check at closing.

Several months ago, the 3,000-member California Association of Mortgage Brokers (CAMB) created the first real definition to describe the abusive lending practices of predatory lenders. According to the CAMB, predatory lending was described as “placing consumers in loan products with significantly worse terms and/or higher costs than loans offered to similarly qualified consumers in the region for the primary purpose of enriching the originator and with little or no regard for the costs to the consumer.”

Most mortgage brokers provide good service to their clients, yet there are a few who use unethical practices. Those brokers, called “predatory lenders” by the CAMB, not only over-charge consumers, but they also get paid in other hidden ways.

For instance, avoid lenders who charge more than the usual three percent fees for a conventional loan or four percent fees for a government-sponsored loan. Even non-prime lenders can’t justify excessive fees.

Also watch for hidden loan costs, such as the Yield-Spread Premium. This term refers to a rebate that’s given to brokers when they place a borrower at an interest rate higher than the rate for which they qualify. Refuse to pay yield-spread premiums and unwarranted fees, and avoid brokers who include these charges in their loans.

Besides charging high points and fees, predatory lending practices may also include such things as “packing” credit insurance on to a loan, making mortgage loans to homeowners who don’t have the income to repay them, and repeatedly refinancing loans.

When it comes to obtaining a real estate loan, it’s your responsibility to become a knowledgeable consumer, which means you’ll need to keep asking questions of your lender. If you aren’t able to get clear, easily understandable answers to your questions, it’s possible that you may be dealing with a predatory lender.

Copyright

Do you dream of making money in real estate? Do you realize how easy it is to make big bucks? Even a young inexperienced person can transform houses for great profit.

How to Fix, Flip, and Laugh All the Way to the Bank

At the age of twenty, our family friend Dawn made her first fortune flipping houses by herself. Dawn bought her first HUD repo (government-owned repossessed house), fixed it up and sold it herself. She made enough money to buy her second fixer house with all cash. Our young friend sold her second house for $44,000 profit and paid cash for her third fixer house. Within a few months, Dawn sold that house and had enough money to pay cash for another house and reward herself with her custom dream truck. Dawn did all this — Three Doghouses — In Nine Months!

How did Dawn do all this on her own? Dawn bought houses that needed only cosmetic work, not heavy construction. She painted the homes herself inside and out and put in updated lighting and plumbing fixtures. With new carpeting installed, the houses sold immediately to happy new owners.

Dawn says: “I loved buying properties and fixing them up; I also loved to work for myself. What freedom I had in my early years when all of my other friends had to work full time. Just like my Mom says ‘carpet and paint makes you look like what you ain’t', and ‘there’s bucks in yucks.’ What someone would turn their nose up to, I bought and fixed up, and I said yuck all the way to the bank.” (Don’t you love how Dawn says her “early years?”)

Now It’s Your Turn

You too can start your own real estate investing business. You don’t need savings — it’s possible to purchase houses with no money down and ask the seller to pay the closing costs. Don’t listen to cynics who claim it can’t be done today in this crazy market. We purchased our 27th house in 2004 for no money down, and expect to make a profit of no less than $100,000 (for one month of work)!

Our secret to success is making the house outshine the competition by using Design and Marketing Psychology to sell fast for higher profit. Buyers don’t notice the psychology used, but they FEEL happy in the home and know they want it; even if it costs more than the house next door. Design Psychology will help you to choose the right colors, lighting, and materials to attract buyers in a specific price range.

You can also learn the secrets of Marketing Psychology to stage your transformed dollhouse in a way that entices buyers to pay more. Visit Joy to the Home.com website to see photographs of doghouses transformed into dollhouses.

What other business makes as much money as real estate investing? What other business gives great profit with so little start-up cost? More millionaires have made their fortune in real estate than in any other business.

Stop dreaming of making money in real estate. Now that you understand the possibilities, what are you waiting for? Invest in your future today.

(c) Copyright 2004, Jeanette J. Fisher. All rights reserved.

Professor Jeanette Fisher, author of Doghouse to Dollhouse for Dollars, Joy to the Home, and other books teaches Real Estate Investing and Design Psychology. For more articles, tips, reports, newsletters, and sales flyer template, see http://www.doghousetodollhousefordollars.com/pages/5/index.htm

Find Bucks in Yucks! 20-Year-Old Woman Turns Doghouses into Dollars!

According to the National Association of Realtors, For Sale By Owner (FSBO) home sellers comprised nearly 14% of all home sales in the United States in 2003. The Boston Globe reported that nearly 25% of homes sold in that area during that same time period were FSBOs.

Although many FSBO home sellers have saved thousands of dollars in commissions, many others have lost money, and current statistics show that 80% of FSBOs will eventually list their homes after unsuccessfully trying to sell their homes themselves. However, if you’re thinking of trying to sell your home without the aid of a real estate agent, here are a few tips for getting the most from the experience:

Leave Your Emotions Out of Your Sales Process

Selling your home often can be a painful experience, so it’s important to emotionally detach yourself from your house and try to think of it as an investment in your future. Try not to be affected by unkind remarks you may hear from prospective buyers trying to get you to lower your price by attacking various features of your house. And although you should call your house a “home” to prospective buyers, think of it as just a “house.”

Set the Right Sales Price

Of course, you want to get the highest price possible, but pricing your home too high will keep it on the market too long, which will lead people to think there’s something wrong with your house. Look at the other homes being offered for sale in your market and compare them to yours, in terms of square footage, number of bedrooms, lot size, and other features that are similar to yours. Be objective, and then price your home according to your findings. You might consider setting a price range, instead of a fixed price, if you’re considering helping potential buyers with their closing costs.

Advertising

Signs: Pick up directional signs at a home improvement store, list your phone number and the address of your home on them, and then display the signs in prominent places around your neighborhood. Most buyers use the services of a Realtor to look for a new home, but if your home’s in a desirable neighborhood where other houses are also for sale, potential buyers may see your signs and come back later to visit your home. Place a professional-looking sign in your front yard, featuring your phone number in print large enough to be easily read from the street.

Flyers: Think like a marketing guru and create a sizzling sales flyer, listing all the benefits and features of your home.

Newspapers: Pick up copies of all the newspapers and advertisers in your area, and look at them, imagining that you’re the one looking for a home in your area. Then create an ad of your own, copying ads that most attract your eye. Make sure to list benefits to potential buyers and not just the features of your home.

Showing and safety: Ask prospective buyers for their phone numbers before you give out your address over the phone, and then call them back to verify the information. Also, make sure to have someone with you when you’re showing your home to strangers.

If you find that you need to turn to an agent for help, here are some tips for finding the right one to sell your home:

Bear in mind that many real estate agents will make unreasonable promises to sell your home for a high price, but they’re only hoping to get the listing. Like buying anything else, you need to be informed, so it’s important to compare services. Interview several agents, ask for referrals from satisfied clients, and then call those home sellers.

Saving On Real Estate Agent Fees

You also have the right to negotiate the broker’s commission. Since most homes are sold by a selling agent, rather than the listing agent, why pay 3% to the listing agent for just listing the home? Ask for a 1% listing commission if the agent does little to market your home. You might also offer to pay less to the selling agent–2.5% is a common percentage in high- priced areas–or point out to potential listing agents that since your equity is less than the selling price, you want to pay a percentage based on that figure, rather than on the sales price.

Most areas also have flat-fee brokers. Some will charge a percentage of the sales price, while others may charge as little as a flat $395 to list your home with the Multiple Listing Service. Decide which services you’re actually going to need, such as yard signs, showing help, and contract preparation, and then match your needs to the services offered.

Selling your home yourself should mean that you save money on real estate fees. But if you’re not a savvy salesperson, you could actually make more money and sell your home faster by hiring a go-getter real estate agent.

(c) Copyright 2005 Jeanette J. Fisher. All rights reserved.

Professor Jeanette Fisher, author of Doghouse to Dollhouse for Dollars, Sell Your Home for Top Dollar–FAST, Home Staging, and other books teaches Real Estate Investing and Design Psychology. For more articles, tips, reports, and newsletters, see http://www.sellfast.info/

Selling by Owner = Saving by Owner?

Selling your home? Here are some suggestions to help you sell yours for more than your next door neighbor’s, and faster! Most buyers will know within 15 SECONDS after crossing the threshold if they want your home. But first, you need to attract them inside!

11 steps to take to sell your home for top dollar

1. Start at the street. The buyer’s first glimpse of your home must entice them inside. Design Psychology goes further than mere curb appeal. Here are some easy additions you can make to help your home outshine the competition:

Add a couple of BIG plants, either in hanging baskets or pots, to the porch, which will lead buyers’ eyes to the entrance.

The first color our eyes process is yellow, so place yellow flowers near the front door.

Plant white flowering annuals, since they look clean and show up better at night.

2. Get rid of brown or dead leaves and bare spots in the yard. Add mulch to cover bare dirt near the house. Bright flowers hold the eye and “fill” empty areas, but you don’t need to add plants to every space. Just make sure that everything looks neat.

3. Paint your front door a happy color. Yellow-gold (amber), red (blue-based), sage, apple, or forest green, depending on the other colors of your home, will attract the eye and create happy feelings. Buyers won’t notice the Color Psychology you’re employing, but they’ll love the result.

4. Once buyers step inside the front door, they usually make their minds up within 15 SECONDS, so first impressions are vitally important. Focus your attention on the first wall buyers will see, and then hang a mirror on that wall large enough to reflect the buyer’s image. It will psychologically reinforce the buyer’s presence in the home when they see themselves in the mirror, causing them to imagine living in your home.

5. Go beyond just clearing clutter, and remove furnishings that don’t add to the setting. Also clear bathroom and kitchen countertops. Under-furnished homes let the buyer’s imagination fill rooms with their own belongings. Once they visualize their favorite chair in a particular spot, you have a sale.

6. Pack away your personal photographs, trophies, diplomas, and small accessories and stack them neatly in the garage or a separate storage space. That will also protect you from having strangers view your personal life.

7. If your home looks too bare, replace your personal treasures with house plants or cuttings from the garden. Be creative.

Use tree branches and fresh flowers to bring nature indoors.

Fill vases and glass jars with fresh cuttings and set them in baskets.

Add green house plants in winter, spring, and fall.

During hot selling seasons, use green, silver and gray foliage to help keep your home visually cool.

8. Lighting affects emotions and is a crucial design element for happiness, so turn on the lights when showing your home. Day-like light bulbs enhance happiness. Amber and pink light bulbs warm, while blue light cools.

9. Air the house out. You get used to odors, but buyers shouldn’t smell anything other than natural pleasing scents like wood burning in the fireplace or fresh lemon in the summer. Cut up a grapefruit and run sections through the garbage disposal. It’s both refreshing and clean smelling.

10. Buyers like temperatures around 70 degrees in the winter and 67 degrees in the summer, so turn up the thermostat in the winter and turn it down in the summer.

11. Park your car out of the way and encourage buyers to park in a space where their car won’t block the view.

Remember, you’ve only got 15 seconds to sell your home, but by using Design Psychology techniques, you can convert lookers into buyers and get top dollar for your home.

(c) Copyright 2004, Jeanette J. Fisher. All rights reserved.

Professor Jeanette Fisher, author of Doghouse to Dollhouse for Dollars, Joy to the Home, and other books teaches Real Estate Investing and Design Psychology. For more articles, tips, reports, newsletters, and sales flyer template, see http://www.doghousetodollhousefordollars.com/pages/5/index.htm

You Have 15 Seconds to Sell Your Home! 11 Steps You Can Take to Sell Your Home for Top Dollar

Several years ago I developed a philosophy in renovating houses which resulted in a finished product that I call a “Dream House” or “Doll House.”

How many houses on the market today look very ordinary and less than perfect? How many look “Plain Jane?” What is the difference between these “average” houses and the house on the block that is strikingly different at even the distance of a windshield view?

The pronounced difference in the outstanding property offered for sale might be brilliant new lawn grass. Maybe the freshness and color combination of the house paint might stand out. Maybe some feature on the porch or in the yard catches everyone’s attention. You know a property has captured this difference when everyone driving down the street is compelled to catch a glimpse at its uniqueness.

The exterior and interior of every house can be dressed up in some way to make it look spectacular!

I try to finish off my refurbished houses with a spit-shine look so they stand out in the crowd. When the exterior of a property draws attention to passersby, prospects are attracted to see its interior.

It’s not always easy to create the best-looking house on the block. But the pay-off in short time on the market is dramatic.

Phil Speer, Ph.D., started his real estate investing career 25 years ago. Without the availability of credit and using only a $10 bill, he purchased $1 million in properties in his first year, and had accumulated $10 million in properties by his fourth year. http://www.CashinHouses.com/

He was featured in a Wall St.Journal editorial as most successful investor in the Nothing Down Real Estate Movement, and was honored with a Caribbean cruise as top investor of the year. In his hometown of Nashville, Tennessee, he has been a businessman and Human Resources Consultant for 30 years. He is an author, speaker and seminar director. To learn how to profit in real estate investing, even without cash or credit, read his report at http://www.General-RealEstate.com/business/flipping.html/ Subscription is free to his Fix-up Ezine. He and other contributing authors provide free articles and resources on real estate investing at his online “Academy of Advanced Real Estate Investing Techniques” at http://www.AAREIT.com/

Real Estate Investing – The Dream House Effect

Do strangers scare or intimidate you? If you’re planning to try to sell your home yourself, you’ll have to get used to it. You’ll also be opening yourself up to potentially dangerous situations and legal liabilities. That’s why even many experienced real estate agents will hire another agent to list their own home.

Even so, the lure of saving the usual six percent sales commission is hard to ignore, because it can add up to a significant portion of your equity. But if you’re going to try to sell your home yourself, you’ll need to become an expert in a number of areas. First, you must understand local and national real estate laws and become adept at sales techniques. Visiting open houses in your market area can help you to learn the methods used by successful real estate agents.

Once you feel comfortable with real estate law and the sales process, you can begin working toward earning the sales commission yourself. Don’t think of it as saving money, because you’ll soon discover that selling a home can be hard work, so you might as well pay yourself the commission.

Like any other job, selling a home requires knowledge and skills for success. Besides reading books, newspaper articles, and doing Internet research, you can seek help from escrow officers and mortgage lenders. You’ll find them quite helpful, because they hope you’ll use their professional services if you succeed in selling your home. Therefore, it pays to make friends with an escrow officer and a lender long, even before you’ve located an actual buyer.

Whether you use a real estate agent or not, a mortgage broker will be happy to provide free financial flyers to potential buyers. Offering zero or low-down financing, and being willing to help with closing costs could be just the incentive necessary to a entice a buyer into choosing your home.

Research your sales price carefully

- Check www.realtor.com and your local MLS listings to price your competition

- Request a property profile of your home from your local title office

Experiment with your sales price by running a small ad. If you get a sizeable number of calls, you’ll know you’re in the right ball park. If no one calls, either your ad isn’t effective or you’ve priced your home too high. On the other hand, if your phone never stops ringing, you’ve probably underpriced your home.

Pricing too high will cost you time, extra mortgage payments, advertising costs, and credibility. If your home’s been on the market a long time, you’ll hear comments like this from prospective buyers when you talk to them on the phone: “Oh, you mean it’s that house that’s been on the market forever? No, thanks, there must be something wrong with it.”

Selling a home isn’t easy, even for a real estate professional, but you can sell your home yourself, if you’re willing do your homework and then earn your commission, through hard work and a great deal time.

(c) Copyright 2004, Jeanette J. Fisher. All rights reserved.

Professor Jeanette Fisher, author of Doghouse to Dollhouse for Dollars, Joy to the Home, and other books teaches Real Estate Investing and Design Psychology. For more articles, tips, reports, newsletters, and sales flyer template, see http://www.doghousetodollhousefordollars.com/pages/5/index.htm

Selling by Owner Tips

How the heck do you find a “motivated seller?”

The motivated seller doesn’t wear a tattoo on his forehead that announces the distinction. And he never drags you onto his property begging you to buy.

In fact, the motivated seller may be very subtle in trying to hide his strong desire to sell. He may not want to exhibit his anxiety. (And if he did act anxious, you would suspect problems with his property!)

You will almost always pick up a property at the best price and terms when buying from a motivated seller.

That pronouncement sounds OK, but what does it mean?

Here’s an example.

Has your mode of transportation ever become a junker?

Everyone who has owned a car or truck would probably admit “yes.” We arrive at this perspective because of some dissatisfaction with the vehicle. Maybe it didn’t run like it did when we drove it off the lot. Maybe it had lost the luster in appearance. Maybe repairs became more frequent, and we concluded that it was too much trouble to fool with any more. That vehicle became a noose around our neck. It was an albatross. It had become a huge liability. We wanted to get rid of it. We had become motivated to ditch the junker.

Sellers develop similar attitudes toward their real estate investments.

A rental house doesn’t have to “fall apart” for the owner to become a motivated seller. Property management can be tough and aggravating. Landlording can be Dullsville.

Maybe a landlord gets sick, and can’t continue to keep up his rental house.

Maybe a landlord becomes fed up with tenant problems, and wants to throw in the towel.

Maybe the owner of a residence gets a job transfer to another city, buys a second house, and can’t sell his first house. Do you think making TWO MONTHLY MORTGAGE PAYMENTS per month can convert a smug seller with a firm price into a motivated seller who will accept a discount?

Maybe a couple divorces, and the court orders a house sale for settlement.

Maybe a family is facing bankruptcy, and selling their house quickly is the only solution they see for relieving financial pressures.

This short list of motivational reasons is just the tip of the iceberg. Sellers can develop strong motivations to sell in the flash of a moment! That’s when sales price firmness softens, and ease of negotiation begins.

Phil Speer, Ph.D., started his real estate investing career 25 years ago. Without the availability of credit and using only a $10 bill, he purchased $1 million in properties in his first year, and had accumulated $10 million in properties by his fourth year. http://www.CashinHouses.com/

He was featured in a Wall St.Journal editorial as most successful investor in the Nothing Down Real Estate Movement, and was honored with a Caribbean cruise as top investor of the year. In his hometown of Nashville, Tennessee, he has been a businessman and Human Resources Consultant for 30 years. He is an author, speaker and seminar director. To learn how to profit in real estate investing, even without cash or credit, read his report at http://www.Real—Estate—Investment.com/nomoneydown/flipping.html/ Subscription is free to his Fix-up Ezine. He and other contributing authors provide free articles and resources on real estate investing at his online “Academy of Advanced Real Estate Investing Techniques” at http://www.AAREIT.com/

Real Estate Investing – The Motivated Seller

Most people in America rent a personal dwelling!

Just think how many families rent a house or an apartment, a duplex or a condo.

Yet, nobody prefers renting.

Who wouldn’t want their own home, if they had the choice.

Even if, say, someone moves into town on a temporary basis, wouldn’t they prefer buying a house, gaining appreciation even for the short term, and selling for a profit in 6 months or a year?

Maybe there are exceptions, but I can’t imagine anyone really preferring to rent when they could own.

After all, most rental houses are not even preferable. The condition of a rental house usually declines after being occupied by family after family. Rental houses usually are neglected and abused. They become less desirable. A rental house is NOT THE BEST HOUSE IN TOWN simply because it IS a rental house! And sometimes a rental house becomes a real dump. Families move in, families move out, and the landlord CANNOT and IS NOT ABLE to maintain a rental house in TOP CONDITION! The main reason a rental house is impossible to keep pristine is because renters don’t treat a rental house like their own.

Yes, there are exceptions, but most rental houses are not up to snuff. I know, because I use to own $10 million worth of rental houses. I had some very nice properties, but there was always something that needed repair. Things go wrong that need fixing, and perfect maintenance is impossible. Rental houses are less desirable because they can never be brought up to first class and maintained that way. If I had been the owner AND occupant of that rental house, I would have tried to fix it up and keep it in top condition.

When you fix up houses to sell, “Renting America” becomes your marketplace.

(1) You can never exhaust the demand. Everyone prefers their own house. It’s still the “American Dream.”

(2) It’s easy to create an immaculate house for re-sale that outshines most rental houses.

(3) Selling renovated houses to the tenant in the marketplace rather than to the house-hunting market is much easier. Renters are readily convinced that paying monthly rent is a financial downer. Sorting out the credit-worthy renter with an offer to own becomes a win-win proposition.

An untapped niche market in real estate investing is fixing up houses that can be purchased by America’s renters.

Phil Speer, Ph.D., started his real estate investing career 25 years ago. Without the availability of credit and using only a $10 bill, he purchased $1 million in properties in his first year, and had accumulated $10 million in properties by his fourth year. http://www.CashinHouses.com/

He was featured in a Wall St.Journal editorial as most successful investor in the Nothing Down Real Estate Movement, and was honored with a Caribbean cruise as top investor of the year. In his hometown of Nashville, Tennessee, he has been a businessman and Human Resources Consultant for 30 years. He is an author, speaker and seminar director. To learn how to profit in real estate investing, even without cash or credit, read his report at http://www.Real–Estate–Book.com/nomoneydown/flipping.html/ Subscription is free to his Fix-up Ezine. He and other contributing authors provide free articles and resources on real estate investing at his online “Academy of Advanced Real Estate Investing Techniques” at http://www.AAREIT.com/

Real Estate Investing: America Rents