Most investors can see the incredible opportunities in the market these days between all the foreclosures, short sales, and generally the lower prices of investment properties. Add to that one of the strongest rental markets that we have seen in years and good interest rates and you could call this the perfect storm of real est

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Is that a bold enough statement for you? Over the years, I have just learned to trust very little information that is supplied on the MLS when it comes to investment properties. As part of our process to purchase investment properties, we research each one of the above items (and more). Now I don’t want to criticize my fellow

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While I rarely see a tenant that has a great credit report, the tenants that have problems paying their rent on-time (or ever) have typically shown a history of financial and/or rental problems on their background checks. The ones that have several items in collections especially seem to have issues with rent. I guess paying la

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Whenever anyone asks me how the market is going these days I tell them it is smoking hot. Then I always say the same thing: “If you have money, now is the time to spend it”. Are you waiting for your Internet stocks to rebound before buying property? Do you think those government bonds are going to bring you extraordinary gains?

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Obviously this can only be done when the lease renews, but how do you decide when and how much to raise the rent on your tenants? As you imagine, that can be a touchy subject. I think raising the rent depends upon a couple items. Every landlord faces this situation. Here are some tips and tricks to getting the rent increase

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Just like many industries, Real Estate requires specialization. Because the markets and property types are so broad, it is difficult to be an expert at all areas. Plus, if you are looking to spend your hard earned savings on an investment property, wouldn't you want an expert/specialist? Here are 7 questions that every real

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In any business you will find partnerships. Sometimes they are built originally from friendships, sometimes they are between complete strangers. Regardless of their origin, partnerships can create a huge synergy by drawing on each of the partners strengths and bolstering their weaknesses. Conversely, I have seen some miserable

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If you own investment property, you know it can be difficult to unplug from your phone for a week at a time. Who are your tenants going to call. What if I have a major problem at one of them, who will fix it? These are all great questions that every real estate investor struggles with. With some work up front, you can make

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If you own investment property long enough, you may run into the day when one of your tenants just won't leave, even when their lease has expired. There are many twists and turns in this drama. By being prepared as early in the process as possible with good contingencies, you should be able to avoid the “What Now!”. I have

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When you own investment property, you lease is usually the only relationship you have with your tenant. Unfortunately, many landlords take that relationship too lightly and simply do not put in the time to understand what is written in their leases and put any teeth into it. In this post, Scott Ficek outlines 10 different add

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Although not an exhaustive list, there are a number of things that you should prior to putting your investment property on the market for sale. It is amazing how many real estate investors don't even bother to put their best foot forward. This is a business, you should be always thinking about how to maximize your profit and

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The Minnesota foreclosure process is very confusing. With that, real estate investors are sometimes unsure when they will see the best deal: at the short sale or at the foreclosure. Scott Ficek details out the foreclosure process in Minnesota including the redemption period and when a short sale can take place. He gives us

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Many people buy investment property not really knowing how much they should be making in cash flow per month. Unfortunately, single family houses are the most difficult to try and increase your monthly cash flow. Scott Ficek gives us 7 different ways to either increase your income or decrease your expenses on your Minnesota I

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Do you own investment property?  Are you always frustrated by the people that don't pay their rent on-time (or ever)?  You are not alone.  Rent collection is one of the toughest parts of owning investment property.  No one wants to be the bad guy!  Here is a simple, but effective way to do rent collect

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This week's Carnival of Real Estate #74 was held at Minnesota Investment Property blog. Many great posts were submitted, but only 11 were chosen. I spent the last couple cold days over the warm glow of my laptop reading all the fantastic submissions. Considering it is currently 11 below zero outside as I write this, I thought it might be f

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