Tool called "We make the tool"

Tool called "We make the tool"

Ad By: Saatchi & Saatchi

Lenovo is just making the tool !

Whenever a brand decides to market itself, the first question in everyones mind, even of a non marketer is who is the target audience. The entire communication is designed keeping the target audience at the center but how many communications actually read out that "You" are the target audience. The purpose of every marketing strategy is to take the attention of audience, create an interest towards the brand, resulting into a desire for the brand and an action from the target audience of being associated with the band. However, most of the brands are unable to complete this journey by either not taking the attention or else not able to create an interest after taking an attention. There is no end to creative designs and ideas that become the point of discussion for all viewers but usually all those creatives are the discussed point and not the product or brand. 

Lenovo comes with a creative which took the attention only with its content, the content that took the space on entire ad space for its huge font size but more than that it took the space in mind of its readers for the message it convey. The message says "We make the tool, you make them do"and it is so simplistic in nature that it reaches the readers mind in a very subtle way. Lenovo doesn't brag about their technology or expertise in their offerings, instead they say that all they offer is just a tool and is not worth anything if the customer is not with it. The customer do the thing that makes a tool worth what it is. This communication suddenly makes the reader and ultimately the consumer feel special. There is a brand who is not just telling about its proficiency and is just not saying that customer is god but is making a perfect balance. The customers won't be able to do things they want to if they don't have the right tool and the tool would be of no use if it doesn't have its doer.

Its difficult to be simple and strong. Lenovo is perfectly making a strong communication with a very simple creative. If any brand is able to make the audience feel special and is able to sustain the attention beyond that moment of notice, then the audience in itself becomes the brand ambassador for life.

Negative connect for Netconnect

Negative connect for Netconnect

Ad By: Grey Worldwide (India) Pvt. Ltd.

Ads show what we idealize !

The purpose of any ad for any product or service is generally to have a brand connect. The connect to the brand happens only when the viewer is convinced that the brand is telling a story which he would want to have for himself. The audience want to take up only those things which make them or their lives perfect and an ideal one. From having the strongest teeth which Shahrukh tells to having engine oil which Sachin trusts, almost everything is framed around perfection. But with times changing and customer evolving, the perfect stories are getting too cluttered. When everyone tells about the same perfection, the customer is confused about the truth and is convinced about the lie. Audience might want to see what is perfect but would connect only to what is true. The truth is more of practical than correct, is more acceptable than acknowledged. Even if the truth shown is negative side of audience, it doesn't offend them rather it brings them in zone of comfort. 

Reliance Netconnect ad shows how each one of us behaves when our flights land. The wheels just need to touch the runway and we are in process of doing exactly opposite of what the announcement is asking us to follow. The seat belts are loosened, the mobiles are switched on, the luggage overhead might go away with the flight so we fetch it earliest possible. We all do this, some of us agree to it by ourselves, others are forced to do it because of others. Whatever the reasons be, this is a normal behavior of maximum number of consumers. The reason to this behavior is not the attitude of doing wrong things but it is about being impatient for things that are supposedly not making any difference to right. It is impatience which forces each passenger to be first one to get off board. It is impatience which irritates anyone if the speed of net is not fast enough and is making us wait. We are impatient if net is not fast and we would disconnect it numerous times to reconnect it without waiting. Thats what Reliance Netconnect shows that a lady on business tour as shown by her attire, is like one of us who is impatient and wants to stay ahead in life without waiting for minimal things. 

Audience definitely connects to it because it shows the real customer. It shows its fine to be wrong but also subtly puts it across that how the product of this brand could be part of your normal imperfect life. A brand claims of understanding the customer, showing what is part of their lives is much better understanding than telling or making them realize what should be part of their lives.

vworker.com

vworker.com

vWorker.com is an international marketplace connecting employers/entrepreneurs and virtual workers in numerous industries (including programming, writing, design, personal assistants, paralegals). Employers/entrepreneurs save 35% plus over traditional workers and are guaranteed results or their money back. Virtual workers are guaranteed payment for a well done job, and have the freedom to choose when, where and how much to work.

Elance.com

Elance.com is just one of many sites that takes advantage of the old adage when in doubt, outsource. If you’re building a car but aren’t very good at engines, you might outsource to an engine guy. If you’re painting a house but need help with mixing colors, you go to the color mixing gal. So why should it be any different when you’re plugging the holes in your online business plan?

How does the process work? First, you visit the Elance.com home page and click “Sign in or Register.” Of course, since you’re new to this process, you’ll have to register for a new account.

As you might suspect, it’s not as easy as signing up for a free e-mail account; you can’t simply log in and start giving people orders. When you sign up as a buyer on Elance, you’re going to have to jump through a few hoops. For example, Elance is going to have to verify that your credit card actually works. Kind of important.

After you’ve jumped through the hoops and verified that you really do plan on paying people for the work they provide, you’re ready to search for some good freelancers. But where do you start? Start with what you need. A typical search might start out like this under “Find Quality Professionals”:

Elance Screen Shot of the very Web 2.0 Front Page

When you sign up to Elance, you’ll be able to search for professionals (also called “providers” on Elance) and invite them to bid on a project you’ve set up; or you can simply set up that project and wait for the providers to place bids. It’s a bit like eBay, except freelancers are vying for your work.

What kind of services can you expect to find on Elance? Here are some of the major categories:

* Web and Programming – Web design, application design, WordPress design, etc.
* Design and Multimedia – Logos, graphics, videos, etc.
* Writing and Translation – Articles, blog posts, etc.
* Admin and Support – Virtual assistants
* Sales and Marketing – Market research, consulting
* Finance and Management – Accounting, budgeting
* Legal
* Engineering and Manufacturing

Needless to say, there are a lot of different options.

Once you’ve established a connection with a provider, you can use features like project milestones to make sure that your provider is on time – you can also require that they provide you with status reports. Throughout the project, you can contact your freelancer through private message boards that keep you in touch – it’s also possible to exchange further contact information if you’d like to contact through e-mail or phone.
How to Work on Elance

Of course, this is a two-way street: Elance isn’t just for people looking to outsource their work, it’s for the workers themselves who have a marketable skill to use.

You have two options when you work on Elance – you can get paid hourly or through one lump sum. When you’re looking for projects to bid on, you can easily sort through these different options.

How do you know that you’ll get paid and won’t get stiffed on an Elance project? Elance offers an escrow feature which means that your client will fund the project’s fee at the beginning of work – you’ll know the money’s there waiting to be released once you complete the project or complete a project milestone.

The most difficult part about using Elance as a provider is the proposal process. Elance doesn’t allow you to make an infinite number of proposals or bids; instead, your membership plan will limit you to a certain amount of proposals/bids per month.

Getting these proposals or bids to turn into work is perhaps the “trick” to working on Elance. When you write a proposal, you can customize certain items like pricing (you write your own price, usually with a minimum price you can bid at) and scheduling (you let the buyer know when you expect to finish by). Your goal is to put together the best proposal and best profile so that you can get desirable work.

Huh? Profile? Yep, your provider’s profile will come into play here. When you bid on a project, the buyer doesn’t only see your proposal, but your experience, as well:

Elance Feedback

As you can see, they’ll look at your experience including feedback and earnings just like on eBay. If you’ve been producing low-quality work over a long period of time, that work will come back to haunt you in the form of poor buyer reviews. So make sure the work you do is, you know, good.
Competing Sites – Where Else Can You Freelance?

Elance, of course, is not the only place to look for work and/or workers. Here are some other sites you might consider:

* Guru.com
* Freelancer.com
* oDesk

The experience on Elance, however, has been positive enough both for buyers and providers that is has become one of the most well-known places to outsource your work online.
Elance Pricing

Elance isn’t free if you plan on bidding on projects. Rates run from around $10 per month (if you’re going for the minimum amount; a one-person freelancing operation with a low amount of bids per month) and can go up into the hundreds depending on the options that you want to select. For many people, Elance basically pays for itself and you can select to have the money you earn into your Elance account pay your monthly Elance subscription.

How do you collect the funds sitting in your Elance account? You can plug in your bank account and routing number to deposit funds to your bank or you can transfer the money to your PayPal – once you’re set up it’s a very easy process.

Elance will also charge you a percentage of the income you earn on projects, so make sure you consider that as well.
Overall Impressions

Elance is a great tool for both finding people who can skillfully do work that you otherwise couldn’t, and for finding work online. Many Elance projects can be entirely digital, which allows you to work from anywhere as long as you own a laptop.

How well does Elance really “work”? Believe it or not, this article is actually coming to you thanks to Elance – Emory Rowland and I found each other through the site. And the rest, as they say, is history.

ework.com

Leaders in telework training, remote work training and mobility training for the virtual workplace. Extensive consulting to enable virtual work, remote work and telework excellence
 e-Work.com builds excellence and maximum performance for the virtual workplace including mobile work, distributed work, and telework programs. e-Work.com offers e-learning courses, management tools and expert consulting services to develop, test and deploy a successful virtual work, remote work or telework program. e-Work.com principles have over 30 years experience at large at small organizations, including Hewlett-Packard Company, Microsoft, Nissan, Aflac, Pacific Life, Pearson Education, and others including very large media and entertainment organizations, and New York based financial services firms.

contentcurrent.com

Once you are approved to be an article writer, you will be able to see available writing jobs in the "Add new jobs" section of your writer account. When you find a job that you would like to write, you can click 'Claim This Piece' next to the article and that piece will be yours for the next 48 hours. During those 48 hours, you are free to submit the work by visiting your Writer Area and clicking on the article you've claimed. You should see boxes where you can input your writing and submit it, as well as order details and order history for that particular order. After you submit, the client who ordered the articles will receive an email and will have approximately 5 business days to check your writing. If they approve it, or if 5 business days goes by without any action, the job is marked as 'Completed' and payment is released to you. If they choose to 'Modify' the writing, you will receive an email with some changes to be made, and then have five business days to re-submit the writing. Once you re-submit, the client again receives the email and the process repeats itself. you will get 7 $ per article that you finished .

microworkers

Microworkers, is a site pays you to complete small tasks. I've been working on this site for more than half a year and earned more than 200 dollars. Employers post tasks and workers earn money by completing the tasks, the site earns between them. The minimum payout is 9 dollars and the payout twice a month. You can receive money by paypal, moneybookers and checks. Of course you can spend your money on posting tasks. There are specific guidelines about posting tasks and they review every task. For example, you cannot post 0.1 dollar per task for registration and make one post. I've got one task rejected, so from the perspective of protecting workers, they are really good. They state that they never allow tasks with same content, but they do, it leaves space for spams. The tasks range from writing an article (usually 2 dollars per article) to simple registration. It is nice source of income for workers who have some basic skills, almost everyone can do it.

Go Freelance

Go Freelance is a premier online community for freelance professionals and companies looking to hire skilled freelance experts. We have thousands of freelance and work-at-home jobs in the US and worldwide. If your website is related to job searchers, job boards, resumes, freelance workers, careers, software programmers, website designers and programmers, writers, editors, medical and legal transcribers, graphic design and illustration, those who do data entry or topics geared to these types of v

Get Paid To Write From Home!

Real WritingJobs is really a web page for freelance writers to discover writing jobs. RealWritingJobs works as a liason between writers and firms, the writer will probably be an employee on the individual organization. Members will have the selection of which freelance writing jobs they are interested in and members of all countries are eligible to becoming a freelance writer and locate a writing work through Real Writing Jobs.

Real Writing Jobs is really a paid membership site where members will get info regarding how to apply for freelance positons. Members will also receive training and tutorials on how to turn out to be a freelance writer, acquire entry to hundreds of jobs which are ready being filled, and acquire no cost writing books and software. There is unlimited aid and support included within the membership to make confident that every single member can get the best freelance writing positions.

There are all kinds of writing jobs available - anything from writing blog posts to performing proofreading assignments. In case you like to write reviews or articles then the volume of cash that could be produced is limitless - the total of dollars you can make totally depends on the quantity of time and effort that you are willing to invest. Most jobs and businesses pay immediately upon completion from the assignment through Paypal though each and every organization is distinct and the payment options will be spelled out before you even sign up for a writing position.

RealWritingJobs will offer you instruction on everything concerning acquiring writing jobs, they will go over the way to bid on projects, what will likely be expected of you in the event you do win the writing position, and offer you instruction and resources regarding how to finest complete the different writing assignments available. A trial membership is available in RealWritingJobs - you can join for 7 days for only $4.95. When you like the data about the internet site you will be billed an additional one-time $77. And it does appear with a 60 day money back guarantee. But, don't sign up instantly - click off from the internet site and you'll be offered the 7 day trial for $4.95 and then access on the program after the trial for any one-time payment of $47.

Reputation

Now, I could locate no negative comments on RealWritingJobs and I did appear across some individuals who locate the information contained within the membership web site to become invaluable. But, if a person is trying to find freelance writing positions you will discover plenty of places to obtain them with out paying for membership. Nonetheless if you happen to be unsure of the best way to go about bidding on a freelance career or are not confident of what certain forms of jobs entail then this membership web site may possibly be just what you need. Occasionally data regarding how to really get and perform the various writing positions is well worth the investment.

Barbados Leg of World Cup 2007

Barbados Leg of World Cup 2007

It's almost here. Just a few more days and Barbados will get to know what our neighbours in seven other caribbean countries have had to put up with since the official start of the tournament in Jamaica on March 11th.

We are fortunate to be hosting our super 8 games in the latter stages so that all the teething problems should be ironed out and we will appear to host a seamless and flawless event.

One of the things that has been adjusted is the fact that you can now go in and out of the venues and not be trapped liked a caged animal for the whole game. I don't know whose brilliant idea that was in the first place. There are a number of reasons a person might need to leave the venue during the game and having paid the extraordinary sum asked for a ticket you should be able to take full benefit of it.

It seems that you can also take your own food now as long as it is in the prescribed size container and bottles of drinking water are allowed although these have to be open! make the sence in that, but the soft drinks thing is still an issue. While I understand that a plastic drink bottle can become a missile, what is the liklihood of such a happening at a cricket match? Okay, so it happened once before at a Test Match at Kensington Oval but how often is a cricket crowd provoked to such action?

When I pay my $Bds4.00 for a drink that I would buy on the outside for Bds$1.50, ($Bds.2.00 the most) I expect to get all of it and not just the part that fits the size cup the vendor happens to be using. I think this is where ziploc bags should be tested to the max, with everyone carrying their favourite beverage in those bags that they are always claiming seal so well. That will also solve the problem of "ambush marketing."

Whoever sat down and thought through some of the regulations for this cricket world cup obviously did not take the spectators view into consideration

Posted by sheikh at 05:03

Barbados Leg of World Cup 2007

Barbados Leg of World Cup 2007

It's almost here. Just a few more days and Barbados will get to know what our neighbours in seven other caribbean countries have had to put up with since the official start of the tournament in Jamaica on March 11th.

We are fortunate to be hosting our super 8 games in the latter stages so that all the teething problems should be ironed out and we will appear to host a seamless and flawless event.

One of the things that has been adjusted is the fact that you can now go in and out of the venues and not be trapped liked a caged animal for the whole game. I don't know whose brilliant idea that was in the first place. There are a number of reasons a person might need to leave the venue during the game and having paid the extraordinary sum asked for a ticket you should be able to take full benefit of it.

It seems that you can also take your own food now as long as it is in the prescribed size container and bottles of drinking water are allowed although these have to be open! make the sence in that, but the soft drinks thing is still an issue. While I understand that a plastic drink bottle can become a missile, what is the liklihood of such a happening at a cricket match? Okay, so it happened once before at a Test Match at Kensington Oval but how often is a cricket crowd provoked to such action?

When I pay my $Bds4.00 for a drink that I would buy on the outside for Bds$1.50, ($Bds.2.00 the most) I expect to get all of it and not just the part that fits the size cup the vendor happens to be using. I think this is where ziploc bags should be tested to the max, with everyone carrying their favourite beverage in those bags that they are always claiming seal so well. That will also solve the problem of "ambush marketing."

Whoever sat down and thought through some of the regulations for this cricket world cup obviously did not take the spectators view into consideration

ART OF BOWLING A FLIPPER

ART OF BOWLING A FLIPPER

It is one of the greatest weapons which a leg spinner can possess.This delivery can fox any of the greatest batsmen seen by the world cricket. India's Anil Kumble, Pakistan's Mushtaq Ahmed, Australias Shane Warne are some of the masters of the flippers.

The grip - The fingers are brought further forward on the ball
and the thumb plays a part. Shane says his grip is not too
tight as this can stop the ball fizzing out of his hand.

The delivery - The trick is to not bowl it too fast.
When he stays relaxed and squeezes the ball out through
fingers and thumb (an instant after the centre picture),
the underspin makes the ball slice through the air more quickly.

Posted by NIKHIL DALVI at 5:20 PM

Rents Rise, Vacancies Go Down

Rents Rise, Vacancies Go Down

Rents Rise, Vacancies Go DownNo comments

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Wall Street Journal, Real Estate, July 7, 2011

Vacancies … fell in 72 of the 82 markets during the second-quarter vacancy rate to 6%, the lowest since 2008 and compared with 7.8% a year earlier, according to Reis. [...]
The average effective rent, the amount paid after discounting, was $997 in the second quarter of the year, up from $974 a year earlier  [...]
Landlords filled a net 33,000 units in the second quarter, a slowdown from the 45,000 units they filled in the first quarter.  [...]
Meanwhile, supply remains constrained. Roughly 8,700 new apartment units opened during the second quarter, the second-lowest quarterly tally for new completions since Reis began collecting data in 1999.

A few key points:

• Vacancy rates are falling fast (the excess supply is being absorbed). Note: The excess housing supply includes both apartments and single family homes.
• A record low number of multi-family units will be completed this year (2011). Only 8,700 apartments came on the market in Q1 (in the Reis survey area). This is the second lowest quarter since Reis has been tracking completions – the lowest was 6,000 last quarter.
• The falling vacancy rate is pushing push up effective rents. This also pulls down the price-to-rent ratio for house prices.

Wall Street Journal Article Link

Technorati Tags: buying property in usa, real estate news, rents in usa, vacancy rate in usa

Categories: buying property in usa, market research

13Jun

Keeping track of expenses and incomes for your accountant (CPA)

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In one of the last posts here at Buying Property in USA blog, I shared with you my file for keeping track of each individual investment property incomes/expenses and other data. There is one more file you will need though, if you have also founded an LLC and have a CPA (accountant) who is preparing your taxes. I have again just created an excel spreadsheet table for this purpose, nothing fancy. It can just save you a couple of hours figuring out the best way of keeping track of these numbers.
On the image below (click to enlarge) you can see the sample table:

Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: buying property in usa, buying real estate in usa, expenses and incomes, tax data

Categories: buying property in usa

30May

How Home Prices Declined in 25 Largest Metro Areas

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In this post, I will just republish data put together by Zillow. It is always important to do the market research before buying real estate in USA, because the market decision is sometimes even more important than the decision about the particular property. Anyway, thanks to servers like Zillow, the market research is quite simple.
According to Q1 2011 Zillow® Real Estate Market Reports, here are the declines in 25 largest metro areas. Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: buying real estate in usa, home price decline

Categories: buying house in usa, buying real estate in usa

24May

One year of investment property operation data in Phoenix, Arizona

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Following my Las Vegas property 1-year break down, I am going to present to you the numbers for my second property in Phoenix, AZ.  I also bought this condominium on N Cave Creek Rd during my 3week trip to the USA in the summer 2009. It was much easier to find the investment property in Phoenix (in fact it took me just one afternoon), but how did this property do during the first year of operation? Here is the table (click to enlarge):

As you can see, I already started with some rehabs in October 2009, but since it was from the middle of the month, I counted November as the first month. Therefore the official first year of operation is ending by the end of October 2010 the same as my Las Vegas property. You can see again, that I was charged initially for the property management fee by RPM Phoenix Metro. This property however was in worse shape than the one in Las Vegas. We needed to put new windows in, change a couple of doors, cabinets and paint the whole place. This rehab project was, in the end, quite expensive and you can see these expenses in the repairs column. Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: buying property in usa, buying real estate in usa, phoenix

Categories: buying property in usa

12May

One year after buying property in USA (Las Vegas) – numbers, thoughts, strategy

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I owed you guys who are following the Buying Property in USA blog this post already for a few months. It has been 1 year since I bought my properties in Las Vegas and Phoenix already last October (2010). However I was in the middle of purchasing a new property in Topeka, Kansas and also working on my property analysis tool, and therefore I didn’t write a proper post and haven’t done the calculations. Finally it’s here though, and it should be something important for all investors who followed my journey and my articles or are thinking about investing in the United States.
Why? Because, now I will be able to do an exact comparison of the returns I was expecting more than a year ago (when I went to the US and purchased the 2 properties) and the actual REAL results, after one year of ownership – the real incomes, real expenses and maybe the not so glorious TRUTH.

Las Vegas

So let’s start with my first property, Condominium located on E Sahara Ave in Las Vegas. Below you can see the table for the first year of operation (click to zoom in):

The closing was in the end of October 2009, so I counted November as the first month of operation. There were some “repairs” in November, but basically it was just carpet cleaning, a few fixes and touch up paint for $400. Otherwise the unit was ready to be rented out. Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: buying foreclosures in USA, buying house in las vegas, buying property in usa

Categories: buying property in Las Vegas, buying property in usa

06May

8 Tips for Hiring the Best Property Manager

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Even though I have already written the next post, for my calculations of the first year returns on my 2 properties (in Las Vegas and Phoenix), it happened that I am changing again a property manager in Las Vegas. When looking for a new one, I have read my old posts to remind myself what I should be asking them, but also I have read this good article at Biggerpockets blog. It can help you guys, who will need to find a good property management company for your investment property.

1.  The first thing I always want to know is how many properties (units is a better measure) are they managing.  This is followed up with how many employees are managing these units.  Here is what I have found based on our experience building our property management capability internally and then handing the entire portfolio over to property managers: a trained employee with the right tools and proven processes can manage between 30 and 40 units – assuming the accounting function is not included.  So, if you are qualifying a property manager and they have no employees and are currently managing 37 units and you want to hand them 7 more, how good do you think their service to your portfolio will be?
2.  Do they own any rental properties themselves?  For me this can be a deal breaker!  Here is what I have experienced: while it may seem like a benefit for a manager to own properties because they can better relate to what an investor experiences, I see it differently.  The way I see it is my properties and my tenants are in constant competition with the managers and their properties.  If the manager has a vacancy at the same time you do, how can you know that your property will be filled first?  You don’t!
3.  A critical component in managing both properties and tenants is getting into those properties on a routine basis.  As part of your discussions with prospective managers, you want to get a commitment from them how often they will conduct formal inspections of your properties.  In some cases, managers will be very accommodating. In most, however, they will balk at this requirement or use it as a way to increase the fee they will be charging.  I am not too impressed with property managers who believe that conducting routine property inspections is an extra – not part of their normal package of services.  I would be very leery of this type of property manager.

Continue reading here:
http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2011/02/25/hiring-best-property-managers/

Technorati Tags: buy house in usa, buying property in usa, property management, property manager

Categories: buying property in Las Vegas

02May

How to keep track of your property’s operating data (incomes/expenses), simple and free

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Today’s post is not providing anything revolutionary, and for some people may be almost unimportant. However in the previous articles here at “buying property in USA” blog, I promised to show you guys how I keep track of my property incomes, and expenses (and any other operation data and information) – in a simple and free way.
I know that there are various software solutions (most of them paid), which can provide you with a similar result, but for my needs (3 properties), it’s more than what I need. What I use is a simple excel spreadsheet, which I have developed over the first months of ownership of the first 2 properties. From both of the property management companies, I get property statements every month in a form of PDF documents, including all the numbers. However it isn’t easy to look for certain information in dozens of these PDF documents I have in my folder, and also I can’t add any notes in it.
Therefore I always rewrite the values from each monthly statement into my own spreadsheet tables. You can see an example of this table below (click to enlarge):

I have similar tables on separate sheets of the spreadsheet file, for each investment property. The columns are following:

• Month
• Rent Income
• Property Management fees
• Repairs
• HOA (Home Owner Association fees)
• Insurance
• Net Operating Income without insurance = reported by property management (NOI definition)
• Balance (staying at the property management account every month)
• Owner draw (check from the property manager)
• Tax (monthly portion only)
• Net Operating Income (including insurance and taxes) (NOI definition)
• Notes (my personal notes, explanation etc.)
• TODO (to do list)

This way, it makes it really easy to look and find out that: the major repairs were done in October, and the tenants haven’t paid full rent in January etc… [continue reading] Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: Annual Property Operation Data, APOD, buying property in usa, Excel file, property analysis, Property operation data

Categories: buying house in usa

11Mar

Real Estate Analysis FREE: New features!

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As you all probably know, I am the author of a free property analysis tool called Real Estate Analysis FREE. I am happy to announce some new features which I have been developing in the past few months. As always, this tool is free for anybody and I will be just happy if more people will be using it, instead of paying the crazy amounts for the commercial real estate investment software. I am trying to make this tool better and better in my free time, so if you have some suggestions for new features or changes, just let me know, and I will try to add them in the new release! So are you wondering what is new in the second version of the real estate analysis free software?
I have been working on the following things:

• Optimizing the whole application to make it work and crunch the data faster, I have almost doubled the overall speed of the software!
• I have created new financing options – mainly the so called “Creative financing” – which includes balloon payments, interest only financing, refinancing after a certain amount of years.
• You can enter Rehab costs into your investment – this will be used only in the first year of operation, and you can choose if and how the rehabilitation will influence the value of the property (this is very useful for fixer upper strategy)
• Expenses and incomes can be now entered not only as annual values, but also as a percentage or monthly amount
• 50% Rule – introduced at BiggerPockets Forum, it’s a great way for investors to estimate the expenses and check the overall investment
• Social media sharing! Requested feature by some of the investors. Facebook, Twitter and Email sharing of the property analysis reports is available!

I have also added social sharing on the main page of Real Estate Analysis FREE, so people can easily share this tool among their friends on facebook and twitter. I want people to find out about this free app and so, if you like the tool, please press the facebook “Like” button, or “tweet” button – to tell about Real Estate Analysis FREE to your friends. You can even become fans of the facebook page. I would never ask for money for the tool, but this is something which would really help me to spread the word around. I appreciate it if you “Like” Real Estate Analysis FREE!
Visit: http://www.RealEstateAnalysisFREE.com
Btw I moved to Australia, I know that lot of you guys reading this blog are Aussies!

Technorati Tags: buying property in usa, property analysis, real estate analysis, real estate investment software

Categories: market research

11Feb

Price-to-rent ratio and Gross Rental Yield in USA

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As I promised in earlier post at Buying Property in USA blog, I have calculated price to rent ratios and gross rental yield of all the US states. I am currently writing an article with more details how I exactly got the numbers etc. However for the most of foreign investors is interested mainly in this table:

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Technorati Tags: in USA, price to rent ratio, rental yields

Categories: market research

22Jan

Seller’s financing – my experience, process of buying property in Topeka

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As I described in the last post at Buying Property in USA blog, I was quite lucky, because I found a great real estate agent, who presented me with a few investment properties, with possible seller’s or so called owner financing. I have read a lot of things about seller’s financing before, but it was still something really new for me. I had to offer and negotiate the terms before I could again buy house in usa.
I knew that the seller was quite motivated to sell the property, since it was more than 180 days on the market. That was definitely quite a big advantage. Disadvantage on the other hand was that the seller still had an unpaid mortgage on the property, with quite high payments and she obviously wanted me to cover the payments fully.
First, I needed to get all the information possible about the property. I requested details about the leases of the tenants (4 of 5 of the units were occupied), the utility bills (seller was paying all the utilities – this was very important information, possible deal breaker), time period of major repairs (roof, hot water heater etc) and also the information about the owners underlying loan. Marta (my real estate agent) helped me with most of that.
Second, I had to put together an offer. It’s hard to calculate how much the terms of the mortgage matter, and therefore I created an excel spreadsheet, where I could test all different scenarios (various down payment, balloon length, interest rate and amortization periods). I had some kind of benchmark (70%LTV @ 6% 20y) and I have calculated Net Present Value of this financing. Then I was comparing all the other scenarios and I chose one with similar NPV (very good one for me).
Third, I put together the offer, with a closing date in the beginning of the month (2nd or 3rd). This is very important, especially for occupied multifamily properties. The trick is in the fact, that the rents (but also utilities) are always pro-rated. That means, if you close on the 2nd, you will get almost a full month of rent. However the mortgage payments are usually on the 1st of each month (or you make sure they are). So you will have all this extra money at closing, but your first payment will be almost one month from that date.
Then I sent in the offer and waited for the seller. We had a few rounds of negotiations, mainly because the seller wanted ARM (adjustable interest rate) and I wanted fixed. Her reasoning was simple – the underlying loan was ARM as well, and she wanted to be sure that I will be always able to cover it with my payments. In the end I have agreed on the 6% ARM, but at least I got 80% LTV (20% down only) and price under the listing one.
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