Albert Einstein once said there is nothing more powerful than compound interest. Apply that logic to buying a stock in the stock market, and you can double your money in ten years. Further leverage that logic by putting 5% down on a home, and you can possibly multiply your money by four times, eight times… even twelve times in those same ten years!

Need Proof?

Let’s say you have $10,000, and want to find the best return for your investment. You can certainly put your money in the stock market, and if your stock goes up by an average of 7% per year, your $10,000 nest-egg will be worth nearly double after 10 years. ($19,472 to be exact.) Not bad for passive income!

However, if you take that same $10,000, and apply it as a down payment toward a 200,000 home that appreciates by half the rate of the stock market (3.5% a year average), your home will be worth over $282,000! Even if you get an interest-only loan, your initial $10,000 investment will be worth over $92,000 after selling the home and paying off your loan! If your home appreciates at the same rate as the stock market (an average of 7% per year), and your initial $10K investment that bought a 200,000 home, will parlay into owning a $384,000 home! Pay off your $190,000 loan, and you’ll be sitting on $194,000 in cash!

If you’re wondering about monthly payments, you have two options: If this is for a home you will live in, the monthly payments will likely be the same as you would be paying in rent anyway, and there are additional tax benefits that haven’t even been discussed in this article. If you buy this property as a rental property, your tenant’s rent payments should more than cover your mortgage payment. (There’s nothing more beautiful than letting someone else pay for your real estate invenstment. You just can’t do that in the stock market, but it’s done all the time in Real Estate.) If you’re still in doubt, you might want to read a couple other well-known books — “The Wealthy Barber” by David Chilton, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki, or “How to get Rich” by Donald Trump. If you don’t feel like running out and buying a book right now, feel free to listen to a free recording where a Colorado real estate investor shares his secrets to success. Listen to the free recording at: http://www.automatedhomefinder.com/education/investments101.php

Too much risk?

Yes, there is risk, but it is doubtful that your risk is any higher than the risk involved with investing in the stock market in the first place. The higher the risk, the higher the reward, and real estate has been a time-proven investment vehicle for millions of wealthy individuals — Donald Trump, Warren Buffett and David Chilton (”The Wealthy Barber” himself.)

How to get started:

If you’d like to explore the idea of investing in real estate in your area, simply look up a buyer-agent in your area, or start a search on the internet and start a couple real estate searches to see what kind of home you can get in your area. If you’re not sure how much home you can afford, your Realtor can help, or put you in touch with a lender who can.

Among many things, Donald Trump is a successful businessman and an extremely wealthy individual. Donald Trump is perceived by the mass public as a true corporate King. The question is who are all these people that competed so fiercely against each other during the hour that the Apprentice show was broadcasted and why did they strive to prove their skills so as to secure their position in his empire? One might support that they are the products of America’s powerful media networks, the gladiators of our postmodern reality. But are these reality shows we tend to watch ritually, the mirroring of our contemporary culture, or are they the outcome of today’s spectators’ confusion regarding the prevailing notions of modernity, revolution and self-development?

To be a citizen of the modern world, is equivalent to remain open to change and evolution, to be able to explore and create, accept or reject, all those forces and trends that shape the global scene and the mere self at the same time. This ongoing change, the development of human history, has been classified according to scholars as the act of relating modernization (the socio-economic process) with modernism (the cultural vision), through modernity (the historical experience). But this powerful process, although once considered linear, has evolved over time to the point that it can now be conceived as “curved,” since modernism has experienced a major decline during the 21st century. This realization can be partly explained by the fact that social, political, or economic revolutions have ended, while the upcoming reformations are not fostered by the bourgeois engagement, but mainly by the continuous technological progress limited to specific time fragments which make any kind of revolution seeming obsolete.

If then we accept that modernism has ceased to exist then what exactly are we left with? How can we identify ourselves in this endless game of change and evolution? The answer is hidden in the method used to analyze the present living circumstances and humanity’s past actions. Postmodernism or post-historicism, is another generic title given to the period after modernism, in order to characterize a shift in mentality, methods, and processes used by society to deploy a new system of reference. Having to deal with an almost static capitalistic scheme that blocks the likelihood of any profound cultural renovation comparable to the great Age of Aesthetic Discoveries in the first third of this century, society is left to revolutionize itself through the ruins of the past, equipped with the belief that a true revolution would be to abolish modernity as a whole.

Where is the Apprentice show on this check board? Is it the King, the Queen or the soldier in this game of power and control? Various arguments may be raised to answer such a question, but the underlying truth is that television, along with other technological innovations of the 21st century, like the Internet, have succeeded in becoming a new type of artistic expression, where the spectator has no intention to classify and analyze what is seen using specific labels, since their existence is considered temporal. The threat is hidden on the simple fact that the majority of the viewers, regardless their age, as the citizens of this global village, remain almost indifferent to these alterations in the scenery of life and consume these preheated meals without questioning their source while sitting in front of a TV or PC screen, unable to resist the magical world of consumption, misinterpreting it as the best solution available in this chaotic mode of living. It may seem pessimistic or oversimplified as a view, but Apprentice, Big Brother and many of these reality shows, are actually an analysis on the cultural shift of today’s societies, towards an epoch whose title has not yet been articulated.

“You can have the most wonderful product in the world, but if
people don’t know about it, it’s not going to be worth much.
There are singers in the world with voices as good as Frank
Sinatra’s, but they’re singing in their garages because no one
has ever heard of them. You need to generate interest, and you
need to create excitement.” Donald Trump, American real-estate
tycoon

Advertising doesn’t cost, it pays! And good advertising can pay
you well. Bad advertising, or no advertising at all, invites
disaster.

You have to advertise if people are to be made aware of your
business and the benefits it offers them. Without advertising
you rely on word of mouth recommendation or press editorial,
both extremely effective, but slow and generally unpredictable.

Advertising takes many different forms, from painting your name
on the side of a van to delivering leaflets door-to-door or
posting printed cards in shop and post office windows. More
often the term applies to classified and display promotions in
appropriate media, usually newspapers and magazines, and it is
with this definition we concern ourselves here.

Advertising by itself does not sell. It will not sell a bad
product (customers will ask for refunds) and it won’t open up
new markets. It is not a miracle cure that can generate sales
for a dying product. Conversely, advertising will not sell your
must successful products to people who simply don’t want them.

Main Points About Effective Advertising

* It reduces the entire population to your target audience and
reaches as many of those people as possible at least available
cost.

* It must always have an objective. This means having a clear
idea about what you want to accomplish in your advertisement.
Reasons for advertising include:

* To invite orders or enquiries

* To launch new products

* To publicise price changes.

* The message must attract your target audience, it must
interest them, create a desire for your product and prompt
people to act (order or ask for further information). This
acronym AIDA is one you will encounter many times in advertising.

* It must be truthful and straightforward. The nearer your
advertisement is to reality, the more effective it is.

* Sufficient resources must be allocated to accomplish your
advertising objectives.

* Testing is crucial to effective advertising, allowing good
promotions to be repeated and bad ones to be eliminated.

* Every aspect of your advertisement must be prepared from the
customer’s point of view. That person wants to know how you and
your product can benefit him. The most important feature of any
advertisement is the benefits it contains.

* It must be placed in the appropriate media.

Newcomers to business tend to confuse the real benefits of
advertising, frequently considering it a necessary, and
expensive, evil, not the long-term investment it really is. In
short, effective advertising is the lifeblood of your business.
Without it you will surely fail!

Deciding When and How

Advertising can be a major headache for many firms, not just new
businesses or those without specialist advertising departments.

But it isn’t always costs that are to blame as much as making
that vital choice between classified or generally more costly
display advertising.

Returning to basics, all advertisements must follow the general
AIDA principle. They must attract attention, generate and retain
interest, create desire, and stimulate action.

But what will best achieve this objective: classified or display?

The answer depends on a number of things, not least of all an
understanding of what these two methods involve, how they differ
and what similarities, even overlap, might exist.

Classified advertising, sometimes called ‘lineage’, generally
employs just words, without embellishment, other than perhaps a
few words emboldened, and sometimes impact lines or boxes around
the advertisement. Where these minor forms of decoration are
included, the format is frequently referred to as ’semi-display’.

Display advertisements, on the other hand, are designed to stand
out from the crowd, using a variety of techniques including:
occupying a set position on the page, taking up a specified
amount of space, including graphics and illustrations, adopting
a variety of fonts, and so on. The argument is that display
advertisements are more noticeable, more profitable than their
counterparts buried amongst countless others in the classified
columns. Hence the far higher cost of display advertising.

The following main points will help you decide:

* Classified ads are usually cheap and are excellent for
generating enquiries. Many successful classified advertisers use
the two-stage enquiry method, allowing the customer to obtain
further information before placing an order. A major benefit for
dealers is the chance to build a useful mailing list for future
offers.

* Display advertising is best for selling straight from the
page. Readers are more likely to trust their money to someone
who has paid for a larger advertisement than someone whose
advertisement occupies a tiny space among so many competing
entries. Classified advertising is rarely effective for selling
off-the-page except for very low cost items, commonly Ј10
or less.

* Classified advertising can be used to test interest in your
product before venturing into more costly display advertising.

* Classifieds can be used to test and compare advertising
sources.

* Classified advertising is generally unsuitable for anything
that requires a lot of ‘telling’ to accomplish the task of
selling. Too much grey matters in classifieds is boring and
readers can easily lose interest halfway. If it can’t be said in
a few words, try display advertising.

* For classified advertisements, the words themselves must do
the job of selling. Sometimes a maximum wordcount is set and
every word must pay its way. Conversely, display advertising
allows a variety of other techniques to be used to attract and
retain reader interest. Based on what they say about a picture
being worth ten thousand words, it follows that, if the design,
style or appearance of your product is important to the
potential customer, display advertising is usually best. If the
product markets well ’sight unseen’, classified ads might be
appropriate.

* Classified ads usually focus on a single offer. Display
advertisements can include several products, or an invitation to
send for further information, obtain a catalogue, send for
samples, and so on.

If there is one lingering image of success in real estate investing, it is that of the charismatic Donald Trump. He is the icon of the highs, and lows, of the business of real estate. His rise from an intrepid investor to a billionaire developer holds out several lessons.

The sheer scale of operations of Trump could overwhelm us all. But, he did not attain it overnight. Sure, he had a legacy of real estate development, the Trump Organization, handed down by his father. However, he worked hard and brought in shrewd business acumen to enlarge his canvas of operations. His vision and commitment made him move away from the traditional strongholds of his father’s business and develop multi-million dollar projects with the high and mighty queuing up to grab a cherished piece of property.

There are a couple of lessons here for the retail investor in real estate. Whether one is clutching on a property for a few thousands or closing out with million dollars, the principles underlying real estate investment are just the same. Here is a quick checklist from Donald Trump’s life:

â?¢ Be convinced about the real estate investment before you set out to negotiate. Unless you carry your conviction, others who are part of the scenario would not share your viewpoint. Trump’s enthusiasm for the Grand Hyatt project from the dilapidated Commodore Hotel resulted in one of the best landmarks of New York City at a time when others dismissed it as impossible.

â?¢ Actively involve everyone who is a part of the project. The seller, broker, inspector, lender and yourself are in partnership trying to arrive at a deal that is beneficial to all. To ensure smooth completion of the transaction, communicate effectively with each one so that misconceptions are removed and the deal goes through without glitches.

â?¢ Do not burn your bridges. Keep your contacts alive through effective networking. Greeting cards, phone calls, messages and gifts are some of the methods to remind others that you are interested in upcoming projects.

Copyright © 2006 Joel Teo. All rights reserved.

Yikes, the real estate market. So much is constantly going on when it comes to home building, house selling and residential real estate. Not since the 1970s has America seen such a rough patch when it comes to real estate buying, selling and simply making an offer on a house. Granted not everyone has the knowledge or know-how regarding real estate, current percentage rates and area statistics to wisely make an offer on a house they desire. This is not really a problem! There are always professionals and online tools to assist you with this often stressful endeavor. 

Turn your focus to the web for a moment. Don’t simply dart out and make an unwise offer on a house you know nothing about. Instead, you may want to take advantage of useful real estate buying websites that further educate you on home buying and selling. Try helpful tips on nolo.com, realtor.com or even howstuffworks.com. In reality there are countless advantages at your disposal. Do a little research and gather the facts on today’s real estate market. Find out what you should be looking for and paying attention to in regards to room sizes, foundation, lot size, community crime and exact lot location. So much can play a crucial part in effectively purchasing a home and getting your money’s worth. After all, making an offer on a house is no small investment. Suddenly you’ll have a mortgage and you’ll likely want your new home to increase in value as time passes. 

Acquiring the professional services of a licensed real estate agent is never a bad idea. You have to remember when considering making an offer on a house; you want someone who knows the area you desire to move into. An expert who understands what each particular piece of real estate is actually worth. It’s only natural for home sellers to want to get as much as possible for their abode. However, so much depends on the state of the current real estate market. The house you’re considering may not be worth as much now as it was two years back. In the end it’s imperative to understand this before making any offers on homes you like.

Technorati Tags: make an offer on a house, making an offer on a house, real estate market

By: Bryan Dulaney

If you own a lot of property, you might need some help keeping up with things. Some like to have someone do everything for them, and they just collect the money after the rents are paid, and some like to have someone just for maintenance reasons, or perhaps to handle phone calls and complaints. Whatever it is that you are looking for, you do have to take some time when deciding who can help you with property management ,and who might do you more harm than good.

Some landlords like help with property management that involves just the upkeep. They may have someone hired to do the landscaping on all properties, and that is usually something you can hire a company to do. This is often not a hard choice, as long as someone shows up when they should and they are doing all of the work they promise. That might include just the lawns, but might also include upkeep of the property in the way of picking up trash and other odd jobs. References arenít immensely important if they are not allowed access to the buildings on your property, but they might still be a good idea anyway.

Some property management can be done by a company. Some will show the property to potential renters, take their applications, do credit checks, and then collect rent when and if they are approved. They may also makes calls for repairmen when something goes wrong, and they might check up to be sure the paint is in good shape and that the tenants are not trashing the property. This kind of property management is for the landlord that does not have time, lives far away, or simply has no interest in it. If choosing something like this, make sure to get references so that your properties and your interests are not going down the tubes when you are not looking. 

Others have a mixture of the two for property management. They may have someone handle the money, and someone else for maintenance work. The landlord may take phone calls directly from the tenants when there is a problem, and may want to screen applicants on their own. Before hiring anyone in any type of official capacity for property management, make sure you do some checking of your own. References are great, but a criminal and background check might be a great idea. That way you can rest a little easier letting someone else handle what is very important to you. 

Technorati Tags: Property Management

I had always dreamed of spending my leisurely retirement years in a place filled with sunshine and warm weather. When that time began to approach quickly, Arizona real estate seemed like a logical place to begin looking for my retirement community. With sunshine more than 300 days a year, plenty of cities offering a whole host of amenities, and affordable housing in a variety of communities, there was a lot to love about this state. But before I contacted an agent to help me find the perfect home, I did some research on my own to learn more about what each city in this great state could offer.

Phoenix is similar in size to cities like Nashville and San Diego, so it could provide great cultural activities, such as arts, entertainment, and even shopping. Because of the beautiful weather year round, Phoenix is also a terrific location for outdoor activities, with miles of walking and bike paths, and countless swimming pools and golf courses to choose from. Arizona real estate in this great city is diverse and affordable, from cozy little starter homes to luxury estates. I was sure I could find what I was looking for right in the heart of Phoenix, but there were other communities I wanted to check out first.

Glendale is a city that is growing fast and adding new and interesting attractions all the time. One of the most recent additions to this beautiful city is the University of Phoenix stadium that is home to the Phoenix Cardinals pro football team. In addition to diverse activities, this city offers a variety of lovely Arizona real estate that includes beautifully restored historic homes and brand spanking new condos. I also found a plethora of golf course communities in the listings for this city.

Scottsdale is often the city that folks think of when they consider retirement living in this region. The large number of luxury homes in this area has become surprisingly affordable in recent years, due to the rise in supply and the decreased demand from qualified buyers. This meant that if I chose to put my money into Scottsdale, Arizona real estate, I was going to enjoy top value for my dollar. Scottsdale seemed like a good choice for an up and coming retiree like myself. 

Once I had completed my research and narrowed my search to a couple of desirable cities, I was ready to contact an Arizona real estate agent to assist me with all of my housing needs. With the help of this professional, I was able to find the perfect home in a great community. Retirement will be paradise indeed with the right choice in Arizona real estate!

Technorati Tags: arizona real estate, Real Estate Investing

This is simply the best book on the topic.

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Throughout this video series, you will learn: - Proven techniques for investing in real estate - How to locate deals on properties - The meaning of foreclosures, REOs, and tax sales - The benefits of 1031 Tax Exchanges - How to work with tenants and leases - How to limit your liabilities and risks

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