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When you hear the words “mobile home”, what do you immediately think? Hillbillies with rebel flags in their windows? The show “Cops”? Sure, that’s the stereotype, but the truth is that a huge number of Americans– about 20 million of them–live in mobile homes. And the demographic make-up of this group is not much different from normal residential subdivisions and apartment complexes.

Another little-known fact about this niche is that you can make excellent returns by investing in them- with amounts as low as $5,000 to $10,000. Returns in the neighborhood of a steady 10% to 20% per year. Compare that to your recent successes in the stock market and the rate on CDs at your neighborhood bank and you’ll see that those type of year-over-year returns are really pretty extraordinary.

So how do you invest in in this area successfully?

Get an understanding of the product.

Mobile homes are not constructed like the type of traditional “stick-built” housing that you are more familiar with. For example, a mobile home has no load-bearing interior walls. It is like a shoebox–only the exterior walls are load bearing. In addition, the utilities normally follow certain “troughs” that allow for easy access. You can find some cut-away drawings of mobile homes on the internet and you will be shocked at their simplicity. This simplicity, however, pays big dividends when it comes to repairs and remodeling. Unlike traditional home construction, a mobile home allows for an amateur to do a perfectly fine job.

You should go to a local dealer and walk through some homes–including some older trade-ins that are probably at the back of the lot–to get a feel for what the product is.

Get an understanding of what the customers’ needs are.

These type of homes are the least expensive form of detached housing in the U. S. As a result, they appeal to lower-income Americans- often folks who earn minimum wage. This group is not nearly as demanding as buyers with higher earnings who are looking at much more expensive housing options. That’s not to say that they have no standards, because they do. But their standards are much lower and much easier to satisfy. Many of the cosmetic issues that you would find unacceptable in a $100,000 house are perfectly fine in a $10,000 mobile home. These include stains on flooring, wall taping and bedding, quality of paint job, condition of appliances, etc. These reduced expectations make the investor’s life much easier, as it takes less to make this type of investment ready for sale, and it is much easier to meet the demands of the customer.

You should look at some of the mobile homes for sale in the newspaper to see what is offered in your market, as well as the price points. You will be amazed at how “rough” many of the offerings are, and how low the price points are.

Team up with a mobile home park owner.

Many owners would love to work with investors to buy and sell homes in their parks. These types of relationships are essential, as a successful investor will need certain concessions from the park owner to ensure that they get a good return on their investment. These concessions include free lot rent at any time that the home is vacant, help on marketing the home, and sometimes financial bonuses for each home sold.

Start small and add-on based on performance.

The proof is in the pudding. Start off with one investment in a mobile home- maybe $10,000 to buy one home. From this one investment, you will learn a tremendous amount about the process, from choosing a decent home to marketing and real-life profit and loss. A normal deal will have a return on your money of 10% to 20% per year. There are certain instances when you will have a much higher return- 50% or more- but these are rare and should not be taken as the norm. Anything less than 10% is unacceptable and you should analyze what you did wrong and learn from it.

When you “partner” with a mobile home park owner, they will take a vested interest in your success and your odds of making a higher return are much greater.

Conclusion.

There are few options today that offer 10% and greater real returns on your investment dollar. One of the safest is mobile home investing. It’s a simple product that appeals to a simple customer. It is not subject to changes of technology that render it useless, or to changes in taste that make it no longer attractive. It has been around, undisturbed, for over 60 years.

Jeff Foxworthy makes very funny trailer park jokes. COPS has a heyday filming scenes of intoxicated people at some of the worst mobile home parks in the U. S. But you have to understand that these are promotional stereotypes–and not the norm. The normal mobile home park resident is just a regular person making their way through life–and offering you a very handsome return on investment.

Baby boomers, baby boomers, baby boomers; we all hear this term over and over again. So who are the baby boomers? Baby boomers are people in the United States who were born between 1946 and 1964. Approximately 78. 2 million people fall into this category.

As a group, baby boomers comprise the largest population cohort in the history of the United States. The size of the group gives it vast influence over American politics, popular cultural, and of course, real estate. To evaluate the influence of the baby boomers on the future of real estate, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) conducted a study in 2006. The findings of the research were published in report entitled Baby Boomers and Real Estate: Today and Tomorrow. Below are some highlights from the NAR study.

AGE DISTRBUTION

According to the NAR report, baby boomers now range in age from 42 to 60 years old. The typical baby boomer is 50 years old, and the oldest of the baby boomers turned 60 in 2006. About 46% of baby boomers are in their 40s, and about 25% are at least 55 years old.

HOUSEHOLD INCOME

As a group, baby boomers are in their peak earning years. In 2005, baby boomers had a household income of $64,700, and about 25% them had a household income of at least $100,000 per year.

HOME OWNERSHIP

About 78% of baby boomers own a home, which is higher than the national ownership rate of 69%. About 96% of baby boomers believe that home ownership is a good financial investment.

FUTURE REAL ESTATE PURCHASES

About 10%, or 7. 8 million of all baby boomers, said they were likely to purchase additional real estate in the next 12 months. Of these potential buyers, two-thirds were planning on buying a primary residence, 26% want to buy land, 19% want rental property, 15% want a vacation home or seasonal home, and 14% want a commercial property.

WHAT FEATURES ATTRACT BOOMERS

When baby boomers were asked about what features are most important to them, 38% wanted a lower cost of living, 38% wanted to be near family, 38% wanted easy access to quality health care, 37% wanted a better climate, and 36% wanted to be near a body of water.

PREFERRED COMMUNITY AMENITIES

When baby boomers were asked about the type of community amenities that interest them most, about 18% wanted to be near cultural offerings, 9% wanted to be closer to their family, 4% wanted to be on a golf course, and 3% wanted easy access to educational facilities.

WHERE DO BOOMERS WANT TO RETIRE

When baby boomers were asked about where they want to retire, 33% of them want to retire in a rural area, 30% in a small town, 25% in a suburban area, and only 12% in an urban community.

BOOMERS AND THEIR REAL ESTATE AGENTS

Baby boomers consistently use the services of a real estate agent. Approximately 60% of homebuyers and 79% of home sellers used a real estate agent in their last transaction.

SUMMARY

The baby boomers have had and will continue to have a significant impact on the real estate market. As the boomers near retirement, they continue to value real estate and will continue to invest in properties and land. Real estate agents would be well served to understand what baby boomers want in terms of their real estate investments, and design strategies that target the needs of this enormous population cohort. For more information, read the NAR report entitled, Baby Boomers and Real Estate: Today and Tomorrow

Real estate investment is perhaps one of the most lucrative forms of investment today. But it is also equally risk bound especially when one is not well versed with the trends and nuances of the real estate market. So if you are contemplating on investing in real estate, it is best to avoid costly mistakes in real estate investment especially when you invest your hard earned money into it. Knowing the most common mistakes made by real estate investors helps one steer away from making such mistakes in the future and ensures good return on investment.

Here are the top ten mistakes made by real estate investors, according to bankrate. com. Bankrate has put together the top ten mistakes after speaking to established, full-time real estate investors and other professionals involved in real estate investment such as bankers. Read on to know them and avoid them.

1. Not planning up ahead. Lack of a proper plan is the biggest mistake made by novice investors. Finding a house after forming a proper investment strategy is the right way instead of looking for a house to fit the plan. Many make the mistake of buying a house because it seems to be a good deal and then trying to see how they can fit it into their plan. Instead of buying a house and thinking one can plan in due course, investors should rather concentrate on the numbers and try to make offers on multiple properties. This will ensure a good property that not only matches their investment model but also works out well with the numbers they had planned for.

2. To believe you can make money quickly. The second major mistake that real estate investors make is to think it is very easy to get rich in real estate. This is only a myth and the reality is that investing in real estate is a long term project.

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Real Estate Investment in Whangarei New Zealand

Real estate business may be focused in so many aspects as an investment and as a method to earn money from. You can be a real estate agent and enjoy earning money while on the other hand, there are those who have the capital to earn being an investor in the buy and sell arena for a real estate business. In Whangarei New Zealand, however, there is a lot of available real estate business investment that you can get in to if you want to earn a significant amount of income from it.

Whangarei Real Estate Agent Marketing Tips

A Whangarei real estate agent in New Zealand may earn through real estate business by selling real estate property in so many ways and methods but so far, there are a few tips that I would like to give you to be able to earn good in this business. To be able to market a real estate property, you have to know where you can make such move or where to post your for sale property using the internet because we all know that the internet is the best medium there is if you are selling anything today. A few good ways to seek refuge for your product are forums and classifieds. Today there are a lot of free classifieds that you can post your for sale product. Forums can also be a good way to sell real estate. You can also try to market your real estate property using social media sites where you can post to multiple people who might just be interested to buy a real estate property in Whangarei. So far these are just a few ways and I know that there are a lot out there.

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