If you're a Gmail user and you aren't using keyboard shortcuts - You've got to try it out. Its a pretty simple concept: Quit lifting your hands from the keyboard and just use the keys... For instance, how many times have you finished reading an email and then you slide your hand to the mouse to hit "Archive?" In essence you've had to look down to find the mouse, look up to see where you're driving it and then you click it. I know, it didn't take that long - we're talking milliseconds, but what if you just hit the letter "y" immediately archiving the message and sending you back to the inbox? Now isn't that easier? Gmail is full of these sorts of shortcuts. Click the link and check it out.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
It Has No End
It's a funny thing about entrepreneurship, its just one building (block) after another. It rolls like seas. You go through ups and downs. You have highs and lows. Its the same for many professions because we all have times that are seasons of growth and times that are quiet.
And though the seas roll, you must keep your eye on your bearing. You must keep your goals in clear sight because in any business it is easy to become overwhelmed with the details, administration and project work load. For instance, take a look at the picture in this post. If I am overwhelmed I can only see a disaster zone, but if my eye is on the bigger goal I see progress.
This picture is of the basement at 1104 Jefferson. It is the bottom portion of the house on the NE corner of Jefferson and Carlisle around the corner from McDades. We're opening up this dark, dingy old basement apartment. All in all, we are consolidating several units that were just depressing, small spaces and opening it up into something desirable. It will be turned into something all together new and inviting, where it was once something drab. We bring in the light, and through doing so we can all see that "bearing" better in these rolling seas.
And with that small introduction I welcome you to come and see my next endeavor at www.TheNeighborHouse.com and at its new blog www.TheNeighborHouse.blogspot.com.
The next step, the next building (block)...
And though the seas roll, you must keep your eye on your bearing. You must keep your goals in clear sight because in any business it is easy to become overwhelmed with the details, administration and project work load. For instance, take a look at the picture in this post. If I am overwhelmed I can only see a disaster zone, but if my eye is on the bigger goal I see progress.
This picture is of the basement at 1104 Jefferson. It is the bottom portion of the house on the NE corner of Jefferson and Carlisle around the corner from McDades. We're opening up this dark, dingy old basement apartment. All in all, we are consolidating several units that were just depressing, small spaces and opening it up into something desirable. It will be turned into something all together new and inviting, where it was once something drab. We bring in the light, and through doing so we can all see that "bearing" better in these rolling seas.
And with that small introduction I welcome you to come and see my next endeavor at www.TheNeighborHouse.com and at its new blog www.TheNeighborHouse.blogspot.com.
The next step, the next building (block)...
 |
| Progress. |
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Mike Butler
If you haven't read Mike Butler's "Landlording on Autopilot" then click on the book icon on the left and check it out. Quite honestly, I don't know how I would have even begun building the ideals, upon which my management company is now built, without Mike Butler's insight. It is full of tools, niches, and a wealth of general knowledge that I doubt anyone (who owns rentals) can live without. Mike was a full time detective who was buying houses on the side. He got to a point where he was spending a little bit of time in the evenings working on his portfolio, then, it got to where he was going to bed pretty late one night a week... Next thing he knew he was working all day, every Saturday. He stopped what he was doing and looked around. He looked around and realized that he was managing 75 rental properties from his crowded basement.
Is his trail beginning to sound a little familiar? Do you feel like you're spending every Saturday answering the phone and driving to houses? If you do, it's time to automate. It's time to get out of the drag of managing and streamline your business. This book isn't a total problem solver, but it's a definite eye opener.
Is his trail beginning to sound a little familiar? Do you feel like you're spending every Saturday answering the phone and driving to houses? If you do, it's time to automate. It's time to get out of the drag of managing and streamline your business. This book isn't a total problem solver, but it's a definite eye opener.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Jackson, MS - Ranked 10th Best by the Wall Street Journal
Colleagues,
Several of you have asked for a copy of the article below. McQueen, a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) real estate journalist, wrote this article naming Jackson MS as the tenth best market for single family residential real estate investments. It's pretty fascinating stuff. You can see the original article by clicking here.
Real-Estate Investing: the Best and Worst Markets
World U.S. New York Business Markets Tech Personal Finance
Life & Culture Opinion Careers Real Estate Small Business
By M.P. MCQUEEN
Regions that rank highly for investment suitability are those where there is a low probability that home prices will fall further, says Local Market Monitor President Ingo Winzer. They are places where income is growing moderately; where employment is relatively stable because of a large percentage of jobs in health care, education or government; and where a relatively small share of jobs is in construction or financial services, which have been volatile. (Job losses in government and education tend to come later in an economic cycle, so some areas could be hit harder incoming months.)
The report, which excludes towns with fewer than 200,000 residents, focuses on price appreciation potential instead of rental income, since falling home prices usually result in higher vacancy rates in apartment buildings and lower rents overall, Mr. Winzer says.
Good markets for conservative investors are those that already have stabilized and should yield average returns, Mr. Winzer says. Dangerous markets probably will see further price declines and have little potential for a turnaround because of poor local economies.
So-called speculative markets, by contrast, are those where prices could fall further, but which also have potential for greater appreciation of 3% to 5% annually after bottoming out—making them more suitable for investors with stronger stomachs. Local Market Monitor identifies Hagerstown, Md.; Jacksonville and Port St. Lucie, Fla.; Modesto, Calif.; and Myrtle Beach, S.C. as speculative areas.
In the best markets, home prices already are stabilizing. Durham, N.C., for instance, is home to Duke University and is near the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Big companies like International Business Machines Corp., GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Nortel Networks Corp., as well as numerous biotech start-ups, have facilities at the nearby Research Triangle Corporate Park. About 40% of area jobs are in health, education or government, according to Local Market Monitor.
Haywood Davis, owner of a Century 21 real-estate brokerage in Durham, says home-sales volume in the area increased 13% last month over July 2009, though prices rose only slightly.
Some other metro areas with large percentages of relatively stable jobs and moderate growth include Knoxville, Tenn.; Lexington, Ky.; and Indianapolis.
Jason Moore, a 34-year-old auto-sales manager in Baltimore, took advantage of plunging home prices in his hometown of Indianapolis to snap up an investment property there—a brand-new four-bedroom, two-bath home—for $56,000 late in 2008.
Prices in Indianapolis were falling because of foreclosures and rising unemployment. Disappointed with their stock-market investments, Mr. Moore and his wife, Keisha, 32, decided to buy an investment property to add to their portfolio. The Indiana house is generating a positive cash flow of about $300 a month in rent after mortgage, insurance, taxes and fees, he says.
"It has been adding income, and the tax benefit has been helpful," Mr. Moore says.
Yet in gambling-and-tourism-dependent Reno, Nev., home prices slid 50% from their market peak in 2006—and don't seem to have bottomed yet. Mr. Winzer calls the city "frankly dangerous" for investors, along with Las Vegas and Naples and Orlando, Fla., because home prices are still tumbling and local economies are shaky.
John Burns, chief executive officer of John Burns Real Estate Consulting Inc. of Irvine, Calif., says he thinks Reno and Las Vegas have "overcorrected," but he agrees prices could fall further.
Dana Hall-Bradley, a real-estate agent in Florida's Orlando-Kissimmee area, near Disney World, says sales were up 39% last month over July 2009. But prices are still sliding because most sales involve so-called distressed properties—bank-owned homes or short sales, where lenders agree to sell properties for less than they are owed.
Investors, especially those from Canada, the U.K., Brazil and Venezuela, are buying vacation and retirement villas, condos and townhouses in the area, Ms. Hall-Bradley says, because prices already are 40% to 50% below what they were as late as 2007. Many are paying cash.
Condos are even cheaper. "Right now you can get a condo for $30,000 that was selling for $150,000 to $200,000 in 2005 or 2006," she says.
Eamon Lavin of Locust Valley, N.Y., recently purchased three condo units and a single-family home in Celebration, a planned community outside Orlando designed by Walt Disney Co. Mr. Lavin, 43, says he knows prices could tumble further but he isn't worried because he plans to rent out the properties for 10 or 15 years.
"I love the area, and I think it is going to come back," he says. "I get more of a return on investment than putting it in a bank or anywhere else."
Several of you have asked for a copy of the article below. McQueen, a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) real estate journalist, wrote this article naming Jackson MS as the tenth best market for single family residential real estate investments. It's pretty fascinating stuff. You can see the original article by clicking here.
Real-Estate Investing: the Best and Worst Markets
World U.S. New York Business Markets Tech Personal Finance
Life & Culture Opinion Careers Real Estate Small Business
By M.P. MCQUEEN
Looking to snap up some investment properties on the cheap? You may want to consider Durham, N.C., Indianapolis and Huntsville, Ala. They are among the best places to invest now, according to a new report that ranks the best and worst markets for conservative residential-realestate investors. Hard-hit Las Vegas and Orlando, Fla., are among the riskiest.
Local Market Monitor Inc., a Cary, N.C., firm that analyzes real-estate trends for lenders, builders and investors, compiled its first Investor Suitability Report using economic data through July 31 for 315 U.S. markets. The firm is best known for its housing-market forecasts, which use "equilibrium" home prices: what home values should be in relation to incomes, job growth and population. In its new report, it uses similar data to rank communities by their investment prospects, focusing on single-family homes.
Regions that rank highly for investment suitability are those where there is a low probability that home prices will fall further, says Local Market Monitor President Ingo Winzer. They are places where income is growing moderately; where employment is relatively stable because of a large percentage of jobs in health care, education or government; and where a relatively small share of jobs is in construction or financial services, which have been volatile. (Job losses in government and education tend to come later in an economic cycle, so some areas could be hit harder incoming months.)
The report, which excludes towns with fewer than 200,000 residents, focuses on price appreciation potential instead of rental income, since falling home prices usually result in higher vacancy rates in apartment buildings and lower rents overall, Mr. Winzer says.
Good markets for conservative investors are those that already have stabilized and should yield average returns, Mr. Winzer says. Dangerous markets probably will see further price declines and have little potential for a turnaround because of poor local economies.
So-called speculative markets, by contrast, are those where prices could fall further, but which also have potential for greater appreciation of 3% to 5% annually after bottoming out—making them more suitable for investors with stronger stomachs. Local Market Monitor identifies Hagerstown, Md.; Jacksonville and Port St. Lucie, Fla.; Modesto, Calif.; and Myrtle Beach, S.C. as speculative areas.
In the best markets, home prices already are stabilizing. Durham, N.C., for instance, is home to Duke University and is near the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Big companies like International Business Machines Corp., GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Nortel Networks Corp., as well as numerous biotech start-ups, have facilities at the nearby Research Triangle Corporate Park. About 40% of area jobs are in health, education or government, according to Local Market Monitor.
Haywood Davis, owner of a Century 21 real-estate brokerage in Durham, says home-sales volume in the area increased 13% last month over July 2009, though prices rose only slightly.
Some other metro areas with large percentages of relatively stable jobs and moderate growth include Knoxville, Tenn.; Lexington, Ky.; and Indianapolis.
Jason Moore, a 34-year-old auto-sales manager in Baltimore, took advantage of plunging home prices in his hometown of Indianapolis to snap up an investment property there—a brand-new four-bedroom, two-bath home—for $56,000 late in 2008.
Prices in Indianapolis were falling because of foreclosures and rising unemployment. Disappointed with their stock-market investments, Mr. Moore and his wife, Keisha, 32, decided to buy an investment property to add to their portfolio. The Indiana house is generating a positive cash flow of about $300 a month in rent after mortgage, insurance, taxes and fees, he says.
"It has been adding income, and the tax benefit has been helpful," Mr. Moore says.
Yet in gambling-and-tourism-dependent Reno, Nev., home prices slid 50% from their market peak in 2006—and don't seem to have bottomed yet. Mr. Winzer calls the city "frankly dangerous" for investors, along with Las Vegas and Naples and Orlando, Fla., because home prices are still tumbling and local economies are shaky.
John Burns, chief executive officer of John Burns Real Estate Consulting Inc. of Irvine, Calif., says he thinks Reno and Las Vegas have "overcorrected," but he agrees prices could fall further.
Dana Hall-Bradley, a real-estate agent in Florida's Orlando-Kissimmee area, near Disney World, says sales were up 39% last month over July 2009. But prices are still sliding because most sales involve so-called distressed properties—bank-owned homes or short sales, where lenders agree to sell properties for less than they are owed.
Investors, especially those from Canada, the U.K., Brazil and Venezuela, are buying vacation and retirement villas, condos and townhouses in the area, Ms. Hall-Bradley says, because prices already are 40% to 50% below what they were as late as 2007. Many are paying cash.
Condos are even cheaper. "Right now you can get a condo for $30,000 that was selling for $150,000 to $200,000 in 2005 or 2006," she says.
Eamon Lavin of Locust Valley, N.Y., recently purchased three condo units and a single-family home in Celebration, a planned community outside Orlando designed by Walt Disney Co. Mr. Lavin, 43, says he knows prices could tumble further but he isn't worried because he plans to rent out the properties for 10 or 15 years.
"I love the area, and I think it is going to come back," he says. "I get more of a return on investment than putting it in a bank or anywhere else."
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