Real Estate

So I am a real estate investor out in Colorado and was wondering how I can get access to the actually MLS. I am not talking about sign-up on some Realtors web-site. I am talking about paying the fees and actually being able to access the MLS. I have bought and sold over 3 million dollars in properties last year and have heard that it doesn’t matter that I have to be a Licensed Real Estate Agent. Does anyone know if there is any other ways to get this. I am not looking to list my homes without My Agent I just want to access it to look for homes for Sale. Any help or direction would be great…

Cheers,
So I can either take the appraisers class and I can get it?? Or can I just put my Agent on Pay Roll and use her access?

To be able to access such site, a real estate agent need to sign up and be a member of that MLS. If you do not sign up, you can still use their public site, although you have less options of search and info. is limited.

like type in an area-code and get a list of homes for sale

www.realtor.com
www.trulia.com

I am 23 years old and i have recently sparked an interest in tax sales. Ive spent a little time researching, but most of the websites that i’ve found require memberships to see any info on the listings. Has anyone ever participated in a tax sale and if so can you give me some useful info to get me started!?

You can find the information yourself at your county (or local) tax office. It will take time and work, but tax sale properties are listed, usually at the tax office or court house. Make some calls to those places and ask where the properties are listed, and what the standard procedure is. Usually, prospective buyers are required to have cashier’s checks in $5000 increments, and some way to pay anything between those increments should you be the winning bidder.

If you know anyone who works in real estate–as a broker or agent–they can probably introduce you to someone who has bought property at a tax sale, or to someone who is an "insider". Offer to take that person out to lunch in exchange for answering your questions. Then think of everything you might possibly want to know and ask!! In my experience, people who "know the ropes" on tax sales (or any other type of investing) are more than happy to share what they know to help you learn what you need to know. By getting to know and talk to those people, you can save yourself a lot of time and money by NOT duplicating their mistakes! (And they’ll tell you about those, too!)

Procedures, locations, methods can vary from location to location. But making phone calls to the tax assessors office and county court house is a good way to start.

I literally spent a week making phone calls, trying to get information in my area, and all I got was the "run around" because no one knew anything about what I was trying to find out. (That’s really not unusual, so be tenacious!) At the end of the week, after being sent here, there and ultimately to the county district attorney, I was re-routed BACK to the place I’d called first, and got the exact same person I’d talked to at the beginning of the week. On a whim, I made her take notes on what I wanted, then told her she was probably going to have to go find some little old man who nobody even knew was there, and he was probably in a corner office in the basement. LO and behold!! Fifteen minutes later I got a call from a man–literally a "little old man" whose office actually WAS in a corner office in the basement!! Not only was he happy to give me the information I wanted, but he got a good laugh out of how I’d finally tracked him down!

One last caveat on buying tax lien properties: They come "as is". Unless you’re sure you’ll have the time and money to put into it, try to physically examine the property before you buy it. Sometimes, if it’s a great deal, it won’t matter. But if you sink everything you have into a property you’re wanting to move into or rent out immediately, you could be in for a shock.

ADDITIONAL: AlaskaJoe is right!! Robert Kiyosaki writes the best books EVER on investing and financial freedom, and his "Rich Dad’s Advisor" books are great as well–also more specific. "Real Estate Riches" by Dolf de Roos will give you all sorts of information.

I like to look at houses for sale on local real estate sites. And I like taking pictures. It seems that the houses that have pictures would probably sell better. Could I contact a company and take pictures of houses that don’t have pictures listed for a little extra cash? With the economy the way it is, I need to make some extra money.

Typically, the real estate agent themselves. Often, the agent is also an appraiser who may also take pics to help find similar homes to compare yours with.

I am a Realtor who wants to start marketing to Luxury home sellers.

Do you think its a good idea to go to a neighborhood of 900 homes here in town, knock on each person’s door and introduce myself, give them $1 and tell them something like "I will put more money in your hands if you list your home for sale with me"?

1. So my question is: Do you think this will work??? If not, what do you think I should say?
2. By the way, there is a Realtor who sells about 1/2 the homes in that subdivision. He also lives there. What do I do to get listings in there. How do I compete with him?

go for it. It sounds awesome.

try looking here http://www.goDuru.com …good luck

are there any ranches that border it for sale?

There are a couple of places you can look. Zillow.com is a good place to start. This is a great site for looking up property for sale and getting an estimated value of the property. Also Jackson Realty was a decent website that includes property for sale near Yellowstone.

Any lacal real estate agent can provide you a list.

New home sales were flat so I assume they are. Aren’t there too many used homes on the market?

Yes, the existing homes need to be sold before the construction industry can get back to work. This country only has 3 Industries, Building Homes, Manufacturing Cars, and Medical Industry (which is the largest non government employer in the U.S.) Manufacturing depends on Construction and Medical salaries paid to employees for money to sustain itself.

There is a surplus inventory of existing homes on the market. The supply and demand law is driving the prices of existing homes down below the cost of building a home in some areas. Almost no one builds when materials cost exceeds the sales price.

The only new homes being built are by people who want a specific thing in their homes, or don’t mind paying more for a new construction just to have a new construction.

To get this countries economy moving again, we need to get those surplus existing houses off the market and drive up the cost of new homes so they can be sold at a profit and not a loss.

We built a home to sell or rent and own it outright. We’d like to tap into some of the equity on the home but Countrywide (where we have the mortgage on our main home) has said that the new regulations don’t allow an equity loan on a home listed in the MLS. They said the home would have to be off the MLS for 6 months before we could qualify. If we had listed it ourselves there would have been no problem. I’m wondering if this is true with all lenders or if it’s a Countrywide policy.

It’s different depending on what bank you’re dealing with. Most lenders would like to see at least 6 months. However, there are some out there that will except less time. For example, Wells Fargo only requires 3 months after being listed. You might be able to go to your local bank and obtain one with proof that its off the market, and there’s no intention of selling.

The bank is mainly worried about you pulling all the equity out of your home, then not making the payments and letting the house go into foreclosure. Especially if your house sat on the market for a long time.