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Quick Tip for Choosing Your Closing Day

Idea for Choosing Your Closing Day We closed on two real estate investment properties this month. One was a mixed use commercial and residential property that is going to be our new office and home. The other is another investment property going into our rent to own program.

One closing was a complete nightmare. We were all set to take our team through the property to get work started but didn’t have access yet. The funds were delayed and nobody could get in touch with the lenders lawyer.

The other was almost as smooth as closings can be – there was only one little last minute glitch over insurance. It was quickly resolved with a phone call.

There were small things we could have done to make both go smoothly but the big difference between the two closings was primarily the date of closing.

Why Your Choosing Your Closing Day is Important

The nightmare closing was the day after a long weekend. Lots of the people involved were on holidays (insurance broker, our lawyer and our main lender). The people who were helping those on vacation weren’t familiar with our file and there were questions and issues. Plus, because it was a commercial property, the lender had their own lawyer. That lawyer was still in holiday mode that day and didn’t return calls for hours and hours.

In the end, the closing and possession was delayed by 5 hours. Maybe not a big deal on the surface but we had lined up three different trades to meet us there to get work started. Some of our trades are really busy and we book them a week in advance just for quotes! That delay could have messed up our entire schedule.

The other closing was middle of the week on a normal week. Everyone except our main lawyer was around. Everything progressed with just one small bump (the insurance binder wasn’t sent to the lender – quickly fixed with a phone call to the right person at the insurance office).

So our quick tip for you today is when you’re selecting a closing date try to avoid Mondays, Fridays and days after a holiday. There are things that come up on closing day as everything gets processed and filed. You want to minimize the likelihood that people are on holidays or “mentally” on holiday.

August and December are also the two worst months for vacation time. If you need to close in these months and around holidays make sure you know who is going to be around to work with you. You may even want to have a back up plan. Don’t leave this stuff to the last minute because it could bite you.

Generally we like Wednesday or Thursday closings– and not closings during the week after a long weekend (the short weeks). Sometimes to get the deal we want we have to close on days we would not normally pick (which is what led us to close on our property August 2nd right after the long weekend and one we closed on December 31st, 2010). But those closings often have a bumpy ride.

Just a quick little tip to help your deals flow through a little smoother. In a future article, we’ll talk about the pro’s and con’s of when to close date-wise (i.e., on the 1st, 15th, 30th) on investment properties to maximize your return and minimize your cash outlay!

Published August 23, 2011

Image: ©Pixxart |Dreamstime.com

Video Tips for Real Estate Investors

I’m Julie Broad with Rev N You with Real Estate …and todayI am going to tell you the story of the Ferrari Enzo and the Honda Civic. Then I am going to introduce you to our first property and give you three easy to use tips to find your own winning real estate investment.

If you’re not familiar with Rev N You, you may not know that our investing philosophy is not about getting rich quickly. It is about getting rich with real estate … and it’s about putting cash in your pocket EVERY month from your properties … but, for us, it’s about taking minimal risks to gain big rewards

When we launched our Real Estate Millionaire: The Essential Starter Course, we had readers write to us and say things like:

We love your down to earth approach but we can’t wait years to get rich
or
I don’t think your program is going to work for me – I think I need to do flippers to get fast cash
or
Sorry but your slower approach is just not going to work for me. I have to become a millionaire this year.

We get it!! We really do … after buying a couple of properties we weren’t getting rich fast enough so we set out doing a bunch of high risk deals. High risk deals that today we’d never touch  – because today we understand the fundamentals of real estate investing. And, for the right person with the right knowledge and resources, some of the deals we did would have been golden opportunities, some were just stupid.

But it’s why we now explain things with the Ferrari and the Honda.

You see – there are SO MANY ways to make money in real estate. And they are exciting!! Flipping, buying wholesale, development, subject to investing, lease option investing, buying foreclosures … the list is long … and there is BIG MONEY to be made and some of it can be made quickly!

But it’s like learning to drive on a Ferrari Enzo vs. a Civic.

<Watch the video for the story>

Get what I am saying?! What we teach are the fundamentals of real estate investing. YOU HAVE TO KNOW THEM to safely use any other technique. When we didn’t fully understand the basics and we got into no money down deals and flips we got ourselves in over our heads. And, had we not had good jobs at the time, we would have caused ourselves some serious financial problems.

Now, we’re confident in the fundamentals and we’re expanding into other strategies. Our wealth is going to grow at an accelerated pace … but even with our tried and true basic low risk investing strategy of buy and hold we’re still enjoying thousands of dollars in cash flow from our properties AND we have net worth of over a million dollars … so like I said … the Honda gets you there just maybe not quite as fast (but with much less adrenaline).

So what can you do to find your own winning properties in today’s market … well … you might already be familiar with our five steps to invest in real estate, so I am going to give you three things to do right now to get yourself ready to take those five steps:

1. Educate Yourself

We never stop learning … I read at least three books a month… I try to read a new book every week. I spend close to $20,000 a year on courses … some are real estate related but others are specific to marketing or even just personal development. And we both find people we can learn from. Dave in particular is really good at this … he picks up the phone and talks to people. He finds people in the areas of expertise he wants to learn about and talks to them. He meets people and asks them lots of questions.

2. Network

The best deals usually come from within your network. Realtors or mortgage brokers with their ear to the ground are a great source of deals. You have to get plugged in to the people who can find you great deals.
If you are someone that doesn’t have money to buy real estate – networking is critical. We’ve been able to build a nice sized portfolio not because we did no money down deals or because we had a lot of money but because we found a few partners with money to invest with us. They didn’t have time or knowledge … we took the time to build the knowledge and became their partners.

You are going to need partners to work with and the best way to find them is through your network. Ask friends, family, colleagues, your family dr. or dentist …  go to local real estate investing groups … just meet people!! Start educating them about what you’re learning and see if there’s a mutual interest.

3. Take Action!!
If you sit on the sidelines waiting for this market to improve you are going to miss the opportunity of a lifetime. Big wealth is being created right now!! Sit down and make your plan!! Where do you want to be? Where are you today? What is the gap in the middle and how are you going to get from here to there.

Just the act of writing down your plan is taking action … and I love this quote from Robert Ringer in his book ACTION! Nothing Happens Until Something Moves. Where he says:

“When you take action – particularly bold action – the atoms in your brain vibrate at enormously high rates of speed, which often results in amazing and otherwise unexplainable  “coincidences” happening in your life. I believe that the genius that erupts from action … produces a “telepathy” that brings a person in contact with the people, things, and circumstances he needs to accomplish his objectives”

So – with that – take the time to educate yourself on the fundamentals of real estate investing, go out and find some people doing what you want to do, or that can help you  do what you want to do, and TAKE ACTION!!
We promise that you will not regret it …

Oh – and if you’re not already a Rev N You with Real Estate newsletter subscriber– what’s stopping you? It’s free … and we create videos just like this one, free reports, and send great advice to our valued readers several times a month!!

Posted on April 23rd, 2009

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