Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why use Real Estate in which to invest?
A: Real Estate is not just a roof over your head. Investing in Real Estate can be another way to diversify your investment portfolio. Real Estate investments come in all shapes and sizes. You invest in your home when you buy it, and you invest more when you fix it up. You can find partners and invest in rental appartments or commercial projects. Or you can purchase raw, undeveloped, land with the possibilities of you or someone else building on it.
Another great reason for investing in Real Estate is the advantage of using leverage. When you borrow monies to pay for an investment, you are leveraging your investment. Leveraging means using a little of your own money to control an asset that is worth a great deal more. For example, you might make a down payment of $20,000 on a $200,000 building, and arrange a mortgage for the balance. You have taken less risk than if you paid the full price. And while you do pay interest on the borrowed amount, what you have the potential to get back for what you have invested, called your ROI(Return on Investment), can be much higher. 
Q: Where can I get money to purchase a property?
A: You shouldn't be using much money to purchase properties unless you are getting a great deal. This money is going o cost a lot and will significantly cut into your profits. The money that you should have to come up with should be 20k or less for properties in the Bay Area. If in a cheaper market, the money to put up should be 10k or less. Places you can get money could be friends or family
Q: What kind of properties should I be looking for?
A: For starters, I would look for distressed properties. This takes very little money and is a good way to get started until you get your first check. Once you get your first check, then you should broaden your marketing and plans. The property to the left is a great distressed property for you. Just kidding. A good buddy of mine found this post card one day and sent it to me. I always get a kick out of it. You really want to focus on houses with cosmetic work, not major foundation, or roof problems. Once you start looking for them, you will find them. You will wonder where they have been all this time. Even in San Francisco and the Penninsula areas. In a 30 minute drive I can spot 50-100 homes that are in need of significant repair. Just think that if it looks bad on the outside, what do you think it will look like on the inside?
Q: Do you have other IRCA locations?
A: At this time these are the only locations. We will be possibly opening new chapters as time goes on. We currently have chapters in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Atlanta, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Seattle, and Kissimmee/Orlando. Once a member, you can attend our meetings at any of these locations.
Q: I have bad credit and no money. How can I purchase property?
A: There are several ways to purchase property without your own money or credit. Firstly, ask the seller to finance themselves for a short time while you fix the property and find a buyer. The seller would get paid when you sell. This is buying with terms, similar to an option. Another way is if there is enough equity int he property, you could get a private money lender or hard money lender to give you a loan based on the value of the house. Do not expect to get more than 65% of the current value, though. This is paying cash for the property so you cannot pay full value. You can also "get the deed" on properties if the owners are willing to give you the property for what they owe.(This usually only happens when the owner is in pre-foreclosure and they have little or no equity) Yes People Do Give You Their House In The San Francisco Bay Area!
Q: If we come across a deal and do not know what to do with it, what should we do?
A: You could assign the contract that you have with the seller to us or someone else for a finder's fee and get cash when the deal closes. You could also enter a joint venture agreement with us where we will go through the entire deal with you so you will know what to do next time on your own. Everything from negotiating with the seller to rehabbing to selling the property and everything in between.
Q: Where is the strangest place you found a deal?
A: You may come across a deal anywhere. the strangest place we came across a deal was at a garage sale. I was looking at antiques and started a conversation with someone looking at the same item. While talking, she mentioned that she was going to put her rental up for sale since she was getting tired of being a landlord. We went to go look at the property and negotiated on price and we optioned the property, fixed it up in about a month's time and had it sold before we were even done by putting an FSBO sign out front and paying $500 to put it on MLS.
Q: How do I market myself without $$$?
A: Tell everyone you know or meet what you do. Inform them of what type of properties you are looking for- abandoned, ugly, distressed owners, etc, and offer them your business card and a finder's fee of at least $500 if you purchase a property they found for you. You need to leave your business cards wherever you eat and put one in with any bills that you pay. Speaking to people is the cheapest way to advertise. It only costs $135 to get 1000 business cards such as these, and probably half that for one-sided cards. Then you just have to devise an elevator speech to describe to them what you do, and how it can make them money as well. That is how you get their attention.
Q: Where can I find real estate deals?
A: All over! You can market to zip codes, people going into foreclosure, probate, divorce, etc, by mailing letters. You can look for deals using a real estate agent or the MLS. People have made big bucks buying listed properties. Expect more competition for listed properties! Owners that list their properties without an agent are also asking full market value and therefore most likely unmotivated. You want to locate the motivated sellers before they list their property on MLS and negotiate a discount to take their property and solve their problem. usually the property does not have a problem; the owner has a problem. Become the problem solver and let owners give away big amounts of equity for you to solve their problem. To get these motivated sellers contacting you, you must inform them that you can help. Marketing to these people in several ways, such as signs int he area, pennysaver ads, and letters, will work, but it is a numbers game, so you must be ready to start the buying machine since you will probably have to kiss a lot of frogs until you find your first deal.
Q: I live in a "hot market" area, so I won't be able to find any deals.
A: Yes you can. You may not be able to find them on MLS but there are always motivated sellers out there. You just need to find them. Attend our meeting to find out how.
Q: I live in an area where the housing market is declining and the house prices are going down. How can I make any money purchasing and selling real estate?
A: There are always ways to make money in any kind of market. In a declining market, those who need to get out will be hard up to sell with too many homes on the market so they will have to reduce their price. Some may not be able to do this since they have little or no equity. Attend our meeting to find out how these properties can make you $10,000 or more with very little or no work.
Q: I live in an area where the market is stagnant. How do I make money in this market?
A: There will always be people thatneed to sell and not just want to sell. You need to find the motivated sellers. Once you contact them, they will be willing to give away free equity for you to solve their problem. We are really problem solvers. To learn more, attend our next main meeting and we would be happy to discuss this with you.
Q: Where can I get money to fund deals?
A: You can get money from friends or family members. Many have money in savings accounts, IRA's, or even home equity that they would be willing to lend you since you can pay them high interest and have their money secured in real estate. You can also get money from private lenders such as mortgage lenders, your doctor, dentist, or anyone that probably has money lying around. They want their money working hard for them, not them working hard for their money.(You have heard the term "Work Smarter NOT Harder") Finally you can create a large list of potential money lenders by holding a small meeting at your local yacht or golf club. Once you get a couple of people earning big money in a short time, word will spread and many of their friends that they have bragged about making money will be begging you to use their money. Ah-ha, then you can negotiate on the amount of points and interest.
Q: What is the cost of Membership and what does it include?
1. Platinum Membership $99.00/ Month
- Monthly Main Meeting and materials offered in the meeting at reduced
member pricing.
- Your Own Real Estate Website professionally designed and useful in building
credibility.
- Performance Accelerator (Life Coaching) to assist in achieving balance and
meeting goals.
- National Conference Calls usually with nationally known speakers.
- Special Interest Groups with Local Resources
- Joint Venture Possibilities and Equity share possibilities
- Free or highly discounted All Day Seminars
- E-mail notification of deals available through the IRCA network of investors.
- Opportunity to present deals and Real Estate related services to the membership.
2. Gold Membership $79.99/ Month
- Monthly Main Meeting and materials offered in the meeting at reduced
member pricing.
- Performance Accelerator (Life Coaching) to assist in achieving balance and
meeting goals.
- National Conference Calls usually with nationally known speakers.
- Special Interest Groups with Local Resources
- Joint Venture Possibilities and Equity share possibilities
- Discounted price to weekend events
- E-mail notification of deals available through the IRCA network of investors.
- Opportunity to present deals and Real Estate related services to the membership.
3. Silver Membership $55.99/ Month
- Monthly Main Meeting and materials offered in the meeting at reduced
member pricing.
- National Conference Calls usually with nationally known speakers.
- Special Interest Groups with Local Resources
- **Joint Venture Possibilities and Equity share possibilities**
- Discounted price to weekend events
- E-mail notification of deals available through the IRCA network of investors.
- Opportunity to present deals and Real Estate related services to the membership.
4. Bronze Membership $19.99/ Month
or a Discount Rate of $179.00/ Year membership when paid in advance
- Monthly Main Meeting and materials offered in the meeting at reduced
member pricing.
- Discounted price to weekend events
- E-mail notification of deals available through the IRCA network of investors.
