Looking for a new, creative method to hold your keys? How about creating one with Legos? It’s creative, one-of-a-kind and shouldn’t cost you more than a few bucks.

Turtles are smart. Within this tough economy market they’re surviving to the best of their ability by selling their old homes before moving into their new ones. A smart move don’t you think?

Some of the most popular programs on TV today are ghost hunting shows such as Ghost Adventures and Ghost Hunters. The problem is that if you watch too many of these ghost hunting shows, you start to interpret hard to explain occurrences as paranormal phenomenon and question every unexplainable event as a potential ghost.

Is there a Ghost in My House?

The other day my partner took 178 pictures of potential rehab projects and  pictures for BPO’s.  All of the pictures turned out fine except for this one.  Take a look at this and tell me if you can spot the potential paranormal activity in this picture.

None of the other pictures taken of this house had any spots or discoloration.  The house was empty, there was no construction going on, and the basement had two inches of water in it.  I’m by no means an expert, but I see orbs and a freaky image on the basement floor. What do you think?

Ghost House Hunting

A How-To Guide For The Monetarily Motivated!

BuyFixandProfit.com contains over 100 informative real estate investing articles along with real world tips and advice on how to make money with real estate.

The site’s focus is on how to buy distressed property, fix it up, and how to profit from those efforts.

Our mission is to provide the reader with practical real life advice on how to make money investing in real estate. Building assets and creating passive income with real estate is one of the oldest and most proven ways to take control of your financial future. Stop worrying about social security, your pension, and your 401K. By taking action and following just the basics of real estate investing, you can create a life changing income for yourself and your family in a short amount of time.

The underlying mantra for this site’s investing advice is that equity and cash flow can be created by buying distressed real estate, typically due to its poor condition, and making the right repairs to transform the property into a performing asset.

Equity and cash flow is what will be created; each has it’s own merits. Cash flow is tangible and therefore should always be the #1 factor when analyzing a property as a potential investment.  Equity is akin to speculation; similar to the president of a start-up saying he is worth $100M on paper.  Equity positions are important when dealing with lenders for loan-to-value purposes, but other than that, equity is “imaginary” until realized through the sale of the asset.

We have provided a snap shot of our current investment property portfolio to show that we practice what we preach. Feel free to ask questions about our investment property portfolio in the comments sections or contact us directly for information on how to earn better rate of return on your IRA or other cash funds.

Our Investment Property Portfolio

We have put together a Road Map of the TOP articles in the order one would progress towards completing their first property rehab.

First, here is the Mind Map we created all about Making Money with Real Estate.

How to Make Money in Real Estate Mind Map

Next, What Kind of Properties Should you be Buying?

Flipping Houses Strategy – Don’t Get this Wrong!

Here are some articles on Locating and Acquiring Rehab Properties

How to Find Foreclosures and Distressed Properties

How to Buy Foreclosures, REO’s and HUD Properties Without Ever Seeing Them! – Not recommended for those just starting out.  You’ll need some street experience to implement this strategy.

Must Have Investor Tools for Inspecting REO’s and Foreclosures

The Key Players you will Need on your Real Estate Investment Team

Create Your Real Estate Investment Team

The One Mistake that has Crippled many Newbie Real Estate Investors

The Most Common Mistake Made by Newbie Real Estate Investors

Have you ever heard the saying, “Your Network Will Determine Your Net Worth”?  This is especially true when investing in real estate. Here is the best way to build that network ->

Why Real Estate Investors Need to Join Real Estate Investment Clubs

How to Finance Rehabs and Investment Properties

Actual funding sources and contact numbers coming soon!

Hard Money Lenders Explained In Detail

What you must do PRIOR to Obtaining a Hard Money Loan

Why Private Money is Key to Your Rehab Financing Needs

Rehab Financing with the Local Community Bank

Why Real Estate Investors Need to Develop a Relationship with their Bank

How to Flip Properties Using Other people’s 401k or IRA Funds

Take Control Of Your Retirement With A Self Directed Checkbook IRA

How to Rehab a Property – Finding and Controlling Contractors, Estimating Construction Costs, Material Selection, Vacant Property Security and more inside…

How to Find a Contractor to Flip That House

Rule of Thumb Costs for Standard Foreclosed Home

Estimating Construction Cost – Actual Repair Budget Attached

How to Manage Property Rehab Costs for Maximum Efficiency and Value

Landlord’s Guide To Exterior Rehab Choices

Landlord’s Rehab Flooring Guide

Options for Vacant Property Security

How to Increase Appraisal Values and Pass Inspections on the First Visit

6 Ways to Legally Avoid the EPA’s New Lead Based Paint Renovation Laws

House Fixing Nightmares!

How to Manage Your Investment Properties – Landlord Tips, Section 8, Screening Tenants, Property Management and more…

Property Management 101 – Document, Enforce, Love

Section 8 Tenants – the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

3 Zero Tolerance Red Flags All Landlords Need to Look for when Screening a Tenant

Tenant Screening: How to Choose a Tenant When All the Tenant Credit Reports Are BAD!

Landlords: Are You Aggressive Enough In Trying to Rent Out Your Property?

Is it Legal for a Landlord to Establish a No Smoking Policy?

Shhhh…Underground Advice: How to Claim the Homestead Exemption as a Landlord

7 Awesome Benefits of Lease Options For Landlords

6 Key Points To Consider When Hiring Investment Property Managers

How to Quickly Pay Off a Rental Property – The Fastest Way to Becoming Free and Clear

How to Pay Off your Rental Property Mortgage Early

How to Pay Off Your Rental Property in 5 Years!

Investment Property Insurance – Protect yourself and your Tenants from Life’s Perils

Investor Profits $41K While Tenant Cries – Landlord Insurance and Renter’s Insurance are Must Haves!

8 Things Every Real Estate Investor Must Know About Landlord Insurance

Is Your Landlord Insurance Policy Eating Away at your Profits?

What To Do If Things Don’t Work Out – (Hopefully you won’t ever need to read this!)

Loan Modifications for Investors

Investor Loan Modifications Versus Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy and the Real Estate Investor – BK Doesn’t Solve Everything

Foreclosure Defense Strategies for Real Estate Investors

For the Arm Chair Investors – Turnkey Properties

There are many great opportunities across the country to purchase Turnkey Rental Properties with Little Money Down or even with Seller Financing and still produce positive cash flow! Read these articles first before choosing a turnkey real estate investment company.

How To Choose a Turnkey Real Estate Investment Company – This BF&P article was featured in the “How To” section of NuWire Investor

6 Essential Benefits Provided by Turnkey Real Estate Investments

Manage Property Rehab Costs Image via Wikipedia

Quick Tips on How to Minimize and Control the Cost of a Rehab Project

Purchase the general construction materials and supplies for your contractors and have it delivered to the job site.  Instead of having your contractors spend their time looking for material, do it yourself if you can.  It’s amazing how long a simple trip to Home Depot can turn into.

Property Rehab Written Scope of Work

Always put the scope of work in writing with enough detail to avoid conflicts and “misunderstandings” during the rehab of the property.  It’ amazing how crystal clear your vision of the finished product is during the walk  through with the contractor and then how any questions come up in the middle of the rehab.  Questions such as, “Oh, you wanted that wall knocked down?” or “You wanted more than two kitchen cabinets?”.  All of a sudden these things are not included in the contractor’s scope as you had originally thought.  Tight control of the rehab project’s costs is needed to maximize your ROI.

Discounts on Bulk Construction Material Purchases

Work with your Home Depots and Menards pro-departments to figure out how much volume of material needs to be purchased to receive discounts of 5 – 15% in some cases.  Try to figure out how to get them to deliver your material for free to your job site.

Oversight of the Rehab Project

The rehab of your home will not happen efficiently without some kind of oversight of the project and its rehab contractors.  I have a very good partner who runs our construction jobs and without his constant oversight, the lunches tend to get longer, breaks occur more often, cigarette runs happen frequently, and cell phone conversations happen more often. Bottom line: you cannot hand any contractor a pile of money and come back a week later and hope something got done.

Pay Contractors On Time

Pay your rehab contractors on time and as agreed upon.  Most subcontractors prefer cash and that’s fine with me; it keeps the cost down.  The guys working on the job don’t care if your hard money draw didn’t come through or is late because of paperwork not being in order.  You may be able to convince them to work a couple more days like that, but soon after that your job (and materials) will come to a halt.  If you don’t have your own reserve funds to rely on, your planning and project management skills have to be perfect.

Security for Vacant Properties

If the rehab is in a rough part of town, spend the extra money upfront to properly secure the property from vandalism and break-ins.  See our article on Security for Vacant Properties for several options on how to protect your rehab project from bleeding money before renovations are even complete.

Utility Repairs

Call the utility companies, gas, electric, and water, the day after you close on your property in order to minimize the down time at the end of your project.  The rehab of a foreclosed home should take no longer than 21 days.  If the utility companies are running behind you may be stuck waiting for them to come out and not able to finish your homes renovation.  This includes waiting for a power line to be run to the house, a new gas meter may need to be installed, the water line to the house from the st

Finally, start executing the your exit or profit strategy before the property rehab is complete.  If the plan is to cash-out refi after repairs are completed, then start arranging the bank inspection and all necessary paperwork soon after closing on the purchase.  Start marketing property to prospective tenants during the property’s rehab phase.   I don’t believe in the school of thought that says you need to wait until the property looks perfect before showing it; be a salesman.

Related articles:

• 6 Fantastic Tips In Managing Contractors
• How to Find a Contractor to Flip That House
• 4 Great Reasons Why REIs Must Do A Green Rehab
• Estimating Construction Cost – Actual Repair Budget Attached
• Landlord’s Rehab Flooring Guide
• Landlord’s Guide To Exterior Rehab Choices

By having a pool inside your master bedroom you can escape fires in a breeze. All you have to do is jump in the water!

If you have tons of money and have no idea what else to do with it you can add a pool under your wooden floor. It sounds like a tons of hard work, but it can make your house stand out against other houses in this tough real estate market. Need to relax? Just open up the pool.

If you’re not looking for a tradition method for your door; look at this option to create a buzz in your neighborhood. It’s a piece of art.

Investment Property

Increase your Investment Property Rental Income

This pool adds the extra element to any house.  This will guarantee that your rental home will be rented out fast and will provide maximum rental income.  The pool is not only deep, but can go deeper and deeper. With your perplexed mindset within it you can escape reality. Stylistically, it’s very pleasing to the eye and will be asked upon from any guest who visit your place.

If you’re looking for a unique coffee table that no one will have and give style to any home look at the image above. It’s a coffee table made from a v-8 engine that is also able to hold wine several wine bottles. No word on the price for this baby or how it will be possible to make one.