What? You are still stuck trying to tie home buyers with home sellers, or land owners to land buyers? Shame, shame! You are missing out on one of the biggest booming real estate investments in this century, possibly in our lifetimes!

Green Real Estate Investments! That’s where the next generations of people are going to go! What exactly do I mean?

We all know how the housing market works. We all know how traditional Real Estate buying and selling works. But, what if whole communities, like a sub-division of sorts were sold all at once, Green Communities? How would you fare as a Real Estate Agent? Say, if you could show a Land Owner a way that he or she could make a permanent monthly income from the lease of their land and you could show a way that home Owner’s could own their own home in less than ten years–what do you think the potential would be?

There’s a growing trend out there–one that involves renewable energy. Being self sufficient, being independent, being financially free.

Remember the way a house was sold fifty years ago? Well, probably not, heck I don’t even remember it, but I do remember the tailing sales pitch that continued on in the 70′s, 80′s, and even 90′s before the big housing boom and bust. Remember it went something like this, “Buy your home, because renting is a waste of money!”, “Buy your home, it’s the quickest way to financial freedom, owning your own home gives you freedom!” Slogans along those lines, remember? Well, the reality of these slogans coming true for the average Home Owner was slim to zero. First of all MOST first time Home Owner’s were talked into 30 year loans, first mistake they made and the Real Estate Agencies made. The Bank’s fared great with this concept for many years (approximately 30+ years), well they fared well until the housing bust, massive foreclosures occurred. This should be a WAKE UP CALL to everyone in the housing, real estate and banking industry. The BIG QUESTION everyone of these people should be asking themselves is “Why?”. Why did this happen? If WE can answer that question then we can avoid the same mistakes in years to come right?

That’s exactly what many Home Owner’s asked themselves as they filed bankruptcy and went into foreclosure. They asked, “WHY?”.

You know it use to be that when someone went into foreclosure it was because they had fallen onto hard times, lost the bread winner of the family, or were just plain lazy. It was not very socially acceptable to lose a house. In-fact, it was down-right embarrassing!

But, nowadays–people feel sorry and try to help those that are experiencing such an awful thing–things are changing in our society. People are beginning to look for a more solid way of owning a home, being able to raise their families safely, in a healthy environment, where they can be a part of raising their children instead of a Day Care center or babysitter. People want more room to breath and be themselves, they are getting sick of the rat race type of living. Get up, go to work, go home, live for a few hours, go to bed, get up, go to work, and back around to the same old thing, over and over, and over again! At the end of the tread-mill what do they end up with? Paying taxes, insurance and really NOT owning anything because they still have a mortgage on their home, their vehicle’s are getting older and they have to run faster to try and keep up with the depreciation of everything they own. Lessons of our not to distant past have been learned by some, and should be learned by EVERYONE!

The past way of developing Real Estate has slipped, and is NOT as solid as it use to be! We should listen to our past to avoid the same mistakes in our future.

Now, for the first time in history, Real Estate is making a full circle. What I mean by that statement is Real Estate Investing is going back to the way it use to be when George Washington was alive, it wasn’t simply an investment, it was a means of living and raising a family. Look all around you, what do you see? Doesn’t matter where you live at you will find land owned by someone that is just sitting there–collecting dust so to speak. They are doing nothing with it–sure some of this land may be in CRP or other Government programs, and it’s there for a good reason–the Land Owner’s don’t want to just pay taxes on the land without getting something back, and with lack of knowing what else to do with the property they put it into these programs. Well, guess what, with the information in this article YOU as a Real Estate Agent, or Land Owner, or Home Buyer will be armed with another way that a Land Owner, Home Buyer or Real Estate Agency can produce and income and/or own a home in less than ten years!

Imagine, if you will, back when George Washington built his home. Did he build it all by himself? Probably not, he had help from other people that were going to live on his land and in turn he helped them build their homes also and they would work on his ‘plantation’ as they called, a ‘farm or ranch’ now as it is called, and some places back East and in the South still call their parcels of land ‘plantations’, but the point being here, the people who were going to live in these homes–they were an instrumental part in developing and building the homes. They took raw material and THEY built them. They didn’t hire a Construction Company to do this–they did the work.

If you are a Land Owner, you can be your own General Contractor. And, if you are a prospective Home Owner, YOU can be your own General Contractor and YOU can be very instrumental in building your own home for way cheaper than if you hired everything out. Did you know that a General Contractor tacks on anywhere from 10 to 40% onto the actual cost of building a home? Most people don’t have a clue. So, being a General of your own project will save you thousands of dollars right off the bat! Now, the City and County Inspectors will want everything from blueprints to sub-Contractor’s names and license numbers, like the Plumber, the Electrician, the Concrete Company, etc. But, what-if you had a group of people that built these homes at cost and they were Plumber’s, Electrician’s, and Concrete men/women? What-if they were going to live on this land? What-if they simply helped each other out–at NO COST? They did it to cut the cost of the home down and to be able to pay it off in a shorter amount of time? Now, what-if this group of people went even further than that? What-if, they took their talents, knowledge, crafts, and hobbies to the outside world and sold them at whatever people would pay? What-if the Land Owner agreed to these activities on his land for a piece of the action? A land lease? Now, you are probably starting to see a bigger picture–one that can and will change the way Real Estate, Home Buyer’s and Land Owner’s do business together.

It’s a better fit, with less risks from every party involved. Why, with the rising taxes (to pay for the none-ending bail-outs that occurred and will continue), the rising costs of labor due to rising taxes and rising insurance cost, thus causing the cost of building a house to go up, this idea that is growing is very appealing to ALL involved, don’t you think?

The time in history has come when major shifts in the way people live their lives will change the way people buy homes, cars, food, clothing, the necessities. Green Living is here, here to stay and it comes in many different forms–this is just one form–Green Real Estate Buying and Selling!

If you are thinking about thinking about buying a Puerto Vallarta Condo, and making the unique combination of traditional charm, beautiful beachfront and modern comfort of this city your new home, you probably have an idea of what you want your lifestyle to be like. But now begins the work – how to search for that right property.

A good place to start is by getting to know what Puerto Vallarta offers. There are many neighborhoods, both established areas that have been favorites for a few decades now, since the time when Puerto Vallarta was first discovered by the American expat community, and their are newer communities offering a slightly different take on this city’s unique lifestyle.

One community which offers a good choice of Puerto Vallarta luxury condos is Amapas, which is located on the hillside, only a short walk from downtown. This community is becoming one of the top favorites for Americans and Canadians currently buying properties. Also a short walk from downtown are the up-and-coming communities of Alta Vista and 5 de Deciembre. In both of these communities new condos with beautiful town and bay views are available starting at very accessible prices, sometimes less than $200,000. Other options include a fixer-upper home; while these can be bought for slightly more than the starting price for a condo, after a renovation, the home could be worth closer to $500,000.

Further away from downtown, about a 30 minute drive, Nuevo Vallarta is already popular for condos in the golf course communities, starting around $250,000. Vallarta beachfront condos in this area start around $450,000. Besides the championship golf course, there is also a shopping mall. Nearby in Marina Vallarta there are many more shopping options.

During the housing boom, mortgage lenders were allowing just about anyone to buy a house or refinance their existing house. We have seen the result of such liberal lending practices in the form of the largest foreclosure crisis in history. Many real estate investors take a careless approach in times like these; buying houses anywhere, certain that appreciation is right around the corner to make them instant millionaires. Before you go on a buying binge, you’ll want to note some sobering indicators of what the market is actually doing as of April 2010: One in 14 mortgages (3.5 million) are at least 90 days delinquent as homeowners have realized that banks are more willing to reclaim their homes than modify their loans. These homeowners are literally walking away from their homes, and their mortgages, as two million of these mortgaged homes are over 180 days delinquent. If you thought that the real estate market was on the brink of improvement, think again. The delinquency rate of mortgaged homes is 65% greater now than just a year ago.

These numbers are a telling reminder that prospective homeowners and active investors will need to hold on for several years before the market cleanses itself, causing prices to rise again. Current foreclosures will take years to work through the system and hit the market. Banks are overloaded with inventory and we have already seen evidence of banks “price fixing” by intentionally withholding foreclosures from the marketplace in an attempt to rake in top dollar for home inventories. Current foreclosure victims of the recent past will have marred credit; keeping them from buying a new house for several years. Their inability to buy, among various other factors such as high unemployment, tightening of credit guidelines and lower wages to working families will continue to defer home value appreciation. Real estate prices are low and will continue to stay that way for several years; but this doesn’t mean homeowners and investors should stay away from the real estate market altogether. It just means that they need make calculated decisions when buying a home so that the coming wave appreciation will exponentially enhance their wealth. One such decision is picking where to buy a house.

Urban areas/inner cities

Lifelong renters, many of which receive government housing subsidies like Section 8 or FIA, make up a large portion of inner city populations. It’s important to note that the sub-prime meltdown began in large cities as mass amounts of liberal credit was given to people who would normally be renters. Credit was also extended to investors who personally bought dozens of homes and walked away from them as the market began to digest itself. We see evidence of the foreclosure crisis in the form of boarded up homes, high unemployment rates and crime.

If your plan is to purchase homes to flip in inner city areas, there are several obstacles standing in your way. For starters, credit guidelines to potential buyers are next to impossible to overcome right now. How can you flip a house if potential buyers can’t get a mortgage? Secondly, even if you have a qualified buyer in hand who wants to buy your home, chances are the appraisal will come in much lower than expected, killing your deal. Lenders will make up any excuse to not lend in areas with a high “F-score”, which is lender terminology for the percentage of foreclosures in any given area. Another problem for urban investors is that qualified inner city home buyers are now migrating to the suburbs versus staying in high crime areas like inner cities. This increases the amount of vacant homes on any given urban block; and vacant homes breed crime. An investor’s inner city rehab project may very well be broken into multiple times during the renovation process. Thieves love new hot water tanks, furnaces, carpeting and kitchen cabinets; I know this from experience.

Even buying in urban areas or inner cities right now for rental cash flow is an oxymoron. People are coming from all over the world to buy houses in cities like Detroit, Indianapolis and Cleveland for under $2,000 knowing that these houses will easily cash flow; or so they think. Where is a landlord’s cash flow going to come from with unemployment so high? Also, houses that sell for the price of a mountain bike are usually in horrifying areas; the numbers look great on paper, but reality is different. Investors who believe government subsidized tenants are the way to go should note that many of these potential tenants are leaving inner cities for the safer suburbs. On the other hand, many permanent inner city renters live like nomadic animals and literally trash a landlord’s house before moving on to their next unsuspecting victim. Good luck suing tenants like this for damages; many low income inner city tenants aren’t collectible because they don’t work.

With appreciation years away, stay away from inner cities unless you plan to wholesale houses to cash investors who don’t pay attention to the above risk factors. Be a middleman in the inner cities without owning anything. Continually market to find desperate sellers and hungry buyers, then link the two together for commissions you set per deal. Banks hate lending in inner cities right now, therefore seller financing reigns supreme on homes with nothing owed. Only practice seller financing if you have experience as a real estate investor or you truly understand the process with legal counsel handy. Some investors are buying houses dirt cheap and setting seller financing terms of $500 down, with a $500 mortgage payment per month, and buyer makes all repairs. Contrarily, street-smart landlords who have years of investing experience can survive via tenants with subsidized housing vouchers and time tested skills. New investors should stay away from owning anything inside inner cities at all costs until times get better.

Suburbs

The foreclosure crisis will continue to unfold in the suburbs as banks continue to be reluctant to modify homeowner’s loans. Frustrated homeowners are simply walking away, knowing their personal efforts to save their houses are futile. This is spelling out “opportunity” for some wise investors who are buying properties at county courthouses while the delinquent homeowners are still living in them. Once an investor makes the purchase for a price far below what the homeowner owes the bank, the investor then contacts the homeowner and explains that he is the new owner of their home. Terms are reached and monthly payments are set in these “lease to own” transactions. In time, the homeowner can opt to purchase the house back from the investor for prices up to 40% below their former outstanding loan balances. This strategy not only saves the mortgagee’s home, but also saves their credit. Investors who are practicing this strategy are forming partnerships, money pools or already have cash/credit lines to make these acquisitions.

Investors need to be aware that banks are intentionally withholding foreclosures from the marketplace, creating a fake supply/demand curve. One of the nation’s top REO agents reported to us that homes listed for just a day sometimes receive more than 20 offers; while millions of other homes sit on various bank’s books. One reputable insider explained that banks are expected to start releasing these homes in August 2010, which will drive suburban home values down further. This doesn’t mean to avoid buying in the suburbs; it just means to be very careful. Only settle for the best deal, just in case a flood of foreclosed homes hits the market, driving prices lower.

Though buyers will have to pay more for a house in the suburbs versus the inner cities, finding good tenants is hardly a problem. Many suburban tenants are past foreclosure victims who are killing time until they can become buyers again. Others are government housing subsidized tenants escaping the inner city. No matter the case, buying to hold in suburbia seems to be safe; but with appreciation years away, landlords are going to have to be patient and select only the best long term tenants.

Young, new home buyers are fueling real estate and they all want a good deal in the suburbs. If you can purchase really low as compared to other homes in the neighborhood, rehab the home to standards much higher than other listed homes, and price them better than other homes in the area, you can do well. Several talented investors are staging homes with furniture and even throwing in items like TV’s, or in some cases new appliances to entice buyers. Even though the suburbs allow for rehab flips as an exit strategy, many neighborhoods have sellers trying to short sell their homes. This creates price competition for investors looking to sell for profit. Watch the numbers on every deal you do and be aware of what other sellers are trying to do in the areas you invest in.