You can't build a successful, long term real estate investing business without the help of realtors (real estate agents).

The challenge is that many realtors have little real estate investing knowledge. What's worse, even though every real estate agent will work for your money, few are willing go that extra mile to really help you grow your real estate investing business. But there are three simple secrets to getting a great real estate agent really working for you:

1) Use a top “Sales” agent with a proven track record to sell your investment property. Don't take on a "listing" agent.
A real estate agent can help you with real estate investing by advertising, marketing, finding buyers for your real estate, and doing virtually all of the paperwork. To make this process work for you, be upfront with your realtor about your real estate investing goals. And only use a proven realtor with real estate investing experience.

2) Position a Realtor as a Buyer’s Representative
Have another real estate agent act as your “Buyer's Agent” to find property on your behalf. Be sure you outline the sorts of properties you are looking for, then your real estate agent will contact you when they find this type of property. This saves you time and allows you to focus on the business of real estate investing rather than on property-hunting.

3) “Pocket” Listings.
A real estate agent can explode your real estate investing business profits by turning you onto investment opportunities before they go public. Before properties are listed on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), your realtor can alert you a juicy real estate deal from a motivated seller when it becomes available! This is perhaps the most profitable reason why you should build great relationship with real estate agents. All the best!

Hiring a real estate attorney is one of the most significant decisions to consider when getting started with real estate investments. The right attorney would keep you on track and would reduce your liability in your real estate investments. Do not start investing in real estate market until your paper work is state-specific. It is as well significant of keeping knowledge about the latest court decisions regarding real estate.

Once you select two or three real estate investment attorney from a list you could get from www.law.com, if you are hiring a real estate attorney remember he should be a winner, or at least won the majority of the time.

Questions to ask a potential Attorney?

What experience do you have in real estate investing?
First you need to ask him, what is the knowledge he have in the real estate investing? The attorney needs to be open to and understand real estate market and creative real estate investing. This is very significant in making your actual final decision in real estate investment. The real estate attorney needs to be attentive to your requirements; he should let you discuss your method of investing then responds in a forthright manner.

How much of your perform is in real estate?
Depending on your market size it must be at least 40% to 60%. In smaller markets there will be less want for an attorney to dedicate all their practice to real estate. Five years of real estate law experience will be the minimum satisfactory.

Do you have other real estate investors as clients?
If so, ask if you could contact them for further references.

What are your fees?
The size of the law firm is not a significant factor except larger firms regularly charge even more as of their slide and are not as accessible to you as a smaller firm. The price the attorney charges are not as significant as how well he works for you, with you and gets your job done. The old saying you get what you pay for applies here.

Short sale real estate investing is defined as purchasing a property from a lender for less than the balance owed on the mortgage. Many books and courses have been written about it, but can short sale real estate investing be simplified? It can!

There really are only two types of short sale real estate investing. First, when you purchase a property that a lender has foreclosed on and listed with a Realtor, you can offer less than the balance that was due on the foreclosure. This type of short sale real estate investing requires that you have a good relationship with the right Realtor.

Look for the Realty office in your town that handles the majority of foreclosures, and look for the agent in that office who works with investors and short sale real estate investing. When you find that agent, you’ll want to impress upon them that you intend to follow through on all your offers. Then, do exactly what you say you will. That’s your ticket to the short sale real estate investing gravy train!

The second type of short sale real estate investing involves you negotiating directly with a motivated seller’s lender. You’ll need to be determined in your negotiating, first of all to reach the right person at the lender’s REO (Real Estate Owned) department, and then to get the price you want.

Stick with it, and take lots of notes. Once you’ve worked with a few lenders that allow short sale real estate investing, you’ll have the tactics you need to enjoy on-going success.

Are you interested in learning more about the real estate market? If you are, you may want to think about taking a real estate program or class. Real estate programs are available in classroom-like settings, as well as online. What is nice about real estate programs is that they are designed for a wide variety of different individuals; individuals with different goals. A few of the most common real estate programs available are touched on below.

One of the most common types of program available are for those who are interested in becoming real estate agents. If you are looking for a career change, you may be interested in becoming a real estate agent. Real estate agents help homeowners sell their homes and they also help prospective home buyers find and buy the homes of their dreams. Most real estate programs, which have a focus on becoming a real estate agent, also test and certify their students. If you are looking to become a real estate agent, a real estate program, particularly one that has a focus on making a living as a real estate agent, may be perfect for you.

Another common type of real estate program available are those that are designed for home buyers. Buying a home can sometimes be a long, complicated, and frustrating task. Many first time home buyers are unsure as to what they should be looking for in a new home. If you are one of those individuals, you may want to think about taking a real estate program that aims to educate students on what to look for in a new home.

There are also real estate programs that are designed for those who are looking to sell their own homes. Many home sellers turn to real estate agents for assistance, but not all do. If you would like to sell your own home, that is fine, but you need to know what you are doing. A real estate program that aims to educate homeowners on how to sell their own homes often offer tips on marketing, as well as information on how to deal with prospective buyers.

Another type of real estate program available is for those who are interested in making a living a real estate investor. Real estate investors are those who buy real estate properties and then either rent them out or resell them to make a profit. Although real estate investing is a great way to make money, it can be a tricky business. That is why real estate programs, with a focus on real estate investing, have increased in popularity. Real estate programs, with a focus on investing, often teach students how to make money as real estate investors by outlining some techniques that work, as well as ones that don’t work.

As outlined above, there are a number of different real estate programs that you can take; programs that can fit your needs. In short, whether you are looking for a real estate program that will teach you how to properly buy a home, properly sell a home, make a living as a real estate agent, or make a living as a real estate investor, there should be a real estate program out there that is perfect for you.

Just last month, December 2007, almost 2,000 homes were sold in Tampa Bay area averaging at $197,000, this was a decline from over 3,000 homes sold the same time in 2006 and indicates a 38% decrease as well as a 6% decline in the average price. Tampa Bay real estate buyers were spoiled for choice with 41, 602 homes available on the market and only 5% of these homes sold in December translating into a inventory of 21 months!

If you take a look at listings for Waterfront area, you'll find a ½ acre lot on the Hillsborough River listed at around $400,000. Consider that when realty was hot in the area, the same plot could have easily attracted $550,000 to $600,000 and you have a great opportunity here because we all know that there aren't going to be any new waterfront lots in Tampa Bay area. Adding fuel to the fire is the announcement that The City Of Tampa is going to get a reshaped waterfront providing access to everyone in the form of Tampa Riverwalk, which will be a long pedestrian walkway connecting Channelside to Tampa Heights.

Could be a better time to be a buyer? From water front lots to condos in Hyde Park and Channelside, you can pick the home or plot you want and negotiate further from the already aggressively priced offers. There is no better time to realize your American Dream than now. If you are a Baby Boomer or seeking to make an investment for your retirement, consider doing it NOW! Buy low and sell at a high price (if you want to).

When you do a title search basically what you are looking for is Marketable Title. Marketable title is really the absence of liens and clouds, the absence of IRS liens, and the absence of missing links in the chain of title.

Missing links in the chain of title could be for example when the original a person owned a property for 40 years and then passed away and his kids started paying the taxes and eventually they want to sell the property. Well if there was no probate or no will or anything like that, then there is no indication of who should receive this property. It might be that the deceased's will was to give it to his church. It might be that he mentioned to somebody, "You know what, when I die you'll get this property," and this person might even have a witness. Nobody can prove anything and the only solution here is to have the heirs go through a probate procedure to clear the title. For that you or they will most likely need to hire an attorney and it will take a few months.

If you invest in such a property through a Tax Lien Sale, or buy the actual property at a Tax Deed Sale you don't have to worry about that, on the contrary, if you find information prior to the auction that shows such an issue existing it is a Sign indicating to you that is property is more likely to go all the way to tax Lien foreclosure or all the way to the Tax Deed sale. If your investment strategy is to get the actual property, then that is a property you WANT to focus on.

Now just as a side note. Even if you buy Tax Delinquent Properties directly from the long time owners, some of my best deals came from situations like that. I bought a property in Florida where I paid for the Probate procedures having a written, legally binding commitment from the heirs to sell that property to me for around $350.00 after the probate was through. The probate cost me $2500.00 for a total cost of purchase of $2,850.00. Days later I sold the property for just under $30,000.00 CASH.

Probate issues do come up in the Tax Delinquent Property arena, but it's usually quite easy to fix them. Most sellers were smart enough to buy a piece of land or a property or a house and take title as what is called joint tenants with right of survivorship. It means very simply that if there are two people on the deed and one of them passes away, the other one automatically owns 100% of the property. All that is needed to get the deceased party off title is to record a death certificate. But if a death certificate is not recorded, then the county does not know that that person has passed away, so therefore if the widow now wants to sell this piece of property, then there's a cloud on title. If you buy it from her, you're not going to have a clear title to sell until her spouse's death certificate is recorded.

The Water Oak Estates subdivision of the City of Lewisville, Texas was developed in the 1990's and remains one of the most desirable places to live in the area.

All phases of this subdivision are filled with very attractive homes, and excellently maintained lawns and landscapes.

With the convenience of the completed expansion of FM 3040, it is easy to see why this remains one of the "hottest" neighborhoods around! In 2007, while all the popular media hype was going on about how bad the real estate market was, the homes that sold in Water Oak Estates were on the market for an average of just 34 days (from listing date to closing date). That is remarkable, regardless of the market. Not only that, but the homes in this subdivision sold for an average of 98% of the list price.

The convenient location plays a significant role, and this subdivision is filled with very attractive and stylish homes at an affordable price, especially when compared to neighboring Flower Mound, Highland Village, and Coppell.

With interest rates as they are (and continuing to fall), this is really a great time to buy a home. There are some great ones currently available in Water Oak Estates, but be forewarned: they probably won't stay on the market long!

For those who are currently renting/leasing, the three main factors that you need to take into consideration when deciding to buy or rent are monthly expenses, rate of the property's appreciation, and length of term that you plan on staying in that home.

First, realistically choose an option that you could rent, and an option that you could buy. Then, sit down and list the expenses you will have for renting. Do the same for buying so that you can compare them objectively.

Next, find the appreciation rate of your desired home to try and determine what the home's value will be in the future. This will help you see how your money is truly being invested.

And the last major factor that only you can determine is how long you plan on staying in that residence. Six months? Six years? 40 years? The longer you desire to hold a home, the less appreciation you need in order to beat renting.