There are countless ways to find very good real estate deals. Just as one example, real estate investment clubs are full of burned-out landlords and property owners in a position where they need to liquidate a property to raise some cash or generate some income. Real estate clubs are also where you find willing investors who understand cooperative lease options and sandwich lease options. But first, what you need to know is…

Cooperative Lease Options are Very Low Risk

Cooperative lease options are a form of flipping lease options. Flipping a lease option means, you don’t have skin in the property. That makes it an outstanding way to begin a full or part-time career in real estate. These deals also go over very well at real estate investment clubs. Not only is your risk super low but the required action that you need to take is also very little. You might need to perform some due diligence but not nearly as much as you would if you were about to become the property owner. You don’t need to pass inspections, nor pass a credit check, nor qualify for a loan, nor pass a loan appraisal.

Cooperative Lease Options Have Almost NO Barriers to Getting Started.

All you need is a reasonable expectation that the property is worth more than you are putting it under contract for. The bigger the difference between the retail value and your contract value, the more you’ll put into your bank account by flipping cooperative lease options. After doing it once, you’ll want to do it again and again. But just as important, a cooperative lease option is the confidence builder that you need to take a bigger and more profitable position in sandwich lease options. This is where you make money on the front end, the rent spread in the middle, and again on the back end.

Cooperative Lease Options and Sandwich Options Take Very Little Time

Starting with cooperative lease options makes a natural progression to sandwich lease options and other investing strategies if you decide another strategy is what you want to explore. Cooperative and sandwich lease options can provide the funding you need to move into other things like rehab flipping, owning and holding as a landlord, investing through foreclosures, closing short sales, etc. Don’t misunderstand; lease options are great all by themselves but these also open your world to many other possibilities. One reason lease options make great transition paths is because so little of your time is required to stay active with lease options while you explore other possibilities.

This is all happening at a time when real estate investing opportunities are blooming as a work from home option during COVID-19.

Lease options are NOT about licenses, down payments, credit scores, or borrowing money. Lease options are about TAKING ACTION. Even if you need to start by going over the course materials, you can have your first cooperative lease or sandwich lease payday in your bank in 29 days or less. It works as a full-time job, a part-time job, a retirement hobby, and can lead to early retirement at age 35, 40, or sooner.

It All Begins with Motivated Sellers

Motivated sellers are people who NEED to sell, not people who want to sell. You will quickly learn how to screen between the two so that you don’t waste your time trying to twist together a low-profit deal. You will come across people who want to sell but don’t need to sell. You will learn how to quickly identify these people so that you mentally say “next” and move onto a deal that works both for you and for the seller.

But you won’t have wasted your time because many of the people that want to sell will call you back up when they need to sell. You will have already explained to them the basics of the sandwich lease option. So do keep a phone list and don’t burn bridges. You may decide to call these people back in 45 or 60 days when their circumstances change. Motivating circumstances include job loss, new job location, property taxes, foreclosure, bankruptcy, new marriage, divorce, retirement, death, need a smaller house, need a larger house, and the list goes on and on.

The more motivated the seller, the better the deal.

It begins by being able to ask people what they are motivated by. The first skill you need to learn is how to distinguish between motivated and unmotivated sellers. You’re only going to TAKE ACTION with motivated sellers, not with unmotivated sellers. The numbers have to work or no deal.

It’s best, but not required when the motivated seller takes the first step to contact you. Your marketing does this by highlighting solutions to their problems. They need you. They will be happy talking to you. They see your solution as a WIN-WIN to their problem!

So, here is where you begin taking action:

1. Cooperative Lease Options.
2. You progress to Investing In Real Estate With Lease Options.
3. Next are advanced strategies for Buying and Selling with Lease Options.
4. Move up with your Wealth Building Arsenal.
5. Add Personalized Coaching.
6. Expand to Get the Deed “Subject To.”
7. Round it all out by Working with Realtors.

By Wendy Patton

For more than 30 years, I’ve used the Sandwich Lease Option System to earn myself and my students millions of dollars. From my experience, I know there is plenty of room and opportunity in the real estate investment market for everyone wanting to participate to find profitable deals. It’s because of that fact and my personal success that I share the Sandwich Lease Option System with others.

If you found this information useful, please visit again soon at wendypatton.com.

For more exclusive content, please subscribe to my RSS Feed and YouTube Channel.

What did you think of this article? Please leave a comment below.

If you are looking for a new or part-time career that you can quickly learn from the comfort of your home and that has a tremendously bright future, becoming a real estate agent belongs at the top of your shortlist. Think about how being an agent is a very good fit with the emerging picture of the “new normal” as the economy reopens. Most economists are predicting a rapid recovery of the economy. They refer to it as the corona sharp “V.” Many are pointing to the speed that businesses and factories have reopened in China and South Korea.

Considering the extremely high demand there was in the home buyer’s market before the virus, we can expect a thundering return of pent up demand soon. The demand from tens of millions of Millennials should be especially strong. There is also a strong market of empty nesters needing to downsize. Overall, the fundamentals of the bullish real estate market haven’t changed since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

I want to support you in becoming a real estate agent as your new career choice. I have owned four real estate offices in three different states. As you consider real estate as a new or part-time career, I’m confident that I can help, AND I’m offering my digital book about becoming a real estate agent for free!

Many More Good Reasons for Becoming a Real Estate Agent

Today, I work through Williams Keller as my broker. One of the key reasons I work with Keller Williams is they have an advanced training program. If you are considering becoming a real estate agent, you will benefit greatly from the online training Keller Williams provides.

Real Estate Agents Have a Flexible Career

Do you want a career that gives you plenty of flexibility and satisfaction? If you do, you should strongly consider a career as a real estate agent. A big benefit is a salary potential exceeding $100,000 per year. Also, you can put a stop to that Monday morning alarm clock getting you up at the crack of dawn! Many realtors don’t begin their workday until late morning or even early afternoon. High salary, flexibility, working for yourself, and working from home are a few of the top blessings of becoming a real estate agent.

Easy to Get Started Becoming a Real Estate Agent

It’s certainly possible to become a licensed agent in as little as a month but that’s not always practical… what is more reasonable is about six weeks. Today, most people take the required training online but it is also available at local real estate schools or through correspondence courses. The important thing is knowing that the courses must be accredited by the state that you will be licensed in. The other general requirements in most states are that agents must be a U.S. citizen, a high school graduate, at least 18 years old, pass a written test administered by the state, and not have a criminal record.

The real estate business can be very profitable. Shortly, you can be earning your way to success. The profit potential, plus a short learning curve, plus being able to complete the training online gives your new career a huge advantage. People who were going to buy or sell 2-3 months ago have merely shifted their timing down the line a little – matching up with when you will have your real estate license.

Six Habits of the Successful Real Estate Agent

As you get started on your new career as a real estate agent, here are the key tips that will bring you fast success:

1. Be passionate about your career. It’s not work when you’re passionate about your career. Top sellers are passionate and enjoy being a real estate agent.
2. Stay in contact with clients. When you get a lead, follow up immediately or the client may move on to another agent. Follow up on phone calls, texts, emails, and faxes at lightning speed.
3. Stay current with technology. You want to be able to take calls and retrieve data from anywhere at any time. While standing in line at Starbucks, the person in front of you might wonder out loud what the asking price for a home across the street is. Having the data at your fingertips makes this person your next client.
4. Be a neighborhood expert. Not only an expert about the houses currently on the market. But you also want to be able to ask a client what they are looking for in a neighborhood and then rattle off three or four matching his or her criteria for schools, public transportation, shopping, etc.
5. Explain everything to everyone. Most clients only buy three or four homes in their lifetime. They don’t fully know how the process works. Explain the process, possible pitfalls, and different scenarios. Keep clients fully informed about purchase or sale negotiations. Successful real estate agents explain everything and assume nothing.
6. Create a great network. Having a great network goes beyond your leads for buyers and sellers. It also includes knowing the best contractors, inspectors, loan offices, and others in the industry.

Those six tips will put you well on your way to a highly successful career as a real estate agent.

Home-Safe-Home is the Mantra of the COVID-19 Pandemic

It’s never been truer than right now that our homes are our castles where we can pull up the drawbridge so our families are safely surrounded by a virtual moat. The coronavirus has shown us how valuable it is having a home to keep us safe. These weeks and months of spending time in our homes have shown us that we can do almost everything from home. Our new reality is eating, sleeping, playing, working, and homeschooling from our castles. The need for safety and security will drive near term changes in the real estate market.

Many buyers will be changing their expectations of what they want in a home. People realize they don’t have to live in congested city centers. They will look for new and less congested places to call home that come with touchless technology, home offices capable of digital work, and even  ‘his and her’ home offices with high definition video conferencing. This will open up an additional new demand beyond the pent-up demand that existed pre-coronavirus.

Becoming a Real Estate Agent Can Lead to Profitable Investing

I took the plunge to becoming a real estate agent after first being an investor. I was successful at real estate investing but always found myself at the mercy of real estate agents when it came to fully accessing the MLS.

I’ll be glad to help you if investing is the area you want to focus on after becoming a real estate agent. Real estate investing is even more flexible with multiple sources of income and more benefits:

• Control properties without the headaches, hassles, and responsibilities of owning them.
• Passive Income from rental properties.
• Appreciation – the increase in real estate’s value over time.
• Rent is closely tied to inflation as well as demand.
• Leverage – make use of leverage, by understanding the power of borrowing to purchase desirable properties with high rental yields and to greatly increase your purchasing power.

You can stay focused on becoming a real estate agent to start earning commissions as soon as possible. But when you are ready, there are also tremendous investing possibilities:

1. Learn the basics: Investing In Real Estate With Lease Options.
2. Next are the details: Buying and Selling with Lease Options.
3. Create your Wealth Building Arsenal.
4. Personalized Coaching.

We’re entering a time when unique solutions will be more appropriate. Fortunately, the right tools for these situations are already available:

1. Cooperative Lease Options.
2. Get the Deed “Subject To.”
3. Working with Realtors.

Taking action towards becoming a real estate agent today will have you ready for what tomorrow brings. I can’t wait to hear about your first deal!

By Wendy Patton

For more than 35 years, I’ve used the Sandwich Lease Option System to earn myself and my students millions of dollars. From my experience, I know there is plenty of room and opportunity in the real estate investment market for everyone wanting to participate to find profitable deals. It’s because of that fact and my personal success that I share the Sandwich Lease Option System with others.

If you found this information useful, please visit again soon at wendypatton.com.

For more exclusive content, please subscribe to my RSS Feed and YouTube Channel.

What did you think of this article? Please leave a comment below.

 

Now is the time to get serious about the sandwich lease option investment method because the real estate market is moving in your favor. Over the next few weeks, I’m going to provide information that you can begin using right away to take the first critical steps to get your business up and running in the shortest time possible. Today, you’re going to learn which properties show the most promise for converting into a successful sandwich lease option deal.

I receive a regular stream of emails from people saying they “missed the boat” during the crash of 2008 and the massive rebound that went on for years. I hope that wasn’t you but the good news is another chance is right at your feet, right now! The real estate market is changing, right in front of your eyes. The COVID-19 virus has changed everything. It has changed our social interactions, it has changed our economy, and it is changing our real estate markets.

If you already know the ins, outs, and details of sandwich lease options, you are ahead of the game. If you are just “getting your feet wet,” this is an incredible time for you because you’ll soon be fully prepared to move quickly in this “new market” – right now!

What Makes Sandwich Lease Options So Attractive

There are many many ways that sandwich lease options can work. And most of these are very different from what other investors are doing. For instance, if 15 investors had a chance to purchase a house for $100,000 that had a full market value of $200,000 today, all 15 investors would jump at the chance. On the other hand, if 15 investors had a chance to buy a house for $200,000 today that has a full market value of $200,000, none of the investors would buy the house because there is no money to be made.

But sandwich lease options offer something very different.

So, let’s look at this from the unique perspective of a sandwich lease option. This is how you put that same full market priced house worth $200,000 under contract today and make a profit on it for the next five years – it doesn’t even matter if it appreciates in value to $240,000 or not. So now, all 15 investors have dropped out of the deal because they don’t know how to make that profit when they take an option to buy at near the full market price today but don’t have to exercise (or decline) the option for several years. You could very well make a lot of money in the appreciating value but regardless, you are making a monthly profit on the deal every month until you exercise or decline the option to purchase. Monthly income and appreciated value are two of the three paydays available even when you take an option at or near full market value.

Why Start Any Sandwich Lease Option Deal?

This is how to get started towards making $5K or $10K in 29 days. The learning curve is short and the rewards are both high and fast. You are also helping sellers who are stressing out about a house that is costing them a ton of money every month when their finances are taking a historic hit. At the same time, you’re helping buyers purchase a home for almost nothing down but who will be in a better financial position to take the title to the house a year or so from now when the economy has again found its firm footing. No doubt now is the time for these WIN-WIN-WIN sandwich lease options.

Sandwich lease options are much less dependent on the selling price of the house than any other investment method. It’s much more dependent on the “Terms” of the deal. Terms build in incredible flexibility when it comes to finding these deals. You are not paying “cash” for the house (and taking out a new mortgage is a form of paying cash). You’re not taking ownership of the house. You’re only taking an option to purchase the house at a certain price in the future. It’s the “Terms” that make or break a great sandwich lease option. That’s why you need to look at these deals with completely open eyes and from a completely different perspective than other investing methods.

The Right Motivated Seller

When it isn’t a cash deal, it also doesn’t require credit. Sandwich lease options are about terms, not cash and not credit. But that part is for you as the winner in the middle.

What you also need is a motivated seller that sees how they will be a winner in the deal. Their motivation comes from having equity in the house. Equity is the key to motivating sellers. It’s possible to do deals when the seller doesn’t have equity but then the seller is much less motivated to finish the deal. When they will walk away with nothing, they don’t want to put in the effort to make the deal happen. When the seller doesn’t have equity in the house, I almost always say, “Next.”

Having equity doesn’t mean the seller is not having financial problems. It could very well be that the seller needs to access the equity to fix their financial problem. A house with a lien against it makes a good example. If the seller has a $1,000 lien against the house but won’t come out of the deal with a nickel or two, there is no way to close the deal (transfer the title) without someone paying off the lien. When the seller has equity in the house, they can solve both the lien problem and get out of a house that they no longer want to own. It doesn’t take much equity but equity is the root motivator for almost every seller.

Equity also creates room for negotiating the terms with the seller. When you start negotiating the deal, you seldom know all of the facts. The seller can initially agree to sell to you at a price you want but they might not mention they are four months behind with the mortgage payments. If they have no equity in the house, being behind with payments means they are actually underwater. Being underwater seriously increases the chances that complications will come up later in the deal. The seller isn’t motivated when problems come up; the deal is less likely to close. The same delinquent payment situation with an owner that has equity opens up room to negotiate terms that work for both you as an investor and them as the struggling seller.

Equity = Motivated Seller.

When there is no equity, learn to say “NEXT.”

Smart and successful people take action now. They take action when the time is right. They don’t wait until the field becomes crowded. They lead from the front instead of bringing up the rear as a follower. You can absolutely have a deal put together in 29 days or less. As soon as you know the ropes, you can have a deal started in a couple of hours simply by finding prospective houses. You can have all three parties (seller, yourself, and tenant/buyer) committed to a win-win-win deal in a week and money changing hands in 29 days. You’ll never succeed with sandwich lease options if you don’t make offers.

You offer to control the property – not to own the property.

1. Learn the basics: Investing In Real Estate With Lease Options.
2. Next are the details: Buying and Selling with Lease Options.
3. Create your Wealth Building Arsenal.
4. Personalized Coaching.

We’re in a time when unique solutions might be more appropriate. Fortunately, the right tools for these situations are already available:

1. Cooperative Lease Options.
2. Get the Deed “Subject To.”
3. Working with Realtors.

I can’t wait to hear about your first deal!

By Wendy Patton

For more than 35 years, I’ve used the Sandwich Lease Option System to earn myself and my students millions of dollars. From my experience, I know there is plenty of room and opportunity in the real estate investment market for everyone wanting to participate to find profitable deals. It’s because of that fact and my personal success that I share the Sandwich Lease Option System with others.

If you found this information useful, please visit again soon at wendypatton.com.

For more exclusive content, please subscribe to my RSS Feed and YouTube Channel.

What did you think of this article? Please leave a comment below.

These are extraordinary times in many ways and that includes how to be a landlord during the coronavirus. First of all, I hope you and your family are healthy. I also want to share my knowledge and expertise as rent payments come due during this difficult time. This is not a time to panic. We do have solutions. We will get through this together.

How to be a Landlord With Perspective

There are three distinct time horizons that we need to be dealing with right now.

1. Short term financial solutions.
2. Mid term financial solutions.
3. Long term financial positive prospects.

Most of this blog deals with short term financial solutions but let’s start with the long term outlook. The general estimate is the economy will return to some version of normal by this fall (or sooner). When it does, the residential real estate market is going to explode. You are going to want to be part of that explosion. As an indicator of what’s in our future, most states have designated new home construction as an “essential service” during these times of stay at home proclamations. Government permitting offices are remaining open or online to support this effort. There is still a housing shortage. The real estate markets will explode as soon as people are back on the streets. You’ll want to be prepared for this and I’ll cover it more in upcoming blogs.

But let’s start with what is important today…

Food and Rents are Top Priorities Right Now

April rents are due for the first time since the coronavirus erupted all across the country. The situation is changing rapidly but at least 34 states have issued some type of moratorium or guidance on evictions. In fact, the CARES Act has a provision for a 120-day moratorium on evictions for federally subsidized housing or a property with a federally backed mortgage loan. This is a time for compassion and working together. Food and rents are priorities for all of us. Solutions are much more important than evictions.

How to be a landlord means you are probably more financially savvy than your tenants are. You need to be working on a plan in case a tenant or two misses a payment. The plan might mean helping tenants figure out their financial priorities. Start with the fact that a moratorium on evictions does not mean rent is not due – because it is. It also helps when tenants understand that if you can’t cover your financial obligations on the property, both you and they will eventually be in jeopardy. Besides paying your lender, you also have to pay property taxes, insurance, utilities, common area expenses, etc.

Rent is only a second priority to putting food on the table. Both renters and landlords should be checking with creditors and utility companies to see if they are offering financial hardship assistance. Tenants need to look at postponing other bills so that the rent gets paid. You don’t want to be mean about it but let them know that you are a small business that depends on the rent payments to keep a roof over their head.

Most importantly, keep communication with tenants open. There are specific subjects you can talk to them about that will help both of you get through the next weeks and months:

1. Take the initiative to start a conversation with your tenants. If they make it clear that they cannot pay the full rent, begin talking about options that both of you can consider.
2. Make sure they understand the full rent is going to be due sooner or later.
3. Ask if they have considered paying the rent with a credit card. You can arrange for this by billing them through a company like PayPal. You might also consider using a property management company that accepts credit cards. Personal bank loans are another option.
4. Ask them to look into rental assistance programs that are offered – both nationally and locally. They can contact the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) or your state or city’s housing agency. They can Google “city/county rental assistance,” to find even more options.
5. If they will be collecting unemployment, the CARES Act intends for unemployment checks to cover their full paycheck. The answer can be changing the days when the rent is due to coincide with unemployment checks. You can be flexible by allowing 2, 3, or 4 payments to equal the full monthly payment and wave late fees.
6. Focus on covering your costs rather than making a profit. Ask your tenant, “How much CAN you pay toward your rent?” Ask them if they have looked at other bills they can defer to pay more towards the rent so that the back payments won’t be too large.
7. Ask if they have a plan to bring the payments current within the next couple of months. Let them know that whatever you agree to is going to need to be added to the lease agreement as an addendum in some form of an Emergency Rent Deferral Plan.
8. An emergency plan might look something like this. The rent owed is $1,500 and they can pay $500 this month. They have deferred $1,000. They plan to have their CARES Act stimulus check in time to pay the rent for May. What you want to do is have a deferral plan that starts making up the missed $1,000 beginning in June. A reasonable strategy is spreading it out over the next 10 months. Beginning in June, they must pay an additional $100 per month to repay the deferred $1,000. The adjusted monthly rent due will be $1,600.

Making decisions without enough thought usually results in bad decisions. The most important thing you can do is create a plan with your tenant and put it in writing. That way, both of you know how you are dealing with this coronavirus issue. Landlords are not trying to make a profit off this economic meltdown. We’re trying to survive just like our tenants are. We care about them. We care about their families. We care about their homes. To do this, the rent still needs to come in.

What Landlords Can Do for Themselves

Maybe you’ll have tenants that don’t want to work with you but I doubt it. If you are using the Sandwich Lease Option, they have a strong financial incentive to stay current with the rent. If they don’t, you’ll eventually have to evict them. Until you resolve issues with any uncooperative tenants, you want to take your own action to keep your business financially viable for the short term. You should have already put off any improvement projects that you had planned as part of the social distancing requirements.

You too should be checking with creditors and utility companies to see if they are offering financial hardship assistance. This can apply to your personal residence along with any utilities that you cover for tenants. A few insurance companies have already announced they will defer a couple of premium payments without penalties or late fees. Some localities have announced postponing when property taxes are due. In all cases, you should make sure you have things in writing.

You want to talk to your creditors also. If you are in a sandwich lease option, you can talk to the seller. Between the tenant, seller, and yourself, you all can share the financial burden.

If you have a mortgage on a property, you want to be talking to your lender the same way your tenants are talking with you. Many lenders have implemented special waivers due to COVID-19. Your lender may also offer hardship programs that aren’t getting media attention. For right now, don’t worry about May and June. Things are changing so fast that new answers are certain to be available by then.

Be optimistic about the strong rebound coming in late summer or fall. You’re going to want to jump in big time after this passes because real estate investing will be back stronger than ever.

1. Learn the basics: Investing In Real Estate With Lease Options.
2. Next are the details: Buying and Selling With Lease Options.
3. Create your Wealth Building Arsenal.
4. Personalized Coaching.
5. Cooperative Lease Options.
6. Get the Deed “Subject To.”
7. Working with Realtors.

What matters today is that you take action to be ready for tomorrow.

By Wendy Patton

For more than 35 years, I’ve used the Sandwich Lease Option System to earn myself and my students millions of dollars. From my experience, I know there is plenty of room and opportunity in the real estate investment market for everyone wanting to participate to find profitable deals. It’s because of that fact and my personal success that I share the Sandwich Lease Option System with others.

If you found this information useful, please visit again soon at wendypatton.com.

For more exclusive content, please subscribe to my RSS Feed and YouTube Channel.

What did you think of this article? Please leave a comment below.