Come Read Jack's New Blog

This will be my last post at this blog.
Come visit me at my new blog: http://jackbergstrom.com

Blogger was a great place to start and I will continue to grow my knowledge of blogging on that platform, but for me, WordPress and hosting my own blog on my own domain was the way to go.

All 4 of the Blogs that I formerly updated on Blogger will be represented on my own site now, as well as lots of new information on new topics.

What a hoot! Come visit me!

See you there,

Jack

It Takes Smarter Work Now

Wow! Everyday there is more news about formerly hot Real Estate markets around the country imploding. Miami, San Diego, Las Vegas...these markets are rapidly approaching or exceeding the foreclosure rate in Colorado. What does that mean for the Boulder County Real Estate market in Colorado? Even more downward pressure on prices! And what does that mean? You and your Realtor have got to work smarter now than almost any time that I have seen in Colorado, and I have been involved in Real Estate now since July of 1978.

Do you need to sell a home and move? You and your Realtor have got to be very smart in how you market a property in this market, if you care about getting the best possible price and perhaps even getting it sold!

Do you need to buy a home? You and your Realtor have got to be very smart in buying, or deciding if you even should buy...so that you can sell again if you must!

More next time...Jack

The Top 50 Buyer Agent Realtors

So what is a great way for your Realtor to sell your house? How about marketing directly to the top Realtors that represent buyers in Boulder County? There are over 1000 Realtors here in Boulder County trying to sell Real Estate. The average Realtor in Boulder County will be involved in just around 3 transactions in an average year. The MLS will be the only functional way to reach these "Low Volume" Realtors and that is fine. One of them might actually bring a buyer that will purchase your home. Let's look at a more effective technique.

A really effective way to market your home, with the efforts of your Realtor, is to focus on directly marketing to the top 50 Realtors in Boulder County, that represent buyers. These 50 will account for nearly 80% of all the buyer transactions and if you focus your marketing efforts here, it can be extremely effective.

More about this next time...Jack

Real Estate Investment Clubs

Do you dream of being a Real Estate investor in Boulder, Colorado? You can and it is a great goal. What is a wonderful way of starting on this path? Joining or creating a great Real Estate Investment Club.

A typical club will meet 2 to 4 times monthly and will do lots of things for you: 1) Provide you with regular Real Estate Investment training 2) Let you network with other Real Estate Investors 3) Connect you with potential Real Estate Investment partners 4) Provide you with a great source for quality contractors and repair people and most importantly 5) Keep you motivated.

Where do you find these clubs? I would start with Craigslist online.

Bye for now...Jack

How Realtors Sell Your Home

I have been involved in the Real Estate business for nearly 30 years. This is how the vast majority of Realtors will market your property. "The Three Ps". So what are the Three Ps? Put up a sign, put it in the MLS and Pray. In a hot market, this system will work just fine. In the market that we currently face in Colorado, it may or may not work. I am always wary of any system for selling that depends heavily upon divine intervention. There are other techniques and we will talk about them.

Bye for now...Jack

Rent or Buy?

I have talked myself out of at least 6 deals in the past 18 months here in Colorado. Why? Because it was the right thing to do. In a declining market, which condos surely have been in much of Boulder County, it doesn't make sense to buy a condo...at least it doesn't make sense for lots of people.

If they aren't planning on staying for a least a few years, these days I would say 4 to 5 years or longer, they might easily find themselves needing to bring money to the closing table just to walk away from their condo. Does this sound terrible? It should and it is the reason that Colorado spent so many months as the foreclosure capitol of America. More Realtors should have spent more time talking people out of buying.

Bye for now...Jack

Should You Become a Realtor?

Do I think you should become a Realtor? For investment purposes yes, I think that is worth the effort. Just by paying yourself the commission on the buy side and avoiding the MLS split, you can get nearly a 6% increase in your initial and final equity position in a property. So yes, for investment purposes, this is worthwhile.

Will you be an expert in Real Estate because you took a 6 week course and passed the test to become a broker associate? No, you won't. You will know just enough to be dangerous to yourself, but that is okay. Don't actually do anything without talking to your Managing Broker, which you will need to find for at least 2 years anyhow.

More later about becoming a Realtor for investment purposes...it is certainly initially why I became a Realtor.

Bye for now...Jack

Touring FSBOs

For me, as a Realtor, I must disclose as soon as I enter a FSBO that I am a Realtor. This usually makes them nervous, they have obviously initially decided that they would rather not work with a Realtor. I have no problem at all with that. I am never looking to list a FSBO property, although I do get asked, I am looking for value and I am looking for information for my buyers.

You, faithful readers, are probably not a Realtor. However, you are looking for value. You should be touring the neighborhoods each and every weekend looking for FSBO signs and going in to see what is up. Tour the place, get the information sheet from the homeowner, make your notes, ask the price and then go home and research. This is the only way to get good at estimating value, by doing it.

Your main research tools are: your experience in looking at lots of homes, the Internet...specifically www.coloproperty.com in the Boulder Colorado market and the Sunday paper. With just these you can learn to estimate value and recognize when a FSBO is overpriced, most are, and when they are fairly priced and most importantly, when they are undervalued...and some will be.

Till next time...Jack

Northern Colorado Property MLS

Superior knowledge usually wins. If you want to make money from working with FSBO properties, that money is there for the making. You just need to know more than they do, and the best place to start for Boulder Colorado properties and then North to the Wyoming border is: http://www.coloproperty.com/

This site is updated every day, is the same information that the Realtors work from and is easy to use and is searchable. Look at this site and master it. It is free to you and will allow you to rapidly become very familiar with what properties are worth in your target neighborhoods.

Till next time...Jack

Superior Knowledge Usually Wins

FSBO. For Sale By Owner. You are going to take advantage of FSBOs. It is as simple as that. You are going to know more than they do and you are going to use that superior knowledge to make money when you purchase from someone going FSBO.

A little history of FSBOs in the United States.
80% of the properties for sale FSBO will eventually list with a Realtor and be finally sold that way.
10% of the properties for sale FSBO will net as much or more than they would have working with a Realtor and paying a Real Estate Commission.
10% of the properties for sale FSBO will net less or even significantly less than they would have working with a Realtor and paying a Real Estate Commission.

These percentages have varied only a little in the 29 years, as of 2007, that I have been involved in this business.

Here is how I describe these percentages:
80% eventually got smart and did what they should have done in the first place.
10% got lucky or used to be Realtors.
10% just gave away money that could have been theirs....this is your target market for making money from FSBOs.

Till next time...Jack

For Sale by Owner

Most of the Real Estate Guru programs talk, at least in part, about buying property FSBO. This works in Colorado and we will talk about why in the next few sessions.

I am going to be talking about For Sale by Owner Real Estate or FSBO as we Real Estate people call this part of the market. I am going to be looking at this from the standpoint of you, an investor, dealing with FSBO property owners to buy their property. I am not going to be talking at this time about selling your own property FSBO. This is almost always a mistake and this is why it is a great place to look for investment property.

I am going to be talking about FSBO Real Estate with a complete focus on Boulder County in Colorado. In a hot market, which Boulder isn't and hasn't been since 2001, different rules apply. But the rules that I am going to discuss are working here and now in Boulder County.

So, with that out of the way, how do you start to deal with FSBOs? Well, you start by becoming educated about the "true" value of properties in the areas that you are interested in. You need to know the "true" value because the people that you are dealing with, the owners of the property being sold FSBO almost never know what their property is really worth. Since you will almost certainly not be dealing with a Realtor when you are looking to buy a property being sold FSBO, you will need to pick up this market "true" value information yourself.

We will talk about beginning that process next time...Jack

Late Night Television Real Estate

Since I have a 4 year old daughter, I am seldom awake late at night anymore. Her bedtime tends to become mine and she needs less sleep than I do! Anyhow, in my many years of bachelorhood, I would commonly be up late at night and sometimes the television would be on and yet another "Real Estate Guru" would be selling his or sometimes her "Foolproof Become a Real Estate Millionaire Overnight in Your Part Time While Having a Blast Doing It and With Absolutely No Money Down" system.

If you have ever watched late night TV, I know you have seen these. You may have bought the products, you may have attended the seminars, you may have even bought a house or two with no money down. Great. I will be discussing many of the philosophies and beliefs that are presented by these "Real Estate Gurus" in the next few weeks. The good news is, some of this things actually work in the Boulder Colorado Real Estate market! (And lots of them don't!)

I have been been involved in Real Estate for 29 years now! (Wowsers! That was even a little scary to write!) Real Estate has been great to me and it can be great for you too. But don't expect it to be easy, although it may be simple, and don't expect it to be overnight. For those easy and overnight opportunities they sell tickets. I believe they are called "Lottery Tickets".

Till next time...Jack

Taxes and Real Estate Ownership

I was involved in my first Real Estate transaction in 1978. Since that time I have been involved in Real Estate in Colorado, northern and southern California, Chicago Illinois, north and south Carolina, Iowa, Florida, Oregon and internationally in Vancouver, British Columbia and Italy. Today, I focus strictly on Real Estate transactions in Boulder County, Colorado. I know the Boulder, Louisville, Niwot, Lafayette and Erie markets intimately and I choose to focus my energies here.

So what does that have to do with Taxes? Well, I just finished working on mine for another year and that explains why I haven't updated my blogs for a few days and also why we are so blessed in the United States with our Real Estate laws. We are one of the very few countries where you can deduct the interest from your home loan and what a boon this is! Every year at this time, I am reminded about the wonderful investment and tax sheltering opportunities that we have here and I am grateful. How about you?

Till next time...Jack

More Blogs from Jack

I write more than 1 blog. This makes sense since I have more than 1 business and like to learn and write about each of them. You can access my business consulting blog here. This is the site where I help small business owners and the employees of small businesses achieve more and have more fun while doing it. This is another of my passions and blends nicely with Real Estate...more about that later. Till next time...Jack

The Beginning

I bought my first house in Boulder Colorado while I was still in college. This was back in 1978 and my economics professor was telling us about the slow growth laws that had passed in Boulder County that he felt were certain to cause significant increases in home prices.

I thought about it for awhile, I was living in the dorms and I liked the dorms, but I thought I might enjoy owning a home as well. So I looked around, figured out the math and called my father to borrow $10,000 for the downpayment.

"Son, how much is that house gonna cost?"

"Well dad, it has 4 bedrooms, and 2 full bathrooms and an attached 2 car garage." Note from my sales side: Always talk about the benefits before getting into pricing!

"That's great son. Now how much is the house gonna cost?"

"Dad, it's $55,000 dollars"

"Expletive Deleted! NO HOUSE THAT SIZE IS EVER GOING TO BE WORTH THAT MUCH MONEY! ANOTHER EXPLETIVE!"

I will skip all of the whining and pleading on my part. My father did eventually loan me the money, and his cosignature, and I bought my first house. I lived in that house while I finished college, rented it while I was living in other states and returned to it later after my divorce. When I sold it in 1998, I got over $200,000 for it. Turned out it was worth $55,000 after all.

Till next time...Jack