10 Traits Real Estate Investors Should Look for When Working With A Real Estate Agent

"Ten Real Estate Service Standards of Top Real Estate Agents in Maryland Were Polled for Core Real Estate Practices of Service"

Have you been looking for the BEST Real Estate Agent to help you close your investment deals? Well, from working with various real estate agents, I was having a hard time finding an agent that practiced all of the service practices that I found invaluable. I decided to re-activate my realtors license and service real estate investors with what they need most.

So whether you work directly with me or not. This is what you need to look or in an agent. The Best Real Estate Agents Educate their clients. When you work with your real estate agent, you should Learn Real Estate Sales Strategies for Maryland or your specific area. If you are an investor, you want your agent to have experience investor so that they understand your needs. Contact Me and Get Your House or Investment Sold Today! Read My Personal Service Standards Below:

Valarie Jacobs, Realtor®
Personal Service Standards


1) CLIENT-AGENT RELATIONSHIPS

At the beginning of my client relationship, I will explain my client-agent obligations, noting that my client is
my employer and pays my fee.


2) STRUCTURING THE OFFERING

I will advise my clients on the most advantageous way to offer their home for sale, reflecting varying terms
and conditions of sale.


3) MAXIMUM MARKET EXPOSURE

My client’s home shall be fully exposed to the largest number of potential buyers possible, using all available
resources.


4) PREPARING THE HOME

I will advise my clients on how to prepare their home to show it in the most positive manner and will make
recommendations as to how to address needed repairs or deficiencies.


5) APPOINTMENTS AND NEGOTIATIONS

I will ensure that all negotiations by interested parties and other agents are coordinated through me, the
listing broker.


6) INFORMED ON THE MARKET

I shall advise my clients weekly on buyer activity and interest, local market conditions and other factors that
may affect the sale of their property. I will provide an updated Market Value Analysis, if warranted by
increased or decreased market activity.


7) QUALIFIED LISTINGS

I recognize that only a “qualified listing” provides my clients with the basis for a successful sale defined as a
home listed with the following:

➥ Complete and accurate details
➥ Well-motivated clients

➥ Competitive price by a market analysis
➥ Competitive structure

➥ A Properly Staged Home
➥ A term sufficient to market the home


8) OVERPRICED HOMES

I will advise my clients that I cannot properly represent, nor professionally service listings that are
overpriced, as I must be able to substantiate and defend my client’s “BEST PRICE” to potential buyers.


9) THE MARKETING AND CLOSING PROCESS

I will explain to my clients every step in the marketing and closing process, including the amount of “earnest
money” that should be secured as a deposit and what contingencies may be considered unreasonable.


10) COMMUNICATION

I will establish consistent communication with my clients, either in person, on the telephone or via e-mail,
and will commit all understanding to writing. I will advise on prospective buyer reaction and the merits of all
offers.

Contact Valarie Today for a Free Home Analysis and Free Special Report!
Call 202-528-4761 now!

Valarie Jacobs, Realtor
Exit Dynamic Realty

"Quit Real Estate Investing!" That's What They Said Until I Showed Them My "Never Say Die" Investing System MD/DC/VA

Never Ever Quit.......Never Say Die........Never

Investors,

I know that many of you are ready to throw in the towel. Your mind says "Maybe this just isn't for me....I think I just missed the time to get into to real estate investing. Then your closest friends say "You are just wasting your time...it's time to move on....you gave it your best shoot...you can't say you didn't try" Does this sound familiar?

No matter what you decide to do in life, there are going to be obstacles, dry times, and times where it seems as though nothing is going your way. There is no way to avoid this. You must hold your position until you have the strength to move forward. Never go backwards. Now you have to be wise when you are a real estate investor or anything else. If what your are doing isn't working, try a different angle. Find another way to support your ultimate goal. This way you're not quitting. You are just taking a different means to an end. If you were flipping homes, master wholesaling. If you were wholesaling, master how to do lease options or shortsales. You must always be willing to increase your knowledge in order to move with the market demands.

If you analyze anyone who is where you want to be or anyone who you look at as a mentor, they have gone through major trials. If they had given up, you would not admire what they have accomplished.

There are certain things that you must do to remain on course through rough times in the real estate investing business.

1. Don't focus on what is going wrong.

If you focus on what is wrong with your business, that is all that you will see. Focus on the one thing that is positive and build on that.

2. Stay connected to a mentor.

I know that you have heard the saying "Nothing is new under the sun". We normally tell this to our children. Well, the same holds true with real estate investing. Someone has already dealt with the challenge that you are having. Learn as much as you can from their mistakes.

3. Education yourself.

Education is invaluable. Always keep yourself abreast of new terminology, new funding sources, new creative ways of financing. There are so many ways to do more than just survive in this industry. Commit to paying for some type of education on a monthly basis. It can be coaching, seminars, classes or tapes as long as you are always increasing your knowledge.

4. Pass it on

When you are doing well, always be willing to help the person coming behind you. There are so many shady investors. We need as many ethical investors to support one another as we can find. Helping someone else always ends up helping you in the end!

Everything has a time and a purpose. The sooner you figure out what the purpose of the time you are in - the sooner you will move on to a new one.

You Can Survive As A Real Estate Investor!

Blessings to your Real Estate Investing Career

Valarie Jacobs

Learn Real Estae Investing In Maryland

Learn Real Estate Investing in DC

Learn Real Estate Investing in Virginia

www.valariejacobs.com

Why Haven't YOU Invested in Real Estate? (DC/MD/VA)

Why haven't YOU Invested in Real Estate?

You always wanted to....You know that wealth is in real estate....so what is stopping you!

Well, I'll tell you what is holding back most new investors that I meet " I DON'T WANNA LOSE MY MONEY!"....Does that sound familiar? Everything is new for you so you are not confident in your decisions regarding what property to purchase. Well, that's what I'm here for so just sit back, keep reading and learning and when you are ready, I'll be here to guide you.

The first thing that you should know is that you don't have to have the perfect deal for a real estate deal to make money for you. Don't pass by good deals waiting for the perfect flawless deal. I'm gonna let you in on a little secret...."There's no such thing".

No one says it better than Nike "Just Do It". You will never reap the benefits of investing in real estate until you....invest in real estate.

The main blockers for new real estate investors are:

1. afraid of risk


2. afraid of maintenance and repairs


3. afraid of vacancies

Let dissect these fears:

Afraid of Risk

"YOU WILL NEVER EVER FIND A RISK-FREE INVESTMENT!" Some of you want no risk. If this is what you want, you don't want to make any money anywhere. Just put your money in your ceramic pink piggy bank but watch out for Mr. Inflation because he'll eat away at that with out a sound. If you follow the advice that I gave you before about investing in Metropolitan areas, good rental market areas, stable market areas and low median areas, you are already reducing your investment risk. You also want to invest in fairly good neighborhoods. Pay attention to safety, schools, shopping etc. In decent neighborhoods, your tenants tend to stay longer, pay on time and take better care of the property.

Afraid of Maintenance and Repairs

Just because you own the property doesn't make you and automatic handy man. Hire a property management company. Your time is more valuable than touch up paint, plumbing and carpeting. We hire professionals for everything else. It's worth it!

Afraid of Vacancies

If you take my advice and invest in a good neighborhood in a good market, vacancies are very unlikely. Normally, if your house is not renting the problem is the owner. It's not that there isn't anyone to rent to...you are asking to much. Think long term. It better to occupy your property for a little less than to pay a mortgage on a vacant property. You can always gradually raise the price of your rent and end up getting what you want. Even if you have a negative cash flow at first, the tax benefits will offset this.

Hopefully, this has helped ease some of your fears regarding investing. It's time to start securing your financial future with real estate investing.

Blessings to your real estate investing,

Valarie Jacobs

Learn Real Estate Investing in Maryland

Learn Real Estate Investing in DC

Learn Real Estate Investing in Virginia

www.valariejacobs.com

Caution: Read This Before Investing In Real Estate!

Caution: Read This Before Investing in Real Estate

Many investors are hesitant about investing in this market. If you watch the news or read the paper, reports would have you believing that the sky is falling. Well, the sky falling should be the ONLY reason why you would be leery about investing in real estate. The question is not "Should I invest in real estate right now?" it's "Where do I invest in real estate right now?"





There are four key factors when deciding where to invest in real estate:

1. Metropolitan Area


2. Good Rental Market


3. Low Median Price


4. Stable Market

Let's look at each of these key factors a little closer.

Metropolitan Area

A metropolitan area offers a wide variety of possible tenants. The last thing you want is a great VACANT property. Small towns often only have one source of employment. If that company closes, so does your rental market. Larger areas also offer a great selection of property management companies so if you are to busy to play landlord you have options.

Good Rental Market

A good rental market has single family homes that keep up with or surpass the amount of the mortgage payment. This does not mean that a property with a temporary negative cash flow doesn't still make a good investment in the long run.

Low Median Price

You want to purchase most of your investment properties in the median range. This should keep you mortgage payment below what you can reasonably ask for in rent. You also want to avoid jumbo loans. Jumbo loans ask investors to put down 25% on non-owner occupied homes. This can tie up to much of your cash that you could be using for another investment.

Stable Market

Believe it or not you don't want to invest in a booming market. During a booming market, there are many offers being made on one property. You have to compete with to many buyers. This drives up the prices for the houses and you don't get the best deals. You want to buy in an area that simply has a steady rise in market prices. It doesn't have to be rapid.

Blessing to Your Real Estate Investing,

Valarie Jacobs

Learn Real Estate Investing In Maryland

Learn Real Estate Investing in DC

Learn Real Estate Investing in Virginia

www.valariejacobs.com

Real Estate Investing vs. Stock Market Investing

Breaking Investment Discovery

Invest in the Real Estate Market or the Stock Market?

Everyone should have a well rounded financial portfolio. This means that you should at least have some investments in the stock market. Over the past years the stock market does appear to have kept up with the rate of inflation; however, investment in real estate is a far more stable investment.

The stock market has made many people wealthy. The problem with the stock market is that profits can be wiped away in the blink of an eyes. An unexpected drop in the stock market can destroy an investors portfolio. If you have a large percentage of your investments in the stock market you must move a large portion of your investments into a more stable real estate investment.

One of the greatest benefits of investing in the real estate market is the leveraging opportunity. With real estate investing, you can leverage your investment 10 to 1. With stock market investments, you can only leverage your money 2 to 1.

What does leveraging your money mean?

When you leverage money, it means that you can use the money of someone else to raise money. Just like a lever raises something up, in real estate, you can leverage money 10 to 1. If you have $10,000, you can use this to get (or raise) a loan of $90,000 for a total of $100,000 towards a real estate investment. With stock investments, $10,000 would only get you $20,000 for stock investments. This is called buying on margin in the stock market (very risky).

Now of course, no investment is perfect. If property values fall, this leverage can work against you. The solution to this is to hold on to your real estate investments for the long term. This will begin to secure your financial future.

Blessings to Your Real Estate Investing,

Valarie Jacobs

Learn Real Estate Investing In Maryland

Learn Real Estate Investing In DC

Learn Real Estate Investing In Virginia

www.ValarieJacobs.com

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Real Estate Investing For Financial Security

Anyone who knows anything about Real Estate Investing knows that the most secure path to creating wealth is by investing in real estate; however, before you jump in head first...you must have a financial plan.

Most people don't see the correlation between the two. There are so many methods of investing. You must first decide on what your ending financial goal is in order to figure out which real estate investing path you need to take. Secondly, you must sit down and figure out how much money you have to invest in real estate while maintaining your daily living.

The final and most important concept that we must understand is that a salary and a 401K will never create the wealth that most of us are aiming for in our future. If this was enough, we would not have so many grandmothers and grandfathers handing out smiley face stickers at Walmart. No one PLANS to to be a professional elderly sticker passer outer. On the other hand, no one becomes rich who doesn't make a financial plan unless they are born with that shiny silver spoon.

We all know that there are certain things in life that you just don't want to do...balancing your checkbook and financial planning are right up there with going to the dentist. But the end results of neglecting any of these, is not very favorable. So suck it up and dig in.

The retirement plan of the past:

Work at one job for thirty years, work your way up the corporate ladder, get the gold watch, live off of your pension plan and social security. Pretty straight forward and simple. This retirement plan presents quite a few problems for the present and future retiree.

Problems with the retirement plan of the past:

1. You can no longer depend on your employer to provide for you after you stop working.

First of all...most of us never stay at a job long enough anymore to build up a decent pension. So if we are lucky, we depend on the faithful 401K. The problem with this is that you have to make half of the contributions yourself and if you are a contractor or an entrepreneur you don't even have this luxury! Even if you were responsible enough to start your 401K in your twenties, (which most did not) the rate of inflation will eat away at your saving like rabid dog.

2. You can no longer depend on the government to provide for you after you stop working.

How wonderful are your golden years going to be with $14,000 a year from social security? (Oh, that's only if you contributed the maximum over your life time). Well, I won't speak for everyone but I don't want my big bingo day to be interrupted with clipping coupons and buying groceries with food stamps; however, this is what you have to look forward to if you depend on the government.

Not to mention...when the government set up social security, they only thought that we would live to be 60 to 65 years old. So there may not even be any money left when you need it.

So what do you do?

The present and future retirement plan:

You have to invest your money in an inflation proof entity that will provide for you despite your age. Real Estate is the only investment that is not negatively effected by inflation. It will also continue to grow for you no matter what your age. I attended my best friend's grandmother's funeral today. She lived to be 104 years old. She had the foresight eighty years ago to invest in real estate. She owned several properties in Washington DC. The investments provided for her for her entire life including her elderly care. These investments continue to provide for her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren even after her death. This is the definition of creating true wealth and securing your financial future.

Blessings to your Real Estate Careers,

Valarie Jacobs

Learn Real Estate Investing in Maryland

Learn Real Estate Investing in DC

Learn Real Estate Investing in Virginia

www.valariejacobs.com