The community offers a nice waterfront pool with beach area, lit walkways along the water, day dock for boat parking, walk down to the Rusty Rudder for dinner and drinks, and just minutes from I77 and Birkdale.

The monthly rental fee includes water.

Please call 704-269-5061 for more details. Pets Ok upon approval. 1 year lease minimum preferred. Available immediately at $850/mo. Pets ok with $250 pet deposit.
Thanks,
Mike
Owner/broker

I spend a lot of time with my staff working to implement repeatable and reproducible processes so that we can “set it and forget it” so-to-speak and move on to more value added activities. Wouldn’t it be ideal to have your business completely automated and only have to check-in on it daily or weekly? Well, this is not an easy task to accomplish but definitely one worth pursuing. 

Below are the 7 key steps that you should take to move towards a repeatable operation:

1. Create a manual process that works. Make sure that you can walk before you run.

2. Optimize each process then document. I find that creating process maps is a great way to visually understand what it going on. You can use tools like Visio or Powerpoint to accomplish this.

3. Group the processes by either business function or job role. Ex.) All processes to do with selling a house should be in the Sales function or the Sales Manager role in my business.

4. Schedule “Process Optimization and Automation” meetings with each of the key stakeholders on your team which utilize and own each process. The goal of these meetings is to assess where the possible automation opportunities lie. Make sure that you identify what the role of each automation point is first (business requirement) before you identify solutions. It is much easier to adapt solutions for automation later once you understand what the purpose is.

5. Implement new technologies to automate each process point. Look to group where possible.

6. The last step is to create a control plan for the overall process. This ensures that the new solution does not operate out of the acceptable result in the future. A great example of this would be to setup an email alert to be sent to the Sales Manager when a property is on the market 60 days or greater.

7. As part of the control plan, always setup a regular review process with the key stakeholders so that the process and your business can benefit from continuous improvement actions.

Practice these simple techniques on a regular basis and you will find that your business will not only grow, but your staff will be happier because they will be making a change as they grow in their roles.

Take care and good luck,
Mike

If you are relocating to Charlotte or within the greater Charlotte, NC area and need assistance, please call 704-885-0488 or submit an online request.

Be sure to checkout last week’s video quick tip on Charlotte NC Inventory Real Estate On Sale Now if you missed it.

Take care and thanks for watching!

Mike Moulton

A lot of the First Time Home Buyers have been seeking local or government down payment assistance and/or applying for FHA loans.  We’ve noticed that these agencies are experiencing delays in processing the down payment assistance money.  In the short sale market, lenders are both overwhelmed with case loads and they are redistributing resources on loan modification programs which is delaying processing of the short sales.

Drilling down a bit, in Mecklenburg County the north part of the county had the most sales in August with 174 units sold with an average sales price of $183,727.  The Uptown Charlotte market has declined in sales tremendously only producing 12 sales in August with an average sales price of $347,391.  The following are the sales numbers for August 2009 for some of the surrounding counties:

Union County =       208 sales (avg. sales price of $267,172)
Cabarrus County = 153 sales (avg. sales price of $196,313)
Gaston County =      144 sales (avg. sales price of $127,517)
Iredell County =      107 sales (avg. sales price of $144,289)

The Lake Norman area had 91 sales (avg. sales price of $413,056)

Hopefully you found this useful.  As always, feel free to give us a call at 704-885-0488 if we can help you with your real estate needs or click here. Take care,

Mike Moulton

Bee Home Solutions, Inc.

Some recent areas that Mike visited were homes in Marvin, Reflection Pointe, Providence Downs South, Denver NC, and Mooresville NC.

If you missed last weeks video on the $8000 First Time Homebuyer Credit Demystified then click the highlighted text to view it.

Looking for a great deal on a home in the greater Charlotte NC area? Give us a call at 704-885-0488 and ask for Mike.

Take care,
MIke

Checkout the video below:

If you missed last weeks video, then click this text: You Need To Sell Your House Quickly But Don’t Have Time To Put It On The Market

Be sure to stay tuned for next weeks’ video.  If you are in the market for a home in the greater charlotte, NC area and need some assistance, call our office at 704-885-0488.

Take care,

Mike

When To Sell and How

I speak with a number of investors and homeowners on a monthly basis. Recently, I have had a number of similar questions all pertaining around how to maximize return on their own homes or on investment properties (or both). My first question is always, “What is your ideal situation for your level of involvement through investing in real estate?” Do you want to hold for long term wealth? Do you want to buy it and quick turn it (a.k.a. flipping)? Do you want to buy it, redevelop the property, and resell it on the retail market? Would you like to be a private lender and provide capital at a fixed rate of return for projects that my company is doing? Answers to these questions are paramount to any one persons’ overall investment strategy. I believe that in the end a mixed strategy is the best approach. You can create your own mutual fund in real estate by implementing many of these strategies with the proper training and education/guidance. For most of my clients, I advise them to create some focus initially and choose one investment strategy to master (make it their commoditized product) then test other strategies to add into their portfolio as time goes on then grow from there.

The majority of the responses that I receive revolve around “flipping” a house through redeveloping it. When I use the term “redevelopment,” I’m simply stating a run down property is bought and restored back to its original condition (or updated) or better. The media has created numerous shows on television that create this perfect (or not-so-perfect) euphoria around “flipping” houses. It seems that the general public is enormously entertained by others faults, errors, or mistakes on these television programs. Or, they are amazed at how “easy” it is to buy a home, redevelop it, and resell it on the secondary market. My colleagues and I are always amazed at how poorly these shows perceive the actual costs involved in a house redevelopment project. They portray the costs involved are “acquisition price minus repairs = profit.” What we’ve always wondered is who is paying the holding costs (mortgage, insurance, utilities, etc.), sales agent fees (they all have open houses when they sell hosted by an agent), etc. to get this great profit? Quick turning real estate is a great platform for what I like to call “keeping the lights on” every month. It is cash now strategy that helps with daily operating costs. However, the downside is that you forgo the benefits of owning real estate over a longer period of time. Whether you take title to it, improve the property, or not, you also are subject to higher taxes on your profits because you have held the property for a short period or assigned the contract for a fee and you take the proceeds as income. Of course there are other advanced strategies around buying and selling properties short-term tax deferred in your self-directed IRA in real estate or through a 1031 tax exchange, but that is too large of a discussion for this article.

One of the time tested exit strategies in real estate is the buy and hold strategy. This is a very simple strategy in concept that also has its challenges along the way as well. Through utilizing this strategy, you simply buy properties that are in areas that can maintain a decent monthly rent and then manage (or pay to manage) them well over the period of ownership. The goal with this strategy is to minimize property vacancies and repairs and keep them occupied and the monthly rents coming in on-time. You can further optimize this strategy through buying the properties at discounts and/or in areas targeted for longer term redevelopment which can equal large appreciation over time. If you don’t require “cash now” so-to-speak, then what an opportunity over a period of 5, 10, 15, or 30 years to take advantage of property appreciation, depreciation, tax write-off’s, etc. all while someone else pays your mortgage off for you. Although the buy and hold strategy can be frustrating at times, if you hold for long periods of time you can ride the market and make out very well for yourself in the future. How can you relate this to your lifestyle? What if you bought a rental house every time that you had a child? What a great way to plan for college by assigning a profit and loss center to each of your children? This is truly a scaleable strategy. Imagine buying 5-10 properties this year and renting them for the next 20? How would your net worth and wealth reflect these actions?…Very well! My final thought on this strategy is to keep reminding yourself to treat this as a business and leave the emotions behind. Evictions, property damage, late payments, etc. are all aspects of the buy and hold rental strategy but business is business and just create a process to deal with each situation and work through them one by one and you will enjoy the benefits of long term property ownership.

When all is said and done you need to figure out what your personal financial goals are and what percentage of those goals will utilize real estate to achieve them. Do you want to own property or do you want to passively invest in real estate through companies like Bee Home Solutions, Inc. to earn a great, secured return? Do you want to rejuvenate properties and resell them on the retail market, or via lease options, or rejuvenate and hold them to rent in your portfolio? Of course there are limitless amounts of creative real estate investing and selling strategies that continue to expand off the basic ones that have been discussed in this article. I suggest that you start with the basics and build from there. The basic rule of thumb is to always know upfront what your exit strategy is before you invest in any property. Ready, Set….GO!

– Michael Moulton, Broker-in-Charge/Investor of Bee Home Solutions, Inc.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed above are those of Michael Moulton and are not to be perceived as legal or accounting advice.

Mike also addresses our viewers that have been joking with me about the videos going over 1 minute in length.

Checkout the video below and be sure to tune in next week for the 1 Minute Real Estate Quick Tip by Mike Moulton

Please provide your comments to this blogpost with your thoughts!
Thanks

Mike

Also, if you are facing foreclosure in the greater Charlotte area feel free to visit our site at http://www.charlotteforeclosurechallenges.com to view an abundance of free resources to answer all of your questions.

Watch last weeks video on The Difference between buying a HUD, REO, or Short Sale Property here

1709 Carmenet Lane Front

Short Sale! Pre foreclosure savings!  Very convenient to I485. End of street private lot. Great floor plan. Living room flows nicely into dining room. All tiled floor downstairs, security system. Very large kitchen with an island overlooking the breakfast nook. All bedrooms are upstairs. The master has a vaulted ceiling. Laundry is on the upper floor. Faux 2 in wood blinds, you don’t want to miss this deal and location. All appliances included. 4 Br’s, 2.5 baths, over 1800 sq.ft, 0.25 acre lot, 2 car garage.

Price is $119,900.

Call Debbie at 704-604-6651 for more details and to schedule a viewing of this home.

Also, be sure to sign up to be notified of our great bank discounted homes at our site at Big Bank Discounts

kitchen

Family Room - Tiled Floors

Mike getting ready to kick some butt!

This past weekend a group of us ran in the 3rd Annual Marine Mud Corps Run at Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, NC.  It was a great time and its always good to help a charity.  My friends and I had brought 2 teams of 4 people each to endure the 5-5.5 mile course.  The course was filled with all sorts of different challenges including a number of calistenic stations, climbing over walls, crawling under tarps, running through a single track course through pricker and poison ivy filled woods, and my personal favorite which was crawling through 2-3 feet of a 150-200 ft mud pit.  Did I say crawling?  This also included push ups, running, and getting yelled at by a number of Marines as we did this.  Not only were we yelled at in the mud pits, but also throughout the entire course.  Let’s just call it “verbal encouragement”.

All in all it was a great morning last saturday.  My team (“The Swamp Donkeys”) pulled it together and we crossed the finish line together.  Note: If we didn’t finish together we probably would’ve been beaten to shreds on the spot.  Remember, the Marines “Never leave a man behind” and nor did we.  Checkout the pic below.  I was picking tiny grits of gravel out of my contact lenses the entire rest of that day!

Mike's Team Approaching The Finish Line

I urge you to google a marine corp mud run in your local area or join one of the few offered in the greater Charlotte, NC area. Here is the website of the event that we just did – Marine Corp Mud Run . To view more pictures of the event click here.

Take care, to your health.

Mike