The field services industry, which is commonly referred to as the “property preservation”, “foreclosure cleanup” or “REO trashout” industry, has changed considerably over the years.

When the mortgage crisis and eventual housing fiasco first seized the real estate industry, a great number of smaller foreclosure contractors entered the market. Many of these micro companies performed assorted mortgage field services tasks for lenders, banks, financial institutions, REO conglomerates and asset management companies in hamlets and diverse regions across the United States of America.

A ton of larger, national entities were also part of the landscape that was fast becoming a burgeoning property preservation industry.

A great many of the larger entities such as those of Pemco, Sentinel, Cyprexx, Safeguard, Chronos Solutions (previously known as Matt Martin Real Estate Management), and a great number of similar companies, were direct, first hand components of HUD (“The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development”).

These larger companies hired smaller debris removal, cleaning and trash out services as subcontractors to handle duties such as lawn maintenance, property securing (boarding doors/windows), property inspecting, trash/debris removal, winterization and de-winterization jobs, repairs, lock changes, home maintenance, painting, carpet removal, gutter cleaning, pressure washing, tree removal and many similar property upkeep and maintenance duties.

Services were often performed on vacant houses, many of which mortgagees had walked away from after getting foreclosure letters from their mortgage companies.

Multiple Subbing Opportunities, Jobs and Contracts for REO Service Vendors

Contracts and work order requests were received in numbers, and many small companies had to rush to hire subcontractors to assist with the overflow.

As a result, these smaller contractors made a ton of money in the property preservation and foreclosure cleaning industry at the height of the mortgage crisis.

A Changing Property Preservation Industry

However, fast-forward five to seven years, and its evident the industry has changed, exponentially.

The New Trashout Business, Foreclosure Cleaning Services and REO Property Preservation Model

In recent years, foreclosure cleanup and trash-out services have not only begun to target new key customers and client bases, but they have also added a number of new very profitable mortgage and field services and inked new necessary policies and procedures that work specifically for their own services and businesses — regardless of who their companies may be aligned with or who they may be servicing as vendors and subcontractors and working for, whether it be on a local, national or regional level.…

In leasing today and particularly commercially and retail real estate, it is common to come across the word 'amortization'. In brief, the word explains the concept of recovery of landlord costs over the duration of the lease.

In this property market we need to attract tenants to the property and encourage a decision of taking out a new lease. In the case of new tenant occupancy, the landlord may choose to provide some incentive which could be by way of rent-free, a new fit out, or reduced rental. This is common when the market is in a downturn or slip and an oversupply of vacant space exists. In today's market this is the case and will remain so for some time. The creative provision of incentives is part of the leasing process.

Get the incentive money back!

When such activity is provided by the landlord, it is common practice to recover the costs of that incentive back to the landlord plus interest on the funds provided, and such recovery is to be structured over the duration of the lease. Amortisation is the process that achieves this.

This then suggests that any incentive, rental rebate, or rent-free period is not actually free. That is certainly the case, and an experienced real estate agent or broker will support the process and the economies of the lease deal to ensure that the landlords funded incentive is recovered in some way.

What do tenants want?

When the tenants ask for a new lease and some incentive as part of it, they do not expect to hear about the amortization process and the economics behind it. They do not want to hear that the good incentive that they are to get in the lease deal is to be paid back while they are in occupation. Let's just say that the concept is known between the agent and the landlord and the recovery of the incentive is structured (added) into the rent profile and the rent review processes during the lease.

The tenant in today's market thinks that the market is slow and in their favor, and on that basis the landlord has to do something that attracts them to the property. That is where the constructive becomes part of the negotiation. An incentive can be anything of value to the tenant, but is normally one of the following:

• Rent free period
• Rent reduction period
• Cash paid to the tenant
• Fit out provided to the tenant

Whatever the incentive used, it is up to the real estate agent to structure the rent and incentive process in favor of the landlord as part of negotiating the deal. At the end of the day, a tenant only wants to know about the concessions and the total rental which is to be outlined in the lease.

It is the job of the real estate agent to ensure that the effective is structured so that the landl achieves the recovery of the outlay in incentive. The tenant does not always …

The term short sale has been brought up more and more in the real estate world as the property market has corrected to a more sustainable growth level. Depreciation of home values ​​over the last few years has led to homes that are worth less than the mortgages that were used to finance the purchase. This situation coupled with a nationwide recession that has created the need for people to sell their homes permanently being "underwater" has led to the recent popularity of short sales.

What Is an Underwater Loan?

A home loan or mortgage that is higher than the actual value of the home is said to be underwater. Over the last few years this situation has become a common occurrence as homeowners who bought at the peak of housing prices with little or no money down have seen their property values ​​decrease, sometimes dramatically. They began with a $ 300,000 loan on a home that appraised around that value, and now their mortgage amount is around the same, but that same house appraises for less than $ 250,000.

With the rise in unemployment, many homeowners who have found themselves in this difficult situation have been forced to sell their home because they can no longer afford the mortgage. The problem that occurs is that even if the homeowner sold their home for $ 250,000, they would still owe the bank the additional $ 50,000, which holds up the sales process. This hurts everyone involved because the original owners can not pay the mortgage, so they default on the loan. The new buyers who are excited about the home are not allowed to buy it at the new market price. Finally, the bank that holds the mortgage will not let the original owner sell, does not receive a payment each month for the mortgage, and must now go through an expensive and time consuming foreclosure process to get possession of a home they will only be able to sell for less anyways.

Buying and Selling a Home with a Short Sale

This is where short sale comes into play. In a short sale the original homeowner who is underwater will get an agreement from the bank to complete a short sale and put their home on the market at the current local price. When a buyer decides to purchase the home, the bank agreements to let the sale take place and take a loss on the original mortgage. Ultimately, this type of legal settlement allows the homeowner and bank to avoid a costly and credit damaging foreclosure process. The owner will still take a hit on their credit score and the bank will lose some money on the transaction, but the overall solution is much better than foreclosing on the home.

Foreclosures and Short Sales

Short sales are becoming more common with our current correction in home prices and high unemployment, but many bands still make the process very difficult for the owners because they do not want to …

So… You may ask yourself, why should you buy or invest in real estate in the First Place? Because it’s the IDEAL investment! Let’s take a moment to address the reasons why people should have investment real estate in the first place. The easiest answer is a well-known acronym that addresses the key benefits for all investment real estate. Put simply, Investment Real Estate is an IDEAL investment. The IDEAL stands for:

• I – Income

• D – Depreciation

• E – Expenses

• A – Appreciation

• L – Leverage

Real estate is the IDEAL investment compared to all others. I’ll explain each benefit in depth.

The “I” in IDEAL stands for Income. (a.k.a. positive cash flow) Does it even generate income? Your investment property should be generating income from rents received each month. Of course, there will be months where you may experience a vacancy, but for the most part your investment will be producing an income. Be careful because many times beginning investors exaggerate their assumptions and don’t take into account all potential costs. The investor should know going into the purchase that the property will COST money each month (otherwise known as negative cash flow). This scenario, although not ideal, may be OK, only in specific instances that we will discuss later. It boils down to the risk tolerance and ability for the owner to fund and pay for a negative producing asset. In the boom years of real estate, prices were sky high and the rents didn’t increase proportionately with many residential real estate investment properties. Many naïve investors purchased properties with the assumption that the appreciation in prices would more than compensate for the fact that the high balance mortgage would be a significant negative impact on the funds each month. Be aware of this and do your best to forecast a positive cash flow scenario, so that you can actually realize the INCOME part of the IDEAL equation.

Often times, it may require a higher down payment (therefore lesser amount being mortgaged) so that your cash flow is acceptable each month. Ideally, you eventually pay off the mortgage so there is no question that cash flow will be coming in each month, and substantially so. This ought to be a vital component to one’s retirement plan. Do this a few times and you won’t have to worry about money later on down the road, which is the main goal as well as the reward for taking the risk in purchasing investment property in the first place.

The “D” in IDEAL Stands for Depreciation. With investment real estate, you are able to utilize its depreciation for your own tax benefit. What is depreciation anyway? It’s a non-cost accounting method to take into account the overall financial burden incurred through real estate investment. Look at this another way, when you buy a brand new car, the minute you drive off the lot, that car has depreciated in value. When it comes to your investment …

Interested in emerging market investments? Well you don’t need not look overseas, there may be plenty opportunities nearby.

Inner city landlords are able to create wealth by organizing neighborhoods. They create value by helping people reconnect to their communities and their work results in nicer communities and increased property values.

Before you’re in position to benefit from this property investment strategy, you will need to buy a piece of inner city real estate in the right location.

Here are 5 keys to ensure your success:

1. Find property investments near the edge of the inner city. Strong opportunities exist along the fringe of the “good” and “bad” parts of town. The goal of an inner city property investment is to profit from improving the “bad” edge of town. Buy near the fringe and work to connect your property to the “good” part of town.

2. Work with a local neighborhood watch groups. Future profits are directly tied to the effectiveness of grassroots advocacy groups. An emerging market landlord needs these groups to provide passion, credibility, emotional support, media connections, political influence, and more. They provide the leverage you’ll need to resolve issues that hurt the area’s repetition. Work to strengthen these groups, but not concoct one from scratch. Starting from scratch requires a tremendous amount of credibility that you may not have with the neighbors.

3. Buy property investments near a transit hub. One strategy is to create housing that appeals to echo-boomers. This group is interested in sustainability and mass transit options. Moreover, as the cost of oil increases, so will the demand for transit-supported communities. Buy close to a transit hub and capture the emerging demand for this feature.

4. Buy property investments large enough to make your efforts worthwhile. Use best practices, honed from over 40 years of neighborhood watch case studies and other community organization tactics, to transform the largest blighted property you can afford. Find the big problem and reap a big profit when it’s restored.

5. Buy property investments within the sphere of influence of redevelopment projects. Your local redevelopment agency will be able to tell you what private or public efforts are in the pipeline. You’ll want to consider properties near these sites to capture the excitement and economic energy associated with them. The promise of a better tomorrow is a very effective negotiating point to share while trying to lease your property.

Helping a community get back on its feet is rewarding and collecting the equity from restoring the area’s reputation is a well deserved prize. Is this wealth building strategy for you?

I love the business adage instructing investors to study the “apple tree” and place their baskets where “apples” will fall. It suggests that careful, strategic planning leads to profits, and I’ve personally found this to be the case. Use these tips to find ideal inner city property investments and, with some community development work, you will soon have a basket full of equity.…