Dean Graziosi | Dean Graziosi Real Estate | Dean Graziosi Investment

Buying a home is one of the biggest financial decisions you will ever make. It is important that you have a guide to help you through the complicated process of getting approved for financing, paperwork, and choosing your new home. A real estate agent is trained to not only help you buy the home you need and are looking for but also to be able to help you get through all of the steps to buying a home. Since the regulations are always changing in the housing market, it is essential that you have the guidance of a real estate agent from the very first moment that you start planning to buy a home.

Do not just settle for the first real estate agent that you contact. This is the person who is going to be helping you find a home for yourself and your family. He or she is going to be spending time with you, talking about your finances and what you are hoping for, and is going to be directing you not only in what homes to look at but also in your financing. You should interview any real estate agent you are considering working with. Find out how many years they have been an agent and if there are any complaints filed against them. Also find out the experience that they have in the neighborhoods you’re interested in.

You want a real estate agent who is going to give you their time and attention. If it is difficult for you to get in touch with the agent then you may want to think twice about working with him or her. You need an agent who is easy to talk to and get in touch with and who will make sure that your calls are returned. Sometimes you may work with an agent who works with a very large real estate agency and you may be dealing with assistants who do a lot of the legwork. This is okay as long as you feel that your needs are being met. When it comes time for contracts to be signed and the actual closing of the deal you will want to have the agent there because they are the ones who are in the best position to help you. Look elsewhere if the agent is not going to be one guiding you through the contracts.

Consider the agent’s personality and whether or not you can get along with them. You may love an agent’s creditionals and experience but find that they have a personality that gets on your nerves. This is okay and does not say anything bad about you as a buyer. If an agent has a personality that clashes with your own or if you feel in any way that you cannot work with them then you need to keep looking. No matter how great an agent’s creditionals are they are not the one for you if you can’t get along. The same thing goes for an agent who you get along with well who does not have the experience you need. Choose an agent you can get along with who has all the experience and training you need. 

Ever since the housing crisis began, you have probably been hearing about credit scores. Credit is needed for just about everything. It is much easier to get a new car loan, an installment loan for a home repair, or a mortgage for your dream home if you have a good credit history. The problem is that the whole idea of credit is confusing to many people and it is not always easy to find out exactly what your credit score is or what it means. One of the biggest mysteries of credit is how exactly it affects a mortgage for a home.

There is no debating the fact that the higher your credit score the better deals you can get. Where mortgages are concerned, you are able to get mortgages that have lower interest rates, higher borrowing limits, and lower monthly payments. The lower interest rates that you pay with a better score is what lowers the monthly payments that you make. Interest is money that is added on to the money that you borrow and increases the amount that you have to pay back over the life of the loan. The lower the rate the less you have to pay to borrow the money.

Credit tells your lenders how much they can trust you. High scores mean lenders will be willing to lend you money while low scores mean they will not want to. Your score, called the FICO score, is determined using a number of factors and a specific formula. The credit bureaus such as TransUnion take these factors into account when assigning a credit score. The factors are your previous performance and how often you paid creditors on time, the amount of money you owe, how long you have been using credit, and what kinds of credit you have. Credit inquiries also count but to a much smaller degree. Your past payment history is the most important factor. Using the FICO score, a lender will use the score and reason codes to decide where you fall on their lending guidelines.

Scores range from 350 to 950. Very few people actually have scores in the 900s. Those who get the best loans have scores that are at least 800. Many lenders require borrowers to have scores in the 700s. However, there are lenders who will consider lending money to you for a mortgage even if you are considered to have poor credit, which is usually considered to be anything below 500, though you will end up paying more in interest. Time is the best method of getting a higher credit score. Be sure to pay your bills on time, pay off any debts you owe, and your score should climb. 

Knowing what the real estate market has done in the past is an important piece of knowledge that buyers and sellers should be aware of. Being aware of how the market has behaved in certain neighborhoods and locations where you are looking at properties can be an indicator of what to expect once the home has been purchased. Past market trends can and do have an effect on the current value of a property and how the value of the property can change in the future. Market trends have been in a constant state of change lately and knowing what the past trends were will better prepare you for the future.

Looking at how the area you’re interested in has changed in past three or four months will show what to expect in the future. Banks and lenders typically use this same information when determining comparable prices of homes recently sold in the area. This is an important tool to use while you are looking at properties. Once you find a property that you are interested in, you should also look at what the past property trends have been. This will prepare you for what to expect when the market becomes more stable. These numbers will show if the neighborhood you’re looking at has a high turnover rate, meaning that people purchase homes but do not tend to stay.

You will also want to look at the rate of foreclosures in the neighborhood, this can affect the purchase price of your home and can also affect the selling price should you decide to sell later. Experts suggest that when you look at past trends you go as far back as three years. This will tell you how many homes were sold and what the average sale price was. It also allows you to notice any trends either up or down in property values. Doing some research into past trends may seem like a lot of extra work, but it can help you make a better informed decision when purchasing a home.

Every neighborhood will have property sales throughout the years, some are for the typical reasons of families relocating to a larger home, downsizing or a change in their living situations. But researching the trends will show you if there is an abnormally large amount of activity in the area. Market trends are changing all the time, and doing some research now can help you in the long run. Finding a neighborhood you like is critical to being happy in the home you buy; but doing the proper research before purchasing that home will ensure that you are getting the most for your money and you will not be likely to lose more down the line.

The easiest way in the world to choose a real estate agent is to work with the first one you meet or hear about. On the other hand, the easiest way is probably not the best way when it comes to a job as important as selling your home. It is a good idea to talk to several agents, and even to interview them. Here are a few interview questions you can ask.

1. How many times have you worked as a seller’s agent?

Of course, every realtor has to start somewhere, but do you really want that first sale to be yours? When you compare agents, do not forget to consider the amount of experience they have.

2. How many houses have you sold in all?

Just being in the business is no guarantee of skill at selling houses. You want to make sure that they have not only worked as a seller’s agent, but they have indeed been successful in selling homes.

3. How many homes have you sold in the last year?

Recent success also counts because it means that the real estate agent knows how to work in the current state of the economy. It means that he has not let his skills get rusty. It means also that he should be up to date on all the laws and regulations concerning home sales.

4. How long has the average home you have sold in the last year been on the market from listing to closing date?

In a buyer’s market, the number of days is likely to be high. However, getting that number is important at any time because you can use it to compare different realtors. With this bit of information, you can sort out the real estate agents who work diligently, quickly and effectively from those who do not put in the same effort.

5. What is the average of your sales ratios, comparing list price to selling price.

A realtor who tends to get a high percentage of sales near the list price is one who will probably be good at making deals for you. This type of realtor knows his business and uses his superior abilities to get you the best price.

6. Do you employ a personal assistant to help you, and if so, what does the assistant do?

This is a pertinent question for you to find out because you need to know whether the realtor will have plenty of time to work on the most important aspects of selling your home. At the same time, you will want to make sure that the assistant is not doing work he is not qualified to do.

7. If I am not satisfied, what will happen?

Some real estate agents will refuse to answer this question directly. They will just say something like, “Oh, you will be satisfied, no doubt about it!” Look for a realtor that explains the options you will have in case you are not happy with him, including breaking the contract. This type of realtor is honest and realistic, two good qualities to look for in a real estate agent.

Real estate agents are plentiful, but the ones who can sell your house, sell it as quickly as possible, and sell it for a price you can live with, are not as easy to find. Do not just go with the first realtor you meet, but interview several before you decide who will help you sell your home.

Dean Graziosi is a real estate investing expert who teaches people how to make money in real estate. Dean shares his secrets to profit from a variety of unique strategies he learned through 20 years of real estate investing. Dean started making money with cars at the age of 16 and then used those same concepts to start his real estate investing career at the early age of 18, when he purchased his first rental unit — a run-down apartment building — and renovated it into a profitable piece of property. This whole interesting story of this first venture into real estate investing is told in his book “Be A Real Estate Millionaire: Secret Strategies for Lifetime Wealth Today.” This is a book people who want to learn real estate investing invest in to learn the same strategies Dean has used himself, and taught for over 20 years to novice real estate investors all across the United States.

Besides his new book, “Be A Real Estate Millionaire” Dean also has a real estate investing course titled the: Think A Little Different” real estate course. It teaches people how to make money from Real Estate in a variety of ways.  Dean also offers real estate investing advice to investors through an advanced real estate investing training program. Today Dean has accomplished most of his financial dreams. Dean Graziosi daily appearances on TV since 1999 have helped make him known internationally as one of America’s foremost experts on helping folks achieve top levels of financial security.

If you’re new to investing in real estate, it may seem confusing and complicated. With all those contracts, property titles, and legal forms, it can tend to look like rocket science, but it’s not. Dean Graziosi believes the main reason people get so confused about real estate investing is simply because it’s new to them. Dean Graziosi thinks that as we get older, trying something new becomes harder because we get stuck in our old ways. The good news is Dean Graziosi have a solution for you. If you want to invest in Real estate and want to be millionaire learn from Dean Graziosi who teaches people how to make money in real estate.

I spent the weekend at a buddy’s seminar here in town, and then today I was on a local news station to launch a program here in Phoenix that I’m super excited about. It’s called “Operation Free Home” and it’s something that I hope will catch on and spread like wildfire across the nation. Let me tell you a little a little bit about it. Operation free home is a program we created to help give a family (who has experience some type of hardship) the chance to get back on their feet. Maybe you’ve heard of the classic Holiday song “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” by Bing Crosby, well I’ve added a new twist to that with this idea. Take a look at the TV interview the news station did on me here:

For one full year this family will be given a house to live in rent-free and most of their expenses will be paid by local businesses or other contributors. It works like a contest. To enter, a person must be 18 years old or older and a resident of Arizona. Then they go to www.operationfreehome.org and in 400 words or less they tell us what type of hardship they are experiencing, and then in another 400 words or less they tell us how having this home for a year will help them. People can even enter for another person if that person can’t get internet access themselves. The winner will be decided by a panel of non-biased individuals who will read the stories and select one family.

We came up with the idea because of the housing slump that’s happening not only in Arizona, but nationwide. I own a home in Phoenix that has sat unsold and vacant for a few months. Rather than trying to sell or rent it right now, I decided to take it off the market and use it to help a family in need. I figured I could help “fix” a life and “fill” a home at the same time.
Operation Free Home could be used anywhere in the country and will help people on both ends. It provides a valuable chance for a family who has undergone some type of hardship a chance to get back on their feet, and helps a homeowner or investor in covering the costs of maintaining a home that would otherwise sit unused and wasted.

Our contest is running from now until Dec 18th and we intend to place the family in the home just in time for the holidays. I think it’ll be a nice present for someone and I’m really excited to see how it all turns out. The only downside for me is I wish I could place more than one family, but I hope it’ll catch on and other owners with vacant homes will want to join in what I’m doing. I’ll be offering the plan on how to do this to anyone in any state who wishes to copy the program. I’ll be back on TV every week to give updates and talk more about the contest, but if you want to get involved as a sponsor or if you know someone in Phoenix that would be an ideal person to enter, please go to www.operationfreehome.org and find out more.

About author

Dean Graziosi is the creator and founder of Motor Millions and Think A Little Different, two successful business-opportunity infomercials that teach people how to make money with Cars and Real Estate. Dean’s infomercials have appeared on TV consistently since 1999 and he has shipped over a million manuals, tapes and videos.

If you’re new to investing in real estate, it may seem confusing and complicated. With all those contracts, property titles, and legal forms, it can tend to look like rocket science, but it’s not. I believe the main reason people get so confused about real estate investing is simply because it’s new to them. I think that as we get older, trying something new becomes harder because we get stuck in our old ways. The good news is I have a solution for you. I’m going to suggest that if you are trying to make a go of it in real estate investing, you develop a childlike attitude. Now let me explain what I mean by that, and I’ll need to use some “science talk” for a minute to make my point clear.

Research shows that before preschoolers enter kindergarten; their brains are more active and more flexible. They actually have more connections per brain cell than us adults. By age three, the child’s brain is actually twice as active as an adult’s, and the child’s brain consumes twice-as-much energy. It has some 15,000 synapses or connections per neuron, compared to the average 7,500 per adult brain. There’s more. At about age 10, the brain begins mercilessly eliminating the less-used synapses. This physiological fact may explain why remediation of learning disabilities, which usually starts in the fourth grade, is such hard work and why it is so rarely completely successful. By the time we’re 18 we have the brain we will have for the rest of our lives. The shape of our brain’s internal pathways is, at that point, carved out. For better or worse, our unique physiology and personality is set. That seems to indicate that as we “grow-up” we use only what “brain-power” we need to and dump the unused portion of ours brains capabilities. So, getting stuck in our ways is really nothing more than our brains being hard wired to move us in the same “direction” over and over again.

So, getting back to my suggestion of developing a childlike attitude, as an experiment, I want you to read this article with childlike enthusiasm. Think of no option except this “real estate investing can work for you” because it can - if you apply some proven principles and strategies. As we “grow-up” we tend to lose that childlike sense of awe and wonder, the sense that anything is possible. We start over analyzing and thinking too much and we label that as maturity. In my opinion taking action always outweighs overanalyzing. The right combination of knowledge and action can deliver tremendous results for you no matter what it is you’re trying to achieve. On that note, I want to tell you about my first real estate deal, and I’ll say right upfront that one of the reasons it worked was because I never thought that it wasn’t going to. My youth and inexperience allowed me to keep focused on winning and nothing else. If I’d been older and overanalyze the situation, I may never have done it.

Here’s the story.

I was in my late teens and I was flat broke. There was an apartment house in my town that had once been a decent place, but the owners and let the wrong tenants in and the place began to deteriorate. Soon there were broken down cars in the yard, garbage piled in the hallways, a broken front door, and some busted windows. This apartment house was for sale, but its horrible appearance meant that no bank was going to give anyone a loan to buy it. The worst of its features was an eight-foot tall front porch that was about ready to collapse! It wouldn’t have been able to get a certificate of occupancy, and in most cases, you can close on a piece of property unless a certificate of occupancy exists. In case you’re unfamiliar with the term, a certificate of occupancy ensures that the property is livable…and this place wasn’t!

After some negotiations with the sellers on the price, I told them that I’d like 45 days to clean the place up, but then they would have to sell it to me. To keep them from selling it to anybody else, I told him I was going to give them a tiny little down payment. I also said that in 45 days I would start pursuing a bank loan, and then I wanted 60 days from that point to close on the property. I asked for a lot. I didn’t know any better. Guess what? The seller agreed! But here’s the scary part that I wouldn’t suggest anyone else do. Once the seller and I had a deal, I immediately went to work on the place before even knowing whether I could get a bank loan. I figured cleaning the place up was my first priority because I thought “the bank will look at the place before make it pretty, and I will never get the loan.” So I blindly put my heart, and soul, and sweat equity, into cleaning that place up. I got creative too, remember I was broke! I got rid of the junk in the front yard by calling a guy who would agree to take everything away for free so he could sell it for scrap. Then I got together with some friends and hired the cheapest laborer’s I could find. Together, we fixed all the broken windows, the front door - - and the porch.
A contract with the owners allowed me to evict some of the worst tenants, so I got rid of the ones who are unwilling to be part of the massive cleanup. We planted flowers across the front, mowed the lawn, trimmed the hedges, and painted the front of the building.

Then we went inside and painted the hallway and cleaned up couple of the apartments that we evicted people from. They were nice apartments; they just needed to be cleaned. In 45 days, the building looked gorgeous. Then I went to the bank and was fortunate enough to get a loan. In fact, I get a loan for 100% of the money I needed because the property appraised for much more money than I was buying it for. Wow! Success!

I kept that apartment house for many years and each month I enjoyed great positive cash flow from it. Then I sold it during the peak cycle and made a wonderful profit. What a great learning experience and what a great sense of accomplishment I felt. To this day, I can remember standing on the front lawn, looking at the apartment house after I purchased the property, and feeling a sense of accomplishment that came from knowing I did everything I said it was going to do.

Now I don’t suggest you rush into your first deal like I did. But looking back, I was so aggressive, because I knew what I wanted and I wasn’t going to let anything stand in my way. There was no “what if” option only a “when”. Hey, if a naïve kid who came from no money, had no mentors and never went to college can do it. You can to. You just have to get the right knowledge take the right action. Those are the two little known secrets that will allow you to realize your dreams. Your first deal could just be weeks away!

About the author

Dean Graziosi is a real estate investor

Since 1999, through his seminars, workshops, and television appearances, Dean Graziosi has touched the lives of countless of people all over the country. He has incorporated all his proven techniques for total fulfillment into books that are easy to read and easy to use. Using clear language and vivid examples, Dean Graziosi shows how personal, financial, professional, and relationship success cannot be separated. Rather, they are one in the same, and are actually easy to achieve.

Dean Graziosi didn’t have a lot of mentors in his life, but even at a young age, whether it was luck or genetics, Dean Graziosi truly believed that whatever he wanted to do, he could do. He admits he has often thought that was silly, but perhaps that silliness - to believe that he could do anything - was what allowed him to be successful.

No matter what obstacles he faced, when he decided to accomplish something, he believed he could do it. When people looked at him and thought “you’re crazy, or nuts” he became more secure. How can you grow if you don’t try something out of your comfort zone?

Grazioso just looked at the naysayers and I feel bad for them because they didn’t want to at least try. He looks back and feels blessed that he was gifted with that attitude, and feels so fortunate that he can share that with people. As a kid, Dean Graziosi’s mom literally worked two jobs and made about $90 a week. They lived in the only trailer park in town. He and his sister had hand-me-downs, and their mom drove such a junky car, they would make her drop them off two blocks away from school so the kids wouldn’t make fun of their car.

With his can do attitude, and the necessity of finding ways to make money, Dean turned his attention to finding ways to make money in real estate. With no knowledge and a lot of desire, he bought his first investment property, an apartment building. That deal worked so well, Graziosi started some creative real estate investing, and made one real estate investment after another after another, without using a dime of his own money, and started generating a small fortune at a young age.

Upon release his new book, “Be A Real Estate Millionaire: Secret Strategies for Lifetime Wealth Today” quickly became the fastest selling real estate investing book in the country. It is a simple, straight forward real estate investing guide for people who want to know how they can use the same strategies Dean has been using for over 20 years, and teaching to novice real estate investors all across the United States.

Dean Graziosi currently operates several successful ventures, and has properties from New York to Arizona. He has achieved great success in all areas of his life, using a variety of simple to teach techniques. He has also authored “Think a Little Different” a guide to building personal wealth through real estate.

Appearing on national television since 1999, Dean has helped thousands of regular people achieve tremendous financial and personal success. His books, audio and video products have sold millions of copies to date. Dean Graziosi lives in Phoenix, Arizona, and travels extensively, helping people throughout the United States to achieve their own dreams of success and fulfillment. “Be A Real Estate Millionaire” is exciting to read and easy to understand. Rest assured that even if you’re an old pro at real estate investing Dean’s book is worth every penny if you want simple, no-nonsense real estate investing advice.

If you’re new to investing in real estate, it may seem confusing and complicated. With all those contracts, property titles, and legal forms, it can tend to look like rocket science, but it’s not. I believe the main reason people get so confused about real estate investing is simply because it’s new to them. I think that as we get older, trying something new becomes harder because we get stuck in our old ways. The good news is I have a solution for you. I’m going to suggest that if you are trying to make a go of it in real estate investing, you develop a childlike attitude. Now let me explain what I mean by that, and I’ll need to use some “science talk” for a minute to make my point clear.

Research shows that before preschoolers enter kindergarten; their brains are more active and more flexible. They actually have more connections per brain cell than us adults. By age three, the child’s brain is actually twice as active as an adult’s, and the child’s brain consumes twice-as-much energy. It has some 15,000 synapses or connections per neuron, compared to the average 7,500 per adult brain. There’s more. At about age 10, the brain begins mercilessly eliminating the less-used synapses. This physiological fact may explain why remediation of learning disabilities, which usually starts in the fourth grade, is such hard work and why it is so rarely completely successful. By the time we’re 18 we have the brain we will have for the rest of our lives. The shape of our brain’s internal pathways is, at that point, carved out. For better or worse, our unique physiology and personality is set. That seems to indicate that as we “grow-up” we use only what “brain-power” we need to and dump the unused portion of ours brains capabilities. So, getting stuck in our ways is really nothing more than our brains being hard wired to move us in the same “direction” over and over again.

So, getting back to my suggestion of developing a childlike attitude, as an experiment, I want you to read this article with childlike enthusiasm. Think of no option except this “real estate investing can work for you” because it can - if you apply some proven principles and strategies. As we “grow-up” we tend to lose that childlike sense of awe and wonder, the sense that anything is possible. We start over analyzing and thinking too much and we label that as maturity. In my opinion taking action always outweighs overanalyzing. The right combination of knowledge and action can deliver tremendous results for you no matter what it is you’re trying to achieve. On that note, I want to tell you about my first real estate deal, and I’ll say right upfront that one of the reasons it worked was because I never thought that it wasn’t going to. My youth and inexperience allowed me to keep focused on winning and nothing else. If I’d been older and overanalyze the situation, I may never have done it.

Here’s the story.

I was in my late teens and I was flat broke. There was an apartment house in my town that had once been a decent place, but the owners and let the wrong tenants in and the place began to deteriorate. Soon there were broken down cars in the yard, garbage piled in the hallways, a broken front door, and some busted windows. This apartment house was for sale, but its horrible appearance meant that no bank was going to give anyone a loan to buy it. The worst of its features was an eight-foot tall front porch that was about ready to collapse! It wouldn’t have been able to get a certificate of occupancy, and in most cases, you can close on a piece of property unless a certificate of occupancy exists. In case you’re unfamiliar with the term, a certificate of occupancy ensures that the property is livable…and this place wasn’t!

After some negotiations with the sellers on the price, I told them that I’d like 45 days to clean the place up, but then they would have to sell it to me. To keep them from selling it to anybody else, I told him I was going to give them a tiny little down payment. I also said that in 45 days I would start pursuing a bank loan, and then I wanted 60 days from that point to close on the property. I asked for a lot. I didn’t know any better. Guess what? The seller agreed! But here’s the scary part that I wouldn’t suggest anyone else do. Once the seller and I had a deal, I immediately went to work on the place before even knowing whether I could get a bank loan. I figured cleaning the place up was my first priority because I thought “the bank will look at the place before make it pretty, and I will never get the loan.” So I blindly put my heart, and soul, and sweat equity, into cleaning that place up. I got creative too, remember I was broke! I got rid of the junk in the front yard by calling a guy who would agree to take everything away for free so he could sell it for scrap. Then I got together with some friends and hired the cheapest laborer’s I could find. Together, we fixed all the broken windows, the front door - - and the porch.

A contract with the owners allowed me to evict some of the worst tenants, so I got rid of the ones who are unwilling to be part of the massive cleanup. We planted flowers across the front, mowed the lawn, trimmed the hedges, and painted the front of the building.

Then we went inside and painted the hallway and cleaned up couple of the apartments that we evicted people from. They were nice apartments; they just needed to be cleaned. In 45 days, the building looked gorgeous. Then I went to the bank and was fortunate enough to get a loan. In fact, I get a loan for 100% of the money I needed because the property appraised for much more money than I was buying it for. Wow! Success!

I kept that apartment house for many years and each month I enjoyed great positive cash flow from it. Then I sold it during the peak cycle and made a wonderful profit. What a great learning experience and what a great sense of accomplishment I felt. To this day, I can remember standing on the front lawn, looking at the apartment house after I purchased the property, and feeling a sense of accomplishment that came from knowing I did everything I said it was going to do.

Now I don’t suggest you rush into your first deal like I did. But looking back, I was so aggressive, because I knew what I wanted and I wasn’t going to let anything stand in my way. There was no “what if” option only a “when”. Hey, if a naïve kid who came from no money, had no mentors and never went to college can do it. You can to. You just have to get the right knowledge take the right action. Those are the two little known secrets that will allow you to realize your dreams. Your first deal could just be weeks away!

Dean Graziosi is a real estate investor.