Real Estate Advisor By:


The foreclosure market is an attractive option for buyers wanting to invest in real estate. A foreclosed property is a mortgaged property that has been taken over by the lender due to non-payment of the mortgage. The lender then sells the property in order to recover the money, often at below market prices. Foreclosed homes, condos and other properties can for make excellent investments and is a popular choice for those entering the real estate market.

The October 2006 issue of Business 2.0 Magazine ranks the top 10 foreclosure markets in the United States. Greeley in Colorado tops the list followed by Detroit in Michigan, Miami in Florida, Indianapolis in Indiana, Ft. Lauderdale in Florida, Denver in Colorado, Dayton in Ohio, Dallas and Fort Worth in Texas, and Atlanta in Georgia.

Greeley, CO, has the largest number of foreclosure households in the country, with 0.59% of homes falling in the category, an increase by 14.7% since January 2006. The report holds aggressive residential development, risky underwriting practices and stagnant wages as the main causes.

Detroit, MI, stands next with 0.51% of the households in foreclosure. The badly performing auto industry and the resulting impact to autoworkers’ incomes has contributed to number of homes in foreclosure in this city.

Third on the list is Miami, FL, where 0.37% of the households are in foreclosure, a staggering 91% increase since January 2006. The report states a weakening economy, higher property insurance premiums, and rising energy and interest rates, as the reasons for this rapid increase.

The fourth among the top ten foreclosure markets is Indianapolis, IN. Although the foreclosure rates are slightly lower from last year, still the portion of households in foreclosure stands at 0.35%. Setbacks and layoffs in the city’s auto industry together with falling home prices have contributed to foreclosure rates in this city.

Fort Lauderdale, FL, stands fifth with 0.34% of households entering foreclosure, which is up by a whopping 118.5% since January 2006.

Denver (with 0.33% of households in foreclosure), Dayton (with 0.33% of households in foreclosure), Dallas (with 0.31% of households in foreclosures), Fort Worth (with 0.31% of households in foreclosure) and Atlanta (with 0.31% of households in foreclosures) round out the top 10 foreclosure markets.

If you are looking to invest in the foreclosure market, consult a real estate agent who can help you clinch the best deal on the foreclosure property of your choice.

Gerald Mason By:


So many people have had the experience of attending one or more real estate investing seminars. The information you can gain can be very useful, but you have to make sure you go to a good one:

You know, the kind of real estate investing seminars you see advertised on late night television. The ones that promise to make you a millionaire within a matter of months.

The only catch is that you first must pay thousands of dollars to attend the seminar and only then will the salesperson tell you the secrets of becoming rich from investing in real estate.

All too many times have people fallen prey to these real estate investing seminars. The speaker ropes in victims with promises of riches and they ended up leaving with as much knowledge about real estate investing as they came in with.

These kinds of real estate investing seminars capitalize on the fact that so many people are looking for a way to get rich. The advertisements paint the picture that real estate investing is some easy task that will allow you to become an overnight success. Thousands of people attending these real estate investing seminars with high hopes of finding out some kind of real estate investing strategy they can use to become rich. For the vast majority of attendees, these riches never come to fruition.

If you have heard the horror stories from attendees of real estate investing seminars, you might be wondering if you can ever trust another seminar advertisement. It seems that most advertisements for real estate investing seminars are worded with the same hope-filled, roundabout kind of language. Believe it or not, there are some real estate investing seminars that do more than rope you in for your money then turn you away a few days later with no new information. There are ways to recognize these deceitful real estate investing seminars from those that are authentic.

When you hear about one of these kinds of real estate investing seminars, do some research on it before making a decision to attend. The internet is full of feedback from people who have previously attended real estate seminars. Using an internet search engine, you can quickly search for webpages that mention the seminar you are interested in. Since there is likely to be both good and bad feedback on the seminar, you should read a few of the sites to get a good idea of what will be taught in the seminar.

The wording of the advertisement of real estate investing seminars is another clue of how much of a help the seminar will actually be. Be weary of real estate investing seminars that promise to make you an overnight success, that tell you there is little work required, or that it only takes a few hours a week. None of these is true of real estate investing and any seminar that says differently should not be trusted.

Your own judgment will likely be a good indicator of whether a real estate investing seminar is genuine or not. If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.