Real Estate Investing

About This Course

Have you ever heard the old saying, "Buy low, sell high?" News stories about the softening real estate market might scare away some novice investors. Experienced investors, however, recognize weak markets as opportunities to pick up bargains. When there are more sellers than buyers, your chances of getting a good deal go way up. In fact, many investors make more money in a down market than in a strong one. In many areas, now is the time to buy before prices start climbing again. In this course, you'll learn how to make money in any area, in good times and bad, even if you have little money to start with.

Real Estate Investing includes specially designed worksheets and hands-on activities to take the guesswork out of your investing efforts. By emphasizing systems and service, this course will help you do more with less effort while serving the needs of your buyers and sellers.

We'll start by developing a plan for your own investing efforts based on your personality and investing objectives. We'll cover the proven methods used every day by full-time, professional real estate investors. You'll learn how to invest in foreclosures, manage a rehab project, and build your team of real estate professionals (title officers, lawyers, accountants, mortgage brokers, appraisers, and more). We'll also explore the effects of higher interest rates and cover alternative strategies for a changing market. By the end of the course, you'll be working toward your first (or next) deal.

This course provides straight talk about real estate that will help you profit from the tremendous opportunities available to investors right now.

Course Revised July 2013

About The Instructor

This course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your questions. The instructor for this course will be Josh Fuhrer.

Josh Fuhrer is a real estate investor and developer with over 15 years of experience in single-family homes, and multifamily & commercial properties. For over 10 years, he has run his own real estate development company, focusing on developing and asset managing nearly one million square feet of retail, office, and mixed-use projects. Josh holds a Master's Degree in Real Estate from Georgetown University, and a Graduate Certificate in Real Estate Development from Portland State University.

Syllabus

A new section of each course starts monthly. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.

Week 1

Wednesday - Lesson 01

Real estate investors build wealth by providing a tremendous service to their community. In our first lesson, we'll explore the advantages of real estate and discuss why it's such a powerful investment vehicle. You'll learn investor secrets I wish I'd known when I began investing. You'll evaluate your current financial position and define your investing purpose and goals. Then you'll begin networking with other investors in your local area.

Friday - Lesson 02

Do you know what's happening in your local market? How do you make heads or tails of big 21st-century trends like walkable urbanism and the effect of Generation Y on the real estate market? In Lesson 2, you'll learn about the major shifts in the real estate industry since the end of the Great Recession and how to use them to your advantage. We'll cover how to identify the most profitable neighborhoods in your city and how to quickly determine whether an opportunity is right for you. You'll learn to find and analyze critical market data, which you can use to develop an investing strategy for your market that is consistent with your goals. You'll get access to world-class market data that will instantly make you a more intelligent, more sophisticated investor, even if you're new to the game.

Week 2

Wednesday - Lesson 03

What steps do you need to take to find a profitable deal? What does the transaction process look like, and what should you investigate as part of your due diligence? Finally, how do you make the financial analysis quick, painless, and accurate? In today's lesson, you're going to discover the most effective methods for building a network of real estate professionals, finding deals, and navigating the transaction process from start to finish. By the end of this lesson, you'll understand how various players can help you find a deal, and you'll know how to do back-of-the-envelope financial analysis to quickly and easily determine the profitability in a deal.

Friday - Lesson 04

Has anyone ever told you "It takes money to make money?" Well, it's not always true. In this lesson, we'll debunk that old myth once and for all by exploring how to profit from wholesaling, or finding deals for other investors. Often referred to as "bird dogging," finding a good deal to sell to another investor is a great way to hone your skills and create working capital. You'll learn methods for getting a property under contract, and get the forms and worksheets you'll need to get your first deal done. And you won't need much money to do it.

Week 3

Wednesday - Lesson 05

Looking to maximize your monthly cash flow while minimizing the hassles of being a landlord? In this lesson, you'll learn how to create passive income with rentals, lease options, and owner financing. You'll discover how to structure deals to minimize tenant hassles, and how to use the rent-to-own concept to help people buy a house affordably while still making a nice profit for yourself.

Friday - Lesson 06

In this lesson, we'll delve into the foreclosure process, including its mechanics, consequences, and opportunities. You'll see how hard the process can be for homeowners going through it, and you'll learn how you can help families avoid this black mark on their credit history by using your problem-solving skills. This lesson is a favorite, as it's chock-full of helpful tips on what to do (and not do) when negotiating with sellers in foreclosure. It also includes foreclosure-specific worksheets created just for this course, and a series of sample letters for contacting homeowners facing foreclosure. Be sure to check out the bonus section on creating equity out of thin air with short sales!

Week 4

Wednesday - Lesson 07

This lesson will show you how to effectively manage your rehab projects to create maximum value and profit. You'll learn the characteristics of the perfect house for rehabbing, as well as how best to get the work done without doing it all yourself. You'll become an expert at working with contractors, estimating repairs, and crafting a plan for your rehab projects.

Friday - Lesson 08

Looking for a great starter investment, a potential money-maker in both rising and falling markets, and a perfect rehab project? Think condos! In this lesson, you'll find out why condos are one of the easiest and most profitable investments you can make. In addition, you'll learn to avoid the mistakes that often trip up inexperienced condo investors.

Week 5

Wednesday - Lesson 09

Negotiation is a game you can win if you know the rules and use the right strategies. In this lesson, we'll explore the psychology of bartering, how to present yourself in a negotiation, and how to cultivate the right mind-set to make every deal a win-win. We'll discuss the two most powerful questions to use in any negotiation, and you'll learn negotiating skills you can use in all areas of life, not just real estate. This lesson includes a fun, interactive assignment where you get to test your skills by negotiating with a live opponent!

Friday - Lesson 10

Believe it or not, finding the money to do a deal is the easy part; it's finding the deal that takes work. Not all deals require large sums of money, but most people let lack of funds hold them back from getting started investing in real estate. In this lesson, you'll discover that there's money available and waiting to be put into profitable deals. We'll cover the various types of loans and lenders, and discuss who to go to for the loan you need. You'll learn to evaluate your credit and the credit of those who buy from you so you always know what types of lenders to approach for every deal.

Week 6

Wednesday - Lesson 11

In this lesson, we'll explore how to quickly sell your properties for top dollar. We'll cover what it means to think like a buyer as we discuss what drives a buyer's decision-making process. You'll learn the seven essential items that every effective classified ad must have, as well as how to present yourself and your property at an open house. You'll see how to make your house stand out from others that are for sale in the neighborhood, and how to build a buyers list for your next deal.

Friday - Lesson 12

In our last lesson, we'll put all the pieces together. We'll cover the power of using systems to give efficiency and velocity to your investing efforts. You'll learn the importance of asset protection, building a team of professional advisers you can depend on, and how to reduce your tax burden and increase your profit margins. We'll explore such powerful tools as 1031 exchanges, corporations and LLCs, and Self-Directed Roth IRAs. Then we'll end with some final thoughts to help you begin your investing journey.

Requirements

Internet access, e-mail, the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, and the and the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser.