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You’re Invited to the 3rd Annual Los Angeles Real Estate Grand Expo

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3rd Annual Los Angeles Real Estate Grand Expo

We are very excited to announce our 3rd Annual Los Angeles Real Estate Grand Expo. The Grand Expo returns on Saturday, October 22, 2022, 9:00 am to 6:00 pm. We’re taking over the entire Iman Cultural Center for the day – it’s all ours! The North Hall (vendor hall), the South Hall (workshops), and the middle parking lot (loaded with tents and food trucks). The theme of this year’s Grand Expo will be “How to Invest in a Pre-Recession Market.”

Last year, the Grand Expo was the largest real estate event in Southern California! We had over 600 investors, 64 vendors, and 10 national speakers! This year will be even BIGGER! An entire day celebrating real estate investing and you can be involved. Best of all, the Grand Expo will be FREE to attend. This Expo is going to be big, really BIG!

SPEAKERS. There will be national guest speakers (in three breakout rooms). Here is a partial list of speakers:

1. Brent Kessler

2. Rusty Tweed

3. Shawn Tiberio

4. David Tedder

5. Merrill Chandler

6. Cliff Gager

7. Joe Arias

8. Tony Watson

9. Abbas Mohammed

10. Rick Sharga (Keynote)

INVESTMENT EDUCATION. Just think of it! An all-day in-depth educational extravaganza celebrating real estate investing. More importantly, this will NOT be a sales pitch. Each of the speakers have contractually agreed to educate and teach us successful real estate investing strategies. So regardless of whether you are a new investor, already own properties, or are very experienced, our Grand Expo is for you!

COMPLIMENTARY PRIVATE CONSULTATIONS. As a special unique feature of our Grand Expo, you can sign-up for private half-hour consultations with your favorite guest speakers. Registration will occur Saturday morning, starting promptly at 8:00 am. First come – first serve. So come early and schedule your private consultations. A once in a lifetime opportunity to get free advice from national real estate experts!

VENDOR EXPO: Don’t miss our “Vendor Expo,” which will occur throughout the day in the North Hall. We’ll have 70+ vendors where you can “meet and greet” real estate professionals with services and products that you’ll want to utilize in your real estate investing. (If you have a product or service that would be valuable to real estate investors and would like to be a vendor, please contact us directly.)

DATE: Saturday, October 22, 2022

TIME: 9:00 am to 6:00 pm.

LOCATION: Iman Cultural Center, 3376 Motor Avenue (between Palms and National), Los Angeles, 90034.

FREE PARKING: There will be plenty of street parking (metered and free) on side streets around the Iman. Plus valet parking ($15) will also be available.

FREE ADMISSION: Admission to our Grand Expo will be COMPLIMENTARY (free!), but reservations are recommended.

RSVP: Make your reservations now! (Last year, we sold out and people were turned away at the Skirball!) So don’t wait! RSVP at our special website: www.LAGrandExpo.com.

PRODUCERS. The Grand Expo is joint presentation of the Los Angeles County Real Estate Investors Association, Sam’s Real Estate Club, Ventura Real Estate Investors Association, and Realty411.com.

The Reality of SB-1079 Foreclosures

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By Edward Brown

Attempting to curtail foreclosed houses being turned into rentals, California passed SB-1079 in 2021. This law effectively, for 45 days, suspended any activity after the foreclosure. Prior to this law, houses that were foreclosed on could be purchased at the foreclosure sale by investors and immediately turned into rental property. When this happened, houses were taken off the inventory for home ownership.

California was desiring to promote homeownership, and reduced inventory pushed prices higher as well as increased renters vs homeowners. The theory behind SB-1079 was that it would discourage investors from bidding at the foreclosure because, for the next 45 days, an “eligible bidder” could match the winning bid. The effect of this would be that the investor would tie up his money for 45 days and not know if he would end up with the property. Thus, investors would most likely not show up and bid at the foreclosure and wait out the 45 days to see if any eligible bidders came forward. If nobody outbid the lender at the foreclosure sale, the investor
could approach the lender to purchase the property. With SB-1079 in place, there is no incentive for an investor to outbid at the auction.

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One of the main problems with this law is that the party being foreclosed on has almost no chance of any over-bidding at the foreclosure. Prior to SB-1079, it was possible for the borrower who was being foreclosed on to potentially recoup some equity in the property if the house was bid up. For example, if the 1st mortgage was owed $100,000 and was the foreclosing party, and the house was worth $300,000, the lender would most likely credit bid their entire $100,000 loan. If another party bid $140,000, the lender would get paid their $100,000 and the owner of the house who was getting foreclosed on would walk away with $40,000. SB-1079 effectively shuts the door on that scenario, as the chances of someone outbidding the lender at the foreclosure are slim due to the uncertainty of the bidder acquiring the property at the sale. For the following 45 days, an “eligible bidder” has the opportunity to bid the same $100,000 as the lender and end up with the property. Although there are eight definitions of an eligible bidder, the primary ones include an occupant of the property as his primary residence [not the borrower or a family member of the borrower, however], effectively, a rental, a prospective owner-occupant, and a California nonprofit whose primary activity is the development of affordable housing. If the house is owner occupied, that eliminates the potential tenant purchase option.

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The main problem is that the homeowner will almost certainly lose 100% of any potential equity due to nobody outbidding at the foreclosure auction. At this writing, there are not many non-profits who are set up for development of affordable housing; thus, the only realistic way for the lender to be taken out after 45 days [after the foreclosure] will be those houses that were rented out to tenants or those who desire to own and occupy the house as their primary residence. This last potential is slim, as most buyers want to make offers on houses they can inspect and not wait 45 days to find out whether or not they will be allowed to buy the house.

Due to these new foreclosure laws in California, lenders will have to factor into their underwriting the potential added costs of holding a [potential] foreclosed property at the time they make their loan to the borrower, as the lender is precluded from selling or renting out the property for 45 days after the foreclosure. The lender may have additional costs during this period, such as securing the property against vandalism, vagrants, weed abatement, and the like.

It is still too early to tell if the statistics show if tenants come up with the needed funding options in order to secure the house for their own benefit, as the program is still in its infancy. Only time will tell if this experiment works out for potential would-be homeowners or if it was just a sure-fire way to make sure foreclosed homeowners recoup nothing.

ABOUT EDWARD BROWN

Edward Brown currently hosts two radio shows, The Best of Investing and Sports Econ 101. He is also in the Investor Relations department for Pacific Private Money, a private real estate lending company.

Additionally, Edward has published many articles in various financial magazines as well as been an expert on CNN, in addition to appearing as an expert witness and consultant in cases involving investments and analysis of financial statements and tax returns.

Edward Brown, Host
The Best of Investing on KTRB 860AM
The Answer on Saturdays at 8pm
and Sports Econ 101 on Saturdays
at 1pm on SiriusXM channel 217
21 Pepper Way
San Rafael, CA 94901
[email protected]

Learn live and in real-time with Realty411. Be sure to register for our next virtual and in-person events. For all the details, please visit Realty411Expo.com or our Eventbrite landing page, CLICK HERE.

Insider Knowledge from Leading Experts

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Top Educators Share Insight
at Our Online Investor Summit

Get ready for Realty411’s informational two-day online Investor Summit. Regardless of your level of expertise as a real estate investor, be sure to join us for incredible insight at this event.

Guests will not only learn in real time, but they will be able to engage directly with educators via chat. This is the place to ask your most difficult real estate and business questions.

Be sure to pencil in this life-changing virtual seminar designed to bring you up close and personal with leading experts. Make connections with top industry leaders and gain insider knowledge to skyrocket your net worth.

For this two-day online webinar guests will learn information about the following topics:

* Cities Where Top Investors are Buying In
* How to Profit with Long-Distance Rehabbing
* How Private Capital Can Help Investors Leverage
* Steps to Creating a Game Plan to Win as an Investor
* Developing Relationships with Leaders of Influence
* The Latest News on Finance and Mortgage Lending
* How Your Mindset Determines Your Investment ROI
* Identity Theft Protection Safety Education
* Information about Business Lines of Credit
* How to Structure & Profit from Short-Term Rentals
* Learn How Technology Can 100X Your Business
* Discover How to Own a RAL (Residential Assisted Living) Home
* And so much more – top experts – great insight!

Realty411’s virtual Investor Summit is sponsored by MAG Capital Partners

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What is a Trust?

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By Randy Hughes, Mr. Land Trust

Has anyone asked you yet, “What is a Trust?” I am asked many times each month what a trust is and why someone should use a trust to hold title to their real estate investments. Oftentimes the person asking me these questions is a real estate investor or an attorney. Most attorneys are not familiar with Land Trusts, also known as title holding trusts, because most law professors do not teach about them in school. The result is that they typically do not recommend them to their clients. Many attorneys opt to suggest the use of an LLC to hold the title.

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You May Be in the Same Situation

If I am frequently encountering these questions, you may be too. Your current attorney may ask, “Why are you messing with all that unnecessary Land Trust stuff?” Or you could be interviewing a new attorney to work with, and they want to know why you are interested in trusts.

Perhaps a fellow member of the real estate investment club or association of which you are a member, or a real estate friend of yours asks, “Why bother with Land Trusts?” (By the way, if you are not a member of a real estate investment club, I encourage you to find one that suits your style and join. The benefits to you and your business are numerous.)

Let’s face it, the answers to these questions may not flow off your tongue. Since I’ve had more practice than you responding to these inquiries, I’ll share with you some of the points I make.

You know by now that there are many ways to hold title to real estate, whether it is a personal residence or an investment property. The title can be held in an individual’s name, joint tenancy, corporation, limited liability company, joint venture, partnership, limited partnership, association, or trust.

Each of these forms of holding the title carries benefits, detriments, tax, and asset protection implications. There is not space enough in this issue of my Land Trust University newsletter to compare and contrast all these consequences. We can concentrate on the Land Trust and its many advantages to the everyday real estate investor.

Start with the Basics

Let us start at the beginning. What is a trust? It is merely a few pieces of paper whereby one person or entity (the Trustee) holds the title for someone else (the Beneficiary). The Trust Agreement is a contract between the parties involved and as such, dictates the actions of all parties involved. There are many types of trusts available to use. As members of the Land Trust University, we typically deal with a Grantor Revocable Trust (GRT) to hold title to our real estate investments.

Technically, the IRS says that a GRT is NOT an entity but a “contractual arrangement.” The IRS does not require that a GRT has a tax ID number, and they don’t demand that a tax return be filed on behalf of the trust. All tax results from the property held inside the trust flow through to the Beneficiary who files a return. (See Revenue Ruling 92-105 and IRS Code Section 677.)

When combined with Corporations, LLCs, or other trusts, the Land Trust can be a formidable opponent to those who would like to inflict financial pain on the owner.

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Land Trusts were not designed to be asset protection tools on their own. Some practitioners perceive them as great estate planning tools that prevent the Beneficiaries (and Successor Beneficiaries) from experiencing probate.

However, I have found that the mere fact that a real estate investor does not own property in their personal name is a great benefit. And if the investor makes the Beneficiary of the Land Trust an LLC or Corporation, it yields the best of both worlds. Primarily, you receive the privacy of ownership afforded by the Land Trust (there is no “registry” for Land Trusts) and the asset protection benefits of the LLC/Corp as the Beneficiary.

Privacy Makes a Difference

Why is privacy of ownership important? I receive calls every month from people across the nation that think I am the trustee of a trust they are trying to investigate. (They find my phone number when they search the Internet for Land Trusts.) Typically, these inquiries are about a problem the caller is having with a tenant next door or across the street from them. They want to register a complaint or find out who to sue over their dissatisfaction with the adjacent property owner.

If your attorney or your real estate friend have not yet heard a war story from someone who was sued just because their name was on the deed, they will. You can also encourage them to read the testimonials and blog posts on my website. People whose lives were turned upside down because they were the defendant in a lawsuit contact me frequently.

These calls and the challenges people have lived through represent the top reason real estate investors use trusts. It is to stay out of the public purview. Trusts can help avoid frivolous problems. We have a highly litigious society in America today. If you make it easy for someone to sue you, they probably will. If it is difficult to sue you, or they can’t discover who you are, they probably will not . . . they will take someone else to court who is an easy target.

Many advanced Land Trust strategies can be employed in conjunction with other entities that can create dy-no-mite asset protection for the everyday real estate investor.

To learn more visit Randy’s FREE online training at www.landtrustwebinar.com/411 and text the word “reasons” to 206-203-2005 for his free booklet, Reasons to Use a Land Trust. Readers can also reach Randy the old-fashioned way by calling me at 217-355-1281. (He actually answers his own phone, unlike most other businesses in America today!)

I encourage you to learn more by going to my FREE online training at www.landtrustwebinar.com/411 and text the word “reasons” to 206-203-2005 for my free booklet, Reasons to Use a Land Trust. You can also reach me the old-fashioned way by calling me at 217-355-1281. (I actually answer my own phone, unlike most other businesses in America today!)

Learn live and in real-time with Realty411. Be sure to register for our next virtual and in-person events. For all the details, please visit Realty411.com or our Eventbrite landing page, CLICK HERE.

Using Your Marketing Analytics to the Fullest

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By Vista Capital Solutions

Marketing your business is a lot easier than it used to be. Thanks to the power of the internet, it is possible to unearth a ton of useful information about how your ads and promotions are performing. It all begins with your marketing analytics. Though you probably have a general idea of how to analyze the data connected to your marketing processes, there are probably a few pointers that could help you maximize your results. Look over these tips and discover how you can start to make the most of your data analysis.

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Start With Current Performance

Data is powerful because it can show you almost anything you want to see or understand about your company and its various resources. However, it is easy to get carried away with how much potential an analysis can have. This means you want to slow down and start your journey with a few simple tasks. Above all else, you want to start with your current marketing performance. How are your current campaigns resonating with customers? Are you seeing conversions at the rate you’d hoped? Knowing where you’re at is necessary for knowing where to go.

Aim for the Future

After you’ve given yourself a chance to analyze where your marketing efforts are at, it is time to use data to create a map for the direction you would like to head. What are the long-term goals you have for your business? Analytics can help you take a general objective for your company and transform it into an actual possibility. As you begin to analyze various performance metrics, you’ll see what is and isn’t working. By using this information to your best abilities, you can craft marketing campaigns that exceed all previous attempts.

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Remember To Keep Checking Back

An easy mistake to make after discovering something useful from a session of data analysis is assuming you’ve found a concrete solution. In truth, data is always changing. Whatever you learn along the way is usually only going to be applicable to this specific moment in time. You must constantly go back to the drawing board to interpret new data and weigh it against previous sets. The more you get used to the processes, the easier it will be to make data analysis a routine part of your marketing team’s tasks.

Getting the most out of your marketing analytics is all about understanding a few simple facts. Learn the basics, keep your ear to the ground for new trends, and take your understanding of your business to the next level.

Learn live and in real-time with Realty411. Be sure to register for our next virtual and in-person events. For all the details, please visit Realty411Expo.com or our Eventbrite landing page, CLICK HERE.

Converting Home Equity to Cash

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By Rick Tobin

The average American homeowner has the bulk of the household’s net worth tied up in the equity in their primary home where they reside. As noted in my past Equity Rich, Cash Poor article, the average US homeowner at retirement age has 83% of their overall net worth tied up in home equity (or the difference between current market value and any mortgage debt if not free and clear with no liens). As a result, the typical homeowner only has about 17% of their overall net worth available for monthly expenses.

Real estate isn’t as liquid, or the ability to quickly convert to cash, as a checking account. We can’t just go to our local grocery store and ask the cashier to deduct the full grocery cart from our debit account tied to our home’s promissory note or deed of trust. Yet, we all have to eat, so what are some ways to gain more access to cash that originate from the equity in our primary home or investment properties?

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Let’s take a closer look at ways to convert equity in real estate into spendable cash:

● Sell your primary home or rental properties: If so, where will you live? Are rents nearby lower or higher than your current mortgage payments if you need to move? Are there any potential unforeseen tax consequences or benefits? Will you miss the monthly rental income from your investment properties?

● Sale-and-leaseback: You find an investor willing to purchase your primary home while allowing you to stay there for months or years as a tenant.

● Cash-out 1st mortgage: Pay off some or all forms of consumer debt (credit cards, auto loans, school loans, business loans, tax liens, etc.) with a larger mortgage while possibly lowering your overall monthly expenses significantly with or without any verified income.

● Reverse mortgage: A combination of a mortgage and life insurance hybrid contract that gets you cash out as a lump sum and/or with monthly income payments to you while not requiring you to make any monthly mortgage payments. Lower FICO scores are usually allowed and minimal sourced monthly income like from Social Security may be sufficient to qualify.

● Business-purpose loan as a 1st or 2nd: A type of loan that may be tied to an owner-occupied or non-owner-occupied property for so long as the funds are used for business or investment purposes such as assisting your self-employed business or buying more rental properties. These types of loans have much less paperwork and disclosure requirements and can be funded within a few weeks with or without income or asset verification.

Declining Dollars and Rising Expenses

Although U.S. wage earnings rose 5.1% nationwide between the 2nd quarter of 2021 and 2022, the published Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rate reached 9.1% in June 2022 which was the highest inflation rate pace in over 40 years. As a result, the purchasing power of our dollars continues to decline while consumer goods and service prices rise too quickly.

In July 2022, credit card rates and overall consumer debt balances across the nation reached all-time record highs. This was partly due to more Americans relying upon their credit cards to cover basic living expenses to offset inflated prices.

Simultaneously, the Federal Reserve increased short-term rates a few times so far this year while making consumer debt balances more expensive. At the June and July meetings for the Federal Reserve, they increased short-term rates 0.75% at each meeting. This was the largest back-to-back or consecutive rate hike for the Federal Reserve in their entire history.

To bridge the gap between expenses and income, total credit card debt balances surpassed $890 billion in the second quarter of 2022. The increase in overall credit card debt rose 13% in the second quarter of 2022, which was the largest year-over-year increase in more than 20 years. Near the start of 2022, the average American had close to $6,200 in unpaid credit card balances as per the Federal Reserve and Bankrate.

An additional 233 million new credit cards were opened in the second quarter. This was the largest new credit card account increase in one quarter since 2008 (or near the start of the Credit Crisis). A consumer who pays just the minimum balance for a credit card with a few thousand dollar balance may need more than 30 years to pay off the entire debt partly due to the horrific annual rates and fees that are generally much higher than 30-year mortgage rates.

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Short-Term Cash Supplies

It would take 64.4 days for a Californian to run out of cash if they had average American savings amounts of $9,647 based upon a recent study from ConsumerAffairs.

Here’s the top 10 most expensive regions in the nation and the estimated time that it would take to run out of cash:
Hawaii (62.5)
California (64.4)
Washington, D.C. (72.1 days)
Massachusetts (73.6 days)
New Jersey (74.8 days)
Connecticut (76.3 days)
Maryland (77.9 days)
Washington (79 days)
New York (79.9 days)
Colorado (80.8 days)

Living Wages, Debt, and Wealth Creation

Another survey conducted by GOBankingRates that was published in July 2022 found that the median annual living wage, which is defined as the minimum income amount needed to cover expenses while saving for retirement, is $61,617 per U.S. household. However, the Top 14 most expensive states required much higher annual household income or living wages as listed below:

1. Hawaii: $132,912
2. New York: $101,995
3. California: $94,778
4. Massachusetts: $86,480
5. Alaska: $85,083
6. Oregon: $82,926
7. Maryland: $82,475
8. Vermont: $78,561
9. Connecticut: $76,014
10. Washington: $73,465
11. Maine: $73,200
12. New Jersey: $72,773
13. New Hampshire: $72,235
14. Rhode Island: $71,334

Nationally, the lowest required living wage income for households was $51,754 in Mississippi.

These Top 14 expensive living wage regions also share something in common in that they have some of the highest median-price home values in the nation, especially Hawaii, New York, and California. While the monthly living wages may be highest in these regions, the net worths for homeowners is probably much higher due to so many properties valued well over $1 million dollars.

Ideally, we should all focus on keeping our monthly expenses as low as possible while investing in prime real estate to boost our overall net worth. If so, you’re more likely to retire sooner rather than later while your money works hard for you (or rapidly increasing annual home value equity gains) instead of you working too hard for your money.

Rick Tobin

Rick Tobin has a diversified background in both the real estate and securities fields for the past 30+ years. He has held seven (7) different real estate and securities brokerage licenses to date, and is a graduate of the University of Southern California. Rick has an extensive background in the financing of residential and commercial properties around the U.S with debt, equity, and mezzanine money. His funding sources have included banks, life insurance companies, REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts), equity funds, and foreign money sources. You can visit Rick Tobin at RealLoans.com for more details.

Learn live and in real-time with Realty411. Be sure to register for our next virtual and in-person events. For all the details, please visit Realty411.com or our Eventbrite landing page, CLICK HERE.