#creative cash

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Real Estate Raw: A step-by-step instruction manual to building a real estate portfolio from start to finish -

What’s your why? Everyone needs a good reason to be in real estate and to seek the financial freedom that it can bring. What is your reason? Do you want to have financial security? More time with your family? Perhaps create legacy wealth for future generations? Whatever your reason for wanting to get into the real […]

Real estate is difficult. Real estate is not a get-rich-quick business. There’s nothing in this book that is going to teach you anything about getting rich quickly. This book is about teaching you how to build a business. What will the product of this business be? Real Estate. Keep in mind that real estate is simply a product of a business. If you don’t understand the business that surrounds the product, you’ll fail at the product and at the business.

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What You Must Understand About Real Estate Before Closing Your First Deal -

The following is adapted from Creative Cash by Bill Ham, Gino Barbaro, Jake Stenziano. After almost eight years in the real estate business, I made one of the costliest mistakes of my career, losing over $1 million on a deal because I didn’t understand something important. Yes: $1 million dollars! It makes me sick just thinking about it. […]

Pillar #1: Market Cycles

Markets go up, and markets go down. Prices go up; prices go down. What most people don’t realize is that market shifts are quite predictable.

Keep in mind that all markets cycle—the real estate market, the stock market, apartments, offices, single-family homes. These are all individual markets and will have their own cycles independent of, and sometimes in sync with, the national economy. Understanding past market conditions will allow us to deploy the most accurate business model in the present.

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Creative Ways to Overcome the Barriers to Entry in Real Estate -

The following is adapted from Creative Cash by Bill Ham (author), Gino Barbaro (contributor), Jake Stenziano (contributor). Along with my partners, we have over 25 years experience operating vertically integrated real estate businesses, and have over $100 million in assets under management. If there’s one thing I’ve learned so far, it’s that everyone faces barriers to entry […]

Barrier #2: Qualifying for a Loan

To qualify for a loan, the borrower usually needs to have at least the same amount of net worth as the loan amount. In many cases, net worth needs to be 1.3 times the loan amount.

So if I want to qualify for a $1,000,000 loan to buy an apartment complex, then I need to show the bank at least $1,000,000 in net worth—possibly $1.3 million. The net worth for the loan can also be a collection of your net worth plus your partner’s net worth, but in this case, you’d need millionaire partners to sign on the dotted line.

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How Distressed Assets Could Be Your Ticket to the Best Real Estate Deals -

The following is adapted from Creative Cash by Bill Ham (author), Gino Barbaro (contributor), Jake Stenziano (contributor). If you’ve been in real estate for decades or are just starting out, there’s one truth I’m sure you know well: it’s hard to find good deals. When you’re using creative and seller financing (CSF) to close deals, there’s another wrinkle […]

If you’ve been in real estate for decades or are just starting out, there’s one truth I’m sure you know well: it’s hard to find good deals. When you’re using creative and seller financing (CSF) to close deals, there’s another wrinkle you have to consider in your hunt for good deals: the condition of the properties. Most likely, you’ll be dealing with a distressed asset.

Because if a property is up and running and making tons of money, why would sellers finance it to you? They probably wouldn’t. They would just sell it on the open market to a qualified buyer.

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Want the Best Multi-Family Real Estate Deals? Start with Problems. -

The following is adapted from Creative Cash by Bill Ham. There’s one thing that is common among all people: problems! It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor. It doesn’t matter if you’re just starting in the real estate game, or if you’ve been here for years. Chances are, you have problems. See where I’m going with […]

Most sellers have problems. At the very least, they might be having trouble finding someone to buy their property at the moment. They may have occupancy problems. They may have repairs that haven’t been done for a while. They may not be able to manage the asset anymore. They may be a “burned-out” landlord.

If you can solve the seller’s problems by creating cooperation, then you don’t need to be rich to start in the real estate business. Creative and seller financing (CSF) is based around creating value through problem solving. There are a few easy ways to identify problems in your market. These problems are seller problems as well as investor problems.

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How Distressed Assets Could Be Your Ticket to the Best Real Estate Deals -

The following is adapted from Creative Cash by Bill Ham (author), Gino Barbaro (contributor), Jake Stenziano (contributor). If you’ve been in real estate for decades or are just starting out, there’s one truth I’m sure you know well: it’s hard to find good deals. When you’re using creative and seller financing (CSF) to close deals, there’s another wrinkle […]

What is a Distressed Asset?

The term “distressed asset” can refer to many things including:

Deferred maintenance

Low occupancy

Bad management

Units that need to be rehabbed (multifamily)

Bad tenant base (large number of non paying tenants)

Exterior building damage

These are common areas of distress I’ve encountered while building my portfolio. It’s worth mentioning that in all the real estate I’ve dealt with, I’ve never done a deal that didn’t have some level of distress or upside (the ability to raise its value through renovations) to it.

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Creative Ways to Overcome the Barriers to Entry in Real Estate -

The following is adapted from Creative Cash by Bill Ham (author), Gino Barbaro (contributor), Jake Stenziano (contributor). Along with my partners, we have over 25 years experience operating vertically integrated real estate businesses, and have over $100 million in assets under management. If there’s one thing I’ve learned so far, it’s that everyone faces barriers to entry […]

Barrier #1: Lending

The appetite for lending comes and goes. Terms rise and fall with the strength of the market. When it comes to debt, there’s plenty of money to buy deals when there are no good deals, and money is hard to find when there are lots of deals to be had.

In a good economy, everyone is buying. Therefore, the prices are high, and deals are difficult to find. Lenders are willing to lend, but returns on deals are low.

In a bad economy, prices are low, making it a great time to buy. The problem is, lenders and investors aren’t as willing to back real estate during that part of the market cycle.

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How Distressed Assets Could Be Your Ticket to the Best Real Estate Deals -

The following is adapted from Creative Cash by Bill Ham (author), Gino Barbaro (contributor), Jake Stenziano (contributor). If you’ve been in real estate for decades or are just starting out, there’s one truth I’m sure you know well: it’s hard to find good deals. When you’re using creative and seller financing (CSF) to close deals, there’s another wrinkle […]

What is a Distressed Asset?

The term “distressed asset” can refer to many things including:

Deferred maintenance

Low occupancy

Bad management

Units that need to be rehabbed (multifamily)

Bad tenant base (large number of non paying tenants)

Exterior building damage

These are common areas of distress I’ve encountered while building my portfolio. It’s worth mentioning that in all the real estate I’ve dealt with, I’ve never done a deal that didn’t have some level of distress or upside (the ability to raise its value through renovations) to it.

When you can get a property at the right price with the right debt, renovating real estate can be extremely lucrative. As you’ll see below, I’m speaking from experience.