Wednesday, September 14, 2011

foreclosure sales


Investing in Communites launch by Big Lottery Fund


You've without doubt seen all of them or read them. Glossy advertisements or four-color advances in publications and magazines promising to teach you every one of the juicy information about successful real estate investing. And all you have to do to learn every one of these real est investing surface encounters chuck russo secrets is to pay a rather high sum for a one-or two-day seminar.




Often these kinds of slick real-estate investing workshops claim that you can make wise, profitable real-estate investments with simply no money down (other than, of training course, the large fee you pay for the workshop). Now, how interesting is that? Make a benefit from real estate investments you made out of no funds. Possible? Not most likely.




Successful real estate investment requires income. That's the nature of any kind of business or investment, especially real estate investing. You put your cash into something which you wish and plan can make you more income.




Unfortunately not enough newbies to the world of property investing believe that it's a magical kind of business in which standard company rules do not apply. Simply set, if you want to stay in property investing for greater than, say, a evening or a couple of, then you will have to come up with money to utilize and commit.




While it may be true that buying real estate with absolutely no money down is straightforward, anyone who's even made a simple real estate investment (such as buying their very own home) knows there's far more involved in real-estate investing that can cost you money. For illustration, what about any necessary repairs?




So, the number one rule people a new comer to real property investing should remember is always to have available cash stores. Before you choose to actually do any property investing, save some money. Having just a little money in the bank when you start real estate investing surface encounters chuck russo can help you make more profitable real estate investments in rental properties, for example.




When real estate investing within rental attributes, you'll want to be able to select simply qualified tenants. If you have no cashflow when real-estate investing in rental properties, you may be pressured to take in a less qualified tenant as you need somebody to pay you money to be able to take treatment of fixes or attorney fees.




For almost any real property investing, meaning rental properties or perhaps properties you purchase to re-sell, having funds reserved can enable you to ask for a higher cost. You can ask for a increased price from your owning a home because a person surface encounters chuck russo won't feel financially strapped as you wait for an offer. You won't be backed into a corner and forced to accept just any offer because you desperately need the money.




Another downfall of several new to property investing is, well, greed. Make a profit, yes, but do not become therefore greedy that you ask regarding ridiculous local rental or second-hand rates on many real est investments.




Those new to real est investing must see real-estate investing like a business, NOT an interest. Don't believe real estate investing is going to make you rich overnight. What enterprise does?




It will take about six months to determine if real-estate investing in for you. If you have decided that, hey I love this, then offer yourself a couple of years to really start making money. It often takes at the very least five years to get truly successful in real-estate investing.




Persistence could be the key to success in property investing. If you have decided that real-estate investing is for you, surface encounters chuck russo keep plugging away at it and the rewards will be greater than you imagined.












It is very difficult to determine the sex of a pigeon. I used to keep pigeons as a kid so I’m good at it.


There are three ways to do it:


1 – Check their reproductive organs

Pigeons genitalia all look the same (they have ‘cloaca‘) so you will have to cut them open to actually see their reproductive organs. Not a very efficient method.


2 – See who goes on top

There isn’t much variation in the sex life of a pigeon. Males go on top. No Kama Sutra here. Fortunately all they do is eat and, ehm, reproduce. You won’t have to wait very long to see that happen. But you do need 2 pigeons and some patience.


3 – Look at their faces

Yes, pigeons have faces just like humans.


It takes years to be able to read the face of a pigeon. I kept pigeons as a kid so I can tell the sex of any pigeon just by looking at their faces for few seconds. Just like with most humans. Humans have the added benefit of clothing, hair and breasts. But even without that a face looks feminine or masculine.


Investors try to look under all those feathers but up close all excel sheets look the same. They try to see who goes on top but then you would have to wait until the entrepreneur meets an actual client.


But once you have met enough starting entrepreneurs one look at someones face is usually enough. You know what you have got and who is a good bet and who isn’t.


Just like with pigeons.


This is a variation of post I published in 2007. Photo credit: Igor Stevanovic via Shutterstock.




Socially responsible investments might be emotionally compelling investments, but do they necessarily have compelling financial returns?



The term "Impact Investing" has taken on many meanings in the past few years. I want to end the confusion and underscore that impact investing must by definition deliver impactful and compelling financial returns.



Impact investing has been labeled as a subset of socially responsible investing (SRI). But, it is not a subset of SRI.



The basic premise of socially responsible investing is to avoid investing in businesses that cause harm to the environment or society. Since SRI's approach to investing is narrow and passive, it is by definition often a niche investing strategy, which in many cases has delivered lukewarm returns.



SRIs don't necessarily impact an industry, impact investments necessarily do. Yet, many organizations still treat SRI and impact investing like synonyms - causing confusion.



For example, here is the definition of SRI from ecolife, a website that is an online guide to green living:



"Socially responsible investing is an investment strategy employed by individuals, corporations, and governments looking for ways to ensure their funds go to support socially responsible firms. The concept goes by names like sustainable investing, impact investing, community investing, ethical investing, and socially-conscious investing; it is a non-financial gauge that is used when selecting various investment options that takes into account factors such as environmental, social, and ethical values."



The reality is that some socially responsible investments can be impact investments, but not all impact investments are socially responsible investments. So, SRIs are really a subset of impact investing. According to the Monitor Institute's new report "impact investors want to move beyond 'socially responsible investment'."



All impact investments have the potential to move towards a new economy - an impact economy, not all SRIs will. In fact, most SRIs won't.



Why? Impact investing is socially responsible and must have compelling returns. Returns that make the professional investor consider it seriously as a critical piece in the portfolio. According to Dr. Arjuna Sittampalam, research associate with EDHEC-Risk Institute, "in other words, the investor makes an active decision to seek a social or developmental return alongside their financial return."



Since impact investments create compelling returns, they have a greater chance of attracting more serious professional investors than SRIs -- a necessity for creating worldwide social change and impact.



The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) defines impact investments as those that: "aim to solve social or environmental challenges while generating financial profit. Impact investing includes investments that range from producing a return of principal capital (capital preservation) to offering market-rate or even market-beating financial returns. Although impact investing could be categorized as a type of 'socially responsible investing,' it contrasts with negative screening, which focuses primarily on avoiding investments in 'bad' or 'harmful' companies - impact investors actively seek to place capital in businesses and funds that can harness the positive power of enterprise."



This definition is more on target with the real definition of impact investing, but to revise part of GIIN's definition: Impact investments only include investments that can offer market-rate or even market-beating financial returns.



So, my definition -- impact investing must achieve four significant goals:



1. Make an impact in solving a pressing problem of our time,

2. Generate compelling returns for investors,

3. Generate growth for economies, and

4. Generate prosperity for developed and developing nations.



An example is my own case-in-point. I founded SunEdison that created the power purchase agreement (PPA) model for the solar industry. This business model used net metering, streamlined interconnection standards, ways to connect to the grid, and actually provided a new solar power service to customers.



Investments in PPAs are delivering 7-12% unleveraged after tax returns. In today's financial environment; these are compelling returns given the low risks.



Plus, PPAs have lowered the use of fossil fuels to deliver electric energy; created thousands of jobs worldwide and are growing. They have impactful financial returns and impact a big problem.



According to the Monitor Institute's new report Investing for social and environmental impact: a design for catalyzing an emerging industry "it is certainly plausible that in the next five to 10 years investing for impact could grow to represent about 1 percent of estimated professionally managed global assets in 2008. That would create a market of approximately $500 billion. A market that size would create an important supplement to philanthropy, nearly doubling the amount given away in the U.S. alone today."



But that is only a start, a start to an "Impact Economy." To really make a difference - to leverage impact investing to create an impact economy, it must be larger. Some estimate that we need to invest over $1 trillion to combat issues like climate change, poverty, and lacking global health, to put the world back onto a stable more equitable footing.



So, let's put our money where the impact is. Stop selling impact investors short.



Jigar Shah is CEO of the Carbon War Room, a nonprofit that harnesses the power of entrepreneurs to implement market-driven solutions to climate change and create a post-carbon economy.





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