I know you… you have been thinking about getting into this game of real estate, but you were held back because you just didn’t know how to get funding. You’re not the only one, Here’s a possible solution… the money may already be sitting in your IRA or 401K retirement account.

You’re probably asking yourself how that can happen. Not to worry, because there is a simple solution called a self directed IRA (or 401K). Using one of these very special accounts, you can direct your money into whatever kind of investment you like, even real estate.

There are several benefits to doing this, the first of which is that your investment dollars will continue to grow on a tax deferred basis, just as they do now. By not losing a piece of every investment dollar to Uncle Sam, you are insuring that you will have more money to reinvest in property deals when they become available.

Next, self-directed IRA or 401K investing allows you the freedom to invest in something you are familiar with. Unlike the every day mutual funds, stocks, and cash funds most IRA and 401K money is invested in, you can actually invest in real estate in towns and neighborhoods you are familiar with.

Of course, you must follow the IRS rules for setting up such an account. Don’t worry, though, because the trustee you choose to manage the account will know the rules, and they will be able to advise you accordingly. Probably the primary rule is that the real estate must be owned and paid for completely by the retirement account, not by you individually.

Since the Individual Retirement Account owns the real estate, all money paid or received relative to that piece of property must come from the IRA or 401K, and be paid back into it. You can’t comingle funds, or write checks from your personal account. Because of this rule, paying bills can be a bit aggravating, because you need to request checks from your account holder. It can get expensive, too.

As with every other IRA or 401K, all of your capital is at risk. The nature of real estate investing is that it is possible to lose money. It’s rare, but it does happen. At least with a self-directed account, you control the investments, and therefore you can insure you don’t invest in money losers.

Finally, you should ask yourself if self directed retirement account investing in real estate is something you are interested in. It’s not hard to do, and it can be a truly excellent way to get started in the game of residential income property. Why leave all that money in the hands of other people who don’t understand your investing goals?

News flash: Real estate is in a downturn. Prices are dropping. Does this mean that you should get out of Real Estate investing? No this is actually the BEST TIME to increase your property portfolio. When you are buy property it does not really matter whether the market is up or down unless you are trying to do a fast turn over. If you are holding for the long term then you have to deal with the market fluctuations with an inevitable upward trend at some point. If you can buy at the lower end of the cycle that is the best time to buy of course.

When the real estate market is experiencing a downturn it is the best time to buy. Just check the foreclosure lists and auctions. You can pick and choose and buy normally below market value. However, keep an eye on your monthly bottom line. In other words make sure your rental income (from your new investment) equals or exceeds your outgoing including mortgage repayments. If you have other income you may be able to stand an extra $100 or more per month to top up the mortgage but try to avoid it. You will sleep far better at night knowing that the mortgage payments are taken care of.

When real estate prices where climbing we all knew that our property values also climbed. Now in a declining market and slower home sales, investors need to be able to hold those property investments for a longer period of time.

Focus on positive cash flow and steadily increasing returns. This is a long term game. Property investing is a business. You need a decent return on investment and you need the rental return to cover or nearly cover the new mortgage expense.

Having said all that, we cannot avoid the fact that with good research and due diligence the depressed market presents investors with the GREAT opportunities to build a portfolio of properties for long term gains.

There’s much talk about the “credit crisis” and “housing bust,” but the root cause for both is the housing boom. There are several key regulatory, fiscal, and monetary policy factors that contributed to, and likely can be aggregated to have caused, the unprecedented housing boom that ended in 2006. It was this unsustainable boom that ultimately led to the excesses that nearly collapsed our financial system. We all hear about unscrupulous lenders (there were many of them), greedy investment banks (there were several of them), and lack of regulation to contain the circus. But what about the notion that perhaps this was caused and perpetuated because of regulation?

Government incursion comes in three forms here: municipal and state regulators, federal lawmakers, and the Federal Reserve. The first is most pervasive and the primary reason we’ve seen such extreme variances in local market growth rates. There’s a reason why Santa Barbara housing price growth rates far outstripped that of Houston, despite higher population and standard of living growth rates in the former. The magic behind the mystery comes from far more severe land use restrictions in coastal California than in Texas. Developers are restricted from adding new supply in Santa Barbara, but are free to do so in Houston to match growth in demand.

Two examples show how federal policy affects housing. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) pushed its social engineering agenda onto the two now-nationalized mortgage institutions, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The agenda: increase homeownership amongst low-income families. The solution: force Fannie and Freddie to increase the amount of subprime mortgages in their portfolios. The result is evident in that many of these subprime borrowers proved unable to afford the homes they were encouraged to buy. There are many federal policy influences to housing, including special tax treatment to encourage homeownership, and now the Environmental Protections Agency’s (EPA) proposals to link climate regulation with land use restrictions.

The other big player in the real estate boom was the Federal Reserve and its manipulation of the money supply. In response to a stock market crash and potential economic slowdown following the attacks of 9/11, then Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greensplan dropped the federal funds interest rate to near zero. It almost certainly dipped into negative real interest rate territory (deduct inflation from the nominal rate), which discourages saving and signals to the market to borrow. There is no question that what ensued during the heigh of excess in the real estate boom would not have occurred had the capital not been made so easily available.

The big takeaway is that government must bear, at a minimum, some of the blame for the unprecedented explosion in housing prices and warped perception of risk that it involved. Rather than seek relief in the form of MORE government involvement, we ought to consider how we can reduce the regulations and bad policies that led to the speculative bubble. From an individual perspective, understanding how regulations and policies affect markets enables one to exploit the resulting opportunities. If you can remember that more regulation almost always means higher prices, then you will do fine!

Are you thinking of investing in real estate? There is a lot of money involved in property investment so not only is there money to be made but if you’re not informed then you can lose a lot. Not only do you need access to money but there is hard work and research involved in making money in the real estate business. If you have the drive then you can find buying, renovating and reselling or renting property for a profit enjoyable and rewarding. Here are some tips to acquiring property for resale or renting.

Look for a property in the best location you can afford. The best rental and resale family homes should be close to public schools and shopping centers. There should also be access to freeways and public transportation, especially in urban areas. Contact the local police department or use tools online to find out the crime rate in the neighborhood.

Once you have done your market research and decided on possible properties, you’ll need to know as much as possible about each prospective property. While visiting the property look carefully for anything that will need to be replaced or repaired. Look for repairs that can be hidden and costly such as cracked hardwood floors, plumbing, mildew and electrical problems. Take notes and write these issues down so you can review them later.

Once you have done your own inspection and decided that a property looks like a possible investment, hire a professional inspector. Make sure to find a reputable and reliable inspector even if you have to spend more money. They will tell you what needs to be repaired, what should be repaired, and what work will need to be done in the future.

Don’t get too attached to a property. Remember, your goal is too make money on the home. Keeping that in mind will help put things in perspective and help you not to make any hasty decisions. No matter how nice you find the property, don’t be afraid to walk away from a sale.

Use professionals to help you before you decide to buy a property. An appraiser will help you determine the value of the real estate and how much it will be worth with renovations. You will also need to figure out how much renovations will cost to determine if a profit is possible.

Have your finances in order before mking an offer. Financial aid is available and should be used especially if you don’t have enough capital to invest in something that will turn a profit. Be careful though; a long term loan (such as 30 years) may not pay off if you’ll be selling it in the short term. Use an accountant if you’re unsure of the number crunching.

After you’ve completed the buying and selling of your first property in Costa Blanca or anywhere, you will be on your way to making real estate investment a hobby and a business.

There are times in your life when you have to make decisions that others may question you on in order to change your future.

That is the case with many investors who want to build a rental portfolio or invest in real estate but their market is so crazy that a 2/1 shack is 200k or the taxes are so high that getting a positive cash flow is just not happening. So what do you do?

Look for properties in another area, or even another state, which are affordable and give you positive cash flow.

Yes, there are plenty of those areas that the news never talks about because they don’t have 50 percent appreciation in a year. They just steadily grow at a measly 3 to 5 percent, but guess what When the Bubble burst they also didn’t have 50% depreciation in a year. In fact, they just hang out and many people just don’t even notice.

What is the key to finding a stable area that won’t blow up or down? Here are 7 steps to finding out your area properties to invest in.

1. Search for areas that have a strong rental market, an area where a good majority of houses are owned by investors who are renting property. This will tell you that the taxes are low and the rent rates are high enough to attract investors who want cash flow.

2. Find the areas that other out of state investors are buying in. Google is one way that comes to mind. Craigslist.com is also a very good source. In fact, I think it is one of the best sources to find great deals.

3. Once you find the area, talk to people there about the markets overall appreciation. Find a market that is just boring, one where no one really ever understood all of the hype about the real estate bubble because it wasn’t happening there.

4. Once you find the area that other out of state buyers are buying in then the work begins. You are not there, so someone will have to do your legwork. What is the best way to find the local deals? Find the local wholesaler!

5. Like a spy would find out intelligence. They go to the guy who is connected and who is the big dog dealer around and try to get them on your side. That is what you do to find the best deals in the area.

6. Find out who the hard moneylenders are in the area. Guess whom they will be friends with? That’s right, the local wholesaler. By finding the moneylenders you will find the best deal finder. They will be the one constantly finding great deals and bringing buyers who need to borrow their money. Easy - just like a spy!

7. Contact the wholesaler in your area. It’s much easier and less work than working with realtors. Be sure to do some checking and asking around, make sure he or she is the big dog, so to speak. They run their business off of volume so they find the deals and mark them up just a few thousand and move them so they can keep buying more properties. Besides, the local wholesaler is going to snatch all the best deals up anyway because they are going to have all the relationships with the realtors anyway and get 1st call on the deals.

Overall the local wholesalers for the work they do - looking at hundreds of houses and making hundreds of offers to get their deals - are more than worth the measly mark up they make. Let them tell you who the best property mangers and contractors are, and they will help you get properties - quality properties - faster, so you can achieve your investing goals.

Then it is time to get to work and do some deals, build your cash flow, and take charge of your future. Be Bold and Courageous, you won’t regret it!

To be successful in the rental house business I have a few tips for you. First you need to do some research on where rental homes are needed.

You need to get educated. Find out what areas are in need of housing. Areas that need housing are ones that have a lot of businesses in that city or town. Make sure it is a booming area, not an area that many manufacturing companies are closing and people are losing their jobs. Otherwise, you will find families wanting to move out of that area and looking elsewhere, where the employment is. Make sure you are looking in a safe area for people to raise their family. No one wants to move into an area where risks are involved. The next step is to make sure that the area is getting a high deal on rent. You don’t want to be paying for a house that is only going to generate low rent. That does not make sense when you are trying to make money. The area has to have inexpensive houses to buy with higher rent.

To accomplish the above, the best you can do is to find someone who can direct you in the right market. Find a person who can teach you and put you on the items you need to focus on, somebody who is successful in the business and knows what he or she is doing. Do not depend too much on television or online ads - you will read a lot of different information on rental housing and wholesaling real estate. Some information is good to know and some is fluff. It is best to be taught by a mentor who can show you each step you need to take and in the correct manner.

Lots of money can be made in rental houses. When you have done the above-mentioned steps, you buy the house. Then you will need a contractor to check the house to make sure everything is rent ready. Replace and fix things as inexpensively as possible. Try to establish a good relationship with people and keep a good business reputation. If the homes you are renting out are unsafe or not kept up, that will bring your reputation down immediately. Keeping a good reputation has great advantages. One example is if a renter has to move out, he or she may even find a new renter for the house.

By buying your first rental property after being educated, you will be making extra income. With that income you can purchase more rental properties. The idea is to keep repeating the step over and over. At first the work is hard, stay determined, and with time the steps get easier and easier. You will find yourself very successful in dealing with rental houses in no time.

If someone drops you in a new town and tells you to buy a good real estate deal in less than 3 hours, here is what you should do.

The gurus will tell you to do a bunch of marketing and make a lot of offers on houses. But you want to find a deal fast, so the first thing I would do is find the local wholesaler.

Not just any wholesaler, because in a large market there will probably be several and that is where you are investing. What you should look for is the Big dog wholesaler, the one who is moving more properties than anyone else. Look for somebody who is buying and selling 5-10 properties per month. That would be a true real estate wholesaler.

A true wholesaler marks up a deal a few thousand and goes to the next deal, unlike many courses and real estate gurus who talk of making 10, 20 or even 50k on a deal. True wholesalers don’t do that, flippers do.

Flippers make home runs. They find a property and mark it up a lot and make a killing one deal. These will be the guys that do one or two deals a month.

The true wholesalers will only make a little on each deal and therefore will have investors buying from them over and over again because they know they are getting the best deals.

In short, devoting a lot of time and money trying to learn how to find real estate deals in my opinion is a waste of time. I am one of the big dog wholesalers in my area and, after thinking about how I do business, I realized that before I became a wholesaler I wasted lots of time and money learning how to find deals. It does pay off if you want to be a wholesaler but if you are just trying to flip a deal or build a rental portfolio it really does not make sense trying to find better deals than me because you will not be able to do it.

If you want to find great deals super fast then use the local wholesaler. It is like having a buyer on your staff that is doing all the legwork for you. The time and money that is saved by using their expertise is more than worth the mark up you will pay.

Where do you go to buy something at lower a price? Wal-Mart, Target, all of the similar stores are large wholesalers. They buy in bulk and then pass the savings on to the consumer. In your real estate investing the local wholesaler does the same for you.

Taxes are a necessary evil in our society, and for many it seems natural to grouse about having to pay a large percentage of our earnings to the government while those who have more money seem to be bearing less of the burden than they ought. It’s certainly disheartening that it works this way– as the fortunate shirk their obligations through legal loopholes, the rest have to pick up their slack. It’s frustrating and unfair, and there’s no question that many of the complaints against the upper class are quite legitimate.

Well, the fact is, no amount of grumbling and complaining is going to make the powers that be suddenly make things fair for you. This is because of the Golden Rule: “He who has the gold, makes the rules.” Chances are, they are going to make the rules in their favor. They’re going to keep all the good tax breaks to themselves. They are going to tell you there just isn’t enough money to go around, even as you watch so many people drive around in so many expensive cars and eat in so many posh restaurants. Even politicians who promise tax breaks to the downtrodden masses– even the ones who are sincere in their desire to help the average working stiff– are limited in their ability to affect the system.

That’s why you are going to have to take action. Don’t be one of the downtrodden masses. If you want more money, you are going to have to go get it yourself. And yes, you too can get more money in the form of tax breaks.

Robert Kiyosaki, author of the “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” books, makes the sensible suggestion that those who are not rich but would like to be should watch what the rich do, and then do the same. You don’t really need to watch too closely, however, to learn the open secret of the wealthy– that secret is real estate.

Kiyosaki’s book “Cash Flow Quadrant,” is centered around the titular diagram, which consists of a square split into four quarters labeled ‘E’ (employee), ‘S’ (self-employed), ‘I’ (investing) ‘B’ (business). These four categories not only describe the four ways in which individuals make their money, but also provides insight into how an individual’s personality factors into the way in which they think about money.

According to Robert Kiyosaki, the real money is in the business and investment quadrants of the Cash Flow Quadrant.

You know the saying, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” That is good advice, especially if the guys you want to beat are the rich. It’s actually great news that they are getting so many tax breaks. That means that, when you become one of them, you will get those same tax breaks, IF you know how.

Here’s how. You become one of them by using investments to make your money multiply. You can do that while remaining also in the E and S quadrants, if you are well-paid, but Kiyosaki advises that you join the B quadrant, by building a business system that will essentially work on its own without much input from you. Then you can either keep it or sell it, but you must invest.

Investing, preferably in real estate– condos, rental property, land and the like– is your ticket to financial freedom.

There are many investors in my area making a lot of money. But if you asked them what their secret is, how they find their houses, you will be surprised when they say that they don’t really know how.

What investors will tell you is they are not looking themselves, they let the local wholesaler find the deals. There are quite a few investors in my area who buy from me, a wholesaler, over and over again. Sometimes I feel like I am missing out when I hear about how much money they are making on the houses that I sell them; but that is just the way it is.

These successful investors decided that I was not good at selling properties to home owners, and they realized that I had no desire to make a huge profit on a deal. I just wanted to make a few thousand on a deal and do that many times every month.

Most of these investors knew that I had to move properties fast so I could make a living. Unlike them, buying and selling houses is my full time job. They already have jobs, so they would not find the time to look for the deals that I brought to them.

Briefly, if you want to make a lot of money in real estate yet you don’t have the time to find the deals, go to the guy who is selling a dozen properties a month and doing volume business. If you don’t, you will find out that you will save maybe a few thousand bucks, but the time it will take you will not be worth it.

There seem to be two types of people in the world: office slaves who very nearly treat work as a religion and who are in danger of neglecting the very families for whom they work so hard to provide; and people who have adopted more of a slacker mentality, convincing themselves that money isn’t important because they don’t want to be slaves to the workaday world.

One person who most certainly does have money is Robert Kiyosaki, and in one of his books, “Cash Flow Quadrant,” Anyone who says money isn’t important obviously has not been without it long,”

Kiyosaki should know– he’s been on both sides of the financial fence. In the ’80s, he was so down-and-out that he spent a few weeks living in a car, before moving on to the basement of a friend, in which he lived for almost a year. He and his wife didn’t have steady work, only odd jobs here and there, as they were looking for riches, not security.

Four years later, they were millionaires.

Money is definitely a crucial thing, but it’s not important simply for its own sake. This is what many people fail to consider when rushing into high-paying jobs; although these careers will make you money, are they really worth the stress, and the pain being separated from your loved ones for extended periods of time. Yes, money is important, but only to the extent that it lets you live the life you really want to live.

One thing a job will never give you is extra time with loved ones. In fact, it will take away as much of that precious time as you allow it to.

Everyone sees the Catch 22, worrying that if they spend the time working to make enough money to do the things they want to do, they won’t have time to do those things. That is true. Working is not the answer. Making your money work, preferably in a solid investment like real estate, is the answer.

Robert Kiyosaki had to reach this conclusion himself, years ago; in one of his books, he wrote, “Money is important, but I did not want to spend my life working for it.” As luck would have it, Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad” knew plenty about this dilemma and its true solution.

Kiyosaki wanted to be able to put food on the table for his family without being a slave to his salary, and from “Rich Dad,” he had learned how this could be done: investing.

When you become an investor, you are simply getting your money from a different place. What you want to do is take the money you get from your job, and put it into the I quadrant. That means that you now have money working for you. Your money is making money and you didn’t have to lift a finger for those extra dollars.

That is how you can have your cake and eat it too; because the money you make no longer represents hours of your life spent away in pursuit of a living, you can take those hours and reinvest them in spending actual time with your family, in pursuing hobbies, hanging out with friends. In short, you can reinvest them in your life.