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I’m going to finally jump into the 21st century

 

In previous emails I have spoken about digital cameras.  You should take them to the property and take zillions of photos.  For the following reasons: 

1.  They will help with your rehab estimate when you are home and can’t remember one property from another, because they all blend together.
2.  If you sell the property, you’ll have documentation of the “before” when the buyer’s lender questions why the value went up $100,000 in only 3 months
3.  If you have an insurance claim during the course of ownership, these may be helpful.
4.  And most importantly, if you are looking for hard money to purchase and/or rehab the property, these photos are a critical part of your loan package!
5.  You won’t have to go back to the property later to take the photos that you should have taken in the first place. 
 

Ok, now it’s 2011, and the whole world is using video.  All the above reasons hold double for a video of a property.  I’m late to the party, because I would rather read quickly than wait through a video.  But I know I’m in the minority, so I’m bowing to the inevitable. 

Here is my latest screw up:

  • So I go to a property to take a video, and don’t have a video camera
  • Ah ha!  I have a smart phone.  I take the video, but inside the house it’s dark enough that the video is black.
  • Double ah ha!  The phone has a light on the camera for exactly this situation.  (Some one else had to show me that.)
  • I go into the basement taking video and it’s so dark that even with the light, the video camera is pretty much useless, so I stop the video.
  • Oops, now I’ll have multiple files to stitch together.  Do I have software for that?  I don’t think so.
  • I restart the video camera, moving through the house where it’s light enough and realize I’ve already done this part.  Oops.  I didn’t plan ahead.  Stop the the camera again. Now I’ll have 3 files, and I haven’t miraculously acquired the software to solve this in the 3 minutes since I messed up the last time.
  • Rewind.  Well, not rewind exactly, that’s an 80′s term.  Start over I guess.
  • I borrow someone else’s smart phone with a better light, plan ahead and get the whole house done in 9 minutes.  Yay!
  • Oops.  I was holding the phone like a flip camera.  If I had held it in portrait mode, it would have had nice wide angle shots.  Now it has tiny slivers of vertical video.
  • Hmm.  I go home and order a new video camera.  Stay tuned, I’ll make it up to 2011 in no time. 

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The Money Partner –

Protecting yourself, your partner and the deal 

If you are providing the money in a deal, whether it is as an equity partner, a lender or a credit partner, how do you know the best way to protect your funds and your interests?  

On Wednesday, October 12, we’ll be talking about exactly that at NHREIA if you missed it at Chelmsford.    We will discuss: 

-      Funding structures – the different ways you can provide the money as an owner, a partner, a lender or a credit partner

-      Payment priority – the order of liens and how they get paid off.  This wicked matters if the deal is in trouble

-      Considerations for BOTH partners ­- Sometimes you don’t know everything, even when you are very experienced.  There is always more to talk about to make sure you don’t get caught up.  We’ll talk about tips for protecting both of you and the deal.  Bring your own tips to share with the group.

-      Transparency – It should go without saying, but sometimes it goes without doing.  

So join us at NHREIA on Wednesday, October 12 at the Best Western Executive Court in Manchester.  It will be an interactive presentation, and participation is welcome.    The meeting starts at 6:30, and there is networking before and afterwards.    Oh, I almost forgot.  I don’t have a course or seminar, so if you miss this, you miss it.  There is no offer that ends at midnight.

Here’s link to the meeting

The Best Western   13500 South Willow Street, Manchester, NH 

Your partner in profitable investing, 
Ann Bellamy 
Buy Now, LLC