Creative Real Estate Investing

With a job that paid $3.40 an hour, I saved $5,000. I used $3,500 of it to buy my first piece of real estate - 2 acres near where I lived. As you can guess, this was many years ago.

A few hours removing brush, and it was ready to sell. I hand-painted a sign, and two weeks later sold the land for $4,750, with $250 down, $100 per month, at 11% interest. With the capital gain, my annual return on investment was over 20%. Not bad, for my first time investing in real estate.

Creative Investing Means Solving Problems

I bought the land a little under market, because the seller needed fast cash. Problem one solved. I sold the land a little over market value because the buyers needed easy terms. Problem two solved. Creative real estate investing is about solving problems.

Radio stations and others need hill tops for their towers, but can't tie up their capital. One creative investor got options on hill top properties for a few hundred dollars, then found those who needed them, and signed long term leases. With the leases in hand, it was easy to get financing to buy the properties. He invested a few hundred dollars to create years of income.

Lumber mills need trees. A friend of mine helped solve this problem by letting a company cut trees on his small property. They paid him $4,500, and you know what? I couldn't see the difference when they were done. The property is residential, and was worth as much the day after the cut as the day before. He lived there, but a creative investor could buy property like his, sell half the trees, maybe clay or gravel too, and then re-sell the land.

What do people need? Easy terms? Cleared lots? Lumber? Better access to a piece of property? Smaller pieces of land? Condos instead of apartments? The list goes on. When you think creative real estate investing, think problem solving.

Steve Gillman has invested real estate for years. To learn more, and to see a photo of a beautiful house he and his wife bought for $17,500, visit http://www.HousesUnderFiftyThousand.com

MORE RESOURCES:

Leading Real Estate Company Announces Over $1 Billion in New ... - MarketWatch

German Stocks Slump, Led by BASF, Hypo Real Estate, Carmakers - Bloomberg

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-0fd=Rurl=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news%3Fpid%3D20601100%26sid%3DayksP2MCAmT4%26refer%3Dgermanycid=1271410742ei=IA4lSfnBJ4PK8ASxpvTCAQusg=AFQjCNHzccDOmGYvS0QJChCbAA3FHNsI7wGerman Stocks Slump, Led by BASF, Hypo bReal Estate/b, Carmakers/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fBloombergnbsp;-/font nobr17 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Hypo bReal Estate/b Holding AG sank 15 percent as Commerzbank AG advised customers to sell shares in the property lender bailed out last month. b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-1fd=Rurl=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122690970282132973.html%3Fmod%3Dgooglenews_wsjcid=1271410742ei=IA4lSfnBJ4PK8ASxpvTCAQusg=AFQjCNHlQ1DBdl5FjgAVifmR9ciVA3aC_gHypo bReal Estate/b Post $3.87 Billion Loss, Forecasts Grim Outlook/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrWall Street Journal/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-2fd=Rurl=http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ihEmy4YG5S0yVspjxQI1nJqBuR5wD94GK0JO0cid=1271410742ei=IA4lSfnBJ4PK8ASxpvTCAQusg=AFQjCNFB2aN4tYqgzuUX_t0UAZaP1rAb4QHypo bReal Estate/b Group 3Q loss 3.1 billion euros/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrThe Associated Press/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-3fd=Rurl=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news%3Fpid%3D20601100%26sid%3DailUg_5uogwQ%26refer%3Dgermanycid=1271410742ei=IA4lSfnBJ4PK8ASxpvTCAQusg=AFQjCNG-L4rkfyx27z8J2EgNPv065xyueQHypo bReal Estate/b Sells EU30 Billion of Secured, Guaranteed Debt/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrBloomberg/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-4fd=Rurl=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news%3Fpid%3D20601100%26sid%3DazN1mp2OH5SY%26refer%3Dgermanycid=1271410742ei=IA4lSfnBJ4PK8ASxpvTCAQusg=AFQjCNHih_nES7_oDrLkf7INFw0-GZmFIwnobrBloomberg/nobr/anbsp;- a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-5fd=Rurl=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news%3Fpid%3D20601100%26sid%3Dayp9ArQk9t2c%26refer%3Dgermanycid=1271410742ei=IA4lSfnBJ4PK8ASxpvTCAQusg=AFQjCNGRzfKPe25INL3XwakSrX6OyL6RHQnobrBloomberg/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1271410742hl=ennobrall 148 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Realtors Say Foreigners Hold Key to Real Estate Revival - FOXNews

Real Estate Market Slumps, Showhomes Soars - MarketWatch

Moody#39;s: Commercial real estate prices rise - CNNMoney.com

Winston amp; Strawn Continues Growth; Adds 19 Litigation, Corporate ... - MarketWatch

Architects see drop in real estate design contracts - Los Angeles Times

Target shareholder revises real estate proposal - The Associated Press

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