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Dave Lindahl talks real estate.Dave Lindahl (27)    Dave Lindahl    RE Mentor Will the Economic Downturn Change Real Estate Investment Habits?Posted Tuesday, March 17, 2009 (253 days 8 hours ago.) Viewed 50 times. Depending on who you listen to right now we are either at the beginning of a severe economic slow down or the first steps into a full-blown recession. Either way the point of arguing which it is makes little sense. We are, to all intents and purposes, into what I would like to call tough times' and such times are rife with opportunity. I know this sounds like a contradiction in terms so let me explain. When the going is good (so to speak) and anyone can make money almost everyone makes money and trends develop. Because money does not like risks investors latch onto trends (which we call bandwagons) until they fall out of favour or run their course and then new trends develop. These trends then become the main means of making money to the point that almost everything else is overlooked. Real estate is a prime example of such investment (and investors) behaviour. The moment anyone mentioned real estate investment' everyone thought of single-family homes simply because we have all heard the stories of making several thousand dollars in a matter of days by doing and flipping a property or making money by simply buying low and selling high. When things get tough you need to be more creative and look for opportunities which do not just generate cash but they also hedge you against risks and this is exactly where investing in multi-family properties makes perfect sense. Rather than magnifying the problems (as most people seem to think) this kind of approach actually spreads the risks. I know, for example, that at least one in nine families will be unable to meet the rent, move out and the property will remain empty for a month or two as I try to find another tenant. In a single-family property this kind of thing can wipe out your profit of the entire year. In a multi-family property however the multiple income streams generate enough margin for me to absorb this and go one without missing out in any profits. When I explain this in seminars I am always asked about problems with tenants and everyone is surprised when I say that I never see a single tenant. I have negotiated with a company which handles that side of things, deals with messy plumbing emergencies and gets to hear all the complaints I have little time and no inclination to deal with. This allows me to strategise my investing and my thinking and move on to the next big thing in my real estate portfolio. A slow down in the economy may well force real estate investors to reconsider their approach which means they will start to turn their attention on spread-risk ventures and multi-family properties. 
Permalink Comments (0) Investing in Multi-Family Real Estate makes greater financial sensePosted Tuesday, March 17, 2009 (253 days 8 hours ago.) Viewed 85 times. Given the current climate over real estate you'd be bang on the button if you started to ask the smart questions. The smart questions of course have to do with choice, like should you be choosing to invest your money in single-family homes or should you go into multiple-family properties. I've made a fortune doing the latter so you'd expect me to be biased about it but I am not. When it comes to making money I am always open-minded and it is always good to examine trends and weight things up in a matter-of-fact way because then the judgement made is more objective. Objectivity is highly prized particularly when you are looking for a way out of the rat-race, so let's go to it. Over the past few years anyone who bought a single-family house on either coast has seen a handsome return for their money. This is because prices have been increasing at a double-digit rate leading to some serious appreciation and equity build-up. As of December last year things changed. We are now in what is going to be, by all forecasts, a prolonged period of either static or dropping property appreciation and this means that putting your money in a single-Family property is not going to be the smartest investment decision of your life. Which leads me, naturally, into the appeal of multi-Family properties. In the eyes of most real estate investors the perceived drawback of a multi-Family property is the fact that you will have to deal with tenants (and the issues of the blocked toilet drain in the middle of the night) and have far more complicated book keeping to do than with a single-Family property. As a man who became a millionaire out of doing business with just this kind of property I can tell you that your fears here are unfounded. I have more than 4,000 apartments in eight states I own and I do not meet or deal with a single tenant. Nor do I spend my entire day dealing with book keeping. The reason I don't is because I believe life should be enjoyed and in order to do exactly this I have devised a system, which allows me to run my properties and take care of my book keeping without having to be chained to them. After all let's be clear about one thing: you are going into this business exactly because you want to be free from the rat race routine and desk slave mentality not because you want to replace one with another. If you are ready to truly shed your desk-slave chains and stop working nine-to-five for peanuts then you will have to start thinking about getting into the multi-family real estate investment market and become owner of properties which generate cash for you month after month irrespective of whether you are in town doing some work or have hit the slopes at Aspen for some serious skiing and much needed R & R time.
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