Google Drive App Review

Since I started using Google drive in my business, I have seen my productivity and efficiency SKYROCKET!

 

With Google Drive you can:

 

* Store all your files in one place, so you can access them from anywhere and share them with others
* Use the Google Drive Android app to access your photos, documents, videos and other files stored on your Google Drive
* Upload files to Google Drive directly from your Android device
* Share any file with your contacts
* Access files others have shared with you on Google Drive
* Make any file available offline so you can view them even when you don't have an Internet connection
* Manage files on the go
* Create and edit Google documents with support for tables, comments and rich text formatting
* Create and edit Google spreadsheets with support for text formatting, multiple sheets and sorting
* Edits to your Google documents and spreadsheets appear to collaborators in seconds
* View Google presentations with full animations and speaker notes
* View your PDFs, Office documents and more
* Scan documents, receipts and letters for safe keeping in Drive; then search by contents once uploaded
* Print files stored in Google Drive on the go using Google Cloud Print
* Open files stored in Google Drive through Drive enabled apps in the browser
* Optimized experience to take advantage of larger screens for tablet users, Honeycomb (Android 3.0+)

 

 

Here is a personal story:

I was on a road trip out of state when I got a text from one of my clients that said that she was ready to make an offer on a particular property. Time was of the essence and I knew that this property wasn't going to last long. Right from my phone, I emailed her a purchase & sale agreement and other documents that I had saved on my Google Drive App and told her to fill them out, and drop them off at my office. Another Agent in the office then scanned and emailed everything to me including a photo of her earnest money check. I then forwarded everything (right from my phone) to the listing agent all within about 20 minutes of her initial text.

SHE GOT THE DEAL!!

 

So maybe you're not a Realtor. Even if you're a landlord, or a rehabber, wouldn't it be great if you can share your contracts, notices and spreadsheets with your buyers, sellers, tenants, contractors, attorneys or partners right from your phone? Absolutely!!!

 

I give this product a THUMBS UP because it's a very useful for all real estate professionals!
 

 



 



 

 

Choosing the right price for your rental unit

It’s important to know the value of your rental unit when you’re thinking about looking for a tenant. However, all to often, landlords just kinda “wing it” when it comes time to set the price. As landlords, we want our rents to be as high as possible, while our tenants want exactly the opposite.  Somewhere in the middle is where the price should be set. But first, here are a few things that you should consider:

1.     location-Location-LOCATION: It’s extremely important that you consider the location of your property when coming up with price. If you’re located in a very prestigious area, you can command higher rents. However if you generally wear a flak jacket when you visit the property, or if you often find yourself cleaning up chalked sketches of bodies from the sidewalk in front of the property, you’re probably not going to be able to charge very much for that particular unit.

2.     Amenities: Units that come with useful amenities usually yield more in rents. Does your unit have off-street parking or a garage, a dishwasher, internet access, laundry facilities or secure building entry? These are just a few out of thousands of amenities that you can offer to attract a higher paying tenant.

3.     Size Matters: You should certainly consider the size of your unit when contemplating pricing for your unit. The more bedrooms – the more you can charge. The more bathrooms – the more you can charge. The more general square footage – the more you can charge etc. etc.

4.     Property Condition: This is very important when considering the price. If you have a lot of differed maintenance, that will severely lower the amount that you’ll be able to charge for rent. However if the property is in pristine condition, you can naturally charge more.

You should also check out the competition. Check Craigslist, your local newspapers, pick up one of those free apartment books at your local grocery store, call a few for rent signs and see what their charging. This will help you to get a greater understanding of how much your local market will bare for your rental unit.

Keep in mind that if you are experiencing a deluge of prospective tenants trying to break down your door to rent your unit, it’s probably priced to low. On the other hand, if you’re getting little to no calls, it’s probably priced to high.

One thing that you should always remember is that we as landlords don’t set the market price, tenants do. You can ask for a million dollars a month for your rental but no one will rent it until it’s priced to fit the market.

I hope this post helps you find the right price for your rental. Contact me at www.MyInvestingAgent.com if you have any questions.

10 Reasons why I love Real Estate Investing

Holding real estate as an investment is an excellent way to diversify your portfolio while building long term wealth. I personally believe that it's one of the most effective wealth building strategies available today.

I personally diversify my investments in many different ways, but here are 10 reasons that I like real estate the best:

 

1.) Appreciation - Despite the recent real estate crash, when you look at real estate over the long haul, it’s accurate to assume some level of appreciation in your real estate holdings. Yes, there are market cycles where values rise quickly or fall quickly, but by and large, real estate is an asset class that appreciates. In addition to this, investors have the ability to research market dynamics and make fairly knowledgeable decisions based on anticipated appreciation for a particular market.

2.) Passive Income - Holding real estate can be a very passive investment that provides returns much higher than could be obtained through other passive investments (ie. stock, bonds, etc.). With the ability to outsource property management, accounting, etc., investors can still make  good returns while playing a very hands-off roll in the investment.

3.) High Leverage - Real estate investing is one of the few investment vehicles with the availability of high leverage (ie. financing). Try walking into your local bank and asking for a line of credit for $800,000 secured against only $200,000 of your cash for the purpose of investing in gold, stocks, mutual funds, commodities, etc. They would probably laugh at you. But, if you walked into that same bank and told them you wanted to buy 10 houses at $100,000 a piece …. they would usher you over into their mortgage division to begin working on your 10 loans.

4.) High ROI - With the ability to acquire high leverage comes the ability to obtain a very high return on investment. Not only does your monthly cash on cash return go way up when you use leverage, any appreciation on the property amplifies your ROI as well. This is because the entire asset appreciates rather than just the amount of money you invested as a down payment.

5.) Principle Paydown - A commonly overlooked benefit of investing in real estate using the Buy-&-Hold strategy is the fact that while your tenant may provide you with positive cash flow above and beyond your mortgage payment, they are also helping to pay down the mortgage as well. While the principle portion of the mortgage payment is minimal at first, every year that you own the property the amortization of the principle amount of your loan speeds up. Before long, you are shaving thousands of dollars off of your loan amount every year until ultimately you own the property free & clear.

6.) Tax Benefits - As  taxpayers in a tightening tax system, any kind of deduction can be helpful. Holding real estate allows for the deduction of mortgage insurance as well as the depreciation of the property itself. In addition to this, real estate can also afford you the opportunity to defer tax liability by using 1031 exchanges to continue investing funds in new properties while deferring tax liability indefinitely.

7.) Hedge Against Inflation - Many analysts believe inflation is coming (if not already here). Holding real estate and using leverage is a great way to hedge against coming inflation. If prices rise, so will the cost of housing … owning an asset that rises with the tied is a great way to protect your wealth.

8.) Increasing Rents - Very few would speculate that housing rents will decrease over time. Most analysts have already stated that rents are expected to increase over the coming years. Holding real estate not only allows you to lock in housing prices and interest rates, it also provides you with the an opportunity to increase future cash flows by increasing rents … thus increasing your ROI in future years.

9.) Retirement Income - For those investors that look at real estate investing as a very long term proposition, the potential to retire on rental income is very real. I know many investors that have owned real estate for multiple decades as a retirement strategy and ended up very wealthy as a result. Over a 20-30 year period of time, investors can own numerous properties free & clear and create a net worth well into the millions. Additionally, the cash-flow that can be generated from properties that no longer have mortgages can be very nice supplements to pensions, 401Ks, social security, etc.

10.) Creative Exits - One of the best characteristics of real estate investing is the plethora of strategies that can be employed when selling a property. Real estate is nice because it doesn’t have to be a permanent proposition. You can own a property for 1 month or 50 years … it’s completely up to you. When it comes time to sell a property, investors can use any number of different strategies to maximize profits.

 

If you're interested in purchasing property for the purpose of investment, please visit my website at www.MyInvestingAgent.com