Rick Otton’s property investment strategies have rocked the real estate market due to their flexibility and efficiency. Hear what his students have to say about how they achieved financial freedom through Mr. Otton’s groundbreaking techniques in this recent podcast

Experience is the best teacher and property specialist Rick Otton’s students have proven the success of creative real estate in his most recent podcast.

This Creative Real Estate podcast reveals how Mr. Otton’s  students have achieved profound and solid property portfolio using his innovative property investment strategies. The students shared their experiences in real estate and how Mr.Otton’s  strategies helped them go up the property ladder.

“It’s very interesting to learn how people’s experiences can teach us a lot of things. They say that experience is the best teacher and I believe that the best way to learn is by acknowledging our mistakes and making an effort to do better next time. These students have failed before, in the real estate setting, but what made them succeed was the effort and the courage to think outside the box,” Mr. Otton said.

The podcast revealed how Mr.Otton’s students struggled to make money in real estate but found themselves in negative-geared situation and making less money than they expected.

“I had probably for about 10 or 15 years, different properties and it just wasn’t getting me towards the goals that I wanted to achieve. I started looking around for a while and I saw yourself and your strategies and that really struck a chord with me in how I could actually achieve win, win situations and ultimately make something out of it along the way,” said Greg, one of the interviewees.

Mr.Otton also emphasized the importance of having adept negotiation skills in order to conquer the property market.  Another student, Wayne, agreed on this and shared “It is knowing who you are talking to and knowing what you are talking about and it is confidence. Before I was a little afraid to ask for too much. Now I am much more confident. My time is valuable.”

The interview revealed that if given a choice, all of his students would never go back to their old ways and will stick to Mr.Otton’s strategies in real estate investing.

Mr. Otton is widely known for his revolutionary property investment strategies that are currently storming the property market. These strategies have been making dramatic changes in how real estate is done in the USA, Australia, UK and other parts of the world. For more than thirty years, Mr.Otton has been teaching his students through seminars and boot camps how to create a career in real estate investing without relying on bank loans or shelling out large cash for deposits.

“This episode has shown how my strategies have helped my students achieve financial freedom through sound property investment. I feel proud, not just as a teacher but also as father. Their lives are now better, their financial situation improved  and they get to spend more time with their families,” Mr.Otton said.

The podcast can be accessed at http://www.creativerealestate.com.au/creative-real-estate-podcasts/22-students-reveal-secrets-to-success-in-creative-real-estate-investing/

To know more on Rick Otton’s strategies, you can check out: http://www.rickotton.co.uk/sales-page

About Rick Otton

Rick Otton is an original pioneer of creative property strategies. He is founder and CEO of We Buy Houses, a leading property enterprise which operates in the property markets of the United Kingdom, New Zealand, USA and Australia.

In 1991 he uncovered an innovative strategy of buying and selling real estate and went on to amass a portfolio of 76 properties in his first twelve months of active investing.

Since 2001, Rick has taught over 30,000 students to buy, sell and trade residential property without banks, debt or risk. By employing these same strategies many of Rick’s students have made over a million dollars a year in cash and equity, using little or none of their own money, year after year.

In 2008 Rick revealed his strategies in the United Kingdom and became the creator of ‘Houses for a Pound’.

He has appeared in the following Australian TV programs: 2004 ABC documentary ‘Reality Bites’ and on Today Tonight, Insight and A Current Affair. In October 2007 Rick gave a way a house on national TV during 2 episodes of Channel 9’s Hot Property.

Rick Otton has also been featured in Your Property Network, Australian Property Investor, Lifestyle Trader Magazines and in the books: The Secrets of Property Millionaires Exposed!, Ideas: Original Perspectives On Life and Business From Leading Thinkers, Think and Grow Rich in Property, Insider Property Secrets, and Walking With The Wise.

“Through my teachings, people have discovered that they no longer have to go cap-in-hand to traditional lenders in order to become property investors"

The property investing strategies that Rick Otton first introduced to the UK in 2008 were considered, at the time, to be revolutionary. While traditional lenders seemed unconcerned then, the number of people successfully using those strategies has, Otton believes, changed the property investment playing field forever.

After 20 successful years in the US and Australia real estate investment markets, in 2008 Rick Otton brought his unconventional property investing strategies to the UK. The time was right, it seems. Because now, fueled by the success stories from previous students, his training workshops sell out in record time – much to the surprise of the banks.

His next workshop, to be held in London, is no exception, with places expected to approach wait-list status. Those who have secured their seats, however, are set to receive new perspectives on UK property investing.

The Banks Have Lost Control

In Otton’s free report “The Big Property Lie”, he explains how, by thinking strategically, UK property investing is within the reach of almost everyone – even in difficult economic times, and even without a deposit.

When starting out in real estate investing, Otton studied the traditional process of buying and selling. “In the process, I found opportunities, and created a series of systems, strategies and processes which meant that literally anyone could buy a property without a bank loan, a mortgage, or any cash to invest whatsoever.” he said.

And the banks, he says, don’t want you to know about these options.

“Through my teachings, people have discovered that they no longer have to go cap-in-hand to traditional lenders in order to become property investors” explained Mr Otton, “and, as a result, those at the top end of town would have preferred that I’d never set foot in the UK.”

Growing Number Of Evangelists For Otton’s Strategies

Those who have become UK property investors after attending Otton’s previous workshops openly share their successes.

“I attended Rick Otton’s course in October 2010, by the end of October I completed 32 deals and have pulled almost £150,000 pounds out of these deals!” says Mark Canning of Housten, United Kingdom.

Ben Rogers, from Kent, was already an active property investor when he attended Rick’s conference in 2009, but since then has exploded his portfolio by using every strategy Rick teaches to devastating effect.

“Rick is obviously a world expert in his field and he is a pleasure to learn from.  A great presenter, a great tutor. Rick is the Godfather of options.” says Ben.

Such is the success of Otton’s strategies for buying property in the UK that others are teaching them, running lectures to thousands of people at a time. They now declare that the future of UK property investing lies in Lease Options and Delayed Completions – exactly what Otton was teaching back in 2008.

But that learning style is not for Otton. Delivering a presentation to the masses, he believes, does not provide the interaction needed to make a success of his strategies.

“My workshops allow for Q&A, feedback and involvement. The numbers are strictly limited to provide the best environment for my students to really understand the opportunities that are available to them. They can network with like-minded people – some even establish joint venture relationships.” he says.

Next Workshop

Otton’s next workshop will be held in London in November 2011, with places approaching wait-list status. Those who have secured their seats, however, are set to receive new perspectives on UK property investing, and will have the opportunity to meet Rick and his students to learn more about their real estate investment journey.

Learn more at rickotton.co.uk

About Rick Otton

Rick Otton is an original pioneer of creative property strategies. He is founder and CEO of We Buy Houses, a leading property enterprise which operates in the property markets of the United Kingdom, New Zealand, USA and Australia.

In 1991 he uncovered an innovative strategy of buying and selling real estate and went on to amass a portfolio of 76 properties in his first twelve months of active investing.

Since 2001, Rick has taught over 30,000 students to buy, sell and trade residential property without banks, debt or risk. By employing these same strategies many of Rick’s students have made over a million dollars a year in cash and equity, using little or none of their own money, year after year.

In 2008 Rick revealed his strategies in the United Kingdom and became the creator of ‘Houses for a Pound’.

He has appeared in the following Australian TV programmes: 2004 ABC documentary ‘Reality Bites’ and on Today Tonight, Insight and A Current Affair. In October 2007 Rick gave a way a house on national TV during 2 episodes of Channel 9’s Hot Property.

Rick Otton has also been featured in Your Property Network, Australian Property Investor, Lifestyle Trader Magazines and in the books: The Secrets of Property Millionaires Exposed!, Ideas: Original Perspectives On Life and Business From Leading Thinkers, Think and Grow Rich in Property, Insider Property Secrets, and Walking With The Wise.

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Generation next of Britain is close to giving up hope of owning their own home. A new survey revealed that “Generation Next” is now becoming “Generation Rent” and they think that they will never be able to own their home for living.

Property prices are skyrocketing and they were increased up to 40% for the last few years. A decision taken 30 years ago by Margaret Thatcher is making Britain more like Europe where living in a rented home is a norm.

The data of finding by Halifax which also coincide with a separate report from housing charity shelter which reveals that the number of mortgages offered in April slumped to the lowest level since records began. Just 29,355 mortgages were granted, 18 per cent fewer than during the same month last year.

Polling company Populus conducted an online survey to know what Britain residents are thinking about renting or owning home. 8000 Britain residents in the age group of 20 to 45 participated in the survey.
What the survey said:

• More than three-quarters who do not own property would like to own one
• 64 % believe that their prospects of ever buying their own home are nil
• 84% of first-time buyers were put off by a belief that the banks do not want to lend to them
• 67% thought there was little point in applying for a bank loan at all because of the probability that they would be turned down

A report published by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) says that one of the reasons house prices are so high is that it is too easy for buyers to raise mortgages they can barely afford. IPPR suggests that the Government should introduce rules to restrict the size of a mortgage to 90% of the price of a property, and three-and-a-half times the household’s annual income. They believe that this would prevent another housing bubble.

The craziest thing about all these facts and statistics is that homebuyers will have to save thousands of pounds for a deposit for their own home and whether they want to or not we all know that for this generation and this market it is almost impossible to save in general, especially if it is 10% of a purchase price of a house.

This is becoming a epidemic as many current housing markets including the United States of America and Australia are also following this trend where vendors are failing at selling their properties as buyers cannot get bank loans and buyers are trying to buy properties but are unable to save and receive required lending.

With today’s new problems we have to diminish the old solutions and replace them with new solutions. People need alternative lease options that would work given the current financial situation. Property investment strategies that I teach will not only stop our next generation becoming ‘Generation Rent’ but allow them to achieve the dream of home ownership.

Today I have created a video just for you, a SNEAK PEEK taken from a recent UK live training event that will show you how I get sellers to agree to ‘vendor finance‘ in a heartbeat… you’re not going to believe how easy this is – I’ll even tell you WHAT to say to have the seller agreeing to your every word in no time at all! From Rick Otton

Click here to view the embedded video.

Are you a first home buyer?

Would you like to buy a private residence for just a pound?

Would you like to buy your dream house and make money in real estate at the same time?

If you answered yes, then you must read this article. By reading this article, you can buy a house for a pound, and live in the house of your dreams. Here is how you can buy a house without investing any of your own cash and create positive cash flow.

Now I know others may be skeptical about this whole idea of buying a house for a pound but I tell you, it is really possible.

It is made possible through a property finance model known as a “lease option”. Also known as “rent to own” or “lease to buy” scheme, lease options  are hassle-free and straightforward. This is because home buyers have wider opportunities to completely control the property despite of their difficulty in acquiring traditional bank finance. Thus, you can still buy a property through a lease option even if you don’t have a good credit or sufficient deposit funds.

With a lease option, you can lease or rent the property from an individual. Then an agreement with this individual will be set-up in order for you to purchase the property when the lease term ends. Therefore, you can purchase the property more than you ever thought you could afford. You might be wondering why. But this is because you agreed on a rent with the seller and so the payments are notably lesser than the payments you would be paying to a bank.

So, here are the necessary steps to help you purchase the house of your dreams for a pound:

1. Self-assessment. Ask yourself why you prefer to purchase a property through a lease option. If you have a good credit score and sufficient deposit funds, than a traditional bank loan should be preferred over a lease option.

• If you come across a troubled seller that owes close to what his property is worth than the possibility of purchasing the property for a smaller amount as low as one pound. But remember the legal fees, of course, which is around 600 pounds. If not, you can pay the seller with 3-5% of the market value of the property. You also need to ask yourself on how option fees you can afford to pay so you can obtain the right to buy the property from the seller. You must take note that there is a significant difference between the houses you can buy at 3-5% of the market value and the houses you purchase for as low as one pound. In case you decide to lay down 3-5% of the market value, you must confer with the seller that such option payment should be attributed to your purchase. But remember also that whenever you decide not to purchase the property when the lease term ends, you are going to lose this option fee.

• Ask yourself whether the property you’re buying is the area you really want to reside in. It’s no use buying a property which sits in an area that you dislike living in. So, do avoid this mistake! Because when you do find that you don’t want to live in such area, you will easily lose your option fee.

• Next, ask yourself on how you are going to finance this property when the lease term ends as well as on how you are going to cash out your seller. A plan is essential. Or else, you will lose your option fee. It is important that you should only buy a property on a lease option if you really know that you can finance it at the end of the lease term.

• Lastly, you also need to ask yourself on how much you can afford to pay monthly. The lease is FRI, which means, “full repairing and insuring” lease. Therefore, you will be handling the repairs and so a rental payment of 30% lesser than the market rent is sensible enough. You can also be creative by taking a portion of your monthly payment towards your purchase. However, you will be paying above the market rent. But, of course, this will all depend on your agreement with the seller.

2. Next, find a property which you like to buy. Make sure that you can afford the property you like to buy. To attract more and more sellers, you can place an ad in your local paper. Try using this add and have it posted on a piece of paper in letterboxes of your target properties:

Professional Couple,
Looking to rent a 2 Bedroom Property in the local area
with the Option to Buy

Through this advert, you can make sure that only qualified owners will be calling you. It’s best to deal with sellers who aren’t in need of a good amount of money, or those who have less or no equity, or you could also deal with frustrated landlords.

3. If you’ve finally made your seller agree to a lease option, then you should now discuss the terms of the lease option. Ensure that the following are well discussed:
• Purchase price
• Term of lease option. It’s usually between 12 to 60 months. However, if you are buying from sellers who don’t have sufficient equity, the lease may be longer because they are expecting money. They will be using the said money to pay the bank.
• Rent Credits. Determine whether a portion of the rent will go towards the purchase.

4. Responsibly make your monthly payments. These are done similar to renting a conventional property which you can directly pay to your seller. If the seller has insufficient equity, the payments should be made directly to bank and the surplus payment to the seller.

5. Assess whether home improvements have to be made. If so, do increase its overall value. Remember, whatever value you add to the home is your equity. The more equity you have on the property, especially when you exercise your option, your chances will be higher. You will then have a favorable mortgage in terms of home loan interest rates and the amount you lay down as deposit.

6. Two or three months before your lease term expires, ensure that you apply for a home loan. Seek assistance from a mortgage broker. Ensure that your chosen mortgage broker can easily access various mortgage products in the market place.

7. As you receive funds from the mortgage company, your solicitor will send the money to the seller. Cheers! You are now living in the house of your dreams!

Property Syndication Groups, which have been around for many years are attracting attention again.  As a property educator and investor with 20 years experience in the United States, Australia and United Kingdom, I have found property syndicate investors often are unhappy with their results based on the funds they have outlaid.

When it comes to property many people want to go fishing but want the fish caught, prepared, cooked and put on the plate in front of them and for that, they are prepared to pay a substantial amount of money to have it done by someone else.

When working with a property syndicate ask yourself three questions: How much are you as an investor prepared to pay for the service they provide?  How risky is this opportunity? When will you realize your profit?

Quite often people put their money into syndicates to get instant results and of course  end up paying more than retail for the properties they purchased simply because they didn’t take the time to educate themselves about what they were investing in.

I recommend that you research the background of any property syndicate company including the directors. Ask the directors this question: show me the money in your bank account that you have received as a result of investing in property.

With property syndicates you’re putting your own hard earned cash on the table, while they are not investing any of their own money. There is a big physiological difference between people investing their own money versus using other people’s money.

Though I have never invested in a property syndicate, over the years when I have been partners in property joint ventures, I found when my joint venture partner used all of my money and none of their own money, the end result was the transaction was not a profitable as originally promised.   Yet with transactions when the other joint venture partner invested their own money also, the profit was equal or surpassed the original estimate.

Because most syndication groups don’t invest their own money, this means your real estate investment is at risk. If the syndicate falls apart and goes bankrupt, it doesn’t matter to them because it wasn’t their investment or “their life on the line” so to speak.

My recommendation is be an active participant in real estate investing. Get some knowledge, pick a place and start. That way whether you are an active or passive property investor you are making your decisions from an informed place-be in the game not on the sidelines!

Have you had experience with any groups like these? Post your comments below!

Rick

Learn key negotiation skills to sell your house profitably and make money in real estate today! Here’s a video snippet that I am about to add to Fast Property Training, would love your feedback! Post your comments below!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Remember this video was previously only available to a select group of my mentoring students!

Rick

We all hear the commonly used term ‘Market Value’. Can you establish what exactly market value is, and how it works?

At the end of the day market value is simply where the seller and the buyer come together and settle a price which both parties believe to be the market value of that house on that day. There’s no other way we can establish what market value is except at what price a piece of property sells for. What people will try to do is establish market value without that criteria taking place, so they might go and try and get an opinion from the real estate agent, and the real estate agent will give an opinion of what he believes a property will sell for on any given day, and therefore establish market value.

Some people also get a Valuer, and they will pay a fee for him to establish market value, but you’ve got to be very careful when you do that, because Valuers value properties based on a set of logic instructions, so it might be like, 3 bedroom / 2 bathroom houses, what are they worth?

Remember, buyers and sellers don’t buy and sell residential real estate on logic, they do that on emotion, they buy and sell commercial property on logic, but buy and sell houses on emotion.

Where a lot of people get caught is, they get a logical valuation on what their house is worth, but it doesn’t take into consideration that there may be drug addicts next door, it may not take into consideration that they are living under power wires, or a whole bunch of emotional reasons to why the market may or may not pay what they would expect them to pay for their house. So the market value at the end of the day, as pathetic as it is, it’s just what someone is prepared to pay, and what someone is prepared to let their property go for.

So it’s more of an individual’s opinion?

That’s what it is. People do not sell their houses below market value, they establish the new market value. This has become very important, especially in the UK.

A lot of people run around saying they’re buying houses below market value, so here’s my question:
“Are they actually buying houses below market value, or are they simply just establishing the new market value?” People aren’t silly, sellers aren’t going to sell houses for 30% less than the market value, they’re going to sell it for what they believe to be the market value for that price on that day with that buyer.

So how do you know if you’re buying a house under market value?

The only way you know if you’re buying a house under market value, and not at what’s called the ‘new market value’, is you simply know what gets bought, and sold and traded in that particular area, and that doesn’t mean that you need to go all over the world, it means that you get to know one area fairly well, and then when things are traded, it will trade in like a band. So you just get an idea of what’s selling on any given day and what things are selling for, what the value of worth is.

What advice would you give to the individual for their initial areas to start buying in?

‘Where do you start, where do you go and look first.’ Sydney is a big place and there are lots of properties in Sydney. It takes too much of your life energy to try to get to know everything. So concentrate on a very, very small area, because bargains are everywhere, bargains are next door, and get to know what happens in that very micro market you’re in. When you get a call, or someone calls or you see something, you very quickly know in your own mind what that’s worth based on what else has been happening in that very spot.

You educate your students on buying houses at a discount, how do you determine what constitutes a discounted house?

Traditionally discounts have always been obtained based on the condition of the property, being presented to the market place in a sub-standard way, and people have been able to purchase those things at a discount.

But it is more to do with the way the property can be purchased, that can build in fantastic discounts.

Some houses are really hard for agents to sell because they simply can’t get buyers into the house because of the smell that has permeated throughout the property. Or, a lot of people like to keep animals. Smelly houses… big discounts for smelly houses.

Main roads, I may sell houses at a premium profit, because it’s so easy to market the property. However, people who need to buy a house have a perception about main roads, and substantial discounts can be bought for houses on a main road.

Substantial discounts can also be bought for houses under power wires, because a lot of people believe that if you buy near power wires you’ll get cancer and die, some people don’t care. You’ll find that houses with pools – even though you’d think that everyone would want a swimming pool – are really high maintenance. The best thing you could do when you buy a house with a pool is you buy it at a big discount, because it comes with a swimming pool, and spend three or four hundred bucks and get it filled in.

Termites are one of those interesting things where everyone will do a termite inspection. You can do an inspection and then ask the seller for a termite discount. Termites might only be in the front fence of the house, and they’ll just remove the front fence. And the perceptions of these things also reduce property values. Not so much what they actually are, but the perception of what they are, or the perception of what they could be.

Estate sales, when people have their parents pass away, normally you get a situation where you might have three or four kids who now have to look after this house, and usually they are all splintered all around the country. Usually the house, especially if mum and dad have passed away is going to need some sort of work to get it back on the market, and no one wants to be responsible to put that all together, based on the fact that they still have to share equally in the profits.

I went to a house a while ago and there were five brothers, and I could see that the house had been half renovated, and I said ‘Which one of the brothers is doing the renovation in return for his share of the profit?’ And all of a sudden that brother just realised that he was getting no more money for his share of the profit. He just suddenly wanted out, so usually when you get a situation like that, estate sales can be great, everybody wants out.

Divorce, people don’t love each other anymore. Another way to obtain a discount. They want to be away from each other fast – they just want to get away.

Sometimes you get neighbors that people simply don’t like.

So you’ve got all these issues that take place