Below Wholesale Housing Blog

Before I begin this article, let me preface by stating that I am not a “Techie”. I am simply going to tell you about my two years of experience with producing real estate videos to post on YouTube. So please, no emails telling me that I don’t know the difference between mbps and mBps. I already know what I don’t know and have no desire to become either a video or an internet expert. All I want to do is create a decent video and post it on YouTube without investing a fortune and spending half of my life doing it. Having been through 4 cameras, 2 production software systems, 2 computers and 2 internet servers, here is what I have learned…

Assuming that the camera was the most critical element, I began with a Flip Video Mino. Flip Video is a fantastic system that gives you a camera and the software to take, produce and upload videos to YouTube. There is NOTHING wrong with this system, but as most of us do, I wanted a little bit more. The Flip Mino is limited to a 4:3 image ratio and I wanted widescreen videos (16:9). I also wanted a camera with image stabilization so that the “shaky” effect created when walking and holding the camera would disappear.

Having left my still picture camera in a REO and finding it gone when I returned, I decided to buy a Sony 16.2 megapixel Cyber-Shot with the wide angle Carl Zeiss lens (about $250 on sale at Wal-Mart). This is a great still camera and as I soon discovered, also takes full HD videos. The HD videos are very good quality and the only disadvantage to the video capability is that there is no image stabilization.

Looking for image stabilization, my third camera was a Sony SX85 SD Camcorder. SD means standard Definition (not HD video) format. So why would I go backwards from my HD Sony to a SD Sony? Well, that is where I hope to save you a lot of time, experimentation and money. While the HD videos were beautiful quality, the upload time to YouTube was atrocious. I produced a 9 minute video and it took over 3 hours to upload to YouTube. I don’t have 3 hours to upload a video, so I began to read the online blogs to discover what was wrong with my system. I got answers all across the spectrum. Some suggested that I needed to use production software that would convert my videos to a more YouTube friendly format. Others suggested that HD files were simply too large and I should stick to smaller SD videos. My computer was a 166 MHz, dual core Toshiba laptop and I was told I needed a much faster machine with a large hard drive.  After considering all the answers, I purchased a custom built Intel i7 346mhz desktop with a 300meg high speed hard drive ( I added another 2T storage SATA hard drive) .I bought the computer for $800 on Craig’s List from an insurance company owner who’s hobby was building fast computers. I also purchased CyberLink  Power Director 9 video production software (around $99 at Office Depot) and a Sony SX85 SD Camcorder with Digital Image Stabilization ($280 at Best Buy).

OK – I am loaded for BEAR! With all the best equipment on hand this will be a breeze. I hooked it all up at the office, produced a sample video and uploaded it to YouTube. Upload time for an 8 minute video – 2 HOURS! Now I was really mad and determined to solve this stupid video thing. I talked with the computer guru that sold me the i7 machine. No help here, he told me it must be a software problem. Back to the Techie blogs where I got more obscure non-understandable technical tips and advice that I could possibly digest. I then called my computer geek one last time to see what I was overlooking. He asked me how I was connected to the internet. I told him we had AT&T DSL service. He advised me to go to www.speedtest.net and check my internet server speed. My system checked out at .433 mbps download and .233 mbps upload speed. After a little research I found that this is EXTREMELY SLOW. I ordered Comcast Fast 50 (guaranteed at 50 mbps download and 10 mbps upload speed). After the installer left, I ran the online speed test again with results of 22 mbps download and 11 mbps upload speed – over 40X faster than DSL, but still not up to the speeds promised by Comcast. To make a long story a bit shorter, I discovered that my wireless modem connection reduces speed and the farther away from the modem, the slower the speed. I hardwired to the modem and retested at 62 mbps upload and 12 mbps download speed.

Now for the real test. I uploaded the same test video to YouTube in 4 MINUTES! FINALLY! It was a long road, but I am now happy with performance of my entire video process. I will trade my Sony SX85 SD for a better (and more expensive) camcorder with HD and thru-lens optical image stabilization. I will take all video in HD and upload to YouTube in HD format. When viewers load the files, they will open at 480p and they can change the resolution on-screen to match the speed of their server.

The real lesson that I learned is the fact that the internet server is the MOST important factor to the performance of your efforts to post Real Estate Videos on YouTube. You can have a full Hollywood production studio and a hundred thousand dollar camera, but unless you can upload at a fast speed, your system will not work!

Below is my final equipment choice in my perceived order of importance:

Internet Service – Comcast “Fast 50” guaranteed at 50mbps upload speed/10mbps download speed

Production Software – CyberLink Power Director 9.0 (any good software will do the job)

Computer – Custom Build i7 346 MHz, 4 gig RAM, with (1) 300 Meg and (1) 2T hard drive (my 166 MHz laptop is only about 33% slower)

Camcorder -  Canon HG-10 HD, High definition, Optical Image Stabilization, 40 Gig Internal Storage (any HD camera with Optical Image Stabilization will work, and if you don’t desire HD, almost any camcorder will do the job)

I hope this information is helpful.

Your Friend & fellow Entrepreneur,

Joe Locklear

joe@joelocklear.com

www.belowwholesalehousing.com

904-813-9526

If you are like many real estate investors in today’s marketplace you have undoubtedly considered purchasing a bank foreclosure. Even if you are a newbie and have not yet put your game plan into action, you have at least dreamt of what it would be like to buy an ugly house and make tons of money on making it a beautiful estate. So, maybe you are a little further along and you have arranged for financing, engaged with some smart investors or Realtors who can find good deals and have even become educated on how to rehab a house. You have all of your ducks lined up, but you somehow wonder how and if ever you will actually be able to find the right deal?

You see the truth is, for most people, this is how the process goes. You get educated and become resourceful, you meet smart and successful people and you want to do what they do right? I mean they did make a million dollars on their own secret strategy right? They have purchased tons of properties and have successfully transacted hundreds if not thousands of deals. They have been doing it for some time now and you ponder how they stuck around for so long.

There is one main reason these successful investors have been able to stick around for countless years. It is the same reason the ones who haven’t been around that long have had instant success over night. The answer my friends is “FEAR.” Fear will control your mind and manipulate your emotions. It will preclude you from any further positive action you try to take in purchasing your dream investment. You will second guess deals, lenders, contractors or maybe just the market as a whole. It will paralyze your will to adapt to situations and stifle your strive towards achieving your full investment potential. You must overcome your Fear to dominate this market.

Today’s bank foreclosure market is the scariest possible for some people. Daily talks of government intervention riding the coattails of multi-billion dollar fortune 500 banking mistakes have become the norm for the bank foreclosure market this year. Just when you thought you had the market figured out a major bank moves forward and freezes their foreclosure inventory and releases reports of fraudulent and negligent dealings on their part. Talks of some of the top banks withholding inventory in the short term and manipulating home valuation are common among seasoned investors. One month the market is hot with tons of purchasing going down. The next month investors struggle to purchase profitable deals. There seems to be only one major trend that stands out in this marketplace over the last few years, “It’s Unpredictable”. Even the experts cannot truly predict this market. From an economic viewpoint: There are too many outliers or unforeseen variables in the foreclosure market to correctly predict real time expectations of a short term hedonic pricing model. In English, “This market is too crazy to predict within the next year.” In the near future, there are no signs of the bank foreclosure market becoming any easier to invest in.

So, now that I have scared you once again, allow me to set you free. The only way you will ever beat the Fear of purchasing a bank foreclosure is to educate yourself. You must keep up with what happens daily in the bank foreclosure industry. You must learn how to make an educated decision in real time. Find real mentors who operate in this market every day. You will want to pick their brains and get as much information as you can as often as you can. Once you find a good deal you must learn how to pull the trigger on purchasing. Most good deals will sell within the first few days of hitting the market. You will never have the time to mull over a deal and make a decision during a few week time period. By the time you feel comfortable the deal will be gone. With solid education and the ability to master you’re nerves you can make a killing in this market. This will in turn depend on how well you overcome your natural human fears of failure. The bank foreclosure market is on fast forward. In order to purchase good deals and become competitive you will have to asphyxiate your fears promptly!

- Adam Locklear

Adam Locklear is a local real estate broker and investor of the Jacksonville Foreclosure Market. Over the last 6 years he has successfully transacted and closed over 300 deals with many of the top banks in the nation. He is the owner and operator of Locklear Realty LLC & Co-Owner of Below Wholesale Housing.

www.belowwholesalehousing.com

One of the most common questions that I am asked is “How can I safely invest in real estate when I know nothing about it?” The answer is multi-faceted and I am going to attempt to address it as best I can. I believe that the first facet is the “market”. How has it changed over the years and where is it now.

Now for you to understand where I am coming from, I need you to understand how I view the market in general. I do not believe there are “good” or “bad” real estate markets. Good or bad investment results are entirely dependent on YOUR activity at any given time. For example – if you were trying to buy cash-flow Jacksonville Florida rental property in 2007, you were bidding against the “flippers”, “rehabbers” and others enamored by the strong market. You had to pay very high prices for minimal cash-flow. Not good – right? On the other hand, if you were selling rental properties that you had purchased at a bargain price years before – you were raking in huge profits! Again, the market is neutral. It is your activity at any given point that makes it good or bad for you. It really is as simple as buying when everyone is selling (lower price due to supply & demand), hold and cash-flow until everyone else is buying and sell at the higher price (established by more demand than supply). This very simple business plan is responsible for creating the great majority of real estate fortunes.

Born in Jacksonville, I have been involved in the real estate market since 1980. Due to massive bank foreclosures and a weak economic growth, selling prices in Jacksonville are at the lowest point that I can remember. On the other hand, Jacksonville is still enjoying population growth. This means more people and less available housing (no new units are being built and many foreclosed homes sit vacant). Many colleagues that I speak with regularly are already seeing the rental market strengthening. Nationwide, economist are suggesting that rental rates may rise by as much as 7% in 2012. On another note, loan rates are very low. Bank loans are available for rental property as long as you have good credit, provable income and less than four existing loans in your name. You can go past four loans, however the qualifying requirements are much tighter requiring higher credit scores and greater reserves.

This brings us to what I consider to be the “meca” of the post-crash investor – private funding! There are over 40 TRILION dollars in the retirement accounts of the baby boomers alone, most of it invested in sub-performing assets. Banks are paying record- low interest and the stock market is as unpredictable as ever. There are two sources of retirement account money available to you for real estate investing – your IRA and everyone else’s IRA.  Savvy investors are converting their retirement accounts to self-directed IRAs and buying rock-bottom priced rental property. Other investors are helping their family and friends to transfer low yield investments into high cash-flow mortgages, used to acquire rental property.

Dirt cheap prices, availability of qualified rehab companies, rising rental rates and the availability of money combine to create what I see as a “perfect storm” for investing in residential rental property. To simplify – all of us should be buying as much low-priced, high cash-flow rental property as we can, as quickly as we can. You need to buy solid properties in good areas paying attention to the following…

1. Buy in neighborhoods that were selling during the boom, but where sales have now slowed due to the difficulty of middle and lower-middle class families qualifying for mortgages. Stay OUT of the “war zones”.
2. Either buy good condition properties, or if rehabbing – pay particular attention to the roof, windows and mechanical systems. Consider hiring a licensed contractor for a high quality renovation.
3. Fund with private loans to buy and rehab, then refinance at low bank rates. When you can no longer get additional bank loans, work on developing private long-term financing.
4. Hire professional management. With current high-cash flow conditions, you can afford it. Let the pros manage tenants while you concentrate on creating wealth.
5. When prices increase, you may want to cash-out. When selling, hire a professional Realtor with a reputation for extensive electronic and social media marketing.

To a seasoned investor, the above may be simple, but to a beginner it can be overwhelming. The good news is you don’t have to do it alone! The Locklear family of companies enjoys reputation and track record for providing top-notch real estate services. When you buy a wholesale property from Joe Locklear, you will be given priority status with the following companies:

1. BELOW WHOLESALE HOUSING LLC – This is Joe Locklear’s private brand and represents all of his wholesale operations. Joe will locate a fantastic deal, help you to analyze the cash-flow and resale potential, guide you through financing and MENTOR you through the entire investment process. Having purchased over 500 local Jacksonville homes, Joe’s expertise is well proven.
2. COMMUNITY BUILDING & RESTORATION INC. – This construction company is wholly owned by the Locklear family. Frankly speaking – we are the BEST in the business! Having been Florida State Certified since 1988 without a single license complaint filed, we place the customer’s needs above the need for profits. The main purpose of this company is to provide renovation services to Joe’s wholesale buyers.
3. LOCKLEAR REALTY – Locklear Realty is owned and operated by Adam Locklear. Adam has established a proven reputation for providing state of the art electronic and social media marketing. Alex Rose is Locklear Realty’s full-time property manager. Jason Locklear is Adam’s web designer and works constantly to keep Locklear Realty at the top of the electronic marketing arena. Results speak for themselves. In just a few years in business, Locklear Realty has established itself as a fierce competitor for retail sales and an effective property manager.

The only thing that we do not provide is the money. That is why we need you. Whether you are interested in buying turn-key professionally managed rental property, being a private mortgage lender or simply learning more about the process, just give me a call at 904-813-9526. I would love to add you to my long list of satisfied customers!

Sincerely,

Your Friend & Fellow Entrepreneur,

Joe Locklear

904-813-9526

joe@joelocklear.com

www.joelocklear.com