Niman @TReXGlobal.com

Foreclosures and REO’s are bringing many investors out of the woodwork - and some of the new investors who are novices are making many mistakes in selecting and purchasing of undervalued residential real estate.

RealtyTimes published an article that discusses a situation where a novice investor purchased a property and outsourced property management to a property manager. The property had lots of defects and improving the property to get it ready for rental proved expensive for this investor. The investor was blaming the property manager for the expenses.

Before becoming a Do-It-Yourself or absentee landlord, the 3 tips that investors should follow for success are:

1. Understand the market you are purchasing your investment property.

2. Be clear of your end goal and write it down

3. Calculate the costs of owning the investment property

These key rules will help you make good decisions when you are purchasing investment property.

BusinessWeek editor Chris Palmeri got his first residential rental property in March and faced the usual challenges of property management. Many real estate investors, especially the ones who own properties far away from where they live - do the smart thing and hire a property manager so that they sleep well at night.

Chris, a new do-it-yourself landlord, was anxious to rent his property quickly, and skipped tenant screening. Once landlords are burnt by a tenant, they never skip tenant screening! Read 5 tips for tenant screening in today’s market to make sure that you do not make this error. Luckily, he has managed to rent his property to new tenants. The best part is that he is looking to acquire another property.

Read his story on BusinessWeek by CLICKING HERE

According to Builder magazine the real estate markets that have been hit the hardest will take the most time to recover. They did a study of all the real estate markets in USA to determine which ones are the weakest. The real estate markets that appear on this list have had the most job losses, increasing foreclosures and falling home prices.

The real estate markets were ranked based on population trends and job growth, perennial drivers of housing demand. Builder magazine also examined the rate of home price declines. The other factors considered by the magazine included the rate of building permits, which they consider to be the single best ongoing indicator of builder confidence in a market. They combined all these factors to rank the markets with a score.

The bottom 5 markets in USA are:

1. Detroit, Michigan

2. Stockton, California

3. Port St. Lucie, Florida

4. West Palm Beach, Florida

5. Daytona Beach, Florida

To check the list to see which real estate markets are likely to recover last from the real estate downturn, Click Here

Builder magazine has just updated its list for the Top Real Estate Markets in USA.

Since the list was published in early 2009, the economy seems to be staggering to recover the federal government $8000 tax credit along with real estate investors have been picking up real estate properties at discounts. Even though many economists are suggesting that the recession has ended, unemployment is running very high.

The magazine reports that right now no market is really healthy but some of the real estate markets are doing better than others. So the markets which are on the top of the list will do much better than others. This study and report is one of the most comprehensive available and covers the top 100 real estate markets in USA.

According to Builder's List, the top 5 real estate markets in USA are:

1. Austin, Texas

2. San Antonio, Texas

3. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C./Va/Md/W.Va

4. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas

5. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Check the list to see which 20 real estate markets are likely to recover first from the real estate downturn, click here

Vacancy rates have mushroomed to a 23 year high, close to 8%. As inventory of vacant residential rental properties is increasing, rents are dropping. Even then, savvy do-it-yourself landlords and property managers are still able to attract high quality tenants and keep their residential rental properties occupied.

Are you able to attract high quality tenants or is one of your tenants leaving soon? Here are steps to take to have high quality tenant line up to rent from you making your experience as a landlord or a property manager enjoyable and profitable.

1. Approach your property from the eyes of the tenant and make sure that it has curb appeal. A property that is very attractive from the curb will rent itself.

2. Create an ad targeting your prospective tenants. Landlords or Property Managers can determine the target tenant based on the location and size of the property. Depending upon the features of your residential rental property a target tenant could be a student, couple or a family. In the ad, highlight the features of the property that would attract the target tenant.

3. Advertise your property in Craigslist, the most popular rental property listing site. If you are a do-it-yourself landlord, contact your local rental property management company and pay for their service to find and do tenant screening. You can also advertise on various rental sites on the internet like rent.com, etc.

4. Respond to emails, phone calls from prospective tenants to keep their interest high in the property and highlight the features of the property in your response.

Until you get into the habit of looking at your residential rental property from the eyes of the target tenant, pin these 4 tips where they stay in front and follow them rigorously. Make attracting high quality tenants a high priority for you and you will have target tenants lining up to rent your property.