Considerable Factors Involved in Product Creation & Marketing

The niche you have chosen should allow creation of more than one product or service. With the technological advancements in the hosting industry, from automated control panels and scripts that simplify creation of accounts, to complete turnkey solutions; there is no need to worry about spending time on the real products sold to the customer. The main ones are keyword selection, sales copy principles, graphics, affiliate programs, product creation, online payment processing, auto responders, and search engine optimization.

Once you’ve earned money from this type of information product business, you can invest in the creation of your own products if you want, or start offering more informational products that allow you to sell your knowledge. But the creation and production costs of a similar big ticket in sequence product, although higher, are still pretty low. A key by-product of this process will be the creation of 3-D, Computer Assisted Design art.

The Association for Financial Professionals permits the following activities for repatriating funds: Research and Development activities, advertising and marketing programs, hiring and training new recruits, acquiring patent and other rights to intangible property, improving transportation, funding capital investments with the purpose of job creation and job retention & funding product responsibility or environmental claims.

It prohibits certain activities like: Tax payments, Payment of executive recompense, Payment of dividends, Redemption of stocks, Debt investments and Portfolio investments. Therefore, before repatriating the money, you must consider whether it is worth or not.

Checklist on what artist and product development necessitate includes: Exceptional vocals, musicianship and/or songwriting skills, Continued education and enhancement of musical skills, Quality equipment, Performance ability, Image creation and maintenance, Plan of action, goal setting, excellent promotion materials including photographs, press releases and artwork, Business management skills, Marketing, Publicity and Promotion knowledge, Online and Offline Professional management, Basic knowledge of recording, producing, engineering, and mastering, Basic knowledge of manufacturing, distribution, and sales online, brick and mortar and air-play, Good choices in members, staff and advisors, Physical and mental preparedness, Basic knowledge of finances, accounting Law and legal issues etc.

The goals for doing so are for the product owner to: Communicate the whole, Determine and communicate when releases are needed, Determine what functionality is sufficient for each release & focus on business value derived from the releases. The delivery team on the other hand will see the whole, learn about the steps to realize the vision, learn the business priorities, provide technical input to the roadmap and provide estimates for the projected features. The salesperson must lead the prospect through the various decision criteria needed in order to secure a sale. Whether your idea is the development of a product, launch of a service business, or even the creation of an event or program for a non-profit, creativity is the root of all entrepreneurial efforts starting with the vision itself.

People quickly learn to spend their time on marketing and product creation, rather than repetitive tasks. Apart from empowering companies and individuals, there should be a particular focus on identifying labor intensive businesses that have the potential to make a significant and positive impact on employment creation as well as those businesses that have a product or service offering for export markets with the final objective of booming local economies.

Investing and Property Management

I have had lots of people over the years ask me, in my opinion, what is the most important thing about investing in real estate? Everybody always assumes its price, location or timing the market correctly. After over 1300 real estate transactions primarily to investors worldwide, I can say without a doubt that property management is the single most important piece of the investing puzzle. In real estate, you can make a mistake on price, pick an iffy neighborhood, or hire a bad contractor and still be profitable. Hire the wrong property manager and you can lose your shirt overnight! Don’t get me wrong, location, price and rehab are huge factors in real estate investing and are very important. With the right property management company in place though you can make a mistake or experience a down turn in a market or neighborhood and still realize a good return on your investment through positive cash flow. A good property manager protects your investment in the long-term.

Obviously, the next question is “how do I find a good property manager”? Here are several tips on picking a good management company. This does not necessarily mean you; someone else will be managing your property.

Get a referral. Typically, when you invest, there are people in your peer group or circle of influence that are investing in the same market you are or know of someone who is also investing in that market. Ask them who they are using, who they used to use, and why they switched. Find out what they like about their management company but more importantly find out what they don’t like about them. The management company may do a great job of placing tenants but are lacking in the communication department; without communication, you’re sunk! Access to your management company is very important for the investor’s peace of mind. There is nothing worse than leaving a message or sending a couple of emails and all you hear are crickets in the background. At first, you assume they are busy and will get to you soon. After a while, though, investors start wondering why no one is responding and that’s when panic sets in. Did the tenant leave? Did the management company run off with my money? DID MY HOUSE BURN DOWN? Generally, none of the above is true but a good property manager will respond within 24 hours of your inquiry.

Ask the management company that you are considering doing business with for references. Ideally, I believe you want 5 to 10 references from previous clients as well as current clients that have been using the management company longer than 1 year. If they are not willing to provide you with any past clients, pass on them. When you get the references, CALL THEM. Ask them the same questions about what they like and don’t like.

Get a list of policies and procedures from the management company. You need to know how they handle marketing of the properties for tenants, late payments, evictions, maintenance calls, inspections, accounting, owner disbursements, etc. A good management company will have this information readily available.

Find out if the management company is licensed in the state you are investing in. Most states require that the property manager is a licensed real estate broker and are held accountable to their state real estate board. There are many “property managers” out there that are not, but have taken this opportunity to increase their income while investing is hot. Though they may be cheaper, DO NOT USE AN UNLICENSED MANAGEMENT COMPANY! You will have no recourse to police them.

Find out what software program the management company uses. There are a few good property management software programs that are web-based such as Buildium and PropertyWare that give the property owner a portal login so you can access your account via the web 24 hours a day. A good property management company will log all tenant calls, maintenance concerns, payments, late notices etc., into the software program. This is beneficial to both parties as a majority of an investor’s questions or concerns can be addressed by logging into the software program and looking at the info at hand there. This eliminates a lot of phone calls between the property manager and the owner. It also helps the owner to narrow down questions or concerns by addressing specific information found in their portal.

The reason for investing is to get paid. You need to know when the money comes in, where it’s at, what your expenses are, and when you get your payments. Most management companies reconcile accounts 1 month in arrears. Rents collected in 1 month are disbursed the following month for the simple fact that not all expenses come in time to get an accurate accounting to disburse rent proceeds in the same month. Each management company is different but should be able to tell you to the day when to expect payments on a monthly basis. You also need to know when to expect the quarterly or annual accounting needed for your tax man. Again, a good software program makes this much easier for the management company to keep track of and share with you.

To me, the fees that a management company charges are important but not as important as the previous items in this list. I have seen it over and over again where somebody picks one management company over another based solely upon fees. 3-6 months later after dealing with terrible tenants, bad accounting practices and more, the few hundred bucks they saved cost them literally thousands of dollars. Here is a brief run down on the fees you can expect to pay.

Monthly Management fee: usually 7-10% of collected rents depending on the market you are investing in. Higher rental amounts usually equate to lower monthly fee percentages and lower rents are higher percentages. A few companies will have a set monthly fee of somewhere between $50-$100 dollars per month.

Leasing Fee: usually 50-100% of the 1st month’s rent; again depending on average rent amounts. Most property management companies employ commissioned leasing agents that are usually paid a percentage of this fee up to 50%.

Set up Fee: this is charged for the time it takes to set up the new accounts, generate bank accounts etc., usually around $100 dollars.

Vacancy Fee: some management companies will charge a flat fee per month on a vacant unit. Their reasoning is that a vacant unit still requires someone to keep tabs on that property usually on a 1-2 week cycle to verify that the property is secure, yard is in good order, rental signs are in place and visible etc. I have found that only about 50% of property management companies charge for this service. Unfortunately, I have also found that half of the ones who don’t charge for this are not checking the properties periodically and sometimes a small issue turns into a bigger more expensive issue down the road.

Advertising Fees: most good property managers do not charge extra for the marketing of the vacant units to potential renters as they are paid when the properties become occupied and the advertising expense is covered by the leasing fee. Some property managers will give you the option of extra paid advertising if you have a property that is tougher to rent than usual.

Maintenance Fees: most management companies use maintenance as a profit center; some more than others! Due to the volume that some management companies do they are able to procure vendors at a much lower rate than what you could get on your own thereby allowing them to make a profit on certain maintenance items. Yard mowings are a great example of this. A large management company may be mowing 100 yards a season and can negotiate a volume deal at $15-$20 per yard to them. They, in return, “sell” this service to you at the market rate of $25-$30 per mowing. It is still a good deal for you as you are hands off and would expect to pay the same price if you were only contracting to have 1-2 yards mowed. On the other hand, some management companies go to excess on other maintenance issues such as repairs after a tenant has moved out. Typically, the security deposit should cover most items necessary to make a property re-rentable unless a bad tenant was placed and they have trashed your property. Some management companies use this as a way to increase their profits by over charging for these repairs. I recommend having a 3rd party inspect and/or bid any repairs that seem excessive to you.

Hiring the Right Real Estate Attorney

Investing in property is a very important decision in one’s life. You are going to invest all your savings, in some cases a hefty loan, into buying a property that you will cherish for the rest of your life. You won’t want to spend that money buying something that’s not worthwhile. Getting cheated is often possible especially when you are involved with investments. Even if you are not really cheated with the property, you can always be cheated while signing an agreement or making that buying decision. You could be asked to agree to clauses that are not legal or, something like that. It is always good to hire a real estate law firm who would give you the perfect legal advice in such cases. After all when you are investing a lot of money buying a property, investing a small amount in an attorney is good idea to protect the legal issues. When hiring a law firm or its attorney, there are some aspects that you should not ignore. Here’s how you select the right real estate attorney for your property related investment.

Referrals or Relationships

A good real estate attorney could be realized with good relations. Probably when you dealt with a law firm in your last dealing, you made good relations with them. This would help you in your current dealing as well. But, if not then try to get some good references. Your neighbour, your relative or, your best friend could have hired a real estate law firm in the past when selling or buying a property. You can ask them about it and, get a real good deal. Hiring a real estate law firm from references or past deals makes sense as you get the right attorney. Remember, its about your property and the legalities of that property. So, you need to make the right choice in here.

From the Bar Association

If you have none of the above mentioned sources, you could probably contact the bar association in your state for help in the same. They can provide you with a list of attorneys who deal with real estate on a daily basis. In fact, you can even come up with listings of law firm dealing in real estate. Both of these together make up for a good research and comparison. You can ask people around you and, do some research before choosing the right attorney.

Consult your List

Once you have come up with a list of attorneys, you can probably consult a few of them personally. These personal meetings can help you understand if they have the right experience and talent to get you through your property dealing. You can even seek some legal advice during these consultations. If you feel the attorney suits you, you can close the deal with him and hire him straight away.