Thursday, September 15, 2011

foreclosure auctions


Invest NI by pilot-tim


You've no doubt seen these or study them. Glossy advertisements or four-color propagates in magazines and magazines promising to instruct you every one of the juicy details about successful real estate investing. And all you need to do to learn all these real property investing surface encounters chuck russo secrets is to pay a rather high sum for a one-or two-day seminar.




Often these slick real-estate investing seminars claim that you can make smart, profitable real estate investments with simply no money down (except, of course, the hefty fee you buy the workshop). Now, how interesting is which? Make a profit from real est investments you created using no cash. Possible? Not likely.




Successful real estate investment requires income. That's the type of any type of business or investment, especially property investing. You put your money into a thing that you wish and plan will make you more income.




Unfortunately too few newbies for the world of property investing believe that it's the magical kind of business exactly where standard business rules do not apply. Simply place, if you want to stay in property investing for a lot more than, say, a evening or a couple of, then you will have to generate money to use and make investments.




While it might be true in which buying property with no money down is easy, anyone who is even made a basic owning a home (just like buying their own home) is aware there's far more involved in real estate investing that will set you back money. For instance, what concerning any necessary repairs?




So, the primary rule people not used to real property investing should remember is always to have accessible cash supplies. Before you decide to actually perform any property investing, save some money. Having slightly money within the bank when you begin real property investing surface encounters chuck russo can help you make more profitable real estate investments in rental properties, for example.




When real estate investing in rental properties, you'll want to be able to select only qualified tenants. If you've no cashflow when property investing inside rental properties, you may be pressured to take in a much less qualified tenant as you need somebody to cover you money to be able to take treatment of maintenance or lawyer fees.




For almost any real est investing, meaning rental properties or perhaps properties you buy to sell, having money reserved can permit you to ask for any higher value. You can ask for a higher price out of your real estate investment because a person surface encounters chuck russo won't feel financially strapped as you wait for an offer. You won't be backed into a corner and forced to accept just any offer because you desperately need the money.




Another downfall of numerous new to real estate investing is, well, greed. Make any profit, yes, but do not become so greedy that you ask regarding ridiculous local rental or second-hand rates on any of your real est investments.




Those not used to real estate investing need to see real-estate investing being a business, NOT a hobby. Don't believe that real est investing will make you wealthy overnight. What company does?




It will take about six months to decide if real estate investing set for you. If you might have decided which, hey I really like this, then give yourself a few years to actually start making money. It often takes at minimum five years to get truly successful in real-estate investing.




Persistence is the key in order to success in property investing. If you've decided that property investing is for you, surface encounters chuck russo keep plugging away at it and the rewards will be greater than you imagined.













Socially responsible investments might be emotionally compelling investments, but do they necessarily have compelling financial returns?



The term "Impact Investing" has taken on many meanings in the past few years. I want to end the confusion and underscore that impact investing must by definition deliver impactful and compelling financial returns.



Impact investing has been labeled as a subset of socially responsible investing (SRI). But, it is not a subset of SRI.



The basic premise of socially responsible investing is to avoid investing in businesses that cause harm to the environment or society. Since SRI's approach to investing is narrow and passive, it is by definition often a niche investing strategy, which in many cases has delivered lukewarm returns.



SRIs don't necessarily impact an industry, impact investments necessarily do. Yet, many organizations still treat SRI and impact investing like synonyms - causing confusion.



For example, here is the definition of SRI from ecolife, a website that is an online guide to green living:



"Socially responsible investing is an investment strategy employed by individuals, corporations, and governments looking for ways to ensure their funds go to support socially responsible firms. The concept goes by names like sustainable investing, impact investing, community investing, ethical investing, and socially-conscious investing; it is a non-financial gauge that is used when selecting various investment options that takes into account factors such as environmental, social, and ethical values."



The reality is that some socially responsible investments can be impact investments, but not all impact investments are socially responsible investments. So, SRIs are really a subset of impact investing. According to the Monitor Institute's new report "impact investors want to move beyond 'socially responsible investment'."



All impact investments have the potential to move towards a new economy - an impact economy, not all SRIs will. In fact, most SRIs won't.



Why? Impact investing is socially responsible and must have compelling returns. Returns that make the professional investor consider it seriously as a critical piece in the portfolio. According to Dr. Arjuna Sittampalam, research associate with EDHEC-Risk Institute, "in other words, the investor makes an active decision to seek a social or developmental return alongside their financial return."



Since impact investments create compelling returns, they have a greater chance of attracting more serious professional investors than SRIs -- a necessity for creating worldwide social change and impact.



The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) defines impact investments as those that: "aim to solve social or environmental challenges while generating financial profit. Impact investing includes investments that range from producing a return of principal capital (capital preservation) to offering market-rate or even market-beating financial returns. Although impact investing could be categorized as a type of 'socially responsible investing,' it contrasts with negative screening, which focuses primarily on avoiding investments in 'bad' or 'harmful' companies - impact investors actively seek to place capital in businesses and funds that can harness the positive power of enterprise."



This definition is more on target with the real definition of impact investing, but to revise part of GIIN's definition: Impact investments only include investments that can offer market-rate or even market-beating financial returns.



So, my definition -- impact investing must achieve four significant goals:



1. Make an impact in solving a pressing problem of our time,

2. Generate compelling returns for investors,

3. Generate growth for economies, and

4. Generate prosperity for developed and developing nations.



An example is my own case-in-point. I founded SunEdison that created the power purchase agreement (PPA) model for the solar industry. This business model used net metering, streamlined interconnection standards, ways to connect to the grid, and actually provided a new solar power service to customers.



Investments in PPAs are delivering 7-12% unleveraged after tax returns. In today's financial environment; these are compelling returns given the low risks.



Plus, PPAs have lowered the use of fossil fuels to deliver electric energy; created thousands of jobs worldwide and are growing. They have impactful financial returns and impact a big problem.



According to the Monitor Institute's new report Investing for social and environmental impact: a design for catalyzing an emerging industry "it is certainly plausible that in the next five to 10 years investing for impact could grow to represent about 1 percent of estimated professionally managed global assets in 2008. That would create a market of approximately $500 billion. A market that size would create an important supplement to philanthropy, nearly doubling the amount given away in the U.S. alone today."



But that is only a start, a start to an "Impact Economy." To really make a difference - to leverage impact investing to create an impact economy, it must be larger. Some estimate that we need to invest over $1 trillion to combat issues like climate change, poverty, and lacking global health, to put the world back onto a stable more equitable footing.



So, let's put our money where the impact is. Stop selling impact investors short.



Jigar Shah is CEO of the Carbon War Room, a nonprofit that harnesses the power of entrepreneurs to implement market-driven solutions to climate change and create a post-carbon economy.






It is very difficult to determine the sex of a pigeon. I used to keep pigeons as a kid so I’m good at it.


There are three ways to do it:


1 – Check their reproductive organs

Pigeons genitalia all look the same (they have ‘cloaca‘) so you will have to cut them open to actually see their reproductive organs. Not a very efficient method.


2 – See who goes on top

There isn’t much variation in the sex life of a pigeon. Males go on top. No Kama Sutra here. Fortunately all they do is eat and, ehm, reproduce. You won’t have to wait very long to see that happen. But you do need 2 pigeons and some patience.


3 – Look at their faces

Yes, pigeons have faces just like humans.


It takes years to be able to read the face of a pigeon. I kept pigeons as a kid so I can tell the sex of any pigeon just by looking at their faces for few seconds. Just like with most humans. Humans have the added benefit of clothing, hair and breasts. But even without that a face looks feminine or masculine.


Investors try to look under all those feathers but up close all excel sheets look the same. They try to see who goes on top but then you would have to wait until the entrepreneur meets an actual client.


But once you have met enough starting entrepreneurs one look at someones face is usually enough. You know what you have got and who is a good bet and who isn’t.


Just like with pigeons.


This is a variation of post I published in 2007. Photo credit: Igor Stevanovic via Shutterstock.


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