1. Pick a price level beyond which you will not go. You must control your investments so you have a secure future. You'll often hear stories of how people broke the rules and made millions. But, you must follow the rules until you've built a strong feel for properties you can easily sell quickly or rent at high levels in just days. The best guarantee of success for you is to plan and carefully follow what has worked for thousands of others buying foreclosures in their spare time.
2. You must get an income from your foreclosure properties. If you don't, there's no point in buying them. Your income can be either in the form of rent from units you lease to tenants or in the form of profit you derive from the sale of units you take over in foreclosure actions. Either way, you must come away from each deal with profit that you can spend for yourself and loved ones, invest in other properties, or save for the future. Remember that real estate is a business and as such, it must give you an income. If it doesn't, get into another business!
3. Every property you deal with that's in foreclosure will have expenses associated with it. It's rare that any property will have all possible expenses. But most will have some so you must be ready to pay them. And the way you get ready for those expenses is:
a) Know how much you can afford to spend on your investments and,
b) Analyze (in advance) your probable expenses. While this may seem like work, it really is fun, especially when you go to the bank to deposit your income or profits checks!
3. You must have a positive cash flow from every rental property you own, no matter how you bought it. People sometimes think that if they get a property for a low price, it doesn't need a positive cash flow to make money for them. Not so! You must have a positive cash flow for every property - even if it costs you only $25 to take over. Why? Because a negative cash flow property can drain your resources, leading to financial ruin. So avoid such properties like the plague. It's better to take longer to find the right positive cash flow property than to jump into an investment that gives you nothing but grief.
