real property – Antonio Holman

Squatters Rights (How To Protect Your Real Estate Investment)

Antonio Holman — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 00:56:54 +0000

Created for United States Real Estate Investor | https://unitedstatesrealestateinvestor.com

In our times of skyrocketing rents and expansive real estate prices, property owners are increasingly facing the issue of people commandeering their properties at no cost or communicating with landlords. This practice is called Squatting.

What are squatter’s rights?

Squatters Rights, also known as Adverse Possession is defined per source: Wikipedia: Adverse possession, sometimes colloquially described as “squatter’s rights“,^[a] is a legal principle in the Anglo-American common law under which a person who does not have legal title to a piece of property—usually land (real property)—may acquire legal ownership based on continuous possession or occupation of the property without the permission (licence) of its legal owner.^[1] The possession by a person is not adverse if they are in possession as a tenant or licensee of the legal owner.

Cornell Law School definition: Adverse possession is a doctrine under which a person in possession of land owned by someone else may acquire valid title to it, so long as certain requirements are met, and the adverse possessor is in possession for a sufficient period of time, as defined by a statute of limitations.

Adverse possession is a doctrine under which a person in possession of land owned by someone else may acquire valid title to it, so long as certain requirements are met, and the adverse possessor is in possession for a sufficient period of time, as defined by a statute of limitations.

–Cornell Law School

Generally speaking, the term for a person who occupies residential premises of a property that is not their own and has no right to do so is a squatter.

Even though the typical idea of squatting is the act of an unassociated person making their home in or on an unauthorized property, squatting is a standard method used by tenants during the eviction process and can be viewed as a form of protest.

The practice of squatting can also be conducted by homeless or adventure-seeking passersby as a way to acquire a place to live temporarily, or in some cases, long-term. Although it is not impossible to lawfully gain ownership of properties, in most cases, the squatter does not officially claim legal control.

Frequently, depending on how derelict or uninterested, the owner is not even aware that someone is living on their property.

Can a squatter legally squat on your property?

The answer is, yes they can. Depending on the property’s jurisdiction, the law allows a person to squat on a property without any kind of legal basis.

Getting your property legally back from a squatter is not always possible. In some cases, squatters can be evicted by an order from a court of law. In other instances, squatters are simply asked to leave the property by the original owner.

To safeguard yourself as a property owner, thoroughly communicate with your city’s state and local government to learn the squatting laws that can help you stay protected from these types of unwanted activities.

What can squatters do?

As a way to skirt paying rent or any other debt obligations, squatters can do a lot of things, good and bad, if allowed. In some cases, they can cause damage to your property, but in most cases, the damage is not severe enough to warrant legal action.

When it comes to the neighbors of your property, squatters can also be a massive nuisance, but this is not always the case.

Some squatters have been known to actually increase the beauty of properties by cleaning, repairing damages, and creating and/or planting elaborate landscaping, therefore increasing your property’s value; This is a clever attempt to combat removal from the premises.

Although certain squatters may feel that they are increasing the area value with their presence, many of the surrounding residents may feel a threat to their personal safety and security.

What are the benefits of squatting?

To many individuals, squatting can be an incredibly liberating and fulfilling experience. When squatting, some have stated that there is a sense of independence, empowerment, and ownership that comes with living in one’s own property.

Depending on the neighborhood and the value that a squatter can bring, squatting can be a great way to meet people, gain skills, and build community.

With those seemingly positive things said, squatting can be an enormous monetary and wellness drain on the individual, especially if they are not able to own the property.

Not having the proper financial documentation, necessary health and safety precautions, and building code regulations in place, squatters can place their lives at a conceivably irreversible risk.

What are the risks of squatting?

Although squatting can be a criminal activity, some squatters may feel that squatting is a good way to make money through sub-squatting rents and other illegal practices such as the sale and manufacturing of illicit drugs.

Squatting be very dangerous as perpetrators could be arrested and prosecuted if caught violating area squatting, landlord, and narcotics laws.

Squatting can also have serious consequences for the health and safety of the squatter. If there is no compliance with building and safety codes, squatting situations could become very hazardous.

Squatting can also cause damage to the squatter’s personal property. Squatters could lose their chosen home because of a fire, natural disaster, or other accidents. If a squatting situation is unsafe, it may also be highly illegal.

As a property owner, an unsafe squatting situation can put squatters and/or your neighbors in serious danger. Most of all, squatting can cause great harm to the reputation and livelihood of the property owner.

How to squat legally?

There are 5 ways to possibly squat legally:

Show how much you appreciate the property by voluntarily adding value to the property (cleaning, repairs, landscaping, etc.).
Look into the squatter’s rights laws in the city of the property to see what legal rights squatters have.
Become a member of the neighborhood association and ask that they include you on their list of approved squatters.
Become a member of the property owner’s organization, and ask them to accept your application to become a squatter.
If you are already in possession of the property in which you wish to squat, then you must, at least, begin by going through the previously listed steps above.

There are several other ways to squat, but they all have the potential of causing legal problems. Much to the chagrin of many absent landlords, some cities have many legal ways that properties can be taken over by undocumented tenants.

5 Ways to secure your property from squatters?

Are you worried about squatters taking over your property? There are ways to secure your property and protect yourself from squatters. Here are five tips to get you started:

Keep your property well-maintained and tidy. If it looks like someone is living there, squatters may be more likely to move on to an easier target.
Install security cameras and/or signage that warns trespassers they will be prosecuted. Today, there are many remote security camera options you can use to protect your property from anywhere in the world.
Make sure to keep all doors and windows locked at all times. Be sure that you have proper locking systems, door locks, window locks, etc. as to make it increasingly difficult for intruders to access your real estate.
Have a clear plan for what to do if someone tries to squat on your property. Coordinate with neighbors if they see any suspicious activity. Be ready to contact the police immediately!
Communicate with your local government to know the squatting laws, statistics, and your rights as a property owner.

In Conclusion:

To real estate owners and landlords, the act of squatting in a property can be an extensive annoyance that needs to be kept in mind.

Along with steadily rising property values, wage stagnation, a nationwide lack of financial education, authoritarian laws, weak local government structures, and the culture of poverty in certain areas, squatting is becoming a more attractive alternative for people who want to control inaccessible properties.

The post Squatters Rights (How To Protect Your Real Estate Investment) appeared first on Antonio Holman.

3 Top Rated Real Estate Investing For Beginners Books You Need To Read Now (Get Started Fast In 2022)

Antonio Holman — Wed, 13 Apr 2022 05:23:16 +0000

Created for United States Real Estate Investor | https://unitedstatesrealestateinvestor.com

In this article, I will share with you 3 of the most powerful books to help you get started in the real estate investing industry in 2022.

I will also highlight some of the reasons why real estate investing is one of the most powerful wealth-building tools on the planet.

Finally, although the fastest way to become a real estate investor will be revealed below, the words you are about to read will lead you to some practical tools to help you create a solid foundation of industry knowledge.

Let’s begin building your wealth now.

What is real estate investing?

Real estate investing is the purchase of real estate for the purpose of renting it out to tenants. By investing in real estate, you are buying a property that has potential for future income that could possibly last for generations.

The income can come from residential rentals (e.g.: single-family homes, multi-family apartment buildings, AirBNB), commercial rentals (e.g.: event venues, retail stores, restaurants), or from a combination of both residential and commercial rental income (e.g: multi-family building with first floor retail).

If you own real estate, you can also be called an investor, property owner, or landlord. When you invest in a more passive style of real estate investing (e.g.: Real Estate Investment Trust, Real Estate Investment Fund, Real Estate Investment Crowdfund), you are passively buying a piece (share) of the real estate property and putting your money into the hands of someone who owns the property, therefore allowing you to earn dividends.

When you choose to buy real estate, it means that you have joined the millions of people who enjoy investing in real estate as a hobby, side investment, or even a full-time income.

To understand the real reason why people choose to become real estate investors, continue reading.

Real estate investing has the potential to create multiple streams of passive income within the same industry

Why do people get into real estate investing?

There are many reasons why people get into real estate investing. Just to name a few, some people like the idea of quitting their day jobs, controlling their own property, freely traveling the world at a whim, financially sustaining their families, paying themselves their own wages, and making their own decisions about what to do with that earned income.

Real estate investing is a great tool to build generational wealth, protect people from the ravages of ongoing inflation, and also gives people an opportunity to turn their capital into a passive income.

REI continues to show that it is a great way to make money without having to work extremely hard and today it can be done from almost anywhere in the world.

Even though the writing has been on the wall for over two hundred years, there are still millions of people who do not see the true power of real estate investing.

Why is real estate investing so powerful for building wealth?

According to Gallup’s findings from 2020, Americans selected real estate as one of the best long-term investment choices in its seventh annual survey, placing it above stocks and mutual funds, gold, and bonds. The numbers are hard to refute. Real estate is one of the best investments you can make. It has been proven time and time again that with the leverage real estate creates, it has tremendous potential to outperform all other investments.

Over many decades, real estate investing has assisted in creating more millionaires than any other investment. Real estate has proven to be one of the safest investments in existence.

Considering compounding industry opportunities, real estate investing is still shown to be the best way to make money for the next 30 years. Real estate investing will not only allow you to retire, but it can help you live a better life than you could otherwise.

Generally, real estate is the one asset class that will never lose money unless there is a natural disaster, war, or political upheaval.

With seemingly so many new millionaires and billionaires than ever before, most people feel that they do not have a way to boost their net worth. Real estate investing has the potential to be that financial vehicle to increase net worth and pass on wealth and financial literacy for generations. As you can see, the REI industry gives people a solid way to turn an initial investment into more than just money.

Keep in mind that real estate investing is not severely complex, but still may not be for everyone. It is not necessarily for those who have trouble following a simple, logical plan. REI is not for those who are lazy and do not like to work hard to achieve their financial goals. It is not for those who do not understand the power of simple compounding interest along with the power of real assets.

Do not be fooled or persuaded by negative, unknowing people around you who may be skeptical of real estate investing or think it will take forever to succeed.

By the way, there actually is an ultra-fast way to becoming a real estate investor.

What is the fastest way to become a real estate investor?

If you are looking for the quickest way to become a successful real estate investor and to get started on your road to wealth as soon as you can, the first things you can do are research and learn as much as you can about the industry before taking any action. That’s not to say to induce yourself with analysis paralysis.

The easiest way to become a real estate investor, but sometimes the much more costly way, is by hiring a real estate investing coach. Historically, paying a real estate investing coach to help you jump into the REI industry has been looked upon as the smartest and most massively beneficial way for many successful real estate investors to begin their careers.

Hiring a coach removes much of the pain of long, hard nights of confusion and frustration that self-teaching brings. Although coaching is a great option to get started in this industry, let’s not overlook the financial elephant in the room; the price.

Depending on the coach and the specificity of the type of real estate investing they teach, the price of hiring an REI coach can reach upwards of $100,000, if not more.

If you would rather not take such a gigantic, monetary leap just yet, reading books by well-known industry leaders is an excellent place to start gathering basic understanding.

Let’s face it, if you are reading this right now, you are thinking like the 10% of people in the world who know how important it is to aim for financial literacy, generational wealth, and ultimately financial freedom.

Here are 3 top real estate investing books to get you on the right path to creating the passive income and lifestyle you have been dreaming about.

Let’s dive right in.

Book 1: Real Estate Investing QuickStart Guide: The Simplified Beginner’s Guide to Successfully Securing Financing, Closing Your First Deal, and Building Wealth Through Real Estate written by Symon He

With excellent collegiate achievements, acclaimed television appearances on popular business outlets, and a myriad of easily accessible online courses (listed below) in which to indulge, Symon He is considered a great, established resource for all things real estate investing for any beginner.

About the author of this book:

Symon He is the author of two books about AirBNB. The first is known as AirBNB for Dummies and it was released by Wiley Publishing. His second book, the Real Estate Investing QuickStart Guide, comes from ClydeBank Media.

Symon is the founder of LearnBNB.com, a leading repository of online classes aimed at beginner AirBNB hosts and short-term rentals. His works have been published or featured by The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Forbes, CNBC, Entrepreneur, and SKIFT.

Through his work with his training and coaching programs, he has worked with thousands of aspiring AirBNB hosts to begin their short-term rental journeys. His training programs were featured in prominent third-party outlets, such as a one-time collaboration with RichDad.com.

Symon is also a bestselling instructor of real estate and business courses, with over 300,000 trainees as of July 2020. Some of his most distinguished courses can be found on the most popular e-learning platforms such as LinkedIn Learning, Udemy, CyberU, LearnFormula, Highbrow, Knowable, and StackSkills.

Symon previously supervised a variety of business roles and real estate tasks at large organizations, including at a private-equity investment firm covering a broad expanse of commercial real estate in the western states of the US. He has a California real estate broker’s license and publishes regularly on his blog symonhe.com.

Academically, he completed his bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering and Economics at the University of California, Irvine, going on to attain his MBA at Stanford University.

What readers are saying about the book:

Aside from beginners, people who have been in the real estate investing industry in acquisitions, private equity, and more validate Symon’s expertise. They enjoy how Symon lays out the idea of having a strategic overall plan of success. They feel he presents a very strong outline of the way that you should invest in real estate.

Readers feel like the book is well structured in that it helps beginner investors tap into their reasons for wanting to become a real estate investor in turn helping them create a personal roadmap.

In addition to focusing on the fundamentals of the industry, readers learned about the first principles of investing and how to apply them to real estate investing deals.

This book has the power to give you the basic, highly concentrated knowledge to kickstart your real estate investing education, and the excellent online resources that are included are a much-appreciated bonus.

Grab your copy of Real Estate Investing QuickStart Guide: The Simplified Beginner’s Guide to Successfully Securing Financing, Closing Your First Deal, and Building Wealth Through Real Estate by Symon He

Book 2: Skip the Flip: Secrets the 1% Know About Real Estate Investing by Hayden Crabtree

As what seemed like a natural transition of financial interest, this next real estate investor, author, and tech company founder, jumped into the real estate investing industry at a young age, only looking back to bring new investors into the industry with him by sharing his wealth-building knowledge.

About the author of this book:

Hayden Crabtree is an investor, educator, bestselling author, and founder of a real estate portfolio managing platform called MyPropertyStats.com is from Atlanta, Georgia, where his personal investments are lucrative commercial real estate.

It wasn’t until he went to college that he realized that the traditional route was not for him sparking his massive action of buying his first investment property when he was 21 years old. Eventually, taking up a real estate investors’ training course, he ultimately owned more property than his teacher.

Finally, Hayden realized the divide between what is taught in a college or university versus what occurs in real life. By establishing his real estate knowledge, Hayden knew how to increase his wealth and eliminate his tax liabilities, which he now teaches to the world.

What readers think about the book:

Hayden’s book has made a drastic impact on the way readers think about the correlations between real estate and future financial security.

Readers have expressed immense gratitude for Hayden’s expertise, experience, and practical knowledge showing that anyone who applies these solid money principles to their life and income can achieve a truly financially free life with a low to no tax burden, legally.

There have been many wholehearted recommendations of this book where readers have expressed the value of keeping this publication on hand as a personal business resource for years to come.

In this book, Hayden breaks down tried and true industry methods, such as flipping, development, cash flow, appreciation, equity, and many more, to help beginners thoroughly understand and execute.

Skip The Flip exposes and simplifies the historical ways that the wealthy have utilized the potency of real estate investing for decades which helps the average person comprehend how they too can become investors.

After completing Skip The Flip, readers will have the knowledge to purchase real estate without having to pay any taxes, allowing them to keep all their gains to increase financial growth, use their debt to grow their net worth, have the know-how to properly evaluate any piece of real estate for its worth, and build a monthly cash flow to help them never worry about money again.

Grab your copy of Skip the Flip: Secrets the 1% Know About Real Estate Investing by Hayden Crabtree

Book 3: How to Invest in Real Estate: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Getting Started by Brandon Turner and Joshua Dorkin

These two authors almost need no introduction as they have provided hundreds of thousands of people with valuable real estate investing content for years through their online REI platform BiggerPockets.com. This book is by no means an exception to the value that they continue to bring to this industry.

About the authors of this book:

Brandon Turner is an author, entrepreneur, active investor, and vice-president of BiggerPockets with more than 700 rental units and numerous rehabs under his belt. Also as co-host of The BiggerPockets Podcast, he has authored four books, including The Book on Rental Property Investing and How to Invest in Real Estate.

Joshua Dorkin is an avid entrepreneur, investor, podcaster, publisher, and educator who began BiggerPockets to make real estate investing accessible to everyone, no matter their earnings or educational background.

This dynamic duo of real estate investing genius is sure to give you a leg up over the housing market in this powerful publication of focused financial freedom.

Here’s what people are saying about the book:

Readers feel that REI newbies should begin with this book as it is very good due to the fact that it is packed with real actionable knowledge that’s based on genuine real estate investing techniques.

Other readers say that this is the book they will share with others looking to get into the industry. They say this is the guide that walks you through entry-level REI activities like acquiring equity, financing deals, profiting through exit strategies, and much more.

This book will provide the reader with important information pertaining to what can be expected in the starting stages of an REI journey. It also touches on methods for finding your industry specialty that aligns with your life and your goals.

This book is highly regarded to be a beginner’s must-read.

Get your copy of How to Invest in Real Estate: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Getting Started by Joshua Dorkin and Brandon Turner

In Successful Conclusion

As a beginner, it’s quite evident that there’s much to learn about the real estate investing industry, and gaining knowledge is the first step to becoming a successful real estate investor.

However, by educating yourself through research and due diligence, you can start building your knowledge base, therefore avoiding costly mistakes, maximizing your profits, and increasing your chances for success in this exciting, lucrative industry.

To achieve the wealth and time freedom you desire, this is your time to tap into our modern resources and start creating valuable relationships now, so get started today!

Good luck on your journey to financial freedom!

Which book will you choose to get started?

Leave me a comment below about how you plan to get started in real estate investing and on what type of real estate investing you are planning to focus.

I’d love to hear your ideas and how I may be able to help.

Thanks for reading!

The post 3 Top Rated Real Estate Investing For Beginners Books You Need To Read Now (Get Started Fast In 2022) appeared first on Antonio Holman.