Nicholas Wallwork is a successful entrepreneur, multimillionaire real estate investor, developer, and property and business mentor. He is known across all media channels as a highly respected authority in the real estate investment world and has an extensive and proven track record for delivering successful, high-return investments for his clients and students. Wallwork is dedicated to helping educate investors. Visit [...] real-estate-courses for upcoming companion courses to this book.

Introduction 1

About This Book 2

Foolish Assumptions 3

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond This Book 4

Where to Go from Here 4

Part 1: Building a Successful Real Estate Portfolio 5

Chapter 1: Introducing Real Estate Investment Strategies 7

Taking Your Real Estate Investments to the Next Level 8

Comparing property to other asset classes 8

Going beyond fixer-uppers and straightforward buy-to-rents 10

Focusing on Investment Strategies That You Can Use Internationally 11

Running Your Property Portfolio as a Business 12

Getting Your Financial Ducks in a Row 13

Understanding financing options and valuation 13

Getting the expert help you need 14

Blending Real Estate Strategies to Create a More Robust Portfolio 14

Keeping an open mind about different strategies 15

Incorporating shorter-term strategies into your portfolio 16

Exploring longer-term strategies for earning a regular income 17

Avoiding spreading yourself too thin 20

So Which Strategies Are Right for You? 20

Chapter 2: Investing at Home or Abroad: Which Is Right for You? 23

Deciding Whether to Invest Abroad: It's Not All about the Numbers 24

Playing on your passion 24

Tapping into available knowledge 25

Considering Your Budget 26

Assessing Your Risk Profile 28

Identifying where you sit on the risk spectrum 28

Considering country-specific risk factors 29

Factoring your goals into the equation 31

Figuring Out How You'll Manage Your Property 31

Drilling Down to the Right Market for You 33

Looking at the cold, hard facts and figures 33

Developing your knowledge of that country and region 34

Focusing Your Attention on One or Two Key Markets 35

Chapter 3: Treating Your Real Estate Portfolio as a Business 37

Aiming for Passive Income as the Ultimate Goal 38

Defining passive income 38

Looking at examples of passive income 40

Looking at the pros and cons of passive income 40

Drafting a Dream Team 42

Getting expert advice 42

Outsourcing other aspects of your workload 44

Finding and vetting experts, at home and overseas 46

Getting the most out of your dream team 48

Investing in Systems and Technology to Grow Your Business 49

Putting the right processes in place 50

Defining effective business processes 51

Saving time through software 51

Evaluating technology solutions 53

Promoting Your Real Estate Business 53

Managing Your Cash Flow Like a Boss 55

Preparing for the rise and fall of income and expenses 55

Maintaining a safety net with a cash buffer 57

Getting the Right Insurance 57

Insuring your properties correctly 57

Making sure your chosen partners have the right insurance 58

Chapter 4: Protecting Yourself against Market Fluctuations 61

Diversifying Your Portfolio with Multiple Revenue Streams 62

Investing for the long term and the short term 62

Incorporating multiple strategies into your portfolio 63

Seeking out other ways to diversify your portfolio 65

Finding Strategies That Work Well in a Boom Market 65

Working with the booming market 65

Looking at suitable boom strategies 66

Finding Strategies That Work Well in a Credit Crunch 68

Working with the challenging market 68

Looking at suitable crunch strategies 69

Doing the Opposite of What the Mass Market Is Doing 71

Tailoring Your Funding to Economic Fluctuations 72

Understanding the impact on traditional finance 72

Accessing nontraditional forms of finance 74

Considering Foreign Exchange Rate Risks 75

Chapter 5: Getting into the Mind-set of a Successful International Real Estate Investor 77

Continually Improving through Education 78

Tapping into a wide variety of sources 78

Taking time for education before you put your money on the line 80

Networking in the Right Places 80

Networking offline and online 80

Getting the most out of networking meetings and events 81

Maintaining and nurturing your network 82

Setting Your Goals 82

Figuring out what you want 83

Committing to and working toward your goals 83

Cultivating a Positive Mental Attitude 85

Using positive affirmations 85

Embracing gratitude 87

Visualizing for Success 88

Identifying the benefits of visualization 88

Putting visualizing into practice 89

Getting the most out of visualization 90

Harnessing the Law of Attraction 91

Understanding how the law of attraction works 92

Focusing on your thoughts and feelings 93

Putting the law of attraction into practice 94

Meditating to Manage Stress and Risk 95

Looking at the benefits of meditation 96

Making meditation work for you 97

Part 2: Money, Money, Money 99

Chapter 6: Weighing Traditional Finance Options 101

Finance as a Key Element of Success and Growth 102

Seeing the link between leverage and growth 102

Understanding the full range of finance options 103

Considering the Main Financing Factors 104

Looking at the property itself 105

Deciding between fixed-rate and adjustable-rate loans 105

Looking at the length of the loan 107

Finding the right loan-to-value balance 108

Weighing up repayment versus interest-only loans 109

Taking fees into account 110

Assessing a Range of Traditional Finance Products 112

Getting a standard residential investment mortgage 112

Seeking a commercial mortgage 113

Using a bridge loan 113

Taking out a second-charge loan 115

Getting land and development loans 115

Finding the Right Product for You 117

Dipping into International Finance versus Domestic Finance 118

Chapter 7: Understanding Property Valuation 119

Defining Value and Real Estate Valuation 120

Comparing price to value in more detail 120

Understanding the purpose of appraisals 121

Looking at factors that influence value 121

Knowing who values real estate 122

Seeing Why Valuation Is Fundamental to Property Success 123

Understanding enough to maximize your investments 124

Knowing the difference between yield and return on investment 124

Considering how valuation methods may affect your financing 125

Recognizing that appraisers are risk averse 126

Making your own valuation case 127

Looking at the Three Main Valuation Methods 128

Market comparison approach 129

Income or investment approach 130

Cost approach 132

Knowing Which Method Is Best for You and How Much an Investment Is Worth 132

Evaluating on a case-by-case basis 132

Doing your own appraisal research 133

Special Considerations for Valuing Property Abroad 134

Chapter 8: Looking at More Creative Financing Options 135

You Down with OPM? Investing with Other People's Money 136

Introducing the concept of OPM 136

Looking at OPM as a route to real estate success and wealth 137

Joining Up with a Joint Venture 138

Knowing what's involved in a joint venture 138

Looking at examples of joint ventures 139

Understanding why people would invest in you 139

Finding the right joint venture partner 140

Creating a compelling business proposal for potential joint venture partners 142

Dotting the I's and crossing the T's with a joint venture agreement 145

Securing Private Lending 146

Finding and approaching private lenders 147

Putting it all in writing 148

Crowdfunding Your Way to Real Estate Success 149

Getting Control of a Property Instead of Owning It 149

Applying Creative Financing Strategies Overseas 150

Part 3: One-off and Shorter-term Income Strategies 153

Chapter 9: Developing Properties 155

Knowing What Property Development Means 156

Deciding Which Development Strategy Is Best for You 157

Understanding why you need to think about the end before you start 157

Looking at the main exit options 158

Weighing which option is right for you 158

Keeping your target audience in mind 159

Giving yourself multiple exit options 160

Sourcing Development Opportunities 161

Assessing the property itself 161

Deciding on the right location 162

Finding the best properties (before anyone else) 162

Financing Your Development Projects 165

Understanding how development financing works 165

Knowing whether you need a development loan 166

Looking at other ways to fund your development projects 167

Working out how much it's going to cost 167

Figuring out what improvements are needed 168

Managing the Development 169

Knowing where you need professional help 169

Creating a detailed budget 171

Creating a realistic schedule 174

Communicating to keep the project on track 175

Preparing the property for sale or rent 175

Five International Locations Where This Strategy Would Work 176

Chapter 10: Dealing in Property Information 179

Dealing in Investment Property Leads: The Five-Minute Lowdown 180

How does it work? 180

How can you progress from an investment property sourcer to a retained buyer's agent? 181

Is this strategy right for you? 182

Generating and Selling Property Leads 183

Finding your niche 184

Creating value for your...