I am pleased to announce that my latest book, Power Teams: The Complete Guide to Building and Managing a Winning Real Estate Agent Team, is now available. Co-authored with RISMedia President & CEO John Featherston, Power Teams is a definitive resource for Realtors and real estate agent teams alike. Like all of my other books, this one is packed with proven strategies and best practices, and includes insight from some of the nation’s leading real estate agent teams.

From my co-author and publisher, John Featherston:

Being a real estate agent just isn’t what it used to be. Today’s real estate consumers are more sophisticated and knowledgeable than ever before. Ralph and I both believe that in order to remain competitive, agents have to do much more–place more phone calls, ramp up their marketing efforts, offer additional services, and spend more time with their clients to better understand the needs of today’s real estate consumers. Many agents are feeling the strain and looking to the team concept as a solution for themselves and their customers. In Power Teams, we help agents–and brokers–overcome the obstacles of creating and succeeding with an agent teams.

In Power Teams, John and I set out to:

• Define and explain the agent team concept
• Review the various agent team models
• Help agents decide whether the agent team concept is right for them
• Show agents how to build a team from the ground up

To order a copy of Power Teams, please contact Pat Hatton, RISMedia Account Executive, at (800) 724-6000 ext. 124 or e-mail. pat@rismedia.com

I am pleased to share that my latest book, “Power Teams: The Complete Guide to Building and Managing a Winning Real Estate Agent Teams” (co-authored by John Featherston, Founder/CEO & Publisher of RISMedia), will be available this coming January. Combining our years of Real Estate industry experience, John and I have created a book that is bound to serve as the definitive guide on one of the industry’s most predominant trends: Real Estate Agent Teams.

Besides drawing from personal insights and experiences in our Real Estate careers, John and I have included information collected from interviews with many of the Real Estate industry’s top teams. At the end of the day, our new book helps agents and brokers overcome the obstacles of creating and succeeding with agent teams. The book not only includes a step-by-step guide to forming an agent team, but also covers the best practices of teams who have already reached a notable level of success.

“Power Teams: The Complete Guide to Building and Managing a Winning Real Estate Agent Teams” helps you by:

• Defining and explaining the agent team concept.
• Reviewing the various agent team models.
• Helping agents decide whether or not an agent team is right for them.
• Showing agents how to build a team from the ground up.

To pre-order your copy, click “Power Teams: The Complete Guide to Building and Managing a Winning Real Estate Agent Teams” today.

My latest article for Realty Times is now available on RealtyTimes.com:

INVESTING IN PREFORECLOSURES
by Ralph Roberts

Some of the best bargains in the foreclosure market are actually in the preforeclosure market — weeks or even months prior to the time when the property ends up on the auction block. The earlier you can locate a distressed property or homeowners facing foreclosure, the less competition you have and the better your chances of ultimately acquiring the property at a great price.

Networking for leads

The earlier you can find out about a property in preforeclosure, the better. You may even be able to discover properties before the foreclosure notice is posted. Choose the area where you want to buy preforeclosures and then network heavily in that area. Create your own business cards and hand them out to everyone you meet, and then network with people who are likely to have early leads:

• Real estate agents
• Foreclosure attorneys
• Divorce attorneys
• Bankruptcy attorneys
• Title companies
• Loan officers

Reading the foreclosure notices

Call or visit your…

To read the rest of this article, see “Investing in Preforeclosures” on RealtyTimes.com.

Homeowners and Real Estate industry professionals alike suffered a major loss today. Noted author and syndicated real estate columnist Robert Bruss passed away earlier today at his home in Northern California, according to Inman News. As a Real Estate industry insider and author, I benefited from Bob’s advice, critical reviews of my books, and his overall way of being. Suffice to say, his sudden passing saddens me.

From Inman:

Bruss…wrote seven real estate columns every week that were published in hundreds of newspapers across the country. For 23 years, Bruss wrote the weekly syndicated “Real Estate Mailbag” question-and-answer real estate column, the “Real Estate Notebook” feature on real estate trends, “Real Estate Law and You” about recent court decisions affecting real estate, and “Real Estate Book Review” features.

Sometimes called the “Dear Abby of Real Estate,” Bruss published two monthly newsletters on real estate law and investing issues. He authored several books, including: “The Smart Investor’s Guide to Real Estate,” “The California Foreclosure Book - How to Earn Big Profits From California Foreclosure and Distressed Properties,” and co-authored with Dr. William Pivar the college textbook, “California Real Estate Law.”

“Bob had a loyal following of readers who turned to him every week for sound real estate advice,” said Jessica Swesey, editorial and content director of Inman News. “Over the years, he helped so many people sort out their various buying and selling questions and was an amazing resource of independent information.

Nearly six years ago, Bob reviewed one of the Real Estate books I wrote. To this day, his review hangs on the wall in my personal office. While he may have made me a better writer, Bob Russ’ legacy will be the impact he made on millions of homeowners. His no-nonsense advice helped more people than I could shake a stick at.

Bob, please accept my apology for that end-of-sentence preposition, and, if they blog in heaven, keep up the good work!

I recently co-authored a book about real estate and mortgage fraud called Protect Yourself from Real Estate and Mortgage Fraud: Preserving the American Dream of Homeownership with attorney Rachel Dollar. In the book, we offer detailed descriptions of how various scams are pulled off. The intent was not to provide a how-to manual for con artists but to educate real estate professionals and consumers, so they are better equipped to defend themselves against these crooks.

As soon as the book hit the market, several people posted messages on my blog FlippingFrenzy.com claiming that our book provided con artists with information that would enable them to avoid detection and prosecution.

When Rachel and I and our writer, Joe Kraynak, originally began discussing plans for the book, we brought up this issue among ourselves. We were well aware that such a book could be used by con artists or con artist wannabes as a rudimentary training manual, but we thought at the time and still do that educating the public would provide a greater deterrent. The biggest threat to real estate professionals, homeowners, and the entire real estate industry is ignorance. The con artists are already well equipped with the knowledge and tools to rip off the system, and their biggest weapon is other people’s ignorance.

If you read any book or article on scams or white-collar crime, you always find explanations for how specific scams are perpetrated. If you go to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) site on identity theft at www.ftc.gov/idtheft, for example, you can pull up an entire list of strategies that con artists use to steal information, including dumpster diving, skimming, phishing, and redirecting your mail to their address. The site even contains a video showing a con artist stealing mail from a mailbox and digging through the trash to obtain discarded documents. The FTC isn’t trying to teach people how to steal identities. The intent is to let potential victims know how identity thieves operate so they are better able to defend themselves.

In Protect Yourself from Real Estate and Mortgage Fraud: Preserving the American Dream of Homeownership, Rachel and I take the same approach, revealing how perpetrators operate, so that potential victims can take practical steps to prevent fraud and be able to spot the signs of a bad deal earlier enough in the process to do something about it. Unfortunately, anything you produce to help people defend themselves against fraud reveals something about how the con artists operate, so it is a bit of a double-edged sword, but the other option—keeping the public in the dark—gives the con artists more ignorant victims to exploit.

Only by being empowered by knowledge can we defend ourselves from the people who already have that knowledge and are committed to using it against us to separate us from our homes and our money.

If you are a member of the so-called “Greatest Generation” or an older baby boomer, I have great news for… you are part of the most affluent group of Americans who have ever lived. The bad news is that everybody knows it, including con artists.

While you earned your comfortable lifestyle the old fashioned way, con artists are determined to take a shortcut to their lifestyle of the rich and famous by fleecing you out of your fortune. My advice? Keep one hand on your wallet, a close eye on your bank account, and a skeptical ear whenever you hear somebody offering you a great deal on a piece of property.

Americans who are affluent enough to afford a second home are particularly attractive targets for a con job I like to refer to as the second home scam. This particular type of scam always involves the purchase (or at least promise) of a second home, but it can take a variety of forms. Here are some of the warning signs:

• Guaranteed appreciation: In real estate, appreciation and profits are never guaranteed. Housing values rise and fall.
• Preconstruction specials: Any offer of special deals, especially cash back, if you BUY NOW raise red flags. When builders are financially strapped for cash, they may be tempted to scam buyers in order to save their business by way of a builder bailout.
• Glitzy advertising: Real estate con artists often try to dazzle their victims with fancy marketing materials so people will hand over their money without looking at the details, the property, or the documents.
• Offers to manage the property: Someone selling you a property, particularly an investment property, may offer to manage everything for you–find renters, collect the rent, pay the mortgage and property taxes, and so on–and then never do it. This type of scam is commonly known as chunking.
• Pressure to buy site unseen: Anyone who discourages you from visiting a property before buying it is probably crooked. They may tell you that the property has renters, and you certainly “don’t want to inconvenience your future tenants.” They don’t want you looking, because you will see the truth.

To defend yourself against these common second-home scammers, watch out for the warning signs and take the following precautions:

• Don’t buy on impulse. People often get excited about a vacation hot spot, buy there, and then learn that it’s not quite paradise in the off season.
• Spend your time checking out neighborhoods and homes in the area. A second home is not just a purchase decision… it is a lifestyle decision.
• If you are buying the second home as a vacation (seasonal) home, consider renting a place, perhaps in different neighborhoods in the area over an extended period of time. You may rent a different place for two to four weeks every year over the course of two or three years. This helps you determine if you really want to own property in the area and which neighborhood you would find most appealing.
• Wait at least one year after the death of a spouse before purchasing a property or moving. This gives you time to adjust and make more rational decisions.
• Hire a buyer’s agent to look for homes and represent you. Don’t simply contact a builder, talk to the representative in the model home, call the number on a For Sale sign, or contact someone who is selling real estate online. If you do that, you are dealing with the seller’s agent and have nobody representing your interests.
• Don’t trust what you see on the Internet. People can post photographs and online video tours of anything they want to dazzle the eyes and make you believe that they are offering an incredible deal. A con artist can build a million dollar virtual home on the Web in matter of minutes that simply does not exist in the real world.
• Don’t trust home values that you may see online. Some home valuation sites on the Internet are better than others, but they are all susceptible to fraud. Hire an independent appraiser to give you an honest, qualified opinion of a property’s value.
• Don’t buy anything site unseen. No matter what someone tells you, you have to inspect the property with your own two eyes and have it professionally inspected (by an independent home inspector), prior to closing. It’s like buying a car, you have to kick the tires.
• Hire your own people to check it out. Never rely on the seller’s agent, appraiser, inspector, loan officer, or title company to make sure everything is legitimate. If the seller is a con artist, these people are probably accomplices or at least willing to look the other way.
• Never close on a newly constructed property before construction is complete or before your inspector has given it his seal of approval.

A second home can be one of the best investment and lifestyle decisions you will ever make, as long as you do your homework and have the proper people in place to protect your interests. Let down your guard for even a moment, and you become a prime target for a greedy con artist.

The bursting housing bubble and rising interest rates have sparked an upsurge in the number of foreclosures across the country. Now is the time to invest! But when it comes to investing in foreclosure properties, both savvy real estate investors and average folks want to know how to make smart and informed choices. If you’re looking for expert advice and tips to become a more successful investor, my latest book, Foreclosure Investing For Dummies (Wiley; May 2007; 363 pages) is for you.

Foreclosure Investing For Dummies covers all aspects of investing in foreclosure properties—from identifying and bidding on potential properties, assessing value, and working with lending institutions, to financing options, teaming up with real estate agents, and tax laws. In short, this book is for everyone looking to make smart choices and see maximum profit when investing in foreclosure properties.

This no-nonsense guide gives you the start-to-finish scoop on:

• Researching property titles, mortgages and deeds
• Building a strong investment team
• Obtaining financing
• Networking your way to success
• Avoiding common pitfalls
• Investing with integrity

Like all For Dummies® books, Foreclosure Investing For Dummies concludes with the “Part of Tens,” including “Ten Common Beginner Blunders,” like overestimating a property’s value, overbidding in the heat of the battle, and trusting what the homeowners tell you; and “Ten Tips for Avoiding Common Foreclosure Minefields,” such as anticipating delays and inspecting the property with your own eyes.

To order a copy of Foreclosure Investing For Dummies, visit Amazon.com.

My latest article is now posted on RealtyTimes.com. Here’s a preview:

To Fail at Flipping
By Ralph R. Roberts, CRS, GRI
Co-Author: Flipping Houses For Dummies

How do you earn mega-bucks flipping houses? You line up your financing, plan in advance, build a solid support network, over-estimate costs, under-estimate profits, work hard, and with a little luck and a lot of sticktoitism, you’ll probably earn a good profit. Is is that easy?

Here are ten sure-fire ways to fail at flipping houses:

• Convince yourself that it’s too hard. Flipping houses is difficult, time-consuming, and risky, but it’s not impossible. If you talk yourself out of it before you even try, your flip has already flopped. Pursue your dreams, plan well, stick to it, and you’re very likely to succeed.
• Convince yourself that it’s easy. If you start flipping houses thinking that you just hopped aboard the gravy train, you’re going to be very disappointed. Any venture in which you can potentially earn a high profit requires hard work and sticktoitism and carries some risk.
• Speculate on the housing market. Assuming that housing values are going to rise ten percent annually is likely to lead you into offering too much for a house. Make sure the house you buy today is one that you can sell tomorrow for 20 percent or more than your total investment in the property.
• Get emotional. When you buy a home to live in, it’s okay to get a little emotional and perhaps pay a little more. When investing, deciding which house to purchase and how much to pay is purely a business decision. Make the offer with your head, not your heart.

To read the rest of this article, please visit RealtyTimes.com.

Everybody knows that discriminating against anyone based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, or handicap (disability) is illegal and immoral, but discrimination continues. The passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1964 curbed some of the abuse, but it simply forced a few holdouts to be more careful and subtle.

If someone doesn’t want to sell their house to you or rent you an apartment, they can simply steer you clear of considering it by uttering a few remarks that, on their surface, may seem completely innocent, such as:

To read the rest of this article, please see “Fighting Back Against Housing Discrimination” on RealtyTimes.com.

Here’s a preview of my latest article, Winning Clients with the Harsch Approach, available in its entirety on RealtyTimes.com:

Winning Clients with the Harsch Approach
by Ralph Roberts

In real estate, turning the other cheek is not only the most noble response to losing a sale, but it might just be the most savvy business decision you can make. Realtors® reveal this well-kept secret in their story of how they lost a sale to a FSBO but gained a client for life.

“On Thanksgiving Day, one of our clients, a retired investment banker, called to say that a friend of his had come to town and wanted to look at available homes in the private golf community of Glenwild, where houses sell for between $2.5 and $4 million. We’ll refer to our client’s friend as Sam, to protect his anonymity.”

“On the Friday after Thanksgiving, Sam showed up with his girlfriend and all six of their combined kids. I (Jim) took them on a tour of about ten homes. On Saturday I took Sam, without his family in tow, to view alternate properties throughout Park City.”

“On Sunday, they left town with a favorable impression of Park City, but wanted to compare homes in Telluride over Christmas vacation. We prepared an analysis of properties available in Telluride, knowing we wouldn’t receive a referral.”

“We kept in touch with Sam once or twice a month, as we usually do with prospective clients. In April, Sam and his girlfriend…

For the rest of this article, please visit RealtyTimes.com.