Access Wealth Strategies

A few weeks ago in March I toured a house in Mesa, AZ (Near Phoenix) which was being rehabbed and flipped by Ivy Coppo, a realtor with Trilogy Investments and Real Estate. Ivy is an expert in managing flips for investors who purchase properties at the Maricopa County (Phoenix, Arizona area) trustee sale auction.

This 3 bedroom / 2 bath house in Mesa is for Ivy’s own portfolio.  Check out the 3-part video series below for the before vs. after tours of Ivy’s flip and my interview with her where she reveals her numbers and tips for successful flips.

Ivy’s Flip in Mesa, AZ – Part 1 (Before)

I arrived a couple of days after Ivy won the bid on this house at the trustee sale auction – the crew had already been hard at work.

Ivy’s Flip in Mesa, AZ – Part 2 (After)

I toured the house with Ivy after the rehab work was completed, just a short week later.

Ivy’s Flip in Mesa, AZ – Part 3 (Interview)

Ivy answered my questions about flipping houses:

• How many properties she flipped in 2009
• What kind of properties were flipped, price ranges, locations
• Her typical timeline for a flip
• What percentage of REO / short sale properties vs. flipper resales are on the market?
• What kind of buyers are there for these flipped properties?
• Her best vs. worst cases for a flip
• How she increases the chance of a successful closing
• What’s the typical return for her flip?
• What about the risks? e.g. tenants/owner occupied properties, hard money loan costs, due diligence
• Her advice to newbies

Please leave a comment and let us know how you liked this post and what you would like to see in future posts.

If you liked these videos, you might also be interested in:

Interview with John Ray, largest buyer of homes at the Phoenix trustee sale auction.

Phoenix Foreclosure – Video of Live Auction at Trustee Sale

A few weeks ago I interviewed Korbett Roberts from Benefit Concepts on the subject of life insurance.

Now life insurance may not be an exciting topic at first glance. However, getting a life insurance policy is one of the most important decisions you will ever make, which can greatly impact the lives of your loved ones far beyond your lifetime.

With the myriad of choices on the market today and conflicting advice from salespeople, it can be very difficult to identify what kind of life insurance you really need to properly protect your life’s work and your family’s lifestyle.

Korbett and his team at Benefit Concepts are experts in using life insurance as a strategic asset to serve a variety of purposes including estate planning, business succession, retirement cash flow, etc. for their clients, most of whom are affluent business owners with over $10 million in net worth.

Click to listen below to this informative 2-part interview which covers a surprising array of creative uses of life insurance that you may not know about.

Part 1 of this interview (28 min.) covers:

• Life insurance in a nutshell
• Some examples of the benefits of owning a life insurance policy
• What kind of protection is there from law suits and creditors?
• Term vs. permanent
• What kind of tax benefits are there?
• Getting cash flow via a policy loan
• How can a business benefit from purchasing life insurance?
• How does life insurance fit into estate planning and keep your estate out of costly and public probate?
• Why you should be concerned about your state’s estate taxes
• What are the disadvantages of buying and owning life insurance?

Part 2 of this interview (24 min.) covers:

• How to choose the right life insurance agent for you
• What questions should you ask an agent before working with him or her
• What are the most common mistakes people make when purchasing life insurance?
• What is the most important thing to get right when purchasing a policy?
• What is life insurance portfolio analysis and why is it critically important especially if you have purchased a policy in the last 3-4 years?
• How Benefit Concepts helped a client turn an unneeded policy from a $250,000 annual expense to a $2 million gain
• What does it mean to “leverage” life insurance?
• What are some ways to fund a life insurance policy without using current cash flow?
• How to compare a life insurance policy performance to other investment vehicles to know you’re putting your money in the right place?

To learn more about this topic or ask follow up questions, contact Korbett Roberts at Benefit Concepts.

Please comment below and tell us how you liked this interview and how we can make it better.

There has been much hype about buying foreclosed properties in mainstream media and on the internet. You may be wondering:

What is it really like bidding at the foreclosure auction? Are there good deals to be had? What does it take to get a good deal?

Last week I interviewed John Ray, owner of a foreclosure auction bidding service firm located in Phoenix, AZ. John has been in real estate for 20 years and is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to bidding on foreclosed properties at the trustee sale auction.

John’s company BidAZForeclosures.com has been bidding at Maricopa county foreclosure auctions on behalf of investors for 7 years, currently buys about 100 properties a month, and is one of the largest bidding groups.

This interview lasted over 30 minutes; it has been captured on video and edited into 4 parts. It is well worth your time to watch all 4 parts because you’ll learn John’s insider perspective on getting a good deal at the foreclosure auction and how to avoid common mistakes investors make.

Topics Covered in Part 1 of This Interview

• Are there good deals at auction?
• How many properties are bought at the auction?

Overview of the foreclosure auction process:

• How do properties end up at foreclosure auction?
• Why do some foreclosures get postponed?
• How does the bank establish the opening bid?
• What is a “total debt” bid vs. a “specified” bid?
• What really happens at the trustee sale?
• What happens after you win a bid?
• How do you get title to the property?
• How do you take posession of the property?

Topics Covered in Part 2 of This Interview

• How does the current market cycle compare to the previous one?
• What’s happening with bank REO properties?
• Why aren’t banks doing more short sales?
• How do you buy properties at auction?
• Why do investors use your bidding service?
• How risky is it?
• What are some common mistakes?
• What due diligence do you do before bidding on a property?
• What happens when you make a mistake?

Topics Covered in Part 3 of This Interview

• Is there any truth to the “old boys network” that controls the auction?
• What is it like bidding at the auction (examples)?
• What is blind bidding?
• What are dropped bids vs. jumped bids?
• Where do you get the property listing info?
• How are you different from other bidding groups (examples)?

Topics Covered in Part 4 (Final Part) of This Interview

• How do new investors get started?
• What is the Jump Start program and how does it work?
• What are some common beginner mistakes and how do you avoid them?
• Do you really have to pay all cash at the auction?  Are there other options?
• What is “hard money” and why do people use it (examples)?
• How does an investor work with a bidding service like yours?
• How do we contact you for more information?

Please let us know what you think of the interview, whether you love it or hate it, by leaving a comment. If you enjoyed this interview, please rate the videos on YouTube as well.  Thank you in advance for your feedback!

If you’d like to see a video of live bidding at the Phoenix (Maricopa County) trustee sale auction, see my prior posts:
Phoenix Foreclosure – Video of Live Auction at Trustee Sale

Phoenix Foreclosure – Video of Before and After Rehab & Interview with Expert Flipper

We all know that our financial decisions today affect us far into the future and significantly impact our retirement lifestyle.

Perhaps you’ve heard about the tax law change for 2010 that affects retirement accounts such as IRAs but were wondering what this means for you and how you can take advantage of it.

Our friend Kaaren Hall at uDirect IRA referred to this as “taxes on sale” – so you don’t want to miss it!

Keeping up to date on IRS rules and tax laws is something that most of us don’t enjoy. That’s why there are professional tax planners who do this for us.

Listen below to my interview with Amanda Han, CPA and tax planning strategist at Keystone CPA, as we discuss this recent and significant IRA rule change called TIPRA (Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act), and advanced tax planing strategies due to this change.

In this interview, you’ll find:

• Why is 2010 a special year for Roth IRA conversion?
• Differences between traditional and Roth IRA accounts and how you can take advantage of both in your retirement planning
• How do self directed retirement accounts fit into all this?
• Reasons you may want to convert your traditional IRA to a Roth IRA in 2010 (or maybe even 2009!)
• What are advanced tax planning strategies and how can they help you?
• And more…

Be sure to check out the members’ library area at Keystone CPA‘s web site for some helpful articles and tax planning strategies.

Of course, individual financial circumstances vary, so you will want to consult with your tax advisor before implementing any tax strategy.