I am a firm believer that the world is divided into three separate groups of people those who make things happen, people who watch what happens and those who wonder what happened! Do-it-yourself investing requires that you be a part of the first group. It’s not good enough to wait and wonder if you expect to be successful doing this stuff!

My message to investors is this — Nothing is going to happen for you unless you make it happen! It’s always been that way – always will! Because real estate investing offers such a wide variety of profit making opportunities beyond simply buying and selling properties – investors should never find themselves bogged down in a position where they can’t do something to improve their net worth! For example; I don’t concentrate on selling when it’s a buyer’s market! That means buyers have all the advantage – there are too many properties available for too few buyers who want them! When the situation reverses – that’s when I start to think about selling. Obviously, fewer properties with more buyers means a higher selling price for me. Meanwhile, I can work on other ways to improve my real estate wealth! Perhaps my favorite is the local HUD grant funded rental housing program — Sometimes called the matching funds program.

UNCLE SAM STILL HAS MONEY FOR ECONOMY HOUSES

While much of the traditional real estate activity has slowed down like the economy, investors can still find high profit investment opportunities. One such bright spot is government assisted low-income rental housing rehabilitation. The program is available nationwide! .

Grant funding is the governments most active program to assist landlord owners in fixing up sub-standard rental properties – making them available to lower income-subsidized tenants. What makes this program so attractive to property owners is — Grant funds are free money. That’s a big difference from loan funds which must be paid back. Free money is the government’s “dangling carrot” to attract property owner participants. If you learn the ropes and do this right, I’ll assure you it’s well worth the time and effort it takes working your way through the “red tape”.

HOW TO GET STARTED FROM SCRATCH

The first step is this! Visit your local city/county-housing department, often called the Housing Authority of Housing Assistance Office. Incorporated cities generally have their own housing department under the direction of the public works official. In rural communities the county performs the same function.

For example, in my area, Shasta County, California, the county population is approximately 200,000. My town has nearly 100,000 population. I deal with the city primarily because most of my properties are within the city limits. Outside the city limits is county jurisdiction. Quite often there are big differences between the two government agencies, even though their funding source is exactly the same. One significant difference is worth mentioning here! Within my city limits, property owners like myself, are not allowed to perform grant funded rehab (fix-up) work on their own properties! They may, however, if they’re licensed contractors and are approved to bid on city housing projects.

In the county jurisdiction, the rules are not nearly so strict! I am allowed to do all rehab work on my houses, so long as I can convince the county housing authority that I am responsible and that I have the necessary “know-how” to complete the work. Shasta County is also much more liberal when it comes to obtaining building permits associated with their low income housing projects. Only extensive work would require a permit for Hud rehab jobs.

The main reason I’m passing this information along, is to make you fully aware that local housing departments differ a great deal in their methods of administering housing rehab funds. It will be to your advantage to search out all the information and rules concerning your own particular area before you formulate a plan of action. In summary; first go visit the housing authority! Ask for all information about grant rehab funding for landlords. Ask how it works! Finally, get a map of the area where the city or county wants to apply their funding. I’ve found it’s usually in the older-rundown sections of the city. That’s where rehab is needed the most.