Renovate for a Profit

Renovating for a profit sounds easy to a lot of people, right? Get in there, do a renovation and make some money! Well, I’m not going to say its easy but I will say that the more you know about the process the easier it will become!

In my experience, you need to do three things both simultaneously and really well when attempting to renovate for a profit.

1      Do Your Due Diligence:

This is by far the most important aspect to consider when you are looking to renovate a property for profit. There are three research factors to consider when looking at due diligence.

–         Suburb: You need to become an area specialist. This includes knowing things like pre-renovation sales prices, post-renovation sales prices, streets to avoid purchasing in, flood zones and demographics

–         Property: Ensure all inspections are done prior to purchasing, finding out your pleasure points of your target buyers market (what do they like, what do they dislike, what do they value) and ensuring that you can do the renovation with the allocated funds

–         Financial: know how much you can borrow and what you can spend on a property before you go shopping. Without knowing these three things in detail you cannot possibly know how much money you can expect to make.

2    Know Your Numbers:

there are two basic formulas I live by when I am doing a cosmetic renovation on a property with the intention of making some money. To ensure the property is going to make a profit you need to ensure the property will sell for 133% of the purchase price. For example, if you purchase a property for $300,000, you need to be able to sell it for $399,000 to make a profit.

The second formula for success is to allocate 10% of the pre-renovated property for the renovation itself and stick to it. So, if you run with the above property, you would allow maximum of $30,000 on the renovation.   When working with this renovation budget, keep in mind to spend money on things that are going to increase the value of the property. If you can avoid things like plumbing and electrical wiring, do so, as these are things that people do not value and they will add very little value to your property.

3   Time Is Everything:

If there is a delay in your process this can add thousands of dollars on your budget as well as blow out your time frame. Time frame and budget are two of the most important tools in your toolbox and should be seen as conjoined twins. If one moves, generally the other one does too.   Some tools I use to keep these two aspects in check are writing everything down and sticking to your plan where possible. Also, make sure you keep your trades people accountable for their work and their time frames. Sometimes it is very challenging keep them to schedule, however, if unforeseen things occur and you are project managing things well then the impact of these delays will be kept to a minimum.   Any decision that has to be made quickly and leaves no time for all of the above research to be considered should be very heavily reconsidered. A property renovation needs to be without emotional based only on facts and knowledge. Lets be honest, the future of a renovation is hard to predict but it can be anticipated with the proper homework on each and every potential property renovation project. For more information and things to avoid watch this short video.   For more articles on how to renovate for a profit go to PropertyExtreme  Good luck with your renovation!

Written By Deanne Heath

The Food Pyramid  or Healthy Eating Pyramid has been developed to provide a simple guide to planning the types of foods and the proportions different foods should be eaten. The pyramid represents food from the core food groups only. It shows meat, fish, chicken, eggs, nuts, bread, cereals, vegetables, legumes, fruit, milk, etc. We do not eat core food groups alone – we combine several of them together to create a meal. For example, we mix meat with vegetables to make a stir fry or casserole, eggs with milk and sugar to make custard or flour with oil, cheese, vegetables and meat to make a pizza. Although the pyramid can’t show all possible food combinations, mixing foods and adding herbs and spices to create appealing flavors can help us enjoy foods in the variety needed while keeping to the proportions outlined in the Pyramid

The Food Pyramid encourages food variety and a diet of minimum fat, adequate fiber, limited salt and sufficient water that is balanced with physical activity. When preparing a meal as many different colors of food should be used.

Eat Least

Sugars and fats are in this layer. These foods should be limited because they lack a good supply of the nutrients needed for growth, good health and quick energy. While small amounts of fats, oils and sugar are acceptable, larger amounts of these healthy foods will cause an inadequately varied food intake. When choosing fats and oils it is better to choose the ones that have low levels of saturated fat and higher levels of omega -3 fats. The Pyramid also suggests that salt should not be added to foods.

Food Pyramid

Eat Moderately

Foods in the middle of the Pyramid include fish, lean meat, eggs, chicken (no skin), milk, cheese and yoghurt. Eating a serving of meat, fish or eggs and three servings of dairy foods each day will provide protein, minerals (especially iron and calcium) and B vitamins.

Eat Most

The bottom layer of food includes only plant foods: vegetables, fruits, nuts, dried peas, beans and lentils, breads and cereals (preferably wholegrain). These foods contain many different nutrients and should make up the bulk of the food we eat. Eating a variety of these foods each day should provide good amounts of energy from carbohydrate, as well as protein, minerals, vitamins and dietary fiber. In other words these foods are nutrient dense (each food contains a lot of nutrients for each kilojoule that it provides).

Water

Six to eight glasses each day is the recommendation.Water is essential for health and enhances weight loss.

Choosing a wide variety of  foods  helps us to consume all the nutrients and other food compounds that are needed for good health. When serving a meal, the ‘Eat Most’ foods should take up most of the plate, the ‘Eat Moderately’ foods should take up a third or less of the plate, and there should be very little of the ‘Eat in Small Amounts’ foods present.

Remember, in order to maintain body weight, food eaten (energy in) always needs to be balanced with physical activity (energy out).

There are many ways to earn income from property and it can be a long term or a short term strategy. Many people have become both wealthy and successful using property investment. While it seems expensive you can start with nothing and build up to larger investments using other people’s money as well as your own. Joint ventures also enable starting with little or no money and can be a form of leverage to larger profits.

1.            Spotting for a developer:  needs only some time and enough money to move around.  Property developers often don’t have the time to find suitable areas to develop so are happy to pay for good leads. You can increase the fee by also preparing due diligence on the property so the developer has only to negotiate a purchase. This strategy can become a full time job or you could form a relationship with a developer and move up to become a full scale developer.

2.            Property trusts:  As little as $ 1000 can get you a start in a property investment through a listed (on the Stock market) or unlisted trust. This will give you a regular income and capital gain. The best part is you can build up the investment at any time either by adding more money or reinvesting the income.

Once you have enough for a deposit you can step up to buying a residential property.

3.           Rent where you live and own a property elsewhere :  You can usually afford  to rent a better house or apartment than you can afford to buy and the costs of owning a property  can be used to decrease tax. So if you are a good saver this is a strategy that will accelerate your property portfolio.

4.            Buy and rent:  This strategy is best for new or relatively new properties so you can get tenants in straight away and depreciate the value for tax. Busy people who don’t want to take time organizing repairs use this method.

5.            Buy, renovate and rent:  If you have time or want an alternative career you could buy an older property and renovate it. This will give you a higher return on rent than just buying and renting. The key is to get the repairs and renovation done quickly so the property brings in an income as quickly as possible. This takes good planning and the ability to organize the right tradesman at the right time.

6.            Buy, renovate and sell:  If you don’t want to manage a rental property you can buy an older property, renovate it and then resell it a higher price at a profit. This could be followed by then doing the same thing with a more valuable property and then buying two properties with the profits and leapfrogging your portfolio.

7.            Joint Venture:  By forming a partnership with someone else you could share the costs or they could provide most the funds and you do most of the work. This could be used for any of the strategies.

Of course these forms of earning more can be used for both residential and commercial property.  You could specialize in just one or use several to increase your income.  Once you are experienced  you could even quit your day job and set you up for retirement.

As with all forms of investing it should be run like a business. Have a goal, have a plan and work within your budget. Good luck.

Mindset release

            The key is to release those mindsets. Wilson (2010) suggests finding that thing that motivates you whether that is buying a new dress in the size you want to be and working towards that or improving your cardiovascular health and being around longer for your children. Find the thing that motivates you and hold on to it every day especially when you feel you are about to fall off the band wagon.

            Eliminating destructive self-talk will be beneficial. Easier said than done. Finding someone that will hold you accountable and lift you up when you’re feeling down is worth more than gold).

Mindset Matters

This person or coach can motivate you, provide competition, push you to your limits and provide companionship. This strategy can be difficult but once you find this person you will be well on your way to achieving your weight loss goal.

            Griffiths (2012) suggests when eating to ask yourself; “Am I eating because I’m hungry or am I attempting to fill an emotional need?” He also states that visualizing yourself the way you want to look and feel can help motivate you.

Exercise Mindset and Weight loss

      Sisson (2013) states that embarrassment of exercising in front of other people is a hurdle that the majority of weight loss attempters take time to get over. He suggests getting a trainer or coach, exercising during gym off hours or exercising outdoors. and also speaks against the “all or nothing” approach as changing your lifestyle takes time and doing something is far better than doing nothing!

Goal set and schedule to achieve weight loss

            Nichols (2011) suggests that the best way to incorporate exercise into your daily life is to treat it like an appointment. At the start of the week get your diary and write in the time and duration of your gym session/walk/swim etc. 

            I hope these few suggestions about weight loss have changed your mindset and remember “the key to happiness is having dreams…the key to success is making dreams come true” (Griffiths, 2012).

References

Griffiths, H. (2012). “Think Slim”. Retrieved from http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/ weight_loss/weight_loss_tips/mind.htm on 15^th October 2013

Nichols, N. (2011). “Habits of fit people: Work out like it’s your job”. Retrieved from http://www.sparkpeople.com/blog/blog.asp?post=habits_of_fit_people_exercise_like_its_your_job on 18^th October 2013

Self, S. (2011). “Why your friends are the secret to weight-loss success”. Retrieved from http://www.fitsugar.com/Benefits-Having-Workout-Buddy-16233844 on 18th October 2013

Sisson, M. (2013). “10 psychological hurdles keeping you from losing weight (and how to overcome them)”. Retrieved from http://www.marksdailyapple.com/10-psychological-hurdles-keeping-you-from-losing-weight-and-how-to-overcome-them/#axzz2i2HgaPaC on 15^th October 2013.

Wilson, P. (2010). “Mind over kilos: The psychology of weight loss”. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/health/thepulse/stories/2010/09/23/3019673.htm on 15th October 2013

While those earning master’s, doctoral, or professional degrees still earn more during their careers than those with less education, the gap is closing, according to The College Payoff a report published today by the Georgetown University Center for Education and the Workforce.

“It’s still true that, on average, it’s better to get the higher degree; it’s better to keep climbing–but it’s less and less true,” says the center’s director, Anthony Carnevale.

Those holding bachelor’s degrees earn about $2.27 million over their lifetime, while those with master’s, doctoral, and professional degrees earn $2.67 million, $3.25 million, and $3.65 million, respectively. That said, the major and industry a student selects ultimately have an enormous impact on lifetime earnings. Those with bachelor’s degrees who work either in management or science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) earn more, on average, than people with advanced degrees of any level who work in fields like education, sales, and community service.

Those with bachelor’s degrees, no matter the field, earn vastly more than counterparts with some college ($1.55 million in lifetime earnings) or a high school diploma ($1.30 million lifetime), indicating that no matter the level of attainment or the field of study, simply earning a four-year degree is often integral to financial success later in life.

“The payoff from getting a college degree is huge and is actually increasing,” says Jamie Merisotis, president and CEO of Lumina Foundation, a nonprofit focused on boosting America’s number of college graduates. “For people wondering [if] a college degree [is] worth it: Not only is it worth it, but the premium is growing.”

The report did reveal some sobering news for women and minorities. Among minorities, all ethnic groups’ career earnings were less than that of Caucasians, save for Asians with master’s, doctoral, and professional degrees, who outpaced white workers with degrees of the same level. Latinos and African-Americans with master’s degrees earn nearly the same in their lifetimes–roughly $2.50 million–as white workers who have bachelor’s degrees.

The data suggests that a glass ceiling is still firmly in place in America’s workforce. Across all industries, on average, women have to attain a Ph.D to earn more in their lifetimes ($2.86 million) than men who have only attained a bachelor’s degree ($2.60 million). Similarly, women with bachelor’s degrees earn nearly the same–about $1.90 million–over the course of their careers as men with some college experience but no degree.

Carnevale, of Georgetown, suggests that women who want to earn more than their male counterparts will either have to attain more degrees or simply select a higher-paying industry, given the unbalanced playing field. “You can close the gap by getting more education, and that does seem to be the strategy, at least implicitly, that women are following,” he says. “If you want to make more than lots of men, and you’re a woman, then go into engineering.”

(c) 2009 U.S. News & World Report; distributed by Tribune Media Services

Too much fat can look ugly and on some parts of the body can appear even more unattractive than others. Abdominal fat is one of the most common examples; Carrying too much fat around your middle will affect your posture, making you look less attractive when dressed. Ultimately, belly fat causes more harm than good. It is because of this people are always on the search of new methods through which they can lose abdominal fat.

In order to lose the fat around your stomach you are going to need to convince your body into using the fat deposits that have been stored there. There are two ways by which you can go about this: you can either pay attention to your diet or do start exercising more.

The reason behind this is simple. The only way your body will begin to use up the layer of belly fat that it has stored is if it runs out of normal body fuel. Adopting any of the two methods will therefore help you lose abdominal fat in various ways.

The way exercise works

The great thing about cardio routines is that people get to burn more calories during this process. More importantly, calories are burnt at a faster rate. It takes about 20 minutes for the body to use up all the available calories in the body—depending on the nature of the exercise. What this means is that, if you exercise for longer than 20 minutes, your body will run out of immediate fuel and turn to its stored reserves for aid. You will therefore be able to gently lose abdominal fat by engaging in simple activities during the week. Like taking walks or swimming.

How better eating helps lose abdominal fat: In many ways, the body is like a machine. It cannot be successfully run without the right amounts of fuel. This is why we eat every day. Eating more than you require will cause your body to save the excess. Eating less than your body requires will cause it to dig into its reserves to make up the deficit. This is how paying attention to your diet works. However, although the theory sounds straight forward it really is not that simple. In order to lose abdominal fat through your diet, you will need to ensure that even though you daily calorie intake is smaller than required; the deficit is not by too much.

Eating too little will cause your body to actual store everything that it eats as it goes into a self preservation mode. You should therefore aim to only drop your daily calorie requirement by only 500 calories daily.

Obviously, by combining both methods, you will be able to lose your abdominal weight at an even faster rate. Whilst each will allow you lose a pound a week, combining both methods will provide you with a means of dropping as much as 3 pounds every week. Even better, by doing this you will be able to get your body into the right state of fitness and good health because of all the exercising and better eating habits that you would have adopted.

So instead of groaning about how much you hate the way your belly looks, grab a pair of sneakers and begin to do something about it. The journey to a flat stomach might not be an extremely easy one, but it is one that is filled with fun and well worth the effort.

Importance of Residual Income

The regular income that you receive from your business or job helps you meet standard expenses of you and your family. If there is any unforeseen happening like an accident or illness, it becomes difficult to manage all expenses. Rather, you have to use your regular income for such expenses and your financial situation looks grim.

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The residual income you receive from any work at home business opportunity remains as a safety cover and proves useful in such calamities. Work at home and earn residual income opportunity is an additional income and therefore there is no specification of how much time you should put in or how much you should earn through this business – The more the better. You can also put aside such income as a retirement plan.

How to Earn Residual Income

Making money from an opening that allows you to work at home and earn residual income may not be easy or immediate. Yet, you can try to put in as much time as possible so that this income opportunity grows and continues to yield income for long.

Some such opportunities include:

• Writing Books: Writing books and novels or penning down songs and poetry could be a hobby for many. You can convert this hobby into an interesting source of income. You can earn royalties from your book or songs as long as you have the copyright. If your book is turned into a movie or your songs and poetry is used, you earn royalties from such copyrighted material for your lifetime.
• Multi-level Marketing: You market goods and services to others and they market it further. You not only earn from your sales but also from the sales of other marketers under you. This is multi-level marketing. This income opportunity is a long-standing opportunity and it continues to deliver income irrespective of how much sales you make.
• Real Estate Investments: Invest your money in a building or property. You receive rentals from such properties. Such residual income remains in place as long as you own the property.
• Internet: The Internet offers numerous business opportunities that allow you to work at home and earn residual income. These opportunities may require you to work for some time initially. Eventually, you keep earning even without working.

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Some of the fad diets are:

• Grapefruit Diet: This diet recommends eating only grapefruit.
• Low Carb Diet: This diet recommends eating foods low in carbohydrates.
• Low Fat Diet: This diet recommends eating foods low in fats or eliminate fats in the diet.
• High Protein Diet: This diet recommends to eat only protein rich foods, eliminating carbohydrates

Note that these diets recommend the elimination of some food groups that are essential for a healthy body. These diets may offer only a temporary solution and are not based on the recommendations of the food pyramid. Fad diets may result in fast weight , but later on you may gain weight and your body may be deficient in many nutrients that can develop into health problems.

A good diet should provide all the major nutrients including dietary fibers, carbohydrates, proteins, good fats, minerals, and vitamins. The best way to tackle overweight and obesity problem is to eat a balanced diet and do some physical exercise daily.

You should not start any diet if it does not allow any major group of the food pyramid.The negative calorie diet is based on negative calorie foods that include vegetables, fruits, legumes, lentils, and beans, so it allows all the major nutrients in the diet necessary for good health. By eating these foods, you will never feel hungry and you will never gain weight. If you remain physically active and eat these foods, you will drop pounds permanently.

[Please note that this article is not a subsitute for medical advice. You have permission to publish this article in your web sites, ezines or electronic publication, as long as the piece is used in its entirety including the resource box, all hyperlinks (clickable) and references and copyright info. ]

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Join The Club…

You’ve seen the ads. The ones that claim to show you how to “Make $2K-$5K per Week”. The ones that make outlandish promises of how easy it is to obtain wealth on the internet. You want to believe them. They make it sound like it’s just what you have been waiting for. You want to have faith that there is a legitimate way to earn money on the internet.

They can’t really be true… Can they???

Now that your mind has begun to think about the possibilities of starting a legitimate home based business, you start to get excited. These ads take you to a flashy website full of the promise of a better life, full of the hope that they can show you how to earn fast money.

It couldn’t be any simpler, do what they do. All that is required is send them $50 bucks or more and follow the step-by-step instructions. Then, sit back and watch the money come rolling in! WOW, nothing could be easier than to earn money online, and what could possibly be better than to earn fast money?

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Now, let me tell you, these websites are incredibly convincing (I’ve bought into the hype myself). They offer pictures of their tracking statistics that show they’ve made thousands of dollars. They even have testimonials of people who say that you can make money online just like they did using the same system. (Look for more details in out Newsletter).

So now, you feel like you have a little angel on one shoulder whispering and telling you to “be cautious. Easy now, this can’t be a legitimate online business opportunity. It’s probably a Scam. Any time you see Earn Fast Money… It can’t be good.”

Of course, on the other shoulder you have a little devil. He’s jumping up and down, screaming in your ear. “What the hell you waitin for? It doesn’t get any better than this. Get it while the gettin’s good! Hell yah, earn fast money, there’s no better way to earn money online than FAST! Of course it’s a legetimate home business opportunity, those testimonials are the real deal. If those morons can earn money online, then you sure can. Come on, it’s only $50 bucks, and there’s a money back guarantee. What do you have to lose? Like Nike says, Just Do It!”

Now back to reality, those websites are very convincing. You start to rationalize how it’s not a scam. If these things were not actually true, wouldn’t that be false advertising? How would they get away with it? Wouldn’t they get kicked off the Internet? Anyway, the little devil on your shoulder gets the better of you. You say to yourself “it’s only $50 bucks. How can I turn this down? All I have to lose is $50 bucks (wrong). What if this turns out to be a legitimate home based business opportunity to earn money online? What if I pass up the opportunity of a lifetime? One that could have generated a 6 or 7 figure income? All this, and I have the chance to work from home! How can I possibly pass this up?”

Well, just like the rest of us, YOU DON’T. Guess what happens next. That’s right, you purchase the package that offers you a “legitimate home based business” that allows you to earn fast money. Shortly thereafter, you read through it and it doesn’t turn out to be what you thought it would be. It requires money for this, time for that, do this other thing. While you are trying to follow what it says to do, you inevitably get side-tracked, and start to head in other directions. You lose focus. So of course, you get upset and you’re out a lot more than $50 bucks!

Now What?

Here are some of your choices:

1. Get really upset. Try to contact the person that scammed your $50 bucks, which is now more like $500 and try to get it back (all the while calling him all sorts of names I won’t mention). Then swear you will never be scammed again. You promise to stay away from “get rich quick schemes” and anything that has to do with “earn fast money” or “legitimate online business opportunities”.

2. Same as above, only calmly and rationally.

3. Give up on that particular “system” and look for the net best one!

4. Accept what you received as “you got what you paid for”. They said on the website somewhere that it would only be as successful as the amount of effort you put into it. Take what you have, try to follow what they say. Buy every “Pro Package” they offer, and sign up for everything they suggest. Because after all, they know best. Put a lot of time, money and effort into following their plan. Hope for the best.

5. Re-evaluate your motives. Were you trying to “get rich quick” and get a huge monthly income for $50 bucks? Or were you seriously interested in starting a business online and trying to work from home?

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• There must be large demand and high quality product.
• Earn a minimum of 25% of the profits.
• Related to your passion and interest. This including your site.

How much can I earn?

This depends on the company’s affiliate program model. Most of them pay a percentage of the total sale. Few will offer a fixed dollar amount (say $50 per sale for all products).

Did you know that more than 95% of all affiliates never earn enough to warrant a paycheck? And out of that 5% who do earn enough, only 2% of those would earn enough to be considered an income! That is not good news. It is not hard to be one of the 2% if you learn a simple system that can work over and over again. Want to learn how to Earn Enough Money with Affiliate Programs? Here you go.

1. Create a site that is rich in content.

You need to create a web site that contains lots and lots of useful content. Do not waste your time joining a couple of affiliate programs and promote them in one or two pages. Remember you need to build credibility with the people who visit your site. Provide them, helpful resources and useful information that you know what you are talking about. There is no such thing as too much information. The more you can give, the greater chance they will keep coming back to your site.

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2. Search for Affiliate Programs that match your site’s theme.

I know it is tempting to join every affiliate program that sounds lucrative. However more is not better. If your site is about stock investment, it does not make sense to advertise health food. It is better to promote only two or three related products than hurt your site reputation.

3. Drive traffic to your site.

There are many courses or training program that can help you to drive traffic to your site. Business without traffic is useless. Just like a shop in the jungle. Nobody will notice you and they don’t even know you exist. This can be done several ways. You can use pay-per-click (PPC) program like Google Adwords or Yahoo Search Marketing. It is like an art. You need to find effective keyword lists. I would not recommend this to newbies. Unless you can get targeted audience, you are wasting lots of money. You can join relevant forum and promote your site. This is Free.

4. Learn more from the experts.

When I first started, I learned a lot from forums, books, e-books and articles. I found this great program, “Wealthy Affiliate”. Wealthy Affiliate is one-stop internet marketing resource where you will find detailed instructions on how to earn online. You can choose your own role model and learn from them. What they did and how they did it. Most systems are duplicable.

5. Can’t find Affiliate Program?

There are many programs out there in the market. ClickBank.com is the most easy to use and highly effective affiliate. Registration is free and offers hundreds or even thousands of products for you to choose. All the products are digital and can be instantly delivered over the internet.

There is no short-cut to earn money. You have to work for it. Build your site, fill it with lots of useful content and drive traffic to your site. Remember all the guidelines highlighted above. Give yourself some time to build this business. Do not quit because if you do, you will lose the opportunity to earn money online. So if someone asked me “Can you earn enough money from Affiliate Program to quit your regular job?” I would say “Yes, I can.”

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