Merry Christmas & Happy Hanukkah

On behalf of everyone at Gage Consulting Group, we wish you and yours a Merry Christmas. May the coming weeks entering the New Year be a time of refreshening and redefined goals and business plans for a prosperous 2009.

To your ongoing success,

James Gage

www.JGage.com

PS: Don’t forget our annual 50% Holiday Sale ends tomorrow, Christmas Day!!! So before you start your holiday festivities why not stop by our web store and get a jump start on your 2009 investing : http://www.jgage.com/Real-Estate-investing-shop.htm

Real Estate Investing: Oct Tip of The Month

Use Lease Options to Control Properties, Or Sit On The Side Lines!

The last few weeks has everyone wondering whether real estate investing is DEAD! REIA club attendance is down, real estate agents are waiting tables or working at Wal-Mart, mortgage companies are closing faster then the drop in value of the US dollar and mortgages are almost non existing ( being reserved for those with 20% down and FICO scores of 720 or higher). So what is the simple answer? Here is my take as an investor with 22 plus years of experience…

Yes, times are uncertain and who knows what tomorrow will bring, however, I believe that there is a tremendous opportunity available to the real estate investor to bring in a steady income with little or no risk! What is it? Lease Options!

I know, most of you, my faithful readers have heard me over the years advocating lease options as a way to be a leveraged investor in an up, down or side ways market. Frankly, when the housing market was booming most people didn’t pay attention to lease options, but now that our great politicians on both sides of the coin have gotten us into this bailout mess, my phone has been ringing off the hook with people wanting to know how they can cash in with lease options – here’s why…

• Control without ownership
• If the deal doesn’t work out the way you thought it would, you can get out of the transaction without any financial harm – “the ultimate escape clause”!
• You make non-refundable money at the beginning of the deal, middle of the deal, and at the end of the deal!
• Make 10% - 15% above FMV because you are giving people terms.
• Use lease options on single family homes, multi-families, land, mobile homes, foreclosures, probates, new construction and pre-construction…

These are just a few reasons that why you should take a serious look at lease options and the many benefits they provide to you as a real estate investor. Please visit my site http://www.JGage.com for lease option articles, strategies and resources. Of course you could always sit on the side lines and do nothing.

Real Estate Investing : Question About Land Trusts

Good Morning:

I received a question this morning concerning my last post on land trusts, so I thought I would post it with my answer for the benefit of all my faithful blog readers.

Be well,

James Gage

Q: Do we have to have an attorney represent the trust in case of any legal disputes or can we represent properly the land trust in California?

A: It depends on what the legal action is about. For example, if it's an eviction then the trustee can defend or bring the litigation to the court on behalf of the trust. If on the other hand it is a civil or criminal action against the trust I would use an attorney to represent the interests of the trust; keep in mind the engaging of an attorney on behalf of the trust is a responsibility of the trustee.

www.jgage.c

Real Estate Investing: Reasons to Use a Land/Realty Trust

1. Avoids property being probated (out of court transfer upon death of beneficiary)

2. Ease of Transferability

3. Judgments do not attach to the beneficiary

4. No Partition (avoids spouse’s “forced share” sale buyout upon divorce)

5. Easier management with multiple owners (multiple owner do not have to sign docs)

6. No costs upon transferring beneficiary

7. No registered agent needed

8. Legal and Equitable property interest in trustee’s name (never be in the "chain of title")

9. Income and Expense conduit, not a business with tax consequences

10. Trustee has no personal liability

11. No annual fees like other entities, if trustee is an individual or friend

12. Estate planning benefits – automatic successor beneficiaries

13. Less expense with grantor creating the trust entity

14. Avoids the due on sale clause (lenders never know what happened)

15. Privacy of ownership (no recordation of the Trust Agreement) Helps avoid Identity Theft of your name

16. Keep sales price private

17. Able to fracture interests of multiple owners without being "partners"

18. Ease of linkage to other asset protection entities

19. Non-judicial repossessions of real estate sold on installment contract

20. 1099 not required for transfers (personal property not subject to real estate regulations)

21. Ease of operating across state lines

22. Lots of case law to support land trust administration

23. Many attorneys do not study this section of the law – not profitable for them (yields a competitive advantage)

24. No recordation of the Trust Agreement

25. No tax return to file (pass through entity)

26. To avoid “seasoning” problems (secondary market rules of ownership)

27. To save title insurance premiums (Trustee-insured-remains the same)

28. Good negotiating technique in the sale or purchase of property (Disney World used land trusts to acquire its property prior to construction...to avoid price escalation)

29. To provide non-recourse financing

30. Lowering of real estate taxes (prevents re-assessment)

31. Avoids state regulations that apply to corporations and LLC’s

As you can see, Land/Realty Trusts are a wonderful tool for you to use to hide your assets, avoid real estate tax increases, privatize your sales transactions, avoid probate and use for many other benefits. Now that you have a basic understanding of why people use Land/Realty Trusts, please consider acquiring our Land/Realty Trusts Made Easy Home Study Course. You will be amazed at the logic behind how to structure your Trust Agreement so no one but YOU understands what is going on.

At the end of the course we give you all of the forms needed to create and maintain your own Land/Realty Trusts on 1 CD, and we have even included 2 DVDs on how to file out the trusts page by page and line by line - this will save you thousands of dollars in legal fees. As a bonus you will receive on CD Oxford's Law Dictionary.

By the way, I want to let you in on a secret! When attorneys put together land /realty trusts for their clients they hand over your information to a paralegal who uses a computer program (that only attorneys have) and 20 minutes later you have your document. And sense I have a legal background as many of you know, I have this software which I use for creating my own trusts, and now I am making not only my knowledge and expertise to you, but also these very valuable trust documents. So please take time out of your busy day to visit my web site.

This is available by going to: www.JGAGE.com clicking on “Investing Tools” then clicking on one of the “Package Deals” tabs.

Are you working hard to acquire your assets? You will spend a life time building your financial estate…spend a little time and

money learning how to protect your net worth from the deadbeats and their contingency fee lawyers!

Please visit our website at www.JGAGE.com. You can read even more about Land Trusts and how they benefit you.

Be well,

James Gage