Need to remove "Fraud Alert" from your bureaus? Here's an easy tip how

A fraud alert is a statement that appears on your three major credit bureaus. Often it is used if you have been a victim of identity theft, or if you wish to keep tight control over your credit report.

It alerts potential creditors that they must contact you to verify information before pulling your credit.

But there are times when this doesn't serve you. For instance, when I was trying to obtain new credit lines and a mortgage, the fraud alert slowed down the approval process to a grinding halt.

This happened because the creditors had to call me first and make contact with me before they could go ahead and review my credit report. The delay occurred because I was unaware when the creditors would try to call me.

Apparently some of the creditors claimed they left a message but I didn't receive it. Then I had to call them back, often leaving a message for a representative to call me. This resulted in another delay.

Originally I had put up a fraud alert because I did have unusual activity on my bureaus.

But in this instance, the fraud alert was hurting rather than hindering me. So, there are times when you need to remove it.

I found that by calling Equifax at 800.525.6285 during normal business hours took care of the problem. They did ask for my confirmation number, which I did not have. So if you have a confirmation number for a report within 90 days that will help. Otherwise they will provide that to you.

Then I asked to have my fraud alert removed. They stated that I should simply fax in a written request to 888.826.0573, which I did. Put it to Attention: Fraud Department. I was also asked to include two forms of ID. I included 3: utitily bill, social security card, and driver's license.

The representative indicated that the alert would be removed within 48 hours, and that they would also share this request to delete with the other bureaus, Experian and TransUnion.

New Way that Gets Your “Starter Home” for 100.00% Appraised Value ALL CASH: Part 1

It was one of those perfectly cute homes in a Hispanic neighborhood. A sweetheart deal, a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home in a working class neighborhood. We paid $30,000.00 for it.

A screaming deal. Or so we thought.

After about $30,000.00 in renovations later, it didn’t feel like such a screaming deal. The plumbing, flooring, siding, kitchen, and ac all needed to be redone completely. Contrary to what the owners had disclosed to us. As a 3/2 it would barely be worth $80,000, I realized.

So halfway into the renovation, with the home halfway torn open, I instructed my proud and noble handyman Raul to convert the extra space in the home into another bedroom and bathroom. So we ended up with a 4 bedroom 3 bathroom in the process. This boosted the appraisal value to $109,000.00 and make the home much more attractive to a potential buyer.

Finally, we began marketing this dollhouse. At first we promoted it the conventional way. Ads in the paper, signs in the yard, some flyers in the neighborhood. But after 30 days and no bites, I realized it was time to ramp things up. My investor loan was coming due, and I knew that if I didn’t get some action FAST, I could end up in deep “you know what.”

So I began thinking, “Hey, you’re Mr. Auction Powers! You’re the guy who teaches how to create a bidding frenzy. How would this fit for this home?”

Because this was a starter home (below the median in our market which at that time was approximately $180,000.00) I realized it would be ideal for a first-time homebuyer. Such a buyer would probably not have the cash to bid on such a property that a conventional auction or round robin bid sale would require. Such a buyer may have credit issues and probably be timid and have concerns about the home buying process.

So I discovered a way to position this home to eliminate all of these buyers’ concerns and make them thank us for it…This was the birth of my legendary “starter home auction”

Additionally, this home was in a Hispanic area, so I realized that prospects for this home may not speak English. So I hired a local translator for cheap. I also translated all my marketing into Spanish, and posted out flyers in Spanish as well as English.

How to Grow a Business Relationship worth Millions (Part 1)

Take Calculated Risks

When I relocated in Arizona in 2001 I didn’t know a soul. Living in Philadelphia I felt like a fish out of water, so I decided to move. I was drawn to Arizona’s booming real estate market, booming real estate market, sunny climate, and exotic desert beauty.

Create some Buzz about Yourself and Your Business

Taking the plunge in starting up my real estate investing activities, I hosted a seminar at the Scottsdale Civic Center Library auditorium. I placed classified ads to attract salespersons who wanted to earn while they learn. Perhaps a dozen showed up. After my presentation where I shared my personal philosophy and company vision, I asked that those still interested meet with me. Several approached me.

Attract Qualified People to your Dream Team

One interested gentleman named Glenn seemed to stand head and shoulders above the rest in terms of his qualifications. He seemed overqualified. He ran several businesses including a bar and had plenty of financial resources. Glenn had a lot to bring to the table, so we decided to work together.

Looking at properties in foreclosure was our first order of the day. For a period of time I sent him hot leads and asked for him to knock on the door in an attempt to contact the seller and perhaps purchase their property.

Stay Open and Flexible to Evolving Responsibilities

This later evolved into his assisting me by doing legwork on properties. Properties I had purchased we would prepare the sales literature and signs, and he would drive out there and set up these materials.

Pay Your People Well and Keep Your Word

Over time, I had him sign on our behalf at real estate closings, when we were buying and selling properties. It is a common practice of savvy real estate investors to buy homes in a trust, for which it is necessary to appoint a trustee. Glenn would sign the paperwork to buy and sell a property as trustee for a reasonable trustee fee of approximately $50-75 per transaction.

Creative Real Estate Entrepreneurs: The Alternative Medicine of Real Estate (Part 2 of 2)

But a huge percentage cannot get a conventional bank loan and these are the people we help. By contrast, we specialize in helping clients who want to own a home but may have credit issues, a lack of down payment, or a lack of knowledge or experience about how to buy a home.

So we are the alternative to the conventional system: we buy properties from clients who want or need to sell and do not wish to list their home conventionally with a real estate agent. And we resell these properties using flexible homeownership programs to clients who can’t qualify for a conventional bank loan, which requires perfect credit, a substantial down payment, and years’ of employment and tax documentation.

Our services are needed now more than ever. With more unsold homes on the market and homes taking longer to sell than ever—and many homeowners don’t want to wait that long, and mortgage lenders making it more difficult to buy a house, we save the day with a priceless alternative to both people who need to sell and people who dream of buying.

In the process, we create financial freedom and prosperity for our sellers, our buyers, our investors, and our staff. Sellers get relief by selling us a home that for them has become a headache. Buyers free themselves from the trap of renting forever, and taste the freedom of finally owning a home. Our investors receive a handsome return on their investment on any properties they supply us with the funds or credit.

By helping all these clients, our staff gets richly rewarded and has the opportunity to master the art of real estate investing and building a successful business. These financial tools help us live a truly prosperous life, advancing us towards our other dreams. Wealth is a tool to help us live truly prosperous lives, which also includes being healthy and happy making all of our goals and dreams fulfilled.

Our holistic vision and mission extends way beyond making money buying and selling property, real estate is a fundamental tool for making our own and others’ lives better towards fulfilling everything else important to our lives.

Creative Real Estate Entrepreneurs: The Alternative Medicine of Real Estate Part 1 of 2

The conventional mainstream of Western medicine has its uses. If you break an arm and have a medical emergency, you need a “conventional” medical doctor at a hospital to set the break and make sure it heals properly. But there are times when the conventional system falls short, and let’s say you have a chronic pain that just wont go away and medicine and surgery don’t seem like options. Then you might opt for a complementary treatment like acupuncture, nutrition, and the like.

Alternative medicine has its uses when a medical situation just can’t be helped by conventional medicine or surgery. Acupuncture and nutrition can help someone with chronic pain Our health is one of our basic needs as humans. So is having a roof over our heads.

So no matter what is happening in the real estate market and what the media is saying about it, everyone needs a place to live. In the same way, with real estate, creative real estate investors work with homeowners who need or want to sell their home but don’t want to go the conventional route of listing their home with a real estate agent. Although they might net more money in the end, they end up paying a commission, and dealing with buyers coming through their house and the possible delays and problems that come with dealing with a buyer who wants to live in their house.

Most homes are still sold through a real estate agent. In the case of buying a house, buyers with excellent credit and can qualify for conventional financing and a traditional bank loan. These are the buyers real estate agents tend to work with because they just show the homes to the buyers and the buyer just gets a loan, easily as 1-2-3. The competition is fierce among real estate agents to work with these types of buyers. But there are other options… (continued in part 2).