Money-making real estate direct mails do not stray from the proven direct marketing formula. So although writing real estate postcard marketing content is challenging, investors need not feel lost because there are established marketing guides they can follow and perhaps innovate.

As you progress in your direct-marketing career, you’ll instantly know it by its acronym alone: AIDS. It stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. It’s very self explanatory. You need to get the attention of your reader, keep his interest, build his desire for wanting to sell to you, and then actually encourage him to act.

However, even experienced real estate direct marketing professionals don’t pay enough attention to fully developing their ‘call to action’ in their real estate direct mails. Don’t think that your call to action can already be inferred in the body of your letter. Make your call to action especially clearer and bolder in your real estate postcard marketing campaigns.

New investors are also usually diffident when it comes to the ‘call to action’ part of their real estate marketing. They may perceive this as a form of hard selling which their customers will dislike. But think about those effective infomercials on TV. Weren’t they able to sell millions of products within a few minutes?

But do you know why just about every commercial on TV is written like that? Because they work. Direct marketers will stick with a style, a wording, an entire ad campaign as long as it’s pulling in the sales for them. They take the phrase “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” to a whole new level.

For your postcard mailing to be effective, you must rise above any hesitancy about asking people to call you. You can do every other portion of your mailing absolutely correctly. But if you don’t remind people to act it’s doubtful if your mailing will ever be successful.

But more than asking them to act, you need to write your call to action so they feel it’s absolutely necessary that they act today. In fact, they need to act while they have that postcard in hand. Far too often with direct mailing the old adage of “out of sight, out of mind” applies.

So use your customer knowledge and creativity to come up with a strong reason that will make people do what you want them to do.

You may want to learn from the call to actions used in infomercials and radio game shows that give incentives to the first batch of callers. If there ideas do not appeal to you, how can these ideas be innovated to fit your service and style?

Real estate direct mails do not have to be boring, matter-of-fact, and too formal. Instead aim to create excitement about your offer. Energize your prospects to contact you by paying special attention to making your call-to-action powerfully engaging.

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Proposition 13 was passed in 1978 by the Howard Jarvis Administration to limit propety taxes in the state of California. Proposition 13 severely controlled the ability of government to use property taxes to build public improvements and services. Consequently, California Residents were forced to find new methods to fund government community facilities in their communities like roads, schools, parks, etc. The Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act of 1982 was implemented by the State legislature, the Act created Community Facilities Districts (CFDs) to be established as a means of obtaining this crucial neighborhood funding.

Mellow-Roos Property Taxes changes for each Community Financial District. Typically, an approved method that pertains to the home size which is based on the square footage or parcel size is utilized to establish the quantity of particular assessment. So a smaller residence in a community will pay less than a larger home in the same community. Generally, the special property tax and assessments do not exceed 1% to 1.5% of the market value of new homes. In Addition to, the complete quantity of all annual property taxes generally does not exceed 2% to 2.5% of the residence’s taxable property base value. When you lower your taxable base value or in other words, your propety tax you will save a significant amount of money especially, if you have Mellow-Roos Taxes on your home because of the higher percentage in property taxes you pay.

In California many homeowners in most major city areas have lost in excess of $200,000 in market value on their homes and at the normal rate of 1.25% in property taxes they will save $2,500 per year for every year they keep their residence! Yet, that same taxpayer at a 2% property tax rate because of Mellow-Roos taxes will save over $4,000 every year in property taxes! If you are paying Mellow-Roos and have lost $200,000 since you purchased your home and let’s say you intend to stay in your home for the next 10 years, you will save $40,000! Don’t settle for Proposition 8 the temporary decline in property taxes, its only temporary. Learning to PERMANENTLY lower your taxable base value in California is the key to saving thousands over the course of your home ownership which is disclosed in the California Little Black Book.

Generally Mellow-Roos Property Taxes are applied to recently built communities like sizeable Planned Unit Developments (PUD) where there have been numerous homes built at once and the property taxes are necessary to establish city services. Ive seen Planned Unit Developments that had upwards of 4,000 houses built! So, the county and city municipalities need to find funding to build the roads, sewage systems, schools, recreation centers, parks and so much more. Before acquiring a home with Mellow-Roos property taxes you will be notified in the initial negotiation stages of purchasing the home and during escrow that these property taxes apply. You won’t be blind sighted by Mellow-Roos Taxes, it is required that you are notified prior to purchasing.

About the Author: Valerie Faltas, Property Tax Expert has been involved in all facets of real estate for over ten years including assessments, appraisals, estates and trusts, investing and much more. She is a Certified Property Tax Appraiser, Licensed Residential Appraiser and a member of the International Association of Assessment Officers. As a real estate investor and advisor she is well versed in all aspects of real estate. To contact Valerie Faltas go to her website: www.propertytaxlittleblackbook.com.

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Retirement may be a long way off for you – or it might be right around the corner. No matter how near or far it is, you’ve absolutely got to start saving and investing for it now.

However, saving for retirement isn’t what it used to be with the increase in cost of living and the instability of social security. You have to invest for your retirement, as opposed to saving for it!

Let’s start by taking a look at the retirement plan offered by your company. Once upon a time, these plans were quite sound. However, after the Enron upset and all that followed, people aren’t as secure in their company retirement plans anymore. If you choose not to invest in your company’s retirement plan, you do have other options.

First, you can invest in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, certificates of deposit, and money market accounts. You do not have to state to anybody that the returns on these investments are to be used for retirement.

Just simply let your money grow overtime, and when certain investments reach their maturity, reinvest them and continue to let your money grow. Whichever retirement investment you choose, just make sure you choose one!

Again, do not depend on social security, company retirement plans, or even an inheritance that may or may not come through! Take care of your financial future by investing in it today.

Knowing what your risk tolerance and investment style are will help you choose investments more wisely. While there are many different types of investments that one can make, there are really only three specific investment styles – and those three styles tie in with your risk tolerance.

The three investment styles are conservative, moderate, and aggressive. Naturally, if you find that you have a low tolerance for risk, your investment style will most likely be conservative or moderate at best. If you have a high tolerance for risk, you will most likely be a moderate or aggressive investor. At the same time, your financial goals will also determine what style of investing you use.

If you are saving for retirement in your early twenties, you should use a conservative or moderate style of investing – but if you are trying to get together the funds to buy a home in the next year or two, you would want to use an aggressive style.

Conservative investors want to maintain their initial investment. In other words, if they invest $5000 they want to be sure that they will get their initial $5000 back.

This type of investor usually invests in common stocks and bonds and short term money market accounts. An interest earning savings account is very common for conservative investors.

A moderate investor usually invests much like a conservative investor, but will use a portion of their investment funds for higher risk investments. Many moderate investors invest 50% of their investment funds in safe or conservative investments, and invest the remainder in riskier investments.

An aggressive investor is willing to take risks that other investors won’t take. They invest higher amounts of money in riskier ventures in the hopes of achieving larger returns – either over time or in a short amount of time. Aggressive investors often have all or most of their investment funds tied up in the stock market.

Again, determining what style of investing you will use will be determined by your financial goals and your risk tolerance.

No matter what type of investing you do, however, you should carefully research that investment. Never invest without having all of the facts! Investing in your financial future is the greatest gift you can give yourself by far. If you aren’t sure where to begin or how, perhaps it’s time to seek the services of a qualified financial adviser who knows where to start, and the best places to invest in for your future.

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When it comes to selling land, folks time and again speculate if they actually want to appoint a solicitor. It is a wide-ranging view that hiring a conveyancing solicitor implies a high-priced matter. Well, the subject is not only relevant to saving or spending some cash while trading your property, in fact, there are a number of aspects related to it.

Hiring a trained conveyancing solicitor has some benefits which are indisputably worth the cost. Given that conveyancing solicitors comprise thoughtful experience in this trade, they can unquestionably facilitate you in an enhanced way in selling your property.

From examination stage to the eventual handing of property, a specialized and qualified conveyancing solicitor will certify that each step concerned in selling of your home is managed in the mainly successful manner.

These skilled and experienced conveyancing professionals make use of an effective tracking system that allows them to see precisely which step your home in at in the conveyancing process. They also know what to do and at what time, so that the entire process of selling your home is managed without any hitches.

Alternatively, do-it-yourself approach will not permit you to administer all the aspects caught up in selling of a property. Given that you may not have expertise like conveyancing solicitors, you are prone to make blunders. Hiring a conveyancing solicitor will let you sit back whereas the person will deal with and look after all the obscure steps involved in selling of your property. Nothing like the DIY method, you will not have to be anxious about anything and your conveyancing solicitor will run your entire headache.

This will furthermore permit you to keep your time which may go waste in case you make a few mistakes which you are probable to perpetrate being a dilettante in this trade. Not scarcely this, employing a conveyancing solicitor will also lend a hand you to keep your money as there will be no issues of restatement or covering up of any mistake.

It repeatedly happens that individuals who attempt to administer their business of a property on their own end up making appalling mistakes which may charge them time or money to make up for them. In contrast hiring a conveyancing solicitor calls for a lone time investment and after that no spending robs you in the full process. Conveyancing solicitors, conversely, manage the entire procedure in the most effectual manner; in fact, they save your time and make certain that the deal is carried out as soon as possible.

By hiring a professional and skilled conveyancing solicitor, you will be making the wisest decision while selling your home. They will manage all your affairs without bugging you again and again. You will not have to run around for documentation or other matters, as they will do all such tiresome things for you. For all these reasons, hiring conveyancing solicitors for selling your home is without doubt a worthwhile decision.

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As a trader, the market action these days are amazingly good. Buy when it goes down, sell when it goes high. Rinse and repeat. As an investor though, the moves must be driving you nuts. The Dow has been stuck in this range for about a month now, and it’s hard to say whether the bulls or the bears will win this tug of war.

On the bull’s side, it’s still the same arguments that recovery is well under way. That it’s never as bad as everyone thought it will be and there are tremendous amounts of cash on the sidelines waiting to be invested.

The bears argue that while the downturn is slowing its pace and shows signs of stabilizing, we are far from a recovery that the rally suggests. They believe that the foreclosure wave is still yet to come and when the fed runs out of gas with all the stimulus, the economy, and thus the stock market, will tumble.

Articles for the Weekend

• For more evidence on the bear case, note that the Case Shiller index fell at a record pace.
• Of course, if you are an oblivious investor, you can just ignore the noise. However, you still need to be honest with your expectations of the long term market returns.
• Or if you can get a 49,250% return, you probably don’t need to worry about how the market does as a whole.
• Now that GMAC’s banking division changed name, Bank Savings Review did a review of the new offerings, Ally Bank.
• Lastly, whatever you do, you should always save money on your wedding. Here’s how.

Carnival

• Carnival of Cash Flow
• Money Hacks Carnival
• OneMint Carnival
• Wealth, Money, Life Carnival
• Personal Finance News Carnival

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Related Articles at Investing School:

• Weekend Investment Reading – Happy Holidays Edition
• WIR – What a Week in the Stock Market
• Weekend Investing Reading (WIR)
• Weekend Investment Reading – Wow
• Weekend Investment Reading – Ignoring the Volatility

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