I’ve never bought in the war zone.

I guess I’ve never had a deisre to have my life threatened at or near one of my houses.   Of course that isn’t just necessarily restricted to the war zone.  I’ve felt very uncomfortable a few times at my apartment building in Fridley; then there was the time my tenant tried to blow up the house with me in it,  by leaving the gas line open.  In any case, the war zone has it’s own business model.

For those that read this blog, many of you know my good friend Brian Dickerson (www.briandickersonflips.com).  He knows more than anyone about working in the war zone.  He made his living in the neighborhoods where you needed a gun in order to fit in.

Below I’ve included an article that talks about free money available for real estate.   Who says there is no such thing as a free lunch?

Here’s the business model.
Identify a house to buy at 40% of value.  Hopefully it needs < 20k in work, and you’re buying it for about 20k (*worth about 80k).   Buy the house using the money talked about below and a little of your own if needed.   Fix and flip.  Fix and flip.  It’s a great cash strategy (strategy to bring you cash).
More tips soon.   If you’d like to sell your home, please visit our website at http://LakesAreaHomeBuyers.com

Housing: Agency collaboration could ease foreclosure crisis in Minnesota

by Scott Carlson Staff Writer

F&C file photo

Humphrey Institute panel says Minnesota could be role model in search for housing solutions

The foreclosure crisis is sweeping across Minnesota, just like other states. And some areas, such as north Minneapolis – with triple the foreclosure rates of that city’s other neighborhoods – have been particularly devastated.

And yet, some housing experts see a glimmer of hope in the coalition of agencies, organizations and individual efforts converging to solve Minnesota’s problems.

Several Twin Cities housing experts, speaking at a Humphrey Institute forum Thursday, said Minnesota could even wind up serving as a role model of how the United States may be able to extricate itself from the nation’s growing mortgage foreclosure crisis.

Minnesota is “at the forefront of the mortgage-foreclosure recovery,’’ contended Thomas Fulton, president of the Minneapolis-based Family Housing Fund. “The housing industry (in Minnesota) has built a tradition of collaboration.’’

Fulton said a key source of collaboration is the Minnesota Foreclosure Partners Council, whose more than 20 members include cities, housing agencies, counties, trade groups and state agencies. Formed in 2007, the nonprofit council’s mission has been to develop a rapid, coordinated response to the mortgage foreclosure crisis affecting the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota. Its ultimate goal is to help stabilize neighborhoods and assist families recover from foreclosures, or help avoid the process altogether.

The Council’s efforts come at a time when foreclosures in Minnesota have gone from 6,500 in 2005 to nearly 30,000 in 2008. In north Minneapolis, about a fifth of the homes are in foreclosure; in other areas of the city, the rate is still less than 10 percent of neighborhood homes.

Fulton conceded that there are no signs the foreclosure crisis will abate any time soon, but added that “we are in a good position to act decisively … on the issue.’’

Carolyn Olson, president of the Greater Metropolitan Housing Corp. in Minneapolis, said her group has bought nearly 160 foreclosed homes in north Minneapolis since mid-2007 for rehab and resale. The GMHC has carried out the program largely with $10 million from the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency.

Olson said this pool of money is often helping her group beat speculators in bidding to buy foreclosed properties. Increasingly, GMHC is looking to sell homes to low- and moderate-income families on contract for deeds when they are having trouble getting mortgages because of the lack of traditional financing, she said.

Olson also noted that her group has been one of the first in the nation to benefit from the National Community Stabilization Trust, which is allowing Minneapolis and St. Paul, as pilot cities, to acquire foreclosed properties before they are put on the market. Under this program, the GMHC has looked at nearly 493 properties since September and closed on 23, she said.

Given these kinds of initiatives, the GMHC is starting to help push back up home values in north Minneapolis, Olson said. And the group’s efforts of restoring homes – in some cases, five to seven homes on a block at the same time – are giving local residents hope that their neighborhood is due for a rebound, she said.