There are dozens on dozens of ways to attain money with Real Estate. Among the most leisurely ways to make income with real property is becoming a Real Estate Bird Dog.

What does al Estate Bird Dog do? A real estate bird dog locates investments or investment leads for investors.

Why would realty Investors seek out a service like this?

A lot of Real Estate Investors are businesspeople who are active creating income. They do not have time to track down great real estate deals in major real estate markets like Las Vegas. These are where a real estate bird dog comes into play.

What makes a real estate bird dog?

Easy. It takes the bird dog knowing the in's and out's of their real estate market. The better real property bird dogs have a dozens of touches within their various real estate marketplace. They also recognize a fine real estate investiture when they see it. Real estate bird dogs look for human relationship with realtors, brokers, bankers, loaners and anybody else who may deliver knowledge of a beneficial real estate investment.

In most marketplaces, the real estate bird dog will be an individual who already works in the industry, for instance a real estate broker or perhaps an assitent to a realtor. Even so, I know Bird Dogs who do nothing other discover real estate investment bargains for investors.

How does a real estate bird dog get compensated?

Commonly when a real estate bird dog discovers various investments or investing leads, they then deliver them to the investor. When/if they purchase the investment, the real estate bird dog is compensated a service charge which is generally a percent of the dealings or it could be a flat fee, it depends on the bird dog.

The advantages of being a real estate bird dog is that once you hand the property off to the investor, you job is done. You don't have to worry about setting up financing, inspections or any other of the headaches that can come with investing in real estate.

How much can a real estate bird dog make?

Obviously it depends on what percentage of the deal you decide your time and effort is worth, but some command as high as a 10% finders fee. I've heard of higher fees, but most that I'm aware of run in the 3 to 6% range.

What are the pits of being a real estate bird dog?

Well, for one, in some states, if you find real estate for an investor and then charge a fee, they feel you need a real estate license. Check with the State you live in before going into this.

Personally, I believe that's B.S. but some states of matter will do anything to clear more license fees. Even if you have to sit through a few hours of boring real estate classes, for many it's worth it for the advantages of becoming a real estate bird dog.

With national media attention focusing on North Las Vegas real estate, many investors are running away while other are running toward the area. Which ones are right?

The real estate market in North Las Vegas has taken a pretty good pounding lately due to the mortgage subprime fallout. Many homeowners applied for, and received, interest only loans. This helped many get into homes they wouldn't have been able afford normally. Now that interest rates are going up, so are their mortgage notes and many could not keep up and their homes ended up on the Las Vegas foreclosure list.

Why Are Some Investors Leaving While Others Can't Get Here Fast Enough? 

So Why Are Some Real Estate Investors Running Away From North Las Vegas while others are running to North Las Vegas with their money held out?

Just as you have with the stock market, you'll have some investors get scared and sell off when prices are going down. The smart investors see this this slow down in the Las Vegas real estate market as a buying opportunity and will buy as much as they can.

Remember Seattle in the 80's after Boeng sent most of the workers home? Things were so bad there that someone put up a billboard saying "Would the last person out of Seattle turn off the lights?"

Or how about New Orleans. Do you remember the news stories after Hurricane Katrina of investors flocking to the city to buy all the property they could? They didn't care if the homes were floating away or not. They know the real estate market there will rebound.

Can You Recognize A Real Estate Investment Opportunity When You See One?

In both instances, wise investors saw a buying opportunity. They realize that the market will tick back up over time and they'll be sitting in a sweet situation while those who fled will be trying to get back in...back in when the prices are rising again!

The real estate market in North Las Vegas will not always be down. Could it go down further? Yeah and it probably will. Wouldn't you rather buy when you know it's near the bottom or wait and miss an opportunity to reall make some dividends on your investment?

Many investors, whether it's stocks, bonds or real estate, miss a big piece of the pie waiting to long. If you wait until the North Las Vegas real estate market starts back up, you may find yourself empty handed or buying at a higher price. If you're interested in that market, contact a real estate professional in the area and ask for their advice!

Pre construction investing isn't for everyone. If you have the heart and soul of a Las Vegas gambler or you have nerves of steel and the possiblity of losing large amount of money does not severly affect you, then pre construction investing may be your cup of tea.

Pre-construction profits are often among the highest in the industry. At the same time so are the risks involved. The greatest highs and lows that can be found in the field of real estate investing lie beneath the umbrella of pre-construction profits and many of the big names we know so well in the real estate investing field have made much of their fortunes through speculation and pre-construction sales. Can you say Donald Trump?

High Risk Can Mean High Profits...Or High Losses

Before I go any further, I have to make you aware of some investment dangers should you consider pre construction investing. While the potential for profits in this particular corner of the real estate market are unconventionally high the risks are also abundant. This is speculative real estate at its very best and as we have all learned in the past, when the bubble bursts in a specific market those who have the most invested are the ones who often loose most heavily.

The bigger the risk the bigger the reward but it also goes the other way. The bigger the risk, the bigger amount of loss that can happen. Can you accept losing all you money in a pre construction investment?

What Is Pre Construction Investing

As far as what pre-construction real estate is there are a few interpretations. The first is also the most obvious. You are buying real estate at some point before construction is complete. In hot markets like Las Vegas, you'll often need to purchase the units before ground has broken on the project in order to get the lowest price for your real estate investment and highest potential pay off. Once you've purchased the unit or units you plan to sell you then begin seeking buyers.

In markets that are on fire like some Las Vegas suburbs and big retirement and vacation cities along the Florida and Mexico coastline the same property is not exactly uncommon for a property to change hands and have several owners before the unit is complete. Each one will take a little something home from the table for their efforts with those who get in earliest often taking the largest piece of the pie home with them.

How A Pre Construction Investor Makes Money

You may be wondering why this occurs and the answer really is simple. When the contractors attempt to get funding for their buildings in these large complexes they often need to have a certain percentage of the units "pre sold" in order to convince the banks that there is an adequate market and to garner some of the revenue that is needed to get the venture up and running, so to speak. So real estate investors buy these units at rock bottom prices because essentially they are paying for the idea of the unit (which hasn't at this time been built and isn't yet approved to be built in many cases) rather than a brick and mortar property.

As the project draws closer to completion, particularly in markets where real estate is in high demand, the value of the property rises dramatically ending in ridiculous profits for those who have managed to hang on.

The risks however are great. There are any number of things that can go wrong on a project such as this not the least of which is that the demand for housing will be met before the unit is actually built.

This has happened and continues to happen. Also recessions, business closings, economies collapsing, and tragedies in the vicinity can occur before the property is complete leaving everyone who has invested heavily in the project holding a little bit of the bag and loosing their profits and, quite possibly, their investment. These projects generally take a great deal of time to complete which makes the risks that much greater and the anticipation of these events a little more difficult to map out ahead of time.

If you can manage to make it through however many investors see more than a one hundred per cent return on their investment making it a popular type of investment among many despite the rather large risks involved.