Need help in some investment ideas..

[909997]

What is the best and safest investment out their? Whats the most rewarding but high risk?

Also has anyone here used prosper.com? i would like to hear your thoughts on it.

~thanks

[DeanCollins]

look into local tax deeds. pays high interest and you might wind up with a piece of property

http://www.tax-lien-certificates.com/

[JMS]

plastics?

( Tax Liens look like a scam to me. anybody had any luck with this? how did you get into it, what were your returns? )

[Clinton "F'n" Portis]

Tomatos...

[DeanCollins]

plastics?

( Tax Liens look like a scam to me. anybody had any luck with this? how did you get into it, what were your returns? )

Scam? you can't beat having a piece of real estate for collateral. I've picked up a couple land parcels for back taxes, pennies on the dollar.
The link I posted just had some general info on it. Go to your local county government website or office and they will have a list to bid on. The interest is usually 10-20%.

[RedlightG20]

pink sheet stocks can be very rewarding.... but also very risky. if you're a gambler and have some money, check out stockguru.com. you can sign up for free stock picks through email, but if you pay you get them a little sooner and get more access to information through their website.

I played around with pink sheets in college and came out even, but i was pretty stupid and impatient with my picks. my roommate did very well as he had been trading for a few years prior. he never had a job in college--made it all in the market.

it's generally not a good idea to do pink sheets, but personally I think they're pretty fun since they're more volatile than the big boy stocks. and you can start with less cash.

[JMS]

Scam? you can't beat having a piece of real estate for collateral. I've picked up a couple land parcels for back taxes, pennies on the dollar.


Did you do it with "tax lien certificates?" Or did you purchase the land parcels via auction?



The link I posted just had some general info on it. Go to your local county government website or office and they will have a list to bid on. The interest is usually 10-20%.


Googleing on fairfax virginia "tax lien certificates" the only links which turn up which are relivent are from your rougue invester site.

tax lien certificates seem bogus.

#1 Most folks have a morgage and morgage companies pay the taxes on the properties via your loan payment to protect themselves from getting forclosed on because of taxes. Morgage companies will forclose on you if you miss three payments. They will cover your taxes over those three payments to protect their investment.

#2 Banks forclose on most properties, and they sell forclosed properties at auctions, not because somebody purchased a "certificate". These Auctions are heald by county and Fairfax just had one last month.

I've never heard of tax lien certificates and an investment vehical which pays 10-20% with little down side that was legitamate, seems like I would have heard about it before..


Tax Lien Certificates seems like those semenars which teach you how to buy property with nothing down... The guy giving the seminar is the only guy making money.

Just my thoughts. My thoughts on investing are not sought or respected by anybody I know.


My best investments since college have been in realistate. A few houses with nothing down, I was an investor not the brains. Three or four guys in on each house. An 80 acre parsel of land near Dulles, which I owned a small percentage of, sold now. A Shopping mall in Ohio, I still own small percentage of ( rolled a few other properties into the Mall in Ohio, again I wasn't the brains).... Family home.

[Burgold]

I'd be really wary of giving or getting financial advice on the internet even though I'm sure most posting here are very well intentioned. Besides, you have defined your question so vaguely.

[DeanCollins]

Just my thoughts.

Enough said :doh:
Tell me oh wise one, how many properties do you own? how many of those are paid off? and what's the total value of your real estate portfolio? excluding your primary residence, as that's not technically an income producing investment.

I've never bought any in fairfax country or thru the link (which I already explained was for general information only). Tax deeds are usually on land parcels or depressed properties, that don't have mortgages. Obviously, you're not going to foreclose on a house with a mortgage as the bank is in the number 1 position in terms of getting paid.

[JMS]

Enough said :doh:
Tell me oh wise one, how many properties do you own? how many of those are paid off? and what's the total value of your real estate portfolio? excluding your primary residence, as that's not technically an income producing investment.


Dean, Why so defensive? Do you own tax lien certificates? Where did you find them and how did you get into them?

You haven't given us any first hand testimonial on these investments.




I've never bought any in fairfax country or thru the link (which I already explained was for general information only). Tax deeds are usually on land parcels or depressed properties, that don't have mortgages. Obviously, you're not going to foreclose on a house with a mortgage as the bank is in the number 1 position in terms of getting paid.


Ah, so you're agreeing with me. Dean, That link doesn't give any helpful general information. Other than to say they're very lucrative. And sign up for the seminar.

I've never heard of Tax Lien Certificates. But if the property is owned already free and clear with no morgage, I'd bet the "certificates" are extremely rare if they exist at all.

Hey Dean did you sign up for this "seminar"?

RogueInvestor is owned by this guy.... Michael Williams...
http://www.rogueinvestor.com/images/MW_real_estate_130.jpg

His company is called. Tocqueville Asset Managemnt Co. Here are his SEC papers on his company....
http://www.secinfo.com/ds2zp.2uj.htm


You will note his company isn't an Asset managemnt Co as it's name states. It's a technology company. A technolgy company which in 2003 investored tried to put in recievership. Anyway.. seems like he's doing pretty well lately with a nice group of investors..

[Shilsu]

What is the best and safest investment out their?

Don't know about best, but safest...

Treasuries (though a lot of people will laugh at the statement that Treasuries are the safest investment now), CDs, savings accounts.


Whats the most rewarding but high risk?

Roulette.

I would stay away from penny stocks. Just generally investing in the stock market has risk, but chances are that if you have a properly diversified portfolio, you will come out on top, more than you would with the safer investments listed above.

What's the most rewarding, non-financially and financially? Starting your own business or buying an already existing one, and making it successful. Not very easy, though.


Also has anyone here used prosper.com? i would like to hear your thoughts on it.

~thanks


Here's a thread from FatWallet Finance with people's experiences with Prosper.

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/654540/?start=0

[DeanCollins]

JMS,

yes I have. If they're not available in fairfax county try some other county west or south or perhap WV. I have a business partner in NC that is the largest individual land owner (1000's of acres) in a county in TN just across the the state line. He acquired a great deal of it thru tax deeds, because people weren't paying their taxes on land. A lot of them were absentee land owners. Some inherited the land, many had moved and did not provide the Tax collectors office with a proper mailing address, so their old one was considered "proper service" for legal notices even though the mail was returned. Depending on which state you're in, after several years of paying the taxes, you can get take the property through a quit claim deed.
Go do your homework before calling bs on something you have no knowledge of.

[Ellis]

What is the best and safest investment out their? Whats the most rewarding but high risk?

Also has anyone here used prosper.com? i would like to hear your thoughts on it.

~thanks

a friend of mine who works in Wachovia Securities told me this morning to research a stock called ACAS. It's the US side of a European private equity firm.

Also... check out WB on the market. It yields over 9% quarterly. And Bank of America is yielding 6.5%.

[DeanCollins]

JMS, here's a link to the Orange co. tax collectors office (orlando) for information on purchasing tax deeds, you're welcome :silly:

http://www.occompt.com/taxdeeds.html

[techboy]

This question is far too vague.

How much are we talking about?

What do you plan to use this money for, and when will you need it? 5 years? 20 years? Leave it to heirs?

And then, caveat emptor. Especially on advice you get on a football message board.

[techboy]

a friend of mine who works in Wachovia Securities told me this morning to research a stock called ACAS. It's the US side of a European private equity firm.

Also... check out WB on the market. It yields over 9% quarterly. And Bank of America is yielding 6.5%.

There's a reason those stocks have such high yields. The market compensates investors for the risks they take. Make sure you understand the risk.

Personally, I would never buy an individual stock. I'd rather buy a basket of stocks, and diversify away specific company risk as much as possible. BOA could go under tomorrow, but if the S&P goes to 0, I'll have bigger problems than my investment portfolio to worry about.

[jrt212]

"if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is..."

[JMS]

JMS, here's a link to the Orange co. tax collectors office (orlando) for information on purchasing tax deeds, you're welcome :silly:

http://www.occompt.com/taxdeeds.html





TAX DEED SALE


A Tax Deed Sale is the auction and sale of real property by the

county, when an owner has failed to pay overdue property taxes.


THE PROCESS


When a property owner fails to pay the annual property taxes,

the Tax Collector sells a Tax Certificate at a public auction. The

certificate is good for seven years. The person who purchases

this tax certificate pays the overdue property taxes to the

county, and is guaranteed an interest rate on their principal (the

taxes). If the owner of the property has not redeemed (paid off)

the taxes (plus interest) within two years, the holder of the Tax

Certificate may request that the property be sold at a Tax Deed

Sale.


It does sound interesting... I'll look into it... any idea on how much investment capital this takes?

[DeanCollins]

[/size]

It does sound interesting... I'll look into it... any idea on how much investment capital this takes?[/left]
[/b][/size][/font]

That website didn't produce lists of current tax deed auctions. You need to contact the property appraisers office (or clerk of the court whoever handles it) and ask for the list. You might have to go there and get it. Then you bid on the tax debt owed. The property can't get sold without you getting paid. And usually the owners will pay it once it goes past two years and they get notices that their **** going to get sold. The reason that this isn't as popular as you'd think, is that it's not a sexy as buying shares of google through your broker or online. There is some work involved. I'm down at the city hall pulling building permits anyway so I've got time to kill while I'm there. Good luck :cheers:

[techboy]

Wachovia 1Q Loss, to Raise $7B Capital (http://www.extremeskins.com/forums/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=5071316)


Wachovia will slash its dividend and raise $7 billion in a share sale after reporting a surprising first-quarter loss Monday of $350 million before preferred dividends.

Excluding merger-related expenses, the Charlotte-based bank lost 14 cents a share. It earned $2.3 billion, or $1.20 a share, in the year-earlier period.

The results, tainted by exposure to credit markets, were worse than analysts had expected. According to Thomson Financial, Wall Street analysts had expected Wachovia to earn 40 cents per share.

Wachovia said cutting its quarterly dividend to 37.5 cents will save $2 billion of capital annually "to build capital ratios and provide more operational flexibility."