In order to overcome the low conversion and complex post-treatment, four different polymerization procedures were adopted to prepare the magnetic polymer latexes. The results clearly show that the strategy using magnetic emulsion template-dosage is the most effective and feasible. Based on the optimized procedure, various factors including the type of initiators such as oil soluble initiator, water soluble initiator, redox initiator system, crosslinking agent, functional monomers etc. were systematically studied. Magnetic polymer latex with high monomer conversion of 83% and high magnet content of 31.8% was successfully obtained. Besides, core-shell structured magnetic polymer latex with good film forming property was also prepared, which is promising for potential applications such as magnetic coatings and modification of cementitious materials with controlled polymer location. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.