Real estate truth can be difficult to find amidst all the fiction. In his fantastic book, "The Signal and the Noise", author Nate Silver so accurately points out that in this information age, the large and growing amount of inaccurate advice (noise) can drowned out the truth (signal). At local REIA club meetings and in online forums, real estate truth is being smothered by the loud noise of bad advice. And perhaps the most dangerous part about it, is that the fiction is coming from very … [Read more...]
Magic Real Estate Investing Formula
January 18, 2013 By 8 Comments
Would you like a magic real estate investing formula that will guarantee your success? For the past decade, I have been pondering why some real estate investors become wildly successful and while others fail miserably. Does it have to do with age, ethnicity, background or financial position? Is it due to location or market conditions? Or is it about personality and previous experience in business or investing? Since I share in the profits of my student's deals, a portion of my overall personal … [Read more...]
Nine Things Successful Business Owners Do Differently
December 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Nine Things Successful Business Owners Do Differently Whether building a $100 million dollar tech company, shopping for a killer first investment property, or selling Mary Kay out of the back of a pink car – successful business owners don’t mess around. In fact, I think it’s safe to say that, if forced to start over from scratch, the majority of successful business owners would be able to find great success again. What is it that sets successful people apart from wannabes? Why do some … [Read more...]
Why Invest In Real Estate?
December 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Why Invest In Real Estate? “It’s tangible, it’s solid, it’s beautiful. It’s artistic, from my standpoint, and I just love real estate.” -Donald Trump Let me ask you a very simple, yet profound question: Why invest in real estate? Understanding the answer or answers to this question will help you along your investment career. The following are a few common answers I have received when I ask the question: Why People Invest in Real Estate Freedom: Frankly, this is why I … [Read more...]
How to Make a Million Dollars from Real Estate: A Step By Step Path
December 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment
How to Make a Million Dollars from Real Estate: A Step By Step Path The guy who invented the pet rock made $1,000,000.00. So did the guy who sold a million pixels on a computer screen for $1.00 each. Don’t forget about the guy who invented googles for dogs and made $1,000,000. There are a lot of ways to make $1,000,000.00 but unless you happen to get really, really lucky – you aren’t going to invent the next new thing. Instead, most individuals turn to three different means of … [Read more...]
Best Real Estate Blog Contest
November 26, 2012 By 1 Comment
The results are in on the best real estate blog on the internet contest. This blog was voted in the top 2 of all blogs online! It was a week long vote and real estate blog readers from around the globe cast their ballots. The race was very, very close. The incumbent took # 1. Now I know how Romney feels. Seriously though, with the thousands of real estate blogs out there, it is an honor to have the general real estate public vote this blog as among the top 2 on the internet. I love the subject … [Read more...]
Real Estate Productivity Booster
October 23, 2012 By 2 Comments
Is your real estate productivity lacking? Would you like to be more productive? After all, the most successful real estate investors in the world have the same amount of time in a day as you do. It's true. You're about to discover a very simple yet extremely powerful way to greatly increase your real estate productivity. Plus, this technique can relieve stress, reduce headaches and help you achieve your goals faster and easier. What is this real estate productivity booster? Write … [Read more...]
Boost Your Productivity in Real Estate With These iPhone Applications
October 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Boost Your Productivity in Real Estate With These iPhone Applications Being accessible 24/7 may be aggravating at times, but the evolution of the cell phone into a million-use device has created a lot of productive applications. As an iPhone user I find myself constantly searching for another app to simplify the way I conduct business and my life altogether. I came up with a list of mostly free apps that I use daily to help my real estate business and while none are specifically geared … [Read more...]
Non-Conforming Uses: A Primer for Real Estate Investors
October 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Non-Conforming Uses: A Primer for Real Estate Investors In my previous primer on zoning, I explained how zoning creates a type of rigidity where a single zoning classification is often overlaid on a variety of land uses. This rigidity creates something called the non-conforming use. A non-conforming use is a fancy legal term that simply means the existing land use somehow does not fit in with the zoning ordinance. The non-conformity may be the use of the property, such as a commercial … [Read more...]
How to Reduce Your Property Tax Assessment
October 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment
How to Reduce Your Property Tax Assessment The downturn in the real estate market has created a potentially ideal situation for anyone who holds real estate. This is because you have a good chance of reducing your property tax assessment and thus your property tax burden by appealing the value. I have saved thousands of dollars by appealing my property tax values, and you can as well.Your property taxes are based on the “fair market value.” The local tax assessor is supposed to … [Read more...]
History Doesn’t Repeat Itself but it Does Frequently Rhyme
October 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment
History Doesn’t Repeat Itself but it Does Frequently Rhyme To say we are in or entering a time of uncertainty is an understatement of massive proportions. However, you can either let the uncertainty cause paralysis or you can take action by reviewing historical times of great upheaval and apply the lessons learned.While I believe in staying current on all of the hot topics, I find it a lot more valuable to review history to see how things worked out in the past. Most importantly, I try … [Read more...]
The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Real Estate Financing
October 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Real Estate Financing Does this sound familiar to you?You’ve found the perfect house. It meets all your criteria, in a terrific location, and makes your heart skip a beat just thinking of it. So you whip out your checkbook and write the check for the full purchase price, remembering of course to record the purchase in your check register.Of course not.Financing real estate is not usually as simple as that. Finding the funds to buy a piece of real estate is … [Read more...]
8 Traits of Successful Real Estate Investors
October 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment
8 Traits of Successful Real Estate Investors Take a few minutes to think about the successful people around you, not only financially, but also those who embody personal success. Consider the characteristics each of them possess and how these characteristics have fueled their achievements in their given field. Over the past several years I have come in contact with quite a few real estate investors, both directly and indirectly, and have recognized many I consider to be very successful. These … [Read more...]
Reality TV Real Estate Flipping: How ‘Real’ is It?
October 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Reality TV Real Estate Flipping: How ‘Real’ is It? Hi. My name is Clay and I’m a reality TV addict.Survivor, Shark Tank, The Amazing Race, Big Brother, and the list goes on…At the top of my list though are the reality shows about real estate, in particular, flipping. I am a sucker for them, and if I’m honest, they were a big reason why I decided to get into real estate in the first place. I mean don’t you see the massive amounts of profits real estate investors make in 30 – 60 … [Read more...]
Mortgage Loan Forgiveness is Here!
October 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Mortgage loan forgiveness is for real and it is here. How? Back in the spring of 2012, federal banking regulators settled with 14 major mortgage servicers over alleged foreclosure abuses to the tune of $25 Billion. Among the 14, included industry leaders such as Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citibank and Wells Fargo. Now, homeowners are opening letters from these companies and nearly fainting when they read the substance of the letter which describes complete mortgage loan forgiveness. Here's … [Read more...]
There Are No Short Cuts In The Real Estate Investing Industry
October 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment
As a real estate entrepreneur, this is a story that I feel needs to be shared. It hits very close to home and includes some of my early missteps in building our brand. Ultimately, it is about sharing with the rest of the real estate world that in business, as in life, there are no short cuts. If we allow ourselves to get seduced by the lure of short cuts and the peddlers of promises like “I can help you” for a fee, well, I‘ll share the information and let you see how that ends.What … [Read more...]
Ground Leases 101: A Financing Alternative
October 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Ground Leases 101: A Financing Alternative Despite the relative return of liquidity in the credit markets, many real estate owners and developers are still facing an uphill battle to obtain sufficient funding for their projects. One way to move that project from the drawing board to the construction site is eliminate the high property acquisition costs and turn to ground leasing as an alternative. Before you get started, here are a few issues to consider before signing the lease.Don’t Be … [Read more...]
Real Estate and “The Bathtub Recovery”
October 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Real Estate and “The Bathtub Recovery” In last week’s article I talked about the importance of a ten year plan for real estate investing. In addition, I highlighted how important it is to use changes in market cycles to your advantage and the importance of adjusting your business model to suit the current and changing market cycle. Lastly, I called the reader’s attention to the fact that the market may be turning in a significant way. An outcome of the article was a reader’s … [Read more...]
Private Lending: Pros and Cons
October 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Private Lending: Pros and Cons One of my investors called me up today and told me he had decided he was ready to get into the lending business. He had already purchased a number of properties over the last year or so and was ready to diversify his real estate investing strategy. Part of his decision making process had to do with the tedious financing process he had experienced when buying a property a few months prior, but I think most of the decision had to do with a desire to branch out … [Read more...]
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Hedge Funds and Their Impact on Mom-and-Pop Investors
Hedge Funds and Their Impact on Mom-and-Pop Investors Back in May I wrote an article titled “Smart Money Woke Up – Now What.” The basic theme was that my market changed almost overnight when the well capitalized hedge funds started actively buying. In the article I highlighted how I was going to outsmart them by being nimble and learning where they weren’t playing in my market.In this article I am going to highlight my thoughts on the good, the bad and the ugly of Hedge Funds’ … [Read more...]