Its been a while since my last post. I always feel like when I haven’t posted in a while, the blog becomes a confessional of sorts. Fact is, I LOVE WRITING THIS BLOG, but I just don’t make the time all the time to do it. My slacker-ness is about to change. You’ll see. This little blog of mine is about to blow up! So, rather than me getting into why I haven’t written in a while – let’s just move forward.
Now I’ve got a HUGE request for you.
I’ve achieved a lot. There are still more hills for me to climb, but I’ve successfully scaled many mountains and I sincerely want to help you do the same. I want to hear form you. Tell me (in a comment below):
1. What’s holding you back? Is it your head, a lack of deals, a lack of money, a lack of knowledge. Get honest and tell me the truth!
2. Tell me what your current niche is. Are you a short saler, wholesaler, rehabber, landlord, lease option’er…..WHAT do you do best?
3. Tell me what your average deal NET’s you. What is your average NET profit. Don’t be shy.
Just answer the questions above, and over the next few months I’ll write blog posts that speak directly to your replies. I wanna see my readers kick some serious ass in 2012. The new year is coming. I can help you. I know you can CRUSH IT – but you first have to comment below.
Where the hell are the deals?
Is it me, or has there been a real dearth (look it up, people) of deals lately? Let’s start a discussion. My take, the banks and the Gov are really holding back right now, and for the everlasting life in me, I can not figure out why they would do so.
Why do you think?
I know there are still deals out there, but they’re not falling out of the trees like ripe fruit (you know, the crappy ripe that us investors like so much) like they were just a few months ago.
Here’s a 2-minute video with my take on the current Skitch-uation…
BTW – if you want to know how I’m still finding all the deals I need. If you want to know why the REO agents absolutely love my offers – and how I just keep knocken’ ‘em down, you’ve got to come out to our INFO JAM “State of the Market” event on July 29th and 30th. Plus, you’ll hear more about my TV show and how you can be a part of it.
Webinars – they seem to be all the rage, huh? I’ve never done one, but I’m pretty psyched for this one tomorrow night!
Are thinking about getting into RE investing, or perhaps you’re flipping houses now and you feel like you could be doing so much better. Maybe you think the market is dead and you can’t make money flipping. Maybe, you’re scared – or you have no money.
My dear friend – with all due respect – its time to get off your ass, put down the remote to the TV, and invest in you. This webinar is gonna blow your mind. If the ONLY question answered is “Can I make a TON OF MONEY in this current market,” – wouldn’t that be worth the time you spent on the webinar? If I can prove that to you – shouldn’t you be on this call?
Register now! Click anywhere on the image below, and you’ll be taken to the sign-up page.
[REGISTER HERE. TUESDAY JULY 5TH, 2011 @ 8pm Eastern.]
Seriously, if you’re getting all your news from the nightly news, this Webinar will be an eye-opener for you.
SUCCESS – what is it? If you can’t answer this question with great clarity, trust me, you’ll never get there.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be doing a series of blog posts on Success. I’m fascinated with Success. Success is profoundly personal. Success is like a dialect within a language in that – my personal definition of Success may not only sound vastly different than yours, but perhaps even like a totally different language to others.
Success is personal and very emotional.
But no matter your definition of it, no matter how you slice it – there is a pathway to Success that can be clearly and logically defined. And believe it or not, we all have Success in us. We can all get there. The first step – the VERY first step – is disclosed in the video below. I’m gonna be perfectly honest here… I have not yet reached what I’ve defined as Success for me. And, up until very recently, I doubted my ability to get there.
Until 2010, Success completely completely illusive to me. Then – I unlocked what was holding me back…
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As you all know by now, I’m pretty obsessed with design and layout. I just can not stress the importance of a modern functional layout. Simply put, I believe all my homes sell faster and for more money because I take old houses and make them REALLY shine by giving them modern and open layouts that function exactly the way consumers want houses of today to work.
With bigger kitchens, eat-at bars, master bedrooms with private baths, big closets, family rooms equipped with wiring for media – today’s homebuyer expects these types of amenities even when they are buying houses built 100 years ago.
As I’ve said before, making such vast design changes takes great vision and knowhow. Many of you asked, how I do my drawings? Quite honestly, I don’t do drawings except for my kitchens. In almost every case, kitchens must be professionally designed so that you don’t end up with a room that won’t easily accomodate standard cabinet sizes. In all other cases, my homes come to life from my vision matched with the skill of my contractors.
Last night I came across an online and totally free tool to help you with design and layout. And, even better – you don’t have to be a rocket scientist (is any one actually a rocket scientist anymore) to use it. This thing is easy-peasey.
Its called AutoDesk HomeStyler and again, its free! The link will take you to the Google Chrome store. If you are not using Google Chrome to may be able to go directly to the AutoDesk site to find the tool. I simply added it as an App to Google Chrome and it runs perfectly in my Chrome browser.
Hope you have fun with it! Let me know you thoughts.
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I used to ask the following question a lot while talking with newbie investors. Before I get to the question however, you should know that I often asked it during a time in which when money seemed to flow like crap through a goose to any investor who could simply fog a mirror.
The Question: If I could give you a 100% iron-clad guarantee that I will personally find you five deals next year that will make you $40,000 each – would you quit your job today?
Inevitably, the newbies would all answer yes. So what does that tell us? The #1 fear of investors a few years ago was DEALS. They all worried; “Can I find enough deals to satisfy my income goals?” And admittedly, I used to also worry about the same thing. Listen up ’cause I’m only gonna say this once! GREAT DEALS ARE FALLING FROM THE SKY! They are everywhere! I can not keep up with all the CRAZY good deals happening all around me. So what’s the bottle-neck in today’s market?
RE INVESTING TIP: Successful investing comes down to 4 CRITICAL variables:
- Education – Do you know enough to truly capitalize on an opportunity
- Deals – Are they out there? Do you know how to find them? Are there enough deals to sustain you?
- Money – Do you have money to take down the deals? Is it easy to obtain? What will it cost you?
- Contracting – Ugh – need I say more?
Listen up again - Education, Deals, and Contracting…that’s the EASY part!!! Any one can master those three critical variables, but in this market if you don’t have money – YOU ARE OUT OF THE GAME, period! There are very few banks who will lend money on a investment deal – and if they do, they are gonna want a LOT of your skin in the game. And, if you can’t prove that you have experience – forget it! You won’t even get a foot in the door of the few banks that ARE lending
That’s the cold facts, people. The cold hard truth of today’s market. I am on a quest for money and I want you to come me.
CHECK OUT THE BRIEF VIDEO BELOW FOR INFO ON MY NEW QUEST!!! AND BE SURE TO COMMENT!
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Have you ever wondered what it would be like to get real life practical information from the very best real estate investors in the country. What if you could tap into the collective genius of the VERY BEST short sale tactician, the best whoesaler, rehabber, money guy, etc… How could something like that change your business? What if you could ask them, (pretty much at any given moment), any of the questions that are stopping you from achieving the kind of success you dream of?
I’m gonna drop a little simple truth on ya here. The three greatest barriers to real estate success are:
1. Knowing how to find an endless stream of deals
2. Knowing how to FUND an endless stream of deals
3. Knowing how to turn every one of those deals into cash
If you have all three of those little dilemmas covered, you’re gold. Move on. If not, read on.
I’m begging you, watch this video then TAKE ACTION.
CLICK HERE after watching the video
Want to change your life like I did? You best be clicking this LINK RIGHT HERE
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I received an email a week or so from Brett Neely; a reporter with National Public Radio (NPR). That was pretty astonishing given the fact that my political views align more with Rush Limbaugh than with most every reporter on NPR. Brett said he was doing a story on the housing market and while researching, he came across my little blog here on Al Gore’s world wide web.
After a few minutes of chat, Brett asked if he could come hang with me for a few hours. Anyone who knows me, also knows that regardless of your political views, I “LOVES” to show off my pretty houses. I of course obliged Mr. Neely. The result of our time toegther was a news report filed for radio and for NPR’s blog. Pretty cool, stuff. I’m all tingly just thinking about it.
As a newbie (several years ago) I always dreamed of being featured in a story by the Baltimore Sun. Well, I haven’t reached that goal yet, but this is pretty close.
For those of you interested in hearing what some Americans think of us RE investors, you MUST go immediately to the blog link below and read some of the reader comments. I was fascinated to see all the venom aimed at little ole’ me. Heck, I’m just out there everyday trying to make a better life for my wife and for my kids – and the readers of NPR’s blog think I’m some fat cat who lights my cigars with hundred dollar bills, all while stepping on the necks of the tired masses.
You gotta read this: NPR Blog Link
The link to the audio is here
The Homebuyer Tax Credit is over and with it – so it seems went the buyers. As you know, purchase contracts had to be ratified by April 30th, 2010. I just wanna talk real quick about the run up to April 30th, then the time just following April 30th – and then today. Also, I really want to get all of your feelings on what’s happening in your town.
In Maryland we got crushed in February with two huge and historic snow storms – VERY uncommon for Maryland. Following the blizzards we had record cold, so no melt and NO buyers trying to get out there in all that crap to look at houses. They turned out to be the perfect storms. The pent-up demand coupled with the looming end of the tax credit actually created a buying frenzy, the likes of which we have not seen since the mid-2000′s. We sold 5 houses in less than a week or two on market – and we had multiple offers above list. Thank you Lord, and thank you US Gov for giving us the incredible artificial market.
Following the April 30th deadline things slowed considerably, but after a couple weeks it appeared buyers came to their senses. They figured they missed the deadline, but still could take advantage of historically low rates. At just over 7% unemployment, we’ve not been affected too much by the downturn in the 
economy in my town, but I think we’re every bit affected as anywhere else in the country by a tremendous lack of consumer confidence. That said, the phones were ringing for showings and following the end of the credit, we got a couple deals under contract in May.
Fast forward to the last 14 days. Much like the entire east coast, we’re under the jackboot of the “dog days of summer.” Its HOT! Real HOT! And folks, I’m here to tell ya; you can do some sweating in Baltimore when its 98 degrees coupled with 90% humidity. Talk about some “Schweddy Balls.” The result: The phones are dead! I mean, its like the calls just stopped as of about 6 days ago.
What’s going on in your town? I want to hear from you, especially if you’re on the east coast, or if you’re trying to sell houses right now. Chime in.
I received more comments on my last post than any previous post. Looks like I struck a cord, huh? I could (and should) write a book on how to not get taken by contractors, but before I do, I’ll just share all my info here. Just call me, Mr. Good Karma! So this will be the kick off post; Part One of a series of posts on How To Sucessfully Work With Contractors so that you can (one day) be a Professional FullTime-Rehabber like your old pal; Craig Fuhr.
Let’s begin our journey with what NOT to do.
As an example, let’s say you’ve just purchased a crappy house for $68,000. Because you’re smart, you did your homework and have a pretty good idea that the rehab should cost about $65,000. Comps in the area suggest a back end (ARV) of $215,000. Sounds like a sweet deal, huh? <Shyly> Yeah, its one I just did.
You close on the purchase, and like every rehabber, you’re just busting at the seams to see some dust fly. So you set up a meeting with a contractor. If you’ve been doing this as long as I have, you’ll want to to swing some hammers THAT day! Time is money, right? Hold on there, Speed Racer. First thing you need to do is, get out a fresh pad of legal paper and a shiny new pencil. As you walk through your crappy house, understand (I mean, really internalize) that EVERY rehab no matter how big or small has a rhythm and rhyme. It has a flow. And, you can never go against the flow. Like the Ten Commandments hewn into stone, so is the precise logical workflow of a rehab. Do ya’ hear me? Don’t mess with the flow! You wouldn’t start drywalling before the plumbing was done, right? So, go through each logical step of the flow – and associate each step with a precise cost.
Something like this: demo will cost $7000.00, framing will cost $5500.00, roof $4500, mechanicals $21,000.00, doors & trim; $2500.00, windows… You get the picture, right?
If you follow my directions, at the end of this process, you will have a very basic Scope of Work (SOW). Now, let’s say you’ve decided to let a General Contractor handle the whole process for you, and miraculously, he agrees that you were right – the cost of the rehab will be $65,000.00. The first thing he’ll want is money. Like most greedy penniless bastards, he’ll have the balls to demand 1/3 of that $65,000.00 up front before the first hammer is swung. Get out your calculator. Mine says, “Are You CRAZY? OUCH! Don’t do it! That’s $21,400.00!”
I have a really fancy calculator.
First things first; how about getting something in writing? I’ve never been a fan of a written contract with contractors mainly because I know you can’t take
blood from a stone. 99% of these guys have no money, so even if a judge finds them in breach of even the best contract – how do you suppose he’ll make the contractor pay you if the contractor has no money! What I do do (I said, “do do”) is make the basic Scope of Work (from above) into a much more detailed document. This post is not about writing a detailed SOW, so I won’t get into all the gory details here – but know this – once the formal SOW is developed, the contractor then signs it, and it becomes the work blueprint and best contract you’ll ever have.
So you have a signed SOW, and there he is; Mr CON-tractor standing there with his hand out waiting for a super-fat $21,400.00 check. You’re ready right? You’ve got your SOW and you’re swollen checkbook is burning a hole in your pocket. Wait! Hole on! You’re still not ready to go! You can not give him a dime yet. Doing so would be a GRAVE error and would be going against the natural work flow!
Stay tuned. I’m just gettin’ started here. I’ll tell ya more in my next post!
I want to hear what you have to say about Part 1 of How to Successfully Work With Contractors.
