Addicted to Real Estate – Why I Can’t Stop and Why You Should Start

The All-Money-Down Technique

So how does the all-money-down technique work by purchasing a home with cash? First of all, let me repeat that I really didn’t have any cash, but I had a significant amount of equity from Terry’s home and several homes that I owned put together to give me a substantial cash down payment. Banks and mortgage companies alike will accept money from a home-equity line of credit as cash to purchase a home. At least they did in 1997 under the financial guidelines of the day. What you must remember about mortgages and lending is that the guidelines change constantly, so this technique I used in 1997 may or may not be able to be used in the future. Whether it is or isn’t able to be used again doesn’t really matter to me as I believe that there will always be a way to buy real estate with limited money down sooner or later. There will always be a technique to acquire real estate but exactly how that will be done in the future I’m not completely sure.

I began purchasing homes in the Mayfair section of Philadelphia with the prices in the $30,000 to $40,000 per home price range. I would purchase a home with three bedrooms and one bathroom on the second floor with a kitchen, dining room, and living room on the first floor and a basement. What we call a row home in Philadelphia would consist of a porch out front and a backyard the width of the home. Most row homes in Philadelphia are less than twenty-two feet wide. For those of you who are not from Philadelphia and can’t picture what a Philadelphia row home looks like, I suggest you watch the movie Rocky. Twenty-two homes on each side of every block will really test your ability to be a neighbor. Things that will usually cause an argument with your Philadelphia neighbors often stem from parking, noise your children make, where you leave your trash cans, parties, and the appearance of your home.

In 1998 my girlfriend and I moved in together and to the suburbs of Philadelphia called Warminster. After living on a street in Tacony, much like Rocky did, I really looked forward to having space between my home and my next-door neighbor. I told Terry not to even think about talking with the people who lived next door to us. I told her if one of them comes over with a fruitcake I am going to take it and punt it like a football right into their backyard. I believe I was suffering from Philadelphia row home syndrome. My new neighbors in Warminster turned out to be wonderful people, but it took me eighteen months before I was willing to learn that.

So you just bought your row home for $35,000 in Mayfair, and after $2000 in closing costs and $5000 in repair costs, you find yourself a good tenant who wants to rent the home. After renting the home with a positive cash flow of $200 a month, you now have an outstanding debt of $42,000 on your home equity line of credit that will have to be paid off. When purchasing the home, I did not get a mortgage as I just purchased a home for cash as it is said in the business. All monies I spent on this house were spent from the home-equity line of credit.

The move now is to pay off your home-equity line of credit so you can go do it again. We now go to a bank with your fixed-up property and tell the mortgage department that you want to do a cash-out refinancing of your real estate investment. It helps to explain that the neighborhood you purchase your property in should have a wider range of pricing as the neighborhood of Mayfair did in the mid-90s. The pricing of homes in Mayfair is quite unusual as you would see a $3000 difference in home values from one block to the next. This was important when doing a cash-out refinancing because it’s pretty easy for the bank to see that I just bought my property for $35,000 regardless of the fact that I did many repairs. I could justify the fact that I’ve spent more money on my home to fix it up, and by putting a tenant in, it was now a profitable piece of real estate from an investment standpoint.

If I was lucky like I was many times over doing this system of purchasing homes in Mayfair and the appraiser would use homes a block or two away and come back with an appraisal of $45,000. Back then there were programs allowing an investor to purchase a home for 10 percent down or left in as equity doing a 90 percent cash out refinance giving me back roughly $40,500. Utilizing this technique allowed me to get back most of the money I put down on the property. I basically paid just $1,500 down for this new home. Why did the mortgage companies and the appraisers keep giving me the numbers I wanted? I assume because they wanted the business. I would only tell the bank I need this to come in at $45,000 or I am just keeping it financed as is. They always seemed to give me what I wanted within reason.

This whole process took three to four months during which time I may have saved a few thousand dollars. Between the money I saved from my job and my investments and cash out refinancing, I had replenished most or all of my funds from my home-equity line of credit that was now almost back to zero to begin the process again. And that is exactly what I intended to do. I used this system to purchase four to six homes a year utilizing the same money to purchase home after home after home over and over again. In reality, the technique is a no-money down or little money down technique. At the time maybe I had $60,000 in available funds to use to buy homes off of my HELOC, so I would buy a home and then replenish the money. It was a terrific technique that was legal, and I could see my dream of being a real estate investor full-time coming to an eventual reality even though I wasn’t there yet.

During the years from 1995 to 2002, the real estate market in Philadelphia made gradual increases of maybe 6 percent as each year went on. I began to track my net worth that was 100 percent equity, meaning I had no other forms of investments to look at when calculating my net worth. Generally speaking, the first five years of my real estate career did not go well because of the bad decisions I made purchasing buildings and the decline in the market. Furthermore, my lack of knowledge and experience in repairs made it a rough. The second five years of my real estate career that I just finished explaining didn’t make much money either. I supported myself primarily through my career as a salesman, but I could definitely see the writing on the wall that down the road real estate was going to be my full-time gig.

Realty Professionals of America

I own an office building that has a real estate company as a tenant called Realty Professionals of America. The company has a terrific plan where a new agent receives 75 percent of the commission and the broker gets only 25 percent. If you don’t know it, this is a pretty good deal, especially for a new real estate agent. The company also offers a 5 percent sponsorship fee to the agent who sponsors them on every deal they do. If you bring an individual who is a realtor in to the company that you have sponsored, the broker will pay you a 5 percent sponsorship out of the broker’s end so that the new realtor you sponsored can still earn 75 percent commissions. In addition to the above, Realty Professionals of America offers to increase the realtor’s commission by 5 percent after achieving cumulative commission benchmarks, up to a maximum of 90 percent. Once a commission benchmark is reached, an agent’s commission rate is only decreased if commissions in the following year do not reach a lower baseline amount. I currently keep 85 percent of all my deals’ commissions; plus I receive sponsorship checks of 5 percent from the commissions that the agents I sponsored earn. If you’d like to learn more about being sponsored into Realty Professionals of America’s wonderful plan, please call me directly at 267-988-2000.

Getting My Real Estate License

One of the things that I did in the summer of 2005 after leaving my full-time job was to make plans to get my real estate license. Getting my real estate license was something I always wanted to do but never seemed to have the time to do it. I’m sure you’ve heard that excuse a thousand times. People always say that they’re going to do something soon as they find the time to do it, but they never seem to find the time, do they? I try not to let myself make excuses for anything. So I’ve made up my mind before I ever left my full-time job that one of the first things I would do was to get my real estate license. I enrolled in a school called the American Real Estate Institute for a two-week full-time program to obtain my license to sell real estate in the state of Pennsylvania. Two terrific guys with a world of experience taught the class, and I enjoyed the time I spent there. Immediately after completing the course at the American Real Estate Institute, I booked the next available day offered by the state to take the state exam. My teachers’ advice to take the exam immediately after the class turned out to be an excellent suggestion. I passed the exam with flying colors and have used my license many times since to buy real estate and reduce the expenses. If you are going to be a full-time real estate investor or a commercial real estate investor, then you almost have to get a license. While I know a few people who don’t believe this, I’m convinced it’s the only way.

I worked on one deal at $3 million where the commission to the buyer’s real estate agent was $75,000. By the time my broker took a share, I walked with $63,000 commission on that deal alone. With the average cost per year of being a realtor running about $1200 per year, this one deal alone would’ve paid for my real estate license for fifty-three years. Not to mention all the other fringe benefits like having access to the multiple listing service offered too many realtors in this country. While there are other ways to get access to the multiple listing services or another program similar to it, a real estate license is a great way to go.

Some of the negatives I hear over and over again about having your real estate license is the fact that you have to disclose that you are realtor when buying a home if you’re representing yourself. Maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t see this as a negative at all. If you’re skilled in the art of negotiation, it’s just another hurdle that you have to deal with. I suppose you could end up in a lawsuit where a court of law could assume because you are realtor you should know all these things. I don’t spend my life worrying about the million ways I can be sued any more than I worry about getting hit by a car every time I cross the street.

The Addict
From his first investment property over 20 years ago to his relentless search for the next great deal every day, Falcone is a non-stop real estate investment machine!

Get Addicted
Sometimes addiction is a very good thing. In this book Phil Falcone, the ultimate real estate addict, will show you how to achieve amazing success as a real estate investor:

• Delve into the details of actual deals he negotiated and learn why his methods were so effective
• Discover why his residential to commercial real estate strategy will create ultimate wealth
• Learn how he used apparent liabilities (OCD, insomnia, and workaholic behavior) to help him achieve his goals
• Explore why he can’t stop investing in real estate, and how you can start controlling your own financial destiny through real estate

Frank, funny and informative, Addicted to Real Estate will inspire any investor to ac

The Olympics and Real Estate Investing

I love the Olympics. There is something about watching professionals who have prepared their mind, body and heart to compete against the world for the greatest sport medal of all time – the gold medal. I can only imagine what it would be like to be on that stage to perform for the world. I was touched when Alexandre Biodeau won the first ever gold Medal for Canada on their home soil.

Don’t get me wrong I am all American and was happy that USA’s Bryon Wilson did not get knocked out of his Bronze Medal seat when the last contender took his place at the top of the run. Every time I watch the Moguls I remember my great friend Burke Alder that was a contender for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in his home town of Salt Lake City. He was on the US Ski team and was going to be a contender for an Olympic spot. Several months before the Olympics in nationals he blew out his knee and his Olympic hopes where taken over night.

As I watched these Amazing Mogul Freestyle Athletes, I also thought about real estate investing and free style skiing. What can we learn from Freestyle Skiers that may help us as real estate investors? If you think I am being too clichéd or fake you don’t know me very well. I learn from everything and I mean everything. I also compare anything of value to my life and in doing this I found some very cool parallels of Mogul Free Style Skiing and Real Estate Investing. I look forward to sharing these with you. They include the following:

1. Be Prepared

2. Point Your Ski Tips Down

3. Find Your Line

4. Choose Your Trick Wisely

5. Time Counts

6. Jump To Last Impression

7. Last Mogul Field

8. Celebrate

1. Be prepared. You can’t stand at the top of the Olympic Mogul Ski Run without having some serious preparation. The number one problem we see with real estate investors is they have no idea what a property is worth. Over 75% of people we talk to are off on their value of what they think the property is worth and what we KNOW the property is worth. Don’t take the word of one person on what the property will sell for especially if the person is the seller or getting paid as a part of the transition, even if they are representing you. It is interesting when we have our independent evaluators look at a property and determine a value. When we go back to the borrower and let them know what the values came in at, so many borrowers want to “fight the value”. You have to be kidding me. If two independent evaluators go to a property with no judgment and get paid to determine what the home will sale for, that is pretty unbiased. Let me give you an example. Last week we had two evaluations that came in. One was at $145,000 and the other was at $148,000. So the two evaluators that live in the area, that have no motivation other than getting paid to give a value on the property, that do not even know each other, come within $3,000 of each other on the price. We then told the borrower and the borrower thought they were wrong and wanted to challenge the value. Hello, Wake Up! We just saved you from a serious train wreck. We don’t turn down deals because of value we just require the borrower brings in the difference between what we can lend on the property and what they are buying the home for. But don’t get so emotional on a deal that you can’t see reality.

2. Point your ski tips down. Continuing on our Olympics of Real Estate Investing, Judges look for you to always have your ski tips pointed down. Why? It is less about the form as it is showing the quality of the technique and also the courage to take on controlled risks. This creates a lot of speed that has to be controlled. We watched several of the U.S. Free Style contenders go out of control and not get a score. Don’t let the speed increase more than you can handle.

As a real estate investor this means not to take on more than you are able to handle. I am really, really good at homes under $150,000 in a certain area of town… really good. Any time I go out of that area I get an education that I don’t want. When I say I get an education I mean it costs me time and money; kind of like going to college. I would rather make money then go back to college. I did not particularly like hard seats and boring professors.

Knowing how to point your real estate ski tips in the right direction will make you successful as a real estate investor. Keeping your turns under control and not getting out of the speed you are able to handle. There is such an allure for higher priced homes. Many investors think that homes in the million dollar range have so much profit potential. What many investors don’t realize is that with great profit comes great risk. The higher the price the higher the risk, if you think about it, what does a 1.2 million dollar home have that a 1 million dollar home does not? The answer is simple, it is up to interpretation. Now let’s take the same example. What is the difference between a $150,000 home and an $180,000 home? That answer is A LOT. Typically a different neighborhood, different quality of work, size, garage and many, many other things!

It is also important to think about how many buyers are in that price range. The higher the price range the fewer the buyers pool there is. Meaning if there are 10 potential buyers for a million dollar home there is 100 potential buyers for the $150,000 home. This drastically increases your speed and price of getting your home sold.

Keep Your Ski Tips Down!

3. Find your line! When a Mogul contender heads down the course they constantly have to choose a line to follow. This is impacted by visual conditions sun, wind, snow, lighting at nights. With each bump they have to be looking forward to what the next line is.

We find so many real estate investors that don’t have a plan before they get started with the property. They find a property that may even be a good deal but they don’t find their line. We have even seen real estate investors that have found a good deal that they really could have made profit with but they end up breaking even or even losing money. Why you ask? Because they never found their line.

When you are doing a rehab and retail before you are done with your due diligence, or even before you make an offer on the property you need to know A. Exactly what work you are going to do to the property B. Exactly how much the work is going to cost C. Who is going to be doing the work D. How long it will take to get the work done to the property.

No Olympic Mogul ski is going to Guess on their line. They are going to have a defined line for the first few turns before they even leave the gate. Don’t guess on repair costs, even if you have experience with repairs get the guys out that are going to be doing the work. Get firm prices from everyone that will be involved. I like to do this once I get a property under contract. We typically ask for a 48 hour time to inspect the property. During this time we set a meeting for every person that will be doing work on the property to meet at the same time. So the Flooring guy, the cabinet guy, the painter, the handyman, electrician or plumber if needed all show up at the house and look at everything and give us a price on the spot. This cuts down on back and forth of conversations and makes everything efficient. The bird dogger we buy properties from likes this as well because they know we don’t drag out the situation forever, they know that in 24 hours or 48 at most my earnest money goes hard.

Find your line by knowing what your cost will be before you leave the gate.

4. Choose your trick wisely. Air only counts for 25% of your score. So if you do too big of a trick and don’t land it then you lose. It is really that simple, and really that harsh. However if you don’t do a decent trick you can lose it as well. Choosing the right trick based upon your situation, the conditions, what the other competitors are doing is essential to being a successful Mogul Free Style Skier.

We see too many real estate investors fixing up homes as if they want to live in the home. Meaning they make changes to the home as if they are the owner. Making things too personalized, doing dark accent walls that some people may like and others may hate. Or doing cabinet and counter top choices that some people will love and others will hate.

You need to pick your tricks wisely. When completing a rehab and retail we frequently see too many people doing too much to the property. When you put a property under contract go look at some of the homes that are currently on the market on the same street. With those homes you will know if Granite counter tops are standard in the area or if you can just use laminate. You will know if you have to get upgraded appliances or if lower end appliances or even used appliances will work and many, many more. I recommend that you do what is standard in the area and then I like to throw in a little something extra. For example if every home in the area has vinyl floors I like to do tile in the kitchen, or maybe do nicer carpet than everything else in the area. So for each house I recommend that you do something to bring some sizzle than all the other homes.

The Key is to have your home the nicest. I think this is accomplished by having new carpet, new paint, and everything clean and working and then to add a little sizzle, one thing that you do extra to spice up the home. Choose your tricks wisely; if you over do it you lose, if you don’t do enough you lose. Knowing the other homes for sale will tell you what you are competing with. If you know what tricks your competitors are throwing in you will know what type of tricks you need to do to win the Gold!

5. Time counts. Pick up the speed. After the first jump comes, the longest set of mogul’s begin. During this time contenders focus on keeping their knees close together and increasing the speed without losing control. This is a difficult balance of control and lack of control.

When you are in the middle of your rehab you need to pick up the speed. You also need to keep things under control. Time is a Gold medal when it comes to Mogul Free Style skiing just like Time is Money when it comes to a Rehab and Retail Investment. Too many investors act like they have all the time in the world. You should have guys on top of guys in the home working. I can have an entire home completed in 30 days. Our average basic rehab takes 2 weeks. Our more detailed takes 30 days and on some occasions 45 days. Every day costs you money.

We set a completion deadline for all of our repair guys from carpet to paint and everything in-between. I like to give my repair guys a bonus for getting properties done before schedule. So we all agree on the completion deadline. I then look at the cost of my hard money per day. I then give 25% of my per day cost as a bonus if 100% of the property is completed in that time frame. And I mean 100% of my contracts say no leaky faucets, no loose screws, no door handles or cover plates off, 100% complete. In model home ready condition. If they go over the deadline they pay 50% of my per day hard money cost. For example if the per day hard money cost is $100. Then I give them a $25 per day bonus for early completion and a $50 per day penalty for not getting the work done. Why is there a difference? Because we all agreed on what the completion deadline can be. So anything before that is really a gift to the workers. Anything after that is really a cost to you as the investor.

Pick up the speed, time will cost you Gold in your pocket just like the lack of speed can cost a Mogul Freestyle skier a gold medal.

6. Jump to the last impression. The second jump is the last chance for the medal contender to make up for lost time by getting some distance or by throwing down a serious trick for some added points. Having a good knowledge of the race you have ran so far and how well you landed your first trick will help you.

Your Rehab needs to give people a reason to STOP the car. I used to think that outside landscaping did not sell a house. Boy was I wrong. If people don’t like the outside you will never get them in the inside. Now don’t overdue it! Again look around the neighborhood. You only need to be the same or a little better than you neighbor. I make up for this by doing little or nothing in the back yard. If they like the front yard and they like the inside they can do their own work to the back yard. You have to know when to throw down a serious trick and when to just go for the speed. This is a serious judgment call that can not be overlooked.

You don’t have a second chance to make a first impression. As a real estate investor you have to look at homes the way buyers do. Buyers are looking for the best home, for the lowest price in an area they are happy with. Although you may not think that you are in competition with homes in other areas you are wrong. Buyers are thinking am I willing to drive an extra 15 minutes to work if I can have double the size home? Or would we rather be in the city and have a smaller home but no commute. In being successful you need to look at what buyers are looking for in a home. Simply, you need to be the nicest home with the lowest price in your area and the home will sell. Homes sell every day and your home will sell if it is the lowest home and in the best condition.

7. Last mogul field. Once the second jump is done there is still a mogul field that cannot be overlooked. You can see the finish line right ahead but if you focus too much on the finish you will hit a Volkswagen size hump and fall over. This will ruin your chances of a finish let alone the hopes for a medal. This last mogul field is overlooked because it is a bit smaller than the others but it’s important – it will make or break the race.

This last mogul field for a real estate investor is finding the buyer. In reality if you have done everything else right up to this point finding the buyer should not be too difficult don’t spend the money until you have it in your hand. My philosophy is very simple. A. Be the 3% under the other comparable homes in the area B. List with a quality agent and don’t skimp on the Buyer agent commission. I would get a discount from the seller’s agent but make sure the buyer’s agent gets a full 3% commission. Make sure to put in your contract the amount that the buyer’s agent will receive. Most contracts just state the total commission that is paid. Create an addendum to the listing contract that shows exactly how much the buyer’s agent and seller’s agent will receive C. Have the house better than everyone else’s. I don’t care what market you are in, if you are the lowest price house and the nicest home in the area you will sell, fast. That is the key. Sell Fast and get on to the next deal. There is a cost to hold the property, not just the cost of your money, but there is an opportunity cost on the next deal that you may miss, or something else you can do with the money. Holding the property also comes with risks. Too many investors think you can always start high and come down over time. This is stupid! Price for what the property is going to sell for. Too many investors think that some idiot from another state (like California) is going to come and pay more than what the property is worth. Price the property for what it is worth and then discount it 3% and you will have buyers coming. In some cases you will get more than the asking price because you may end up with multi offers. Yes you heard me right multi offers in this market place. The key is if you are the best home at the best price people will fight over it.

The Last Mogul field is easy if you have the right strategy and you don’t plan on a Jet engine to push you faster to the finish or plan on some idiot to over pay for your property.

8. Celebrate! Even the elusive Dale Begg-Smith from Australia celebrated when he crossed the finish line. This guy has no emotion and does not like the press at all. In fact on the medal podium it looks like he can’t wait to get out of the spot light. But the second he came across the finish line he looked like a kid in a candy shop. He Celebrated in his own way. When you finish your rehab and retail, celebrate. Now don’t get ahead of yourself, let’s define finish. Finish is when you have the check in your hand and your hard money lender has been paid back. That is the time to celebrate. Don’t make the mistake of spending the money just because you have the property under contract. Problems happen, in real estate nothing is a sure thing. Lenders go out of business, people don’t fund, buyers lose jobs, inspectors don’t like the house, and the list goes on and on.

So once your Hard Money lender is paid off and your check is in hand it is time to celebrate. I like to set a goal when I originally purchase the property. Nothing crazy just something to represent the hard work, for example taking my wife to a really fancy restaurant, getting a new chair for the house or something small, but something you would not normally do. Don’t overdue it, be conservative. But do something fun and Celebrate. By the way, if by some slim chance Dale Begg-Smith sees this article, for the record, the world saw you smile when you crossed the finish line and congrats on the silver medal. I hope you took some time to

6 Real Estate Email Marketing Strategies That Are Crushing It In 2020

Email marketing is alive and well in 2020. With 260 billion emails opened every day, it’s not disappearing soon.

But in a world where attention is king, many real estate agents have opted out of email marketing for the more trendy social media marketing.

BIG MISTAKE.

The biggest mistake is with ownership. You don’t own the lists on your favourite social media platform and that is costly. Get shut down by Facebook and your ’25,768 followers’ are gone.

But email is totally different. You own your lists!

The other big mistake agents make with email is that they are boring and don’t know how to engage with prospects. With lousy open rates and pathetic engagement it’s no wonder why real estate agents have moved away from email marketing.

But they shouldn’t. So let’s fix that.

According to Emma here’s how we should start:

1. Real estate email marketing strategies – start with an actionable welcome
Let’s start with the first, and most important, email-the welcome email.

A welcome email is a great way to introduce both cold and warm leads to your services. Your customer may have opted in at an open house or your website, or they may be someone you’ve gotten through a referral.

You could also send a welcome email after your first contact with your prospects. This could be after the first day of house-hunting or following an initial consultation about selling their home.

At any rate, a welcome email will thank subscribers for opting-in and give them two critical pieces of information:

What kinds of emails to expect from you in the future
Why you’re the best agent to help them buy or sell their home.
Competition is fierce among realtors, so this is your way of getting the jump on the competition and positioning your brand for success.
No matter how you design your welcome email, make sure it’s clear and actionable.

That means there should be a prominent call-to-action (CTA) to schedule a phone call or meeting, connect on social media, or even a request to be “white-listed” so that your emails don’t end up in the spam folder.

And our friends at Steppsagree:

Strong Email Subject Lines
Strong subject lines are the secret sauce of email marketing. It’s the first thing people see when they open their inbox-a first impression of your content.

A recent Sendpulse survey revealed that roughly 62% of subscribers read emails when the subject line is interesting. If your content is compelling enough, consumers won’t care too much about how often you send them emails.

That said, anything too vague will immediately get sent to spam or be deleted by the email user. Same goes for anything too direct (like an obvious sales pitch) or something that implies that the mailing is part of a big email blast.

A strong subject line can capture the reader’s attention immediately, but not give anything away in the process.

Sacha Ferrandi of Source Capital Funding gives a good example of this:

Bad – “Learn About an Amazing Property (Address) In the Centennial Park Area”
Good – “Updated Information Regarding Your Neighborhood Property Values”
Notice how the second option entices the audience to read more? The “Bad” option gives everything away immediately and users don’t need to look any further to know what this is about.
Best Practices for Email Subject Lines

Short and Sweet: Campaign Monitor found that email subject lines containing just 65 characters have hit the email sweet spot and that most email subject lines have 41-50 characters (which is about 5-9 average-length words).
Personalize it: Experian Marketing Services found that personalized subject lines-think names, neighbourhoods, listings-result in a 26% higher open rate.
Take note of the pre-header text-also known as the first 40 characters of the email. Make use of this section to expand on the email subject, and ensure you’ve strung together the characters that drive clicks.
Do A/B Testing: Test out different lengths, different sentence structures, lines that use numbers or statistics versus ones that don’t. Don’t forget to test how the subject line length reads across different devices, too. Most email service providers offer a function that allows you to preview how your email will read on iPhone, laptops, etc.
GetResponse has a feature that shows you the effectiveness of your subject line and it also has an A/B testing feature. If you haven’t yet picked an email service provider (ESP) to use for your real estate email marketing, it’s a great option for beginners.
Interesting content keeps readers… interested according to Emma

2. Add value with a newsletter full of relevant, interesting content.
Your prospects want to know that you’re an expert in the local market. There’s no better way to convey your expertise than in an email newsletter packed full of relevant, helpful information.

Not only do newsletters feature your own realty services, but they also keep you at the forefront of the prospects’ minds while they’re deciding how to proceed.

Newsletters can also keep you connected with former clients-especially the ones that might refer you to their friends.

Provide interesting, relevant content like the articles and tips found in newsletters, can be incredibly effective for your real estate business. Your newsletters should be short, skimmable documents with content that’s engaging and shareable.

Here’s a sample of one that also includes a video and visual graphics for those that want to skim for important information.

Be careful with your newsletters, though. Don’t ever send one withou

Real Estate Stories that Show You How!

Let’s begin easing you out of the pits. I mean, comfort zone! I’m going to slowly and methodically give you as many little sparks and insights to the relatively simple ways that ordinary people use real estate to achieve extraordinary results.

Stories are the best spark plugs. They let you casually observe from a safe, secure and understandable view point. I will write to answer most of the questions that I feel I myself would ask if I was reading what you are about to read.

I want you to know something from the very start of this report and that something is this: I care about you and I sincerely mean that. I really do want you to move to a new comfort zone, one that is pleasurable and free from fear. A place where you realize you have the power to achieve greater things than you currently can imagine.

It’s possible for you to start being a more powerfully directed purpose-driven individual who is well organized and on track to higher achievement. You will change and grow, slowly and steadily with every page you read. With every thought and insight you gain, your desire and courage will grow as well.

Napoleon Hill wrote one of the greatest books of all time. It’s called “Think and Grow Rich.” The essence of that book, the secret it reveals time and again is this: you must develop a burning desire.

Don’t put this book down thinking the previous statement is cliché and that you already knew that! I am simply leading you to my next point, the next point being is – your desire needs a starting point. So to start developing desire, my secret is you must have a purpose. Why do you want to pursue real estate? I know what you’re thinking: to make money, to have security, to feel useful and appear successful. Good points. I agree you can have all of that and more if that is what you desire.

Now here is something that comes before any of those things you desire. What is the purpose of all those things? Purpose, purpose, purpose…you need to first define purpose before you get the things. My purpose, or so I thought early in my career, was to move up to a nicer house and have my first house become my first rental property. When I moved up to the next one, I quickly learned as soon as I rented it out, I was in some way responsible for creating happiness and security in the life of another person that was of no relation to me.

It soon was evident to me how the choices I made in choosing that first property either would help me or hurt me in my quest to succeed in the real estate investment business.

All of it is cumulative, everything you do and how you do it adds up. It compounds itself and it either makes your life easier or more difficult. I am going to give you experiences that you can learn from that will make your life easier; I am going to show you how. That is my purpose.

The book that gave me the unknowing courage to take my first steps in real estate was a book called “How I Turned $1000 into $3 Million in real estate in my spare time” by William Nickerson. He was a master storyteller and by osmosis, after reading his book, I found myself gravitating towards the real estate classified section of my Sunday paper.

Eventually I leapt and my life had changed. It was an FHA foreclosure, a two-bedroom, one-bath home with a built-in, screened-in pool, with a Jacuzzi and a built-in sprinkler system. I bought it for $46,000 and used the HUD 203K rehab program to fix it up. I spent $16,000 to update and make repairs. They then gave me one loan for a total of $62,000. It took me three months to complete it and I was in; I had done it!

My life changed, I learned, I took the leap. From then on I had confidence. I had already had my first home but now I had two. Well, I was in the Coast Guard and wouldn’t you know, three months later we moved. Uncle Sam took me out of St. Petersburg, Florida and dropped me in Kodiak, Alaska, for my next tour of duty.

Well guess what? I was armed with ambition, courage, confidence and just enough knowledge to be considered dangerous, so I bought a duplex as soon as I came ashore on Kodiak Island. Now I had three dwellings and my relationships and responsibilities were growing with my new tenants counting on me to provide a clean, functional and pleasing environment for them to exist in.

It looked like this: My mother rented my first house and an elderly couple rented the second one and my duplex came with an existing tenant who was a hospital administrator, so I was lucky. I was able to ease myself into the role of landlord without getting burned early in my career. I now had two houses and a duplex in the span of about one year. My brothers and some other family members took notice and were pretty well dumbfounded.

They couldn’t figure out how I had, all of a sudden, become a real estate wizard.

It felt good to make that change in so short a time.

I got that from reading a book! And that my friend is how you are going to do the majority of everything you do in real estate, by reading and taking steps towards duplicating the success of others in a repeatable pattern. The key is to understand that you can do it if you read the right books and apply the very basic formulas that are handed to you.
There lies in: Magic Bullets in Real Estate

This is a common man or woman’s real estate manual. William Nickerson never gave me anything so easy as “Magic Bullets!” So I learned trial by fire and it has been very gratifying. I’ve since went on to collect 17 properties, 23 tenants, 2 real estate licenses in Florida and Alaska, an assistant appraiser’s certificate and over a hundred books on real estate. I just kept learning and growing and gaining momentum for the last 13 years. I am still in the Coast Guard, too, and I work at Alaska One Realty in my spare time. In two more years, I will be retired at the ripe old age of 42. Sounds like a sort of fairytale, doesn’t it? Don’t let me fool you. It’s hard work and I’m still not a millionaire, but I want you to have the truth, so I will be honest with you every step of the way.

I know why I am not a millionaire and here is why. I would periodically sell property that was going up in value and paying for itself through the rent checks. But being in the Coast Guard would dislocate me every four years, so I found myself selling out in order to avoid being what is called “an absentee landlord.”

This is an important lesson for you. It has prevented me from becoming a millionaire up to this point. The lesson is: find an area on this planet that you could and will live in, and stay close to it. Don’t move more than 10 miles from your farm area. The farm area is where all your properties are located. Long distance “land lording” is tough! It can be done but you lose the ability to control the situation compared to if you were there. I’ve served my country and saved people’s lives, so for me it has not been in vain. I have no regrets but if you don’t have to leave your area of expertise, don’t!

The networks you build and the contacts you build, in the process of “doing” real estate, are so valuable that when they are no longer at your disposal, it puts you at a serious disadvantage.

Not to mention when you move you have to acclimate yourself to an entirely different market, build new trust-based relationships and start all over again. It’s like a treadmill you’ll be running and running, however it gets you nowhere.

I’ve used it to my advantage. I have been forced to accelerate my abilities to rapidly duplicate my success whenever I am moved, but it is still an uphill battle. My point: Don’t move too far from your farm or your network of bankers, appraisers, carpenters, tradesman, real estate, friends, tenants and so on. Once you have the skill you can duplicate your success anywhere you go but if you don’t have to go…enough said on that!

I like to say, “Don’t sell the goose to get the eggs.” What that means is if you need money to buy more property, use equity lines from other property to do it. You will get the same amount of money or more by using an equity line as if you sold it. However, you get to keep the asset and the money! I go into this in “Magic Bullets,” so I won’t drone on here. Just know you don’t have to sell your property to get the cash out of them.

So here we are. You know a little bit about me and you may have picked up a nugget or two. Let’s find a few more.

There once was a man who wanted to buy some investment property, so what he did was look at growth patterns. You should do this too, by going to your city’s planning and zoning department. You can see growth patterns and you definitely want to buy property that stands in the way of growth.

This is how he used what he learned. He saw that city planners had decided that a new artery (highway) would benefit their city by creating linkage to another city about 100 miles away, so being a smart investor he only went as far as a ten mile limit to be able to be close to his investment.

Now on average, new growth will radiate out from existing prosperous cities in the direction it is planned at a rate of about one mile per year. So our smart investor had a 10 – 12 year plan to cash out in about 10 – 12 years.

What he did was buy, I believe, 10 acres of commercially zoned property very cheaply because there was no demand at the time. He bought it, fenced it in, put up some lights and a gate, and held onto that little bugger. Now that new highway was coming his way and the good folks, through their taxes, were paying to have it built.

It didn’t take long for the heavy equipment to start cutting a swath towards his fenced-in storage facility and when they got close enough to him, he started renting out a secure area for everything, from road cones to generators to backhoes. You name it – it was stored there. This more than paid his land off.

Now the men and their equipment eventually moved on further down the trail but they left a finished highway behind them. And guess what? Low and behold, people started driving on it, and then started buying property to build houses on to get away from the city. Since the new highway was a straight shot into town, ten miles out was breeze.

Well, of course, here comes the herd and everyone is just populating the whole darned area. And within ten years, residential housing surrounds Mr. Investor, and can you guess what he’s got? Yep, a prime piece of commercial property, 10 acres large.

So in accordance with his 10-12 year plan, he sells his storage facility to make room for the new office/business park complex for over $2,000,000. That, my friend, is vision, and the sooner you get a clear picture of what it is that you want to specialize in, the sooner you can retire to the islands.

How hard was that? Don’t tell me you can’t do it, you can! I’m here to help you. I’m going to give you secrets no one else dares. Do you ever wonder why people won’t tell you the secrets? Of course you already know this but I’ll tell you anyway. It is because they are operating on a scarcity mentality, as though there won’t be any left for them. Or if learn something and act on it, you will get ahead and have a great life. Well, misery loves company and silent oppression is the rule.

Here’s a little story that poor quality real estate agents won’t appreciate either but I’m going to tell it to you anyway. The reason I can tell it is because there are some great real estate agents out there who absolutely don’t fear what I am about to tell you and would let you know it if they were in my position.

Here’s the deal: Some agents want to be like the Wizard of Oz. They want to create the appearance of marketing and transacting real estate as being technical and very legal, a deep dark mystery. Well, it’s not! The truth be told, you can write a contract on a napkin and it would stand up in court. I will emphasize here that you write on that napkin along with the terms of your agreement, “The terms set forth on this here napkin are subject to my attorney’s approval.”

An attorney will cover you completely for around $750.00. Prices may vary, however that is an average home transaction. There is a lot I am leaving out here but my point is this: If you own property, you can sell it anyway you want. “Magic Bullets” will teach you. Let’s move on.

Exposure is the key to finding buyers and sellers in real estate. If a property is priced fairly and everyone who is looking for that type of property knows that it is in the availability pool, it will be found and the transaction will proceed as advertised. Price it right, advertise it properly and let the lawyer take care of the details. No commission, just a flat fee. Period.

Now that I have that off my chest, I will tell you a story about Dan, a 21-year old friend of mine, and his wife and their new baby. He’s a hardworking guy who does his work without complaint and all the other “workers” pick on him for working so hard. Can you believe it? The other guys are so insecure and lazy that they make fun of a guy who is doing the work of three men, mainly of the three who are ridiculing him. Well, believe me, this doesn’t go unnoticed by me and I take him under my wing. Dan wants to buy a house, so I begin the process of saving him years of trial by fire and save him $25,000 at no charge. That is because he deserved my help.

Anyway, here is the story: I began with him by asking him what type of home he thought he would be comfortable with and a price range. He indicated a 3-bedroom for around $100,000.

Knowing what he wanted and knowing the area, I was able to take him shopping for the house he was looking for. Now I always go after the “For Sale by Owner” homes first because I know they won’t be adding any commission figure into their price, because they won’t be paying one. So at 6% of $100,000 he will get $6,000 more “house” for his precious dollar.

I also told him besides the “For Sale by Owner” homes, we would be looking at oddball discount companies that help distressed sellers further part with their money and property. The mentality of a seller who uses cheesy companies to help them sell their property is pennywise and pound-foolish. If you’re going to use professionals, then get a professional.

So off we go. After a day or so, we have found our house. Sure enough, El Cheeso Inc. has a sign on it. The screen doors are flapping in the breeze, the weeds are dancing on the lawn, but this house is indeed a 3-bedroom, 2-bath, 1-car garage with a fenced yard and it’s selling for $110,000. Well, due to the fact that there is a divorce in progress, and a new girlfriend who doesn’t like the place, and El Cheeso Inc. giving no representation, I negotiate for Dan and he gets it for $99,000. What’s so great about this deal is this exact same floor plan in another house was for sale down the street, on the same street, for $25,000 more.

The moral of the story is good things come to those who deserve it, and that is another key to real estate. You must work hard so others will take notice of you and help you succeed.

Here’s a beauty for you. This is about being in real estate circles and keeping your eyes and ears open and often times your “yapper” closed. This is the story of Brian and Julie. Here we have two hardworking souls. They have been married for 20 years and they have weathered the storms of matrimony. Julie works at a real estate office as an office manager. No real estate license, but she works at an office that sells a lot of waterfront property. So we are talking about location and being in the right place at the right time, and here comes a seller in the door of the office stating she is going to sell her older waterfront home. She is willing to take $180,000.

Julie tells Brian, they look at it and sure enough, this pearl is right on the water. She’s a gem waiting to be polished up, so Brian and Julie sell their condominium and move in. Well, they aren’t making any more waterfront property, so Brian goes to work polishing this jewel up.

Now, they have bought this house under market value in an appreciating market. So about one and a half years later, this property is worth over $350,000 and still climbing. Well, Brian is no dummy, so he gets to know his neighborhood. He strolls, takes walks and notices, you guessed it, a vacant, neglected jewel on an inside double lot. He tracks down the elderly lady, who is living with her sister, through the county records office and buys the house, including the extra lot, for a total of $120,000. Now Brian can walk to his new “jewel” and he starts polishing it. The neighbors start noticing and are amazed at his deal. He has offers of $180,000, $200,000 and $60,000 for just the lot. You name it. Now that the exposure is there, everyone wants a piece of it.

Well, this is what Brian did. He rented his first house out, moved into the second one and used plans that I gave to him to build a third house on the vacant lot, using the equity he accumulated from the first house that went up so much. And here’s how this thing shakes out: $180,000 for his first house and it’s value goes up to $365,000; he picked up the next jewel for $120,000 and he paid cash using the equity from the first house. Now he takes out a new mortgage on his second house for $120,000 and builds a third. The value at last count was $815,000 and he owed a grand total $300,000. That’s a half million-dollar profit in 5 years!

Now what does this story tell us? #1 – it says, “work hard”; #2 – keep your eyes open; #3 – use equity lines; #4 – don’t sell; #5 – learn how to be a landlord; #6 – be in locations that appreciate; #7 – buy things that are limited in availability; #8 – know how to research owners and repair property; #9 – get your partner’s help (spouse); #10 – use knowledgeable friends to help you see potential (I gave him the plans and advised him not to sell anything!).

Can you get any more lessons out of this story? I’m sure you can. Just read it again and think on it. Jot down your ideas and put them to work. Real estate is not that hard, folks! You can do it. With a few magic bullets, some spark plugs and a good mentor to show you how, you can do it too!

Let’s you and me talk for just a minute here, OK! Have you ever been really good at something and been able to step back and see the whole thing for what it is was? You just know exactly how to do it and you can see the end result clearly in your mind before you start. It’s predictable to you. It’s almost second nature, so you are comfortable doing it. It’s almost become boring to you; your comfort zone is such that you can do it in your sleep.

I’ve gotten that way with certain types of real estate and I see people everyday that are so afraid of taking the first step that they are literally paralyzed. They make excuses and put it off, and rationalize and live a quiet life of desperation. They don’t trust themselves and as a result of the unknown they can’t trust anyone else either. This is a vicious cycle because the longer they wait the more it reinforces their beliefs.

I just want to grab them by the collar, take them to the bank and make them tell the banker, “Pre-qualify me!” Then walk them out the door and show them how to do something that will change their life forever, and that is to buy the first property, and then a second. Then their fear is gone and they grow to be of service to everyone who is ready for their assistance.

Let me tell you this: After you finish reading the rest of this report and you read the “Magic Bullets” book, your fears will be subdued and you will do something and your life will change. If you cannot succeed with what I am intent on showing you, then something is not right. I believe your desire would be your major obstacle, so if that’s the case, read “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill and come back to me then.

Let’s get back to real estate education, shall we? Do you know wh

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