Success: Given or Earned

"There is no shortcut." A law of success preached to me by one of my business mentors just last week. We were reflecting on real estate, being entrepreneurs, and what it takes to succeed. When I say succeed, we weren't talking about owning your own business and having a good life. No, No. This mentor of mine has a quarter million a year cash business, well over 100 residential units, around 20 commercial buildings, a very respectable personal residence, and a vacation house in Naples, Florida with a shiny BMW convertible waiting for him and his wife in the garage. Oops, I forgot to mention that he has an estimated 75% equity across he board. When this man talks I listen.

As we were chatting about what he stated, that if he were of our generation, he would be worth 3x what he is due to technology and information. In my opinion he is selling himself short, I believe that he would be worth 7x what he is now. But I have to agree with this man, there is no substitute for hard work. Maybe if you are a dot com millionaire, or born to a blue blood family in which everyone is a doctor. For most of us normal folks, hard work, dedication, and a love for what we do is what will bring us fortune in the future.

Believe me when I say that I hate cliché’s. Yet I have to join the cliché crowd and say that my generation and the one directly after me is pretty lazy. We seem to have this overwhelming sense of entitlement. I would like to put some of this blame on our parents, the baby boomers. It seems as though the generation before them was the one that had Pride, Integrity, and Honor. We are lucky now-a-days to trust one or two people in business. Back in the WWII generation. everything was settled with a handshake. When a man, or woman went to work they took pride in themselves first and their company second. They didn't have "Family Leave" or drug and alcohol rehab programs built in like we do today. They put their nose to the grindstone and worked!
Trust me I know that I can work a lot longer, harder, and smarter but at least I can say that I am making it on my own and giving it my all. My partner Nathan Mayes and I closed out 20th deal today. That's 20 purchases, not purchases, sales, leases, evictions, or general contracting jobs. We have also built with the help of many other the fastest growing real estate and entrepreneurs investing club in Michigan, The REIA of Macomb, which will sign up it's 200th member this month. We have also started coaching a handful of individuals to help them meet their business goals.

Back to my mentors statement "There are NO shortcuts". He's right, almost. We have found one shortcut that has ultimate been the igniter for much of our success. It's called Cooperation. What does that mean? My definition of Cooperation is; Networking, Sharing, Learning' Growing, Teaching, Helping, Caring, but most of all Never Giving Up.


~Make It Happen~
My sites...
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/
http://www.wealthinmacomb.com/

Your Father's Watch

Act As If....

What does this really mean? Your appearance, persona, and their perceptions of you. As a full time entrepreneur and real estate investor I have been faced with this question many times. Conventional wisdom tells us that when we "quit" our conventional jobs we get to dress and act however we want because we are finally our own boss. I've personally been gainfully unemployed for 3 years. In that time I have yet o show up to an important meeting with a private lender or sit down in some nice folks living room without acting professional.

Many investors out there take a very relaxed attitude toward their professional personality. Lack of proper English and even use of curse words are two of my biggest pet peeves. Imagine this: Donald Trump or Robert Kiyosaki is standing in front of you. They say that they are interested in the Detroit foreclosure market. They are looking to invest in property with the aid of someone "on the ground" that understands the area. Are you going to say "Awesome dude, you ain't gonna find a better f''n investor than me to help you."

Of course not!!! You are going to go into the situation with the proper attire and use good English. You may even want to wear your father's watch to impress a new private lender. Why is it that I constantly have conversations with individuals that talk this way in a casual business meeting? I'm not talking about having cocktails with an old friend at a bar. There is a time and place, right?

You never know who you are talking to or who is listening in the backround. The best idea is to keep your vocabulary and dress professionl. On to the old debate, suit or no suit. I am a firm believer that being overdressed is a detrement in certain situations. I'm not going to wear a suit if I'm sitting down in a house that is owned by a beer drinkin, truck driving, hard working guy. I don't want him to think that I'm trying to show him up. However you better believe that I will be wearing slacks and a dress or polo shirt. I will also have my companies brochure and business card looking extremely professional. As a businessman you must have an air of confidence, in our case know comparable sales, and be very well versed in real estate legal terms.

It doesn't matter if you just started your business or you've been out slaying dragons for five years, the appearance of a big company will always give you credibility. There are a few easy ways to become a perceived million dollar Michigan real estate investing business.

#1 Classy Business Cards
#2 An E-mail Address You@YourCompany.com not a Yahoo or Hotmail

#3 A Voicemail Answering Service

#4 A Website
#5 Make Sure That All of Your Sales Brochures Match "Create Your Brand"

#6 Study, Memorize, Understand, and Have With You All Documents Needed to Make Offers

#7 Always Arrive Early

#8 Leave Your Cell Phone and Watch In Your Car

#9 Be Ready To Make An Offer On The Spot

#10 Listen To Their Needs and Create a Win-Win Offer

#11 Comes Before All The Rest; Integrity

There's something to be said for the book "The Greatest Generation" by Tom Brokaw. The book depicts the Americans who came of age during the Great Depression and fought World War II, and went on to build America. The men and women of this generation did what they said they would do above all else. The only man I was close to from that generation was my Grandfather. Can you imagine your Grandfather giving up on his mortgage and letting it go into foreclosure? I don't think so. I truly believe that the secret to success in business today is to live, eat, and breathe Integrity.

Sites to visit:

www.PrettyMiHomes.com
www.WeOfferToday.com
www.REIAofMacomb.com

Broke is a State of Mind

Last night I was at the WCRT Detroit meeting in Royal Oak. My good friend Jared Pomranky brought the WCRT (formerly Windy City Round Table) to Detroit as a large sub-group of the original founded in Chicago. I have been a part of the WCRT Detroit since it's inception 18 months or so ago.

I will do a nice long post about all of the entrepreneur groups that I belong to sometime in the near future.

As I was saying at the WCRT meeting last night a newer friend of mine Jeremy Burgess, strictly a Detroit investor, put together a small presentation on leveraging your time. I agreed with basically every single point that he hit on. His message wasn't what prodded me to write this blog about him.

I don't know Jeremy and his wife Jenna very well but what I know is extremely intriguing. The Burgess' came to Detroit, yes they live and pay taxes in the city, from Washington state. Some may look at this as a jail sentence. They look at it as the best opportunity in real estate in America. "Michigan resident's are too close to the opportunity to see it" Jeremy said to me last night. That was one of the most eye-opening statements that I have heard in a long time.

For those of us that cry the Big 3 Blues and whine that you can buy but you can't sell, how can a guy from Washington state move to the City of Detroit and continually net well in the five figure range monthly? The answer is Belief.

Belief in his investing strategy.
Belief in his partner.
Belief in himself.
And most of all.........
Belief that this once great city is on its way back to the top.

You metro Detroiters may laugh at the last belief, but would you believe if you were bringing in over $10,000 every month as a full time real estate investor?

My sites............
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/

Own a Million Dollar Building and Not Pay Income Tax On Rent Collected

Bold statement? Not if you understand a little tax code. The government has set up a program that 99% of American's qualify for. With this American Liberty you can buy an income producing building and I don't care if it generates 1 penny or 1 million dollars per year, you do not pay income tax on the "earned income" the same way you would if you don't use this program.

Alright I've kept you waiting long enough. It's a self directed Roth IRA. For those of yor reading this that understand the Power of self directed IRA's, this may be elementary. I'm here to eduate the folks that mey have heard rumors and think that it's all B.S. And for those that have no clue what an IRA even is.

I> Individual

R> Retirement

A> Account

Most of us have something like this set up whether it's in the form of a 401k, 403b, profit sharing, or a Roth IRA. What most "brokers" either don't want you to know, or they are just ignorant to the fact that it is possible. With self directed IRA's You get to choose what Your money is invested in. Now I believe in diversification. There is certainly gobs of cash to be made in the stock market. My issue with Chrysler stock for example, is who is truly making the decisions that affect your retirement?

With a self directed IRA you can buy property, lend money out for people to buy houses with, just like a bank, and you can still buy stocks, bonds, or funds within that IRA. That's all fine and dandy, but now I want to talk about the Monster benefits and advantages to using self directed Roth IRA's specifically.

1. You are investing with POST taxed money.

What does this mean?

At age 59 and 1/2 all of the funds in your Roth can be withdrawn without paying any capital gains or income tax!

2. You can purchase real property with the funds in your IRA as long as all of the gains for the sale or rent goes back into the IRA.

3. The most powerful advantage to using your Roth IRA to buy real estate is whatever type of income the property produces whether it is rent or profit from a sale, once you hit the age of 70 and 1/2 you cannot be taxed on those gains!!!

I will give an example. I am using round numbers so don't call me out on the details, I'm just getting my point across.

You are 40 and 1/2. You buy a building in your Roth IRA. It is a 10 unit building. You paid $500,000. At this point the rent doesn't matter but you bring in $500 per unit. 30 years go by and you make your final payment on the building that your Roth owns. For numbers sake lets conservatively say that your building has doubled in 30 years, as does your rent. Now you have a building worth $1,000,000 and you are bringing in $10,000 per month before expenses.

Because you bought this building in a Roth you will NOT be taxed on that $10,000 per month in income for the rest of your life. Maybe you aren't interested in $10,000 per month. then sell your building for $1,000,000 that you bought for $500,000. Your profit will be 500k right? Most people pay 38% income tax. If you owned this building in an LLC or your own name and not in your Roth, you would pay $170,000 in capital gains. I like the No Capital Gains option better, how about you?

I have to believe that in my scenario above you would keep the building and receive your tax free 10k every month with a smile on your face the same way Warren Buffet would.

Now comes the toughest question to ask. How the heck do I get $500,000 in my Roth if I'm only allowed to contribute $4000 per year. I'm going to teach you a way to blow up your Roth account with as little as $1.00!!!

I'm sure to open a self directed Roth Ira with most companies they will not only let you contribute $1. But I wager $500 is enough to get started.

Okay are you ready to put $5000 in your Roth IRA every month and completely comply with IRS codes?

Here is the easiest route to choking your self directed Roth IRA full of cash to buy property or lend money out of.

Make an offer to purchase a house for $100,000. 00. Make your Roth IRA account the purchaser. Make the consideration, the earnest money deposit, a promissory note for $500. That's your downpayment. Now find a guy like me that buys, sells, and leases real estate for a living and assign(sell) that accepted purchase agreement to me for $5000.00. Now I become the buyer and you have successfully made 5k out of thin air, and a little bit of work. You have to at that point send that $5000.00 check to your self directed IRA company. Now you have $5500 in your Roth.

Now you may say how can you put that money in your Roth time after time if $4000 is the limit per year. Because your Roth actually made the offer with post taxed monies, that you opened the account with a month earlier, any gains that those monies make go directly into the Roth tax free.

How many times a year can you do that over the next 30,40, or 50 years for you young stars out there reading this and educating your self?

I do personally invest with my self directed Roth IRA. I am not licensed to sell them. I am not an attorney nor do I fall under any SEC guidelines. So what you've read here is 100% informational. However I can send you to the right people to help you get your own Self Directed IRA's. I can also help you place any monies in your IRA or other retirement accounts if you are interested in private money lending.

If you made it to the REIA of Macomb in July you would have heard most of this. If you missed it and are interested in learning more and have funds to invest, call or e-mail me direct.

My sites to visit:
http://www.prettymihomes.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/

Thank You Wes Hellner

A very special member of the REIA of Macomb, Wes Hellner, donated a beautiful cake to the Make it Happen BBQ. I was sitting at my desk one morning and I got up to get some coffee. When I went back to sit down I noticed an envelope on my chair. How preoccupied am I with buying houses if I don't even have time to look down before I sit!

So I open the envelope and to my excitement it was a check. I love collecting my rents and getting checks in the mail. So I ripped open the envelope to see who sent us money. there was a small note that said "For the BBQ". it was from Wes.

I have to tell you readers out there that I love the REIA, and it's not everyday someone does something selfless for the good of others. Apparently when you do business and are acquainted with a man like Wes Hellner, he conducts himself in a great way.

If you want to do business with a very professional, not to mention experienced real estate agent in the Mount Clemens area, look no further.

You can contact Wes one of the following ways;

office: 586-469-0634

e-mail: Wes@WesHellner.com

website: http://www.weshellner.com/

My sites to visit:

http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/

This blog was originally posted on another blog that I was writing. I have decided to "move" them all over to here. So for the next few posts you will notice that the dates will not coincide with the post time.

Make It Happen BBQ...Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, and Houses

On Saturday, July 21st I had the honor to spend the day with a ton of real estate investors. We hosted our first annual REIA of Macomb Make It Happen BBQ at Budd Park in Clinton Twp. We had members fro as far as Canton and as close as Clinton Twp in attendance.

When we decided to put this together I had envisioned a bunch of people standing around with bad BBQ food shuffling their feet and maybe complaining about the heat. But reality took over and all of the effort that Nathan and I put into the club came through at the BBQ. We had over 50 members show up, bringing salads, stories, great company, and even their kids. It's very rewarding to have someone come up to me, as REIA member Tina Puma did, and hand me some sweets, and thank me for putting the picnic on.

No thanks needed. The Make It Happen BBQ was for all of the members that help support and grow The REIA of Macomb. Without all of you, we couldn't do what we do. When you get a group of like minded folks together with one common goal, you have Collective Genius. this is a term that I use often and I will write a fat post on it one day.

One person in particular that I want to mention for all the help and time donation that he made, is REIA member and GOLD Key Realty agent Erik Stark. This gentlemsn was at the park before anyone securing table for the REIA, and he was the last to leave, helping us clean and pack up. Being entrepreneurs to the core, Nathan and I have a very hard time letting go of control. With Erik around the pressure comes off. Thank You Sir.

My sites to visit:

http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/

This blog was originally posted on another blog that I was writing. I have decided to "move" them all over to here. So for the next few posts you will notice that the dates will not coincide with the post time.

Millionaire Michigan Man Continued.......

Ok, where was I? Oh yeah, I was saying that we had a past with Kris Kirschner.

Well about 6 months or so after I saw Kris speak at Wendy Patton's Fortune Makers Seminar in Troy, Michigan, I traveled down to Atlanta to spend 40 days with Kris. Dan Geier, of Senior Helpers fame, Jared Pomranky, President of WCRT Detroit, and myself were together to learn from Kris at his bootcamp.

Little did I know that my future partner and co-founder Nathan Mayes was also going to be in attendance in Atlanta. I met some great people down there from Michigan including Paul Smudski, Don Staley, Mark Weslowski, and my old buddy Joe Cook.

We all learned a lot from Kris about how to buy using subject-to, and how to sell effectively on lease option. Over the nest couple of years or so, buying subject-to is the only way that most of us bought houses. Kris is from Detroit as I said in an earlier post, so he always showed us preferential treatment. He used Dan and Nate is examples a few times, and called on them both quite a bit during his presentations. It definitely felt good to be with 2 of Kris' top students.

So like I said earlier I knew that when Nate said let's have Kris up to speak at Michigan's Premier Real Estate Investor's Association, The REIA of Macomb of course, we were in for some fun. Kris showed up the day before the REIA to settle in and spend some time at his home town. That night we all(Nathan, myself, and Kris' Team) all went to Greektown. We feasted like Greek royalty, and had a great time. This is the first time that I had spent any extended time with Kris outside of a seminar. He was totally down to earth. He wouldn't let Nathan and I pay the bill at the restaurant.

Imagine this, one of your biggest if not #1 real estate mentors comes into town to speak at the real estate club that you founded. Sounds pretty awesome right? If that wasn't enough, he treats us to dinner. That's class.

The event went off perfectly. Kris was welcomed with absolutely open arms from our membership and visitors. he actually broke a REIA of Macomb attendance record. We had over 165 investors, real estate agents, attorneys, private lenders, mortgage brokers, and many more unnamed people in attendance.

Not only has Kris Kirschner helped Nathan and myself immensely in our investing careers, he's also helped us build The REIA of Macomb's membership.

Thank you Kris!!!
From The REIA of Macomb, myself, and of course my partner Nathan Mayes.

My sites to visit:www.PrettyMichiganHomes.com our homes for sale. www.WeOfferToday.com where we buy houses, or take over payments www.REIAofMacomb.com Michigan's Premier Real Estate Investing Club.

This blog was originally posted on another blog that I was writing. I have decided to "move" them all over to here. So for the next few posts you will notice that the dates will not coincide with the post time.

Millionaire Michigan Man Comes Home To Share His Secrets

Around the time my partner Nathan and I were assembling our expert panel for April's REIA he had a great idea. "Let's have Kris up in a couple months". When he said Kris I knew who he was speaking of. Kris Kirschner of course! See, my close friends and I have a storied past with Kris, a positive one of course.
*WARNING...This is going to be a long story*
6 years ago or so I heard a commercial on 97.1 f.m., a new FM Talk station at the time. The commercial was talking about becoming rich through real estate investing. I think that I had 1 rental unit at that time, a duplex in Mt. Clemens. It was with a different partner, another long story. Anyway the radio blurb had my attention. I didn't catch the website so I called the radio station. The girl that answers had no clue, she told me she would have someone call me back when she found the right person.

About 2 days later I got a call from the head of advertising, so I was told. She said that the website was http://www.mireic.com/ i believe. This was before cable internet, so I cranked up the old dial-up. A few minutes later I was on the site. I think that the cost for the seminar was $379 for two people, which happened to be Fortune Makers in Troy. I was so excited I called my partner at the time. He said "Those seminars are get rich quick crap". Funny thing is he actually had Carlton Sheets on tape!!! So as he was also a pseudo mentor to me I was deflated and half-heartedly agreed with him.

Little did I know that my now friend, Wendy Patton, got my mailing address from the online form I filled out. I started receiving mailings about real estate investing seminars from Wendy every other month or so. I decided to take matters in my own hands and sign my partner and I up for an 8 hour Friday with Robyn Thompson, The Rehab Queen. We arrived at the seminar at 8:00 a.m. with fresh SBUX in hand. Wendy kicked off the day with her usual excited and positive opening. Around 9:30 Robyn started teaching us about rehabbing. My partner made it til lunch, 12:30 or so. "This crap is for the birds" he blurted.

So I had no choice but to leave after lunch and head back to our new rental to work. Funny at the time he said that education was for the birds, not many uneducated closed minded people Soar With The Eagles, do they?

For the next 9 months or so life went on status quo. Go to work, save some money for my next down payment, and work on my rentals on my day off. then my life changed forever. My wonderful direct mailing friend Wendy Patton sent me another advertisement for Fortune Makers Seminar. Fortune Makers was a huge deal in Michigan a few years ago. the first year I was there there was around 700 attendees. For 4 days investors, and real estate processionals alike were networking while learning from the top real estate speakers in the nation. So I filled out the form and paid around $399 for two attendees.

The next day I told my partner what I did. he freaked out and told me that I was crazy and he wasn't paying for half. that's when I knew that our futures would take us down different paths. So I still decided to attend with another fiend from work. We watched and learned from 20 or so different speakers and 1 truly stood out to me.

Maybe it was the fact that he grew up on 6 Mile and Gratiot. Or the fact that he wore a blue suit and didn't have any sensational selling lines. What it really was that intrigued me was the fact that he said "You can buy as many houses as you want without getting mortgages!" Then he brought a couple regular looking Joe's up on stage to brag about how many deals they've done using his system.

One of them happened to be my now partner and co-founder of the REIA, Nathan Mayes.

So when Nate said let's have Kris come and speak, I knew that we were in for a ride.

My sites to visit:

http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/


This blog was originally posted on another blog that I was writing. I have decided to "move" them all over to here. So for the next few posts you will notice that the dates will not coincide with the post time.

Experts Answer Tough Questions

At The REIA of Macomb's April Mega Answer Event we had a panel of experts to answer the hard questions we as real estate investors face everyday. This was the first meeting that my partner Nathan Mayes and myself hosted the full 90 minute segment. It took approximately 45 days, but we were able to round up some extremely specialized guest speakers.

Robert Gross a partner with the highly regarded firm Siegel, Greenfield, Hayes, and Gross was our legal eagle. Adam Davis, a business consulting specialist, helped members make decisions on what type of entity to buy properties in. Kim Drake, a Detroit real estate investor and franchisee of "Homevestors Usa" talked about the importance of business systems. Jay Goscinski a licensed real estate agent, spoke about the upcoming year, 2008, and how many more REO's there will be in the Detroit Tri-county area. To round out the expert panel was Alan Faitel. A 30 year veteran of real estate investing, he offered his opinion on subjects such as hard money, offering on listed properties, and where Michigan is going in terms of the economy.

Feel free to contact me if you want to get in touch with any of the individuals that you read about above.

My sites to visit:

www.REIAofMacomb.com
www.PettyMiHomes.com
www.WeOfferToday.com

This blog was originally posted on another blog that I was writing. I have decided to "move" them all over to here. So for the next few posts you will notice that the dates will not coincide with the post time.

2 non-profits Are Better Than One

Habitat For Humanity changes lives period. With volunteers building homes, and Great Americans donating property and building materials more families have a place to sleep at night. I met the Director of Macomb Habitat Daniel Wiiki at the March REIA of Macomb Mega Event. I was sitting in my office one day thinking about how we as an organization can start 'giving back". So I decided to give Mr Wikki a call ans see if I could offer him a free table and a chance to get in front of the 125 people that were at our meeting to get his message across.

When he took the stage I saw a passion an organization that usually you see in an owner operator. He spoke about Habitat's mission, and called volunteers to action. I'm not sure how many did sign up to help, but I believe there was quite a few.

Sometimes in life we have to take a step back and ask ourselves how lucky we are to be here. We all take things for granted. Whether it's Freedom, the right to vote, or our better half cooking us dinner.

www.PrettyMichiganHomes.com our homes for sale. www.WeOfferToday.com where we buy houses, or take over payments www.REIAofMacomb.com Michigan's Premier Real Estste Investing Club


This blog was originally posted on another blog that I was writing. I have decided to "move" them all over to here. So for the next few posts you will notice that the dates will not coincide with the post time.

The Notebuyers Teaches how to buy Pre-Foreclosed Notes

March 29th Donna Bauer spent her evening at The REIA of Macomb an lightening us on the power of buying notes. "You don't have to buy the house, just the note". Donna preached to us. The benefits are compounding.

Donna was in South Carolina the day of our event. She was seeing her son off to Iraq for his third tour. As most of us would be an absolute nervous wreck, Donna's professional attitude and positive nature showed through like the sun through a thunderstorm.

Our club was absolutely a buzz about the opportunities discounted notes can bring us. In a city that talk of foreclosures, foreclosures, and more foreclosures, Donna taught us all that sometimes there's a better way, buy the note.

My sites to visit:www.PrettyMichiganHomes.com our homes for sale. www.WeOfferToday.com where we buy houses, or take over payments www.REIAofMacomb.com Michigan's Premier Real Estate Investing Club.

This blog was originally posted on another blog that I was writing. I have decided to "move" them all over to here. So for the next few posts you will notice that the dates will not coincide with the post time.

We Hit The Nail On The head

On February 22nd we had Ralph Roberts out to our REIA to speak. It was a pretty big production. We had a camera crew, huge tv lights, and super sound system. Ralph talked about his humble beginnings in real estate in Macomb County, Michigan. He is proof positive that anyone can be anything.

He told many stories, and quite a few of his old friends showed up to cheer him on. He has an extremely competant and strong team behind him. If there is one thing that I learned from him it is the importance of a strong team. Ralph was quite the celebrity in person. He certainly helped our membership and brought in some new visitors.



My sites to visit:
http://www.prettymichiganhomes.com/ our homes for sale. http://www.weoffertoday.com/ where we buy houses, or take over payments http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/ Michigan's Premier Real Estste Investing Club

This blog was originally posted on another blog that I was writing. I have decided to "move" them all over to here. So for the next few posts you will notice that the dates will not coincide with the post time.

The Balance of the Game

In this sport of real estate, as in life, timing is everything. I have spent many hours studying the psychology involved in marketing. This is your first offer in most real estate transactions. Every week or month that your websites are live, your cards are being handed out, bandit sign going up, and direct mail going out, you are silently making offers.

As the title states, the balance of the game, to me is defined by 3 major ingredients. Timing being number 1. You must get peoples attention at the right time. This is where number 2 comes in, persistence. We can't really tell what people are thinking in their head so we have to constantly be advertising, with our mouths firstly, and our materials lastly. The final ingredient is boldness. To be successful in any business you have to be able to look your opponent if you will, in the eye and state your offer in our case.

I will explain in depth my philosophy on each of my key ingredients. Timing is a very delicate thing. We know from a very young age that sometimes we can make our parents laugh, but in a different circumstance our same little joke makes them want to beat us, ha-ha, a little exaggeration. Seriously though, we have all experienced this many times in life where different moods or attitudes, timing, will completely change the outcome of a situation. Where timing really comes into play in our business is in marketing. Having the foresight and knowledge of what point in a selling cycle to send a letter. Or if you are working on a particular seller, when to conveniently nave your bandit signs all over their neighborhood. We have to be the person or company that constantly pops into their head when they are thinking "I gotta get rid of this house". Being at the right time and the right place seems to be most successful peoples good luck. As we've all read though, the harder you work, the luckier you become. This ties in with my second ingredient.

There is no substitute for persistence. Since the early days of warfare, persistence seems to conquer all. In medieval times castles and kingdoms were overthrown, yes technology played a large part, but persistence was the key factor. I believe that your marketing can be lacking some pizazz, your presentation can be shaky, and even lack of experience will be overcome by persistence and integrity of course. In the last 12 months my company has purchased over 20 properties because of our persistence. We have found out what marketing works and tweak it constantly as we see fit, to keep buyers and seller knocking down our doors. I will site an example, 6 month ago or so I was in a sellers home attempting to buy their house. They said that they received postcard from my company offering to buy their home for 8 months. Now they actually sold to a conventional homeowner the week after i was in their living room, but they said that they received direct mail from 4 or 5 different companies. They chose to do business with mine because of our persistence. If we would have quit mailing to that city, or changed our buying parameters, we would have gotten off their radar. But we stick to it. Even though I sincerely believe that persistence is the most important trait for an entrepreneur to have the last of the recipe I spoke of, boldness, holds a close second.

Webster defines boldness as: showing or requiring a fearless daring spirit. What does this mean to me? It means staring at the face of fear and growling at it. A great real estate guru and motivational speaker whose work I study, often says "Be Bold". Along with persistence, boldness will help you bulldoze through the lack of polish, or experience. Please let me clarify, without integrity, boldness becomes another 8 letter word that starts with a B. Being able to look a seller in the eye and confidently say "I will pay you $100,00 for your house and close in 30 days" is easy. Now to deliver on that promise means everything. As I type this with a coffee in my hand at 5:48 a.m. I am realizing that all three of my ingredients create one dish, Integrity.

Integrity has become an almost tangible asset or trait to posses. As I said earlier, i have been involved in many businesses with a few different partners. I have fount that one trait above all others is the most important for one to have in business, the being integrity. As I grow older and hopefully wiser it becomes more and more apparent to me daily that I seek to do business with those that live by their word. I was deeply involved with someone in business for a long time in my entrepreneurial career. I thought this person was a great human being and I learned a lot from them. We put together a few deals and were working on some larger deals along with other business ventures. the last 6 month of our run together I realized this person had some major character flaws. Lack of integrity being the worst. Quite a few years older and wiser I now will only do business with those that I respect that have proven to me a high level of integrity. Now do I know every bank teller or contractor that I have done business with to have high level of integrity, of course not. But for those that I do multiple projects with, or other investors that I have lurch with weekly, I absolutely require a high level of integrity from them.

These 4 factors are definitely pillars that my businesses have been founded on. When we make promises to our sellers we deliver. Our rehabs and homeownership program are second to none. Finally our non-profit premier real estate investor's club is a testament to our business philosophies. I have to brag a little, our first event that we hosted had an attendance of over 130 investors, entrepreneurs, and professionals. Not many real estate investing clubs, or any private non-profit clubs can say that.

-Make it Happen-

www.PrettyMichiganHomes.com our homes for sale. www.WeOfferToday.com where we buy houses, or take over payments www.REIAofMacomb.com Michigan's Premier Real Estste Investing Club

I Have To Start Somewhere

The purpose of this blog is to give a personal account of the entrepreneurial side of my life, and how it pertains to real estate. It has been a very long road to get to where I'm at professionally. I started my professional career in inside sales, working for Michigan's largest furniture retailer. Although not the most glorious business to be in, it built a strong sales-mined base for me to expand on. Without that base, I certainly would not possess the negotiating skills that I employ today in real estate.

After years of thinking, and being told, "Start your own business" I finally did. I filed for my first LLC with a partner. This was around the year 2000. We started a marketing company called Direct Net. I spent around 9-12 months building a business and marketing plan. After what I thought had some pretty great potential, I found out that my partner's wife didn't agree. That was the first $2500 I truly invested in myself.

I certainly wouldn't trade that whole experience back for the $2500, because I was finally bitten by the bug. That being the "ENTREPRENEUR" bug. The excitement of brainstorming and finally implementing your own ideas is indescribable to me. The one experience that sticks out the most is; we had a business meeting with the President of the Palace of Auburn Hills. He had some interest in some of the marketing and display products that we were using. Although nothing came from the mini-conference, I had a renewed confidence in myself.

From those early days forward I knew that I could not ever really be happy unless I was writing my own ticket. It should have hit me years earlier, but I was unfocused, living in a world of adolescent nuttiness. My father always told me that one day I would be running my own corporation. I never understood why he thought this until one day he sat me down and explained why he and I had never quite seen eye to eye in business.

See my Dad is a corporate guy, with a little history in physical labor. 25 years ago or so, he became the head of a division for one of Michigan's largest privately held companies. He is the head of quality control, so his job is to make sure suppliers and such are actually doing what they promised the buyers. He does not negotiate with clients, and I believe he is happy about that because he is the epitome of being non-confrontational.

With that being said, my father finds me highly confrontational when it comes to business. Not meaning that I argue for the sake of argument, but that I do enjoy it at the very least. So as I was saying, my dad sat me down to psychoanalyze me one day, or at least give me his feelings on my personality. He sites one day many years ago. My Grandfather, Dad, and myself went to a coin and card show in Southfield back in the Eighties. It was the biggest show in Michigan every year. So as my elders were obviously interested in the coins, I was interested much more in the sports cards. Their pricing fluctuated aggressively, so you could make money similar to how a stock would work.

Apparently as I walked around ready to make my "investment", I was secretly being followed by the "guys". I thought I was a hotshot with my $20 bill, which was allocated for a certain whole box of unopened packs. I spied my prey on a table full of other merchandise. As best I can remember, or as I've been told, the dealer behind the table was in his 40's. So I walked up and asked "How much for the box". He said "$20". So before I handed my Andrew Jackson over, I looked one table to my left. Lo and behold, my dealer's neighbor had a whole box of the same unopened packs of cards.

This is where it gets interesting. I said to his neighbor, "How much for a box?". He said "What did he ask?" pointing to my original dealer. "$20" I said in my toughest pre-pubescent voice. "Well, I can go $19" my new friend said. Now all I had to do is look at the first guy, and he quickly said "$18". Holy crap I thought. These adults are fighting over my twenty bucks. "How 'bout you" I said casually to the second dealer. "I'll go $17" he blurts. With my chest puffed up I take a last look at my original seller, figuring he's going to yell at me. He was a grown up for heaven's sake.

"Fine! One dollar over cost" he says sternly to his neighbor. "He's all yours" the second dealer snickers to the original. So I ended up paying $16 instead of $20. That was a 20% cost savings. Little did I understand at that point in time, that my life as a negotiator had started.

As I stated earlier my Grandpa and Dad were secretly watching the whole thing go down. It wasn't until a couple of years later, when my Dad and
Uncles were talking about me that I realized how powerful the tool of negotiating was.

More to follow...
My sites to visit:
http://www.prettymichiganhomes.com/ our homes for sale.
http://www.weoffertoday.com/ where we buy houses, or take over payments
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/ Michigan's Premier Real Estate Investing Club