"Why Sub2 Investors Give Up..."

The real estate business is always making room for those who are not afraid to work. The fact is the harder one "works" in real estate, the more one learns, the more distinctions one makes, and eventually ...the more money one makes. It's just the law.

Of course, we see the pros make this business look like a walk in the park. And all the gurus tell us that if we just follow their prescription that we'll be just like the big boys in no time. Well, that's true that gurus do offer meaningful short cuts and systems that help us get traction very fast. However, just because somebody has the gold mine, doesn't mean they're committed to mining it.

I've witnessed students buy my Sub2 course, which is specifically geared to bypass as much wheel-spinning and frustration as possible, and then do practically nothing with it. Here they've got a tool that could help them buy their own dream house, or dream car, and instead they put the tool on the shelf "until they can get around to using it." How long do they want to wait to live prosperously, I ask myself.

Other students, have turned terrible situations around for themselves. They didn't wait around for the stars to line up, to get cracking.

Last month a student contacted me about his investing objectives. He wanted some help getting organized and putting a system together to buy some income property. When I found out what his deadline was, I was practically gulping air, it was so ambitious.

I'm not sure whether it was out of desperation, vision, or what, but his goal was short-fused. It's inspiring an fun to help someone reach an important, if not difficult goal. So, what was the deadline? March 1. So we got cracking! He took the steps necessary to familiarize himself with data sheets, and started making calls on properties. Now he's advertising for sellers and I am excited about helping him reach this goal...

At the same time, this was happening, I had just about had it listening to other newbies complain, "there's no deals," "I can't find anything to buy," "agents are jerks," "sellers want too much," and blahdy blah, and "I want to give up", because they can't find low hanging fruit like the gurus all promised will happen if they fork over $5,000.00 for their boot camp. Of course I don't promise "low hanging fruit," but I do promise the ability to recognize it! There's a difference.

Well, "Reality Knocking! Hello!" It's takes effort to do real estate profitably. That's what my new student is learning, too. I told him that he needed to complete 50 analysis sheets on 50 different properties so that he could learn to instantly recognize a deal. Slowly and painstaking we plowed through a couple income property data sheets so he could get acquainted with the process (and I relearned some important assumptions at the same time). Did you know that sellers will lie about their numbers to gather interest? Anywhoo...

Well, to really drive this point home about the work involved in finding deals, I received a call from a car salesman who wanted to lease purchase a house for himself. I told him that I had nothing in his area, but I would help him find something that he could negotiate on his own (after all he's a professional negotiator). I told him that he would have to put in some hours on the phone, and pointed him to the most likely prospects.

The next day he called me to let me know he found four potential deals ....after about 8 hours of cold calling. After he told me the terms he was throwing out, I could only sit in awe at what the sellers said they were interested in doing with this guy. Of course the next thing out of his mouth was that he wanted to bird dog for me. Of course I said, "nah, I work my own deals, thanks, but no thanks." NOT! Of course, I took him up on his offer as soon as I could get the word "Fantastic!" out of my mouth.

Well, I've got a student digging for income property gems and learning to recognize deals on the spot, and a used car salesman looking in just the right places for deals for himself (and me) and neither of them are complaining about the hard work involved so far.

So, forget about finding the low hanging fruit, and start digging for buried treasure in your own gold mine, and dig out the juicy deals that nobody else knows exists, like my students and bird dogs are willing to do. Then in no time, you'll reach your goals and somebody will assume it's just as easy as the gurus say it is!

My First Student! :D

I came across this video from Preston Ely, the probate real estate guru. He posted this on FaceBook and I just laughed my head off.

One reason I post this, is just to prove that ANYONE can do real estate. It just takes passion, persistence, and a program! I give this guy kudos for plugging away.

Note: The guy's wife's fingers pic at his nose --- Hilarious!

Enjoy!


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Houston. We Have a Problem.

I'm now officially sixty days behind schedule in launching my training course. It's been unbelievably complicated and time consuming. I'm glad I'm not having to hold my breath --- or my bladder!

I've still got writing, editing, and tons of loose ends waiting to be nailed down. Who knew how much brain power was required to put together something like this, I ask.

Meanwhile, I'm motivated by the fact that one of my mentors offered two-day training camps every two months for about ten students at a time for about two thousand dollars each person. If my math is correct that's about ten thousand dollars a month gross before expenses. He probably spent about thirty percent on overhead. He told me that it wore him out and he's no longer offering the training camps. Hmmm. Maybe it was too inexpensive?

My other mentor meanwhile is grossing nearly four hundred thousand a month selling a newsletter! I'm almost tempted to go into the newsletter writing business! :) Nah.

Yesterday I was writing advertising copy. It read well enough that I was halfway tempted to pull out my VISA card and order my own course from myself! Ha! Maybe I should do that anyway just to make sure everything works?

During my research of various account providers I discovered that PayPal has a LOT of restrictions, including holding back money from it's clients for six months in the event they suspect fraud. I also learned that one of the merchant account providers held up several hundred thousand dollars of my mentor's VISA receipts because the credit card processor was surprised by and consequently suspicious of the huge amount of money they were processing. They are still holding back several hundred thousand dollars of his --- after six months! Another vendor is still holding about thirty thousand dollars. Wow. That would be scary and irritating!

I just learned that my credit card company wants to know what my sales estimates are before they "approve" my merchant accounts. With all the 9/11 security checks and money laundering schemes they want to know what to expect. I have zero idea. For safety reasons I'm going to say, "Exactly Six Quadrillion Dollars a month."

That's a start, huh?

Meanwhile, back to the writing, editing and marketing "stone." I'm so anxious and excited about my course launch that I'm giggly on my way to bed every night!

More to come later...

Great RE Website (Plus some)

This is what happens when two investors get together at a theme park!

Rating John T. Reed and his Guru Rating BS Chart

[Unconfirmed Photo]

FYI: John T. Reed sells RE guru material! Commercial Review of J.T. Reed

He also spends a considerable amount of time in self-serving criticism of a majority of other RE gurus and their courses. I consider Reed, at best, classless in this regard, and at worst unethical and unprofessional, if not unsuccessful in real estate.

Why do I care? And why would I critique Reed?

Well first, quality operators don't make personally directed comparisons in order to sell their own products by putting down, impugning, or indulging in efforts and activities that otherwise diminish the reputations of their competitors.

Secondly, as a professional investor with several years of RE ownership under my belt, I've received a lot of insight from many of the gurus Reed bashes. In fact, I'll go as far to say that, I probably wouldn't have had the guts to do 30% of what I've done since 1981, had it not been for one of Bob Allen's No Down Payment workshops I attended, specifically.

Robert "Bob" Allen has certainly taken a fall, or two, over the years, as Reed is all-too-happy to inform you. But it's not the fact that one got knocked down a couple of times that counts. No. It's where one is headed! And it's about not giving in, or giving up! Allen got back up!

Notwithstanding, Reed takes specious quotes of Allen and blends them into a nefarious, evil, advantage-taking context. I had to laugh at one alleged quote of Allen that goes, "We're not in the RE information business. We're in show business". Well, of course Allen is in show business!

That's a lot of what marketing is. Duh?

But this is an anathema, if not a surprise for Reed.

Meanwhile, I have much respect for Robert Allen, if only that he's been willing to risk everything, several times over, in order to both become prosperous himself and help others do the same. Reed would not agree. Meantime, I don't mind one wit that Allen used "show business" to sell me on a "Possible Dream" many years ago.

This is the thing that John T. Reed doesn't understand. He doesn't understand that part of selling is creating a romantic image, even a dream in the buyer's mind of what could be possible. Yes, what's being sold can be mostly a romantic dream or image, but it's the romance that spurs imaginations and creates momentum in our hearts and minds to achieve something bigger than ourselves.

Look at John F. Kennedy. He made a romantic speech once about "...going to the moon, in this decade!"

If that's not a romantic picture --- that he motivated a nation to "waste" 30 billion on --- money that could have been spent on the homeless and hungry, I don't know what is.

No, Reed's all too mechanical and logical. He really doesn't understand people, or marketing. He prefers that RE guru materials must somehow equate to some MBA program with Harvard-like certificates (in what...Lease / Option Finance?).

Meanwhile, John T. Reed won't market himself out of a wet paper bag. He's afraid of the risk. He writes that he doesn't sell his books in stores because he doesn't want to risk printing too many copies at his own expense --- or let bookstores profit from his book (or something along that line). Whah!?

Essentially he won't take the risk that his book won't sell well, and he doesn't want anyone else to profit from his book either. How low-budget and greedy is this, I ask.

Anyway, let me just say that I did buy three copies of John T. Reed's superb book on Property Management. I bought them at Border's Books in Overland Park, KS back in 1991. Evidently someone bought several copies to be resold commercially, because I was shocked to hear him say his books have never been sold in stores. All I can say is, "Well John, yes they have been, and I liked them, too".

Meanwhile, I do not recommend John T. Reeds Guru Review or his BS checklist. The entries are subjective at best, and misleading and irrelevant at worst. Again, for example, who cares if Bob Allen filed BK 14 years ago, or several times since? Doesn't even the Bible authorize bankruptcy as public policy in the Old Testament --- as opposed to holding debtors in prison for the remainder of their lives --- both as a testimony of mercy and grace toward those who've gotten themselves in a financial jam?

We can only hope that John T. Reed never gets himself in a crack, and asks for financial mercy. He'll get none from me, because he gives none to others, and does his best to both embarrass and humiliate those who've once, or twice, been in a ditch.