One of my New Year’s goals was to continue to read multiple newspapers every day. I read the Washington Post, USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Investor’s Business Daily. Recently, Investor’s Business Daily has become my favorite paper. On page two or three of the paper, they profile a successful person every day and also cover a key trait to success.

Lessons Learned from Failure

A few weeks ago I read the fascinating profile about the guy who invented the Zippo lighter. He invented the lighter during the 1930’s. And, important to note is that before he started the Zippo Company he had multiple business failures (there’s an important lesson there, that your past does not predict your future. Just because you messed up on one of your first deals doesn’t mean you’re doomed to failure. On one of my first deals I lost $20,000).

Anyway, the Zippo Company took about 10 years to become profitable and that wasn’t until the company started selling the lighters to the military. The whole lesson in the article was that persistence is one of the major keys to success and that entrepreneurs have multiple business ideas and of course not all of them are going to work out.

On to My Search for a New Home (From an Investor’s Perspective)

Now, let me tell you where I’m at in the search for my new house. I was supposed to meet the seller last Wednesday, but then I found out that the owner’s wife would not be able to make the meeting. I told him we’d need to reschedule, because every smart real estate investor knows that you don’t go to a house and try and close a deal unless all of the decision makers are present. So, we rescheduled the meeting for Friday, however the owner thought I meant the next Friday, not the upcoming one. Long story short, we are meeting this Friday and I plan to negotiate and close the deal. If the owner is not motivated enough and I can’t close the deal, then I’m moving on. I’ve got a lot of other deals in the works right now and being that this is more for the “fun of it” I don’t have the time or patience to play games. Actually, truth be told, I never have time or patience to play games with anyone, whether its real estate related or not.

Okay. Next week, I’ll hopefully have closed the deal on my new house and I will give you the exact details about the numbers, paperwork, negotiating tactics I used, etc. Ohh yeah. Now I remember why I brought up the whole Investor’s Business Daily thing. Besides the article about the Zippo Company there was another article about how the market is only going to get worse in 2009 (the sky is falling, the sky is falling). This put a huge smile on my face because it’s so easy to buy houses right now. Brand new investors have no idea how easy it is to buy houses in this market. When I started out about six years ago and the market was hot, hot, hot, it was much tougher to talk people into creative deals. So, please take advantage of buying as much as you can now, making sure it cash flows and making ridiculous amounts of money when the market picks up and you sell (buy low, sell high, become wealthy).

Photo Credit: Taras Kalapun

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Tags: failure, housing, real estate, real estate investing, success, zippo

I’m in Florida all this week, and I’ll be spending Halloween in Tampa (so, if I have too much fun and end up in jail or drowned in the ocean, you may not hear from me for a while…..especially if I drowned). By the way, I decided I’m going to be Uncle Sam for Halloween (I love this country, what can I say).

It’s been an interesting week so far. First, I got a call from one of my tenants that they think another of my tenants got murdered……basically, the one tenant disappeared a week ago and the homicide detectives are now involved. Also, I’m in the middle of my first eviction ever. I’d say after 5 years and dozens of tenants, doing my first eviction isn’t too bad…..it’s all part of the business.

Anyways, this week I want to tell you what Barack Obama can teach you about real estate investing (and yes, those of you who know me know that I’m a die hard Republican, but I respect all successful people). Many people wonder how Obama came out of nowhere, defeated Hillary Clinton and is now close to being President. Well, it’s because he has run a brilliant campaign, surrounded himself with brilliant strategists and is raking in millions of dollars in donations. In the last few weeks, I’ve had two Obama supporters knock on my door and zero McCain supporters.

When it comes to being successful it doesn’t matter if you’re the most qualified, have more experience, or are the smartest. What matters is if you know how to “play the game” and run the best systems/strategies. As Obama is getting millions in donations, how much private money are you lining up, or how much private money do you have access to? To be successful you have to have access to other people’s money (never use your own). Also, take a look at your power team. How smart and successful are the people that you’re surrounding yourself with? Do you have a top notch lawyer, accountant, handyman, and title company?

Most importantly, what does your marketing system look like? Obama’s marketing system is one of the main reasons he is almost President. The combination of TV commercials, direct mail, door knockers and radio ads allows him to “touch” millions of people and get his message across. I can pretty much guarantee that if you’ve had a bad year of investing, the majority of it is due to terrible marketing systems (probably a lack thereof).

Alright, I’m off to Clearwater beach. Have a fun and safe Halloween, get your marketing systems in place, and start getting some private money (5 years from now you’re going to shoot yourself if you don’t do everything you can to take advantage of this market). Also, for the new people or those who are struggling, next week I’ll show you the marketing systems you should have in place.

Tags: barack obama, obama, planning, real estate investing, strategy, success

Today is my 28th birthday, so Happy Birthday Jason. I’m in a good mood for several reasons. Most importantly, I’m alive and in good health. Also, I get to spend my time these days how I want, where I want, when I want and with whom I want. Lastly, right now is a golden opportunity for me (and you) to make so much money during this financial meltdown (I know that when things turn around I’m going to regret not buying more).

Success is so easy to predict. When I talk to my successful real estate friends they’re thrilled at the money they’re making now and all of the houses they’re scooping up at huge discounts. When I talk to my friends with J-O-B’s they’re whining and complaining that the world is ending (it’s scary how mentally fragile some people are and how the media can sway them). Anyways, not only am I picking up houses now, I’m also getting ready to dump a lot of money into the stock market. If it goes down a little more, what do I care? I’m not touching the money for another 20 years, so I’m fine.

Alright, now to tell you how I can predict your success.

Drum roll please…I can tell how successful you’re going to become by spending a week with you. And, after that week, it would be obvious you’re going to be a success because I would say “look at everything she does, of course she is going to become (or already is) a kick butt real estate investor.” Or, I would say, “no wonder he still hasn’t done a deal yet, he didn’t do a darn thing all week.” It’s that easy. Do you drive for dollars weekly? Do you make sure your letters and postcards get mailed? Do you make dozens of offers on properties? Do you spend time networking on BiggerPockets and at your local REIA’s? Or, do you sit on your butt all week watching five hours of TV every night complaining about your job and the economy?

I think it was real estate tycoon Sam Zell who purchased millions of square feet of office space in Texas during the crash of ’87 (or some time in the 80’s). He knew it would come back up, just like it always does. And, that’s why I’m not only picking up houses but also putting money in the stock market because it’s always your choice whether the glass is half full or half empty.

So, in today’s market prepare to buy and hold for a while. Trying to flip (wholesale) is not smart in this market and many wholesalers are getting killed which is why you need to be a well rounded investor. One last thing…pretend that I’m spending all next week with you. What would you do differently? I sure hope you wouldn’t watch TV and waste my time while I was there (alright, now I’m off to reflect on my 28 years, and what I need to do to become a better person and real estate investor). Oh, by the way, next week I’m going to tell you my favorite website for mailing postcards, the size of the postcards to use, the color to use and the headline of the postcard for getting awesome responses in today’s market!

Photo Credit: soylentgreen23

Tags: real estate, real estate investing, real estate investor, rehab, success, wholesale