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New Research Reveals March as the Top Month to List Properties and Rentals

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  • A new study has identified the time of the year Americans are keenest to move – and March is the most popular month.
  • The study analyzed Google searches around property and rental sites to reveal the best time to put your home on the market or start renting.
  • Colorado is named as the state looking to move the most, whereas Alaskans are happiest staying put in their current homes.
  • An expert shares their advice on the benefits of using a storage unit to make your move run as smoothly as possible.

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New research has revealed March is when sellers and landlords should list their properties to receive the most interest.

The research, pulled together by online self-storage finder Storage.com analyzed nationwide and regional Google search volume for keywords related to real-estate sites – such as Zillow and Trulia – to determine the time of year properties and rentals are most in demand.

The added financial pressure caused by the current economic situation might deter some from moving, but for others, it might motivate them to take the plunge – whether this is driven by an urge to get onto the property ladder or because tenants want to find somewhere more affordable.

Whatever the reason, U.S. searches for for-sale and rental listings reached a whopping 476,050,700 by the end of last year, peaking in March with a total of 44,698,660 – 13% more than the monthly average of 39,670,892.

This indicates sellers and landlords should make any final touches to their properties over the next few weeks to be ready to list by month’s end, as interest could be about to surge again.

Enthusiasm around moving dropped as 2023 came to a close, with searches falling 20% below the monthly average in December to 31,662,730. Americans didn’t appear eager to change homes in November either, as the month recorded the second-lowest volume at 33,623,290.

This is perhaps because the excitement of the festivities drew attention away from searching for somewhere new to live, suggesting sellers and landlords will have the worst luck if they list during the holiday period.

The next most popular month is July at 44,097,760 – 11% above the monthly average – followed by August at 43,828,170, so owners are best off advertising their properties sooner rather than later if they want a deal underway, otherwise they may have to wait until the next rush in summer.

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As well as analyzing nationwide Google search volume, the study looked at it on a regional level to identify the states where sellers and landlords are most likely to find potential buyers and renters, with Colorado proving to be the most eager to relocate this year.

The stage averaged 14,414 searches per 100k residents, a fifth (21%) higher than the national average of 11,869 (per 100k residents).

Florida is the second state most wanting to uproot, with 13,985 searches per 100k – 18% above the US average. In third is Arizona, which is still 16% higher at 13,782 per 100k, meaning listings may still receive higher response rates there than in most states.

The Ten States Most Interested in Moving

Commenting on the findings, Chuck Gordon, CEO of Storable, the parent company of Storage.com, says: “Now that Americans have settled back into their everyday routines and bank balances are starting to recover after a tight January, it’s likely those that were home hunting beforehand will return to it – and many others may start looking too if they
set moving as a goal for 2024.

“If the trend spotted last year repeats itself, prospective homeowners are going to increase their research for potential homes again next month, so there’s not too much time for budding sellers and landlords to get their properties up to scratch and capitalize on the demand.

“Finding the right place to live can seem like the biggest challenge of the process at the time, however it’s only the first hurdle. While it’s near impossible to remove all stress from a move, beginning packing as soon as things are in motion can seriously ease the headache.

“You’ll be surprised how quickly time can creep up on you, and suddenly you have most of your house to pack still. However, it can take weeks upon weeks before you receive a moving date – sometimes even months – and living among boxes can add to the sense of chaos. If you can, use a storage unit to hold non-essential items.

“That way, there’s less loading and unloading to do on the big day. You can unpack and set up everything you need to use immediately, then add in the extras at your own pace, finding the right spot for them rather than just shoving them anywhere in a rush to feel sorted.”

Data was gathered via Google Keyword Planner, which provides nationwide and state-specific search volume behind moving-related terms, keywords, and sites. All findings were scaled against local populations to get a ‘per 100k residents’ search rate.

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How to Minimize Risks and Maximize Gains

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By Rick Tobin

Between January 2020 and present day, U.S. home prices rose a staggering +47%, per S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller. Are these price trends likely to keep rising at the same pace or not?

How is it possible that the reported published inflation rates are declining while home prices and home unaffordability rates are increasing at the same time?

Will home prices decrease, flatten, or increase later here in 2024? The answer partly depends on whether the home listing inventory supply rapidly increases or decreases. It’s all supply and demand economics at the true core.

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Let’s take a closer look at some eye-opening housing, inflation, and jobs numbers:

  • Before the Fed started raising rates in 2022, a $2,000 monthly housing budget would have bought a home costing more than $400,000. Today, a $2,000 monthly household budget gets $295,000 or less.
  • Existing home sales between 1998 and 2007 averaged 6 million per year. Through October 2023, the annual home selling pace was closer to 3.79 million housing units.
  • Over the past 50 years (1973 – 2023), home prices rose by nearly 1,300% as compared with a 610% gain in the CPI (Consumer Price Index).
  • The inflation-adjusted hourly work wage has increased by just a measly 1% over the past 50 years (not an annual 1% increase, but just a 1% total gain over and above 1973’s wages in 2023 at a 1/50th of 1% increase per year average).
  • By comparison, the inflation-adjusted median home price has gained 100% over the past 50 years. As a result, real home prices have increased by more than 100 times (or 100x) the real wage gains.

Sources: CPI, Federal Reserve, and ZeroHedge

To be able to afford the median-priced home of $433,100 in late 2023, a household needed an annual income of roughly $166,600. However, the median household nationwide earns just $74,580, which is only 45% of the recommended amount.

By comparison, the median-priced home in California reached almost $860,000 in recent months. This is almost double the national median-priced home average.

As it relates to the lock-in effect, it does not matter too much if the homeowner’s mortgage rate is 6%, 4%, or 2% if they lose their job and main source of income. Foreclosures will likely rapidly increase this year as the true unemployment numbers skyrocket, sadly. It then creates a downward spiral for the neighboring homeowners as future foreclosures become the latest sales comps while creating more upside-down homes with negative equity. Later, more underwater homeowners will walk away if they have no equity to protect.

The latest house payment ($62,165) as a percentage of household income ($94,964) number ratio is 65.46% here in California ($62,165/$94,964 = 65.46%).

Approximately 60% of all homes owned in America are owned by people over the age of 50. Average home prices across the nation have increased 45%+ since the pandemic declaration back in March 2020. At some point, more older Americans will likely list their homes for sale to take their gains and to downsize at the same time while pushing the home listing inventory numbers higher.

If you have cash or access to third-party loans or equity partners, there will be some incredible buying opportunities this year and beyond.

Water Damage and Extreme Weather Swings

It’s getting increasingly difficult to obtain insurance for both owner-occupied and rental properties. A mortgaged residential or commercial real estate property is required to have sufficient amounts of insurance coverage, or the lender may consider it to be the equivalent of a mortgage default that would later lead to a foreclosure filing.

The #1 cause of damage to homes is usually excess water from rainstorms, heavy snowfall, floods, leaky roofs, or broken pipes. Fewer than 2% of Californians have flood insurance coverage for their homes. The horrific flooding in San Diego last month will likely cause significant losses for residential and commercial real estate properties as well as push insurance premiums skywards for local San Diego County and statewide residents.

Florida is #1 for the highest annual homeowners insurance premiums that are near $9,270. How much worse will it get after hurricane season begins?

Please make sure that you have multiple insurance coverage options from your preferred insurance broker just in case you receive a cancellation notice in your mailbox in the near future.

Commercial Real Estate

Upwards of 44% of office buildings nationwide with a mortgage are now claimed to be upside-down with negative equity here near the start of 2024. Later this year, the negative equity numbers should keep rising. How will this potentially impact banks and the overall US economy later this year and next?

CNBC recently published this article entilted vacant office spaces on the rise, with over 100 million square feet available in Manhattan.

This 100 million square foot number is equivalent to 40 vacant Empire State Buildings. Occupancy rates for office buildings in that region continue to remain under 50%. How many of these empty offices will later be converted to residential units?

Blackstone, the world’s largest owner of commercial real estate and a spinoff of BlackRock, is walking away from some of their distressed and upside-down commercial properties.

Year-over-year office building price percentage losses (’22 – ’23)
1. San Francisco: -58.9%
2. Chicago: -48.3%
3. San Jose: -48.0%
4. Philadelphia: -45.1%
5. Los Angeles: -44.6%
6. Orange County, CA: -38.4%
7. Dallas/Ft. Worth: -37.6%
8. New York: -37.3%
9. Austin: -31.5%
10. Boston: -24.2%

Source: Green Street News (data for all office sales, not just for Blackstone deals)

There are another one million new rentals coming to market by 2025 over and above the 1.2 million new apartment units that were built over the past three years, according to REjournals. Will this drive down rental prices even more due to excess supply?

Banks

Between 2017 and 2023, more than 10,000 bank branches closed nationwide. From January 1, 2023 through October 19, 2023, banks fired 20,000 employees. Yet, an additional 42,000 bank employees were let go in the final 72 days of the year between October 20th and December 31st for a grand total of 62,000 bank layoffs in 2023. Will these numbers accelerate in 2024?

Next month on March 11th, the Federal Reserve is terminating their “safety net” for many banks that’s called the Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP). After the financial system almost collapsed last year in March 2023, it was the BTFP bailout programs that possibly prevented bank runs after many banks became technically insolvent. On March 12th, private money may become quite popular as a backup lending solution because fewer banks may be able to lend to even their most creditworthy clients.

The banking dominoes continue to fall…

The push towards the “Basel III Endgame” banking regulation, which requires banks with assets over $100 billion to set aside more capital or cash reserves while driving down their ability to lend, is almost here.

Basel is a reference to the city in Switzerland where the world’s superbank, named the Bank for International Settlements, is located. They govern all central banks worldwide, including the Federal Reserve. We may see an increasing number of bank closures and mergers this year and next, partly due to these new regulations.

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China’s Defaulting Real Estate Marketplace

Here comes the next potential Asian Contagion event and derivatives debt tsunami from Evergrande (3333.HK stock symbol – they were once China’s largest real estate developer) as I’ve been writing about for several years. Country Garden, also ranked as high as the #1 largest real estate developer in China, is having their own serious financial challenges as well. It could force many Chinese investors to sell off their US Treasury holdings, which, in turn, may drive the 10-year Treasury yield and corresponding 30-year fixed mortgage rates higher.

January 2024 was somewhat reminiscent of the Russian financial crisis (stocks, bonds, and currency implosions) that spread to Asia (aka Asian Contagion) and South America back in 1998. At the same time, the derivatives investments held by Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM) were so volatile and at risk that they ran out of money while almost taking down the world’s entire financial system at the same time.

Several large financial institutions were asked by the Federal Reserve to put upwards of $100 million each to save LTCM’s derivatives bets so that the financial system wouldn’t collapse. The only investment firms that refused to bail out LTCM in 1998 were Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns. Ten years later in 2008, they were the first big investment firms to implode as the Credit Crisis (primarily related to a frozen global derivatives market) worsened and were not bailed out either, ironically.

Never forget that the global bond and currency markets absolutely dwarf all stock markets combined. Get your popcorn ready and keep a close eye on financial institutions in China, Russia, Germany (Deutsche Bank, especially), and here in the U.S.

Jobs Layoffs and Declining Cash Reserves

Job layoffs accelerated +136% in just one month between January 2024 and December 2023. Cash reserves held at banks are near all-time record lows right now. A recent survey found that 60% of the U.S. population has $500 or less in their checking accounts. Just 12% of the U.S. population has $2,001 dollars or more in their checking accounts, as per GoBankingRates.

Ballooning Corporate Debt

The U.S. corporate loan maturity amounts that ballooned or will be ballooning or coming all due and payable by the following year-end dates:

  • December 2023: $230 billion
  • December 2024: $790 billion
  • December 2025: $1.070 trillion
  • December 2026: $1.105 trillion
  • December 2027: $1.055 trillion
  • December 2028: $1.240 trillion
  • December 2029: $802 billion

Many corporations will be forced to refinance their debt at much higher rates while increasing their costs and decreasing their profits. As a result, more corporations will likely look to reduce their monthly costs, which may include increased job layoffs, sadly.

Between October 2019 and April 2023, there were more jobs created for foreign-born workers than for native American workers, as per ZeroHedge. My guess is that the foreign worker percentages have increased at an even faster pace between May 2023 and January 2024. In 2023, there were more illegal immigrant crossings in the USA each month than the total number of monthly births for US residents.

Government and Consumer Debt

According to Michael Snyder’s article entitled The United States Has The Biggest Government In The History Of The World By A Very Wide Margin, let’s take a look at some of these published numbers:

  • Upwards of 3 million people work for the federal government.
  • The federal government spent 6.13 trillion dollars in 2023. This figure is larger than the GDP of every nation on the planet except for the U.S. and China.
  • More than 70 million Americans are on Social Security.
  • More than 65 million Americans are on Medicare.
  • More than 81 million Americans are on Medicaid.
  • More than 41 million Americans are on food stamps.

Consumer and government spending trends: US households racked up $17.29 trillion in record debt last year (mortgages, credit cards, auto loans, student loans, etc.). The federal US debt crossed another milestone recently, surpassing $34 trillion. By comparison in 2009, US debt was only $10.6 trillion. Between 1980 and 1990, the total overall federal debt only increased by $2 trillion.

We’ve borrowed:
* $1 trillion over the last 3 months
* $2 trillion over the last 6 months
* $11 trillion over the last 4 years

In the previous housing crash here in California (2007 to 2012), average home prices fell to a still all-time state record amount of -41.7% from peak to trough.

  • Nearly 30% of Americans are behind on one or more debt payments.
  • 56 million Americans had unpaid credit card balances for more than a year.
  • 40% of student loan borrowers have still not made a payment even after the recent October 1, 2023 student loan payment restart date after three years of C-19 forbearance.
  • Just one late payment can drop a FICO credit score between 80 and 180 points.

Out of Chaos Comes Opportunity

Inflation is likely to remain elevated here in 2024. Historically, the ownership of real estate has proven to be an exceptional hedge against inflation while rising at a similar pace or higher each year.

With consumer debts at all-time record highs and credit card APR rates hovering between 28% and 30%+ and early paycheck loans reaching as high as 330% to 400% APR rates, it’s very important to limit your spending, set aside as much cash as possible if this may be an option for you, and keep your eyes focused on potential real estate bargains in your region.

During volatile economic time periods like seen back during the Great Depression (1929 – 1939), the Savings and Loan Crisis (‘80s and ‘90s), and the Credit Crisis or Great Financial Recession (2007 to 2012), there were incredible buying opportunities for discounted real estate. Please stay focused on your goals and targets rather than on the temporary obstacles.

Rick Tobin

Rick Tobin has worked in the real estate, financial, investment, and writing fields for the past 30+ years. He’s held eight (8) different real estate, securities, and mortgage brokerage licenses to date and is a graduate of the University of Southern California. He provides creative residential and commercial mortgage solutions for clients across the nation. He’s also written college textbooks and real estate licensing courses in most states for the two largest real estate publishers in the nation; the oldest real estate school in California; and the first online real estate school in California. Please visit his website at Realloans.com for financing options and his new investment group at So-Cal Real Estate Investors for more details. 

Learn live and in real-time with Realty411. Be sure to register for our next virtual and in-person events. For all the details, please visit Realty411.com or our Eventbrite landing page, CLICK HERE.

Real Estate Success with Flip and Dani Lynn Robison – Entrepreneurs, Authors and Speakers

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Investors, it’s time for another exclusive Realty411 live webinar! Don’t miss the opportunity to learn exclusive insight, tips and strategies by some of the top real-estate investors in the nation. On this exciting LIVE webinar, Entrepreneurs, Authors and National Speakers, Flip and Dani Lynn Robinson, share incredible journey and insight with our guests.

This online presentation is engaging and is designed to catapult our guests to the next level of real-estate success! Flip and Dani are founders and owners of The Freedom Family of Companies, a vertically integrated investment firm with:

** Over $30 Million Dollars Raised
** Over $22 Million in Assets and over 900 Units Under Management

On this exclusive and LIVE webinar, Flip and Dani Lynn will divulge top secrets and top-of-mind topics, such as:

>>> The important Investor’s Guide to Real Estate

>>> 7 Mindset Mistakes Blocking Your Breakthrough

>>> Simplified Strategies for Building Wealth

>>> How They Made $2M in 21 Months Without Losing Sleep or Selling Friends

>>> Finding Your Financial Freedom – How the 1% Think, Invest, and Design Their Lives

As a special treat for the upcoming Valentine’s Day festivities, Flip and Dani Lynn will also share a special segment for couples. Discover strategies for working and living the wild real-estate investing life with your spouse or loved.

This special presentation for entrepreneurial couples is titled: “Tips on How Couples Can Work Together Towards Real Estate Success.” Don’t miss this special webinar, online seats are LIMITED, so be sure to register today!

8 Simple Steps To Riches In Real Estate Or In Any Other Field, For That Matter

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By Reggie Brooks

Before I got involved with real estate I tried various other potential money-making ventures.  I created a company called Advanced Video Productions, and spent the first 4 weeks designing the all important ‘logo’.  I might have thought that my income was totally dependent on a well designed, slick logo. I hadn’t learned anything about time management yet.

I created another company that sold satellite systems. This was way back when satellite dishes were huge.  They could have been mistaken for UFO’s.  My  success?  I sold 1 satellite system, period.  And that one system was sold to a friend.  I hadn’t learned anything about marketing. 

Another time, I got involved with a Multi Level Marketing group and ended up with a garage full of water filters.  Well, it really seemed like a good idea at the time…..

Through the many successes and failures that I’ve either experienced over the years or witnessed others experience, I’ve identified 8 steps you can take that can put you on the fast track to wealth.  These are  simple, powerful steps that really work!!

The 3 Cornerstones Of Success

I’ve taken a lot of seminars and classes over the years, and I’ve learned that personal and financial growth requires an investment. You must be willing to invest your money and your time. Then you must make a commitment to discipline yourself. What good is having a superior knowledge  of creative real estate if you don’t discipline yourself to use it?  Many successful real estate investors have invested many thousands of dollars in their creative real estate education.  Their libraries are bulging with books, tapes, CD’s, DVD’s, and any other form of media necessary to put money-making techniques into their heads.  They understand the power of “The 3 Cornerstones Of Success”.

The 3 Cornerstones Of Success are like a 3 legged stool. As long as there are 3 legs, the stool will support your weight. However, if you loose just 1 of those 3 legs, you’ll crash to the floor.  This is a perfect parallel to the 3 Cornerstones Of Success.

  1. The 1st Cornerstone Of Success is continued education. As successful investors, we make our money buying distressed property from motivated owners. In order to do that, we must learn how to creatively solve the problems that owners have with their properties.  None of us were born with this creative knowledge. We have to invest our money and our time into our education, and we have to learn the smart, money-making principles and techniques.  Then, we use these smart, money-making principles and techniques as tools to creatively structure win-win deals. This is why we continue to read books, listen to tapes, and take classes.  This brings us to the 2nd Cornerstone Of Success.
  1. The 2nd Cornerstone Of Success is discipline. You must discipline yourself to use the smart, money-making  principles and techniques that you’ve learned.  This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to spend 15 hours each day to work your business.  It could mean that you simply discipline yourself to write that offer, or send that letter out, or talk to that owner or neighbor, or anything else that you been procrastinating about.  So much of the time we’re so close to success, but we give up just before we achieve it.  Most of the time we give up because it is to scary or to painful to proceed on.  Anticipating an owner who says no instead of yes can be both scary and painful.  Dig down as deep as you need to and find that spark of passion that you can use to generate the discipline that you need.  Use it like a magic carpet to fly above the pitfalls to success.
  1. The 3rd cornerstone is productive action on a daily basis. You must continue to learn, you must discipline yourself to use what you’ve learned, and now you must put it to work on a daily basis.  It may be that the productive action of the day may only take 15 or 20 minutes. Success comes to the person who has made him/herself worthy of the success that they seek.  And you make yourself worthy by following the 3 Cornerstones Of Success.  Then, you’re prepared whenever opportunity comes along.

People sometimes ask me, “Come on, Reggie, tell me”.  “What’s the secret to being successful in real estate”? There is no one individual ‘secret’  that will make you an instant millionaire in real estate.  It’s more of a matter of doing a whole lot of little things correctly that empowers us to create a tremendous wealth.   Doing smart things systematically toward your goal every day will breathe life into the 3 Cornerstones Of Success.  There is nothing on this earth that can stop you if you simply follow the 3 Cornerstones Of Success. Here are a few other ideas that can help you to achieve your own level of success.

  1. Don’t Take Your Financial Advice From Broke People

When I first got involved in real estate, I let everyone know that I was launching into a new career.  I told them that I was studying courses on how to perform creative real estate deals that would make me rich.  I told them I was learning  about no money down deals, how to get owner financing, how to rehab to increase profits, and so much more.  I was so excited about my new real estate career that I had real trouble shutting up about it.  As a matter of fact, I think that I got a little cocky.  I’d tell anyone who would listen to me about the wealth that I was going to build in real estate.

I finally realized that I was sharing my excitement with the wrong people.  I was sharing my dreams with people who had no respect for them.  They would find ways to tell me that my dreams would never work. “There’s no such thing as a win-win deal”.  “When someone wins, someone else has to loose.”  They also said things like, “You can’t do no money down deals because there’s got to be some money in the deal someplace”.  They never stopped to think that the money doesn’t have to come from you.  It can come from the seller, the lender, the realtor, from private sources, or a great number of other places. It doesn’t have to come from your pocket.

This is when I realized just how important it is to share your ideas with the right people, and not the wrong people.  Share your ideas with other investors or students who are of like mind – either doing deals and making money or learning and growing in creative real estate education.  If you share your dreams with people who are not educated or not experienced in creative real estate techniques,  you leave yourself wide open for opinions.  When you get opinions from people that you respect, you have a tendency to believe them.  This can be especially hazardous for new investors.

Always ask yourself the question, “By what authority does this person give me this advice.  Has he/she been trained in this field?  Has he/she worked in this field and made money?”  If the answers are no, don’t listen to him/her.  No matter how much you love or respect the person, you have to protect your financial future from well meaning people who are not qualified to give you financial guidance.

If you have a new born baby, you wouldn’t dare even think about exposing that baby to the harsh elements that could make your baby sick.  You wouldn’t leave your new born baby outside in the rain or the snow.  You wouldn’t leave your baby in the heat of the sun, or with unsavory characters as baby sitters.  Treat your new real estate business just as you would your new born baby.  Expose your baby to the people who can help it grow big and strong, but keep it away from those who will do it harm.  And the difficult part is that for the most part, our uninformed friends don’t mean any harm.  But if you let their unfounded opinions influence you, it can be fatal to your business.

If you will continue to learn the right things – the things that create win-win situations between you and the owner – the things that make you money, now you’re ready for the next lesson.

  1. Don’t Get Greedy

My friend and mentor, Dr. Albert Lowry tells his students that it’s OK to be a bit of a pig (I call it good negotiating). It’s OK to structure a deal where you make a lot of money.  But don’t be a hog. You can blow a good deal by trying to hog all the profits. Don’t forget about the seller’s needs.  Dr. Lowry says, “Pigs get rich, but hogs get slaughtered”.  Makes sense, doesn’t it?  Keep this phrase in mind.  We’re going to talk about a principle that was so important in changing my life.  As we discuss this principle, keep in mind that you can get rich faster by doing a lot of $20K to $30K deals than holding out for that big $100,000 deal. So, without further ado, I present to you “The Win Principle”.  Caution: This principle works best when used with The 3 Cornerstones Of Success, which we talked about earlier. Here’s how it works:

The “WIN”  Principle stands for “What’s Important Now”.  Once you’ve educated yourself in creatively investing in real estate, you’ll know what you should be doing at any given time.  Whether it’s using what you’ve already learned, or, if you’re a little short on knowledge, maybe taking in a seminar, workshop, bootcamp, or listening to books and tapes.  It may be that you need to take a break, or the rest of the day off, or even a vacation.  Whatever it may be – you know deep inside exactly what you should be doing at any particular time.

If you will discipline yourself to do What’s Important Now, you WILL accomplish your financial goals.  What do you want?  Do you want to be rich??  You can be rich!!  If you will diligently exercise the 2 principles that I’ve outlined above, you will accomplish your financial goals!!!  Does it sound easy?  It does to me.  I think it’s a simple thing to do, but it’s certainly not an easy thing to do.

  1. Failing To Screen Your Sellers

As investors, we make our money when we buy property from motivated sellers.  I had to find that out the hard way.  Very early in my career I found an little old lady that lived in a huge old house in Hollywood, California.  Her name was Alice Jordan and she was part of a big mailing campaign that I was working at the time. When she responded to one of my letters, it felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest an on to the floor!!  My  palms were sweaty, and my voice trembled.  She said that she wanted to sell her house!!  We immediately made an appointment to meet at her house the very next day.

It was sheer agony having to wait until the next day to meet with the lady in the big house.  The thoughts running through my head were non-stop!  Will she contact someone else?  Will someone else contact her?  Maybe a family member.  What if she changes her mind?  Am I really ready for this?  This is a huge step!  What if it doesn’t work?  What if I fail?  I don’t want to loose any money.   Does any of this sound familiar to you?  I think we all suffer with Uncontrollable Thought Syndrome.  There’s nothing like doing a good deal and making yourself $20,000 to $40,000 to make all those negative thoughts disappear.  You might still have those uncontrollable thoughts running through your head, but they’ll be a little different.  Let’s see, I wonder if we should go to the Bahamas, or if we should go to Hawaii?  Should I go for the Mercedes, or should I go for the BMW?

Back to the little old lady.  For three weeks, we went back and forth.  Every time I thought we were close, she’d throw some garbage into our deal that would bring negotiations to a halt.  Then I’d call her after a few days, we’d reach what I thought was an agreement, and we would resume.   This would happen over and over.  You’d think I’d have gotten a clue about this one, but I didn’t.

I happened to be talking with a friend who was a fellow investor, and I mentioned Ms. Jordan, the lady that I was dealing with, and how frustrated I’d become.  He looked at me with a little sly smile on his face.  He said, “You mean Alice Jordan”?  I said yes.

Needless to say, I was stunned.  The uncontrollable thoughts started again.  I quickly took control by feebly asking, “Uh, how do you know Ms. Jordan”?  His answer cut like a knife.  “Everybody knows old Alice.  She gets lonely and calls on someone’s newspaper ad or direct mail piece.  That’s how she entertains herself.  She never leaves the house.’

I was crushed.  I was merely an old lady’s entertainment.  Everyone else knew about Ms. Jordan. I didn’t.  My friend even called her by her first name!!  That’s when I learned how important it is not to waste time on sellers that are not motivated.  By the time you make an offer based on your profit criteria and you get a counter offer back from the seller, you’ll know whether  you have a motivated seller or not.

  1. Lack Of Focus

There are so many different ways to make money in real estate.  You can buy, fix up and sell.  You can buy and hold for cash flow.   You can wholesale to other investors.  Come to think of it, you can even make money without ever owning the real estate.  You can buy mortgages, and you can lend money and charge hefty interest rates.  And this is just to name a few.  It’s easy to see how a new investor can jump from one strategy to another.  A new investor is usually excited about the prospect of getting money worries out of the way, and as a result they’re usually more than just a little impatient.  The expectations are high, but the patience is low.

Success in real estate investing is directly dependent on your ability to take action, analyze your results, make your adjustments and take action again.  It’s a sweet little cycle that you use to get rich.  A success cycle, if you will.  The best way to capitalize on this cycle is to focus on a system that is simple and easy to work, like Creating Wealth With Abandoned Properties.  As you begin to work your system of choice, make sure you continue to learn from your results while you fine tune and tweak your business.  This is how you become a master of your investment system.  This is how you get RICH!!

You must stay focused on your goals.  I read a book that my wife gave me when we first got together, called the Peak To Peak Principle.  This was another one of those life changing experiences.  I say experience because that’s what it was.  It wasn’t just ‘reading a book’.  It was the experience of learning a principle that could help make me rich.

Here’s how the Peak To Peak Principle works.  Visualize yourself as a mountain climber doing what you do – climbing a mountain.  If  your goal is to reach the top of this mountain, then you’ll do well to keep your focus on your goal – the peak of this mountain.  However, if your goal is to conquer other peaks then, before you reach this peak, you must shift your focus to the next peak.  If you don’t shift your focus, you allow the first peak that you reach to become a plateau.  It will take a lot of energy to get your momentum moving in the right direction again. 

When you relate this principle to your real estate business, your plateau becomes a comfy little haven where you’ll find yourself sitting and relaxing.  You might eat a sandwich, read a book, or listen to the radio.  You might be so comfortable that you decide to spend the night, or the week, or the month, or the rest of your life.

Since you have your momentum going in the right direction, go with the flow.  If you apply the Peak To Peak Principle to your real estate business, you can get to your goals a lot faster.

I THINK WE’VE JUST FOUND THE SECRET TO GETTING RICH!!   It’s a matter of learning these and other ‘wealth-building’ principles and using discipline to operate my real estate business under those principles.  For the first time, I can see the how of getting rich!

Having the scientific type mind that I have, that just made this revelation even more powerful.  I can actually see in my mind’s eye exactly how I’m going to get rich!!  I floated around on cloud 9 for a long time after that.  As a matter of fact, I’ve never come down, and I never will.  It’s almost like having a ‘secret weapon’ that most other investor don’t know much about.  Learning and using the wealth-building principles can give you the edge over your competitors.

  1. Managing Your Fears

Every human being on the face of the planet has experienced fear in some form or another.  I’d even be willing to bet you that every animal, insect, rodent, and every winged creature as well, has experienced fear.  Fear definitely has a useful place in our lives.  It’s purpose is as a early warning system.  To alert us about possible dangers so that we can modify our path and create a solution to eliminate the danger. Fear was never meant to scare us into non-action.

Here’s an interesting idea.  I believe that there is a purpose for every living creature on earth.  Beavers build dams, humans solve problems.  If you take a careful look around, you’ll see a whole lot of stuff that was created by the human species.  If you look deeper, you’ll find that the purpose of each one of these inventions was to solve a problem.

It has been said that we learn better by doing, rather than by reading.  In other words, at some point, you’re going to have to get out there and get your feet wet – you’re going to have to get started.  I know, I know…  It’s scary.  Whenever you launch into something so big and significant that it can change your life, you’re going to get a little scared.  Here’s a good way to handle your fears:

This solution to handling your fears is so simple that even I was able to master it.  First of all, arm yourself with an abundance of knowledge about the situation.  Be careful not to over-analyze the situation.  You only need enough facts to make an intelligent decision.  If you have a fear of writing your first offer, you may have to pick up a book, or take a seminar.  You might have to make a bunch of copies and practice writing offers. Do what ever you have to do in order to arm yourself with the knowledge that you need.  Then, keeping the WIN principle in mind, you simply take action.  Isn’t that simple?  It really is.  The one antidote for fear is action.  Intelligent, systematic action will not only make fear disappear, it can also make you rich.

Sometimes we have a certain type of fear that robs us of an important part of our growth.  We’re afraid of making mistakes.  Even though we’ve only been involved in real estate for 5 minutes, we have this crazy notion that we shouldn’t make mistakes.  After all, we did take that 1 ½ hour seminar last year, we should be rich by now.  If you have a problem admitting and accepting mistakes, you’re missing out on one of the greatest tools that you could have in the creation of wealth.

I was in my early 20’s when a 17 year old kid taught me something that will be with me for the rest of my life.  He taught me that mistakes are our friends.  He said that every mistake that we make has within it a lesson for us to learn.  Some people are so busy trying not to make mistakes that they totally miss the lessons in the mistakes that they do make.  By learning these lessons, then making the correct adjustment in our paths to success we can get to our goals at a very fast rate of speed.

What if you were able to look into the future.  You might see that, in order for you to become a millionaire, it will take you making 175 mistakes, learning the lessons in each of those mistakes, applying those lessons to your business, and moving on to the next mistake.  You might find yourself jumping out of bed and hurrying to meet the day!  You can’t wait to make the next series of mistakes, because you know that at the end of your mistake making, lesson learning day, you’ll be closer to your goals!  If you only made 5 mistakes yesterday, you’re going to kick it up today.  You’ll make 10 mistakes today!!  And, by the time you learn your lessons and apply the changes, you’ll be surprised at how quickly you can be very far along in reaching your goals.

You’re A Winner – Read On, And I’ll Prove It To You!

Always remember the winner that you are!  You came into this world to create.  So, create!!  You have an ability within you to create whatever solution you need to overcome whatever problem that you think is standing in your way.  If you will follow the principles that I’ve outlined in this article, you can do much to accomplish every one of your financial goals.

You are a winner. Remember?  Three and a half million sperm chasing one egg.  You won!  You’re here!  That’s evidence of the winner in you.  Peace and prosperity to you and your family.

 

Reggie Brooks, is an international speaker, author and educator, dedicated to inspiring others to achieve personal success through real estate investment. He is also the #1 Vacant, Abandoned & Distressed Property Specialist in North America.

Having risen above a life of poverty, he has achieved what many people consider to be impossible. He went from making $36,000 per year at the local telephone company, to making over $40,000 per month in his real estate business. Today, Reggie delivers his personal philosophies for success at major business venues and expositions throughout the United States. Reggie attributes his success to faith, dedication to success, and to the invaluable coaches he has had along the way.