Condominiums may appear to be the ideal way to purchase rental property, as their price is often lower than the price for a single family home. You may find a condominium unit which is in an ideal location, located near schools, work, and public transportation. The unit may be in “move-in” condition with terrific views. There is one important safeguard you will need to watch for when buying a condominium for investment and rental purposes.

Condominiums are governed by a set of Condominium Documents or CC & R’s, and a Homeowners Association sees that the rules set down in these documents are followed. Contained in these homeowner rules may be a stipulation that rentals are permitted only one time per year. This may not be a problem, as you may find a tenant for an annual rental, but be careful that you feel confident that you would not want to rent the unit out more often than once per year.

When you initially make your offer to purchase a condominium unit, you will normally be given a limited amount of time in which to review and approve the condominium documents. Be sure to ask for these well in advance of your closing date. If you are represented by a REALTOR®, your agent will normally get these documents for you. If you are represented by an attorney, be sure to show the documents to your legal counsel as soon as possible.

The condominium documents are often lengthy and cumbersome to read. You would want to find any objectionable details as soon as possible, before you have incurred expenses such as a title search, loan application fees, or home inspection. Besides looking for the rental provision in these “condo docs”, there are other safeguards which are important to look for.

The two most important details to look at are the budget and the amount set aside for reserves by the homeowner’s association. Ask if any special assessments are planned for the near future. A well-run homeowners association should be run like any good company or corporation, with a balanced budget and adequate allowances for reserves for repairs, such as roof, air-conditioning, paving, painting, or pool upkeep.

You wouldn’t want to purchase a condominium for rental purposes, set a rental amount, only to find you will be assessed a large amount for a new roof. Most condominium budgets spell out the useful remaining life of the major systems in the building or property. You can look at this and determine how many years are left before the building needs to be painted, the roof replaced, the air-conditioning or generator repaired or replaced, the driveway resealed, or the pool heater replaced.

You may think that these concerns can be dealt with later, when they come up, but taking a close look now could prepare you for unexpected expenses and you can then determine the amount you will need to charge for renting out your investment unit to cover all your costs. Condominium units can be great investment rental properties, as they are often located in resort areas. Properties located in popular resort areas may be better rented out as a “seasonal rental,” when the rents charged are typically higher than other times of the year. If this is the case, you would then want to look carefully at the rental restriction rules outlined in the condominium documents.

Be sure to let your Realtor, attorney, or escrow officer know that you would like to review the condominium documents as soon as possible after escrow is opened. Being well prepared when purchasing a condominium for rental investment purposes will save you money and help the closing go smoothly and quickly.

The following are the top 10 reasons people use for not succeeding in real estate investing. If I offend anyone with this list, it probably means I’m right on track!

Reason #1: No Cash

The Myth: “You need money to make money.”

The Truth: Find a good real estate deal, and the money will find you. Ask any seasoned investor and they will tell you that lack of funds is never an issue; lack of good deals is! If you can negotiate a good price on a house, you will find plenty of partners willing to put up the money.

Reason #2: No Time

The Myth: “I’ve got a job, a spouse, kids and little time on my hands.”

The Truth: Throw out your television and you’ll have all the time you need. People spend an average 3 hours per day in front of the tube. They spend even more time on weekends. Want to do something fun this Saturday? Load the kids in the mini van and go driving around looking for ugly houses. Make a game out of it giving a dollar to each of your kids that spots an ugly house. Tell them that each ugly house your buy means enough money to take them all to Disney World.

Reason #3: Everyone Says This Stuff Doesn’t Work

The Myth: “That late night TV stuff doesn’t work.”

The Truth: You can convince yourself that anything won’t work. Henry Ford once said, “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you are right.”

Every real estate transaction has risks; some risks are realistic, while others are remote. If you listen to the critics, the naysayers and other pessimists, you’ll convince yourself it doesn’t work. Most people that criticize money-making ideas need to do so for their own ego. After all, if it were true, what’s their excuse for not being successful? Make it a point of not taking financial advice from anyone who makes less than you do.

Reason #4: Too Much Competition

The Myth: “There’s too many people buying houses to find a deal.”

The Truth: There are more than enough deals to make everyone rich. At any given time there are hundreds of properties for sale in your market for each investor looking for them. In addition, a majority of people who say they are investors are just sitting on the sidelines waiting for someone to fall in their lap. Don’t be one of them – go out and make deals happen.

Reason #5: It Doesn’t Work in My Market

The Myth: “It doesn’t work in my market.”

The Truth: It works in EVERY market. True, it may work differently in some markets than in others, but there are investors making money in every city, every day of the week. You have to learn your market – the rents, the trends, the local customs, the bankers, the title companies, etc. Then, learn the techniques and adapt them for your market. If you are in a hot market, you can sell properties faster and ride inflation. If you are in a down market, you can find lots of bargains. And, in any market, there are people with financial problems that translate into bargain properties.

Reason #6: The Recession is Coming

The Myth: “Certainly, the September 11th tragedy, the huge number of layoffs and the decline of the stock market will kills the economy, so anything I buy will go down in value.”

The Truth: Sell cheaper or with attractive terms. When Dell wants to move computers, they drop the price. When GM wants to move cars they offer no interest financing. Be creative and go things they make your houses sell and rent faster. If the prices are falling, buy way below market and sell just below market. If rental vacancies go up, offer free satellite TV (heck, it’s $25/month). When everyone else is “dooming and glooming”, it only clears out the competition.

Reason #7: Realtors Won’t Cooperate With Me

The Myth: “Real estate agents don’t want to cooperate with investors.”

The Truth: The right agent can be your best friend and #1 source of business. I have a one agent that brought me six deals in the past year. He knows exactly what I want and only calls me when there’s a deal. You need to educate a few agents and let them know exactly what you want. Few agents have repeat customers – you have to make them understand that you will be giving them business over and over again.

Reason #8: I Have Bad Credit

The Myth: “I need good credit to buy houses.”

The Truth: Good credit helps, but you don’t need it to make money in real estate. Lease/options, owner-financing, flipping properties and other creative techniques will allow you to buy real estate without credit. You can always use a partner who has good credit. You can also borrow “hard money” without having good credit. In the meantime, you can work on fixing your bad credit so you can use it as an asset in the future.

Reason #9: I Might Lose Money

The Myth: “Real estate is very risky.”

The Truth: Real estate is one of the safest investments you can buy. The stock market is beyond your control. Savings, CDs and money market funds won’t give your enough return to make money. You have to be willing to take a calculated risk to make money. The more you educate yourself, the less risky real estate becomes. However, don’t think you need to know EVERYTHING before taking action.

Reason #10: I Don’t Know What To Do

The Myth: “I need to learn more before I start.”

The Truth: You probably know more than enough to get started in real estate. It takes years to learn a lot. You never learn everything. Success is an ongoing learning process. Read some books, take some seminars and go take MASSIVE action. Then, learn some more and take a lot more action. If you are really impatient, enlist the help of others.

Henry Ford said, “Why should I clutter my mind with general information when I have men around me who can supply any knowledge I need?” Henry Ford was a smart man because he realized that he didn’t need to know it all if he could consult with others that did. Ronald Reagan’s cabinet was said to be the team of the brightest people in politics.

I was just reading some of my notes and quotes that I’ve complied over the years and thought I’d share some of them with you. Most were obtained from various speakers/teachers/writers of motivational tapes/books/seminars etc. Hope they have the same positive impact on you, as they did for me.

* If you’re not getting what you want in life, take a good look at the reasons (I call them excuses) that are preventing it.

* There comes a point when you have to stop making excuses and start taking action that will get the results you want.

* We hold on to bad habits because we’re not really committed.

* Make a commitment that will force you to take action.

* Doing nothing is a decision to stay where you are.

* Know what you want, and be willing to give up something to get it.

* Take control of your life, or someone else will.

* Financial struggle is often the result of people working all their life for someone else.

* You must be able to recognize the difference between a goal and a fantasy.

* Don’t be afraid to make a mistake, that’s how you learn your best lessons.

* Don’t let other people do your thinking for you, think for yourself.

* People that don’t understand how money works, will always work for people that do.

* Most people are in debt from the time they leave school until they die.

* If your only source of income is a paycheck, your livelihood is entirely dependent on your employer.

* Only 2% earn over $100,000 yearly.

* Where are you now? If you lost your job tomorrow, how long could you support your family on your present assets?

* If you do the same thing this year, as you did last year, where will you be next year?

* Minimum effort equals minimum wages.

* The type of people you spend your time with determines your future.

* Social Security checks are the major source of income for 66% of retired people. Average SS retiree gets $710 monthly.

* Our lives are a reflection of our habits, and what we study. What are you studying?

* If you spend tomorrow’s earnings for today’s toys & pleasure, you’ll always be broke.

* Your thoughts will make you rich, or keep you poor.

* What we know is so small, compared to what we don’t know.

* It’s not the things you do that you regret the most, but the things you didn’t do.

* When you stop learning, you start dying.

* Some people make things happen, some people let things happen, some people watch things happen and some people don’t even know what’s happening.

* Hang around people that are smarter than you.

* Your financial future will be determined by the choices you make today.

* The best way to conquer fear is to meet it head-on.

* What you know is your greatest wealth. What you don’t know is your greatest liability.

So, it’s decision time. You can choose to be in the 5% bracket and learn how to enjoy financial freedom and security. Or, you can do like most folks do and settle for whatever your employer is willing to pay you. (Providing you don’t get “down-sized”.)

If you were to guess that buying a home is not like buying a parcel of land, you’d be right – and you’d also be wrong. Although the house purchase is different from the land transaction, it’s actually the same in certain key respects. The reason is there are a couple of critical principles that apply to all types of property – houses, land, retail centers or whatever – and they can have a big impact on a property’s value and its market appeal.

Location (Location, Location)

We’ve all heard that location is the most important thing about a property, but why is that true? You can demolish or add onto the house or maybe even pick it up and move it (although that’s expensive and often not feasible), but you can’t pick the land up and move it. It’s the land that gives the property its location, and location is the only thing about a property that you can’t change. It determines how the property can be used (zoning), visibility and accessibility to public utilities, and it has a positive or negative effect on value based on the surrounding properties.

Value Is Relative to Use

If the property matches most of your needs and wants, it will be more valuable to you. How often have you walked into a store and bought something you couldn’t use or didn’t really want only because you thought the price was ridiculously low? Would you have paid a lot more for it? Probably not.

A corollary of this principle is that the property’s inherent value increases if the property can be used by many potential buyers or categories of buyers. Suppose you’re thinking about buying a building lot that has a stream running through its front yard. Your builder tells you he’ll have to put the house on the far side of the stream and the driveway (about 200’ long) will have to cross the stream. The cost for all of this work will be about $30-40,000. That driveway could cost you more than the initial $30,000 over time in maintenance, repairs and resurfacing. However, something even more important should make you hesitate. Someday when you try to sell the property, you could discover that most buyers won’t want the property because of the stream and driveway or they’ll offer you much less than you want for it. Now what’s this property worth to you? When you sell, you’ll probably have to discount the price or wait a long time for the “right” buyer to come along – or both.

Value = Price + Terms

Ultimately, buyers determine what a property is worth, but an offer is much more than just price. It’s a set of scales with price on one side and terms and conditions on the other. The real value of any property is the price a buyer is willing to pay in exchange for terms and conditions. You want to buy that building lot with the stream running through it. Public water and sewer aren’t available and the seller hasn’t had the property tested to determine if some type of sewage disposal system would be approved by the county health department. You need to know if the lot is buildable. You don’t want to spend the money for testing unless the seller accepts your offer and you don’t want to have to buy the property if you can’t get a building permit. What you might do here is give the seller an offer contingent on your being able to get the property approved for a certain type of sewage system and anything else you’d need in order to get a building permit. You’d be more likely to offer the seller a higher price if the seller would agree to these conditions than if the seller wanted to sell “as is.” Sellers who get the highest price usually have to give the buyer favorable terms. Buyers who want the lowest price will have to forego most if not all of their contingencies. The seller’s willingness to assume some of the risk and give the buyer time to satisfy conditions is as important (and sometimes even more important) as price in development property transactions.

Buyers Are Sellers

Before you decide to buy a property, you should evaluate it as objectively as possible. Put it under the microscope and try to identify objections that buyers in the future might have when you go to sell. In short, when buying, think like a seller because some day you will be one. Whatever you buy should have appeal to the widest segment of the buyer market, and remember that there’s no substitute for a good location. A good location is one that enhances the property’s value relative to the intended use. For instance, when builders purchase development land, they take into account factors that will reduce the property’s appeal in the eyes of the end users (homeowners), such as location on a busy street. On the other hand, if they want to develop the property into retail space, visibility and high traffic counts are critical.

Don’t Over Improve

The value of residential property is generally defined by the uses and sale prices of neighboring “comparable” properties – those having the same characteristics as your property. Investment property value (including land) is tied to the income or profit that the property can produce, either immediately or down the road. Value won’t increase in direct proportion to the cost of additional improvements if surrounding property values are equal to or less than the property’s value without the additional improvements. For example, you live in a subdivision of homes that have two-car attached garages and sell for $250,000. Four years ago, you had a three-car detached garage built in your back yard because you wanted more garage space. Now you’ve got your property up for sale for $300,000. Even if you find a buyer willing to pay your price, the buyer’s lender will have an appraisal done to make sure that the property appraises for the purchase price. The ideal buyer in this situation would be someone who wants mega garage space and can either pay cash or doesn’t need a mortgage for more than 80% of the purchase price.

Most “standard” real estate contracts and leases contain provisions that state something to the effect, “If there is any dispute as to the agreement, the winning party is entitled to attorney’s fees”. Is this a good idea? Well, yes and no. First, understand that attorney’s fees are generally not awarded by the court to the winning party in a lawsuit. There must be either a specific statutory provision or a clause in the disputed agreement that calls for attorney’s fees. In addition, a court may award attorney’s fees where there is “bad faith” on the part of one of the litigants, but judges rarely enforce this rule.

If you have to sue another party to a lease or contract for $100, it hardly seems worth the effort if you have to pay your attorney $2,500 to file the lawsuit. In such cases, the opposing party may thumb his nose at you and say, “so sue me”. The court system is very unfair to the poor in this regard. However, if you are the potential defendant, it works in your favor if someone is thinking of suing you for some bogus reason and you know that they can’t afford an attorney. So, should you always insert an attorney’s fee clause in every contract or lease that you sign? Well, that depends on whether such a clause inures to your benefit. For example, if you are a landlord, chances are you will be suing your tenant for non-performance of the lease, not vice-versa. So, having the ability to get attorney’s fees if you win is to your benefit. Of course, this may be futile, since any judgment may be uncollectible, whether for $100 or $10,000. But, if you think you can collect a judgment, go ahead and put the clause in your lease.

Another example might be a purchase contract with a seller in foreclosure. Suppose you have an agreement to buy a property from a seller who is near insolvency. If he breaches the agreement, you can sue, but what will you get? On the other hand, if he can convince a court that YOU are in breach, you could lose and end up paying HIS attorney’s fees. Thus, you can see how an attorney’s fee clause may work against you. If you get into a dispute with a seller or buyer and they cannot afford an attorney, you reduce your risk if something goes bad. Remember, whether you are right or wrong in your actions involving a real estate deal, it’s what is proven in court that matters. Having plenty of trial experience, I can tell you that going to court is a gamble – sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and truth and justice have little to do with it.

Finally, some agreements will state that if one party must enforce the agreement in court (e.g., the landlord in a lease), the landlord is entitled to lawyer fees. Many courts will apply the rules in reverse, even if the agreement doesn’t explicitly state. So, you cannot necessarily limit attorney’s fee if one party wins but not the other. As with any transaction, you could consult with an attorney before drafting any agreement you are uncertain of.

Many self-acclaimed real estate gurus state that everyone should quit their jobs and immediately jump into full time real estate investing. They often claim incredible results from students with little experience. We would like to caution that life-changing decisions are not usually simple and that full time investing is not for everyone. Let’s discuss some pros and cons of full-time versus part-time investing.

The Full-Time Investor

Entering into the real estate profession on a full-time basis offers several advantages over a part-time commitment. Being successful requires you to develop knowledge in many aspects of real estate, and more time focused on real estate leads to greater knowledge. The more your learn, the more you earn, since you do not need to rely on as many professional services or partners for help. You also learn to recognize a deal (or a dud) faster, which gives you more time to do more business or spend with your family.

As a full-time investor, you work your own hours. When we say “full-time,” that may mean as little as twenty hours per week if you are good at finding deals. The rest of your time can be spent pursuing other vocations or hobbies. Or, if you are so inspired, you can work forty or more hours and use the extra cash flow to buy rental properties or diversify your holdings in the stock market. The point is that you need to satisfy your cash flow needs before you can start “investing” your money.

One final point you should consider is whether you want to be “self-employed.” If you have always worked for someone else, being your own boss sounds very attractive. In some, respects, this isn’t quite the truth. Being your own boss means being an accountant, bookkeeper, stock clerk, receptionist and office manager all-in-one. You have to do deal with tax returns, payroll, office supplies, customer service, bills and all the other hassles that come with a business. You don’t have friends to chat with at the water cooler. You don’t have paid health insurance, a company car and a 401(k). You take your problems home with you every night.

Sound like fun? It is, once you learn how to master your time and run your business. Being the master of your own life and career is well worth the other hassles of dealing with your own business.

The Part-Time Investor

The part-time investor holds a “regular job.” This may be by choice or for the time being until his real estate ventures are bringing in enough cash to quit his job. If it is the latter reason, don’t quit your job because the real estate “guru” told you so. Quit your job when it is not worth the income that it brings you. In other words, if you are making more money per hour flipping properties on the side, you are at the point that where your regular job is costing you money. Only then, is it time to quit!

One of the advantages of starting out part-time is that you can maintain cash flow while learning the business. It may take weeks or possibly months to find your first deal. That same deal may take several months to turn around, especially if you decide to fix it and sell it retail. Think twice before telling your boss you’re leaving; you will have plenty of time to make the career switch once you have real estate experience. You may, on the other hand, like your occupation. If so, continue to work at it, and invest in real estate on the side.

The best case scenario, if you are married, is to have one spouse work a regular job. The other spouse work the real estate business for creating wealth, retirement income and a nice college fund for the children. Of course, in today’s market, you could be laid off due to unforeseen circumstances. If you earn additional income flipping houses and invest the proceeds into rental properties, you will be covered if your main income is lost. This is especially the case for married women that often forego a career and raise a family, only to find themselves divorced with no means of making a living. We don’t want to sound cynical about marriage, but with a fifty-percent divorce rate in America, it never hurts to have a system for making money.

Someone with a full time job tends to have little free time to focus on real estate. A part-timer should learn most of the same skills as a full timer. Thus, the key disadvantage to flipping properties on a part-time basis is that it takes sacrifice to learn the business. Something has to give; television, lazy weekends, meaningless hobbies and even some family activities must be compromised. As with any education, time spent learning about real estate will bring its own rewards, especially if the people in your life understand your goals and your plan to achieve those goals. If you are married, make sure your spouse reads this material with you and participates in the fun process of making money.

Treat Real Estate as A Business

People are lured to real estate because of the quick buck that it promises. Don’t hold your breath, you won’t get rich quick. An “overnight sensation” usually takes about five years. More than ninety percent of the people who take a real estate seminar quit after three months. Real estate investing should be treated with the seriousness of a career. It takes months, even years for a business to cultivate customers and have a life of its own. You need to treat it like any other business.

New investors almost always ask “Should I get my real estate license?” or “Should I become a real estate agent?” It’s almost immediately followed up with a comment similar to…“I was talking to or I saw on TV and said… I don’t need to be a real estate agent to be a real estate investor”. Most of the time, they’ll add, “…in fact, it makes things more difficult for you as a real estate investor.” (Look at the head this noise is coming out of… we’ll address this subject in a bit.) Does this sound familiar? It makes me cringe when new investors who are hungry for knowledge are getting this kind of advice. These comments and attitudes are supported by the infomercials on TV announcing you can be successful without being licensed. This one subject ruffles so many feathers in my noggin. Let me share a couple of my mistakes and growing pains as a new investor. Remember when… I got started as an aggressive investor and really began to “see the light” (benefits) of buying houses, renting them, and letting somebody else pay for them.

Yeah, a little work here and there, but it sure beat the heck out getting paid $12.00 an hour to work an “off duty job” after hours. Off duty jobs for police officers were plentiful, especially those who had take-home marked patrol cars. Utility companies with projects on busy roadways loved having a police car with lights flashing to slow traffic and make a jobsite safer for their workers. Bad apartment communities would hire off duty police to patrol their apartment community to help get rid of the undesirables… it worked. You must understand the environment I was involved in at the time. As a uniformed patrol officer, I was assigned and rode a very active and busy beat. It included the housing projects commonly referred to as “the bricks”. (The residents called it the “bricks” as well) Now, travel to my lifestyle at this time. Arrive for “roll call” at 11:45 p.m. and get off at 7:45 a.m. the following morning providing everything was in order. What kind of people are you dealing with during these hours? For the most part, we were dealing with” tax-eaters”. Most “tax payers” were horizontal (sleeping) during these hours. Yes, on occasion, you could find taxpayers working these late hours. My point is I usually dealt with folks who weren’t very responsible. The Jerry Springer types and I was the problem solver. This resulted in many trips to the jail, along with many court appearances. If you locked somebody up, you ended up with a subpoena to go to court.

Well, this is where part of my real estate troubles began. Keep in mind, I was going to court almost every morning at am. Our courthouse is the busiest building in our entire state, as far as traffic count of people. A typical morning in court may involve me having to appear for 3 to 6 different cases, all scheduled for 9 a.m. For example, imagine being scheduled to appear in 3 different court rooms at the same time… 9 a.m. You develop relationships with attorneys on both sides of the fence. There are attorneys representing “the commonwealth” (good guys) and there are other attorneys representing the bad guys. Many of these cases were discussed and remedied with simple solutions in what was called the “conference room” adjacent to the courtroom. If you’d developed a reputation as a good police officer with common sense, you were labeled good to the system among the attorneys.

Therefore, any kind of a “deal” considered for a defendant, the attorneys, as a professional courtesy, would usually ask for your permission on the proposed deal before running it through the system. I have no intention of rambling on about police work here. It’s important you understand the environment my daily activities involved. In dealing with tax eaters on a daily basis, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and only the criminal side of the court system, a warped perspective of reality was almost a guaranteed harmful side effect to me as a beginner investor. I’m not quite sure how to describe it exactly, but after spending hours daily in the courthouse with attorneys, another court case didn’t amount to a hill of beans. I was there already for hours every day anyway. Maybe your job and position puts you in a position of authority as well.

So, back to real estate… I’m the new investor. I felt like Beavis and Butt Head. My light bulb went off and I realized I could benefit better for the long haul by focusing my after hours efforts on real estate investing instead of off-duty jobs. I began buying houses and renting them. I vividly recall in the beginning, my closing attorney at the time, Hank, would ask “Do you want title insurance for this property you’re buying?” I interpreted his question almost as an insult. He doesn’t know who I am. Remember, I’m a good cop, well respected, who’s in court every day and with an understanding of how the system and attorneys work (or so I thought). My answer to Hank was no, I’m not wasting my money on title insurance. That’s what I pay you for. I believed he was selling insurance for himself in case he didn’t do a good job. My attitude was phooey on this money making scheme on his part. I’d simply go after Hank if he screwed up on my title exam. Needless to say, he was baffled and I was stubborn by displaying my Bullwinkle Syndrome (named after my little sister who is a know-it-all). I was just too stupid to realize there was a lot I didn’t know about real estate.

So, as I purchased more properties, I discovered I could make more money and buy properties cheaper if I got my real estate license. The money part alone was enough to motivate me to enroll in the school and get my license. My objective was not education. The challenge was to become a real estate agent fast so I can buy properties cheaper by collecting commissions when buying properties for myself. Now here goes “Mr. Know It All” investor(me) enrolling in the grueling boring, mundane school for real estate agents. I didn’t really need to learn this stuff. I just wanted to pass the test and get my license to buy houses cheaper. This school is designed to groom folks to pass the state’s exam to become a licensed agent. Although I can’t remember exactly, I’m guessing I had 30-40 properties at the time. I was already on the road to financial independence! Rude Awakening!!!!

Long story short, after the first class or two, I discovered how much I didn’t know. Let’s use the analogy to checkers and chess, the board games. Pay attention to this one. As a homeowner and having purchased several investment properties, I felt I was already qualified as a knowledgeable investor. Here’s a simple version and getting to the point quickly. It ties right in with checkers and chess. They both use the same game board. I was a checker player. As a checker player, I’d see the veteran investors who are chess players. The checker player honestly believes they are a chess player too, because they own investment property just like the veteran investors. The new investor expects to be almost automatically accepted into the inner circle of veteran investors.

The checkers player tries to participate in a conversation with the chess players. The chess players are discussing strategies and techniques with phrases such as “how to make an extra $5,000 by moving the rook and bishop to a place behind the pawn.” The eager checker player, not realizing their own ignorance, asks the chess player “what’s a rook?” or “What’s a bishop?” The chess players look in amazement at each other in total disbelief and frustration. Inside their noggin, the chess players are saying “How can you discuss strategies or techniques with this bozo when he doesn’t even know and understand the pieces and parts to the game.” The checker player immediately picks up on the attitude exhibited from the chess players as a selfish, “you’re not allowed in this group.” Major, major miscommunication occurs.

The checker player is baffled and thinks the chess players are “clickish” and refuse to share any information about strategies and techniques. The real lesson learned is you must learn and understand the pieces and parts to this game called real estate investing before you can play effectively. After learning the pieces and parts, (rook, bishop, knight, pawn, etc.) and you happen across another group of chess players discussing strategies, you’ll be in a better position to absorb the techniques because you already know the pieces and parts.

So, back to real estate school. Thank goodness I humbled myself enough to accept my discovery of how much I didn’t know. Just because I could buy property and spend hours in the courthouse every day, didn’t make me an expert. While in school, I discovered the importance of title insurance. Remember me blasting my closing attorney with an attitude if something is wrong with the title, I’d go after him? I was absolutely wrong! In our state, our closing attorney runs a title exam by researching courthouse records; however, there’s a catch with real estate. You can legally own real estate without having the deed recorded! What? This is mind boggling.

For example. Billy Bob buys a house and his name is on his deed. Billy Bob gets married. Billy Bob wants to sell his house. You buy it by having him sign a deed over to you on the hood of your truck. Sounds proper, right? False, you’ve already set the stage for major mistake. Believe it or not, hiswife, whose name is not on the deed anywhere, must sign off also transferring title to you although her name is nowhere on his deed. Little things like this can be different in every state. I was shocked to learn this in real estate school. In just a class or two, I realized I was very, very, lucky nothing had blown up on me. I realized how much I didn’t know, and how valuable and powerful education is with successful investing. Just a short time after completing this school, my wife wanted a bigger nicer home. I captured a deal involving an estate, purchased it, rehabbed it, and made it our home.

I purchased title insurance on this property because I finally understood the protection it offers. My attorney was thrilled I finally saw the light. This very same property, the heirs got into a pi#$%$ing contest, sueing each other and me for having purchased the house so cheap. In summary, this resulted in a lengthy lawsuit. Guess what? My title insurance picked up the tab of all of the legal expenses. We won only because the title insurance covered the legal expenses. Without title insurance, I would be holding the bag for all of my legal expenses even if I won the lawsuit, which we did. So after a couple of real life examples: Should you get a real estate license? Let’s look at the benefits for you as an investor vs. the baggage some veteran folks say come with being licensed.

Benefits:

* Learning the pieces and parts of real estate.

* Ability to understand techniques faster because you have a solid foundation of education.

* As a buying tool, you’ll have access to MLS, the database of all properties listed for sale by real estate agents. It’s also a powerful tool to quickly learn market values.

* You may receive commissions on properties you purchase depending on the arrangement with your broker.

* As a selling tool, you may list your own properties on the MLS.

* Most communities require continuing education courses if you’re licensed. Although many may say this is a pain, it’s still education.

* You’ll simply discover how much you didn’t know.

* Powerful opportunity to have real estate agents work for you and put you at the top on their buyers list.

* What you learn in this school will stay with you your whole investing career. You’ll be able to grasp new creative investing ideas faster because you already have a solid foundation to build upon.

* Keep in mind, as an investor, you’ll be labeled a “professional” with or without a license. You are the one who decided to become an investor. If you are ever in any kind of lawsuit, including eviction court, you will be almost automatically tattooed a real estate expert simply because you are trying to act like one.

Cons:

* Annual fees and licensing. (In my town it’s approx. $850 annually, including errors and omissions insurance).

* You must disclose to your sellers you’re licensed and buying for investment and/or you intend to make a profit from the purchase of their property. (This is the one a lot of anti-get-your- license folks complain about. What’s wrong with it? It simply covers your butt.)

* Complaints of paperwork. For the most part, only if you are representing a buyer or seller is the paperwork cumbersome. It’s cumbersome because you are their agent representing their interests. The forms to fill out are designed to protect both you and the consumer.

* If you’re the buyer or the seller, most of the paperwork is gone because you’re representing yourself. You must simply disclose you are licensed. So, the next time you hear someone say “You don’t need a license to be an investor.”, look at the head the noise is coming out of. Do you want to be like them when you grow up as an investor? all of my mentors and investors I admired not only were licensed, but actually continued with more education to become a broker. If you’re just getting started or you want to really begin cranking your investments, getting your license won’t hurt you. I’m encouraging you to get the education not the license. But, how can getting your license hurt you?

If you plan on buying one property a year, it may not benefit you to have your license active. You may choose to escrow your license. If you plan on cranking it seriously and buy a few houses a year, having your license is a good thing. Remember the person who said having your license is a bad thing? Do you really want to be like that person when you grow up? I have my broker’s license today and maybe one day when I slow down, I may escrow it to save $800 a year. Right now, it’s still worth every single penny!

Enroll in school. Get the education. Knowledge is your power. Learn the pieces and parts. Varsity and Pro Level One on One Coaching Students (if not licensed or previously attended school) must go to real estate school after their second session before they can schedule their third coaching session. They’re a little baffled and confused at first, but all are 100% in agreement attending the school is a definite benefit and advantage to their game plan for investing. The pieces and parts have been identified, explained, and it’s time to start the investing game.

Although there are a lot of different aspects to a real estate investment marketing plan, one unique way to get the word out about your business and attract private lenders is by doing a Webinar. A Webinar is a method you can use to deliver your presentation or seminar over the Internet.

A Webinar is a convenient and effective way to deliver your presentation and allow others to participate right from the comfort of their home. A Webinar offers the ability to deliver your real estate investment information, receive feedback from others, and hold discussions on the topic.

How to Create a Webinar

* Organize Your Presentation: Organize your presentation of the topic of real estate investment you will be talking about. In addition, you will need to organize a schedule within a specific time frame, especially if you are going to have any other speakers, different activities, questions and answers, or something else.

Keep in mind when organizing your presentation that the Webinar should be integrated with the rest of the tools that you are using as part of your real estate investment marketing plan. Design it to interact with other marketing strategies that you use such as two-step marketing.

Remember to offer high quality information, make it interesting and engaging, and do NOT do any hard selling. Your client wants to feel that they are receiving a solution to a problem and that you are genuinely interested in their needs.

* Decide on Your Targeted Audience: Decide what audience is best suited for the information on real estate investment you will be delivering. This is includes a specific targeted audience who will be interested in what you are offering.
* Geographical Location: Decide what geographical location you want to focus on and then set the time of the Webinar to that specific location. Also consider the day of the week that you want to hold the Webinar. For instance, weekdays might be better than weekends for some people. You have to try and determine when people will most likely be available.
* Promotion: Promote your real estate investment Webinar in locations online where your target audience is likely to visit. This could be through real estate websites, social media advertising, an opt-in email list, article marketing, or other Internet marketing tool. Word-of-mouth is another great way to advertise your Webinar.
* Practice: Practice conducting your Webinar so you can get the timing down and sound confident in delivering your expertise and information. Remember that technology is not foolproof so prepare for any unexpected events that may occur and try to find ways to troubleshoot these events if they do occur.
* Web Conferencing Service: Sign up with a Web conferencing services such as WebEx. Many of these Web conferencing services allow you to hold meeting with as many as 130 participants, provide application sharing, keep track of attendance, and create CD and audio files that allow your participants to go back and review the discussion. You can also receive feedback via a survey service that will help you to improve things for future Webinars that you offer.

Luxury real estate marketing professionals should always pay close attention to details in their marketing materials, their website and their client services. With personal branding for real estate agents, it is the little things that can distinguish you from your competitors. The more sophisticated your target market the more they will appreciate the details. But, almost everyone appreciates even minor acts of kindness and thoughtfulness. Small things make a big difference.

To tune into the importance of details as a strategic differentiator study the major luxury brands. We are firm believers in out-thinking not out-spending your competition to achieve more market share. Here is a very simple example of how a very minor design element can completely influence a major buying decision and even cause someone to switch brands all together.

Chanel and Sisley are two French luxury cosmetic brands. Chanel is by far the most well known. Both produce basically the same quality eyebrow pencils. But, Sisley’s eyebrow pencil sharpener, an item that costs pennies to manufacture in volume, is so far superior, in terms of user experience that it is enough to prompt a customer to switch brands.

The Sisley eyebrow pencil sharpener has a cover and the Chanel does not. The cover prevents the shavings from the pencil to scatter and cause a mess especially if you are in a hurry. Clean up is faster and easier with Sisley, a feature that has nothing to do with make-up but everything to do with convenience and a quality user experience.

In today’s time-starved world paying attention to details and taking the time to be thoughtful can be enough to win you more business. Here are some small things that you can do that can make a big difference

* Write a hand written note to stay in touch
* Remembering birthdays
* Remember the names of clients’ kids and pets
* Open the car door for your clients when you show them property

How can you pay more attention to detail in your day-to-day practice of real estate and win more business?

You have seen their names in every book store, on television infomercials promoting countless live seminars and all over the internet. Real Estate experts are held in high regard and they are making a fortune in promoting and selling their expertise, and perhaps making even more money off joint venture property deals with students too.

There are experts in every area of real estate from sales agents, brokers and investors to timeshare sellers and any of hundreds of other specializations. Then there are the secondary support services to the market including mortgage brokers, home inspectors, attorneys, home inspectors, etc. and taking it further there are the producers and publishers that analyze and report on the industry.

The real estate industry is a huge market and thus you will find people who have a certain niche expertise, perhaps even someone like you. Many of the gurus we know became such based on knowledge they gained at their jobs, through self study or real life experiences. The difference between gurus and most people with the same knowledge is that they took action to promote their expertise and create celebrity in the market.

So was it luck, good looks, being in the right place at the right time, or a systemized blueprint for success. I contend that any of these can bring you and your niche industry expertise to a status of celebrity. But why wait to be discovered for your good looks or happenstance. Create a business plan, an organized monetization blueprint with concrete steps to leverage your knowledge.

So, let’s look at what you need to do to create a plan to achieve your goal of celebrity and profit in the real estate field.

Here are some basic steps in simple terms:

* Complete a goal setting exercise that lays out basic steps to achieving your desired outcomes.
* Internalize your motivation such that you feel not choice but to succeed.
* Focus on the details and the end goals and put aside all the unnecessary noise that gets in your way.
* Take massive and immediate action at every opportunity.
* Study other successful real estate, authors, teachers, mentors, reporters, etc. By study we do not mean learn their expertise but rather we mean look at their biographies, their habits, their actions, their businesses dealings, their marketing and promotion. If you can find out who their mentors or coaches are then seek these people out and learn about them. Collect and analyze this information such that it becomes part of your blueprint for success within your business plan.
* Complete your monetization blueprint, your business success plan.
* Identify resources to help with achieving your goals.
* Be persistent within yourself and insistent on support of those around you.

Outline and plot the multiple steps to achievement of your goal. These steps can be complicated and a bit of a stretch for most people. Great success however is attained by motivated people who consistently act on solid planning. You can achieve celebrity as an expert in the real estate field and profit from your success.