Which GURU is for you?

While there is a lot of great and valuable information out there on how to get started in real estate investing, there are some that just don't always deliver what they promised.
Before placing down your thousands of dollars for a program, ask around. go on the internet and find out what the reviews of the information are.

****Warning****
You are always going to find negative reviews on someone. I even have a few from my program. No "Guru" is going to be able to please everyone. You would be shocked at the amount of people who pay thousands of dollars and never do anything except go to a class or two, put out a few signs and then get upset when they are not millionaires overnight.
However, ask around at your local real estate investment club. Find out what you can about the education provided. How well the companies support system is. How many "back end" courses there are besides the lead in package? Can you buy specific courses or do you need to buy the whole sha-bang? Is there a time limit on how long you have to take the courses you signed up for.

One of the most important things you need to realize is that all the courses generally teach the same things. There are very few NEW real estate strategies out there and if they are new they are only new for a few months before someone else starts teaching it as well. It's the voice you are buying.

My first set of education cost me about $40K. It was a Ron LeGrand seminar package and I am very happy I did. I have lifetime access to the courses and am able to pick and choose when and were I want to go. I enjoyed the way he taught and have always gotten a ton of value from his events.

Do your homework and find who best speaks to you. Then be willing and ready to do the work!

Great RES Academy event

We had a great real estate training event last week. Aaron Haaga did an amazing job showing people how to create solid financial freedom through real estate. Best of all it was all focused on the local market here in Salt Lake.

To often we get "Guru's" like Robert Allen, Ron LeGrand, Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump come through our city who know nothing other than "Googled" stats on our market. When it comes to knowing which cities you want to invest in here in UT, Real estate Stratigies Academy is the best.

I am excited to watch the Academy grow and truly help people in their investing future.

Keep on the lookout for the next seminar.

BTW- I forgot to mention the three days was totally free. So much information and the only admission price was showing up. I'm really excited about working with these guys.

Millionaire Mind event

Hey all-
I know it's been forever since my last posting. I have been a little busy with the Millionaire Mind evening here in Salt Lake. It finally happened on the 23rd and it was great.
We had about 850 people register and 700 show up. That's a great showing! With over 500 of those being Free people, that's not bad at all.
Everyone really enjoyed themselves. They were thrilled when the announcement of the three day was given. November 13-15 is the date. We had just under 100 people sign up for the VIP package and I was just told by Peak's that the MMI event is 3/4 of the way full already.
What a night.
Harv was really happy with the showing and the energy.
I am so busy right now that I can't write much.
Have you seen the craziness in the market??? This is a great time to get into the RE game.
Subject to and LIC are one of the best choices for the seller at this point. even if they can find a buyer for their home, good luck on getting a loan for the home. It really is a great time to build net worth by picking up then holding and renting out or LO out the home.
More on that later.
Happy Investing
Dino

It's all my fault

I've made this an actual entry because to many people might not read all the comments left on a particular entry and I wanted to show the person who keeps writing that I have not fear of his comments; even if he will not disclose his name. I don’t even know if it’s a man or a woman. For our sake here, I’m going to assume it’s a man.

For full disclosure sake the person that made the last comment is mad at me because I have not published his latest new comment. He takes it as if I don't want to look bad. What he does not understand is, looking bad I have no challenge with. Letting people post things out of anger, spite and self pity, blaming their challenges on everyone else and not taking any responsibility for themselves; that I have a challenge with.

Here’s his complaint in a nut shell. He says that I and Robert Allen have ruined his life through the things he learned from us. He blames me and Mr. Allen because he bought homes in a market that was doing well and now can't unload them since the market is not doing as well. His position is that this whole real estate thing is BS and that his life is a mess because of me and Robert Allen. He claims that he lost thousands of dollars to me personally because he spent money getting educated and it was all for nothing. (Interesting that depending on him either buying my home study course or actually coming to my two day event, since he won't tell me who he is I can't tell, he would have paid between $300 to $1200 on my course. I don't know how that breaks down to "Thousands" but he is obviously miffed about the "big money" he spent with Mr. Allen and Mr. Allen doesn’t have a blog he can complain on.)

All I can say to that is I'm sorry things are not working out the way he planned. I apologize that I could not make him successful. I feel bad that he has such a bitter and angry taste in his mouth about me and real estate in general.

When someone is having a bad go at something they of course want to blame everyone and their brother. It is normal to be pissed off at whoever told you this or that was a good idea. What can I say? He's mad.

The strategies and principles must be working for someone though. I myself am in the middle of a short sale that we are projecting to make a lot of money on. I just got back from Chicago where I was speaking with a gentleman out of Denver who is making money hand over fist in bank REO's. One of my student couples just emailed me two days ago telling me about a house they took over using the strategies they learned from me with a ton of equity in it that they are going to seller finance and make a decent profit from.

The question that this person brings up for me is why does it work for some and not others? Why is it that I can guarantee, wherever this person is from, there are other investors doing just fine in this market? I guess that question will never be fully answered, at least not well enough for someone in a frame of mind where it's everyone else's fault that they are not successful. Go to any one of the real estate investors groups in your area and you will find people that are doing just great in this market. Will you find people in your exact same situation? I guarantee it. Will you find others that are pissed off because they paid for education that just doesn’t seem to be working? Yep. They will be easy to find. They tend to attract to each other and love to commiserate with each other.

I really feel bad for this person. It must really suck. I'm not going to defend myself or what I have taught him and others. I don't need to. I'm not going to get in a blog fight or war of words with him or anyone else. We all have challenges come up in our lives. I have crappy day’s weeks and months. I have had BAD deals and will have bad deals in the future. No one ever said that you or I wouldn't. I never promised anyone that there would be no challenges in the game of real estate investing. I never predicted the future of the market in your specific area. I definitely never forced anyone to buy a property.

Do I care that he is ticked off? Yep. I wouldn’t take the time to write if I didn’t. I do know that all of my students have my email and office phone number and I always answer to help in any way I can. If being mad at me helps him deal with the crap he is going through then fine. I have a stack of testimonials from others and I hear stories all the time of the exact opposite view.

The best lesson all of us can learn from this person is; when things get tough, when it really is “hitting the fan”, we all can choose to play the blame game or we can choose to get off our duff’s and move forward. That is my wish for this person. That they move forward and find a way to become successful in spite of how he feels about me or anyone else.

Short that Sale

Short sales are all the rage right now. It seems like every week I get a new email from someone advertising their Short Sale package. Are you getting the same emails I am? Well, there is a good reason for that. Simply, short sales are hot.
When the foreclosure rate is high short sales are a great option in your RE investing.
There are three basic strategies on how to make money in the short sale world.
1- Put the property under contract, get the short sale accepted and then assign the contract out to a third party for closing.
2- Get the short sale approved then close on the house, fix it up, turn around and sell on the market.
3- Get the short sale approved, have a third buyer ready to sell to(usually another investor for a great price), close with hard money, then turn around as sell to the third party.

One thing you need to understand as a new short sale investor, these take time. Anywhere from 1-5 months depending on the bank and how motivated they are. Once you get a good number of short sales going then you can hope to close a few a month but it is not a matter of fast profit in most cases.
Also, there is a lot of work involved. Both form you and the sellers. Make this clear up front.
I hosted a great teleconference with David "The Diamond" Oswald last week. Is a a top expert in the field of Short Sales and I highly recommend getting on his free newsletter. http://www.davidoswaldonline.com/

Happy investing.

The Deed is Done!

Well, this morning President Bush signed the Housing Rescue Bill.
This from the AP-

"The measure, regarded as the most significant housing legislation in decades, lets homeowners who cannot afford their payments refinance into more affordable government-backed loans rather than losing their homes.

It offers a temporary financial lifeline to troubled mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and tightens controls over the two government-sponsored businesses.

It aims to spare an estimated 400,000 debt-strapped homeowners, many of whom owe more their houses are worth, from foreclosure by allowing them to get more affordable mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration.

The FHA could insure $300 billion in such mortgages, which would be available to homeowners who showed they could afford a new loan.

Banks would first have to agree to take a large loss on the existing loans in exchange for avoiding an often-costly foreclosure.

The plan also is designed to relieve a broader credit crunch that has taken hold because of rising defaults and falling home values. To free up safer and more affordable mortgage credit, the bill permanently would increase to $625,000 the size of home loans that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can buy and the FHA can insure. They also could buy and back mortgages 15 percent higher than the median home price in certain areas."

Here's the biggest challenge in my book. This bill is nothing more than a bail out for a majority of these people who bought too big of a house or a house that they had no right to get into in the first place. Someone who got a 100% or higher LTV mortgage on a Neg AM loan and now can't afford the adjustable or, surprise, the house has gone down in value from the 110% LTV loan they got and now they want my tax dollars to bail them out? That should be called a seminar they took, not a slap on the wrist and we'll take care of the bill for them.

Then there' s the banks who lent out these crazy loans to people they knew could not afford them. I am all for companies making a profit as long as it is within a little thing called integrity. They did this out of greed.

The only silver lining is the amount of people this won't help and that the economy still needs creative real estate investors. There are many people this bill will not help that you can when using creative strategies. Get the education you need to do so. Start dabbling. The one thing this Bill, and others that will come, I'm sure, will guarantee is this is not the last change we will see. The time is now to get in the game.

Housing Prices Drop Again

Not a good month in May for houses. Prices dropped the steepest rate ever, according to the
S&P/ Case- Shiller 20 city index.
It was a drop of 15.8% compared to a year ago.
the index has only been around since 2000, but that's still a pretty good decline.

No city in the Case-Shiller 20-city index saw price gains in May, the second straight month that's happened. The monthly indices have not recorded an overall home price increase in any month since August 2006.

Nine cities that had record declines in May were: Las Vegas, Miami, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Wash., Portland, Ore., and Washington, D.C.

Las Vegas recorded the worst drop, with prices plunging 28.4 percent in the month. Miami came in a close second, with prices down 28.3 percent.

Can you believe that there might be a bright spot in the report though? 7 Cities had smaller then usual declnes — Tampa, Fla., Boston, Detroit, Minneapolis, New York, Dallas and Atlanta

Charlotte, N.C., posted the smallest drop at 0.2 percent. Until April, the North Carolina city had been the last city still showing price gains.

Want to know the top 10 best cities to buy in?

10. Atlanta, GA

9. Jacksonville, FL

8. San Francisco, CA

7. Charlotte, NC

6. Dallas, TX

5. San Antonio, TX

4. Philadelphia, PA

3. St. Louis, MO

2. Austin, TX

1. Houston, TX

According to Forbes Magazine, these cities are still doing well in both median home price and the local economy.

New RE numbers don't look good.

Have you seen whats going on in the market lately?
30 year mortgages hitting their highest level in a year, therefore pushing down the applications coming in, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issue, Indymac being taken over by the Feds and the housing market slumping more than expected.

When will it all work itself out? Dunno! Are you taking advantage of the opportunities? Last week I saw a house in Irvine California where the value was 1.1 million and it was being sold by the bank for 450K. That's the type of stuff going on out there.

The true bad news, not what the media is telling you, is that it looks like the "Bailout Bill" is going to get passed and signed by the President. At first he said he planned on vetoing it but now, under political pressure, he has said he will sign it. This means, among other things, that responsible home owners and tax payers will be paying the bill for those who got into mortgages they should have never gotten into. So the lesson learned is no lesson at all: "The government will always be there to bail us out." What type of example are we setting for our young people? Don't worry about your actions, if you buy something you can't afford, or lie on your mortgage application in order to get into a home and ten you find yourself in foreclosure, the Government will come in and take care of it. I think we should all be careful how much we really want the government involved. Talk about your slippery slope. Isn't this one of the reasons we separated ourself from England?

Any who: guess I showed my cards there. One of the sad things I see is people being afraid to get in the RE market because of the media. However, if you have the ability to learn, you have the ability to make money in this market. Get educated. Get involved.
The opportunity that is available right now will never happen again! Think I am crazy, look how they Fed's have already changed mortgage rules, do you really think it will stop there?

I need your vote

Millioaire Mind- New DTH

So the Millionaire Mind was really successful! We had over 50 people from the evening event we did there. It was awesome to see the mindsets change and grow. The money making potential from those who attended is really amazing to see.
We are going to be holding another DTH event in July. I figured there is so much opportunity in real estate out there right now and people need to know how to jump on it. I'm thinking this one might be a little more intimate of a group.
I'm talking to a few people about joint networking withe them on a local level. Companies that have systems on real estate but just don't teach what I do and want that as a part of the system. It will be great to get the system out to more people and working with like-minded people as well.
Speaking of opportunities, I hope you are all doing what you can in a market where most people are running away from investing, you should be the ones running behind them to pick up the crumbs that they are leaving behind.

On a panel

I was asked today to be on a business panel for real estate in the local area. They have asked me to be on both the panel and participate in the expo afterwards. It's from the guys who put together Performance magazine. I'm looking forward to it and am grateful for the opportunity.

There has been a lot of talk about the subject to market and how some states are trying to pass laws to stop investors from being able to do them.

Remember to support The National Association of Responsible Home Rebuilders and Investors. http://www.narhri.org/. They fight to keep our rights as real estate investors from being trampled on by lawmakers who don't know what they don't know.

Happy investing

Watch me interviewed on Channel 5 For my next event.

Just click the Youtube video on the side.

You can also see a promo for The Drop That Hammer Events.

Forgot to mention

A book I have to recommend.
I picked this book up after a friend recommend it to me and it is awesome.
It's called The 4 Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss
Click here to get to his site.

You have to get it, read it and then implement it.

I Know, I know- Forgive me.

I can't believe it's been since October that I wrote. Well now that I look back on what I have been doing, I guess I can.

October- Shannon and I celebrated 13 years.
November- I turned 35- Started using Rogaine :)

Happy belated Thanksgiving to you.
Merry belated Christmas to all of you that believe. For those of you who don't- Happy (fill in the blank)_______ from me to yours.

The year ended with a repeat of my two day intensive Drop That Hammer event. It was great. Lots of fun and learning from everyone.

The beginning of the year gave me many new things to do. Let me explain in not so long detail.

In January I attended a Peak Potential event called Life Directions. Really amazing stuff. Harv Eker creates some great events and this one is designed to help you find your true passion in life. It did just that for me.

I highly recommend it for anyone, no matter what stage of life they are in.

Millionaire Mind

After that I got the crazy idea to invite Harv's Millionaire Mind Evening here to Utah for the first time ever. That meant that I had to guarentee the company a minimum of 300 people in attendance. At the same time I started to work on my next seminar focused on how couples can make their marriages as successful as fortune 500 companies using specific systems.

It's funny. The more financially free I get the more projects I seem to give myself.

Just FYI for anyone planning on getting over 300 people to an event in less than two and a half months is not the most stress relieving activity. AND we did it. We actually had almost 400 people there. It was a huge success. Thank you to everyone who turned out, promoted and supported me.

How's your RE biz?
In times like these are you being more creative or are you just giving up? Don't crawl in a hole. Remember that the BIG GUYS- Kiyosaki, LeGrand, Sheets, Trump- all made huge money in the down markets. You need to get more education and find the low hanging fruit.

With Mortgage lenders having the issues they are now, it's a great time to forge great relationships with your local brokers. They have people calling them wanting to get into a house that might not be able to qualify for one reason or another. And there seems to be more reasons everyday depending on the banks mood.

Let them know what you can do in terms of Lease Options and Seller Financing. Show them that you can help qualify their clients even when the banks can't. When you are only charging 3-5% down as opposed to the banks minimum of 10-20% and an interest rate 1-1.5% higher than your underlined mortgage, you can usually sell your property faster than your competition. Throw the broker a half to a full point for the referral and you have created business for both. (Make sure you check with your state guidelines before offering a referral fee.)

The point is to get moving. The media should never drive your business, you should.