Tough Time Selling Your House-Copy What Builders Do

As the real estate market keeps plummeting the profit potential of home ownership has cooled as well. Here's a strategy called

"Copy the Builder"

It is relatively easy to make a profit when you sell your home if the market is rising sharply like it has been in most of the country till sometime in 2006. It becomes more difficult when a hot market slows down. It's very difficult to make a profit on the sale of your home when prices have fallen 25-75%.

Is there a guaranteed way to be relatively sure you'll make a profit when you sell your home? Of course not! However, I've seen progressive real estate investors use this maneuver multiple times when they don't even need to move.

Copy That Builder

In many areas of the country, there are builders who build hundreds of houses each year within a fifty mile radius of each other. They build entire communities or are one of three to five builders who build entire communities around big employment centers. This presents you with an important opportunity.

A New Community

Builders will typically sell first phases of communities for significantly less than later phases. On one hand, they need to get the cash flow moving. On the other, it is harder to sell at high prices because the community typically consists of dirt lots and construction equipment. Put the hands together and you have a great profit opportunity. Recently due to the house prices coming down so hard in Michigan, the later phases are actually selling for less.

How To Copy The Builder

A lot of times there are previously built homes or subdivisions near these new projects. There are always bank owned foreclosures available at huge discounts that are only a few years old. As a savvy investor you can use the following formula to make huge profits more quickly in Michigan foreclosures;

1. Find a great home that needs little work that's only a few years old.

2. Freshen it up with paint, carpet, and fixtures.

3. At this point you need to be into the project at 30-40% less (yes, it is possible) than retail listings in the same ares.

4. Make sure that it'll be ready with enough time so that your buyers can take advantage of the $8000 home buyer tax credit

5. List it with a great agent and make sure you offer both the selling agent (xtra commission) and buyer something special (like a plasma TV is they close by a certain time).

Think outside the box and you will make money in Michigan's foreclosure real estate market.

Make It Happen,

Dylan Tanaka
http://www.REIAofMacomb.com

5 Steps To Filpping Real Estate For Huge Profits

Do you Want To Make Money Flipping Michigan Real Estate?

1. Money is made at the buy, not the sell of your flip. When flipping a house your money is made at the purchase not at the sell of the house. So, many times people buy a house with the intentions of making a huge profit only to find out that they could not make any money after all the renovations because the purchased price of the house was to high. When you purchase your property you need to be sure that you buy the house with enough money to make renovations, carrying costs, plus marketing. Mistakes are made at the purchase at the home, not the sale.

2. Get an inspection on the home - Get a complete inspection done on your property. By, spending a couple hundred dollars on this expense you can save thousands in problems that you cannot see. You can take notes and learn a lot of information from a good home inspector. In your purchase agreement you need to make sure that you have 7 days to have a inspection preformed, and if the inspection finds problems that are going to cost more money that you are willing to spend you can get out of the contract with no penalties.

3. Don't do the work yourself: - Get a contractor or several sub-contractors and have the work done quickly. You need to have you house flipped ASAP, so that you can get it on the market and get it SOLD. DO NOT spend all our time working on the property, spend that time looking for the next deal. This is how you get rich in real estate.

4. Place the property 10 to 15 percent below market value: If you are wanting to flip real estate and make money the object is to buy and sell the property as quickly as possible, so that you can move on to the next house. If you purchase a house and try to sell it at top dollar to make and extra couple of thousand dollars on your flip, and end up holding it for 6 months you are loosing money. Get the house on the market at a price that is going to blow the competition away, and you will sell it no matter what the market conditions. That is what you have to do right now as we are in a buyer's market.

5. Use a real estate agent - Do not try to sell you house on your own. Harness the power of a real estate agent and the power of the MLS system. When you do a FSBO you are depending on people driving by your house and seeing you sign, with a real estate agent you have some one actively marketing you house to get it sold. Once again this will free up more time for you to look for more great deals. If you want to help the process I have found that craigslist and listing you house in google adwords help to, but I use these tools with the help of a agent to make sure I have all my bases covered.

***#6 BONUS. Join The REIA of Macomb, Michigan's #1 Real Estate Investing Club. There is NO BETTER place to meet other real estate investors who are Mking It Happen

Dylan Tanaka
http://www.REIAofMacomb.com
http://www.CheapBrickHouses.com

DON'T MISS This Month's REIA of Macomb Event & WIN A FREE PLASMA

7 Reasons NOT TO MISS
Tomorrow Night's Main Event at The REIA of Macomb

Here's the list that will make sure that you are in the house;

#1. FREE admission for EVERYONE!!! ALL members, guests, previous members, & previous guests, YES this means YOU!

#2. You can win an HD PLASMA TV a lucky attendee tomorrow night will take home a new TV!

#3. NO-HOLDS-BARRED q&a session hosted by Andy Heller
our main presenter at 5:30 Andy's offering a FREE early bird session for YOU

#4. Meet a dozen vendors who will save you money right now You're offered special discounts that You can ONLY reciceive at THE REIA of Macomb

#5. You'll learn money saving techniques from members like this CLICK HERE have you ever seen a contractor with such a great website?

#6. Receive a positive message about today's HUGE opportunities in
Michigan Foreclosures meet and network with real investors, not has-beens who are looking to re-invent themselves in order to sell you more get rich quick schemes

#7. Experience Michigan's #1 place to Learn, Network, & Grow your real estate investing business If you don't think that The REIA is a great place to spend time with like minded people at the end of tomorrow night's event, we'll offer you a 200% no strings attached money back guarantee.

***Remember, seating is extremely limited***

To guarantee a seat for this money making & money saving event call 586-435-7113 right now and let us know how many sets you will need saved just for you.

Doors open at 5:15 p.m. for the early bird session

When: Thursday, October 29th The Main Event will start at 7:00 p.m. Where: Royalty House 8201 Old 13 Mile Warren, MI 48093

Investment to attend :FREE, FREE, FREE for everyone!!!

Almost There...

Almost there...

Dylan Tanaka

http://www.reiaofmacomb.com

htp://www.followmyreia.com

http://www.pilesofprivtaemoney.com

The Countdown Begins

Stay tuned...

Dylan Tanaka

http://www.reiaofmacomb.com

htp://www.followmyreia.com

http://www.pilesofprivtaemoney.com

Your 2009 Real Estate Goals part 2

Success: Given or Earned II

In today's information age sometimes we forget how to get back to the basics. It's a lot easier to call then stop by, next it becomes quicker to e-mail instead of calling, soon you're texting as opposed to e-mail. In no time you're refinancing with a computer screen and wondering why at the close your rate jumped a point!

What the heck happened to a pencil and paper, a coffee and a handshake, or even yes sir no sir?

It seems like a million years ago I posts a blog titled Success: Given or Earned.

CLICK HERE to check it out.

There truly is no substitute for hard work. Tomorrow night my partners and I will be the keynote speaker at The REIA of Macomb, a networking, teaching, and success group that we founded 2 full years ago. As I was preparing for tomorrow's event I reflected today on how far we've come in 2 short years.

In the earlier growth days of the group, Nathan and I shared a 15 x 12 office and were flipping, renting, and even retailing houses from that little space. Oops, we were also running the REIA out of there also. A little more than a couple hundred members later and over 50 more property acquisitions later, we're in a couple thousand square foot office with a small staff, brokers license, and greater deals staring us in the face than ever.

We brought on another partner Adam Davis just over a year ago, and the
REIA of Macomb and Jeffrey Douglas Property Investments have both been on a meteoric rise ever since. Can I attribute our success strictly to goals and business planning, of course not. However I can say with conviction that without both goal planning both business and personal, we would not be where we are today.

Enough of my soapbox, I promised you my 2009 real estate goals and I now deliver...

1) Get into a commercial deal strictly for consistent cashflow

2) Reach my 100th purchase (well over 70 at this point)

3) Deliver an even greater experience to all REIA members/vendors/visitors

4) Create, write, and publish The Underground REI Report newsletter

5) Help as many real estate investors reach their dreams as possible

I know, number 5 may seem a little sappy. The truth is the more people that you help get what they want, the more you will seem to get what you want. If you're reading this and have not yet written out your 2009 real estate goals I truly hope that this inspires you to sit your butt down with a pad and pencil and get to work.

As always, only YOU can Make It Happen!!!

Dylan Tanaka

http://www.REIAofMacomb.com

http://www.CheapBrickHouses.com

http://www.PrettyMiHomes.com

http://www.Jeffrey-Douglas.com

2009 Real Estate Investing Goals

Back To the Basics

Confessions of a Michigan Real Estate Investor

Learn, teach, and network. Those words have been spoken by me on stage, over the phone, and over many Skinny Lattes. 2009 spells the beginning of a 24-36 month acquisition period for savvy Michigan real estate investors. We've effectively tracked prices plummet 75% in the cities that we purchase and sell single family homes. As long as you have your exit strategy palnned out and you don't over-finance your purchase, you simply can't lose.

=>=>=>Southeast Michigan real estate is on Clearance Sale!

Let's use a recent deal that we did just this month...

The property: A Roseville ranch with 3 beds, a basement, 1 1/2 bath, with garage located near I696 and Gratiot Ave

Purchase price: $29,999

Rehab cost: $7,500

This gives you a payment near $250 for principle and interest.

Lets add $300 for taxes and insurance.

Our total is $550.

Here's where the fun begins...

What's your exit strategy? We'll go through the guaranteed rent scenario, the lease option scenario, and the land contract scenario.

Okay, section 8 vouchers are close to $900 for a 3 bed home with basement. That gives you $350 in cashflow with a check coming from Jenny (The State of Michigan).

On a lease option you will get at least $2000 if not $3000 down as an option deposit and $900-$1000 lease payment. Your sale price on the house will probably be $79,999. That leaves you with a couple grand upfront and another $350 a month worst case scenario. Plus when you actually sell the property to the prospective buyer you've got a $35,000-40,000 back end.

There are pluses and minuses to the land contract sale. Lets get the minuses out of the way first. If your buyer defaults, you may have to foreclose, which will cost you a couple thousand in lawyer fees and a 6-12 month loss of payments.

Alright, here's the advantages to selling on land contract. You don't have to get rental certifications, a lengthy and sometimes costly process full of headaches. Your buyer qualifies for homesteaded taxes, (which leaves more of the payment to go towards you) and they are typically responsible to pay them. However, I suggest that you have them either pay you or an escrow/title company to make sure that they are on time. They are also responsible for all utilities, water, appliances, yard maintenance and so on. Your buyers are also able to write off the land contract interest on their taxes.

***Remember*** in Michigan 10.99 is the maximum rate that you can charge on a land contract.

Lets do the numbers...

We'll use the same $79,999 sale price. this time you're going to get 10% down and carry a note for $69,999 at 10.99% Amortized over 30 years their payment to you is $656, remember your payment is $250.

So you're cashflowing $400/month, and you received $7,500 upfront. Me likey! Also on a land contract you can play with the terms. If that payment is too high for your buyer you can lower the rate, or make it interest only. If your buyer can handle a higher payment you can amortize it over 15 years, which will give you around $525 in cashflow. If you can get them to refinance you out in 3 years your going o profit near $30,000, give or take a few.

It really all depends on what you feel works best for your business.

So what the heck are my goals???

Tune in next week!

Dylan Tanaka

http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/

http://www.cheapbrickhouses.com/

http://www.jeffrey-douglas.com/

http://www.prettymihomes.com/

Fortune Cookie Tells Story

A Picture's Worth A Thousand Words

If you're a gambler those numbers may really be lucky!

Dylan Tanaka
http://www.REIAofMacomb.com

Dylan Tanaka Gets RedGagged!!!

RedGag Radio Episode 4
(this one's a shocker)

Click HERE to listen to my RedGag Radio Episode 4

Dylan Tanaka
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com
http://www.dylantanaka.com
http://www.redgagradio.com
http://www.michiganincomeproperties.com
http://www.prettymihomes.com
http://www.weoffertoday.com

Michigan Income Properties Serves Up Huge Equity For Investors

Super Wholesales With Piles Of Equity


Check out my available wholesales here http://www.MichiganIncomeProperties.com.

Make sure to sign up to receive updates when we get new properties.

Dylan Tanaka
http://www.michiganincomeproperties.com/
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.oaklandbusinessforum.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/
http://www.redgagradio.com/

RedGag Radio Get's It's Own Site

(slap some of this across the mouth of the next negative person you meet)

Sick and Tired of All the Negativity Spewed About
Michigan Business By 2/4/7 and The News?

Probably like the rest of the positive entrepreneurs out there that frequent my blog, I'm fed up with all of the complaining that I hear from lazy people. As the world climates change, so do economic climates. Sheople say that it may not be as easy to make in Michigan as it used to be. I want to ask them "When it was soooo easy to make money, how much were you making?"



A lot of times their answer is probably the same then as it is now, $35,000 but that's because.... more excuses. As my gift to the world RedGag Radio has finally earned it's own podcast page. This is where you'll hear my thoughts on the Sheople that certainly need to be RedGagged!!!

Check it out at http://www.RedGagRadio.com

You guessed it, Make It Happen

Dylan Tanaka
http://www.redgagradio.com
http://www.dylantanaka.com
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com
http://www.oaklandbusinessforum.com
http://www.weoffertoday.com
http://www.prettymihomes.com

Dylan Tanaka Hits Metro Detroit Air Waves, And The Sheople Get Scared

On 1400 AM WDTK Dylan Tanaka & Adam J. Davis Give Real Life Account Of What's Happening In Michigan Real Estate In 2008

If you are reading this before 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, February 10th than you must tune in to 1400 AM WDTK today. You can click THIS LINK or go to 1400 on your AM dial. Adam J. Davis and myself are guest staring on Mortgage Matters hosted by Kevin Weedmark, President and CEO of Granite Capital, Michigan's fastest growing commercial financing firm.

If you missed the broadcast check back in a couple of days. I will have the podcast link on this site. If you have a chance to listen live and want to call in to participate here's the station number 800-923-WDTK.

Remember you can always leave your comments at the bottom of eah of my posts, and I want to know what you think!

Making It Rain in 2008,

Dylan Tanaka

http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/
http://www.oaklandbusinessforum.com/

http://www.dylantanaka.com/

RedGAG Radio, Listen To A Great Make It Happen Story

Another Episode Of RedGag Radio. Sick of Your Boss? Hope so.

CLICK HERE to listen.

Let me know what you think,

Dylan Tanaka

http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/
http://www.oaklandbusinessforum.com/

http://www.dylantanaka.com/

Happy Birthday REIA of Macomb

Michigan's Premier Real Estate Investor Association Turns 1!!!

Anyone who reads this blog knows what The REIA of Macomb is and what it means to real estate investors. On January 31st, 2008 The REIA of Macomb had it's first birthday.

The air was absolutely electric at The Royalty House, The REIA's new location for The Main Event. There were more vendors, plasma screens, and video cameras than ever before.

Dwan Bent-Twyford shared her expert knowledge on shortsales, not just how to find them, but how to wholesale them after you get the payoff accepted!!! Isn't that an awesome weapon to have in your arsenal in Michigan real estate investing? You bet it is.

The most exciting part of the night was the REIA member of the year awards. There were 3 separate awards given out. The first two were for REIA of Macomb Make It Happen members of the year runner ups. It was actually a tie between 3 people. What does that mean?

We'll the first runner up award went to Tina Puma, who is a very active REIA of Macomb, as well as Wealth In REI member. Tina is finishing up her first deal in Roseville, MI. Believe it or not her first rehab is going to come in around $45,000 in repair cost. her purchase piece was around $25,000. That puts her at a total of $70,000 on a house that sold for $130,000 only two short years ago. She plans on either selling it outright or on lease option.

Great Job Tina, You Are Making It Happen!!!

The next runner up went to a partnership. Raja Gomath and Prakash Patel have purchased 4 properties since becoming members of both The REIA of Macomb & Wealth In REI. I met them a little over a year ago, they promised me that they would do their first deal in 2007. Well their finishing up their 4th in a little more than 12 months!!!

Awesome Year Fellas, You're Both Definitely Making It Happen!!!

Last but certainly not least is The REIA of Macomb Make It Happen Member of the Year for 2007. This award didn't go to a single investor, it went to a family. Ray Barwin is a full time employee with one of the Big 3, he bought a 50 unit apartment building and turned it around in no time. Now he's buying single family homes around his building to help his apartment tenants transition into home ownership.

All of that may warrant being REIA member of the year, but that's nothing. The best part about this man and his family is that they attend all of the REIA of Macomb functions together as a family. From the Make It Happen BBQ to the Christmas Networking Event, The Barwins are always there learning, sharing and networking.

So the award goes out to Minnie, Kristen, Ken, and Ray Barwin, the #1 family in Michigan real estate investing.

If you missed January's REIA, DON'T miss February. We're going to have 10 different experts that you will be able to personally talk to.

Dylan Tanaka
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.oaklandbusinessforum.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/
http://www.dylantanaka.com/

Wealth In R.E.I. Members Making A Difference In Michigan Foreclosure Investing

The Elite Mastermind Group Proves Synergy Exists Between Metro Detroit Real Estate Investors

As most of you know reading this post know my partner Nathan Mayes and I founded Wealth In REI, a private real estate consulting group in late 2007. Since that time Michigan real estate investing has shown more and more opportunity.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the more of something that's available(foreclosures), the less desirable(the price goes down) they become. Right now in metro Detroit there are more houses on the market than there has been in 20 years. So the question is how does the average investor put their real estate investing business on steroids? By becoming a part of a mastermind, that's how.

Here's a promo the Adam J Davis, http://www.adamjdavis.com, vice-president of The REIA of Macomb put together for Wealth In REI.

For those of you who don't receive my regular e-mails about metro Detroit real estate investing and want to start receiving them, enter your information in the blue box on the right side of this blog titled REIA of Macomb newsletter.

make sure not to miss this month's Main Event. Dwan Bent-Twyford, the Queen of Shortsales is flying in from Colorado to help The REIA celebrate it's 1st Birthday!!!

Dylan Tanaka
Very important real estate investing sites
http://www.weoffertoday.com
http://www.prettymihomes.com
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com
http://www.oaklandbusinessforum.com
http://www.dylantanaka.com

Announcing RedGag Radio!!!

Dylan Tanaka Goes Live With Podcasts

2008 will be a banner year for Michigan real estate investors and entrepreneurs.  Part of my promise to all of you is to keep you highly motivated with this blog.

Look for weekly podcasts and videos from mw all year long.

Here's where we start

Click Here To Listen 

Keep your feedback coming, oh yeah...

Make It Happen!!!

Dylan Tanaka

http://www.REIAofMacomb.com

http://www.OaklandBusinessForum.com

http://www.DylanTanaka.com

http://www.WeOfferToday.com

http://www.PrettyMiHomes.com

The Oakland Business Forum is Born!!!

Last night, The Oakland Business Forum got off to a roaring start! Everyone that was there got heavy doses of great information from our keynote speakers, Terry Bean and Charlie Wollborg, contacts to build their businesses and fresh perspective on why it is a great time to be doing business in Michigan.

The Oakland Business Forum was founded with a vision to bring the collective knowledge and shared experience of entrepreneurs, investors and prospective entrepreneurs together for mutual gain.

Each month, The Oakland Business Forum will feature the following:

- a DYNAMIC keynote speaker- the “entrepreneur of honor”
- a local entrepreneur who presents their business to the audience
- “30 seconds to fame” - entrepreneurs and professionals from the audience get to “ask” what they are looking for in their business to take it to the next level - in front of everyone

Our first meeting yesterday was a smashing success! Thank to you all who came out to build your business or to figure out what you can do to get started in business.

A HUGE Part of our “30 Seconds to Fame” portion of each meeting is to videotape each “ask” and broadcast it as far and fast as possible, with the goal of helping the entrepreneur accomplish their goals. Below is the “30 Seconds” to fame portion of last night’s meeting:



If you can help these ambitious entrepreneurs out in any way with what they are looking for to boost their business, than please get in contact with them directly, through the Oakland Business Forum or contact me directly.
Be sure to attend the Oakland Business Forum for our next meeting, on February 19, 2008, where Josh Linkner of ePrize will be our keynote speaker. Josh is one of Michigan’s brightest and fastest growing entrepreneurs and runs one of the fastest growing companies in the United States! Doors open at 6 pm at the Hilton Northfield in Troy, MI.

Dylan Tanaka
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com
http://www.oaklandbusinessforum.com
http://www.prettymihomes.com
http://www.weoffertoday.com

Insanely Important REIA of Macomb Update...You Must Read This

Here is a recent press release concerning Michigans Premier Real Estate Investor's Association...

How to Wholesale & How to Shortsale Taught By Successful Millionaire Investor Dwan Bent-Twyford at The REIA of Macomb’s Main Event

Warren, MI – on January 31st 2008, The REIA of Macomb, (http://www.reiaofmacomb.com) Michigan’s Premier Real Estate Investors Association’s January Freedom Through Foreclosures Event will take place at the club’s new venue, The Royalty House in Warren, Michigan. Located at 8201 Old 13 Mile in Warren Michigan 48093, near 13 Mile Rd & Van Dyke, the REIA club was forced to move due to uncontrollable membership growth.

To start 2008 off right, The REIA of Macomb has secured their most famous national speaker to date, Dwan Bent-Twyford, for a one night only Freedom Through Foreclosures Event. Michigan real estate investing is filled with more opportunity now than ever, especially with REO’s (bank foreclosures). Start you year off right and get to THE REIA of Macomb’s Main Event.


Dwan Bent-Twyford, The Queen of Short Sales®, is a distinguished author, motivating national speaker, and incredible teacher. She has published several home study courses that will teach you every aspect of the exciting foreclosure world….in detail! In a world dominated by men, this amazing woman has certainly made her mark wholesaling, shortsaling, buying, rehabbing, and successfully selling real estate for over a decade.

Her niche is finding foreclosures with no equity, negotiating with the banks to accept less than what is owed, thus creating a “Short Sale®.” Over the last several years she has developed a hugely successful “Short Sale®” system that has earned her and her students hundreds of thousands of dollars. She wants to share that knowledge with you. Her goal is simple…to teach you how to become a “super investor” using her proven techniques, strategies, and concepts. Don’t miss this exciting lady!

The REIA of Macomb is a non-profit organization open to the public. The REIA’s main goal is for members to learn, teach, and network. It doesn’t matter where you live, you are welcomed with open arms at Macomb County’s Exclusive Real Estate & Success Club.

The REIA of Macomb meet the last Thursday of each month at the Exclusive Royalty House in Warren, Michigan. Located at 8201 Old 13 Mile Rd Warren, MI 48093 it is easily accessible from all major freeways and less than an hour from Detroit Metro Airport .

Doors open at 6:00 p.m. for early networking.

First time attendees are always FREE!

***Seating is extremely limited***

To R.S.V.P. call Dylan Tanaka @ 586-435-7113

or e-mail info@REIAofMacomb.com

For information on future events go to http://www.REIAofMacomb.com

Wealth In REI Member Makes It Happen

244 Dickinson, An Investors First Major Rehab

REIA of Macomb member Mark Sobolic has burned his ship!!! He's made the commitment to be a full time real estate investor by 2009. As a founding member of Wealth In REI, Mark's decide to put all of his education and his personal network to the test.

Here's the deal...

244 Dickinson

Mt. Clemens, MI 48043

3bed bungalow on a full basement with a 2 1/2 car garage.

Now if that's how this home is marketed, it's not moving in this market. One of the topics that we are exploring in early 2008 in Wealth In REI, is how to market your properties and get a 300% better response than the competition. My partner Nathan Mayes and I are considered to be top marketers in the current real estate climate. By purchasing close to one Michigan Income Property a week, we are forced to be extremely proactive in the marketing of these houses.

If you would like to find out more on how to successfully purchase 50 houses over the next 12 months you need to get to The REIA and inquire about your possible enrollment in Wealth In REI.

Back to Mark's Freedom...

You read the mundane description of his house above, let's look at how this home would describe itself after it's rehabbed.

Hi my name is 244 Dickinson. I'm a classic 50's built bungalow that sets directly across from a tranquil park. As you walk my way you'll notice my fresh taupe exterior paint, air tight vinyl double tilt hung windows, all capped off by my new 40 year dimensional roof. Surrounding my foundation is very natural landscaping accompanied by a perfectly manicured lawn. Off to my right is my 2 1/2 car double doored with new vinyl siding covering it.

My lovely front entrance welcomes you, my gleaming hardwood floors stop you in your tracks, for fear of possibly slipping on the ice-like finish. As you venture in I can brag about my natural fireplace with refinished mantle for your family's pictures. The next doorway brings you to my crown jewel, the modern kitchen. I have a new ceramic floor, light fixtures, and cheery custom paint. That's not all. You'll also notice my new hardwood cabinets, sparkling appliances, that you'll enjoy dining in my breakfast nook.

Moving toward the hall your jaw will drop when you see how large the two bedrooms are. Best of all they're separated by my completed updated full ceramic bathroom. Your family will love growing up in a house with such a modern feel. The largest bedroom is located upstairs, where typical bungalows seem slanted, mine feels like a new build's master suite. This room will become your sanctuary after a long day.

Don't forget that I have a full basement for laundry, storage, or overflow from your big family get togethers. This is not the basements that most Mt. Clemens residents are punished with. It's tall enough for the Pistons to come over and hang out! I'm as dry as you'll find in The Clem thanks to my waterproofing and the addition of a sump pump.

Enough about my basement. I want to leave you with one thought...Imagine watching your kids playing in the snow at the park across the street while sipping hot cocoa at your bistro table out your breakfast nooks window. Please make me yours.

That's how a listing should read about this romantic home.

Stay tuned, pictures and stories of Mark's rehab will follow in the coming weeks. If you are interested in speaking with Mark, you need to come to the REIA of Macomb's Main Event that happens the last Thursday of every month and seek him out.

Make it Happen Mr. Sobolic.

Dylan Tanaka
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.oaklandbusinessforum.com/
http://www.successinrei.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/
http://www.dylantanaka.com/

Dylan Tanaka's Top 5 "Must Read" Sales Books

Make 1000% ROI By Reading This Blog

Okay let's get right to the nitty gritty. We will start from #5 and work down to #1.

The #5 Best Sales Book

The Art Of The Deal

-Donald Trump

Although brash to the point of rudeness no one can Trump The Donald. Mostly a brag-a-thon about his deals in the 80's, the stories are still fascinating. Learning some of Trumps' negotiating techniques will no doubt strengthen your level of influence.

The #4 Best Sales Book

Secrets Of Closing the Sale

-Zig Ziglar

If you read my earlier post CLICK HERE, than I don't need to overwhelm you with how important this book is to your entrepreneurial life. If you haven't head Zig speak before than enjoy

This book has over 100 specific closes and over 700 sales questions are answered. this book is an absolute must-have.

The #3 Best Sales Book

Succeed And Grow Rich Through Persuasion

-Napoleon Hill

In this book Napoleon focuses on how to be more successful in sales. He shares wisdom that has been copied and rehashed by the likes of Tom Hopkins and Tony Robbins. Napoleon started it all.

The #2 Best Sales Book

How To Win Friends And Influence People

-Dale Carnegie

I've been known to throw copies of this book out to the crowd at REIA of Macomb Main Events. I believe that for pure internal, emotional sales and life principles this book is number 1. The only reason it's not my #1 sales book is because #1 is purely about sales, and this book touched a lot on life. Carnegie believed, is due 15 percent to professional knowledge and 85 percent to "the ability to express ideas, to assume leadership, and to arouse enthusiasm among people." Carnegie says you can make someone want to do what you want them to by seeing the situation from the other person's point of view and "arousing in the other person an eager want." You learn how to make people like you, win people over to your way of thinking, and change people without causing offense or arousing resentment. For instance, "let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers," and "talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person."

The #1 Best Sales Book

No B.S. Sales Success: The Ultimate No Holds Barred, Kick Butt, Take No Prisoners & Make Tons of Money

-Dan S. Kennedy

This book wins the number 1 spot because it is 2007 not 1937. Dan's true No B.S. style is what we as salespeople/entrepreneurs need to hear. His pure savvy within his consulting techniques are second to none. Dan keeps his books rather short but packed with content. This is in no sense a business bible, but as far as sales is concerned in the 2000's and beyond, his principles simply need to be adopted by us. I challenge you to implement a few of Dan's techniques and watch your income multiply.

All of these books can be found at a fraction of their cover price on http://www.amazon.com/ or http://www.ebay.com/. Your only excuse is that another episode of Grey's Anatomy or maybe the Awesome Detroit Lions were on tv. get off your butt and Make it Happen!!!

Dylan Tanaka

http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/

http://www.oaklandbusinessforum.com/

http://www.successinrei.com/

http://www.weoffertoday.com/

http://www.prettymihomes.com/

http://www.dylantanaka.com/

The POWER Of the First Impression

Does Your Card Get Thrown Out, Left In A Suit Pocket, or Put In My Outlook

In a recent *Special Report* focused on the small business owner, offered by a partner of mine Adam J. Davis, he asked a great question "Business or Hobby?". To receive the whole report CLICK HERE. In the report Adam wrote about how to get your small business going in less than 14 days. I want to talk about making sure that you look and act the part of a successful entrepreneur.

Let's start with your look;

The general dress code guidelines for men during business hours, which seems to be 6:00 a.m. to Midnight, are suits in navy blue, charcoal gray, or black. Usually, the darker the suit, the more authority it carries. A two piece suit is acceptable as is a three button single breasted jacket. What matters most is that the suit fits well and it is good quality. The pants should fit comfortably at the waist and a slimmer fit is preferred. There should only be a slight break where the trouser hits the shoe. If your ankles are showing, they are way too short (floods).

Under a suit jacket, long sleeve shirts are a must. The higher the cotton content, the better the shirt will look. Make sure your shirt fits the neck properly and that the sleeve cuff ends just at the wrist. All your business clothes should be professionally cleaned and pressed and ready to go.

Ties that are cheap looking do not give off a good first impression. A pure silk tie makes the most powerful professional impact, has the best finish and feel, and is easiest to tie well. The tie should complement your suit, not match it. No outlandish, flamboyant ties are necessary. The length of the tie should be extended to the center of you belt buckle.

Shoes should be brown or black leather. No other materials or colors are acceptable. Socks should complement the suit, blue, black, gray, or brown. They should either match your shoes or pants.

Men’s jewelry should be kept to a minimum. No visible body piercing or tattoos -if you can help it.

When you meet someone, you may not be aware of this but they are observing your body language, very carefully. Your body language says a lot about yourself, so you need to control negative body movements and encourage positive body movements and habits. Humans naturally send and receive nonverbal communication; they have been doing so since the beginning of time.

The Handshake: your hands should be clean and well manicured, and free of perspiration. You want to allow the interviewer to initiate the handshake, which should match the interviewer in firmness, do not give a firmer handshake than them. Smile at the interviewer and look them in the eyes. It should last between two to five seconds. When departing the interview, the handshake may last longer, smile and lean forward as you shake.

Here are a few things you will want to avoid at an interview:

Clasping your hands behind your head
Adjusting your tie constantly
Slouching in your chair
Pulling your collar away
Picking at your face or outfit
Tight smiles or tension in face
Little eye contact
Wrinkling your eyebrows
Rapidly nodding your head
Any nervous tics
Crossing your ankles - means withholding information
Crossing your legs away from the interviewer- toward is ok Crossing one ankle over the other knee
Crossing your interviewers personal space
Avoid grinning idiotically
Gnawing on one’s lips absentmindedly
“Faking” a cough during a tough question
Folding or crossing your arms
Avoid compulsive jabbing the floor or desk with your foot
Loud, obnoxious laughter

The garbage listed above will ensure a lack of respect for you by others. Meeting people and networking is a large part of my business as founder of The REIA of Macomb and

Wealth In REI. How would it look to members of these clubs if I came to the events and got onstage in jeans and a Detroit Tigers t-shirt. Some guys out there on T.V. especially can do this, after years and years of branding themselves. I was taught at a very young age, because I was 19 years old when I entered the business world and was giving advice to 50 year olds on how to spend their money, that a professional look and attitude will take a lot of "age" out of it.

Thanks to Michigan real estate investing and Metro Detroit's staggering bank owned reo's I have been able to go prematurely gray. It's not that I don't love what I do, it's just that there is a lot going on up there in my mind 19 hours a day. If gray hair isn't in your immediate future than put on a blue suit, nice tie, polished shoes, and go out there and start Making It Happen.

Dylan Tanaka

http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/

http://www.oaklandbusinessforum.com/

http://www.successinrei.com/

http://www.weoffertoday.com/

http://www.prettymihomes.com/

http://www.dylantanaka.com/

So You Think Your An Entrepreneur? part 2

More Reasons That You're A Salesperson

As I said in my first column, like it or not we are all salespeople. Our lives are made up of a series of “sales presentations”, otherwise known as presenting ourself in the best light possible. Whether we’re out for a job interview, trying for a raise, or just convincing a seller that you need more concessions – you are making a presentation.

The mental state of the successful entrepreneur must be in-line with the message. If you don’t believe that, try giving a pump up your sales force when you’re depressed – it won’t work! You must be aware of and manage your own mental state and that of your listeners or communication channels will not be open. I don’t have space to elaborate on methods of doing this, but here are a few key hints. First, “AAI” – Act As If. Act the way you want to feel, it’s amazing how this works. Use music to set the mood if necessary, dress the part, and reduce your anxiety by whatever method works for you. Remember that you’re the one in charge, and presentation mastery isn’t about being perfect – it’s about achieving your objective.

As co-founder of The REIA of Macomb, Michigan's Premier Real Estate Investor Association the following paragraph comes from personal experience. Fear of public speaking ranks high on most people’s list of worst fears. You may find you’re unusually nervous, develop poor voice tone or negative body language, and be unable to respond to audience feedback. Controlling your anxiety lets you to focus on your audience and their needs. The basic approach to do this is the asking ourselves a list of “what if?” questions. Another way to overcome our fear is to take ownership of the situation. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Double check your notes, and prepare yourself.

Know Your Audience. Whether it is one person or many that you are presenting to you must do three basic things: Meet their needs, reduce tension, and avoid mistakes. A good knowledge of the listeners will give you a chance to tailor your objectives to meet their needs. This also allows you to reduce the “audience-presenter” tension so they will focus on what you’re saying. With a clear knowledge of your audience’s views you’ll be sensitive to potential “hot buttons”.

Engage your audience whenever possible. Boring listeners leads to missed objectives or total failure. You must be flexible and responsive to your audience. To do this you need to use techniques that will give you audience feedback; you must diagnose the cause of the problem you’re addressing, and finally you must choose the solution to act upon.

When you’re presenting watch for non-verbal behavior such as clock-watching, foot-tapping, and cat-napping. When any of these are present get some feedback with, “Is it too warm in here?” or “Should I pick up the pace?” That breaks the attention or lack of, of the audience and brings them back to your talk. One important thing to remember is that the mind can absorb no more than the seat can endure. Sometimes a simple thing like taking a short stretch break will solve the problem.

..........................(How would you like to feel like this guy?)


If you focus on your objective and make sure that your audience is interested, you will undoubtedly achieve higher success in sales.


Dylan Tanaka
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.oaklandbusinessforum.com/
http://www.successinrei.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/
http://www.dylantanaka.com/

The 90/10 Rule

How To Turn $3.00 into $30,000!

The old saying was 20% of people are responsible for 80% of Success. Oh how things have changed. Success in America is out there for the taking. When I say Success it means more than just completing a task and having a positive outcome.

To me Success means;

• Happiness
  


• Achievement



• Profit (Win-Win)
  


• Effort
  


• Integrity
  


• Awareness
  


• Creation
  


• Performance

I can keep going but by now you get the picture. At a certain point in my business life I had a moment of clarity. I somehow understood what it took to become successful in Michigan real estate investing & entrepreneurship in general. Here is the secret...

Do what the 10% do that the other 90% won't!

To become truly successful and financially independent you must be able to swim upstream.

That may mean NOT turning on your T.V. and reading and remembering a book.

Maybe it's sending hand-written letters to your business associated that you are going to do more business with in the upcoming year. .

Actually writing down your dreams first, then your goals, and finally the action steps to achieve those goals in a measured timely fashion.

Live outside the box and take the path less traveled every time if it will have a greater outcome.

Start with the end in mind.

Most importantly cut the things (people even) out of your life that stand between you and your perfect vision of your life.

DO NOT Let Anyone Crush Your Dream

Would you like the answer to the wild statement above about "How I Will Turn $3.00 Into $30,000? Here goes...

For my birthday in October my partner Nathan Mayes, his wife, and my girlfriend went on a Western Michigan Wine Tour. See Nathan and I are born 5 days apart so our better halves put the trip together for our birthdays. As we pulled into a charming little city called Dundee, I snuck out of the tasting and headed across Main Street to a used book store.

There is something special about a small town where everyone smiles and greets you like its 1955 in Mayberry, something pure. So I walked into the used book store and the owner immediately asked me what I was looking for. I said business books. Before taking me toward the Business, Finance, & Motivations sections she stopped me at a separate book shelf with some old looking books on it. I would put them at 50-70 years old on average. She then explained to me that this section was for books signed by the authors. She then pulled out a new find that was a study guide for the 1960's focused on helping prospective real estate agents pass their exam! Try to find help like that at B & N.

Here's where I was able to make a projected 10,000% risk-free investment. A red, white, and blue book caught my eye. To my excitement the author was one of my favorites and I certainly had never heard of this title before. I grabbed it in anticipation to see if it was discounted enough to justify buying without knowing anything about it.

$3.00

What I know now I would have paid $3000 for the information that I gained from the book. Are you ready to find out the title???

Secrets Of Closing The Sale

by Zig Ziglar

From the cover:

OVER 100 specific closes, for professional salespeople PLUS over 700 sales questions AND dozens of persuasion procedures to help doctors, ministers, household executives, teachers, parents and FULL TIME REAL ESTATE ENTREPRENEURS effectively sell their ideas and concepts.

Oaky the full time real estate entrepreneurs was added in, but it may as well have been titled Hey Dylan Tanaka Buy Me NOW!!!

From what I can tell the book was written in 1982 in a time before all of the sensational self-help promoters of the 90's to today. Zig Ziglar is the real deal. if you haven't read him before you need to. What this book really does is go through almost 1000 objections that you will hear as an entrepreneur/business owner/real estate investor/salesperson/human being. The funny thing is in our day and age where Palm Pilot's are already a thing of the past, salesmanship 25 years ago is the same as it is today.

My current favorite "close" of the book goes like this;

To help his clients Take Action Now, he had a very unique business card made. If a perspective buyer told Zig, "Yes I know that I need it, I'll call you when I get around to it". At that point Zig would then pull out his business card, on one side was all of Mr Ziglar's professional information, on the backside was this

You see a true salesperson can overcome any objection. Whether it's by agreeing with their concern or drowning them in features, advantages, and benefits.

So I will end this with another question...

Do you have what it takes to be the 10%, or is being in the ordinary 90% majority your destiny?

~Make It Happen~

Dylan Tanaka
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.oaklandbusinessforum.com/
http://www.successinrei.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/
http://www.dylantanaka.com/

Dylan Tanaka... The Dragon Slayer?

Hunting For Enormous Fire-Breathing Dragons With Nothing But Small Gang Of Entrepreneurs

I like to think of myself as a Dragon Slayer. I know that this is the first time that you've ever heard this from a non-profit founder who has an affinity for argyle sweaters. Sometimes I equate what we as entrepreneurs do to what 17th century Dragon Slayers did. Every time we create a new business or a new marketing campaign it's like inventing fire. Now I know that fire was discovered before the 1600's just play along.

There are 4 traits that almost all successful entrepreneurs possess:

1. A Feeling
2. A Strategy
3. Trust
4. A Lionheart

Lets break each one down as Webster's Dictionary would;
1. Feeling-to find or pursues one's way. What this means is you believe that you know or can produce a better way to do something. It may be building and designing a car, or it could be how to build a human transporter, like on Star Trek. It's an idea.

2. A Strategy-a plan for obtaining a specific goal. This one is straight forward. After yo have an idea you must have a plan on how to execute it.

3. Trust-confident expectation of something. This one is critical. You must have confidence in your product, service, or idea.

4. A Lionheart-having exceptional courage and bravery. Having the Dragon Slayer designation demands an unrelenting can't-lose attitude. This trait is by far what catapults most entrepreneurs into super-successful business owners. You must have a powerful confidence in yourself. If you don't "seem" to believe in you and your business potential investors or customers, they simply Won't believe in you either. Also to be a leader you simply must have an unwavering poise about yourself.

There are no absolutes in life, so not all ultra-successful entrepreneurs posees all of these traits, but I challenge you to show me a few who don't. The more prosperous Michigan real estate investors that I do business or have coffee with seem to harbor these attributes. I know that The REIA of Macomb couldn't be the triumphant success that it is, if my partner Nathan Mayes and I didn't deliver these characteristics.

So I ask you when facing an intimidating, razor toothed, fire breathing, dragon do you have what it takes to be a Dragon Slayer???

Sharpen Your Sword,
Dylan Tanaka
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.oaklandbusinessforum.com/
http://www.wealthinrei.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/
http://www.prettymichiganhomes.com/

A Night of Credit Millionaires

Tom Kish Delivers To Almost Record Breaking Crowd

On Thursday, November 27th The REIA of Macomb turned 11 months old. Our first meeting was in January of 2007. In eleven short months we've grown to well over 180 members! For those of you who are unaware of what The REIA is here's a short breakdown.

The REIA of Macomb is Michigan's Premier Real Estate Investor's Association. It's a non-profit organization that I co-founded with my partner Nathan Mayes, open to the public, for real estate investors and professionals to learn, grow, and network.

I'm not going to get too much into the REIA itself, just about our most recent event. Tom Kish flew in from Miami, Fla to be the guest speaker of the month. Tom lives in Las Vegas and flies all over the whole country teaching entrepreneurs and real estate investors how to get more unsecured business lines of credit. We had around 160 attendees which put us close to room capacity.

The Extreme Networking pre-meeting was absolutely awesome. I met at least 20 new folks who had come out for their first time. Of course I saw 100 or so members that were in attendance. We've actually been forced to move our Main Event each month to a completely new venue who's capacity is double our current locations.

There was about 7 or 8 different vendors working tables on Thursday night. We had Diana Sloan from Chirco Title, Noel Selewski from the Selewski Insurance Group, Alan Faitel from RealFi, Erik Stark from Gold Key Realty, and a few others.

A couple other notable speakers of the night were Adam Davis and Paul Smudski. Adam Davis is the newly appointed vise president of the REIA of Macomb. Adam has done a ton of consulting with real estate investors and put together a FREE REPORT on

"How To Avoid The Shocking Mistake 9 out of 10 Real Estate Investors Make That Costs Them Thousands of Dollars Every Single Year".

If you are interested in obtaining a FREE COPY of this report go to http://www.successinrei.com/. You can sign up to receive
Adam Davis' FREE REPORT on this site.

Paul Smudski, The Ambassador of Wealth In R.E.I. came up to announce to the crowd the success of the new elite mastermind group. Paul encouraged all of the people in the crowd to take a look at "Taking their real estate investing career to the next level". If you have any questions go to www.WealthInREI.com.

The inauguration of a new Success & Networking club in Oakland County was announced by Drew Sygit, founder of The Lending Edge Team at Meadowbrook Mortgage in Bloomfield Hills. The new group is called The Oakland Business Forum, an affiliate of The National Business Forum. The clubs first event will take place on Tuesday January 15th, doors open at 6:00 p.m. at The Exclusive Troy Hilton located at 5500 Crooks Rd Troy, MI 48098.

As I like to say the event was a triumphant success. There was more pure networking and power team building at The REIA of Macomb's November Main Event than any previous. For me personally there is nothing more rewarding than being able to introduce business acquaintances of mine that are truly able to help each other in their respective businesses.

If you haven't been out to a REIA of Macomb meeting I absolutely urge you to get there. You have no excuse because your first meeting is always FREE. If you have been there or are a member that doesn't make it every month, than shame on You! The Power of being around like minded people can be called a Mastermind or Collective Genius.

Are You 100% fulfilled in your real estate investing business?

The Man Who Started It All

STOP Right Now & Listen To The Master

If you know me or have heard me speak. you know that I believe Napoleon Hill can change lives from the grave. I read Think & Grow Rich at least 3 times before I ever thought about buying a house. It helped me form principles that I live by in life and business.

I don't care if it takes you 3 months you need to read this book. If you can't get it done, buy the audio book on cd, or if you know what your doing download the mp3.

If this inspires you to start studying Mr. Hill's teachings, please send me your thoughts and successes that you can attribute to Napoleon Hill's Laws Of Success.

Spoken words leave impressions, written words leave tracks.
-Napoleon Hill

See Ya At The REIA,
Dylan Tanaka
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.oaklandbusinessforum.com/
http://www.wealthinrei.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/

So You Think Your an Entrepreneur? part 1

You’re A Salesperson!

Our life is made up of a series of “sales presentations”. Sales may not be your gig, but if you’re the boss you’re making presentations everyday. Be it a pitch to your Board, announcing a change to employees, selling an idea to your spouse, or just trying to win others over to your point of view – you need to sharpen you sword to win in life.

People support solutions that they help create, so involve them by allowing your employees or bosses to participate with questions or ideas. It goes without saying that to not involve key people is risky, because messages can be misunderstood. Use lots of open-ended questions in your presentation to draw out the silent type.


Preparation is a key to success. Prepare your listeners to what’s coming during or before your presentation. Give your listeners a brief overview of what you'll be going over. Make pre-meeting contacts with those invited by email, phone, or in person.

Do your research! People who make it look easy and are effective presenters have hidden weapons. You need stats to back up your ideas, and they have an imaginary bag full of stories, examples, jokes, and ice-breakers to use when needed.

The next thing you must do is to explain “why?” The single most powerful thing you can do to convince your buyer of something is to give a good reason why they should buy what your selling, and believe what you say. most importantly is to have the utmost integrity, so that you believe in your self first. People want and need a clear “WIIFM” – “what’s in it for me?” – to be able to react positively to what you want them to do. It’s extremely important that you deliver a vision of features, advantages, & benefits. Hearing the “why” won’t automatically generate a “yes” to your proposition, but it’ll open the door for receptivity to your idea. In our business you have to take away any objections that they may have. We always present our properties in top-notch, clean condition.

Life is a sales job from beginning to end. From the moment that we seek how to get approval as children, winning friends at school, getting our first girlfriend/boyfriend, getting our first job, getting engaged and married, achieving our goals, and anything else you can think of in between.

The real key to selling is to believe in yourself. I started in commission furniture sales. Later that transformed into mortgages. Now it's getting sellers to believe in the offer I make, contractors to bid against each other, and buyers to understand the value we offer them. We’re selling ourselves or our ideas all along the way. Who said you weren’t a salesperson?

Dylan Tanaka
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.oaklandbusinessforums.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/
http://www.wealthinrei.com/

13 Simple Ways to Use Craigslist To Spike Your Business FREE part 2

The Second Half of Why You Have No Excuse Not to Advertise For FREE



As I talked about a little earlier Craigslist is a tool that all Michigan real estate investors and entrepreneurs should be using. Okay let's finish up...

8. Finding Everything You Need on Craigslist

Remember during my first discussion I said Craigslist gets 4 Billion page views a month. That's proof American's believe in it. Now that you understand what Craigslist is, you may still wonder how it can help you specifically. There is no one simple answer to this question. The benefits you can gain from Craigslist will depend on what you are looking for from this community. In this section we will discuss some of the relevant uses of Craigslist for those who are seeking to purchase products or services, find a job or meet friends or romantic partners and in the following section we will discuss how Craigslist can be beneficial to a business.

9. How Can Craigslist Help Your Business?

Business owners can benefit from using Craigslist. As previously mentioned, Craigslist receives approximately four billion page views per month so advertising on Craigslist makes it easy to reach a large audience with minimal effort. Business owners can use Craigslist in a number of ways. The most obvious use is to post advertisements touting products and services offered. Another way business owners can use Craigslist is to check out competitors on Craigslist and learn more about how they are reaching potential customers.

10. Using Craigslist to Network

Those who are interested in organizing online networking opportunities for like-minded individuals to share ideas can also use Craigslist to accomplish their goal. Placing an advertisement on Craigslist which directs traffic to a message board can help to create a thriving community. Again it is important to place this advertisement in a location where the target audience will be reached.
* Directing traffic to a website
* Directing traffic to a message board
* Soliciting participation in an e-newsletter

11. Answering Postings on Craigslist

Some of the features on Craigslist include sections for community events, activities and news, personals advertisements, discussion forums, housing opportunities, for sale items, services offered, small business advertisements, jobs and resumes. While some of these sections such as the discussion forum and parts of the community section exist exclusively for the purpose of exchanging information or ideas, other sections such as the personals, housing, sale, services, job and resume sections provide the opportunity for users to respond to advertisements for more information or to make a purchase.

12. Can Craigslist Improve Your Business?

The answer to this question is yes and no and maybe. It all depends on the way in which the business owners utilize Craigslist. Savvy Internet marketers who are able to identify the target audience and create sales copy which entices the reader may find advertising on Craigslist to be incredibly profitable. Conversely Internet markets that do not do their research and take a spamming approach to advertising on Craigslist are not likely to see significant financial gains.

There is certainly an opportunity to gain financial benefit through advertising on Craigslist. Advertising for all products and services is free on Craigslist making it cost effectively. Additionally, Craigslist already receives extensive traffic with approximately ten million visitors generating four billion page views each month so there is no need to drive traffic to the website. While Craigslist offers so many advertising benefits, these benefits may be wasted if the advertiser does not do his research or evaluate the competition.

13. Why Your Business Cannot Afford Not to Advertise on Craigslist

Craigslist is not always the best advertising option but there are certain situations in which a business cannot afford not to advertise on Craigslist.Small start-up companies often have a great deal of work ahead of them to begin competing with existing companies who are already thriving. These companies may already have established client bases and may have substantial funding budges for the purpose of obtaining new customers. Customer loyalty can be difficult to break and new companies either have to offer significantly better quality products or services, comparable products or services at reduced prices or a slick marketing campaign with consumer appeal.

It is important to not that while free advertising is appealing, the advertising should be just as sophisticated as it would in markets where the business owners would be required to pay a fee to run the advertisement. This will help the business to maintain a professional image and will entice potential customer to try their products or services.

In conclusion, using Craigslist is another part of doing "Whatever It Takes" and of course "Making It Happen". In 2008 and beyond staying on top of technology will keep our printers using more ink on our tax returns. And that's a good thing. Ask yourself this question, Why is Amazon.com worth more than General Motors?

Dylan
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.oaklandbusinessforums.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/
http://www.wealthinrei.com/

13 Simple Ways to Use Craigslist To Spike Your Business FREE part 1

There is no excuse to have a tough time finding tenants, sellers, or good cheap contractors.

Here are 13 easy ways to use Craigslist to make more money in your business...

1. Affordable Advertising on Craigslist

The advertising on Craigslist is certainly affordable. In fact there is no fee for the majority of posts made on Craigslist. Craigslist began as a non-profit organization but in 1999 it was converted to a for profit organization. However, operating costs are supported by charging nominal fees for help wanted advertisements placed on the San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City Craigslist websites. Additionally, there is a fee for brokerage apartment listings in New York City.

One good thing about Detroit, FREE Craigslist posts!

2. How Do You Use Craigslist?

The beauty of Craigslist is it can be used in a variety of ways. Some of the most popular uses of Craigslist include advertising rentals, meeting contractors, and finding sellers. Craigslist is appealing because there is no need to generate traffic to the website. Craigslist already receives approximately ten million visitors per month who generate approximately four billion page views per month.

3. Use the Search Feature to Find the Target Audience

The search feature on Craigslist can also provide valuable insight which can help advertisers to locate their target audience. Advertisers can start this process by entering keywords related to their products or services to search in various sections of Craigslist. During this time, take note of competitors’ advertisements which are returned during these searches and the sections in which these advertisements are placed. If competitors’ advertisements appear in sections which appear logical, it might be worthwhile to consider placing your own advertisements in these sections to ensure target audience members find your advertisement when searching these sections.

Next carefully examine all advertisements by competitors. Pay particular attention to the keywords used in the advertisements. This is important because savvy Internet marketers recognize the need to optimize their advertisements for the same keywords being used by competitors. Failure to do so may result in potential customers only viewing the competitors’ advertisements when searching for these particular keywords.

4. Promoting Your Business through Craigslist

Craigslist can prove to be an excellent avenue for business promotion. Whether an individual has a small business which they operate on a part time basis or a thriving business which has become a time consuming endeavor, Craigslist can help the business to increase in profits and popularity.

Even the most well thought out and innovative marketing campaign will falter if it is not reaching the intended audience. This is why it is so important for those who are trying to promote their business on Craigslist to be sure they categorize their advertisement correctly to ensure their intended audience will receive the intended message.

5. Understanding Craigslist

Many people hear the name Craigslist and know it refers to some sort of website but many are still unclear about the different ways in which Craigslist can be used. However, Craigslist receives over four billion page views per month so there are obviously many people who have a better understanding of the services offered by Craigslist. Essentially, Craigslist is similar to the classified section of a newspaper where individual can either post advertisements or respond to existing advertisements.

6. The Most Popular Use For Craigslist

One of the most popular uses of Craigslist is for business promotion. Both small businesses and large corporations can take advantage of the free advertising offered on Craigslist to promote their business and attract new customers. Business owners are free to place advertisements on Craigslist in the section for services offered. This section is broken down into a number of categories to allow business owners to place their advertisement in the most appropriate location where it is likely to reach the target audience. There is also a section for small business advertisements but it might be more worthwhile to place advertisements in one of the appropriate categories because it is more likely to be found by interested individuals.

7. Craigslist for Beginners

Although Craigslist has been around in one form or another since 1995, there are still some who have no idea how to use Craigslist. These individuals are missing out on a wonderful opportunity to be a part of a growing and continually evolving online community. This community is an excellent resource for finding information, finding jobs, finding friends or dates, making purchases, selling items or discussing important issues.

Housing Section
Craigslist’s housing section offers a variety of options related to lodging. Users of this section can find apartments or homes available for rent, sublet opportunities, potential roommate situations, house or apartment swaps, real estate sales, vacation rentals and even storage, parking and office space for rent or sale.

Services Sections
In the services section, service providers may place advertisements for the types of services they offer. Advertisements should be placed in appropriate categories but if there is no appropriate category the advertisement may be placed in the generic small business section.

At any given time you can find 10-20 ads on Craigslist that are generated by us. I have personally found a lease option tenant fro Las Vegas for a Roseville house over a year ago. Knock on wood, everything is still going great with them. I have met other investors through Craigslist, wholesale buyers, and even current REIA Members found us on Craigslist.

If you're not using Craigslist you're either lazy or silly. So learn how to type and hit submit, Make It Happen!!!

C'mon It's FREE.

Dylan
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.oaklandbusinessforums.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/
http://www.wealthinrei.com/

The Long Road to Success

Is It Paved With Comfort or Crisis?

I once read that crisis is change happening. Do you agree with this statement? If you really stop to think about it when faced with adversity do you take the path less traveled?

We all struggle with this. Whether it's changing insurance agents or having to let go of a once "key" employee. Something that you'll often hear me say is "Successful people are those willing to do what others won't." It may be as simple as working on Saturday to stay ahead of the competition or turning the T.V. on mute, it has to be on right :), and picking up a great book or reading a blog to learn something new.

As my generation gets older the deck is stacked against us. Unless we are willing to learn faster and work longer, there may be nothing left to retire with at 65. What is the solution you ask? Taking the bull by the horns and Making it Happen. In Michigan right now there is more opportunity now than ever. My partner Nathan Mayes and I are running around telling everyone who will listen that this is The Millionaire Maker Market.

How to manage your schedule and stay stress free

In 2008, staying on top of things and being able to successfully manage your schedule is essential if you want to remain stress free, a schedule is all about planning your day more efficiently which ultimately ensures that you get everything accomplished that you're trying to. The best way to do this is to list your time and tasks in order of priority and determine what top priority is and to set out goals in your life that you want to accomplish. It's true the devils in the details, but don't keep gettin' ready to get ready, understand?

Determining Your goals and priorities

In order to be able to manage your time more efficiently and get the most out of your day you have to be in control of your life and decide exactly what it is that you want out of life and what you need to do in order to get what you want. Next you need to manage your priorities efficiently; you do this by deciding what is more important to you. Start chopping off the bottom, less important ones. I'm not saying don't do them, if they still need to be done appoint someone else to do them. The next step is analyzing what you do with your time by finding out exactly how much time you spend on a particular task in life, a journal will help you greatly with this part and you should make a list of your schedule every day for 2 to 4 weeks and determine exactly how long you take on certain things. Some of the things you should include could be work, studying/learning, exercising, sleeping and relaxation, once you have done this you can then go on to evaluate the use of your time and decide if you are spending your life wisely

Matching available time with your priorities

To manage your time and make your day more efficient you need to take a look at the detailed list you prepared and use your time to match your priorities. As well as taking into account the amount of time you actually spend on each task you should also ask yourself if you are spending enough quality time on a task. There are times when my partner and I sit back with a cup of coffee from 4:00 p.m.- 5:00 p.m. and all we do is dream build and mastermind. Make sure that you are adding value all the time you are spending. A good example of this would be are you studying/learning when you are likely to take in more information, or do you fit it in whenever you can? If you are leaving studying until the end of the day, are likely to be tired and not concentrate as well as you would earlier on in the day, or maybe at 5:00 a.m. ?

As Dan Kennedy says "Stay away from Time Vampires."

Tips for managing your time more efficiently

Break down large tasks into smaller ones and tackling each individual part one at a time can ease the stress considerably than facing one larger task. You can't eat a whole cow in one bite!

Get rid of routine tasks, if a task is done just out of routine instead of necessity then eliminate it if possible. Outsource it to your assistant, or better your virtual assistant.

Look at your habits to see if they could be changed, maybe you could do certain things different ways and save yourself some time in the process. Getting you clothes ready the night before for example.

Evaluate yourself to determine if you are a morning person or night person and organize tasks to use whatever time suits you best. In 2008 you can do a lot of work when other are still sleeping.

Learn to say the word “NO” when asked to do something for someone, its okay doing favors but it can take considerable time from your day. Train your business acquaintances to e-mail rather than call. it may take 15 seconds to answer an e-mail, but 15 minutes on the phone with possibly less effective results.

As most of you know I certainly believe in relationship building. It's what I spend 25% of my day on. I couldn't invest in Michigan foreclosures without all of the contacts that I have and friends that I've made over the last 3 years. All I'm telling you is you must be in control of your time.

Dylan Tanaka
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.oaklandbusinessforums.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/
http://www.wealthinrei.com/

Missing Cufflinks

Only Through hard Work and Persistence Will You Truly Reach Your Goals

A little over a month ago my team and I rented a vendor table at a Macomb

Chamber of Commerce event titled "Sales & Marketing 2008". It was an awesome seminar/trade show for small business and entrepreneurs. Not as exciting as The REIA, but that's okay. What does this all have to do with Building Wealth?

Immediately following the Sales & Marketing Event in Sterling Heights I went over to Royal Oak to have dinner with a Wealth in R.E.I. member, actually the mastermind groups Ambassador, Paul Smudski.

I was scrambling around that morning looking everywhere but I couldn't find the cuff links. No big deal, I went to the office and bought & sold some real estate, like I do all day every day. When I was driving home I realized i was wearing a par of cuff links that were sub-par. So I decided my mission was to find my favorite cuff links when I got home.

About 2 hours later I'd gone through the suit that I wore the day they went missing, the shoes, the couch, under the bed, under my computer desk, my car, my whole bookcase was ripped apart, behind all of my dressers and nightstands, and of course a couple calls to my girlfriend who I was sure was in on the conspiracy. No dice, or should I say no cuff links.

I decided to give up for now and resume my search at a future date. Out of sight out of mind, the next time I thought about my favorite cuff links was when they would have finished off my suit about a week later. Again I scrambled around in the morning for a couple minutes and vowed to myself I would not sit down when I got home later until they showed up. After another day living the dream I pulled in my driveway on a mission.

I calmly took off my suit and put on a t-shirt and Adidas pants ready to go to war with my house. This time I went from the basement to the bedrooms upstairs. I looked in every suit coat, so I thought, all my pants, my shoes, every nook and cranny in my house. 3 hours later it was over. I actually failed, remember you DO NOT FAIL until you quit, and I quit!

I decided that it was time to go out and find a special new pair of favorite cuff links. They had to have been thrown out accidentally. One positive development came out of the 5 hours I searched, my house was never cleaner. This was the first time in a very long time that I actually believed I failed. That night i picked up my second favorite book for inspiration, Dale Carnegie's Lifetime Plan For Success, which is just a compilation of How To Win Friends & Influence People and How To Stop Worrying & Start Living. To put it lightly i was disheartened.





This is why you never give up...

The next morning I woke up happy, after my homemade Starbucks, and I was ready to go out and Slay Some Dragons. I went through the routine of picking out a suit, showering, shaving, bla bla bla. Again wearing a french cuffed shirt with less than desirable stand in cuff links, but I was 99% over it. As I was getting all of my gear ready, my Blackberry, cell phone, my pen, & wallet I reached down into my pants pocket and a sense of peacefulness washed over me. My CUFF LINKS!!!

Somehow they ended up in a pair of suit pants that I was sure they weren't in. This is a lesson in never giving up. You may think that cuff links aren't worth looking 5 hours of your time. They cost close to $100, so we're talking about $20 an hour for some old used cuff links right?

Wrong!

It's about doing what others won't.

-Maybe that's buying a house, renting it out, and learning people management skills dealing with tenants while they pay for your house over 15 or 30 years.

-Maybe it's staying up until 2:00 a.m. after your spouse and kids are in bed while you're learning how to get traffic to your new website.

-Maybe its an undeniable urge to get out of the herd of sheople and Make it Happen.

Dylan Tanaka
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.oaklandbusinessforums.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/
http://www.wealthinrei.com/

Tick Tock, Tick Tock, Tick Tock

A new American Millionaire is born every 24 seconds,
will You be next?

It may be hard for some of you to contemplate. There were a few other statements that were hard to believe over time.

1. The Earth is round.
   
2. Man will be on the moon.
   
3. People would buy and sell houses on a T.V. with a keyboard(personal computer)

Without Belief none of the wonderful things mentioned above would have become universal truths. This concept has been written about as early as the 1930's when Napoleon Hill penned the phrase "If You can dream it, You can believe it, You can achieve it."

There has never been another time or place in history where you goals can be achieved so easily. Understand, when I say easy, I'm not saying that it won't take dedication, persistence, belief, and patience. What I'm saying is that capital (credit) has never been as easy to secure. Information i.e. the internet, never existed before the early 90's. You can do market research and demographics on your business is seconds, for FREE, as opposed to an overpriced consulting company and an 8 week long report project.

The technology available to us today is the main catalyst to help American Millionaires pop up at almost 3 a minute!!! That's 150 an hour, and 3600 per day. There are 13 year olds starting successful EBAY businesses and making on Donny Deutsch on CNBC. Even in more conventional businesses the effects of e-mail, or being able to apply for a mortgage online has changed the world that we live in. There are "NO EXCUSES" for failure in America.

I don't want to get in trouble for generalizing so

READ ON AT YOUR OWN RISK.

You would have to be oblivious to the truth to not know that immigrants in this country are building stronger "bases" than the average American that was born here. The people that have been lucky enough to get a green card, work visa, or citizenship know the opportunity that this county offers. Think about it, how many of you reading this right now that were born here, and your parents were born here also, can't wait until your number gets called and you get to move to Russia leave your family and start the business that you've been dreaming about? Not many. Now reverse the situation. The answer is almost all.

Does the rest of the world know something that we don't? YES

They know that America is the land of opportunity and the streets are lined with gold. That is not a joke. We are so lucky to be Americans because of the Freedom that we almost all take for granted, myself included. Our lives are so cushy here that we don't have to worry about drinking water, land mines, or deadly disease. We can concentrate on building our net worth without those primal interruptions. How many people in Africa, India, China, the Middle East, or South America would sacrifice everything for a chance at our wonderful lives?

Why is it that first generation Americans, who's parents weren't born here, have a higher net worth than 2nd, 3rd, or 4th? The word I used earlier was sacrifice. Winners don't look at opportunity as sacrifice, losers do. here are the definitions of both, you will see the correlation;

Opportunity-a good position, chance, or prospect, as for advancement or success.
Sacrifice-the surrender of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher worth.

Opportunity equals a chance (spending time) for Success (your future).

Sacrifice equals surrendering time (less T.V.) for something of higher worth (your Family's net worth)

Two more;

Winner-a person with a record of successes (you can't have a record until you Make It Happen)

Loser-One that fails consistently, especially a person with bad luck (see pic above for the definition of luck)

Take your pick;

I'm a Loser not willing to Sacrifice.

I'm a Winner who sees Opportunity

Always working at Winning...
Dylan Tanaka
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.wealthinrei.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/

W.I.T.

(Whatever It Takes)

Okay friends, here's my style of motivation. Whatever It Takes, what does this really mean? It certainly doesn't mean being unethical, lying, cheating, or stealing. I had to get those out of the way. It means
"Never Quitting".

You haven't failed until You quit.

Everyday in life I watch people stumble through, even those that posess some sembelance of what's going on. There is some unwritten rule in this country that once youv'e finished high school, college, or trade school that your done learning. This thought process is part of what Kiyosaki & Trump talk about in their collaboation "Why We Want You To Be Rich".

Don't get me wrong, I do not think that I'm perfect. I have certainly passed up eduactional opportunities in my lifetime. Now I am smart enough to close my mouth and use my ears whenever I have a chance to learn something new.

It's not very often you don't see myself and my partner Nathan at any real estate event that we know about in our area. We absolutely support other real estate groups as well as a number of other civic and entreprenureal driven organizations. Back to the meat of my story.

There is no reason that all of my friends out there reading this are not succeeding at higher levels. Most of us have been blessed with all of the talents required. The most important one though, is one that we have to conceive in our own mind, Desire. You see without Desire there can be no grand finale of your plan.

Every plan starts with a Dream. Measureable steps need to be taken to make that Dream an achieveable Goal. Without desire though, the goal will usually not be reahed. Eveyone can get lucky once in a while, but I am one of those people that seem to be lucky all of the time.(see the words surounding my picture on the right side)

Without Desire we wouldn't be living in the Motor City because Henry Ford would have given up his Dream.

Without Desire we couldn't look at the American Flag and pledge our allegiance and live the Dream we have been afforded.

Without Desire we would cease to exist.


We all have Desire. What we need to do is to figure out the secret to harnessing it. If you want to be a succesful entrepreneur, even part time, you have to have an undying Desire to Succeed. In our comapny, Jeffrey Douglas Property Investments, Inc my partner and I are never satisfied. Our unwritten motto, even after a super business deal is; "We're just getting started". You see the world is all of ours for the taking. When I was in commission sales, by the way commission salespeople happen to probably be the most cynical group on the planet, my Dream was torn down every day.

I had a Goal to become finacially free enough to fire my boss and start my own real estate investing company. I came in contact with about 75 people daily in my old life. I have to say that less than 5 didn't Live To Discourage me. There were a few friends that I miss very much that used to tell me everyday "Dylan, you're too young, too smart, and too driven to work for this company". Luckily I let their kind words drown out the sorrows from the rest of the crowd. So in June of 2004, I kindly said hasta la vista, and burned the ship that I sailed away in, once I hit shore of course.

If there is one bit of advice that you must take from me is to Never Let Anyone Hold You Back From Your Dreams. I'm not saying quit your job and go out and buy houses. I'm saying write out your goals, and Do Not Ever Stop until you achieve them.

Oh yeah...Make It Happen!!!

important sites:
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/

Cash Rich, Equity Poor part 2

Retitled: Equity Rich, Cash Poor

In my last post I talked about the ease at which anyone with a lick of sense can become a successful Michigan Income Property owner. As I was on a call with one of the REIA of Macomb & Wealth In REI members, Bernie Smith, I had a slight epiphany.

Bernie and I were going over a deal he's working in Eastpointe. He already has the lease option tenant committed to $4000 down and $1100 monthly. Not bad for net even having a house for the guy yet! After running down rough numbers it seemed as though Bernie would cashflow $250 monthly when taking into account the properties built-in wealth builder (his tenant) needed. At least a 4 bedroom house with a couple of bathrooms for him and his 5 children.
Whether it was Bernie, myself, or the Collective Genius that was synergized between us, I came up with a way to help Bernie reach wealth status in half the time. I knew coming into the conversation that Bernie and his wife both have great jobs, so cashflow isn't always the most important component of a deal to him. As I said earlier, in my head I was running some rough numbers and came up with a way for Bernie to cashflow some, but leverage his situation to the fullest. It's a simple concept called a
15 Year Mortgage!

You see, the numbers shook out to where he would be cashflowing $250 or so as I stated earlier. In knew that if he was willing to cut that cashflow in half, he would also cut his mortgage in half. Most investors and small, medium, and even large business owners can be quoted saying

"You will live or die with your cashflow".

In most investor's cases, they have a job that is feeding that cashflow need. So why not amortize over 15 instead of 30? Here is the difference on a $75,000 loan...

$75, 000 @ 8% over a 30 year amortization = $550.32

$75,000 @ 7.5% over a 15 year amortization = $695.26

Ask yourself,
"Is less than $150 a month worth 15 years of my life?"

...................................Control Your Time.................................

~Make It Happen~
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/

Cash Rich, Equity Poor part 1

Over the next two posts I will examine similar investing strategies that will have a different outcome. In our current market we can buy single family homes and cashflow $200 without being experts. With the drop in property prices and the consisitent renal rates, their has become an inequality in the marketplace. And it's to Our advantage!



Eastpointe 3 Bedroom, Brick Bungalow, Basement & Garage
$101,000 purchased 24 months ago


24 to 36 months ago as investors in Eastpointe for example, we would pay anywhere from $90,000 to $105,000 for a 3 bedroom, brick ranch, with a basement and garage. Now let's look at what that property would cost per month:

Debt Service: $583.33 ($100,000 @ 7% interest only)
Taxes: $275 ($3300 annually)
Insurance: $45 ($540 annually)
Water: $50 ($600 annually )

Total: $953.33

For us to make these numbers work our exit strategy was always a lease option. We could usually get better tan market rent, $1100 in this case, and we were able to sell the home for an 10% over market elevated price. When mortgages were easier to qualify for, and it was a sellers market, this strategy worked great. However the market has shifted and we all must adjust.




Eastpointe, 3 Bedroom, Brick Ranch, Basement & Garage
Purchased and repaired at $60,000 in September 2007

Let's use today's numbers to look at the opportunity afforded to us in this buyers market that we are in. Just to qualify a line item that you may think was missing above, our price includes repairs.

Debt Service: $440.25 ($60,000 @ 8% principle & interest over 30 years)
Taxes: $275 ($3300 annually)
Insurance: $45 ($540 annually)
Water: $50 ($600 annually )

Total: $810.25

You can see at today's pricing you can pay principle and interest, cashflow almost $200 monthly, and own a home for 60% of 36 months ago pricing. Obviously values are down, but it is to our advantage.

Take for example the changes in the mortgage industry in the last 6 months to a year. There are more renters out there today than ever before. We are all able to deliver the bread and butter 3 bed, basement homes to the Americans that need them. I wish I had some hard numbers to back this next statement up, but I have to believe that there are more than 10,000 renters in the tri-county are that can afford $900-$1100 per month. I don't know your personal goals, but if you want to own 10, 20, even 100 houses, what is Your excuse?

My next post will help you discover the power of being
Equity Rich & Cash Poor.

~Make It Happen~
www.REIAofMacomb.com
www.PrettyMiHomes.com
www.WeOfferToday.com

Success: Given or Earned

"There is no shortcut." A law of success preached to me by one of my business mentors just last week. We were reflecting on real estate, being entrepreneurs, and what it takes to succeed. When I say succeed, we weren't talking about owning your own business and having a good life. No, No. This mentor of mine has a quarter million a year cash business, well over 100 residential units, around 20 commercial buildings, a very respectable personal residence, and a vacation house in Naples, Florida with a shiny BMW convertible waiting for him and his wife in the garage. Oops, I forgot to mention that he has an estimated 75% equity across he board. When this man talks I listen.

As we were chatting about what he stated, that if he were of our generation, he would be worth 3x what he is due to technology and information. In my opinion he is selling himself short, I believe that he would be worth 7x what he is now. But I have to agree with this man, there is no substitute for hard work. Maybe if you are a dot com millionaire, or born to a blue blood family in which everyone is a doctor. For most of us normal folks, hard work, dedication, and a love for what we do is what will bring us fortune in the future.

Believe me when I say that I hate cliché’s. Yet I have to join the cliché crowd and say that my generation and the one directly after me is pretty lazy. We seem to have this overwhelming sense of entitlement. I would like to put some of this blame on our parents, the baby boomers. It seems as though the generation before them was the one that had Pride, Integrity, and Honor. We are lucky now-a-days to trust one or two people in business. Back in the WWII generation. everything was settled with a handshake. When a man, or woman went to work they took pride in themselves first and their company second. They didn't have "Family Leave" or drug and alcohol rehab programs built in like we do today. They put their nose to the grindstone and worked!
Trust me I know that I can work a lot longer, harder, and smarter but at least I can say that I am making it on my own and giving it my all. My partner Nathan Mayes and I closed out 20th deal today. That's 20 purchases, not purchases, sales, leases, evictions, or general contracting jobs. We have also built with the help of many other the fastest growing real estate and entrepreneurs investing club in Michigan, The REIA of Macomb, which will sign up it's 200th member this month. We have also started coaching a handful of individuals to help them meet their business goals.

Back to my mentors statement "There are NO shortcuts". He's right, almost. We have found one shortcut that has ultimate been the igniter for much of our success. It's called Cooperation. What does that mean? My definition of Cooperation is; Networking, Sharing, Learning' Growing, Teaching, Helping, Caring, but most of all Never Giving Up.


~Make It Happen~
My sites...
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/
http://www.wealthinmacomb.com/

Your Father's Watch

Act As If....

What does this really mean? Your appearance, persona, and their perceptions of you. As a full time entrepreneur and real estate investor I have been faced with this question many times. Conventional wisdom tells us that when we "quit" our conventional jobs we get to dress and act however we want because we are finally our own boss. I've personally been gainfully unemployed for 3 years. In that time I have yet o show up to an important meeting with a private lender or sit down in some nice folks living room without acting professional.

Many investors out there take a very relaxed attitude toward their professional personality. Lack of proper English and even use of curse words are two of my biggest pet peeves. Imagine this: Donald Trump or Robert Kiyosaki is standing in front of you. They say that they are interested in the Detroit foreclosure market. They are looking to invest in property with the aid of someone "on the ground" that understands the area. Are you going to say "Awesome dude, you ain't gonna find a better f''n investor than me to help you."

Of course not!!! You are going to go into the situation with the proper attire and use good English. You may even want to wear your father's watch to impress a new private lender. Why is it that I constantly have conversations with individuals that talk this way in a casual business meeting? I'm not talking about having cocktails with an old friend at a bar. There is a time and place, right?

You never know who you are talking to or who is listening in the backround. The best idea is to keep your vocabulary and dress professionl. On to the old debate, suit or no suit. I am a firm believer that being overdressed is a detrement in certain situations. I'm not going to wear a suit if I'm sitting down in a house that is owned by a beer drinkin, truck driving, hard working guy. I don't want him to think that I'm trying to show him up. However you better believe that I will be wearing slacks and a dress or polo shirt. I will also have my companies brochure and business card looking extremely professional. As a businessman you must have an air of confidence, in our case know comparable sales, and be very well versed in real estate legal terms.

It doesn't matter if you just started your business or you've been out slaying dragons for five years, the appearance of a big company will always give you credibility. There are a few easy ways to become a perceived million dollar Michigan real estate investing business.

#1 Classy Business Cards
#2 An E-mail Address You@YourCompany.com not a Yahoo or Hotmail

#3 A Voicemail Answering Service

#4 A Website
#5 Make Sure That All of Your Sales Brochures Match "Create Your Brand"

#6 Study, Memorize, Understand, and Have With You All Documents Needed to Make Offers

#7 Always Arrive Early

#8 Leave Your Cell Phone and Watch In Your Car

#9 Be Ready To Make An Offer On The Spot

#10 Listen To Their Needs and Create a Win-Win Offer

#11 Comes Before All The Rest; Integrity

There's something to be said for the book "The Greatest Generation" by Tom Brokaw. The book depicts the Americans who came of age during the Great Depression and fought World War II, and went on to build America. The men and women of this generation did what they said they would do above all else. The only man I was close to from that generation was my Grandfather. Can you imagine your Grandfather giving up on his mortgage and letting it go into foreclosure? I don't think so. I truly believe that the secret to success in business today is to live, eat, and breathe Integrity.

Sites to visit:

www.PrettyMiHomes.com
www.WeOfferToday.com
www.REIAofMacomb.com

Broke is a State of Mind

Last night I was at the WCRT Detroit meeting in Royal Oak. My good friend Jared Pomranky brought the WCRT (formerly Windy City Round Table) to Detroit as a large sub-group of the original founded in Chicago. I have been a part of the WCRT Detroit since it's inception 18 months or so ago.

I will do a nice long post about all of the entrepreneur groups that I belong to sometime in the near future.

As I was saying at the WCRT meeting last night a newer friend of mine Jeremy Burgess, strictly a Detroit investor, put together a small presentation on leveraging your time. I agreed with basically every single point that he hit on. His message wasn't what prodded me to write this blog about him.

I don't know Jeremy and his wife Jenna very well but what I know is extremely intriguing. The Burgess' came to Detroit, yes they live and pay taxes in the city, from Washington state. Some may look at this as a jail sentence. They look at it as the best opportunity in real estate in America. "Michigan resident's are too close to the opportunity to see it" Jeremy said to me last night. That was one of the most eye-opening statements that I have heard in a long time.

For those of us that cry the Big 3 Blues and whine that you can buy but you can't sell, how can a guy from Washington state move to the City of Detroit and continually net well in the five figure range monthly? The answer is Belief.

Belief in his investing strategy.
Belief in his partner.
Belief in himself.
And most of all.........
Belief that this once great city is on its way back to the top.

You metro Detroiters may laugh at the last belief, but would you believe if you were bringing in over $10,000 every month as a full time real estate investor?

My sites............
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/

Own a Million Dollar Building and Not Pay Income Tax On Rent Collected

Bold statement? Not if you understand a little tax code. The government has set up a program that 99% of American's qualify for. With this American Liberty you can buy an income producing building and I don't care if it generates 1 penny or 1 million dollars per year, you do not pay income tax on the "earned income" the same way you would if you don't use this program.

Alright I've kept you waiting long enough. It's a self directed Roth IRA. For those of yor reading this that understand the Power of self directed IRA's, this may be elementary. I'm here to eduate the folks that mey have heard rumors and think that it's all B.S. And for those that have no clue what an IRA even is.

I> Individual

R> Retirement

A> Account

Most of us have something like this set up whether it's in the form of a 401k, 403b, profit sharing, or a Roth IRA. What most "brokers" either don't want you to know, or they are just ignorant to the fact that it is possible. With self directed IRA's You get to choose what Your money is invested in. Now I believe in diversification. There is certainly gobs of cash to be made in the stock market. My issue with Chrysler stock for example, is who is truly making the decisions that affect your retirement?

With a self directed IRA you can buy property, lend money out for people to buy houses with, just like a bank, and you can still buy stocks, bonds, or funds within that IRA. That's all fine and dandy, but now I want to talk about the Monster benefits and advantages to using self directed Roth IRA's specifically.

1. You are investing with POST taxed money.

What does this mean?

At age 59 and 1/2 all of the funds in your Roth can be withdrawn without paying any capital gains or income tax!

2. You can purchase real property with the funds in your IRA as long as all of the gains for the sale or rent goes back into the IRA.

3. The most powerful advantage to using your Roth IRA to buy real estate is whatever type of income the property produces whether it is rent or profit from a sale, once you hit the age of 70 and 1/2 you cannot be taxed on those gains!!!

I will give an example. I am using round numbers so don't call me out on the details, I'm just getting my point across.

You are 40 and 1/2. You buy a building in your Roth IRA. It is a 10 unit building. You paid $500,000. At this point the rent doesn't matter but you bring in $500 per unit. 30 years go by and you make your final payment on the building that your Roth owns. For numbers sake lets conservatively say that your building has doubled in 30 years, as does your rent. Now you have a building worth $1,000,000 and you are bringing in $10,000 per month before expenses.

Because you bought this building in a Roth you will NOT be taxed on that $10,000 per month in income for the rest of your life. Maybe you aren't interested in $10,000 per month. then sell your building for $1,000,000 that you bought for $500,000. Your profit will be 500k right? Most people pay 38% income tax. If you owned this building in an LLC or your own name and not in your Roth, you would pay $170,000 in capital gains. I like the No Capital Gains option better, how about you?

I have to believe that in my scenario above you would keep the building and receive your tax free 10k every month with a smile on your face the same way Warren Buffet would.

Now comes the toughest question to ask. How the heck do I get $500,000 in my Roth if I'm only allowed to contribute $4000 per year. I'm going to teach you a way to blow up your Roth account with as little as $1.00!!!

I'm sure to open a self directed Roth Ira with most companies they will not only let you contribute $1. But I wager $500 is enough to get started.

Okay are you ready to put $5000 in your Roth IRA every month and completely comply with IRS codes?

Here is the easiest route to choking your self directed Roth IRA full of cash to buy property or lend money out of.

Make an offer to purchase a house for $100,000. 00. Make your Roth IRA account the purchaser. Make the consideration, the earnest money deposit, a promissory note for $500. That's your downpayment. Now find a guy like me that buys, sells, and leases real estate for a living and assign(sell) that accepted purchase agreement to me for $5000.00. Now I become the buyer and you have successfully made 5k out of thin air, and a little bit of work. You have to at that point send that $5000.00 check to your self directed IRA company. Now you have $5500 in your Roth.

Now you may say how can you put that money in your Roth time after time if $4000 is the limit per year. Because your Roth actually made the offer with post taxed monies, that you opened the account with a month earlier, any gains that those monies make go directly into the Roth tax free.

How many times a year can you do that over the next 30,40, or 50 years for you young stars out there reading this and educating your self?

I do personally invest with my self directed Roth IRA. I am not licensed to sell them. I am not an attorney nor do I fall under any SEC guidelines. So what you've read here is 100% informational. However I can send you to the right people to help you get your own Self Directed IRA's. I can also help you place any monies in your IRA or other retirement accounts if you are interested in private money lending.

If you made it to the REIA of Macomb in July you would have heard most of this. If you missed it and are interested in learning more and have funds to invest, call or e-mail me direct.

My sites to visit:
http://www.prettymihomes.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/

Thank You Wes Hellner

A very special member of the REIA of Macomb, Wes Hellner, donated a beautiful cake to the Make it Happen BBQ. I was sitting at my desk one morning and I got up to get some coffee. When I went back to sit down I noticed an envelope on my chair. How preoccupied am I with buying houses if I don't even have time to look down before I sit!

So I open the envelope and to my excitement it was a check. I love collecting my rents and getting checks in the mail. So I ripped open the envelope to see who sent us money. there was a small note that said "For the BBQ". it was from Wes.

I have to tell you readers out there that I love the REIA, and it's not everyday someone does something selfless for the good of others. Apparently when you do business and are acquainted with a man like Wes Hellner, he conducts himself in a great way.

If you want to do business with a very professional, not to mention experienced real estate agent in the Mount Clemens area, look no further.

You can contact Wes one of the following ways;

office: 586-469-0634

e-mail: Wes@WesHellner.com

website: http://www.weshellner.com/

My sites to visit:

http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/

This blog was originally posted on another blog that I was writing. I have decided to "move" them all over to here. So for the next few posts you will notice that the dates will not coincide with the post time.

Make It Happen BBQ...Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, and Houses

On Saturday, July 21st I had the honor to spend the day with a ton of real estate investors. We hosted our first annual REIA of Macomb Make It Happen BBQ at Budd Park in Clinton Twp. We had members fro as far as Canton and as close as Clinton Twp in attendance.

When we decided to put this together I had envisioned a bunch of people standing around with bad BBQ food shuffling their feet and maybe complaining about the heat. But reality took over and all of the effort that Nathan and I put into the club came through at the BBQ. We had over 50 members show up, bringing salads, stories, great company, and even their kids. It's very rewarding to have someone come up to me, as REIA member Tina Puma did, and hand me some sweets, and thank me for putting the picnic on.

No thanks needed. The Make It Happen BBQ was for all of the members that help support and grow The REIA of Macomb. Without all of you, we couldn't do what we do. When you get a group of like minded folks together with one common goal, you have Collective Genius. this is a term that I use often and I will write a fat post on it one day.

One person in particular that I want to mention for all the help and time donation that he made, is REIA member and GOLD Key Realty agent Erik Stark. This gentlemsn was at the park before anyone securing table for the REIA, and he was the last to leave, helping us clean and pack up. Being entrepreneurs to the core, Nathan and I have a very hard time letting go of control. With Erik around the pressure comes off. Thank You Sir.

My sites to visit:

http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/

This blog was originally posted on another blog that I was writing. I have decided to "move" them all over to here. So for the next few posts you will notice that the dates will not coincide with the post time.

Millionaire Michigan Man Continued.......

Ok, where was I? Oh yeah, I was saying that we had a past with Kris Kirschner.

Well about 6 months or so after I saw Kris speak at Wendy Patton's Fortune Makers Seminar in Troy, Michigan, I traveled down to Atlanta to spend 40 days with Kris. Dan Geier, of Senior Helpers fame, Jared Pomranky, President of WCRT Detroit, and myself were together to learn from Kris at his bootcamp.

Little did I know that my future partner and co-founder Nathan Mayes was also going to be in attendance in Atlanta. I met some great people down there from Michigan including Paul Smudski, Don Staley, Mark Weslowski, and my old buddy Joe Cook.

We all learned a lot from Kris about how to buy using subject-to, and how to sell effectively on lease option. Over the nest couple of years or so, buying subject-to is the only way that most of us bought houses. Kris is from Detroit as I said in an earlier post, so he always showed us preferential treatment. He used Dan and Nate is examples a few times, and called on them both quite a bit during his presentations. It definitely felt good to be with 2 of Kris' top students.

So like I said earlier I knew that when Nate said let's have Kris up to speak at Michigan's Premier Real Estate Investor's Association, The REIA of Macomb of course, we were in for some fun. Kris showed up the day before the REIA to settle in and spend some time at his home town. That night we all(Nathan, myself, and Kris' Team) all went to Greektown. We feasted like Greek royalty, and had a great time. This is the first time that I had spent any extended time with Kris outside of a seminar. He was totally down to earth. He wouldn't let Nathan and I pay the bill at the restaurant.

Imagine this, one of your biggest if not #1 real estate mentors comes into town to speak at the real estate club that you founded. Sounds pretty awesome right? If that wasn't enough, he treats us to dinner. That's class.

The event went off perfectly. Kris was welcomed with absolutely open arms from our membership and visitors. he actually broke a REIA of Macomb attendance record. We had over 165 investors, real estate agents, attorneys, private lenders, mortgage brokers, and many more unnamed people in attendance.

Not only has Kris Kirschner helped Nathan and myself immensely in our investing careers, he's also helped us build The REIA of Macomb's membership.

Thank you Kris!!!
From The REIA of Macomb, myself, and of course my partner Nathan Mayes.

My sites to visit:www.PrettyMichiganHomes.com our homes for sale. www.WeOfferToday.com where we buy houses, or take over payments www.REIAofMacomb.com Michigan's Premier Real Estate Investing Club.

This blog was originally posted on another blog that I was writing. I have decided to "move" them all over to here. So for the next few posts you will notice that the dates will not coincide with the post time.

Millionaire Michigan Man Comes Home To Share His Secrets

Around the time my partner Nathan and I were assembling our expert panel for April's REIA he had a great idea. "Let's have Kris up in a couple months". When he said Kris I knew who he was speaking of. Kris Kirschner of course! See, my close friends and I have a storied past with Kris, a positive one of course.
*WARNING...This is going to be a long story*
6 years ago or so I heard a commercial on 97.1 f.m., a new FM Talk station at the time. The commercial was talking about becoming rich through real estate investing. I think that I had 1 rental unit at that time, a duplex in Mt. Clemens. It was with a different partner, another long story. Anyway the radio blurb had my attention. I didn't catch the website so I called the radio station. The girl that answers had no clue, she told me she would have someone call me back when she found the right person.

About 2 days later I got a call from the head of advertising, so I was told. She said that the website was http://www.mireic.com/ i believe. This was before cable internet, so I cranked up the old dial-up. A few minutes later I was on the site. I think that the cost for the seminar was $379 for two people, which happened to be Fortune Makers in Troy. I was so excited I called my partner at the time. He said "Those seminars are get rich quick crap". Funny thing is he actually had Carlton Sheets on tape!!! So as he was also a pseudo mentor to me I was deflated and half-heartedly agreed with him.

Little did I know that my now friend, Wendy Patton, got my mailing address from the online form I filled out. I started receiving mailings about real estate investing seminars from Wendy every other month or so. I decided to take matters in my own hands and sign my partner and I up for an 8 hour Friday with Robyn Thompson, The Rehab Queen. We arrived at the seminar at 8:00 a.m. with fresh SBUX in hand. Wendy kicked off the day with her usual excited and positive opening. Around 9:30 Robyn started teaching us about rehabbing. My partner made it til lunch, 12:30 or so. "This crap is for the birds" he blurted.

So I had no choice but to leave after lunch and head back to our new rental to work. Funny at the time he said that education was for the birds, not many uneducated closed minded people Soar With The Eagles, do they?

For the next 9 months or so life went on status quo. Go to work, save some money for my next down payment, and work on my rentals on my day off. then my life changed forever. My wonderful direct mailing friend Wendy Patton sent me another advertisement for Fortune Makers Seminar. Fortune Makers was a huge deal in Michigan a few years ago. the first year I was there there was around 700 attendees. For 4 days investors, and real estate processionals alike were networking while learning from the top real estate speakers in the nation. So I filled out the form and paid around $399 for two attendees.

The next day I told my partner what I did. he freaked out and told me that I was crazy and he wasn't paying for half. that's when I knew that our futures would take us down different paths. So I still decided to attend with another fiend from work. We watched and learned from 20 or so different speakers and 1 truly stood out to me.

Maybe it was the fact that he grew up on 6 Mile and Gratiot. Or the fact that he wore a blue suit and didn't have any sensational selling lines. What it really was that intrigued me was the fact that he said "You can buy as many houses as you want without getting mortgages!" Then he brought a couple regular looking Joe's up on stage to brag about how many deals they've done using his system.

One of them happened to be my now partner and co-founder of the REIA, Nathan Mayes.

So when Nate said let's have Kris come and speak, I knew that we were in for a ride.

My sites to visit:

http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/


This blog was originally posted on another blog that I was writing. I have decided to "move" them all over to here. So for the next few posts you will notice that the dates will not coincide with the post time.

Experts Answer Tough Questions

At The REIA of Macomb's April Mega Answer Event we had a panel of experts to answer the hard questions we as real estate investors face everyday. This was the first meeting that my partner Nathan Mayes and myself hosted the full 90 minute segment. It took approximately 45 days, but we were able to round up some extremely specialized guest speakers.

Robert Gross a partner with the highly regarded firm Siegel, Greenfield, Hayes, and Gross was our legal eagle. Adam Davis, a business consulting specialist, helped members make decisions on what type of entity to buy properties in. Kim Drake, a Detroit real estate investor and franchisee of "Homevestors Usa" talked about the importance of business systems. Jay Goscinski a licensed real estate agent, spoke about the upcoming year, 2008, and how many more REO's there will be in the Detroit Tri-county area. To round out the expert panel was Alan Faitel. A 30 year veteran of real estate investing, he offered his opinion on subjects such as hard money, offering on listed properties, and where Michigan is going in terms of the economy.

Feel free to contact me if you want to get in touch with any of the individuals that you read about above.

My sites to visit:

www.REIAofMacomb.com
www.PettyMiHomes.com
www.WeOfferToday.com

This blog was originally posted on another blog that I was writing. I have decided to "move" them all over to here. So for the next few posts you will notice that the dates will not coincide with the post time.

2 non-profits Are Better Than One

Habitat For Humanity changes lives period. With volunteers building homes, and Great Americans donating property and building materials more families have a place to sleep at night. I met the Director of Macomb Habitat Daniel Wiiki at the March REIA of Macomb Mega Event. I was sitting in my office one day thinking about how we as an organization can start 'giving back". So I decided to give Mr Wikki a call ans see if I could offer him a free table and a chance to get in front of the 125 people that were at our meeting to get his message across.

When he took the stage I saw a passion an organization that usually you see in an owner operator. He spoke about Habitat's mission, and called volunteers to action. I'm not sure how many did sign up to help, but I believe there was quite a few.

Sometimes in life we have to take a step back and ask ourselves how lucky we are to be here. We all take things for granted. Whether it's Freedom, the right to vote, or our better half cooking us dinner.

www.PrettyMichiganHomes.com our homes for sale. www.WeOfferToday.com where we buy houses, or take over payments www.REIAofMacomb.com Michigan's Premier Real Estste Investing Club


This blog was originally posted on another blog that I was writing. I have decided to "move" them all over to here. So for the next few posts you will notice that the dates will not coincide with the post time.

The Notebuyers Teaches how to buy Pre-Foreclosed Notes

March 29th Donna Bauer spent her evening at The REIA of Macomb an lightening us on the power of buying notes. "You don't have to buy the house, just the note". Donna preached to us. The benefits are compounding.

Donna was in South Carolina the day of our event. She was seeing her son off to Iraq for his third tour. As most of us would be an absolute nervous wreck, Donna's professional attitude and positive nature showed through like the sun through a thunderstorm.

Our club was absolutely a buzz about the opportunities discounted notes can bring us. In a city that talk of foreclosures, foreclosures, and more foreclosures, Donna taught us all that sometimes there's a better way, buy the note.

My sites to visit:www.PrettyMichiganHomes.com our homes for sale. www.WeOfferToday.com where we buy houses, or take over payments www.REIAofMacomb.com Michigan's Premier Real Estate Investing Club.

This blog was originally posted on another blog that I was writing. I have decided to "move" them all over to here. So for the next few posts you will notice that the dates will not coincide with the post time.

We Hit The Nail On The head

On February 22nd we had Ralph Roberts out to our REIA to speak. It was a pretty big production. We had a camera crew, huge tv lights, and super sound system. Ralph talked about his humble beginnings in real estate in Macomb County, Michigan. He is proof positive that anyone can be anything.

He told many stories, and quite a few of his old friends showed up to cheer him on. He has an extremely competant and strong team behind him. If there is one thing that I learned from him it is the importance of a strong team. Ralph was quite the celebrity in person. He certainly helped our membership and brought in some new visitors.



My sites to visit:
http://www.prettymichiganhomes.com/ our homes for sale. http://www.weoffertoday.com/ where we buy houses, or take over payments http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/ Michigan's Premier Real Estste Investing Club

This blog was originally posted on another blog that I was writing. I have decided to "move" them all over to here. So for the next few posts you will notice that the dates will not coincide with the post time.

The Balance of the Game

In this sport of real estate, as in life, timing is everything. I have spent many hours studying the psychology involved in marketing. This is your first offer in most real estate transactions. Every week or month that your websites are live, your cards are being handed out, bandit sign going up, and direct mail going out, you are silently making offers.

As the title states, the balance of the game, to me is defined by 3 major ingredients. Timing being number 1. You must get peoples attention at the right time. This is where number 2 comes in, persistence. We can't really tell what people are thinking in their head so we have to constantly be advertising, with our mouths firstly, and our materials lastly. The final ingredient is boldness. To be successful in any business you have to be able to look your opponent if you will, in the eye and state your offer in our case.

I will explain in depth my philosophy on each of my key ingredients. Timing is a very delicate thing. We know from a very young age that sometimes we can make our parents laugh, but in a different circumstance our same little joke makes them want to beat us, ha-ha, a little exaggeration. Seriously though, we have all experienced this many times in life where different moods or attitudes, timing, will completely change the outcome of a situation. Where timing really comes into play in our business is in marketing. Having the foresight and knowledge of what point in a selling cycle to send a letter. Or if you are working on a particular seller, when to conveniently nave your bandit signs all over their neighborhood. We have to be the person or company that constantly pops into their head when they are thinking "I gotta get rid of this house". Being at the right time and the right place seems to be most successful peoples good luck. As we've all read though, the harder you work, the luckier you become. This ties in with my second ingredient.

There is no substitute for persistence. Since the early days of warfare, persistence seems to conquer all. In medieval times castles and kingdoms were overthrown, yes technology played a large part, but persistence was the key factor. I believe that your marketing can be lacking some pizazz, your presentation can be shaky, and even lack of experience will be overcome by persistence and integrity of course. In the last 12 months my company has purchased over 20 properties because of our persistence. We have found out what marketing works and tweak it constantly as we see fit, to keep buyers and seller knocking down our doors. I will site an example, 6 month ago or so I was in a sellers home attempting to buy their house. They said that they received postcard from my company offering to buy their home for 8 months. Now they actually sold to a conventional homeowner the week after i was in their living room, but they said that they received direct mail from 4 or 5 different companies. They chose to do business with mine because of our persistence. If we would have quit mailing to that city, or changed our buying parameters, we would have gotten off their radar. But we stick to it. Even though I sincerely believe that persistence is the most important trait for an entrepreneur to have the last of the recipe I spoke of, boldness, holds a close second.

Webster defines boldness as: showing or requiring a fearless daring spirit. What does this mean to me? It means staring at the face of fear and growling at it. A great real estate guru and motivational speaker whose work I study, often says "Be Bold". Along with persistence, boldness will help you bulldoze through the lack of polish, or experience. Please let me clarify, without integrity, boldness becomes another 8 letter word that starts with a B. Being able to look a seller in the eye and confidently say "I will pay you $100,00 for your house and close in 30 days" is easy. Now to deliver on that promise means everything. As I type this with a coffee in my hand at 5:48 a.m. I am realizing that all three of my ingredients create one dish, Integrity.

Integrity has become an almost tangible asset or trait to posses. As I said earlier, i have been involved in many businesses with a few different partners. I have fount that one trait above all others is the most important for one to have in business, the being integrity. As I grow older and hopefully wiser it becomes more and more apparent to me daily that I seek to do business with those that live by their word. I was deeply involved with someone in business for a long time in my entrepreneurial career. I thought this person was a great human being and I learned a lot from them. We put together a few deals and were working on some larger deals along with other business ventures. the last 6 month of our run together I realized this person had some major character flaws. Lack of integrity being the worst. Quite a few years older and wiser I now will only do business with those that I respect that have proven to me a high level of integrity. Now do I know every bank teller or contractor that I have done business with to have high level of integrity, of course not. But for those that I do multiple projects with, or other investors that I have lurch with weekly, I absolutely require a high level of integrity from them.

These 4 factors are definitely pillars that my businesses have been founded on. When we make promises to our sellers we deliver. Our rehabs and homeownership program are second to none. Finally our non-profit premier real estate investor's club is a testament to our business philosophies. I have to brag a little, our first event that we hosted had an attendance of over 130 investors, entrepreneurs, and professionals. Not many real estate investing clubs, or any private non-profit clubs can say that.

-Make it Happen-

www.PrettyMichiganHomes.com our homes for sale. www.WeOfferToday.com where we buy houses, or take over payments www.REIAofMacomb.com Michigan's Premier Real Estste Investing Club

I Have To Start Somewhere

The purpose of this blog is to give a personal account of the entrepreneurial side of my life, and how it pertains to real estate. It has been a very long road to get to where I'm at professionally. I started my professional career in inside sales, working for Michigan's largest furniture retailer. Although not the most glorious business to be in, it built a strong sales-mined base for me to expand on. Without that base, I certainly would not possess the negotiating skills that I employ today in real estate.

After years of thinking, and being told, "Start your own business" I finally did. I filed for my first LLC with a partner. This was around the year 2000. We started a marketing company called Direct Net. I spent around 9-12 months building a business and marketing plan. After what I thought had some pretty great potential, I found out that my partner's wife didn't agree. That was the first $2500 I truly invested in myself.

I certainly wouldn't trade that whole experience back for the $2500, because I was finally bitten by the bug. That being the "ENTREPRENEUR" bug. The excitement of brainstorming and finally implementing your own ideas is indescribable to me. The one experience that sticks out the most is; we had a business meeting with the President of the Palace of Auburn Hills. He had some interest in some of the marketing and display products that we were using. Although nothing came from the mini-conference, I had a renewed confidence in myself.

From those early days forward I knew that I could not ever really be happy unless I was writing my own ticket. It should have hit me years earlier, but I was unfocused, living in a world of adolescent nuttiness. My father always told me that one day I would be running my own corporation. I never understood why he thought this until one day he sat me down and explained why he and I had never quite seen eye to eye in business.

See my Dad is a corporate guy, with a little history in physical labor. 25 years ago or so, he became the head of a division for one of Michigan's largest privately held companies. He is the head of quality control, so his job is to make sure suppliers and such are actually doing what they promised the buyers. He does not negotiate with clients, and I believe he is happy about that because he is the epitome of being non-confrontational.

With that being said, my father finds me highly confrontational when it comes to business. Not meaning that I argue for the sake of argument, but that I do enjoy it at the very least. So as I was saying, my dad sat me down to psychoanalyze me one day, or at least give me his feelings on my personality. He sites one day many years ago. My Grandfather, Dad, and myself went to a coin and card show in Southfield back in the Eighties. It was the biggest show in Michigan every year. So as my elders were obviously interested in the coins, I was interested much more in the sports cards. Their pricing fluctuated aggressively, so you could make money similar to how a stock would work.

Apparently as I walked around ready to make my "investment", I was secretly being followed by the "guys". I thought I was a hotshot with my $20 bill, which was allocated for a certain whole box of unopened packs. I spied my prey on a table full of other merchandise. As best I can remember, or as I've been told, the dealer behind the table was in his 40's. So I walked up and asked "How much for the box". He said "$20". So before I handed my Andrew Jackson over, I looked one table to my left. Lo and behold, my dealer's neighbor had a whole box of the same unopened packs of cards.

This is where it gets interesting. I said to his neighbor, "How much for a box?". He said "What did he ask?" pointing to my original dealer. "$20" I said in my toughest pre-pubescent voice. "Well, I can go $19" my new friend said. Now all I had to do is look at the first guy, and he quickly said "$18". Holy crap I thought. These adults are fighting over my twenty bucks. "How 'bout you" I said casually to the second dealer. "I'll go $17" he blurts. With my chest puffed up I take a last look at my original seller, figuring he's going to yell at me. He was a grown up for heaven's sake.

"Fine! One dollar over cost" he says sternly to his neighbor. "He's all yours" the second dealer snickers to the original. So I ended up paying $16 instead of $20. That was a 20% cost savings. Little did I understand at that point in time, that my life as a negotiator had started.

As I stated earlier my Grandpa and Dad were secretly watching the whole thing go down. It wasn't until a couple of years later, when my Dad and
Uncles were talking about me that I realized how powerful the tool of negotiating was.

More to follow...
My sites to visit:
http://www.prettymichiganhomes.com/ our homes for sale.
http://www.weoffertoday.com/ where we buy houses, or take over payments
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/ Michigan's Premier Real Estate Investing Club