Archive for the “Real Estate Investing” Category

This article was first posted on The TurnKey Investor’s Blog.

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Because of my dissatisfaction of how the Columbus GA Housing Authority manages and conducts itself and its apparent lack of customer service accountability, I have taken the step to launch ColumbusGAHousing.com to assist and provide information and editorials to local landlords in navigating the Section 8 Housing Voucher Program with the Columbus GA Housing Authority.

ColumbusGAHousing.com will give “street information” as to how they actually work, not the “official” public line they tell people. They always seem to have excuses as to why they fall short in their customer service performance but they have no problems holding anyone else accountable.

My business partner and I continue to work with them and have several rental homes under the Section 8 Housing Voucher Program but our complaints have largely gone ignored. However, that may change when they find out (through ColumbusGAHousing.com) that more landlords are dissatisfied with their customer service to landlords. It may also require escalation to higher levels of the HUD Agency to get some attention.

With every project I work on, I try to share and tie my “my personal story” into the project I do.  I believe it gives personal relevance and credibility to the project if I put my personal reputation on the line.  With most projects I work on, it is not just “a job” I do.  There is often a very personal reason I get involved or promote something.

To help promote “The 2008 TurnKey Investor’s Real Estate Portfolio-Building Workshop”, I felt I had to share and disclose more personal information about myself and background than I have every published before.  Like layers of an onion, this project forced me to peel another layer away.

I have to say it felt quite uncomfortable writing that piece but it had to be done.  You can read “My Personal Story” as it relates to the upcoming workshop in October.  Enjoy.

On Wed, Dec 5, I completed what I considered to be the inaugural meeting of “The Investors Roundtable” of Colorado Springs. It was an all-new endeavor working with new acquaintances. But everyone was willing to “give it a shot” and I certainly did my best to “deliver the goods”.

The main purpose was to kick off The Investors Roundtable group with an enticing but relevant seminar which was entitled “Building a Real Estate Investment Portfolio in a Down Market” that was focused on Colorado Springs.

The “promise”that was going to be delivered was the following:

• The Art & Science of Portfolio-Building
• 5 Strategies for building a real estate portfolio if you have limited time, expertise, cash, or credit
• Why the best time to build a real estate portfolio is in a slower market and economic cycle
• What happens to assets, wealth, and equity created and lost during up-markets and up-cycles
• The types of people who should absolutely avoid and should never invest in real estate
• The types of people who can never stop doing real estate deals and the types of people who can stop within 5 years.
• The single crucial x-factor every investor must decide BEFORE they buy their first investment
• The 5 Deadly Sins of Real Estate Investing that destroy portfolios and investment careers
• The 3 Investment Criteria professional investors use that amateurs do not
• The “true returns on investment” professional investors rarely reveal to the general public
• The 4 Rules on the Mindset of Money amateur investors never learn until it’s too late
• The 3 Unavoidable Events that will occur in the real estate market between now and 2010
• The 6 opportunities and differences between 1st-tier and 2nd-tier cities
• The Current Market Velocity of Colorado Springs
• 5 Reasons Why Colorado Springs is a better market to invest in than Denver
• The 4 Factors “outside investors” see in Colorado Springs that “native investors” routinely ignore
• The pros and cons of investing with Investment Teams vs. investing alone

As you can see, it was quite ambitious for a 3-hour evening seminar on a cold December night. Not only that, it was only $25 per ticket. What a steal.

Typically, my small seminars are fairly organic. In other words, I have a loose outline of what I will cover, but I rely on flip-charts and have the students take notes. After all, what could one expect for $25?

However, I changed my mind and prepared a PowerPoint presentation instead. The room I was presenting in had a ceiling projector to a projection screen. I figured I would simply take advantage of it by connecting my PC Notebook to the system and present off of a pre-prepared PowerPoint Presentation.

What I thought would be an easy task turned out to be incredibly time-consuming one. It has been a few years since I have prepared a PowerPoint presentation. And it was my first time to create one that would require 3+ hours to cover.

Constructing, writing, and organizing that PowerPoint presentation was a multi-day project with several hours per day. Holy smokes, I thought it would not come to an end with the endless ideas, revisions, and reorganizations. It felt as challenging as writing a booklet.

In any case, I did finish writing the presentation and I did present it in my typically unconventional and hard-hitting style. Being in a new environment, I did exercise a bit more restraint than I normally do in Columbus. However, I did not want to “sanitize” it to the point I felt robotic or that my audience did not know where I stood on issues.

I am setting all of you up because what came out AFTER the seminar was very enlightening to me as a speaker and presenter. Bottom line, my “core audience” liked the presentation and there were other parts that left a less than desirable impression.

I will be writing a few “insight articles” to clarify my positions on certain subjects. It might make for some juicy reading. Stay tuned.

This is just a quickie piece of advice to investors holding on to properties and interested in cashing them out.  The rule of thumb I am telling people is to “hold the line until 2009!”

I am hearing and seeing so many “investors” dump their property at the worst possible time.  Quite frankly, there are a couple of dogs we have that I would like to dump.  However, to do so now or next year is mostly a waste of time and energy.  I believe the strategy is to get tenants into your property (even if you have to reduce rents) and ride 2008 out.

Of course, there is an exception to every rule.  But I find it sad that so many “investors” don’t have the realization and willpower that selling property now (2007 and 2008) is mostly a waste of time and energy.  They will get out but it will cost them HUGE.  They will take a unbelieveable beating.

I have long preached to our local investor community to “get the money” when you don’t need it.  This is necessary to ride out the tough times.  I have believed that the availability of money would not always be plentiful.  And the economy looks like it is headed towards a downturn next year.  It looks like a lot of people (homeowners and investors alike) will have to learn some very tough life-lessons because of their own financial and economic ignorance.

Fortunately, I have studied history and economics and foresaw that something was going to give very soon.  I didn’t know exactly know when but the down cycle always comes.  During the “good times”, I left all the equity in our properties untouched and continue to raise credit and funds during the boom times in preparation for this downturn.  I feel good about our leverage position and once we get through 2008 and the first part of 2009, we should be sitting very well as I believe the recovery will begin then.

I predict things will get definitely get worse before it gets better.  The upside is that I am looking forward to finding some good deals and bring together an investment team to take advantage of it.  For the smart economic survivors who prepared themselves, remember, Hold the Line Til O-Nine!

There will be much more blood-letting on the economic streets next year in 2008.  Be ready for it and buckle up for the upcoming storm.

I will be presenting an all-new, hard-hitting evening seminar entitled, “Building a Real Estate Investment Portfolio in a Down Market” on December 5, 2007 in Colorado Springs.  I will be inviting my book and audio program customers in the Colorado area to attend this seminar.

This seminar will be used to kick-off the newly forming Investors Roundtable of Colorado Springs.  The word-of-mouth interest and enthusiasm is already high with the various people that were involved in helping me with the logistics in putting this seminar together.  They are interested in the subject matter as well as my perspective on the current market situation.  Half-dozen people are already committed to this evening seminar.  Ha! I guess I will be giving this seminar even if not a single ticket is sold!

The official marketing begins this week with local newspaper advertising in the Colorado Springs area.  The evening seminar is very inexpensive at $25.00 per ticket.  I am hoping for a solid local investor community turnout.

I am excited about this seminar as there are new distinctions and material I am incorporating that I have not written or spoken about.  I will try to make a video recording of this event.  It may become available on DVD if the video turns out ok.

After several months of dabbling in research and poking about commercial real estate, plans are under way to form a commercial real estate development group of which I will be an active principal in.

A new business brand and identity will be formed for this endeavor.  Initial commercial real estate investments I will likely look at will be within a 4-hour radius of Columbus, GA.  The size of the deal I am initially targeting range from $2 to $5 million.  They will likely be turn-around type of projects.  I will be looking into retail strip centers, apartment complexes, and office buildings.

I will make more announcements when more decisions and details have solidified.

I am currently working on an outline for a new audio program with a working title “Why Real Estate Investing Is Not For Everyone”.

This contrarian program actually tries to dissuade certain people from the real estate investing craze.  Quite frankly, there are some people who have no business getting into real estate investing.  Those people will actually hurt themselves more than it will help.

No one wants to hear it but some people are not really cut out to be real estate investors.  They are better suited to stocks or mutual funds.  There is a variety of reasons which most people do not want to hear that they should stay away from real estate investing.

This program is financially risky for me because it is negatively oriented and doesn’t actually teach anything unlike my other programs.  I really do not know how this program will sell.  Heck, it may end up sitting in cases unsold!  This program is simply a recorded discussion of what I consider critical issues people need to think about before even starting into real estate investing.  I actually try to talk people out of real estate investing!

I will also be dispelling some of the hype being promoted in real estate courses and seminars.  A lot of people will not like what I have to say in this program regarding some seminars and courses.  This program will likely keep me from getting any invitations to speak at any real estate seminar.  Good thing, I don’t speak on the seminar circuit.

I am excited about this program because I have plenty to say on the subject.  My friend Tony Calloway will be hosting this new audio program.

Wes Weaver and I are launching a brand-new branded website SolidRentalHomes.com.  This website is a sister-site to our wildly successful OwnerFinanceHomes.com.  As with all websites I oversee, this will be a continuous and ongoing work-in-progress.  We start with a bare-bone site and we add features and improvements as we go.

We are slowly moving towards becoming housing partners with “The Housing Authority of Columbus Georgia” and participating in the Section 8 Program.  Additionally, this new site will service those properties which we prefer to have conventional rentals.

This strategic move has been done to better position ourselves for current and upcoming changes in our local real estate market.  We always look to improve the performance our investment portfolio.  Part of this strategy is ensuring we are well-positioned to service our local market by provide product and service our community wants.

Some houses previously associated with OwnerFinanceHomes.com will be moved over to SolidRentalHomes.com.  We plan to aggressively market and move ourselves to take a lead position within our community.  Through our innovative website, we will become partners with The Housing Authority and Section 8 in a way few local housing providers and investors have gone before.  We want to set the “de facto” standard for online servicing of Section 8 housing and tenants in the Columbus, GA area.  We want our site to be the “first stop” for customers of conventional rental homes.

As with our past endeavors, we expect this will increase our credibility and stature within our business community.  Consequently, our investment properties should perform better.