Category Archives: education

Are your investments paying you or do you pay for them?

I have many investment properties coming over my desk where the investor has gotten themselves into trouble. Many times when I speak with the investor I find out that they blame their property troubles on tenants who don’t pay the rent or the constant upkeep of the buildings.

When looking at their financing situation I can see that 100% of their investments have been bought, while times where good, and secured with some type of 100% financing.  Nothing out of pocket….

They truly don’t own their investment 100%, they still own the right to make the payment to an investor who gave them the money to invest into their investment!

So who is the true investor?

The one who signed the paperwork to buy the investment or the one who gave the money that is secured by a property and who might not lose much when foreclosing on the other guy’s investment?

Are you ready for the next waive?

The real estate market has so slightly is showing signs of a turn around and it might be a good time to think again of investing in real estate. Actually there is no bad time when it comes to investing in real estate. It just might in a different area or different product.

With any type of investing you yourself need to be ready for the opportunity and you need to be able to jump on the opportunity when it knocks and presents it self’s.

Many investors are not ready for the opportunity and counting on loans and other forms of secondary financing to be able to close and finalize the deal.

Nothing wrong with this type of financing, just keep in mind that you should get paid. Now, will it be you 100% of the time or do you need to share a percentage of your potential personal income with another party?

Hello REALTORS…where are you…

 

….came to mind as I was looking for REALTORS in a certain area of the US.

 

It has been interesting to say the least.

 

I am one of the people who does not give up that easy when it comes to finding someone for areas but what is with the potential client who will give up after a while or a few tries.

 

Just for giggles I did a small study of the area I am looking to hire an agent in for investment properties and found out some interesting stats.

 

  • 60% of the active practicing real estate agents in this area are part of the Local and National Association of REALOTRS
  • The local Association has no website.
  • 70% of the REALTORS Brokerage firms have a website
  • less than 3% of the local REALTORS are members of the local Chamber of Commerce or otherwise active in their community.
  • 1% of the REALTORS in this area have a web address in their own name and 99% of them have their website redirected to the company website who they work for and do not have their own website.
  • 95% of the websites do not have a clear to identify office location/address without having to click on several links to find the info
  • 80% of the REALTORS in this area do not have a company email they advertise the free email providers like AOL, GOOGLE, MSN…..
  • 1% of them will return phone calls and emails.

 

This is just a few things I found.

 

I am not a marketing person but common scene tells me when I am a Real Estate Entrepreneur I need to been one thought and through and my future clients need to find me on the web.

 

Here are some basic tips;

 

  • Have an email address with your own web address or with the company you work for. Don’t advertise google, aol or the others free services unless they pay you.
  • Have a website and a place on the web in your own name and don’t redirect it to the company you work for. Just have a link to them.
  • Return all phone calls and emails within less than 48 hours
  • Get active and involved within your community through the Chamber of Commerce and not only through your local church, find another non for profit you can volunteer for.
  • When you are not a REALTOR make sure you have a website and it can be found quickly and easily
  • Make social media and blogging part of your routine.

Do you know who your customers are?

When I ask this questions I normally receive the same answer.

A lot of the business owners will tell me that their clients are the once who given them the jobs that keeps a company in money.

Who are your customers?

Now truly think about this one more time in a broader sense and spectrum.

Businesses have direct customers, consumers and the most forgotten once, Internal customers.

The consumers are the once who are using the product and services that are offered. This holds true for any type of company. Wholesaler or distributors.

The direct customer are the once who are directly buy or subscribe to your service’s and make the decision to may invest in your services or your company.

The internal consumer is the one that is mostly overlooked. They are the once who make the wheels run and make it happen for the external consumers. Sure it does take a management team to run everything on the inside but when we loose sight and don’t pay attention to all of the consumers, external and internal we might run into a “Herby” and might loose good external but also internal consumers.

When you have not looked at your total consumers structure, internal and external, and examined how all of them are interacting and connecting you should some time to do so. It might take you a lot longer than you thought and be honest.

Are you losing business…..

….and you might not even realize you do….

 

In today’s market personal and business continues education and fulfillment is much easier than it was in the past.

 

With many companies having many of their educational material, free or for pay, online available it is truly heartbreaking when I see and talk with prospects for a position and they have not a clue what is going on the field they have chosen to practice in.

 

Today phone call was a great example of this again.

 

I had contacted a very well know business person I need for a task in an area he considers himself an expert in this field (at least what his website said). During the conversation I found out that he was not aware of” recent” changes in his field that happened in 2009 and today is 2012.

 

What I did not tell him during this conversation was that I have several referrals for him in his area of “expertise” but due to him not willing to keep up with his personal and business continues education in his chosen filed I am moving on to the next potential business in the area.