Local Real Estate Deals TV

Just a quick shout to keep the beta testing going. Thanks to everyone who has logged on and checked out the system. GREAT FEEDBACK! We have already made it into the second round of changes so keep updating your account to see what changes have been made. This is ground breaking stuff and it is never easy standing on the cutting edge...Lots of change, lots of movement, but that is how the best things are formed...Stay the course and keep the faith!

Local Real Estate Deals DOT TV Station

Well, it's about time! That's all I have to say about the whole thing. It took considerably longer than I wanted, but not really that long in the big scheme of things, and it is finally in beta...That's right, www.LocalRealEstateDeals.tv is now online...how cool is that. We welcome your profiles and comments and feedback. Thanks for checking in...don't spend any more time here, just go to the website and upload your videos!!!

Regards,

Rob Cass
www.LocalRealEstateDeals.com

If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem!

I am still amazed at the amount of people out there that are sticking to their old ways and contributing to the same old problems. Frankly, I don't care who is responsible for the mortgage and real estate industry crisis...As far as I am concerned we are all, in some way, responsible for this mess we are in. To be absolutely clear, we don't have time to point fingers anymore, now is the time to stand up and make the decision to be a part of the solution.

I am also amazed at the lack of understanding about hard money. I know that I have some pretty strong opinions about many things, but it is in my humble opinion, that it is private money and hard money that is going to get us out of this mess, not institutional money.

Even among hard money lenders, the field isn't level. There are just as many good companies as there are bad ones, but I have, as I usually do, stumbled across a company that is not only leading the way, they are a major part of the solution. That company is Blazevic Funding Group http://www.blazevicfunding.com/ and they need to be recognized. Not only are they getting deals financed for investors, which by the way, is critically important to keep the heartbeat of our economy going, they are working with homebuyers as well. THAT'S WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT! Here is a company in the middle of a doom-and-gloom economy and they are working with both sides to keep deals flowing! We should all be looking for ways to keep deals flowing.

I have had the chance to speak with them and they have great attitudes, even when things aren't going great. They have that "twinkle" in their eye (no, I haven't spoken to them in person) but you just get a sense from the folks at Blazevic that they know what they are doing and they are confident in their abilities and their role in the market place. Those are the kind of people that I need to rub elbows with on a regular basis.

So many individuals and companies are now fearful of becoming over leveraged or are worried that the market will go down even further. When you surround yourselves with the experts in the industry, you don't have to second guess every decision. You already have a team of professionals watching out for you and working with you to make sound decisions. These companies are out there, just talk to them and you will hear it in their voice and see it in their mannerisms. You will either hear scarcity, or abundance, but it is unmistakable.

If you are not sure what I am talking about, take a moment to listen for yourselves to see if you can "feel" the difference. Look them up online and just strike up a conversation with them. They are here for the long haul and they have a great outlook.
http://www.blazevicfunding.com/

Happy Investing!

Rob

http://www.LocalRealEstateDeals.com

Special Invitation available through Local Real Estate Deals Invitation Only

This is a special invitation to a private buying opportunity that is NOT available to the public:

PREMIUM "GO ZONE" BUYING OPPORTUNITY NEAR BILLION-DOLLAR MEGA PROJECT

========================================

Tuesday, August 18th, 6pm PST (9pm EST)

This link will take you to the deal overview and conference call number:

http://maverickinvestorgroup.com/deals/tarabrooke

To access the call: You must RSVP by using the discount code: "MIG LRED"

========================================

On August 18th, you will have the opportunity to make one of the most important financial decisions of 2009.

Four years ago Congress passed the most extraordinary tax incentive for real estate investors in the history of the United States that offered a 50% first year bonus depreciation for buying new rental properties in Gulfport, Mississippi as part of the "GO-Zone". But it all expires this year. Properties must have construction finished in 2009 in order to qualify so reservations have to be in by the end of August.

Amazingly, Gulfport just broke ground last month on a multi-billion dollar project to expand the Port of Gulfport to be the largest container port in the country! This will create 6,500 direct jobs plus 10,000 indirect jobs. And you can get exclusive access to a private buying opportunity featuring a premium subdivision in Gulfport with prices and terms not available to the public.

You will have the opportunity to buy in the tail end of a subdivision that is already about 80% filled-up with primary homeowners. The preferred property management company will guarantee you a tenant the day you close or they will pay you rent for up to 60 days until a tenant is found. And you can get over $70,000 in first year depreciation per property as part of the GO-Zone benefits.

Access is by invitation only. It all goes down on AUGUST 18th.

Click for deal overview and conference call number: http://maverickinvestorgroup.com/deals/tarabrooke

YOUR TICKET IN IS REGISTERING BY USING THE DISCOUNT CODE: "MIG LRED"

*Licensed Agents and Brokers: We pay a full 3% referral for every buyer that closes.

Happy Investing!

Rob

Real Estate Investing (Back to Basics)

I happened to stumble across a blog yesterday that was addressing all the great deals that were on the market. While I too tend to talk about all of the deals on the market, I forget, as we all seem to do that an appealing deal for one person, might be a money pit for the next person.

Sure, there are a lot of foreclosures on the market, and there are a lot of houses with equity on the market right now, but they don't automatically constitute a deal. The truth is that only YOU can determine if a deal is the right one for you. And the only way that you can be sure is to have a set of criteria that you use to evaluate each deal, that is tied directly to a goal that is defined in a business plan. So you see, all those deals out there might not actually be good deals for what you are trying to accomplish.

Make sure you didn't miss the part about having a set of criteria that you use to evaluate each deal. I completely enjoy the academic exercise of figuring out business systems and criteria. When you are done with the exercise, you are left with a keen sense of what it will take to keep moving forward at a sustained rate...and don't get me going about the sustainability of business plans...that is a whole topic in and of itself.

Alright folk, that's about all for now...Take care and happy investing.


Robert D. Cass

http://www.LocalRealEstateDeals.com

Real Estate Investing (Tour de France Style)

One of the most incredible sporting events has just come to pass and it held up to all of its usual glory. I am talking about the Tour de France, of course.

Many Americans do not completely understand the complex nature of cycling, never mind the mind-boggling, gut-wrenching, 3 week race in France every year. If you happen to watch it on tv at any given time, it just looks like a bunch of world class athletes riding their bikes all together. That is on the surface, but what is going on in the minds of those men is nothing short of amazing.

There is so much strategy and so much going on that you can't even begin to see everything that is going on. One of the things that strikes me most is that not everyone is there to win the tour. There are different races inside of the race and you have to be on your toes to know who is interested in what and why.

Lance Armstrong always has his sites on the podium when he goes into the tour, but there are others whose goal is to win as many stages as possible. These riders have no desire to win the overall race, just individual stages of the race.

This is not so different from Real Estate Investing...There is so much going on at any given time, that we need to know our game plan and stick to it. Even in this economy there is so much opportunity that it can be a distraction at times. That is why it is important to know which opportunities are real and which ones are not. Conversely, it is important to know the real threats when they present themselves and which ones are not worth responding to. Being able to distinguish the difference is a matter of reaching your goals or not, it is also the sign of the consummate real estate professional. When you worry about threats that are not real, or chase opportunities that are not leading you to your desired goal, you are wasting precious energy and risk losing it all.

Know what race you are in and why it is important to you. Study the competition and understand the real threats to your business. Don't rely on the spectators to tell you what the real threats and opportunities are for your business. Real estate is all about mental strategies and physical execution; not unlike the Tour de France.

Stay the course and remain focused. Healthy Investing!

Rob

http://www.LocalRealEstateDeals.com

Italian Cooking for Real Estate Invesors

I am just beginning to appreciate the subtleties of my heritage and how it applies to real estate and real estate investing.

As I was making tomato sauce for dinner this evening, it occurred to me that real estate is going through the same process that makes the best tomato sauce...reduction is the key word here.

I remember how amazed I was the first time I made my sauce from scratch, particularly, how much water is really in each tomato. It used to baffle me as to why my Nana would have to cook all day to make tomato sauce for all of the dishes she was cooking. The longer that you simmer your sauce, the richer the flavor and the more the flavors combine to give a full, rich taste.

The real estate market is doing the same thing right now. The market is simmering and has been simmering for some time. Too much heat ruins things...the key is to manage the heat and keep it at just the right temperature. The problem is that the real estate market was so hot for so long that it burned out. The same thing will happen to your sauce if you don't manage the heat...it will eventually burn.

Ok, this simmering effect has had its effect on the real estate population as well. While reduction in cooking removes all of the unnecessary water, the simmering in our industry has removed a lot of unnecessary middle men. What we are left with are the parts that make a rich flavorful, (wait we are talking about real estate)...what we are left with are the real estate professionals that are focused and driven to provide the best service in the market. The end result is a richer, more robust real and meaningful estate experience.

So while this may be a tough time for a lot of people, what we are going to end up with is a much better, cleaner, more efficient industry than before this happened. This simmering is a natural process that tends to bring out the best of the best...and YOU are one of the best.

Congratulations...Healthy Investing!

Rob

http://www.LocalRealEstateDeals.com

Plan your Business like a business plans

Ok, so I have a gripe...There are too many people out there that don't treat their real estate investing like a business. It kills me to hear about people and businesses that treat real estate investing like a hobby or a side job. There is way too much at stake to be moving forward without a plan.

Your plan doesn't have to be a 200-page dissertation on the state of the market either. But you should have some goals, milestones and some sort of way to track your success.

I used to think that your business plan was like the ten commandments, you know, carved into stone and never to be changed. Luckily, business plans are living documents and have to change and evolve. Your business plan should have enough flexibility to stand the test of time and weather many storms.

The truth of the matter is that your business and business environment are always changing so you need to have a tool that is flexible enough to guide you and give direction, but if it is taking you down the wrong path, you better be able to change course before you are completely derailed!

Even if you only have a one page business plan you should address the nature of your business, what your goals are (short-term, intermediate and long-term) and attach a metric that can be measured...when you use phrases like, I want to be successful or have a bunch of houses, this is useless, because there is no identifiable quantity to measure against. Be specific.

There was a time when I would start writing a business plan with words, but I like to think that I have evolved to the degree that I start out by building a proforma to see if the business makes sense from a monetary stand point. The words are the easy part, but if the business is not a viable venture in the first place, there is no reason to even write one word. My advice is to hunker down and put your business into a spreadsheet. The mere exercise will make you a better business person as you have to ask yourself if you have all of the right numbers in place and whether or not you can accomplish the financial goals you have set for your business.

Once you have a spreadsheet that tells the story of your business, run it past somebody who knows anything about your business to see what they think. It is always best to be conservative when you are running your numbers. It is easy to get caught up in scenarios that show how you are going to make millions of dollars per quarter, but there is usually something that has not been taken into consideration.

Anyway, take the time to write a very basic business plan...just a couple of pages will be worth its weight in gold if you review it on a weekly basis and use it as the planning tool that it is designed to be. Be flexible though, the business that you are in five years from now may not be the business you started out building, but you just might find that the business you intended to start was not a viable, sustainable business...but that the business you ended up running is sustainable and viable.

Good Luck and Healthy Investing to all!

Rob


http://www.LocalRealEstateDeals.com

The Patience of a Gardener

I have found a new joy that compliments my interests in real estate. Gardening...or more specifically, vegetable gardens.

It is a modest garden of watermelon, cantaloupes, tomatoes, summer squash and cucumbers, but the lessons I am learning are invaluable. Now that the season is in full-swing, my sons and I go out to the garden every evening to see what is ready to pick. My youngest son of 19 months is getting very good at determining what is ready to pick and what is not.

The watermelons have him fooled though. My youngest boy can't figure out why we aren't picking the things that are biggest in the garden. Even though the watermelon are far from being ready, they aren't ready to pick. Real estate is the same way. If you pick your exit too early, you miss the fruit of your labor; profits.

You see, sometimes we have to be just a little bit more patient, and remind ourselves that every deal is not the same and every situation is different. Find your deal, work it, tend to it, give it what it needs to bear fruit. Pick it too early and all is for naught...Maybe you should try gardening to keep your mind off things...just a thought.

Happy Gardening, errr, Investing...

http://www.LocalRealEstateDeals.com
Rob

Real Estate Compost Pile

Ever since we began talking about the "green edition" of our magazine, my son has been urging us to become a "greener" family. Considering he is in the third grade, this is an impressive and reasonable request.

We have taken up the greener lifestyle and I must say that it suits me well. One of my favorite green things to do is to contribute to our compost pile in the backyard. Last night as I was contributing the latest kitchen scraps to the pile I noticed that the pile was "cooking." Yep, it was about 132 degrees. HOT! or as they say in compost terminology, it was "cooking!"

That got me to thinking that the real estate industry is not so different; especially real estate investing. There are a lot of "scraps" left on the market right now and it is up to the real estate investment community to make things good again. Well, these are the properties that nobody can afford, or that need fixing up, or are just sitting around on the market. This is not good for a stumbling economy. What we need to do is to turn this "refuse" into fertile soil that we will allow us to rebuild the garden of our industry.

With my compost pile out back, I have been contributing for months, putting my lawn clippings in there along with kitchen scraps, and finally last night it began to cook. The same thing is going to happen in our real estate community. We just have to keep the faith and keep practicing fundamentally good transactions. In that way, we will be contributing to the come back of our industry.

The real estate investment community will inevitably begin heating up again, or "cooking" very slowly, but then it will turn into the hot market that it was and give off returns that will help spur the economy as well. These times that we are facing are only temporary and while we may not see it on a daily basis, the universe is already at work putting together the elements to the next great real estate boom.

Hang in there and take the good with the bad. Real estate investing is cyclical, just like any other natural occurrence.

Think of http://www.LocalRealEstateDeals.com like your real estate compost pile, throw in your deal listings and look for new ones. Together we will turn the tide around.

Rob

Show me the MONEY!

Traditional financing has been so readily available for so long that many investors never needed to get really creative. It in times like these that we need to tap our creative skills to find the money that we need to finance the deals that are out there….and there are indeed deals out there! If ever there was a time to be involved in real estate…THIS IS IT!

Hard Money…Yep, there is still plenty of hard money out there. My suggestion is to find a good source and make friends with them. Build their trust in you and your ability to give them a return on their investment and keep using the same source. These guys are regular people just like you and me and they are looking to make good deals. You have to remember that they make money by lending it and they don’t make money when they aren’t lending it…so, give them a reason to lend money to you and you will have your deals.

A couple of hard money sources that you may want to check out are:
www.blazevicfunding.com
www.EquityDevelopmentCorp.com

There are also Self-Directed IRAs that have been around a while and I am still amazed that many investors do not use this tool to invest in real estate. Check with the experts on this, but you can also work with other investors and their Self-Directed IRAs to pool your money to work on bigger deals or commercial deals. Not a bad way to go if you are in need of some capital at a great rate! Why not pay yourself the interest, rather than pay someone else…think about it…

And of course there are always the time tested 1031 exchanges to maximize your “NOW” money after a deal. There are pros and cons to 1031 Exchanges just like there are to all of the types of funding out there. Get familiar with them and use them like the tools they are to help you build your portfolio.

These, of course, are just a few of the alternative financial tools that are out there, you will want to become familiar with as many of them as possible. Knowing what money is out there and how to use it may just prove to be the fine line between success and failure.

Good Luck and Healthy Investing!

Rob
http://www.LocalRealEstateDeals.com

Dot Com Busted!

Who can forget the dot com bust of the new millenium? Apparently, millions of real estate professionals that's who! How is it that every time a new bubble appears on the horizon everyone and their brother forgets about the last bubble that busted or even worse, tells themselves that they are not in a bubble or that their industry is safe from bubbles...

Unbelievable...but it happened so there is no use fretting about it now. In my opinion, we need to buckle down and understand how each of us contributed in some way and how we can avoid this again. How do we do that? Personal accountability for starters. We can't control the whole industry, so we might as well control our own deals and actions.

Take the time to re-evaluate your business plan, if you have one. If you don't have one, create one. There is nothing complicated about it...keep it simple and realistic. I love to see a business plan that can be articulated in the form of a spreadsheet...words are nice, but numbers tell the real story. Make sure that your plan is sustainable. Sure, you might be able to make a killing on a particular deals, but how many times can you do that and furthermore, can you do that forever? The answer is probably not...so find a business or aspect of the business that you can maintain for an indefinite period.

Modest margins over the long-haul add up to more than you think. Just take the time and stay the course. The good news is that if you are still standing in the real estate industry today, you are doing something right. Keep up the great work and hang in there!

http://www.LocalRealEstateDeals.com

Creativity in a Free Market

There is a buzz going around about the latest bill that is threatening the way that real estate investors do business. It is sometimes scary that those who are making the laws are out of touch with the reality of the businesses that they effect through their system of government.

Fortunately, we know better. We know that they are not addressing the real problem, but rather they are putting hand cuffs on the wrong people. We have the luxury of operating from the spirit of abundance rather than the spirit of scarcity from which the laws were created.

We need to trust that we will collectively find better and newer ways to conduct business. These laws that have been and will continue to be passed are meant to help, not to hinder. So, they are created in the right spirit, but the letter of the law is not going to be effective. It will, no doubt, keep a few people from conducting real estate transactions and most of those people are the ones that should not be investing in the first place. It is also true that there are some good investors with good intentions that will also find it hard to keep investing. Unfortunately that happens as well.

By and large, the best thing we can do as a real estate investment community is to follow sound business and ethics practices in everything we do. The real estate industry has a black eye right now, and we are all going to pay a little bit of the price. Let's do the right thing and create win-win solutions in every transaction...that is the best way to counter the laws that are coming to us right now.

Good Luck and God Bless America!

Robert D. Cass

http://www.LocalRealEstateDeals.com

Ed Begley, Jr

You gotta love what you do! I can’t imagine doing anything else! I get to talk to the best and brightest minds in the business every day. I wake up in the morning and the first thing that pops into my head is…I GET to do this again! A few months ago, I had the opportunity to interview Ed Begley, Jr about his relationship with the green industry and it was so refreshing to talk to him. The guy is a regular guy and was very easy to settle down with and talk to.

 

It seems like that is the essence of success. Loving what you do and doing it with passion. Ed is all over the place, working here and there and supporting different companies and products and it finally occurred to me that this is a guy who loves what he does. You can’t be that active and busy and hate what you do…it just doesn’t work. In fact, it would drain you…but we have all me those people who seem like the more that they do, the more energy they have. Amazing isn’t it? Not if you step back and think about what is really happening. You can either give energy or get energy…and when you are doing something you love to do, you are attracting energy to you. When you are engaged in something you don’t love, you are contributing energy, with out getting any in return.

 

There are many lessons to learn from Ed, but the main one is to love what you do! Thanks Ed, we enjoyed speaking with you!

 

If you want to get the latest on Ed Begley, Jr…just click over to www.LocalRealEstateDealsMag.com and enjoy the magazine!

 

            Respectfully,

 

 

 

            Rob

 

 

 

 

http://www.LocalRealEstateDeals.com

Generating Wealth Velocity

 

 

            I had a chance to interview Matt Bowles, one of the partners of Maverick Investor Group http://www.MaverickInvestorGroup.com a few days ago and he mentioned a word in that interview that has been on my mind for the last few days…that word is VELOCITY! I love the word velocity when it is used in conjunction with wealth and real estate investing because it is not the same old tired phrase that most of us are tired of hearing…you know the one. ..OPM, or Other People’s Money…We all understand what OPM is and how to use it, but VELOCITY is a whole different story.

 

            Duing the interview, I had to stop and dwell on the point for a moment, and as usual, Matt obliged me. You see, when you are talking to an expert you have to listen closely and take notes. Everything that Matt says made so much sense, I had to slow him down to make sure I didn’t miss important facts. Keep in mind, I am in this industry and I consider myself an astute student, but sometimes I am amazed at the simplicity and focus of the people that I get to meet and rub elbows with…Matt is no exception…

 

            Ok, so he went on to explain that most people leverage their money fairly well. This point has been made by dozens of gurus and is a well-trodden path, but when you leverage your money AND your time, well, that is when you begin to experience the benefit of VELOCITY in your wealth building endeavors. The more I think about it, the more he is right. Think about it for a second, how many people do you know who have leveraged their money properly using real estate as the platform, but then they totally and utterly over-leverage their time, by becoming something they aren’t proficient (or even good) at…namely, being a landlord. Many of us have done so many good things, only to find ourselves in the miserable position of being a landlord and not doing the things that are going to bring us the biggest bang for our buck! How crazy is that? (Ans. Pretty Crazy!)

 

            Pay attention to your time and realize what is giving you the biggest return on your investment…chances are there is some room for improvement and the good news is that if you can find room for improvement, you can increase your Wealth Velocity!

 

Good Luck and Happy Investing!

 

Rob

 

http://www.LocalRealEstateDeals.com

Technology for the Sake of Technology

Who doesn't love technology? After all, many of us grew up watching cartoons like the Jetsons where every episode would show us what the future was going to be like...well, it hasn't happened exactly like that, but as a culture, we are still fascinated with technology.

While the technowizards are creating new technology, it is the marketing wizards who figure out how to apply that technology and that is where the real magic happens. You see, technology for the sake of technology is very James Bond, in that it doesn't have a real practical use in the real world. In order for technology to gain a foothold in the market it needs to have a practical application and solve a problem.

There are too many technologies out there that don't solve any problems and do not have a practical application. While the technology is very cool, what good is it if it doesn't make our lives easier or make us more effective?

Technology has to stand the test of time before I can adopt it. A year doesn't sound like a long time unless you are dealing with technology. The fact is that I don't pay much attention to anything that hasn't been out for at least a year. If it is still around after that, I will check it out which is nice because by that time the price is usually half of what it was when it came out. By that time there will have been enough upgrades to the software that the bugs would hopefully be worked out. Not only that, in a year, people and companies would have put the product throught the rigors of the real world and would have found interesting partnerships and applications. Oh yes, a year is a long time in the big scheme of things.

Beyond the product itself, you need to have a good grasp on the ten thousand foot view as well. If you are keeping an eye on the general feelings of a particular market place, you will be able to spot a really useful technology before the masses understand the applications. Don't feel inhibited to embrace new technology to see if it works and to meddle with it...If you do that, just don't jump off the deep end and make it a part of every aspect of your life until you see it in action. It is easy to be swept off your feet by new technology, but it has to make sense.

One of the things I look for when I am considering new technology is how well it fits into my current suite of technology and how well it integrates. This could be anything from an i-phone to twitter. If it doesn't mesh with what I am working with, then it doesn't make sense. Technology should not create problems, it should relieve problems. I know that isn't always the case, but my point is that it should certainly create less problems than it solves.

To that end, embrace technology by all means, just know that all technology is not necessarily worth embracing. If it can help increase your bottom line, then it is definitely worth looking into.

Happy Investing.

Rob

http://www.LocalRealEstateDeals.com

New Models

The real estate industry is one of the oldest industries around. As long as people have been around, there has been a need for them to have shelter. In an industry as "old" as this, it is tough to come up with anything new. Sometimes we have to look outside of our industry for inspiration.

Over the years I have become fascinated with business models. Each industry has its own model that follows a line of thinking and most people and companies line up behind that mode of thinking and go out and do business the same way. There is nothing wrong with that, in fact, it is a very smart and safe way to grow your business. Like I said, each industry has its own model, so it is always interesting to me to look at how different industries make money.

Every once in a while, I find a business-model nugget that I can apply to a situation in our own business that let's me address a problem that my old model couldn't or wouldn't address. As you explore different models and challenge the models of other industries you begin to learn a new language of problem solving and business modeling.

There is a company that I am quite fond of that has a unique approach to their own highly-competitive market, that company is Morgan-James Publishing. If you think real estate is brutal, you should take a look at the publishing industry...NO THANKS! Anyway, the founder of the company, David Hancock, does things differently. His company is known as The Entrepreneurial Publisher and they have created their own model that will no doubt serve as the new model for many companies. You see, they have dared to try something new...something that hasn't been done before. It is worth checking out their websiteto see what they are doing.
www.MorganJamesPublishing.com



My point is that we cannot expect to get better results by doing what we have done for years. We have to aggressively search for new ways to conduct business. We have to dare to try some things and understand that not everything is going to work. There are no guarantees, so we have to keep reinventing ourselves and look for inspiration outside of our industry if that is what it takes.

My suggestion would be to do some research on what IT, web and computer companies were successful after the dot com bust, to find out how the industry as a whole responded to the down turn in the economy and the market. We can learn from other industries and other mistakes as if they were our own if we pull our heads out of the daily grind and look around. There are golden lessons to be learned and they are your for the taking. By reviewing other models, we gain deeper insight into how we might move forward in a given situation where we otherwise might have be prone to make snap judgments that tend to make things worse.

We have our challenges, but the answers are out there! It is time to reinvent our businesses and in the mean time, reinvent the real estate industry.

We would love to know what you are doing different in the new economy.

Regards,

Rob

http://www.LocalRealEstateDeals.com

Local Real Estate Deals Twitter Tweets!

Local Real Estate Deals just keeps on embracing technology…You can now view our Twitter Tweets on our blog as well…Sign up and follow our daily tweets!

 

Rob

 

Follow Local Real Estate Deals on Twitter

http://twitter.com/LocalREDeals

 

http://www.LocalRealEstateDeals.com

All Hail The Anti-Guru!

We have all been there at some point. We get an email, or someone tells us about them, or even worse...we are watching late night TV. It seems innocent enough at first, but then we begin to show interest, and the next thing you know you are looking for your credit card to pay for the next new product from the next big GURU.

It's nothing to be ashamed of. As real estate entrepreneurs we are always looking for more education and more coaching and that is one of the characteristics that is common among successful entrepreneurs. But we have also seen enough and heard enough from the Gurus to know that there has to be some serious substance to make our hard earned money work for us.

In the last two years I have met some folks who should be gurus, but avoid the spotlight at all costs. First of all, you would never think of them as gurus because of the way they dress. Contrary to popular belief, you don't need a $1500 custom tailored Italian suit to know what you are talking about. In fact, as I write this, it just occurred to me that the people that I have been most impressed with are the ones that are wearing flip flops on a Tuesday afternoon whom I bump into at Starbucks.

You may know some of these people, but never considered that they are the ones you should be tapping for knowledge. They are ridiculously humble and avoid telling you with exact certainty how many properties they own. In fact, they would almost prefer if you just didn't delve to deeply into their portfolio. As you make the rounds in your networking groups, start to look for those folks who are quiet and patient and are NOT trying to make the big impression. These are the people who may be worth listening to.

There are some other things you should look for in your anti-guru. Look for specific kinds of answers to questions. I remember asking a young lady from Hampton Virginia once how many properties she had and her answer was one simple word: "enough." Enough indeed! What struck me was that at the time she was in her early 20's at a time when people were outright bragging about how many properties or transactions that they were a part of...here she was giving one word answers where most people would have taken that as an opportunity to get on a soap box. When she said that, I couldn't help but notice that she was wearing athletic pants to a presentation. It made a strong impression to say the least.

You can always tell when you are dealing with a true professional anti-guru as well when you ask them how much they have made in real estate. The guru will tell you they have made millions, while the anit-guru will give you an answer that is similar to, "I have been blessed, " or "We have done well," or even better, "We have been fortunate." These are humble answers and there is much more to be said for these answers than the typical answers that some gurus hide behind.

If I ask someone how they have done and they feel compelled to tell me how much they have made, then I am going to dig deeper and quantify the numbers...this is fun if you have never done it. For those folks that like to show off their net worth in a conversation, it is easy to find that many of them do not offer a true picture of their net worth...no kidding, right? Anyway, start asking questions that relate to their debt and just probe a little bit, it won't take long to sniff out the stink in their net worth. I guess my point is that they NEED you to believe that they are successful in order to keep being successful. That's how too many of them are successful. Don't get me wrong, we all have to make money, but let's just be clear about HOW we are making our money.

I have recently run across a website that really put this into perspective for me and I want to share it with you...the website is http://www.REMentor.com and on the front page it has a "Guru Test." This is the kind of confidence that I want from someone whose advice I am taking. The questions shed light on the nature of the guru and by the end of it, there is no escaping the light of truth! I love it and I love the approach of getting to the heart of the matter. Questions 4, 5 and 9 would be enough for me to know whether or not I would work with any guru. The website is worth going to and has some excellent advice.

With regards to the anti-guru, I find myself getting nuggets of gold by the finding those humble folks whom I meet up with on occasion every other month or so. The truth in what they have learned is so incredibly valuable. There is not a "high pressure" sale for them to believe what they are saying...they don't need you to believe them. Recognize the anit-guru when you meet them. They look different, they use very specific language and they are humble. Take them out and treat them to coffee or lunch...get to know them. Don't pry for information, get to know how they think and thank them for their time.

Most of these people love sharing information and truly enjoy your company. These are the gifts of life and the gifts of our industry. Recognize these folks as the angels that they are and treat them with respect and you will have an abundance of knowledge. Keep up your formal education, but learn how to distinguish a real guru before you spend a ton of your hard earned money.

Take care and happy investing

Robhttp://www.LocalRealEstateDeals.com

Survival of the Fittest!

If Darwin was alive today, he might use the real estate and mortgage industry to prove his theories on Survival of the Fittest. In the new millennium things happen so fast that we have seen companies come and go in the space of less than a decade. Timelines are moving at an ever-quickening pace and it has become easier to witness the growth and evolution of companies as well as industries.

 

It wasn’t all that long ago that we were able to witness the massive restructuring of the computer industry. The middle to late 90s proved to be a boom-time for almost anyone that knew anything about computers or the internet. If you have a phone book lying around from the late 90s, open it up and look up computers. There is no doubt that you will find a ton of computer companies no matter where you live. But try calling some of those phone numbers and find out how many of them are still in business.

 

You see, principles that apply to the natural world, commonly apply to the business world. In this case, the principle is survival of the fittest. Many of these companies didn’t have the discipline or business acumen to stay in business. This is not necessarily a bad thing…it is all part of a process, just like the process of decay. Economic growth, as well as, rapid economic growth has its place in business and nature and it would be wrong to label it in anyway, including “good” or “bad.” During rapid growth phases, there is typically a swarm of sub-growth or expansion as well. During the late 90s, the internet grew by leaps and bounds and companies as well as individuals figured out new and exciting ways to use it. Many of those “new ways” didn’t pan out. Many of those companies did not have a sustainable model and most of them disappeared over night.

 

The same thing has happened in the real estate industry. It was so incredibly prosperous that we leapt ahead in so many ways. A lot of the things that transpired in the last decade helped to push the limits of our imaginations and many of those things have ultimately failed. As a nation of investors, we know what works and we know of many things that don’t work. It is as natural as the seasons. Now, as you look around at the horizon, take stock of who is still standing and who isn’t. The weak are gone and the strong are still standing. There are some anomalies out there…there are a few weak companies that are still standing and a few good ones that went away, but by and large, nature has taken its typical, statistical toll on our business. Some things just take care of themselves.

 

As for the businesses, products and procedures that have failed, we need to collectively learn our lessons, as I believe most of us are. I think that we are going to see a ton of creativity in the next few years and hope that translates into highly qualified transactions. For the past decade we have been a high-volume business, but for the next 5 years at least, we need to become a high-quality business if we are all to survive.

 

To those of you still standing…Congratulations! You have survived! Now let’s thrive!

 

To your success!

 

Robert D. Cass

 

 

http://www.LocalRealEstateDeals.com

Lemonade for Sale!

 

We must be out of our minds! We started our real estate investor media group (Local Real Estate Deals) as the market was tumbling. The problem is that too many people quit before they begin. We conducted due diligence and the numbers looked reasonable, so we committed. That’s all there is to it. Ok, so the market tanked…you can’t go into your five year plan and quit after the first quarter because things aren’t going according to your plan. So, almost two years ago we started going down a path and have created www.LocalRealEstateDeals.com then we launched our Magazine, now we are launching our social media campaign, then our DotTV station…whooda thunk it?! We are still in the game and gaining ground…this is absolutely crazy! We may even be ahead of our 5 year plan at this point…I am too busy to check, but I will get back to you on that.

 

The market is doing some funky things so it is always interesting to hear the response from someone when I tell them that we are in real estate media…the responses are typically something along the lines of “wow, tough time to be in the real estate industry, bad timing huh?” to which I reply that there couldn’t be a better time to be in the real estate market! In fact we are doing the opposite of what the masses are doing. Rather than running from the industry, we are embracing it! I always worry about the collective wisdom of the masses. That’s why I observe it and run as fast I can in the other direction. We know where we are going and the path is clear, we are telling you where we are going so don’t be surprised when we get there…This is good stuff! The team, the product, the story…It doesn’t get any better than this! It is too easy to make money in a bull market, look for real innovators and leaders to be profitable during a bear market…keep an eye out for us, we are feeling a little bullish lately!

 

While some may see this as a down economy and down market, we are making lemonade, and you know what? It aint bad, you oughta try some!

 

 

Rob Cass,

Richmond RING (Leader)

 

I love my job! I get to meet the brightest and hardest working professionals in the real estate industry and I get paid to do it! How great is that? As it happens I get to meet more people than I ever imagined and you begin to see some trends in personalities and conversations, and there is one trend that I can’t pass up sharing with you.

 

You see, as a publisher of a media group, I get proposals and joint partnership offerings on a fairly regular basis. Most of the time it is easy to tell right off the bat that I am going to end up doing a whole lot of work for very little benefit. That does not fit the traditional win-win scenario that we have all been trained to work towards. Recently, I met up with Melody Scott who happens to be the President of the Richmond Ring www.RichmondRing.com while she was visiting her cross-town counterpart Richmond REIA. She struck me as the type of person who makes a difference. She is one of those rare people that adds value to a relationship without holding her hand out. In fact, if she says she is going to do something, you can take it to the bank! While most people are trying to figure out how you can help them, she has taken the approach of “How can I help you first?” Wow! Refreshing!

 

My goal in this blog, among other things, is to identify the people places and things that are working successfully in this real estate market and to let the world know about them. Even if you don’t live anywhere near Richmond, Virginia, it still makes sense to emulate the Richmond Ring. If the success of every organization rises and falls on leadership, then the Richmond Ring is going to be around for a while because they have people like Melody leading the way. It is my opinion that the way out of our current economic downturn is to buddy-up with local experts to improve the situation in our own backyard one deal at a time. What better way is there to do that than to sync up with the local experts at Richmond Ring or your own local Real Estate Investor Association?  The people that attend the monthly meetings are forward thinking, positive, creative people that are collectively looking for solutions to keep moving forward. You can always watch the news or talk to your brother in law about how bad things are, but those don’t make an impact, in fact, those conversations perpetuate the problems by giving them our attention. By attending a monthly meeting, you are re-directing your time and energy to be a part of the solution, not part of the problem.

 

Like I said, I love my job…I get to meet the brightest real estate professionals in the business at all levels, and I feel fortunate to have made the acquaintance of Melody Scott of Richmond Ring…check them out at www.RichmondRing.com and give them my regards!

 

Robert D. Cass

 

 

Bubbles

History repeats itself. We have heard it before and we are hearing it again. While there are many differences between the dot com bubble of a decade ago, there are as many similarities to the housing bubble that just burst.

Among other things, a good deal is a good deal in any market. What do I mean by that? Well, if you are using the right metrics and buying at the right price, then you are going to make money, whether you are buying stocks or buying real estate. In both of the bubble cases that we are talking about today, emotions not real value, is what drove the market to its inevitable collapse.

What bothers me most is that is just went through a ridiculous bubble 10 years ago...10 short years ago. Everyone was caught up in the frenzy of making millions or getting their share that not many people sat back and figured out that things were going awry. It takes self discipline and a deep sense of self. You have to know yourself. You have to be confident that you can take your profits and be happy with them. You have to be willing to leave some money on the table. You can't second guess yourself once you have made a deal. You can't have your head on a swivel looking for your next deal before the first one is complete. You have to have a plan...and you have to stick to the plan.

We can't afford to go through this again as a nation. We are killing ourselves, our credit, our credibility as a nation of borrowers. We have to be smarter next time...if we can all learn from our mistakes then this is real estate downturn could be one of the best things that ever happened to us. Sadly, many people won't learn from their mistakes and the same mistakes will be made again in another 10 years. But for those who have learned their lessons and keep growing as investors and real estate professionals, this is an incredible lesson that will help you amass a fortune. Just make sure you recognize the signs of a bubble. Maybe that is something that we will talk about in a later blog.

The last bit of advice is to do the opposite of what the masses are doing. Actually, RUN in the opposite direction that the masses are running.

Good Luck and Happy Investing!

Rob

Credit Crisis Indeed!

I don’t know how it escapes the masses that a part of our problem is the way that we evaluate individual credit scores in the first place. Here we are in the midst of the most profound and far reaching credit crisis that many of us will ever experience in multiple lifetimes, but nobody is talking about personal credit and the way that we “earn” our own personal credit scores.

 

First of all, let me just start by saying that the 3-Bureau System we have has served its purpose, and has done so fairly well in many ways. On the other hand, it is not only failing, but it is contributing to the downward spiral that we are in right now. I know enough people that have incredibly high credit scores (above 750 or above) to know that the credit system is not teaching anybody anything except how to keep good credit. In that way, the system is serving itself…the credit system, that is. Many people are so worried about their credit scores that they literally worry themselves sick about it. These same people work hard, have nice cars, have never been late on a mortgage payment, kids in college etc. They are afraid of the “bad things” that will happen if their credit score drops to a number. They don’t even know what number is bad or what is going to happen if they miss a payment here or there. While I am not advocating late payments in any way shape or form, I am suggesting that it is not worth getting sick over and losing sleep over.

 

The real problem is that many people have great credit scores but they don’t understand money and finances and that is the real problem. If you are focusing on your credit score, but don’t understand money, then you are missing the point completely. It’s kind of like the testing for students across the country. There are Standards of Learning or SOLs in many states and one of the criticisms is that we are teaching our children how to take the test versus getting an education. So what we find in some, not all, cases, is that we have students who know how to take an SOL test, but are not learning materials. Basically at that point we are teaching the wrong subject…or to put it another way, we are sending the wrong message to our students. Among other things, we need to teach children how to learn as well as what to learn…but let’s get back to credit. The problem is that we have many people who have great credit, but they have no idea why they have fought so hard to have great credit, nor do they know how to leverage it to help them gain financial advantages other than getting a great interest rate on their next automobile purchase or refinance.

 

Don’t get me wrong, those are great things, but if that is all you are fighting for, then you are missing the big picture. You see, we have been taught to fear the credit bureaus over the past 20 years in a way that is becoming dangerous to the system, because we fear the system without knowing why. More and more people tie their self-esteem to their credit score and it is a false sense of pride or guilt depending on where you fall and what your score is. The truth is that you shouldn’t tie your self esteem to your credit score one way or the other. Your credit score has nothing to do with the kind of person you are and does not reflect what is really going on in your life, or has happened in your life. Your credit score is a continuously moving snapshot of an ambiguous cross-section of financial data. Now, there are some things we know about credit scores, but it is meaningless if we are not financially educated.

 

Among other things, I am suggesting that part of our credit score should be based on a standardized test for financial literacy…and yes, I know I just dogged standardized tests a few paragraphs up…But it shouldn’t be the ONLY thing that we use to judge credit scores…it should only be a part of it. The way that the credit system is currently set up, the credit of more and more people will be going down the tubes with foreclosures and late mortgage payments becoming a growing daily occurrence. How is this helping our situation? It isn’t, so under the heading of “If you aren’t part of the solution, you are part of the problem” then our current credit system is definitely part of the problem.

 

As an entrepreneur I have experienced wild swings in my personal income that are to the extremes of both poles. It has gotten to the point that when someone tells me they are an entrepreneur I joke back and say, “Yeah, my credit sucks too!” More often than not, I am met with a hearty chuckle. If you have never started a business or pursued an entrepreneurial endeavor, you would be amazed at how ridiculous lending requirements are for small business owners. If all you did was watch the news, you might believe that money was falling like manna from heaven for business owners. The truth is not quite that pleasant.

 

It is true that there is money for many first time entrepreneurs who have great credit and a good DTI and collateral. Not a problem. The challenge is that most businesses fail in a relatively short time and all that the “system” did was create a person with horrible credit out of a person with stellar credit. If you knew nothing else, that would tell you that our system is not working well. But let’s keep the scenario going. Now we have a person who had great credit and strong entrepreneurial drive and if that person fails, then they carry a stigma with them for many, many years. You may say, “Ok, that is the risk that they took” and you may be right. But the point is that the system rigorously penalizes folks who strike out on their own in the name of capitalization. We are not very tolerant of those who fail, which is in opposition to the idea of capitalism in the first place. It appears that as a nation we embrace capitalism as long as it is successful but we toss aside those who don’t make it, like yesterdays news.

 

Back to credit…there are many cottage industries popping up to circumvent the problems concerning credit, like credit repair companies etc. Whether you believe in these companies or not, which is a whole other story, you have to admit, that they wouldn’t be here if the system was not in need of a total overhaul. Now, instead of people dealing with their financial ignorance, we are making the problem worse by encouraging them to work the system against itself. It is a logical step, but is indicative of our deep psychological need to have instant gratification with regards to credit. It is also indicative of our refusal to deal with the real issues at hand, instead of becoming financially literate; we displace blame and don’t take accountability for our actions. WONDERFUL! (Now, we are encouraging a lack of integrity to support our lack of financial knowledge…this can’t end well!)

                                                                                            

Kids and credit. This is a sore spot with me. To me credit is like tobacco in that it needs more than a gentle warning to those who are going to use it. It is a dangerous thing and needs to be used with great caution. We teach so many things in school, but we don’t do an adequate job, even at the collegiate-level educating and warning students about the hazards of credit. This needs to be addressed the same way that students are indoctrinated into college life. A short class or lecture on credit would be a great starting point, but is certainly not enough. Periodic and consistent messages should be programmed into students about credit…as I write, I can envision a program that parallels the “safe sex” public awareness campaigns around the country…THAT IS THE LEVEL OF AWARENESS that we need to employ! Anything less is a national crime against ourselves and our future!

 

 

If you don’t believe that the system is corrupt, just look at the amount of identity theft that has popped up in the past few years and also the products that protect credit and identity theft. This is crazy! Does anyone else see a direct correlation with the broken credit system and all of these problems??? Enough is enough! Let’s put our heads together and look for a better way to deal with credit. The system had the right concept in place, but it has gone unchecked for so long that it is out of control. We can’t expect things to get better by just sitting back and doing our best to keep our own credit scores as high as possible. It is a false sense of security. The real answer is personal knowledge of financial principles, not credit scores. If we encourage the education of personal finance and wealth building principles, then credit scores will increase. If we keep focusing on credit scores, the scores will most likely keep going down as will the knowledge that we need to bring the scores up in the first place.

 

If you are not a part of the solution, then you are part of the problem….Join me in becoming part of the solution.

 

            Respectfully,

 

 

 

            Robert D. Cass

 

V: 757.729.3124

E: rcass@LocalRealEstateDeals.com

 

Follow Local Real Estate Deals on Twitter

http://twitter.com/LocalREDeals

 

Financial and Self Literacy is the key to moving beyond this mess!

 

 

I am not sure if that is the right term or not, but I have been consumed with the idea that a nation of private real estate investors and the potential of their collective borrowing power. I think we rely too heavily on commercially available financing for the majority of our entrepreneurial needs. The system that is in place has worked for the first 200 years of our country, but I think that too much has changed to keep using outdated economic systems.

 

Before I go any further, I want to be clear that I don’t have the answer, but I do think that it is worth pondering. So much has changed since the 70s and the digital age in almost every aspect that it seems like we were doomed to collapse financially, whether it was real estate or some other industry imploding. Rather than look at real estate and mortgages as the cause of the collapse, look at it as the effect of another greater cause. Don’t be quick to jump to the usual assumptions about the market…that would be too easy. We have all read about the recent woes of many companies and processes that have broken down and have contributed to the fall of the industry…Let’s go up another 10,000 feet to see if we can see any other notable trends. It is a thought exercise and I am not going to entertain that thought here, but just consider where we have been in the last 200 years and where we are now. Much of what we do from a financial standpoint is still steadfast in old-world ways. I think that the whole system needs to be revamped from scratch, starting with the definition of capitalism.

 

This is going to take many great thinkers and modelers of economic paradigms, and would be excited to see what kind of results would be generated by this kind of a think tank, but for the moment it is not going to happen. I do think that one aspect of future lending and economic growth lies in Micro Lending…I don’t know enough about the banking system to tell you the pros and cons of how that might work, but I can tell you that there are individuals and companies large and small that are lending hard money to get deals done. In some cases, those are the only deals getting done. And that money is out there in spades if you know where to look.

 

I know that there are systems out there that are working, that could be employed or modified to encourage and support continued economic growth. On the other hand, we, as a nation, need to take a deep breath and re-evaluate our systems and recover from the mess that we are in right now. There are no quick fixes. I think that we need to have a very healthy debrief on what the hell just happened. I know there are many pundits out there who know exactly what happened and they have the fix for it all…I am not buying it, nor am I in any rush to make any determinations as to how we should get out of this flux. If mistakes precede progress, and it has proven that it does, then we are in for one hell of an upside when we learn our lessons and apply them intelligently.

 

By the way, I am not telling anyone that all of our systems are broke. I think that there is a lot of good and many good systems in place. I just think that we need to take a holistic approach and look at the problem as completely connected, versus, one or two key ingredients gone bad. I suspect that the problem has to do with our “thinking” and our “habits” as much as anything else. This presents its own set of problems because these are not easily undone, even if we understand at an academic level, what the problems are.

 

Many problems can be understood academically, but at the emotional level it is much harder to deal with and undo. Now consider that we have the emotions of a nation to deal with and you can begin to understand the scope of what really needs to be addressed. There is not a doubt in my mind that we can employ the brightest minds (and I hope we do) to create a new economic model, a newer, more updated version of capitalism that woks. However, until we are able to educate and excite a nation, then all is for naught.

 

And you know, education is really a big part of it. Not primary or secondary education, but the lack of financial literacy in general. One of the problems is that institutional learning is so far removed from the reality of daily living and real businesses, that it can’t provide an adequate education to entrepreneurs or business leaders. The mere attempt by a learning institution to create a financial literacy curriculum is an exercise in futility. The attempt is noble, but the exercise is futile.

 

This is going to have to come from the private sector and it will have to be simple…As I write this, I keep envisioning a financial Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights. Something so new and profound that has been designed from the ground up that sets the new standards for financial literacy…That is the scope and scale that I have envisioned. So much is broken that it might make more sense to start from scratch. The problem with that is it creates a new model…new models create fear…fear creates uncertainty and the masses are not comfortable with uncertainty…INDEED!

 

In my humble opinion there is another problem that is going to be incredible hard to address. We are not only financially ignorant, we are also “self ignorant.” It takes too much time and energy for us to admit that we are a part of the problem, but make no mistake about it…we are. We have forgotten that the greatest subject we can study is ourselves…Know thyself has become a phrase rarely uttered and even less heeded to. We have to know ourselves or at least make an attempt to understand our psyche because it plays into our understanding of money. We are emotional creatures and the majority of our decisions are emotionally based decisions. We can’t expect to understand our actions if we don’t make time to study ourselves. The problem is that the gratification is delayed in studying ourselves. It is not an easy subject and is often fraught with deep psychological scars that we would prefer not to deal with if we even acknowledge them in the first place.

 

The trend in almost every aspect of our lives is pointing to quicker and quicker gratification so this is going to be a hard trend to reverse. It can be done, but it isn’t going to happen overnight.

 

These are my thoughts and this is the process that I am going through to understand this turmoil and trying to come to terms with how it has affected my life.

http://www.LocalRealEstateDeals.com

Social Media Real Estate Marketing

I love marketing...I love it because it is ever changing and now more than ever the face of marketing is in tremendous flux right now. For the moment, I just want to discuss social marketing. This relatively new aspect of marketing is fascinating and it puts many smaller organizations and individuals on an even playing field with even the biggest players.

As real estate professionals, one of the hardest things to do is to be "found." I don't have official research in front of me at the moment, but I know a lot of folks these days turn to the internet to find a home. This is a great advantage in a social networking environment, because these social networks exist on the internet.

Let's be clear about a couple of things. First of all, you are not going to get rich quick on the internet, I don't care what anyone says...it isn't going to happen, so get the idea out of your head. Social marketing takes time, energy, consistency and a plan. If you aren't willing to invest in all of those basic elements, don't waste your time.

The amount of each of the critical elements is totally up to you as well. You don't have to do it every day, you can do it at just about any pace, but make sure you do pace yourself. If your frequency is once a week, then make it a habit. One of the neat things about social marketing is that the credentials you are building by being on line and networking within your industry or specialty is that the conversations and threads lead to the most amazing places and introductions.

I will also tell you this from experience...If your only goal is to get people to do business with you and all you are doing is advertising...go away, please go away. If you don't have some useful advice or something that helps people other than yourself, don't waste your time. Remind yourself why the internet is so popular and prosperous...Information at your fingertips. I am pretty sure that nobody is going to wake up in the morning and say to themselves, "Hey! I need to google Susie Real Estate Investor and see if she can help me out." More than likely someone will wake up and say "Hey, I really need to find a good deal on a lease option because my credit is toast!" That person will probably look for articles or posts about lease options or alternative home buying solutions. When they see your name attached to a HELPFUL article or conversation...you have branding!

The more you post, the more that threads get out there. It doesn't hurt to promote yourself a little, but keep it to a minimum, we all get it, you are an expert and you would like to earn as much business as possible. We make that assumption because you are networking in the first place.

Next, pick a few social media sites after reviewing them for a couple of weeks and monitoring them. Don't just pick one, and don't pick all of them. Like I said, this is a commitment and nothing will happen if you don't nurture your accounts. Local Real Estate Deals makes use of 6 particular sites.

Blogspot... www.LocalRealEstateDeals.Blogspot.com
www.YouTube.com/LocalRealEstateDeals
www.Twitter.com/LocalREDeals
www.facebook.com/localrealestatedeals#/home.php
http://localrealestatedeals.myplaxo.com/
Linked In

Once you find the ones that are the most applicable, get involved...it doesn't do any good to sit on the sideline and not communicate...this is netwworking after all...Join discussions, ask questions, give answers, join groups, form groups...get the most out of it and make connections. Do it to enhance your knowledge and to be helpful...if you are just looking to sell, sell, sell, you are going to find yourself quite alone.

Social marketing is not the end-all, be-all marketing tool. It is an arrow in your quiver and you still need to have a good product and people skills to make it work. It also needs to be implemented just like any other marketing plan. It should be a part of your business plan, whether you have one or not and should be done methodically. You should also have a way to justify the expense (of your time and energy) to keep it going. If you are not getting results, then why would you keep doing it, right? The key is to engage fully for no less than six months to determine if it is worth moving forward. This goes for any marketing for that matter. Most people fail to give their marketing plan enough time to get off the ground. If you are not going to stay with it for six months, then save yourself the hassle and don't get started in the first place.

That's just a birdseye view of my thought process for the moment. Books could be (and probably are being) written about the subject so I am sure I will have more on this later, so check back every so often for updates. Until then, you are more than welcome to follow us on twitter at www.twitter.com/LocalREDeals

Good Luck and God Bless!

Rob

Financial Literacy

It has become clear over the past 18 months, if not over the past 30 years that we are becoming less financially literate as time goes on. I say this not to provoke anyone, it is a fact...a sad fact. The truth is that many people believe they are fully financially literate and there in lies the problem.

There are so many aspects of wealth and financial literacy, it is tough to be competent in all areas, but that shouldn't stop us from pushing ahead and learning more. There are many places that we can get an education with regards to financial literacy, that it is almost overwhelming just trying to find the right place.

We can always go to a broker or a licensed agent, but then we might be wondering what the motivation is to give us information. It is always curious that in most cases the advice that we receive leads us right into a product line that suits our "needs." Don't get me wrong, I know we are all trying to make a living out there, but when the only advice we receive, leads us into a product line of the person delivering the pitch, you have to feel compelled to at least get a second opinion.

Then there are the industries that don't even require the marketers, or sales reps to have any sort of licensing requirements. In this case, I am speaking of loan officers. There are many loan officers that are experts out there...you know who you are. But for every expert, there are a dozen or more that don't truly understand how money works and furthermore, how to build wealth. Part of the problem is that good loan officers know how to get a loan through and that is what people come to them for. The mistake most people make is to start asking for financial advice from someone who knows how to get a loan processed. This is not a good approach.

The psychology behind it is certainly solid. Consider that an individual has to go to a loan officer to get a loan and they end up telling their entire financial story as well as many personal details of their life to the loan officer. These become psychological tethering lines to the relationship. Why wouldn't the person ask for financial advice after building a relationship like that? Also, who wants to give all those details again to someone else who would either charge for the advice or try to sell a different financial product?

When you look at the mortgage industry from that perspective, it is easy to see how some people go down the path of bad advice. To be fair, I don't think any loan officers wake up in the morning and say to themselves "I am going to give some bad financial advice today," unfortunately, that is exactly what ends up happening. The path to hell is paved with good intentions, as they say.

But the problem is much bigger than that. There are many people who never even get to the point of home ownership and never learn or even understand what it means to build equity. This is also one of those sad facts. It is sad for many reasons, but the biggest reason in my mind is that this ignorance is handed down from generation to generation. The mindset of these people is supported, encouraged and imprinted into their psyche until the thought of building wealth is never even considered.

Most people have more insurance on their vehicle than they have on their lives. Let's face it, protection is as much a part of building wealth as making money. If I had to guess, I would have to generalize and say that many people consider insurance an unnecessary expense. On the other hand, the wealthy consider it part of their estate and wealth plan.

All I am saying is that there are principles like protection, taxes, assets and liabilities to name a few that many people, too many people, know little to nothing about. I still have a lifetime of learning and I learn something new everyday and I am in this industry. If we commit to making our financial education a lifelong endeavor it doesn't seem so overwhelming. Find an area that you can use some more information on and begin your education. Don't trust one source either, get your information from different sources and don't be afraid to ask clarifying questions. The right adviser will be patient and understanding. Impatience is a sign of ignorance and you should be wary of anyone who handles your questions with impatience.

In all that you do as a real estate professional or investor, encourage and support financial literacy at every opportunity; it's good for everyone.

Thanks and have a great day

Robert D. Cass

1000% ROI Guarantee? You betcha!

You know, I have never been one to accept the status-quo. In fact, it is in my blood to buck the system, not for the sake of it, but rather to see if we can do things better, faster, stronger...kind of like the 6 Million Dollar Man...I digress.

It has occurred to me, as many things do, that the advertising industry doesn't play by the same rules the rest of the world plays by. We have been conditioned to believe that the number of eyeballs is the most important number when it comes to advertising, but I couldn't disagree more...the most important number is the return I get on my advertising investment because it relates to my bottom line. Why advertisers don't get that is a mystery to me.

I know that when I am prepared to spend money on an advertising campaign it is with the goal of making money, specifically, PROFIT! My metric is, and always has been, a 1000% return on my investment or else I don't advertise with that company again. What that means is that for every dollar I spend, I want to see $10 come back to me. There are those that believe there is no such thing as a 1000% return on their investment and that is fine with me...we have a tendency to create our own reality and if you don't believe it is possible, then it probably isn't.

It has been done on a regular basis for decades for those who understand marketing. I read a book a few years ago by Mark Stevens titled, Your Marketing Sucks. The main thing that I got out of that book is that if you can't track your revenues back to marketing or vice versa, then your marketing sucks.

I have embraced that concept and have challenged advertisers and advertising companies for years with that one simple concept and I am appalled at the apparent lack of concern for my bottom line. It is as if it is their right to take our hard earned money and spend it in a way that is completely unaccountable! It is insanity!

So, here I am in the position of having a media suite of real estate investor products called Local Real Estate Deals. I can take the stance of my predecessors and competitors and put the burden on my advertisers, OR I can work with them as an extension of their Marketing and P.R. departments to increase their bottom line. It isn't as profitable in the beginning, but it just seems like the right thing to do.

We have decided to take a very proactive stance on advertising in our media group and offer a 1000% Return on your Advertising Dollar! How's that for confidence in our own product? We will keep your advertisements "live" until we can quantify a 1000% guarantee...PERIOD! In order to do that, we need to understand your business in a way that most advertising sales reps never will. We need to understand the metrics of your business in a way that will allow us to create a trackable system and measure your ROI. It's amazing sometimes to learn that as we go through this with our clients, they are amazed at how much money they have wasted by NOT tracking their advertising options. In this way, we feel like consultants, and technically we are. But going through this exercise puts everybody on the same page. It's what I have done ever since I started buying advertising and now that I have created an advertising product suite, it is time for me to show our advertisers how to quantify their advertising so that their marketing doesn't suck.

So there it is...The first official 1000% ROI Guarantee! I know we won't be making friends with our competitors, but that isn't my goal...Maybe you should ask them if they will guarantee a 1000% ROI...the answers will be interesting.

Give us a call to see how we can work together

Robert D. Cass

Publisher, Local Real Estate Deals Media Group
757-729-3124