“Buy low, sell high” is quite possibly the oldest of axioms in investing in the stock market. While on the surface it seems like a simple rule, the fact still is that some people make money on the stock market and others don’t. The issue is that there are certain intricacies in these four words that some people don’t understand. And so, the rich remain rich, and the poor remain poor.

What’s really going on?

Imagine this situation. Some problem happens which causes a particular commodity to drop in price per share. Think of the S&L crisis from a few years back. Because of the subprime loans, real estate prices inflated because the market got saturated with bidders. When inflation goes on for too long, the bubble is bound to burst. When it all came down, every news medium had horror stories of people losing their homes-people you would never expect. The prices in real estate plunged, everyone became afraid of banks and their stocks fell. There’s a saying that if Bill Gates catches a cold, the shares of Microsoft will fall. In other words, if a problem happens with a commodity, the prices of related commodities will drop.

Certain people, uneducated in the school of investing can only see the problems of the commodity and miss out entirely on the fact that its prices are at a low point. They miss the opportunity to “buy low, sell high” because the fear over the problems clouds their judgment. They can only see the problem and not the opportunity.

Other people know the game. When stock prices on a commodity are low, they buy, regardless of problems with the commodity. They may not even pay attention to whatever scandal led to the price drop. These opportunistic types are the ones that make money off the market.

Naturally, once the problem with the commodity goes away, the prices will rise again; maybe even shoot through the roof. Guess who’s at the advantage in this case? That’s right, the savvy investor who bought low now gets to sell high.

The other group reads in the newspaper about a certain commodity (real estate, stocks, gold, whatever you can think of) is on the rise. They probably also see in these headlines that people are getting rich beyond their wildest beliefs by “selling the farm” and buying everything they can get their hands on.

This is how it plays out.

When the prices are high, the less affluent players buy from the wealthier share holders. Eventually, the inflated bubble bursts, and the prices drop. The inexperienced buyers panic and sell-right back to the wealthy players, who will buy it just because the prices are low. They really don’t care to have the commodity; they just hold on to it until the less savvy come along when the esteem (and prices) rise again. And so, the dance goes on.

Raymond Aaron, New York Times Top Ten Bestselling Author, “Double Your Income Doing What You Love” Claim your http://www.GIFTfromRAYMOND.com to double your income. It’s free. Join Raymond Aaron on Twitter @RaymondAaron. Join “Raymond Aaron Double Your Income” Facebook Fan Page at http://www.FacebookRaymond.com.

Oh NO!  The Seller Accepted My Offer!

By Lester Watts

Oh NO!  The seller accepted my offer!  Well, wait a minute…isn’t that a good thing!?  Of course it is, but many new investors are finding that once they have an offer accepted, then what? Now it is real!  Time to get busy.  In this month’s article we are going to address just that.  What do you do AFTER the offer has been accepted?

If you read last month’s article you will know we talked about how making more offers is one of the basics to success in real estate.  You have to make offers in order to make deals.  Inevitably, you make enough offers; you are going to have some accepted.  Once that happens, take pause and pat yourself on the back! Congratulations!  You are one step closer to becoming a successful real estate investor!

Ok, now take a deep breath and let’s get started.  I am going to keep it simple here even though some of our readers are experienced investors.  This series is going to be about the basics and even those of you who are experienced can forget some of the basics.  So, the next thing we want to do is check and double check the Offer to Purchase that was just accepted.  Normally the seller is going to give you the conditions under which they have accepted your offer.  Be careful here.  More than once I have had an offer accepted and blindly assumed that they didn’t change anything.  WRONG!  Never assume anything.  Thoroughly read through the documents the seller sends you.  It can be as simple as you put in your offer with a 15 day inspection period.  They say they accepted but when you go to read the contract they send you (or one of the addendums many banks are using) they may have changed the inspection period to 5 days or maybe 10 days.  It is possible of course that nothing was changed but what I want you to be aware of is that it does happen.  If ever in doubt then simply take all your related documents to your attorney and have them reviewed.  That way you can sign in confidence that the deal you think you are getting is indeed that!

If you have read the manual in Larry’s Ultimate Buying and Selling Machine, you are familiar with the three contingencies that we ALWAYS put in our offers and in the Contracts.  Recently I have reviewed several deals submitted by students where the contingencies where in the Offer to Purchase, however, the final addendums negated those contingencies and in effect, made them useless.

Although it may seem like a “no-brainer”, reviewing your documents and making sure everything is in order is an often over-looked basic step when you get a deal accepted.  The excitement of making money on a deal can sometimes override our thought process and end up costing us money if we are not careful.

Next month we will look at the basics of finding a contractor and what we need the contractor to do for us.  That is the next step in the process.

Until next time, to your success!

Lester Watts

What does it take to be a successful real estate investor?

By Larry Goins

I am often asked what does it take for one to become a successful real estate investor.  After years of investing personally and training students, I have a pretty good idea in my head what one needs to bring to the table to be successful.  More than what a potential investor brings to the table, is what they are willing to do once they get to the table that contributes to their success.

A solid real estate investor is not a gambler.  You have to be a wise long term investor, not a short term speculator.  When you invest in a property you need to be investing in properties that make financial sense when you buy them not sometime in the future if the stars line up correctly.

A successful real estate investor is willing to become educated in real estate.  If you aren’t learning, you are speculating.  To be successful you must work with successful coaches and mentors who are doing what they teach.  If they are telling you to buy one sort of property then they should be buying it as well.  When you enroll in someone’s coaching or mentoring program, such as my Inner Circle, you should be paying for results oriented training, not just advice.

A long term successful investor is investing in relation to their financial goals.  Whether you want financial freedom, retirement, or out of the rat race – you need to buy and sell real estate in a manner that is true to your goal.  Don’t amass countless rental properties if you aren’t inclined to manage properties and tenants.  Don’t by properties requiring rehab work if you aren’t planning to rehab or resell to investors.  Buy properties that are in line with your investing goals.

A prudent real estate investor understands that anyone who is selling anything needs to be working in a marketplace where there is demand.  Real estate investors are successful because they are willing to provide a universal need – housing – rather than marketing ice to Eskimos or cars to the Amish.  Populations are growing.  Housing will always be in demand.

A wise real estate investor doesn’t hand over control of their finances or their properties.  If you work with a property manager or a broker or a partner you must know who you are doing business with and only do business with people you can trust.  Greed, poor ethics, and lack of knowledge will drive you out of business in a heartbeat.  Eliminating layers of management between you and your investment protects your money.

A conscientious real estate investor never borrows money that can’t be paid back by tenants.  In other words, whether you are borrowing to flip, to rehab, or to rent you don’t want to get in over your head with loan repayments.  If you can offset $2500 per month in loan repayments with $2500 per month in rental income, then do not borrow more than can be paid back comfortably within that window.  It is perfectly acceptable to borrow money.  You know I am all about buying and selling even with no cash, credit, or experience.  But I don’t advocate getting in over your head.  Remember, you can always sell the note on a rental or lease-to-own property and get your cash out to pay off your loans.

A sensible real estate investor stays diversified.  Don’t purchase all your properties on the same street, in the same neighborhood, or even in the same city.  Be prepared for market variations, natural disasters, plant closings, etc.  Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

A successful investor focuses on tax break assets.  Write-offs and deductions are as good as money in your pocket.  Rental and income properties are one of the most tax protected assets you can own.  And they offer a great write off and deduction for the wise investor.  My new course, Stimulus Opportunity Secrets will help you find all the hidden money and government funding available to real estate investors.  Check it out at http://www.StimulusOpportunitySecrets.com.

See my other articles for great insight into what makes a successful investor.  Hopefully this piece will guide you in your real estate investing and training.

Larry Goins

Larry H. Goins is not only licensed as a mortgage lender and mortgage broker in North Carolina and South Carolina, he is also licensed in both North Carolina and South Carolina as a Real Estate Broker and General Contractor. He is a member of the North Carolina Association of Mortgage Professionals and a member of the National Association of Mortgage Professionals. Larry has been investing in Real Estate for over 20 years.

In the past, Larry has served as President (2003 & 2004) of the Metrolina Real Estate Investors Association in Charlotte NC, a not-for-profit organization that has over 350 members and is the local chapter of the National Real Estate Investors Association.

Larry is an active real estate investor and travels the US speaking and training audiences at conventions, expos and Real Estate Investment Associations on his strategies for buying 10-15 properties per month without ever leaving his office. His new home study course, The Ultimate Buying & Selling Machine! has been a HUGE SUCCESS and the testimonials keep rolling in!!

Between speaking engagements and mentoring other Investors, he oversees the daily operations of Investors Rehab, Inc., of which he is a co-founder and officer. Investors Rehab, Inc. is a real estate investment company that buys and wholesales 10-15 properties per month to other investors at 70% of ARV.

How to Convert a Homeowner into a Real Estate Investor

If you’re a real estate agent with a phone and good real
estate investment software then you already have enough
tools to convert a property owner into a rental property
owner. It requires an amount of determination and true
grit, naturally, but it is possible. You can glean real
estate investors from any list of homeowners at your
disposal if you want to bad enough.

Here’s how you do it.

1. Research the money market – Call several lenders or
mortgage brokers in your area and ask them what rates
they’re offering to refinance a home along with rates to
purchase income property. You will probably discover that
rates are extremely favorable. Be sure you ask about the
lender’s terms such as required down payment and loan
points.

2. Research the income property market – Make note of all
the rental properties currently for sale. With your real
estate investment software, prepare cash flow analysis
presentations on each property using the mortgage rates and
terms you discovered. Highlight those properties of
particular interest.

3. Call your homeowner customers one-by-one – Let them know
what you’ve uncovered and suggest that they consider
pulling some money out of their home to make an investment
in rental income property. Back off if the customer is not
interested, but at the same time be prepared to seize the
opportunity to make your presentation when the customer is
interested. Offer to send them an APOD and Proforma you
created on the income properties currently for sale.

Sound overly simplistic, well, it shouldn’t. Remember what
your broker taught you about cold calling—that it
normally requires you to make multiple calls in order to
close one transaction. Well, in this case, being able to
close that one income property transaction can result in a
hefty commission, so don’t get discouraged and keep your
eye on the prize. At the end of the day you’ll be glad you
did.

Who knows, you might even be surprised to receive a great
opportunity as the result of making a simple phone call.

A colleague of mine, for example, ended up listing several
apartment complexes as the result of a cold call to a FSBO
concerning a small plot of vacant land. What she hoped for
was a $50,000 listing; what she achieved was about three
million dollars in listings. I have had similar
experiences. You never know what the needs of a person are,
or how rich the opportunity, until you open up a
discussion. Bear in mind, real estate is called a contact
sport for good reason.

4. Follow up – be sure not to drop the ball; whether by
phone or email, unless you were given an adamant no
response, always follow up your previous discussion. Each
time that you subsequently follow-up with the contact you
narrow the playing field and dramatically increase your
chances to create a rental property transaction.

Okay, here’s one final, important point.

Of course, your success depends on timing, your individual
people skills, and determination. But I would be remiss to
gloss over the importance of presenting clear and concise
income property data to those you contact. Bear in mind
that customers are more likely to respond favorably to
knowledgeable information, than not.

It may sound like a shameless plug for my real estate
investment software, but if you currently don’t own real
estate analysis software, or otherwise have the means to
create cash flow and rates of return presentations, think
seriously about making the investment. It is the surest way
to grab and retain an interested customer’s attention, and
by far, the most beneficial way for you to gain
investor-customers and as a result create the rental
property transactions you desire. I attest to it.

Here’s to your success.

About the Author:

James Kobzeff is the developer of the ProAPOD Real Estate
Investment Software. Create cash flow, rates of return, and
other real estate investing analysis and marketing
presentations in minutes! Learn more at =>
http://www.proapod.com

The Most Important Due Diligence Area:

Five Steps to Success in Whatever You Want From Life!

By: Darius M. Barazandeh, Attorney at Law / M.B.A.

Did you know that virtually everything in your physical world started in your internal world?  The car you drive, the house you live in, the job you have, and the people you love all began as ideas, thoughts, or emotions.  All of us are the end result of our thoughts put into action.  The reason I believe this area to be the ‘most important’ is because your success or failure will depend almost entirely on your mental attitude.  There will be defeats, challenges, and failures, but your mindset will take you from failure to success in an instant. Most of us have heard of these concepts before but we may not be sure how to apply them in real life.  Let me share with you my five step plan for success in any area of life:

                   I.      Step 1 – Define what you want with absolute clarity – You must know what you want before you can go after it.  More than just wanting a goal or ideal you must want and accept the feelings, emotions, thoughts, freedom and/or obligations that will certainly accompany your goals.  Begin to think about why you want this thing, what it will mean to you and your loved ones.  

1)       What will meeting this goal look like, feel like, and how will it change your life?   

2)       Do you know what it will take to meet this objective? 

3)       What are the costs?   Many times people want something but only think about the good things that will come from its attainment.  You must be very honest about the sacrifice and hard work that will be required to attain this goal. Without question everything worthwhile will require sacrifice.

                II.      Step 2 – Commit to it with a ‘burning desire’ – Once you decide what you want you must absolutely commit to it with intense passion. You cannot just wish or merely hope for success.  There are people everywhere that have hopes, idle curiosity, or wishes.  You will never be able to make it through the difficult times of doubt, frustration, and failure if you are fueled only with hopes or wishes.  You must want the attainment of your objective with a very strong desire and be unstoppable in your pursuit.

What is a burning desire? A burning desire is one that keeps you up at night and its thoughts will make you jump out of bed in the morning.  It is a desire that drives the majority of your conscious thoughts and actions during the day. That is ‘burning desire’.  If you want to strengthen your desire and the likelihood of your success then write your goal down and speak it to yourself aloud at night before you retire and in the morning upon awakening.  When you speak of your goal you should speak as though it has already occurred.  Your mind does not know the difference between what you think and reality.  Soon your mind will find new and creative ways to make your external world align with your internal world. When you reach this point success is very near.

             III.      Step 3 – Always put action behind your desires – You must always be thinking of one thing: ACTION, ACTION, ACTION!  Napoleon Hill once said that, “Faith without deeds is dead”.  You must act because only action will take the desire from your mind and transform it into reality.  Think of all the things you must do to attain your goal and start doing them.  Do not worry if they are small things or large things just start doing something right now!

1)       Shouldn’t I call ABC title company to get more information?

2)       Do you have to re-read that section of that course collecting dust on your bookshelf? 

3)       Shouldn’t you email the author of that product you purchased to resolve your questions?

If you can get in the habit of doing five action items a day which relate to your goal you will be on your way.  Your commitment to these items must be rock solid. The momentum of performing small tasks and continually accomplishing them will build your confidence and your certainty of success.

              IV.      Step 4 –  Measure the results of your actions – We have all heard of people with a lot motivation, desire, and action but strangely they never seem to get beyond their current position in life.  The reason is that they are not reading the ‘writing on the wall.’ You must be able to step back from your actions and view the results with an unbiased eye.  You must be honest and critical in order to determine if your actions are producing the desired result.  Many times people become so focused on actions that they forget that it is not the act of doing something that is the prize, rather the result of the action is important.  Use this checklist if you have been struggling with a problem or issue and no resolution seems likely:

1)      Am I acting as effectively as I possibly can? – Ask yourself these questions: Are there other ways to accomplish what you want?   Have I tried these other ways?   What could I change about my approach to this issue?   What is the weakest link my plan or methodology?  What is really holding me back?  When you find the true barrier to your success then simply brainstorm in your mind or the mind of others to search for an additional method to reach your objective.  This method may seem very simplistic but don’t dismiss it. Remember that once we rid ourselves of the pain and worry of failure the path our goals becomes a very precise methodology. This success methodology has been proven to work throughout time.

2)      Have I tried to help others resolve their problems? – This may seem like the last thing in the world to some people especially when they are just trying to handle a complex, energy draining problem of their own.  Regardless of what you may think it has been proven to me that helping others with their challenges has led me to my own answers.  The reason, I believe is that most of the time we have the answers in our subconscious mind.  When you take the time to help others you remove yourself (hopefully) from the clatter of your own mind.  That ‘clatter’ is what keeps you from hearing the answer.  Have you ever gone to bed with a question or problem in your mind and then awoke the next morning to find the answer awaits you?  This is another example of your subconscious mind having or formulating the answer when your conscious mind stepped out of the way.

3)      Have you spoken with people who have done what you are trying to do?   Have you sought counsel from others who have been successful in this area?   Many people forget that knowledge is perhaps the most available commodity in the world today.  If we all live in the Information Age then why is it that we don’t take advantage of the great volumes of information and the tremendous minds of the successful businesspeople, coaches, investors, financial analysts, lawyers, and others?  I believe that information is not the hardest part of the equation to success.  The hardest part is consistently applying this five step process and perhaps Step 5 (detailed below).

4)      Do you honestly believe you can attain your goals? – You must believe that you can attain your desires and goals.  Are you doubtful of your ability to succeed?  What do you say to yourself about your desires?  Do you speak positive messages of success to yourself or do you engage in negative self talk? Remember your mind will not know the difference between your internal and external realities.  If you create the internal reality you desire then your external reality will change.  You must learn to speak what you want to create everyday without fail. If you follow this step soon your imaginary world will become your reality.

V.  Step 5 – Never Give Up on Your Goals No Matter the Obstacles – This is without a doubt the most important aspect of this list.  If you know your objective is right for you and you believe in it then don’t ever give up trying.  They are very few people who have risen to the dizzying heights of success without constant persistence in the face of adversity and failure.  The most interesting thing about this last step is that sometimes your persistence will lead to another goal and perhaps the real purpose for your life or the real desire in your heart.   When you stay committed to a goal you will develop personal strength. Soon that strength will begin to show in how you conduct yourself: the certainty with which you speak, the quickness of your step, and the confidence in your decisions.  As other people recognize these traits you will find even greater successes and opportunities as you go through life

Sadly, many people don’t think about continued persistence in the face of failure or adversity.  Quitting early becomes a habit and part of our comfort zone. Even worse is that sometimes we fail to realize that the greatest lesson come from each failure that we undergo.  Likewise the greatest exercise of our determination will come when we continue to persevere in our goals after failure has occurred.  This is where successful people and unsuccessful people usually differ the most: Successful people will still fail as much or more than anyone else but they have learned to transform their failures into triumphs, learn from defeat and try again.

What will you do with this information?  Will you apply it in your life and reap the rewards? I sincerely hope that you do.  Although I stated earlier that this is my formula for success it has been adapted from universal laws of achievement.  In some form or another this process has been used by every successful person in every endeavor or pursuit imaginable. It does not matter if they realized it or not the actions which brought them lifelong sustained success followed this outline to some degree.

Remember that continued persistence in the face of failure is the most important lesson from this article. To illustrate the importance of persistence consider that Thomas Edison, the inventor of the incandescent light bulb failed more than 10,000 times in his attempt to create the what would become the modern day light bulb.  When speaking of his numerous failed attempts he said, “I had to succeed because I ran out of things that did not work.” It sounds simple doesn’t it? Edison had the formula and he applied it for the benefit of billions of people:  Know what you want, want it with all the desire you can muster, measure your actions, and keep on trying until success finds you. 

I want to wish you the best of luck in your endeavors and email me if you ever need help!

You can also email me if you have any questions: taxenterprises@yahoo.com

3 Secrets for a More Positive Mind

Remember Stuart Smalley from Saturday Night Live?  If he
said something negative about his life, he’d stop himself
and say, “No, that’s just stinkin’ thinkin’! I’m good
enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!”
This was Stuart’s way of shifting his thoughts of low self
esteem and personal defeat into feeling okay and even
loved. If you ever tend to look at all the possible ways
you or your life are no good, you can shift your thoughts
into higher levels.

Thought Shifting

So if like Stuart you do a litany of stinkin’ thinkin’, you
can shift your thinking upwards. First you take note of
what you’re doing. Here’s what Stuart once said to himself:
 ”I said something I shouldn’t have said.”. I’m going to
die homeless and penniless, I’m twenty pounds overweight,
and no one will ever level me.” That’s Stuart’s negative
spin and is not quite the truth. Choose your own negative
spin if you have one. You first pay attention to it and
look at it from a distance. Move back and see this from a
larger perspective, just the way you’d stand back to see
how you’re hanging a picture on the wall. No judgment, just
observation.  “What am I attempting to say here?” you might
ask yourself. You may be doing something that’s
self-defeating. (You can blame it on the devil or the
negative thought forces of the world.) “No that’s just
stinkin’ thinkin’ – or something like this to yourself.” “I
don’t need to do this anymore. I’m a being of the
universe.” Or “I’m fine just the way I am.” Or “Maybe I
didn’t do so well that last time, but I can transform this,
and I will.”  And you can always remember this: “It is what
it is!”

Seeing the Advantage of Everything

If you lose something or regret something else, you can
look for the advantage, the other side to all things.
Perhaps your arm was hurt, and you found that you didn’t
have to life some things you didn’t really want to lift.
Maybe you lost something, but you’re learning to be
non-attached. Or maybe you’re being opened up to a new
life. Perhaps you’re being prepared for something higher or
more expansive. Maybe you’re learning the importance of
spiritual values. Maybe you’re ready to move on from
something in your life and this is a perfect opportunity.
Learning to see the advantage of everything is a major life
transforming habit of mind.

Connecting with Your Wisdom

Your Wise Mind has a fresh perspective on life. When you
ask it what it would like to tell you about something, it
will tell you the truth. A young eleven year old girl was
afraid to go to sleep because she could only think of bad
people who might try to harm her. She allowed herself to
feel her fear, and then she asked her Wise Mind to tell her
more:” It’s okay. When you were younger you thought this
way, but you’re bigger now, and you can think safe
thoughts.” Anyone can do this, young and old – connect with
the Wise Mind, for fresh perspective and for truth.

About the Author:

If you’d like to learn more about life transformation,
spiritual growth, and healing, you can get our 100 page
free ebook, Extraordinary Healing, at
http://www.thewisemind.com . You can also subscribe to our
wonderful free monthly newsletter, “The Transformation
News.” Marilyn Gordon is a board certified hypnotherapist,
teacher, healer, and author.

Seven Traits of Successful Real Estate Investors

By Larry Goins

Who doesn’t want to make more money?  With the exception of a few bank CEOs, not anyone, right?  In working with real estate investors for several years as a mentor and trainer, I’ve discovered seven traits that successful investors possess.  Don’t panic!  You don’t have to be born with these traits to be successful.  You do, however, have to be willing to develop them in yourself.  To make more money, you have to be successful, right?  To be successful, you have to be willing to do what successful people do and work like successful people work.

Without further ramblings, let’s look at the seven traits I’ve identified which successful real estate investors need to acquire and refine to take their real estate investing to the highest level.

1.  A “Get ‘R Done” Attitude

Buying a real estate investing course or attending a training seminar is easy.  Taking the education out to the streets and doing the deals requires motivation and discipline.  As a society, we are programmed to over-analyze, over-complicate, and under-action things.  Never does this predicament hold truer than with something that is new to us.  A lot of folks call this “paralysis of analysis”.  They don’t take into account that fear of failure is sometimes at work here as well.

When you get ready to pick up the phone for the first time and make an offer on a property, don’t focus on everything that could go wrong.  Put your mental energy into doing the deal and focus on everything that should go right.  You can’t remain inert out of fear of making a mistake.  Remember, the worst thing that can happen is that the owner says no to your offer.  That’s not the end of the world.  You just pick up the phone and make another offer.

But don’t forget to ask the owner or realtor if they have anything else that might be on the market to which they would be receptive to a cash offer today!

If you sit in front of your phone and do nothing, nothing is all that gets done.  When you jump outside your comfort zone and start dialing about some properties, deals get done.  I totally value investing in your real estate education.  I, also, value and appreciate students who get out there and work with what they’ve learned.  I know you won’t do everything perfectly when you are just starting out.  You are still very much in your learning process.  But doing is a big part of learning.  

No driver education student ever got there license sitting in a classroom or even behind the demo wheel of a demo driving program.  Until you get behind the wheel of a real car on a real road, you aren’t driving.  And until you get on the phone with a real property owner, you aren’t investing in real estate.

Why is Nike’s slogan so memorable?  Just do it.  Making the first move in real estate investing is going to be the hardest.  But once you make that move, it becomes easier and easier every time.  So successful real estate investors are like Larry the Cable Guy.  They get ‘r done!

1.  A Willing Mind and a Positive Attitude

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.  Successful real estate investors are willing to set out on the journey of investing and have a positive attitude that they will succeed.  Why?  First of all, he who doesn’t try is lost, to loosely quote.  Second of all, anyone who thinks they will fail is certainly right!

You have to approach your new real estate investing business with a positive attitude that you will succeed and a willingness to try something new.  Your attitude plays almost as big a role in your success as does your mindset and your education.  No matter what you want to be successful at, you have to be willing to work at it or no amount of positive attitude will make you successful.  And no matter what you think you can do, you won’t be successful unless you are willing to learn and work at it.

Successful real estate investors are open to education and believe in their own ability to be successful.  They see an incredible opportunity in real estate investing and set out to be successful at it.  Nobody starts anything planning to fail.  If you are willing and believe in yourself, and know that I believe in you too, you can be successful at real estate investing.

1.  A Desire to Learn.

If you don’t want to learn how to be a successful real estate investor, you won’t be.   Successful real estate investors can no more be successful if they don’t believe in themselves than they can if they aren’t willing to learn from the pioneers who have gone before them.  I know you can do this.  I know you bought the course or requested the free CD or subscribed to my e-course.  Now what are you going to do with the incredible opportunity before you?

Successful real estate investors never, ever stop learning.  There are many ways to buy and sell real estate and different ways work better for some people than they do for others.  Real estate markets change, mortgage availability changes, and your own interests may change.  You don’t have to be a master of rehabbing, hard money loans, lease-to-own deals, note buying, and all the other ways that people are making money in real estate.  You do have to be a master of the ways that you want to make money in real estate.  Stay willing to learn.  And don’t just be willing, thirst for the information that is available to you. 

1.  A Serious Attitude About Your Business

Rome wasn’t built in a day.  Neither was a house.  And neither will be your real estate investing business.  You have to get up every day and treat your business like a business.  My Ultimate Buying and Selling Machine students don’t play at being real estate investors.  They don’t print up business cards, hand them out, and wait for the phone to ring.  Whether they are working their business full time or part time they maintain a serious attitude about their business.

Successful real estate investors don’t play at buying and selling properties.  They might not be doing deals and making offers every day, but every day that they are working at their business they are working at it like they mean it.  You can’t be successful if you aren’t taking your business seriously.  Like most things in life, you will get as much value out of real estate investing as the effort that you put into it.

To be successful in anything, you have to focus some energy and effort and time into it to reach your goals.  You have to treat real estate investing seriously.  This doesn’t mean that you have to be in your office forty hours per week.  But it does mean that you need to have an office, a dedicated space, for your business.  Successful real estate investors treat their business seriously and put all their efforts into it when they are working at it.  Remember, this isn’t just another job.  This is your career, and your future.  Be serious about it. 

1.  A Consistent Effort

Successful real estate investors work at their business consistently.  This doesn’t mean they don’t take vacations, or have jobs, or spend time with their families.  It means that when they say they are devoting 20 or 30 or 40 hours a week to their real estate careers, they are doing it consistently.  Most things that we take on fail if we don’t work at them continually.

One of my team members has a yard that goes from full shade to full sun as you walk around her home.  Growing grass has been a battle for her the entire 12 years she has lived in the house.  She has a nice, green yard because she works at it consistently.  She mows regularly, she waters when it’s dry, and she re-seeds when bare spots appear.  There wasn’t a one stop process that worked for her because different areas or aspects of the yard required different seeds, different care, and different nurturing.

Your real estate investing business is a lot like a yard that needs consistent care.  You can’t rehab and lease and wholesale and flip every property the same way.  Some properties require a little more work than others.  But they all require consistent effort.

You can be a successful real estate investor by doing small things on a consistent basis to ensure that you grow more successful every day.  Success isn’t about doing what is necessary only once or twice or even three times.  It’s about doing what is necessary consistently.  You can be successful by doing things over time to build your business consistently.

1.  A Motivated Attitude

I have yet to meet a successful real estate investor who didn’t really care whether or not he or she was successful.  It just doesn’t happen.  Nobody is successful in this business by accident.  Oh, sure.  You might luck out and do a deal without having all your ducks in a row.  But if you aren’t motivated to be successful, you won’t be successful.

Some days you won’t see any positive results.  Some deals will fall apart.  Some owners won’t be willing to sell at a price that gives you 70% of ARV.  The market may turn or the buyer may lose their financing.  That’s okay.  Stay motivated.  You aren’t ever going to be more successful than you are motivated.  It just won’t happen.

It takes time and dedication to see significant results in your real estate investing.  If you are feeling a little bit discouraged, take time to motivate yourself by listening to the training materials that got you into real estate investing in the first place.  Bookstore shelves are crammed full of motivational books, tapes, CDs, and videos. 

We all have off days.  Sometimes even I need a little help to stay motivated.  However, if you are motivated, the deals and the money will come.  Conversely, if you aren’t motivated, nothing much is going to happen. 

Successful real estate investors get motivated and stay motivated.  You can do it, too.

1.  A Humble Attitude

Successful real estate investors are good, humble folks.  The more money they are making, the more humble they become.  Don’t take my word for it.  Look around at a local REIA meeting or one of my boot camps.  Nobody knows everything there is to know about real estate investing.  Not even me.  When you maintain a humble attitude, you remain willing to learn.  There is always something more or something new to learn in real estate.

If you aren’t humble, you aren’t open to new ideas and new teachings.  When you aren’t open to learning, you aren’t staying on the top of your game.  As soon as your game slips, you cease to be successful.  It’s funny how that works.  Plus, when you aren’t humble you just aren’t very much fun to be around.  People like to do business with people who make them feel good about themselves.  Even motivated sellers are turned off by investors who talk down to them, or belittle them.  Be humble.  Maybe humility is as close to Godliness as cleanliness?

Successful real estate investors approach their work day with an air of humility that makes them a pleasure to be around and a pleasure to do business with.  I couldn’t have built a successful buying and selling machine in my office if I weren’t humble.  And you will find it difficult to build a network of buyers and sellers if you aren’t humble, either.

That’s it.  These seven personal attributes are the most important tools in your real estate investing arsenal.  Without them, you are paddling backwards in a canoe with a hole the size of a watermelon.  But with them, you are well on your way to being a successful real estate investor, too.

San Diego, CA — While millions of Americans are suffering economically, some ordinary Californians are making huge sums of money combining two things you’d least expect: Real estate and the Mortgage Meltdown.But not just any real estate. Foreclosures and distressed properties are nowhere to be found in the portfolios of these self-made millionaires.

Instead, these rags-to-riches phenoms are using two very clever and patent pending strategies taught at the Commercial Training Institute at the University of California – San Diego in La Jolla. The investor enjoys all of the upside, but none of the downside normally associated with owning real estate, thus eliminating most or all of the risk of owning property the conventional way. And since most real estate is now considered toxic, the students are taught to only invest in the few property types that actually thrive in a recession: Self Storage, Mobile Home Parks, and Senior Living Facilities

Own of Prime Class A Property With No Money, Credit or Experience

Even more amazing is that these students are profiting without any money, credit or previous experience in real estate. That’s because with one strategy, the owner literally gives the investor a sizable piece of ownership in a Prime Commercial Development, up to 30%, in return for referring them to experts with deep pockets who can make their property far more valuable. The other strategy lets you “try-before-you-buy” Class A income property often at no cost, pocketing significant income and cash flow in the first 30 days, and also granting you the option to buy it for pennies on the dollar sometime in the future.

These two little-known strategies actually work best when credit is tight or frozen, which makes this the optimal time. They work very well in a normal market too, but when conventional buyers can’t get credit or loans to buy properties, owners jump at the chance when offered these strategies.

This 100 year financial storm has actually created the perfect environment for these two strategies. One strategy is used for land and the other is for income property.

Strategy #1: Joint Venture Facilitation

Joint Venture Facilitation is the process of locating owners of prime commercial land and helping them locate a developer to structure a partnership. This novel win/win/win concept is where the owner makes much more money than they could get selling the property, and the developer doesn’t have to get financing to buy the land, which is a blessing during this credit crunch. The CTI student gets a piece of ownership of the development for simply locating and bringing both parties together, thus avoiding all the time, expertise, risk and money required to buy and develop prime commercial land.

Strategy #2: Master Lease Option

Master Lease Option is the process of locating newer under-performing income properties with high vacancies due to poor management or marketing.

Instead of buying the property, you lease the entire building such as a self-storage facility, have a local or CTI expert improve the management or marketing, sub-lease to all the existing and new tenants, and pocket 100% of all the new income which can easily be $10,000 to $30,000 per month on small to mid size properties. You also receive an Option to buy the property at today’s value, then sell or exercise the Option to purchase it for a large discount when it’s fully performing and worth much, much more. Since you’re only leasing the property initially, you don’t need any money to get into the hot commercial real estate game. You don’t own the property until it’s worth far more than your Option price and you’ve had time to “test drive” it a while. You can sell your Option for cash to hungry buyers looking for discount properties, or buy the property yourself no money down.

CTI calls this strategy “Property Rescue”, but another strategy they teach is “Lease Sandwich” whereby you simply lease a lager vacant space in a property, and sub-lease it to a one or a few tenants for much more money than you leased it for. For example, a CTI graduate recently leased some space in a Class A building in SoCal for $1,000 per month, and immediately sub-leased it on a 10 year lease for $7,500/mo. That’s $6,500 per month or $78,000 per year, and that doesn’t include the annual escalations he enjoys. He accomplished this with no money, no loan, no credit, no door knocking, no rehab, no negotiating with banks or distressed sellers, no ownership responsibilities, and no nagging residential tenants. He can keep the cash flow, or sell the income stream for about half a million dollars cash.

Jason Gilbert, founder and president of CTI adds “These land and income property opportunities are everywhere and easy to find. Land owners make lots more money when you show them how to partner with a developer who is thrilled not to have to buy the property, and you are a savior when you lease someone’s entire income property, thus eliminating all their tenant and management headaches. Their only tenant is you. We then show the students how to do what the owner should have done to fix the management with one simple phone call, or we partner with our students and do it for them.”

Find a Deal, Make a Fortune

CTI partners with its students who find these JVF and MLO opportunities and CTI does the rest. “We’ve developed a system that allows even the lazy and unsophisticated to profit in commercial real estate. Simply find us the deal and we’ll cut you in. It’s so much easier than finding needle in a haystack house deals in this lousy housing market,” says Gilbert. “I’ve done virtually every kind of commercial deal using every possible strategy, and this is by far the easiest, fastest way to making a fortune.” And at the workshop, he has lots of wealthy student case studies to prove it. Gilbert insists that now is the best time in 50 years to get into commercial properties, and yet even most experienced commercial investors have never heard of his strategies, and so they needlessly risk lots of money and their credit to buy property in the conventional way.

Winning is not quitting: 5 Things you can do today to be a winner in this recession
By Mark Workman
These days, most of my phone calls focus on survival and encouragement. When speaking with a customer or potential new client, inevitably we speak about strategies for survival and what each of us sees ahead for small business. While it may be justified, I hear fear and doubt ruling the conversation, and I have made a purposeful, intentional effort to turn my customers to a more positive outlook. I believe, even when all seems lost, a hope still exists to keep going, not quitting or giving up. This hope must be sought after and held onto to get through this season of challenge.

At the core of hope, is a looking forward to the future, a better future filled with prosperity, good health, and freedom. True entrepreneurs understand the power of hope and how it drives them to continue beyond the point most would go or journey. When I comment on not quitting, I’m referring to the entrepreneurial spirit. Even if your current endeavor fails, unable to exist in this climate, reach down deep for new ideas, or strategies that might meet the need of another in this world. The real entrepreneur is not moved by failure, he or she learns from this failure, and adds this knowledge to the next endeavor, improving the odds of success. Hope is the engine driving the attitude found in ‘Winning is not quitting’, and is always looking forward.

There are 5 activities all entrepreneurs need to consider during these tough economic times that may get them through while others lose hope and energy to continue.

First of all, much of success can be found in the simple principle of just showing up. Showing up seems like an obvious part of the entrepreneur’s life, but in an atmosphere of doubt, fear, and slow sales, it becomes easier each day to set aside the work habits that helped you begin your business in the first place. What if you decided, I won’t have any sales today, or it is a waste of time to go the office. You are sowing the seeds of your own destruction, but of course you will blame the recession. Showing up each day with a positive outlook and attitude is crucial, focusing on the small details that help provide excellent service and products.

Secondly, purpose in your mind to greet people positively, watching closely your words and body language. The goal would be to maintain an attitude that draws others to yourself, rather than pushing them away. Customers know very quickly, usually without a word being spoken, your demeanor and attitude towards life. Attempt to leave others feeling better about their situation, rather than thinking of yourself only during these difficult times. Customers, clients or sales people that work for you, will all benefit from the positive outlook and energy you maintain each day. You will naturally become a leader because, as it should be obvious, people in general are drawn to fun, energetic, and positive people.

Thirdly, fight the urge to complain about your situation. Complaining will steal your energy and focus faster than anything you do. A person focused on complaining is more than distracted, he is consumed with fear about his situation and looking to place blame on anyone else but himself. The business owner is responsible for the success or failure of the business, and although external factors certainly effect the results, there is no-one to blame. As entrepreneurs, we are to keep our eyes open to the pitfalls, and we must take responsibility when we miss the mark. When we complain, our ability to learn is set aside and our attentions turn to the blame game on an external competitor, government agency, or market trend that is the cause of our demise. A better way to approach this would be to take responsibility, learn from the error or situation, problem solve and move forward.

Fourthly, learn something new. Do not become stagnant or static in your reading habits, and learning skills. Evaluate your skills, considering your weaknesses and how possibly you can learn a new skill that will help your business grow. Maybe learning a new language or improving your accounting skills would make the list. The important principle here is to be a passionate learner all your life. As an entrepreneur, if you are not continuing to educate yourself about the latest market trends locally, regionally or globally, you will quickly be left behind unable to compete. Entrepreneurs at their core are teachable and desire to learn, invent, and create.

And Lastly, Expand your reach and business while others are contracting. I believe a majority of business owners are making the mistakes mentioned above, shrinking their business and sales and the few that are attacking this recession with character and energy are expanding. Recessions are opportunities. While most are worried, living in fear and doubt, paralyzed in the office, lacking the desire to learn and read or simply not showing up, an opportunity exists for the person, who positively approaches his day, not complaining about his situation, greeting customers and colleagues with kindness and smile. I know it seems so simple, but the truth is, most people are unable to overcome the weakness in their own character to face the challenges of day to day business.

Please consider these traits and characteristics of successful business. I want to encourage you to never quite, to never give up or walk away. Each situation is just the next step you need to learn and overcome, making you stronger for the next challenge. The true entrepreneur knows that winning is not quitting. Don’t quit.

About the Author:
Mark J Workman http://www.wutzzup.com http://wutzzupwiththat.blogspot.com

Why You Need to Set Goals to Achieve Your Dreams in Real Estate
By Larry GoinsIt’s easy enough to dream big about your future in real estate investing. We all have lofty expectations of what we will get out of life – our careers, our families, our networks of friends, etc. But without a vehicle to get from where you are today to where you want to be tomorrow, those great expectations are barely attainable. When you put the key into your vehicle by setting goals, you begin to chart out a roadmap for reaching your highest potential, and achieving all your dreams.
Without a charted course, your vehicle just sits in the driveway reminding you of all the things you could have achieved if you’d only had a plan. I was once told that “prior planning prevents poor performance”. As a young man, this was just another silly saying that the establishment put in the way of me doing what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it. Hindsight is truly 20/20 vision and I can see that a lot of time can be wasted when you don’t have a clear path laid out for reaching your brightest future.
When you write down your goals, you begin to plot the path to help you achieve your dreams in real estate investing. In fact, when you begin to lay out goals, you start your vehicle on the road for a journey far greater than perhaps even your wildest dreams!
Goals Must Lead to a Specific Destination
Imagine contacting Triple A for a trip tick to Alpena, Michigan. And they provide you directions, and recommended hotels, and favorite dining spots to the Michigan state line. Although your directions are specific, and your course is charted, you aren’t ending up where you intended to go because your directions don’t give you a specific destination. You’d have a better chance of arriving in Alpena with only a loose selection of interstates and byways without all the extra information, as long as it gets you where you intend to go. When you initially set out your goals, they don’t have to be so detailed as to cover every stop along your journey, but they do have to get you where you want to go. Your goals should lead you to the end that you desire – the reason you began investing in real estate in the first place. Perhaps you don’t initially know exactly what you need to do every minute of every day to get where you want to go, but if you select your destination then you can goal plan backwards to reach your dreams.
Goals Must Be Meaningful and Achievable
Your goals must mean something to you. It isn’t enough to want to make a million dollars in real estate, you have to have a reason to want to make a million dollars to achieve it. Even the lucky dog who wins the lottery meant to buy his ticket. Likewise your goals must be achievable. It doesn’t even matter if naysayers doubt the validity of your dreams or your ability to achieve them. It does matter that you believe that your goals are achievable. Perhaps they seem a little out of reach today, if you’ve just purchased your Ultimate Buying Machine or received your first copy of my Ultimate Investor Report Newsletter. But you must truly believe that you can reach your goals, and reaching them must be something that you have a purpose driven approach to accomplishing.
Goals Must Be Quantifiable and Measureable
It isn’t just enough to want to be successful in real estate investing. You must really, really want to accomplish a specific goal that can be quantified on the front end and measured on the back end. It may be that you want to be a Larry Goins’ Prodigy and sell 5-10 houses per month online. It may be that you want to earn $2.5 million per year or that you want to build a portfolio of rental properties generating $250,000 per year. Perhaps you want to create a nest egg that enables you to travel or retire or provide things for your children that your parents couldn’t provide for you. Whatever your goals are, they are essential to succeeding in the world of real estate investing. And unless you can quantify and measure them, in the back of your mind you will never really know whether you reached the destination at the end of your road map or not.
The bonus of setting quantifiable and measureable goals in real estate investing is that you can break them down to a ridiculously simple morsel that you can measure on a daily, weekly, monthly, or annually basis. If you know that you wish to make $2.5 million a year, then you can break that down into an accomplishment necessary in smaller chunks. You can further quantify, with an understanding of the number of houses you need to look at and make offers on, what your goals need to be on weekly and monthly goals to reach your long term goals.
It’s important that you don’t get side-barred trying to set your goals. The most successful people that I know set big goals and make big plans. They don’t vary from the course they know there vehicle needs to take to reach their goals. And you shouldn’t either!
Goals Must Be In Agreement With Your Actions
You cannot set a goal to lose weight and reach it by dining at McDonald’s four times a week. You cannot set a goal to get a new boat and reach it by never looking at boat ads. You cannot set a goal to walk on the moon and reach it by staring at the stars. And you cannot set any goals in real estate and then reach them without stepping out and starting to make your deals. Dreams do come true, but not by accident. Make sure that you set goals you are capable and willing to act accordingly to reach.
Picture Your Goals Already Met
No matter what I say when I teach the art of buying and selling 5-10 houses per month without ever leaving my office, some people just can’t picture it happening for them. They buy the course. They attend the class. They think long and hard about all the reasons it won’t work for them. And then they do nothing.
Don’t picture yourself failing. Don’t picture yourself struggling. Picture yourself at the end of your two, five, or ten year plan with all your goals met and your real estate investing dreams come true.
You don’t have to spend hours and hours each day picturing yourself with your goals achieved. But just a few minutes a day helps you to trick your mind into believing that you have already achieved the goals that you’ve set for yourself. This keeps your mind from dirty dog downing you into forgetting that you can do exactly what you set out to do with your real estate investing vehicle. And it is a lot of fun! A few minutes a day you get to picture yourself on a white sandy beach, or driving the car of your dreams, or living in your own luxury home custom appointed with all the features you associate with living exactly how you set out to live when you planned your goals. But don’t forget to come back to today, or you will find it a lot harder to reach your goals. This concept of creative visualization is all about getting what you really want out of life. Those things you focus your mental energy on creating, are the things you ultimately get. That’s why it is so important not to give your conscious mind a chance to dirty dog down your subconscious into thinking you cannot reach your goals. You can!
Systematically Complete Your Goals
Now it is time to create the little mini-morsels of goals from your big goals. You know how much you want to make per year. You’ve figured out how much you have to earn per week or per month to reach those bigger goals. Its time to start knocking the mini-goals off your to do list one at a time. Remember, you must plan your work and then work your plan.
Separate and Prioritize Your Goals
I am assuming at this point that your goals are about more than just money, or even just the things that money can buy. Maybe you want to ensure that your kids can attend any college they want, or that your grand children won’t have to worry about getting student loans. Perhaps you want to support a charity or ministry that has been dear to your heart but not so near to your wallet for years. Or maybe you want to see your spouse back at home with the kids instead of working in an office. Perhaps even you want to leave the corporate grind and return to a home based office yourself.
At this point, you probably have a pretty good idea what the reason for each of your goals is. You can begin to think of each goal as its own vehicle to reach the reason. The goals is the means to reach assorted ends that you want for yourself or your family.
Number each of your goals and begin to prioritize them so that you can reach them in not only their order of importance, but in a timely fashion that they can meet the reason for which they were set. For example, if you wish to send your kids to college through your real estate investing profits, you want to reach that goal by the time they reach age 18, right?
Review and Revise Your Goals
Sometimes things change. Maybe your real estate investing career takes a back seat to other priorities for a while. Perhaps your exemplary child is graduating a year early and the college money is needed sooner rather than later. Or that same child has received a full scholarship to the school of their choice and you suddenly have more money to put into your real estate portfolio than you expected.
You have to stay just a little bit flexible with your goals. Things change. And if you review and revise your goals and find that you are a bit ahead or behind your previous schedule its okay. It’s no different than making an unscheduled stop on your trip. You modify your trip tick from Triple A or reset your GPS and modify your road map. You can modify your goals in the same way. But if you don’t set them, you cannot reach them.
Goals Must Have a Defined End Date
Yes, you have to be willing to modify your end dates for your goals. Not everything will be achieved on exactly the day you project. However, your goals must have a defined end date. Goals without dates aren’t really goals at all, more wishful thinkings. Yeah, you might achieve them. But the driving force of meeting a deadline goes away when you don’t have an end date.
Four Categories to Set Goals In:
FINANCIAL
Any goals that include net worth or rental property incomes or even college tuitions are financial goals. They may be directly tied to your real estate investing or they may be more closely connected to things that are more important to you personally, such as putting a child through school or setting up a trust fund.
FITNESS
You might want to tell me to mind my own business, but unless you want to die wealthy fast, your personal health and fitness goals are important to reaching your final end goals. Honestly, I’ve learned that when I don’t feel good I don’t work well either. Your health is one of the most important factors to your ultimate success in real estate investing. Furthermore, you owe it to your family – to everyone that you are creating this real estate wealth for – to live as long as you can , not just as prosperously as you can.
FAMILY
Unless you set goals that involve your family, your financial goals will only keep you from being a viable member of your family. Trust me, your spouse and your kids care a lot more about the time that you spend with them than the money that you spend on them. Yes, even your teenagers, but don’t tell them that I told you so. Most people spell love T-I-M-E. If you don’t set family goals, then you are not truly building wealth, you are only hording money.
FAITH
Everybody has to believe in something, right? This article isn’t the place to preach or even to force feed my love for Jesus on you. But let me share this with you. If you don’t have goals for your faith and your spiritual health (as well as that of your family) then once again you aren’t building wealth, you are only hording money. And it’s a known fact that you can’t take it with you.
If you are totally at a loss for where to start with faith goals, then perhaps that is exactly where you need to start. We are talking about journeys in vehicles here. You might not have a quantifiable faith goal right this second, but I encourage you to crank up the engine of your vehicle and get on the road to finding some.
Finally, think about the company that you keep. Surrounding yourself with people who have like goals and dreams helps to keep your vehicle on the road leading to your real estate investing dreams. You can’t fly with the eagles if you scratch with the turkeys. And you cannot stay on the path to your real estate investing goals if you get side-tracked with the negative cynicism of people who don’t believe that your goals are important.
“Hang onto your dreams for if dreams die hope is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.” Langston Hughes

I hope you have enjoyed this article taken from my course called the Ultimate Buying and Selling Machine! that teaches how we buy and sell 5-10 properties a month, never look at them and have them sold in less than 2 hours. For many more articles and a 10 part ecourse on how to create your own Ultimate Buying and Selling Machine! as well as over 50 training audio recordings you can listen to online, download and collect, simply go to www.LarryGoinsFreeOffer.com where you will gain instant access to all of this and 51 Exclusive Editable real estate investing Forms and Documents all FREE! You will also get two FREE real estate investing eBooks, A free Personal Coaching Profile to help you jump start your real estate Investing, FREE Nationwide Wholesale Property Listing Notification, FREE Weekly Training Teleconferences with Different Topic Each Week, FREE subscription to Larry Goins “Almost” Weekly Investing Newsletter, FREE Admission for Two to Investor Palooza 3 Day Training Event, FREE Admission for Two to Larry Goins 3 Day Boot Camp, Plus over 31 Exclusive Articles on real estate Investing and Much More! Just go to www.LarryGoinsFreeOffer.com. Thanks and I look forward to working with you, Larry Goins