Naked Lady Real Estate, The Bare Truth About Real Estate Investing

Bill Gatten and Bruce Norris!

Well this is very excellent news!  Bill Gatten and Bruce Norris are doing and event together.  I know that they have been talking about it since last year and now their doing it. 

It should be a great three days.  As we all know - Bruce and Bill are amoung the small percentage of "gurus" who actually teach during their workshops! 

As I understand it, both Bruce and Bill will teach on all three days.  One taking the first half of the day, the other continuing with the second.  Bruce and Bill's strategies are the perfect combination to work together or even as seperate strategies. 

Personally, these are the two strategies that I will be working for the next couple of years. 

The Workshop will be Friday, March 7 thru Sunday March 9 and costs $297 to attend. 

PACRATS - you will recieve a $50 Discount when you sign up!

NARS MEMBERS - You Get To Go For FREE!

Everyone - bring a guest for Free!

To sign up: Use the promo code :  PACRat200803  and CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP:

ALERT!  Seating is VERY LIMITED for this event.  Please sign up early and get your seat reserved!

Naked Investors Radio going strong.... who knew?

Wow you guys! Our internet radio show - The Naked Investors seems to be doing really well!  Who would have thunk it?  For as much fun as we have doing it, honestly we thought we probably had a least 5-10 actual live listeners.  After all, I have my family and Pete has his. 

But low and behold, we are doing a little better than that!  Yahoo!   Our Producer sent us an email yesterday to inform us that apparently - we 'da bomb!  Look at this:

"You had a 2,434 computers tuning in live and 254 downloads for a total of 2,688 listens in January. The network is very pleased with these numbers! On average a new show receives approximately 1,500 listeners – so you are well above the mark!"

Wowee kazowee....  I have to say that I almost fell off my chair when I heard.  Truly, we are so excited.  I have been getting a lot of emails and phone calls of support from folks and I am just so grateful for it all.   Everyone asks why I decided to do the show.  I really just wanted to create a venue that was kind of like a "real estate investors club on the radio" we I could talk about real estate strategies and the real estate investors world.  So Pete and I put our pretty little heads together and came up with the The Naked Investors Radio Show.  The Bare Truth about Real Estate Investing!  Which is basically - No BS!

As you know, I can't stand all the hype and bull that goes on in the real estate "club/guru" world and for some crazy reason I have made it my crusade to somehow try to make sense of it all and present just good solid information as I learn and grow as an investor myself.

I truly believe that education, networking and community is so important as an investor but I don’t believe that we should be presented with a god darn pitch and sell every time we turn around.  Don’t get me wrong – I like making money – lots of it.  But I do believe that giving value first is most important.  You do right by people, help people, be of service, then you don’t have to worry about making money, because it will come ten fold.

OK – I will get off my soap box now…  what the heck was this post about?   Oh yeah – my radio show!  So it looks like we’re not doing too shabby!  Whewhooo!

Review of a Guru

We just finished a seminar this weekend for a speaker named Dave Lindahl who teaches how to buy and sell apartment houses.  Even though I have heard that he is good - I always wait until I see a speaker in action before I decide if he is a worth while speaker.

Dave Lindahl indeed delivered a very educational seminar.  Well worth the price of admission.  Before this seminar, I had not considered buying and selling apartment houses as part of my investing plan at this time.  And even though he makes it sound easy (don't they all?), I am still not going to go down this path for a while.  One thing that I don't agree with is when investors get involved in every strategy out there and try to do it all.  Right now - I am focusing on just a couple of strategies for the next year or two.  However - I will say that the one thing this seminar did do for me was open my mind up to the idea of buying apartment houses.  I just didn't know enough about the subject to even consider it before and now that I have learned that it is possible for me- I am actually looking forward to learning all about it and then I'll add it to my investing in the next year or two!

So - yes - I give Dave a thumbs up.  Good news too!  The pool of great "gurus/speakers" seems to be dwindling.  People who know me know that I cannot stand speakers who sell bullshit or care more about selling the product then truly teaching. While making money is important for seminar promoters - it is just as important to actually teach people something.  The golden egg for a promoter is when we have speaker that educates and has a great home study course that actually helps us when we leave that seminar, then follows up with a great bootcamp - where they are the ONLY speaker! (Arghhh - on those "bootcamps" that have "guest" speakers!) 

 

REO Auction Feb 10, 2008

Today was a very interesting day at the Hudson and Marshall REO Auction.  I went with my friend Jason and we ended up seeing many people that I knew.  We ran into Iris Veneracion and Bobi Simanton who own the Invest Club for Women in Irvine.  Additionally, I saw about another 7-8 investors that I have gotten to know through REIC of LA and other events, including a investor that I met through REIC named Gary Kopp.   

Out of everyone I saw only the wonderful Iris was successful in buying a house!  All the others went well beyond the Maximum bids.   Oh well - good times will soon be here - we're not worried!  I wasn't bidding on houses today, I was just obseving like many many others.  The place had about 800 - 900 people, and from what I could tell most were not bidding. 

Although there were homes sold below the current comps, they were still only about 90 - 70% of MV. But - it was very disturbing to see so many houses go for way over the comps!  What a ridiculous scene. 

Below are a couple of videos from the day.  One is Iris' final bidding and the other is just the auction in action.   

Celebratory Drink with Iris, Bobbi, Gary, Jason and Iris' broker on her and Bobbi's winning bid today!  She got it below her maximum bid!

We all discussed the ins and outs of being investors and the interesting thing I learned yesterday was that all these investors, including Gary who has been a heavy investor for at least 10 years, still feel like they are "Newbies".  I was telling them that even though I have about 10 houses under my belt, I'm still a newbie.  They all agreed that even they still feel like newbies because they are always educating themselves, they still make mistakes and every deal brings a new learning experience.  This really shruck me, because a lot of us - beat ourselves up for making mistakes - or worse - we don't do a deal because we think "we don't know enough yet".  So - I would like to say to all of us - Make your move, do deals, and get over it! If we don't know something - go learn it fast or ask someone who does know, if we make a mistake - then pick yourself up by your bootstaps and get back in the game. Keep moving forward.

Boy - there are so many amazing people in our investor world and it's wonderful how much I learn about myself and how motivated I get just in talking to them. There is a lot of money to be made in the next couple of years - let's not let negative self talk stop us from making it big.

First Radio Show... and I didn't faint.

I just did my first radio show with The Homeownership Roundtable on 97.1 Free FM this past Saturday!  WOW!  It was way cool.  I was so nervous. I wasn't completely "myself".  There were definite moments that I didn't say the crazy things that popped into my head. Those who know me, know that I can be kind of ridiculous idiot.  Maybe next time.

Now they want me to come back on a weekly basis and talk about the real estate club/investor world from the view point of a an investor/REI Club Manager.  I looks like it could be a real fun and interesting gig!

Darren Orshoff (pictured left) and I discussed the idea of a weekly conversation about real estate investing and various real estate "club" topics and events.

The possibilities are endless!  I'm excited and a little terrified.  A huge commitment for sure. What do you think?

Stay tuned... 

Give up trying to sell or hang in there?

It's time to face the fact that my "quick flip" in Taft is probably not going to sell and I need to just move on and get a tenant in there. Right? 

I had a talk with my dad today about what my latest dealings and my strategies for investing over the next couple of years.  I was telling him that I just completed a 3 day REO bootcamp with Bruce Norris and how that education was priceless.  It was all good...Then he did it... he asked me about something that we dont talk about right now...  my little house in Taft.  ARRGHHH. 

After beating myself up "because I should have known better", my father did something startling... he actually made me feel better about the situation!  Don't get me wrong, it's not that he usually brow beats me over things, it's just that he tends to take the "me man, not show empathy" approach to situations. He reminded me that sometimes we just learn hard or expensive lessons and that those are usually the best ones of our lives. That sometimes we are just going to have a deal that didn't turn out and we just need to learn the lesson of what not to do the next time.

The fact is that I paid too much - period.  Even though the numbers at that moment told me I was buying at 65% ltv, the market was about 7 seconds from another sharp fall.  My dad and I joked (not really) about my $15K education on this deal.  And I'm one of the lucky ones!  I am not actually loosing that money out of pocket - it's just money I won't be making on this deal.

I think I also listened to too many investors out there.  It was like a feeding frenzy out there. The minute I rolled into town and sunk my sign into the yard, I was getting calls from investors all day long offering me their "great deals". #1 TIP:  if there are more investors selling homes than homeowners and you can't swing a dead cat around without running into investor who is buying homes in that area - then stay the hell away.  The area has run its course.  Run for the hills and don't look back!

So now it's time to make the harsh move - like many investors are having to do right now which is - gag - put a tenant in the home.  I have no desire to be a landlord, so I will put it into a Land Trust and then get a Buyer/Tenant in there.  The most important thing here is to take the lesson and be thankful that it will be the last time that I make a mistake in this business....  LOL…  alright, then hopefully the last mistake I make this year.   

The moral of the story? Know the market, know the numbers, know you exit strategy. Bottom line - Don't be stupid.  Be Smart.  Duh...

I'm the The Ultimate Woman... in 90 days

Well I'm at it again.  I have decided to start another coaching session with Sensei Ron Thomas.  I did a 90 day coaching with him last year and it was amazing. I dare not sound cliche and say "he changed my life"... but the fact is I did change. (gag me with a spoon- I hate sounding cliche) I think I feel ok saying that because initially, when I decided to do his program, I did so only because I was "checking him out" as a potential new speaker for the club.  When I began his coaching program I went in with my arms crossed and saying to myself - you better not be another blowhart.  I've been running around the airy fairy world of self help for a long time and have experienced many truly life changing programs and many not-so-great- programs.   Additionally, let's not forget that I run in one of the biggest worlds of "gurus" out there.  The dreaded world of real estate gurus who are going to make us all millionaires by next week!  Only half of these guys really care about helping us succeed in real estate, the other half just want to sell us their product.  I'll get off my soap box now, but you get my point, which is; "don't mess with me - I can smell bullcrap from a mile away"

OK... so what was the point of this post?  Oh right.  Sensei Ron...  Ahhhhh.  One of the good guys. For fear of sounding like I'm gushing, I will just simply say if you want to be coached by one of the best life/transformational coaches out there then sign up for his 90day coaching program.  He is a 7th or 8th degree blackbelt and owned a Dojo.  He's approach is centered on the martial arts training and mindset.  I think that is why his coaching is so amazing.  He is not teaching us how to be "winners".  He teaches from the mindset of being a "champion".  The one thing he said to us in our first coaching session, which pretty much laid out the rest of the 90 days was; "how you are in one thing is how you are in everything".  This was it for me.  I was hooked. 

Simply put; when I was in the coaching program I was centered, focused and more self aware of my decisions and actions.  It was during his coaching that I took huge strides forward in my investing and real estate career.  This is why I have decided to do it again.  My goals for 2008 and 2009 are to be one of the real estate investors who make it big in this booming market.  I want to look back in 2010 and say I did it!  I made millions in the foreclosure market!  And I am smart enough to know that perpetual coaching and mentoring from the best Gurus and Teachers out there is why I am successful in my journey.

There are a few spaces left for this upcoming session. It begins on Monday Feb 11th.  For information go to his website CLICK HERE.  I hope you can join me! 

Rate Cuts means Mortgage Rates Up? Huh?

Someone emailed me this blog post on Mikes Minute.  It's the first time I have read his blog, and it seems pretty good.   This post he wrote about Rate Cuts is very informative.

To read it click here:  Mikes Minute

I have added his blog to my blog roll for your furture enjoyment!