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

Check your rehab DAILY... don't be stupid...

Or I should say - check it every morning - not in the afternoon.  Even check the end of day if you can.  This is even with good workers on your site!  I have pretty damn good contractors and things still can go down the toilet fast if you don't pay attention!  I walked on my site this afternoon ( yes... I was there yesterday as well and every day) and I noticed the weirdest thing: 

WHY oh WHY would we tear up the walk way in order to lay pour new concrete only to STOP short of tearing out the entire walkway up to the front door? 

Do you see this weird carpet thing here?  Do you see the tile in front of it going in the front door?  Why would you not hammer jack all of this out and poor new concrete up to the door???

We are carpeting inside up until the door opening (Duh)... so what the hell am I supposed to do with this weird entry before you walk in?  Really - this is the most asinine thing I have seen done on this job so far.   So now tomorrow - after the new concrete has already been poured and dried over night - we have to jack hammer the rest of this entry and pour additional concrete.  Is this a big deal?  In the whole scheme of things - no....  but this is mistake/misunderstanding/assumption #78 so far on this 30 day job.  They all add up and when we are trying to be completely done in 3 days from now - this is a really pain in the ass....

The moral of the story... the last week of your rehab - be at your job all the time.  Check on everyone, go over everything, watch it all...  that means go in the morning, afternoon and try to get there before the end of day...  (obviously if you have a mack daddy contractor who you have worked with for years and you trust more than life itself... you only need check on your job at least once a day :)  

No biggy... things could be a lot worse and again this is not a a dire emergency... I should consider myself very fortunate for this being one of the stupidest things that I am dealing with...

to twitter or not to twitter that is the question....

Listen - there is no way that I am here to say that we should not be "twittering" but common! Is there anyone else beside me who thinks that the @ responses are something that the whole world should see? 

Decisions, decisions, decisions.....always about money!

Well were are into the 2nd week of remodeling our Los Angeles Meeting  & Event Center and just when I think I am doing well with not spending very much money - WHAM.... I get a $17K quote for all the IT,  Networking, Computers & phone system....  CRY! 

It will cover: getting a phone system in, computers, server, networking,etc.  I think that it is a good price but daamnnnnn!  That's a lot of money.  Can't we get away with just one phone and a computer to start I wonder?  Do I really need a server - right now?  I am asking you - do I?   I don't know.  I will need a server - but do I need one the very first day we open?  Maybe not.  I need phones - but do I need a phone system?  Yes - I probably do need this.  But I really have to figure out how to cut these costs by half!  I am not made of money for christs sake.  Or rather - my investors will be grateful if I keep the costs low at the beginning!  After all - I do want to be able to sleep at night.  Well - I am not really sleeping now that I started this whole thing..

So the meeting space is moving along - and on schedule it seems - but I am just getting nervous about all of it!  It is really nerve racking to open a big business like this.  I mean - who the hell do I think I am?  Superwoman? What I do know is that this is an incredible business plan and great money maker if done right.

So -What do you think about our logo?  I am not sure I like it. I don't think i like the colors.   I think back to the drawing board.....

Our Meeting & Event Center project is under way!

Over a year ago I had this crazy (like a fox!) idea to create our own meeting space because it is so freakin hard to find affordable, clean and conveniently located meeting space.   Before opening my own real estate investors club last year (June will be our 1 year anniversary!!),  I ran the largest real estate investors club in L.A. (we're catching up!).  My biggest headache was finding affordable, clean, and convenient meeting space.  It was my worst time ever... enough to push me over the edge on many occasions.  

One day when I was working on the year end P&L I saw just how much money was spent on not only meeting space & office space... I nearly fell off my chair!  It as 6 figures!  This cost included all our meeting space, event space & office space!  Can you imagine spending that kind of money for something that you did end up owning?   Money down the toilet!

So my big idea was to create our own meeting & event space - then the days we were not using the space for our own meetings (we would only need it about 4-5 days a month) - we would rent it out as event space!  Duh!  Fast forward to about 6 months ago - I was talking one of my members - Gary Haddock and found out that he had huge experience with commercial investing!  I told him about my idea for a meeting center and he loved it!    We started developing the business plan and now today, 

                                                            We have our building! 

Can you believe this?  This is so crazy man!  As of last week - we have our meeting & event space business has been started! The remodel is happening right now!  We are using private money for the whole start up and have already brought in two investor partners with another two almost soldified  YAHOO!

This just goes to show you... if you have a good idea - and you work your ass off and surround yourself with people who are smarter than you - any crazy thing can happen!

The Los Angeles Meeting & Event Center has arrived!