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

What's up with that?

You know...  I seem to be the only one asking...  why the heck am I starting this club?  Well... that is, among us investors.  There is plenty of silliness that I have been experiencing from some who would be more than happy to see this effort to start a new club fail.  Why?  I dunno.  Is there is not enough to go around?  Last time I checked there was plenty.  (But maybe something happened and God forgot to let me know that he decided to hold back.)

My goal here in starting my own real estate investors club is to create my ideal scene in a real estate club.  That's it.   

I'm a new club.  Yes.  I am starting a club when clubs are not doing so well because people seem to be nervous or not so enthusiastic to get into the investing game. So what?  My meetings seem to be getting great reviews so I must be doing something right. Does anyone notice that I have not written a lot of blog posts lately?  There has been a reason for that.  Now I realize that it has been a decision of mine that I regret. 

See... I didn't want to share my experiences of starting this club and the highs and lows.    I am doing what I have a vision for and what my passion is:  Real Estate Investing and creating a incredible community where we can ALL grow, learn, network and prosper in.  I am not going to hold my experiences back from you all just because of the few out there who may be waiting and watching for this to fail.   One thing that I have going for me is that I am a Mexican and Irish fighting b**ch.  The thing that I have going against me is that I am a Cancer... so I am a little bit sensitive...  So enough of being scared to go all out!  I'm doing it! 

So.... starting today - I will start blogging on what is going on here man.  And there is A LOT!   

I just want to say THANK YOU to the many many emails and phone calls I get from everyone with your support and encouragement to keep doing what I am doing.  Additionally and most importantly to all of you who attend the meetings, who come with your glowing, enthusiastic faces and who take the time to let me know that you appreciate  the meetings and our speakers. 

Our meeting this week was a smash hit and our speakers were the reason!  Thank you everyone for your support.  Thank you for the calls I have received this week with your encouragement!  Without it - I would not make it.  I am truly honored and humbled by all of it.

Dubai: The Magical City? Hhhmm... I don't think so.

...Or maybe I'm just a pretty little girl and should stay out of big important things that I couldnt possibly know what I'm talking about...  But I just read the most interesting article about Dubai and all the crazy construction going on there.  Even though I have read many articles on the different projects such as the hotel Burj Al Arab on its own island and the "world" islands, this is the first time I read something about Dubai that wasn't just a "isn't it wonderful" article.  The Article also spoke about how this country is growing and why.  I must say that I don't feel so enthralled with Dubai now.  It doesn't sound so magical to me anymore. As a matter of fact I just put 2 and 2 together and realized that it was Dubai that was trying to buy our Ports several years back. I remember that happening and was freaked out about the idea of it.  But time has passed and I forgot it was Dubai. 

It seems to me that they are going down the road of excess and "immorality" that the extremist hate so much about America doesn't it?  Now that's gonna leave a mark... Click here to read all about Dubai.

I don't know about you...

Is it just me or is anyone else getting tired of reading and hearing about "the bad housing  market" in the media?  I'm starting to feel like I cannot be bothered to read one more story about it.  We all know it's here.  We all know it's going to get worse.  We all know it's not going away anytime soon.  The story is more or less the same every day. 

I have the kind of personality that once I have heard the same story for months and months I get sick of it and am ready to move on.  It's like when my best friend talked about wanting to breakup with her boyfriend - for over a year!  It's the same story over and over with not much new information.   Listen - the man is not going to change, so just shut the hell up and either leave him or make the best of the situation and accept the good things that he has to offer.   

I'm starting to feel the same way about the endless news stories about "the market".  We investors have known this market was coming for over two years now, so we have been talking about it for a long time already.  Now the media is starting to catch up and they think they have "breaking news" doesn't it? 

The traditional media always seems to be slow on the uptake and they're boring me. 

Let's talk about solutions.  I doubt we will see any kind of real life solutions for a long time if we keep going the "traditional" route.  But we investors can offer real solutions can't we?  What is your strategy for the next couple of years?  I know mine. 

1.  Buy at 65% of what I'm willing to sell for minus repairs and then retail the houses. (REO's) 

2.  Buy "subject to" using NARS Land Trust.  Hold for 7-10 years.  Help sellers out of homes they cannot sell, help buyers into homes they cannot get loans for.

Firstly, I believe that we need to quickly and loudly educate the public that there are  ways for many of them to get help with homes in foreclosure before it goes back to the bank.

(!)And not the old school way of sending them a letter telling them why I'm better then the 100's of other investors letters they have received. 

How about a educational seminar that will teach sellers how to sell their homes the non-traditional way and buyers how to buy the same way! Let me know if you would like to join in!

 

Observations of the Real Estate World

Last night we had our Gold Membership meeting which is a smaller group for investors to get ongoing training and networking opportunities.   Last week I had a mastermind and networking meeting for another group that I started which we call the PACRats.   I make it a point to talk to as many folks as possible when I am at my meetings and on both of these nights I made some serious connections for deals and for other important business needs. This happens on a regular basis and some might say that it is because I am the "leader" of the groups that I make these connections.  Well I am here to say BULL to that!

I wouldn't even be in the position that I am in if I just went to these networking events and stood to the side and just talked to the folks next to me. The only reason I am where I am today is because I constantly pushed myself past my fears and boldly went up to people and just started talking to them.  Asking what they are up to and then boldly offered myself up to task. You would be amazed what you hear about and the connections that are made simply by talking to people.  But that is not enough!  Then you have to take action with the information that you gathered! 

If someone has a deal they need help with - offer to help - anyway possible for christ sake.  Offer to partner in the deal to help with the work load.  Or if you are newbie - then offer to help them with the work load - just so you can get more experience.  If they need assistance in an area that you are not qualified for - then go out and find them that person and hook them up!  I have made many important connections - just by bringing people together that could help each other - without asking for anything in return.  Believe me - it comes back to you 10 fold.  When you help others with no strings attached - you get more then you ever need in return.

The folks who know me - know that I am a preacher of networking.  You never know who is going to be your next great connection.  Talk to everyone - tell everyone what you need.  Great things will start to unfold.  Trust me!  I told one person that I was looking for help in raising Business Capital and the person next to him said - "I can help you with that - that is my business"!  Good Gosh! Are you freaking serious?  Jeez louis.  I learned my own lesson last night!  I have been struggling on my own for months trying to learn how to raise business capital... you mean all I had to do was talk to people at my own networking events about my needs...  Who would have thunk it?

Changing the business of real estate investing? Good Luck!

Well, one of my biggest disappointments in working in the "club and seminar" world is hearing that a speakers product or service is nothing but crap.  It gets worse when I hear about the disgusting sales tactics that happen after the initial sale to "upsell" folks into more expensive mentorship or coaching programs offered by the speaker.  The final straw for me is when the speaker sells a bootcamp and then once you're there they bring in 2-4 other speakers to present their crap during their bootcamp! 

I am telling you - it is just GROSS and I'm sick and tired of it.  How do these people sleep at night knowing very well that they are taking peoples money and time only to deliver bull!  In the past week I have heard one too many stories of folks feeling let down and discouraged by all the nonsense that is going on with speakers and seminars. 

I will be my dream come true if I could change the way this industry operates. I know it is very idealistic to think that I can, but believe you me, I will go down trying.

I will not have a black list that I publish on my blog, but what I might do is make sure to publish every speaker and their product that I like is here. 

Why can't I just shut my pie whole?

Well last night - instead of just enjoying my night out with my boyfriend Sandy, I was diarrhea of the mouth and couldn't shut my pie whole.  All I did was talk about real estate investing and as I was "chatting" with Sandy I realized that I was starting to get this feeling of desperation.  But before I could "slow my roll" it was out of control. I just kept pushing the issue of wanting him to learn about the creative financing aspect of investing so that we can be partners in this business and for the 100th time he was letting me know that he really is not interested in crawling into this world with me.  He has not the desire to learn all this real estate investing like I do.  But he also thinks its unnecessary to "have to learn" anything about the "creative financing" aspect because "what's to learn? numbers are numbers".  He thinks that he doesn't need to know how we are structuring the deal or what our exit strategy should be in order to evaluate whether it's a good deal.  I beg to differ in a BIG WAY.  He speaks just like someone who has no idea about this investor world that I run in.  He's an outsider that kind of looks at all of us as a bunch of overzealous folks who spend to much time learning all this stuff when you basically just need to find a house, look at the numbers and buy it. 

Ahhh... if it were that easy - everybody would be a real estate millionaire....  it is true what they say though... ignorance is bliss.  Because the fact is, is that it is those poor folks out there who think they don't need to learn anything about real estate investing and the just jump right into it and those are the poor little puppies that I see whining and complaining about not having good deals or worse - not having ANY DEALS - or WORSE WORSE, having good deals to begin with but they have totally screwed the whole thing up and the deal is now sucking the life right out of them and souring them against real estate investing in whole!

Schmucks - all of them people who think they got nothing to learn.  Well except for my beloved Sandy.  He's no schmuck - actually he's quite brilliant.... Because, who's smarter than a man who has found himself a driven and ambitious woman who will not stop until I am a millionaire investor, and who also, cooks like a chef, cleans the house, goes to work everyday, and is always focused on improving myself and being the best person I can be everyday.  God is watching after all...

So who's the schmuck?  No - It isn't my beloved Sandy....

As a result, I have resigned myself to the fact that he might never want to be involved with any of my businesses and I have to just accept that.  Ideally I would like to have my business partner in real estate to be actual partner in life, but I guess I can live without it.  There are plenty of investors out there who's spouses are not involved in the business.  I just didn't think I would be one of them. It's just that I know that I simply must have a partner because it is just too much for me to do on my own since I also have a full time job running the club.  I want to keep it in the family since it will be that much easier to manage... 

Maybe he'll change his mind if I just back off....  I'll try this for a while....