“Real Estate Investing For The Next Decade“

Mark Your Calendar

October 23rd

9 AM to 4 Pm

695 Mansell Road

Roswell Georgia 30075

Room 210

This class is for people that want to invest in Real Estate but not sure they’re ready.

Register at Register

http://www.pauljdacosta.info

 

 

Once again here’s what you’ll be getting

Training by Paul J Da Costa, National speaker and Real estate Investors with 15 years experiences in the trenches

John E. Bagwell, One of Atlanta leading Real Estate Attorneys

Kelly Kelley, CPA with the do’s and don’ts of real esate accounting

Monty Smith En-Trust on using sefl directed IRA to buy Real Estate

Kathy Viitali FHA rehab loans

Marketing idea and tips to get you properties sold

An entire day of education with hands on experience.

 

http://www.pauljdacosta.info

 

 

 

 

Tags: accounting, attorneys, Calendar, CPA, Decade, fha, Georgia, investor, investors, IRA, leading real estate, marketing, marketing idea, national speaker, next decade, October, pauljdacosta, people, Real Estate, real estate investing, real estate investor, real estate investors, rehab, roswell georgia

 …BECAUSE THEY EQUATE ‘BUSY’ WITH ‘WORKING’!!! How many times have you heard someone say, “I’m just so busy I hardly ever get things done at all, much less on time”?   Most people think being busy is the same as working and it’s NOT.  It’s not even close! Studies show that we spend only 20% of our time on things that produce results (i.e. working), while 80% of our time is spent on things that produce little or no results.   Other studies show every time you get dragged into “Got-A-Minute Meetings” it takes between 15 to 30 minutes to get back to what you were working on. If this happens 6 times a day to you that’s 3 hours a day wasted. You’ve got to find ways to get that time back, and make it productive.   If this is your goal, I highly recommend you read the following books first as they will give you a good foundation. 1) Dan Kennedy NO BS Time Management For Entrepreneurs 2) Dan Kennedy NO BS Ruthless Management of People & Profits   I have to warn you though; these books get to the bottom line, and are definitely not warm and fuzzy.   I got these books because I realized I was spending more and more time on emails, phone calls and other people than I was on things important to me. I was getting over 175 calls per day and 600 or more E-Mails and I was quickly losing sight of the significant things like my family and business.   After reading these two books I worked out a series of steps to fix the situation.   First I kept track of every call that came in. I wrote the name, call time and I set up system to measure the call: 1- Business; 2- Personal; 3- BS. (If you have a person who takes forever to explain something, even if it’s a business call, you must place it in the BS category).   I figured out how much time of the call was spent in each area. If you do this for three months you will be amazed how much of your time gets wasted.   Here are my findings on my TOP FIVE offenders. ( I won’t use their names; I want to protect the guilty). Remember, you must be ruthless. It’s your time, your money and your life.   Time Bandits sorted by offence, May 2010 Subject #1: 62 calls average call 28 minutes. (1) 4 minutes (2) 2 minutes (3) 22 Minutes Subject #2: 48 calls average call 31 minutes. (1) 1 minute (3) 30 minute Subject #3: 38 calls average call 25 minutes. (2) 25 minutes Subject #4: 20 Calls average call 21 minutes (1) 8 minutes (2) 8 minutes (3) 5 minutes Subject#5: 17 Calls average call 16 minutes (1) 1 minute (3) 15 minutes   I found the best people on the phone are the people that charge you for their time (Attorneys, CPA’s etc). Hard to admit this but the lawyers were the best at it. They got to the point fast and were off the phone. So big kudos for the lawyers.   My family times were not counted and never will be. My babies know they can call and talk any time and for as long as they want. All others, forget it.   You now get the idea of how much of your time people waste. And how much of it is costing you money and lost productivity . Next I started to make changes. It took some people time to get on board but they are now following the ‘Da Costa time management program’.   First I changed my voice mail message asking them to leave their question and reason for the call so I can have an answer when I call them back. If they only leave a “call when you can” message I DO NOT RETURN THE CALL. Do this a few times and they get the hint. Also if they are in the top 15 time bandits I usually let the call go to voice mail first and I deal with it on my time.   When I do answer or return a call, I make it a point to say how much time I can take. Once I hit that time limit I end the call politely and go on to the next call or back to work on the next project.   I also set up certain times throughout the day to return calls. First I had 4 times at 30 minutes each, now I am down to 2 call times at 20 minutes each.   With E-Mail I’ve stopped filling out forms for free stuff, or forms that someone sends me, if I haven’t asked for them. If someone sends me an E-Mail that has something to do with my business or my personal life I always thank them but I make it quick. I also only answer e-mails that truly need to be answered. You can see this will take courage on your part to be ruthless with your time but the payoffs are well worth it.   Here are my results: Since I have controlled my calls (both dialed and received) I have been able to reduce my cell minutes from 5000 per month to 2500 saving $175.00 per month or $ 2100.00 a year. That alone has been worth the effort.   My productivity has doubled. I am getting more done in half the time. I also find time for myself now and time for the family. I love to read, and am now getting to read a book a week. If you’re having a hard time getting things done you need to read both the books I suggested and follow the plan. You will see the rewards quickly.   Final thought on this subject: I was in Ohio for the Dan Kennedy Wealth Days. He focused a lot on time and people management, and the bottom line is this: You have to work with difficult people some of the time. But you can limit your exposure to them since they are a drag on your business and your time. And if you have toxic people in your business and personal life you MUST AT ALL COSTS GET RID OF THEM. These people will ruin your business and suck the energy right out of you. And they will think they are doing you a favor spreading their negativity to you.   One of the members of my Real Estate group started keeping track of her time and how she was using it. She was shocked to find she was spending 2 hours a day just on Face Book and Twitter. (How much time do you spend on just these two time bandits?) She also found she was spending more than 3 hours answering E-Mails and voice mails throughout the day. So between the Face Book and other time bandits she wastes 5 hours of the work day on low productivity activities. You can bet she’ll be making some changes! How about you?   Tags: 30 minutes, A-Minute, amp, area, Bandits, BECAUSE, bottom line, business, business call, BUSYâ, call time, category, charge, courage, CPA, Dan Kennedy, deal, e mail, EQUATE, GOOD, good foundation, Happen, idea, IRS, life, losing sight, Management, May, Meetingsâ, minute, minute meetings, money, person, phone calls, productivity, profits, question, real, Real Estate, real estate group, Ruthless, show, significant things, situation, style, Subject, system, thatâ, three months, time, time management, track, Turn, two books, WORKINGâ

 

 

Since the housing crash there have been a number of articles and talking heads lamenting homeownership. The opinion is that it’s just not a good investment anymore and for some people homeownership is just not in their best interests.

Let’s look at this from a long term prospective. Owning a home adds pride for the home owner as well as the neighborhood. You can drive down most streets in most any neighborhood and tell which homes are rented and which are owned by the people living there. Home ownership adds stability to the community and to the tax base. Crime is always less in communities where the majority of homes are owned instead of rented. And let’s not forget about a home’s value. Pride in ownership translates into taking care of the property, adding stability and possibly even increasing its value. Think back to your grandparents or another family member. They bought homes, worked in the community and stayed there till they passed on. Either the surviving spouse or the heirs sold the house and in almost all cases they made a large profit. My own grandparents bought a house, lived there for 35 years and then sold when my grandmother moved to Florida with us. My grandmother was shocked when the house sold for $75,000; they bought it for $ 6,500.00.  

I know you’re going to say times are different; people don’t stay in one place anymore. Yep, you’re right, but in most case they still are better off owning instead of renting.

Some ‘experts’ have the opinion that homeownership is dead. Housing values have plunged and people are losing their shirts. Yes people did buy in the heat of the market. And now the crash has caused their values to plummet. I know you’ve heard this over and over, but it happens to be the brutal truth: for a large number of those deals the people should have never have been allowed to buy the homes, and ‘creative financing’ should have been suspect. No money down deals, loans such as pay option ARM’s  (where you paid a smaller payment with the interest charges adding to the balance on the back end) seemed too good to be true. No one listened.  Even worse, people making 100K were buying a house that cost 700K with no money down with loans that guaranteed failure. ‘No document’ loans were really popular (where buyers were saying they made twice as much as they did and agreeing to 5K a month in payments plus taxes and insurance). And let’s not forget investors who bought homes that they never saw in towns they couldn’t even find on a map. In my town of North Port, Florida I have talked to people who did not even know where North Port was when they bought 2 or 3 houses no money down  and thought they were going to make killing on each one. Well, they know where the city is today, that’s for sure.

How about the people who bought their homes in the late 90’s or early 2000’s and saw the value of the homes double? They went from a low 30 year fixed mortgage to a higher rate 2 year ARM with cash out so they could buy that new truck or a couple of vacations.  That low 2 year mortgage payment doubled when the loan readjusted and now they could not make the new payments.  Add that to the poor economy, job losses, property tax increases, insurance costs increasing and you have the real estate disaster we see. But does all this really justify not owning a home?

In my opinion the cynics are wrong, wrong, WRONG! Not in my lifetime have people been able to buy a home at such great prices and at such low interest rates. If the banks would loosen up the financing to people who could actual afford the home purchase and FHA would stop putting silly requirements (such as the 20% 90 day rule) and banks stop adding their own inane rules we could actually work our way out of this mess.

In my home market here in North Port, and on my own street you can buy a 3 bedroom 2 bath 1780 square foot home for about $100,000. If a buyer were to put 10% down ($10,000) and borrow $90K at 4.75% (30 year fixed mortgage) the payment would be $ 469.48 plus taxes and insurances. The couple next door to me rents this exact house and pays $925.00/ month. Even if taxes and insurance are $350.00/ month it’s still better to own than rent. We will eventually have equity increases when our market gets back on its feet. The interest and property taxes are a write off as well. (But I’m not an accountant so check with your CPA as to your taxes).

In some markets you can buy houses in the mid $50’s to high $70’s and if they qualify for FHA with 3% down the payment would be less than rents in that same market. Let’s look at the payment: $ 70,000 loan amount 5.0% interest 30 years payment=$375.78 plus taxes and insurances.  

What needs to happen is a rational discussion about homeownership and the responsibilities that come with it. People need to understand that when they buy a home they hold its future value in their hands. If they let the place go or keep it up, they control the results. Also people who buy a home must feel secure about their jobs and life in that community. But all we hear is America’s best days are behind her and we are all doomed. This sells news stories (like any bad news) but it just adds to the angst of buyers and they become afraid to make the decision. If the market is going to improve buyers and sellers must realize home prices have changed and it’s one of the best times to buy. Or if you’re a seller and you’re holding out for a better offer you need to really look at the deal you have and how much it is going to cost you to hold on to the house until ‘better’ deals come your way.

The bottom line: for most people owning a home is better than renting in the long run. You must have the courage to look past the cynics and gloom and doom people. You must have the patience and the faith to know that the market will recover. Make the decision for yourself not letting someone else make that decision for you.

 

          Paul J Da Costa

Is a licensed Realtor in Georgia. He is a Real Estate investor, educator, and national speaker.

Paul is available for select speaking engagements and can be reached at 941-716-2597

www.pauljdacosta.com                                                      paul@pauljdacosta.com

Tags: bank, BUYING, CPA, fannie mae, fha, First time buyers, freddie mac, GOOD, home, home ownership, HOUSE, house for rent, Investment, IRA, rent, rental, STILL, tax write offs, taxes, write offs